February 25, 2026 • 51 mins
Ready to rethink what retail growth actually looks like? We bring back Twilla Brooks, president and CEO of Lynette Create and Innovate, to unpack a fast, practical playbook for building brands that last, from the first e-commerce listing to staying on shelf at scale. Twilla draws on years launching brands at Walmart and Macy’s, then flips the script as a founder running a digital-first consulting firm with a sharp focus on brand strategy, marketing, and community impact.
We dig into the real startup mechanics no one talks about: ACH setups, business banking fees, and how to pay yourself without starving the business. Twilla shares how she prices work, avoids “resentful checks,” and customizes every engagement like a recipe, because value looks different for a small, diverse-owned startup than for a Fortune-level supplier. We walk through the moment most brands miss: the work accelerates after you get into Walmart. Content quality, OTIF discipline, and data storytelling drive staying power, and your pitch needs a content strategy from day one.
On the digital front, Twilla shows how social-first marketing and micro-influencers are outpacing million-dollar ad buys. We explore TikTok Shop, Amazon Live, and event-driven influencer seeding that compress discovery and purchase into a single stream. The team’s AI stack; Otter, Canva, Adobe Firefly, boosts speed without sacrificing voice, thanks to rigorous human editing. When category data is scarce, Twilla builds proxy datasets from reviews, competitor benchmarks, and creator sentiment to craft credible merchant narratives. And for suppliers stuck between Amazon and Walmart.com, she lays out a clear path to make Walmart’s marketplace a true growth engine rather than a checkbox.
If you’re navigating retail media, e-commerce content, and social commerce while trying to keep the lights on, this conversation delivers field-tested steps you can use tomorrow. Tap play, then tell us: what’s the one growth lever you’ll pull this quarter? Subscribe, share with a teammate, and leave a review so more builders can find the show.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:10):
Hello and welcome to the Retail Journey Podcast.
I'm one of your hosts, CharlesGreathouse.
And I am James Harris, and todaywe are talking to Twyla Brooks.
Twyla is the president, CEO, andfounder of Lynette Create and
Innovate Consulting Group.
This is Twyle's second time onthe retail journey, this time a
year after launching Lynette.
(00:30):
Welcome to the retail journey.
SPEAKER_00 (00:32):
Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_02 (00:33):
Welcome.
A whole year of your owncompany.
How are you doing?
SPEAKER_00 (00:39):
I'm doing good.
You know, every day is adifferent day.
When someone asked me, well,what's your daylight?
I was like, we could talk aboutit.
Oh, but that's the excitingpart, is no day is the same.
SPEAKER_02 (00:50):
Yeah.
So Lynette Create and Innovate.
Well, give us the high level whoyou are, who I am, what you do.
SPEAKER_00 (00:58):
Okay.
So Lynette Create and Innovate.
Most people wonder how did thename come about?
Uh Lynette is my middle name.
Um, and then when I was atLomart, I was constantly being
moved from uh different areas tohelp innovate and create new
brands.
SPEAKER_01 (01:14):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (01:15):
And so when people said, Hey, you know, why would
you want to do something on yourown?
I was like, well, I want to beable to do something that's
created and innovative.
So um it kind of just stuck.
Uh trust me, we went through abunch of names.
Yeah.
Um, but you'd be surprised howmany people have the initials
TLB.
SPEAKER_01 (01:35):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (01:36):
Uh so that didn't work out very well.
SPEAKER_01 (01:38):
Stop doing that.
SPEAKER_00 (01:39):
Uh and then I was like, maybe I'll use my last
name, which is Brooks, butthat's a pretty popular name.
SPEAKER_01 (01:44):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (01:44):
Uh taken by a pretty big uh electrical company,
Ibidit Dow.
Um, and so I kind of had to pickoutside the box.
And that's really what MonetCreating Anime is.
SPEAKER_02 (01:54):
Yeah, I love it.
It's got a great ring to it.
unknown (01:56):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (01:56):
What are your what's the highlights of the last year?
SPEAKER_00 (01:59):
Gosh, the highlights over the last year, um, we
launched a company.
We're going into our secondyear.
We launched our website.
Um, we have quite a fewconsultants that work for us.
And the great thing is I thinkwe really are starting to
understand and learn what thewhat our company is.
And so um it's digitally based,right?
(02:21):
If you think about the worldthat we live in right now,
you're not building something,whether it's a digital brand or
you're looking at the differenttype of platforms, then you're
not gonna win.
Um, and which is amazing for meconsidering I grew up in retail
where I started in retail beforeyou know we really used a
computer.
Uh to now with the fact that umAI has kind of taken over and
(02:45):
it's helping us be better andbuilt better.
And so overall, Lynette createdand innovates a brand and
marketing company uh where withan emphasis on community
relations.
And so the goal is also givingback to the Northwest Arkansas
community, which this is myhome.
Um, and I try to be a part of itas much as possible.
SPEAKER_01 (03:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (03:07):
And there's a lot of entrepreneurs to find in the
community, yes, there is,especially in Northwest
Arkansas.
So it just makes sense thatthat's a pillar.
SPEAKER_02 (03:14):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Love that.
What have been um some of theharder moments in this first
year?
It's hard to get something offthe ground.
SPEAKER_00 (03:22):
Well, you know, here's the thing, which is
crazy.
What they don't tell you is Iworked for a corporation my
entire life, right?
So even when I was in college, Iwas an athlete, right?
Where they paid you kind of, youknow, when you're an athlete, so
that someone paid for something.
And then even when I worked forRobinson's May or Macy's or for
Walmart, for the most part, Ialways got paid on the first and
(03:44):
the 15th.
So that money was always coming.
Uh, I didn't really know how topay myself.
Does that make sense?
So like I didn't reallyunderstand how, like, I would
reach out to a client and Iwould be like, Well, you haven't
paid me.
And they were like, Well, wedon't know how to pay you.
And I'd be like, Oh yeah, that'sinteresting.
(04:05):
So I could learn what, like, youknow, would you just make it
show up in the account?
SPEAKER_02 (04:08):
That'd be great.
SPEAKER_00 (04:09):
That's what I thought.
SPEAKER_02 (04:10):
They were like, Oh, okay.
Um, ACH, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (04:15):
We don't have your ACH.
I was like, What's an ACH?
And they're like a directdeposit.
SPEAKER_02 (04:19):
All the stuff every entrepreneur wants to work on
the wild of really just likesetting up like all that.
SPEAKER_00 (04:25):
The other thing that I learned is there's a big
difference between a personalaccount and a bank account.
You know, uh, there's a lot offees when you run a business.
Um, so really understanding therevenue.
Um, and I think I think for me,like um trying to balance the
time uh where before I wasworthing a lot when I was at
(04:47):
Walmart.
I'm worthing a lot now, but it'sjust a little bit different.
Uh and then lastly, choosingwhat I'm gonna work off.
And so for my team, we all votewhen a client comes in.
And so we have like I take allthe client meetings, we come
together, and then we when wehave our team meetings, we go
(05:10):
through all the new businessdevelopment and all the new
clients.
And then we talk through likewhat we think as a team we could
do.
Is it a pass?
Is this something that we wantto do?
And that's kind of how wedecide.
SPEAKER_02 (05:21):
I got fun.
SPEAKER_00 (05:21):
Um, so a lot of it is trial and error.
Um, but um, but it's been fun.
SPEAKER_02 (05:26):
I mean, I know a lot of entrepreneurs, small
businesses, that is the hardestpart of saying no to business,
particularly in the early years.
SPEAKER_00 (05:34):
Right.
Another unique, differentposition when building a company
um is because I have a littlebit of a fallback, meaning that
I invested in my career atWalmart.
And because I was an officer forseven years, I was really
conscious about saving.
And I was a part of the deferredcompensation program.
So when I went into buildingthis company, I was like, well,
(05:56):
if I don't make any money,that's fine because I have my
deferred comp.
SPEAKER_01 (06:00):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (06:00):
So I set goals for myself and I was like, well,
maybe the first year we won'tmake anything, and then the
second year, and then so far.
Um, and then when I realized, ohwell, you can actually really
make money at this.
So understanding what are ourgoals, uh, really trying to
figure out uh what to chargepeople, how to charge people.
(06:21):
One of the things that I learnedis every single relationship is
different, and the recipe has tobe different because if the
recipe is not different, thenyou're not listening to that
client or the customer.
Exactly.
And so that's the interesting,and not every single recipe is
right for that individualperson, that customer, or that
client.
SPEAKER_02 (06:40):
Yeah, I love that.
I've as the the growth guy here,I get to cur try to create most
of the deal structures to makesure that they work.
And there's a couple of like uhprinciples.
One is I feel like you know weshould earn our keep day in, day
out, like long-term contract.
That's a dumb reason to have towork with someone.
You should work with someonebecause it adds a lot of value.
(07:02):
And the second one for me islike, I don't want to receive a
resentful check from a client.
When they write you a check, itshould be like, yeah, yeah,
thank you for all of the workyou did.
Like it's so worth so worth thisvalue exchange.
You created all this value forus, and we're thrilled to be
able to pay you as a partner.
And it's like early on, notreally um understanding how to
(07:27):
structure deals and just makingsure that they're right.
You're totally right, but likethey're not all this the same.
There's just nuance because somethings are more important near
term, some more important long.
SPEAKER_00 (07:37):
And I learned a lot, you know.
We had one client who uh it wasa preparation, but then we had
to do a conference and we endedup having to be at that
conference for the most part 24hours.
And I realized the all in that Inegotiated for me and two of my
(07:58):
people, it was never gonna beenough.
SPEAKER_01 (08:00):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (08:01):
Right.
And so do you go back to thatclient and say, Hey, you
actually own the XYZ?
Um, or do you just say, you knowwhat?
When you know better, you dobetter.
Uh and then at the end, whenthat client was like, All right,
we have another anotherconference that we want you to
do, well, mistakes were made.
SPEAKER_02 (08:19):
So yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00 (08:21):
So you find like if you're buying selling houses,
you know, like what it costs tobuild a house in 2015 is
substantially different thanwhat it costs to build a house
in 2025.
SPEAKER_01 (08:30):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:31):
Uh, and then learning your value too.
And I don't know, and thatprobably is a big thing for you
guys is understanding what youryour value is, and then how do
you put a dollar amount to thatvalue?
That's something that I don'tknow if I'm ever gonna master
because I think you're alwayslearning and understanding.
Um, and my value to a smallbusiness owner, a small diverse
(08:52):
owner versus a Fortune onecompany is completely different.
SPEAKER_02 (08:58):
Yeah.
The perspective shift umhappens.
And it's really just about, youknow, we tend to think of it as
like, what are the problems tosolve?
What are the the areas ofopportunity, and how do we help
make sure that our partners areable to walk confidently into
the room um and put their bestfoot forward, not be surprised
by what was around the corner,um, or not show up not knowing
(09:21):
you know what was happeningbehind the scenes, that data
could have helped them betterunderstand you're creating and
innovating, uh, which is uh, youknow, there's there's a lot of
nuance to that.
Yeah.
And and a lot of the realizationof the value, it probably comes
later.
You know, you're you're buildingsomething that's going to launch
and then over time mature.
Yeah.
(09:42):
Yeah, that's what I was gonnasay.
The the the varying recipe, uh,especially in a creative
environment, has to be verynuanced.
SPEAKER_00 (09:51):
It's interesting because like so.
We have one client that I'vebeen working with for the last
nine months, right?
And when we first started a makeit up, their ultimate goal was
to just get into Walmart, right?
Uh, where there's so many thingsto get into Walmer, right?
But then once you're now in,like your job's not over.
SPEAKER_02 (10:10):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (10:11):
Um, because I isn't a stationary thing.
It's not a stationary thing.
And so it's constantly evolving.
And it's like, all right, well,here's the marketing, who's
insuring the execution, who'sdoing that.
Sometimes you can get caught upwith saying, Hey, your job is
done here.
Now it's also up to the client.
Do you want my job to be done?
But then it's my job to say toyou, hey, that's just step one.
(10:33):
Yeah.
Right.
Because I mean, truth be told,the easiest thing you can do is
get in.
SPEAKER_02 (10:38):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (10:39):
The hardest thing to do is to stay.
SPEAKER_02 (10:41):
Well, there's so many conversations I've had
where it starts like, hey, doyou have everything you need?
And their answer is yes.
Like, oh, good.
So, you know, you're fullyequipped online, you've got good
content scores, you'reeffectively using utilizing the
growth tools available to you ondot com.
Great, you're you have no OTIFfees.
(11:01):
You know, you walk into a linereview and you you're using data
to to tell the story of why youritem didn't just grow your
brand, but the category.
You and by the end of thoseconversations, it's like, yeah,
actually I need I do need help.
You know.
But you don't know what youdon't know.
unknown (11:16):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (11:17):
Right.
And that's that's kind of ourjob in the consulting world is
to help people know that no,there is like you know your
product really well.
There there's this other thing.
And it's whoever you're tryingto sell to, your customer, your
butt I'm also learning that theythink they know their product.
SPEAKER_00 (11:33):
Yeah, they know it in a subset.
Sure.
Right.
And then I think with, you know,we're in a paradigm shift right
now where you you have to reallyunderstand that, like, in order
for you to grow, if we'respecifically just talking
Walmer, like you can't just say,Hey, I have this amazing item
and I think you gotta have it tothe merchant, and they're gonna
be like, Oh yes, we love it fora thousand stores.
(11:56):
That those days are so far gone.
Yeah, and that if you're notnecessarily thinking about all
the possibilities, then you'resetting yourself up to fail.
SPEAKER_02 (12:04):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, launching new brands,developing brands, creating and
innovating namesake, was likeyour reputation at Walmart.
I think there's a ton of peoplewho are who would love to launch
new brands.
Um, you want to talk to us alittle bit about the journey of
like bringing in new brands toWalmart, both maybe even from
(12:27):
your internal perspective, butnow you're on the outside, you
kind of have the whole picturefor a lot of people.
SPEAKER_00 (12:34):
Ironically, I think it really started like Daf when
uh I became a buyer at my firstcompany, uh, which was uh
Robinson's Main, SouthernCalifornia, where you know I was
I've often always been theyounger side of developing
something.
(12:55):
And so I go into a room, and atthe time I was the plus size
buyer.
And like years ago, like plussizes was kind of frowned upon,
and there was no options, noclothing.
It was like basically you worelike a camp shirt and a
button-up shirt and you woreshorts.
That's all that you did.
Um, and then you know, mychallenge then was like, how can
(13:17):
you make it younger, hipper,newer?
Because at the time, the fastestgrowing of plus size women at
the time were 18 to 24.
And our average age at the timewas like 40 and up.
SPEAKER_01 (13:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (13:28):
And I was like, but we're never gonna win here.
And so I think there's quite afew things when it comes to
building brands.
I think the data's veryimportant, um, understanding
what the customer wants uh andbeing open to kind of trying new
fakes.
Yeah.
And so that actually helped meget my job at Basie's.
(13:50):
Yep.
Um, where when I was at Macy's,I literally just sat in a room
for a year and built brands.
Uh, and then from there, theywere like, oh, you know, she's
young, but she's really good.
So we're gonna throw her inwhere she's gonna work with like
Tommy Hill figure and RalphLumer and Oscar De La Renta, and
we'll see how she does.
(14:11):
Um, and I think then is when Ilearned that it wasn't just
about the brand, it was aboutthe person and the people.
Yep.
The people fall in love not onlywith the item and the product,
but they fall in love with thestory.
SPEAKER_01 (14:24):
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00 (14:25):
And so right then and there, I knew that it wasn't
just about the product, but itwas also what the story was.
And that story could be what arethe benefits, what's the
education, what does thecustomer want, what the data.
So it was for me, it was allabout reading the data and being
curious about how to evolvesomething.
Uh, and then that's how I got myjob at Walmart.
SPEAKER_01 (14:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (14:47):
Is because I had launched Tawny Hillfinger and
Oscar De La Renta.
And uh my mentor was like, I gota call from Walmart and they're
looking for a buyer to move toNew York.
I told them that you are alreadymoving to New York for Macy's,
but it's gonna take a little bitto move you away from Macy's.
Yeah.
Um, but what intrigued me aboutWalmart was that I got to launch
(15:10):
starter and dance yet.
Yep.
And then from there it justbecame kind of like this ripple
effect.
And I became kind of like, allright, you're gonna go do this
and watch this brand.
SPEAKER_02 (15:20):
We need something launched.
SPEAKER_00 (15:21):
Yeah, we need something launched, we need a
paradigm shift.
SPEAKER_02 (15:25):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (15:25):
Um, so at the time, which was probably the biggest
um jump was bedded back.
SPEAKER_01 (15:31):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (15:32):
Walmart was losing market share to bed, bath, and
beyond.
Um, their price points were notright, they couldn't go after
the better, best customer.
Um, their AUR, they were win,they were winning at the opening
price point, their quality.
And so for four four to sixmonths, we just collected data.
SPEAKER_01 (15:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (15:50):
We asked all the suppliers the same four
questions.
SPEAKER_02 (15:54):
Over that.
SPEAKER_00 (15:55):
The questions were if Walmart was going to change
programs, which program do weneed?
What are we missing?
Yeah.
Um, do you think we could sell ahigher price uh towel or a
sheet?
And what are the edu educationaltoponents?
We asked all the suppliers thesame thing.
(16:16):
And so my theory was if you canget most people to say the same
thing, you know you're on theright path.
Right.
But until you ask the question,you're never gonna know.
And so we were surprised at whatso many people said.
SPEAKER_02 (16:29):
I love that sort of leaning in on those that are in
the industry, they know theirproduct, they know the space to
then have the conversation thatat times feels like it's tough
to have.
I've noticed that being like acore strength of Twilight.
Yeah, of taking a situation thatfeels complex, that's maybe not
going the way it should, andjust driving clarity to the
(16:52):
customer, right, to the actualthing that they're asking for,
what is needed, and thendeveloping the solution to go do
that, and just a very like, yep,let's here's what we need to do,
and here's where do it.
SPEAKER_00 (17:04):
Well, my other thing too is a lot of people say no,
or they tend to say no, orthey're like, Well, we can't do
this.
Yeah.
And so my biggest question isnormally like, well, why?
SPEAKER_01 (17:14):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (17:14):
Like, why do you think that that like we were in
New York together and we werelooking for uh some brands, and
there was a supplier, quitefrankly, who had an old way of
thinking, was like, Well, if webring you something, then
Walmart's the only one thatcould have it.
And I was like, Well, why?
SPEAKER_01 (17:33):
Right, why?
SPEAKER_00 (17:34):
You know, because back the five, seven years ago,
you know, the big bad Walmart,like if we had something, nobody
else can have it.
And I was like, Well, actually,I think it's the opposite.
Anything, the goal is to givethem access.
SPEAKER_02 (17:46):
Yeah, and give them what's like shopper watching.
SPEAKER_00 (17:48):
And so I've kind of built my career kind of off of
trying to figure out the why,the why.
SPEAKER_02 (17:54):
Yeah, yeah.
So you had a unique platformwith Macy's and Walmart.
You got a lot of data, you'retalking to all the major
players.
How would you advise someoneoutside of retail?
And how do you how do yououtside of retail spot the
things that the big companiesare missing?
SPEAKER_00 (18:10):
Well, I think because I I would like to think
that I built some credibilitywith my fears and a lot of the
people inside of Walmart.
So there's a trust level, right?
So they know that I'm gonna dothe research, right?
And I'm really only going topoint out or bring something
that I truly believe is a boy.
Right.
Now it's still up to you whetheryou choose to bring it on, but I
(18:33):
might say, hey, I really thinkthis is an opportunity.
Yeah.
Uh and so it, you know, it'sit's a unique thing right now.
Um, the world that we're livingin.
SPEAKER_02 (18:41):
That's part of what's so important in this
space and yours of like sayingno.
Yeah.
Of having the courage to pass.
Because if you're saying yes tothings that you don't actually
think are a good idea, like thenyou lose your credibility.
And that's that credibilitywe've earned, you've earned over
time by just like holding toconviction and and understanding
(19:04):
the market, knowing the customerwell enough.
SPEAKER_00 (19:07):
And people will start to kind of A, you lose
trust, and people will start toreally kind of, you know,
question yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:14):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (19:14):
Right?
You know what I mean?
And so, you know, Charles and Ihad the great opportunity to go
to New York or we met with somany different people that are
offered us so many differentthings.
And, you know, we were verynice, you know, during it, but
then after we had our beefers,we're like, beat, why would we
ever?
Right?
Is that if anything, the metricsto get past F us has to be even
(19:37):
higher.
Yeah.
Um then before we would evenconsider it.
And so, um, and that's what Iwant my clients to know is that
I'm gonna treat you um as ifthat I'm pretty much running
your company, right?
And I'm not gonna put you in asituation that I don't
personally think is the rightdecision.
Now, I'm not gonna geteverything right.
(19:59):
I, you know, I do make my ownmistakes.
Um, but I mean, if you don'ttry, how are you gonna know?
And then if you go in the if byif and I'm very clear that I'll
be like, I don't have the answerfor that.
Um, but the data tells me thatthis is where I think you should
go.
Well, there's nothing that's100%.
SPEAKER_02 (20:16):
Well, you bring up a good point, you know, when we
when you're in a circumstancelike us where we're trying to
find opportunities, brands,companies, uh, match them to
opportunities.
It's easy to see and hear whatyou want to see and hear.
Yeah.
Right.
And to but to keep that clarityof no, this is this is where I'm
going.
You kind of already have to havea little direction in mind
(20:37):
before you walk into the room.
SPEAKER_00 (20:38):
And I love uh walking competition.
I love seeing what's happeningin the store.
I love to see where ever peopleeveryone's doing.
We try to do that twice a monthon my team.
Uh going for all the categoriesfor just kind of walking.
Um, I think it's superimportant.
Um, I was in a meeting today andI heard someone say uh that uh
(21:02):
stealing shamelessly is not aproblem, it's just research.
SPEAKER_01 (21:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (21:09):
Yeah, you live where we call it stealing with pride.
SPEAKER_00 (21:11):
Exactly.
Exactly.
So yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (21:14):
Yeah, a lot of research, and we got to see a
lot of retail in New York.
That was fun.
Um a lot of new ones.
So you mentioned digitalearlier.
Um can we talk a little bitabout that?
Um, it's been a big part of yourgrowth.
What, you know, what's what aresome I don't know, somebody's
starting out some practicaldigital strategies they could
(21:35):
employ that don't also bearingin mind like we don't all have
those enormous budgets, right?
SPEAKER_00 (21:41):
Well, I think you know it's interesting because um
people say to me, um, it's sodifferent what you were doing at
Walmart, right?
Where like I was inmerchandising for the most part,
I had like a hundred people, nowall of a sudden I have like five
people, and I've having thatbuild decks, work on social
media, do different things,which is completely different
than what.
I was doing before.
SPEAKER_01 (22:01):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (22:01):
Um, but a lot of it is there's a lot of people on on
social media and on theseplatforms that are doing so much
of a better job than we are,right?
And so, like with AI, you know,you have to be careful, right?
But we use chat to VT all thetime.
When we have our meetings, we dootter AI.
We take the meeting notes,right?
(22:23):
Because there's a bunch of stuffthat might have been said from
someone else that's a reallygood nugget that we might have
missed.
Um, so I think that that'sreally important.
Um learning how to build yourown websites, right?
Learning how to use QuickBooksand do different financials.
It's all a platform.
SPEAKER_01 (22:40):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (22:40):
Right.
And the great thing about theseplatforms is some of a lot of
them are free.
Right.
So some of them may not be asgreat, but then some if you if
you're spending$129 for a yearand that's going to help build a
small company, right?
Then you have to decide, is therisk really worth it?
And I think it is.
SPEAKER_01 (23:01):
Of course.
SPEAKER_00 (23:01):
And so, you know, we do a lot of us, a lot, and our
company is building brandassets.
So Canva's a huge, yeah, huge.
I mean, everything that we do,and most of my young teen, they
average our average ages, well,not my average age, but they're
average like three, four yearsold.
SPEAKER_02 (23:19):
Oh, yeah.
Well, and that the AI plugin inCanva that came out this past
year, it's reallytransformative.
SPEAKER_00 (23:26):
Well, not only is it transformative, it's like you
don't have to use a separatethird party, yeah, like to do it
because Canva will do it foryou.
We use Firefly for Adobe a lot,uh, which to be quite honest, I
probably would have never usedif it wasn't for a client Ad
Fury AI that we took on at thebeginning of the year and we
went to the Adobe Summit in uhin Vegas.
(23:48):
I we would have never used that,but we use that to help us build
strategic decks uh becausePowerPoint's kind of out there.
Yeah.
Um, and then I have anotherperson on my team that does
product development andsourcing, and she builds all her
decks uh all the AI.
SPEAKER_02 (24:07):
It's a brave new world.
So it's it's it's it's staying.
Yeah.
Just got a proofread, make sureit didn't have yes, a lot of
times.
Any brain farts along thearticle?
SPEAKER_00 (24:16):
Is it's like the platform, you you have to be
careful because sometimes you sopart of what we're also building
is building relationships andthat authenticity.
So a lot of times when I I'mgoing through it, I'm like, does
that sound like something that Iwould say?
SPEAKER_01 (24:30):
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00 (24:31):
And then sometimes I still haven't found the perfect
platform that really meets thecustomer where they need to be,
and that's where I am.
SPEAKER_02 (24:39):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I don't think it fullyreplaces human capital.
SPEAKER_00 (24:44):
And I think that that's what people need to
understand.
I think you need to understandit.
You need to accept it and makeit be a part of the process, but
remember that you are that humanconnection.
SPEAKER_02 (24:54):
I read a really fascinating article a week or
two ago, and it was from a groupthat expected AI to win this
debate.
And it was they put a group of10 coders in this room and gave
them a project, didn't have AI.
A group of 10, same project, didhave AI, and they were looking
for efficiencies.
And the group with AI took 20%longer than the other group
(25:18):
because there were errors in thecard.
Right.
So you so you gotta check thework, and it will get smarter
over time, and you can trainyour own GPTs to help to pick up
your voice to pick up thosethings.
But yeah, it's uh it's acontinuum.
Like it's uh makes 100%.
It's a use and a trust bootcurve.
SPEAKER_00 (25:35):
And I have like people that like, you know, I'm
really I really love SerenaWilliams because obviously I was
an athlete.
She just watched uh Stockton umplace or Stockton Street because
they grew up on Stockton Streetand in uh Compton.
Uh so her and her sister.
So she's talking about venturecapitalism and entrepreneurs and
(25:56):
how to look, how to spotdifferent types of clients that
uh and it was like eye-openingfor me, uh, because everyone's
like, oh, you're into so manydifferent things.
And so for me, is it's about thecuriosity of me also wanting to
know like about that particularsegment, where before I was kind
(26:19):
of uh a little bit in the samesegment at all work.
Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_02 (26:23):
Yeah, so you have a vertical, you you you have this
area you're responsible for.
SPEAKER_00 (26:26):
Well, you know, I've been able to do like technology
and like social media at PR andbrands and strategies and you
know, home and food and bev outlike all over zaplet.
Yeah, spirits.
SPEAKER_02 (26:41):
Yeah, I enjoy the uh diverse experience in in this
kind of world where you get towork across a lot of different
and I'm doing that intentionalin.
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00 (26:52):
So I'm because everyone's like, well, why
aren't you uh, you know, youhave such a experience in
apparel.
Yeah, right.
You were in apparel for 25years.
Why aren't you why don't youhave any apparel companies?
I'm doing that intentional.
SPEAKER_01 (27:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (27:06):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, and and it's it's theproblems from one category to
another, some of them are thesame.
Yeah, but then it's kind of funto like learn that new thing.
SPEAKER_00 (27:16):
Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (27:17):
And and then you can reapply it to the original.
SPEAKER_00 (27:19):
Yeah, like which is my favorite two categories,
which is weird, is um for me,because I don't have experience
with either one of them mostlyis spirits, right?
I don't really drink like hardliquor, right?
But I find myself rapping analcohol company and a bourbon
company.
Yeah, right, which is veryinteresting.
(27:41):
Yeah, right.
And then we just have on a petcompany where I have the pets,
right?
Like, I mean, I would probablyhave like a fish or something.
Yeah, um, but my pets are likemy pets.
Like, I'm sorry, my plants.
Yeah, non-bumps of pets.
But it comes down to thecustomer, the data, and what
does the customer want, not whatthe I want.
SPEAKER_02 (28:01):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (28:02):
Right.
Uh and I think that that'simportant.
SPEAKER_02 (28:04):
When the plants you can just set it to be water and
you don't have to pet it.
SPEAKER_00 (28:07):
Not really.
But I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_02 (28:11):
So when it comes to understanding what customers
want and um helping them findthe products they're looking
for, this new age of digitalmarketing, there's a lot that's
changed.
This is also a core strength ofwhere and how you show up.
unknown (28:27):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (28:28):
Where do you see people walking in with the wrong
assumptions uh into digitalmarketing?
Where do you typically have tohelp people readjust their
plans?
SPEAKER_00 (28:39):
Oh, I think right now it's having a lot of them,
especially a lot of the bigcompanies who've had so much
success with just being instore, I think they're
struggling the most, right?
Because they look at it as it'sthe work is harder and it's
easier for me to just bring anitem and then get it online.
Uh, and I feel as if that a lotof them are not willing to adapt
(29:02):
because they think it's gonna beharder.
SPEAKER_01 (29:05):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (29:05):
Right.
And so, um, and for me, what I'mfiguring out is just offering a
piece of the solution, right?
We're not changing it uh becauseI'm not a company that has, you
know, hundreds of millions ofdollars, but I'm actually
arguing the exact copyright.
Right.
So even if you think aboutmarket, right, gone are the days
(29:27):
where people are well, peopleare still doing it.
It's nothing against very largeadvertising companies that you
have millions and millions ofdollars of budgets to hire a
huge actor um to commercial toreally go after a product.
Yeah, right.
A, you everything from yourphone, right?
(29:47):
These phones are like reallygood.
SPEAKER_01 (29:49):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (29:50):
Uh and you could really target a subset of people
and get immediate feedbackwithout having to wait a month
to basically negotiate thatactor's contract to figure out
how to align schedules, to comeup with the brief to do that.
You know, uh sometimes it doestake a while, but you know, we
(30:12):
had one campaign that weparticipated in uh with Walmart
for it was a Barney commercialwith Mattel, and it was all done
basically for a social mediacampaign.
So it might have been a hundredthousand dollars versus a
million dollars, yeah, but themetrics on that hundred thousand
was so much better than themillion dollars because it was
(30:34):
going after everybody on socialmedia.
SPEAKER_01 (30:36):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (30:36):
So understanding the target, understanding how what's
the best suit way to basicallysell that product, uh, and my
job is to go after that youngercustomer.
SPEAKER_02 (30:48):
Uh and so thought it's not just about, you know,
bang for the buck or spendingless.
It's about no, no, you you justyou're not gonna reach the
customer you're looking for inthat platform or that I don't
think I classify to be thatyounger customer.
And every Sunday I'm humiliatedwhen I look at how many hours a
day I was on my phone.
(31:09):
Never watch television as longas nobody looked at me quite
those.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (31:14):
And I think that that's what's so exciting.
And that and it it's kind of aconnected thread uh for me
because even when I was atWalmart, it's just the model is
continuing to change.
SPEAKER_01 (31:25):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (31:26):
And it's whether or not we're willing to uh
understand what access, accesslooks a little bit different,
yeah, how they're basicallyengaging with that uh that
content and then go from there.
SPEAKER_02 (31:38):
So, future question what's the future of e-commerce
and retail?
SPEAKER_00 (31:43):
Well, I mean, I think the future of e-commerce
and retail, no one really knowsit, which I think it's actually
good.
SPEAKER_01 (31:49):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (31:49):
Does that make sense?
Because that still gives you thevessel where you're constantly
going to learn and there'ssomething new to learn, right?
Versus right now, if you're notfiguring out how to utilize
social media and the platformsin order to drive digital
marketing, then you've alreadylost.
Yeah.
Right.
So what I say to my customers,every single item that I bring
on, I need to understand what isyour what's your content
(32:12):
strategy.
That's a part of your pitch.
SPEAKER_02 (32:14):
Yep.
Social commerce is the thingthat I'm wanting to learn about
right now because I mean it'sbig here.
Yep.
Uh, but if you look in like inChina, for instance, yeah, we're
China where they were seven oreight years.
SPEAKER_00 (32:26):
Seven or eight years ago.
We're we're we're alreadybeyond, right?
So if you look at TikTok shop,TikTok shop was the number three
Shah on Amazon, and that wasbasically a bunch of TikTok
people who are basically drivingcommerce through items.
And now one of the fastestgrowing segments is kind of an
old segment, is taking, youknow, the home shopping network,
(32:46):
sure, right, which was QVC anddoing it on Amazon Live, right?
And typically, or if you take adifferent model, let's take the
US Open for tennis, right?
They were they're trying tofigure out why the US Open one
of the most profitablecompetitions, championships,
like sports, is because if youlook at all the boxes, all the
(33:09):
boxes are companies.
And what do they do?
They're selling product.
What do they do?
They get 10 to 15 influencerscome in where they basically pay
them a little bit of money,right?
Give them all free product, getthem into the US Open, right?
Where typically to go to the USOpen to be in a box,$1,000 to
$2,000, right?
(33:30):
So now they're like, oh, alltheir followers are like, wow,
you're at the US Open.
And now, you know, I mean, lookat Raising Cates, right?
Raising Keynes has one of themost social and marketing
profitable businesses you'llever know.
And you just thought it was adrive-through.
Right.
But if you think about whatthey're doing from a social
media and a commerce standpoint,their marketing is beyond.
(33:54):
And so, in order for you to besuccessful in this day, if
you're running a broker ship andconsultant or whatever you're
doing, you have to be aware ofwhat's out there.
Truth be told, I was not aware.
We had the little fakes when Iwas in men's and we worked with
Shapp or we worked with KevinDarnett, and we had the whole
and one thing.
We used to do uh, you know, thebasketballs and the parks or
(34:15):
whatever like that, but it's acompletely different thing.
SPEAKER_02 (34:17):
Yeah.
Now it's a primary vehicle, notprimary vehicle, not an
ancillary thing that some peopleare into.
SPEAKER_00 (34:23):
Exactly.
SPEAKER_02 (34:23):
Um, yeah, it's perfect.
As far as like this sort ofmyth, I feel like is
misunderstood.
And I think a lot of people areare sort of stuck on where
marketing spend should exist,where it shouldn't.
Another area is like e-commerce.
So you you start with Amazon,you've got a great business on
Amazon, you open a Walmartthird-party marketplace, and
(34:46):
you're like, nah, it doesn't dothat well, and you end up
spending your time on Amazon.
I think people are just missingthe point of how this platform
can be so effective in talkingto uh suppliers or brands as
they're trying to prioritizewhere they can grow.
How do you help folks understandthe opportunity that does exist
(35:07):
with Walmart.com?
SPEAKER_00 (35:09):
Well, I think the reality of the situation is
Walmart versus Amazon, Walmarthas an opportunity, right?
So, you know, but they're it's aunique subset, right?
Because they have all thesestores and they're very
successful and they're doinggreat.
Uh, and so they have to get outof their mind that A, they're
never gonna be Amazon.
To be frank, they should beAmazon, yeah, right, because
(35:31):
they are unique in theirproposition and Amazon can never
do what Walmart could do.
SPEAKER_02 (35:36):
Right.
Be Walmart.
SPEAKER_00 (35:37):
Be Walmart.
SPEAKER_02 (35:38):
When it comes to advice for the supplier and
like, hey, what what do peopletypically miss?
Yeah.
If like, hey, it's not workingfor you right now, what should
you be doing differently toreally get the most out of this
e-commerce platform?
SPEAKER_00 (35:52):
Well, I oh, first of all, I think that they it has to
be a part of their model.
So I think every supplier, ifthey want to be successful, they
have to be on moment.com.
SPEAKER_02 (36:01):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (36:02):
Right.
Number one.
SPEAKER_02 (36:03):
And being on, yes.
And succeeding aren'tnecessarily the same thing.
Totally different.
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (36:08):
And then understanding what is it that
you're getting from yourmerchant, right?
Are you one P?
Are you three P?
SPEAKER_01 (36:14):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (36:15):
Uh, what type of resources do you have to ensure
that you have the integrity ofwhat you have?
That's something at yourcomments, what's your how are
you shipping, all that?
That's vital.
From there, I think, is ifyou're truly trying to drive a
product, right?
What type of marketing are youdoing?
SPEAKER_01 (36:31):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (36:31):
Uh so I think that that is where there would have
been time where even I wouldhave been like, huh, Walmart got
God.
Uh, but if you look at where theworld is right now, like
Walmart's gonna figure it out.
You just don't want to be a leftone.
SPEAKER_02 (36:46):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, it's growing rapidly.
And yeah, I think a lot of folkshave sort of set in their minds
what it is and what it isn't.
Yeah.
And the reality is like it'sit's changing, it's rapidly
changing.
And what it takes to succeedthere is kind of the future of
what it takes to succeed inretail.
SPEAKER_03 (37:03):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (37:03):
Um, like it's the it's the front door into
Walmart.
You're looking to be at Walmart,you're probably gonna start
online.
Um, get to have firsthand dataand understand the experience
the customer has with yourproduct on this platform before
you get to experience othersides of the platform.
I think.
And when you get in the store,it doesn't change.
I mean, it doesn't change.
(37:24):
You walk around and people arelooking at the Walmart app in
the store going through whichproduct they want to buy.
SPEAKER_00 (37:28):
Like it's very much a married and here's the thing
it's like you also have to fightfor yourself.
Yeah, but if you individuallyfeel as if that you can't give
feedback, because you know a lotof the suppliers with fear of
like get kicked out, then that'swhere you hire a hunger impact,
you hire me because we're in themiddle.
And so knowing that we're notgoing to tell you what you
always want to hear, but we'regonna fight for you with Walmart
(37:51):
and say, hey, because they trustour relationship to say, Hey,
so-and-so really needs your helpbecause they're online, they're
not getting any traction.
Um, what is it that we need todo to help them be successful?
Yeah, because this is vital tothe success of your business.
SPEAKER_02 (38:07):
Yeah, yeah.
Shifting gears, maybe just alittle bit, uh still staying
with the digital.
Uh, I want to move to kind ofthe data.
Yeah.
Uh so you get some data one-commerce platforms, some get
more than others, but then onsocial, that's a whole different
kind of data, first person data.
You know, one, what are you alllooking at and analyze and be
able to like stay close to thecustomer?
(38:27):
And what could a new startupsay, uh, you know, direct to
consumer, if they got dreams tobe in stores in three or four
years, what's the data theyshould really be focusing on?
SPEAKER_00 (38:35):
I mean, we're on social, we're obsessed with the
analytics, with the insights.
I mean, if anything, socialcould tell you basically tell
tells you when to post, onceyour most successful post, who's
looking at you, what time, whatage range, everything.
SPEAKER_01 (38:52):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (38:53):
Right.
And so you actually can get moredata on social uh than you can
on a regular uh website orplatform, which is why I think
real-time data, meaning like ifyou partner, I'll make it up
with a microinfluencer, or youdo a campaign online, you can
immediately get feedback onwho's looking at it, one time
(39:15):
are they looking at it, whatthey think of it, right?
And so we're looking at ourdata.
I mean, I'm a little crazy, so Ilook at my data every week, but
we're pulling data uh sometimesdaily, depending upon the subset
and the event.
SPEAKER_01 (39:30):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (39:31):
So that makes sense.
Um, and then once you're gettingthe data, what are you doing
about it?
Yep, because a lot of times youknow, people are like, no, yeah,
I got a three and a half.
It's because that one person.
No, no, no.
What did that one person say?
SPEAKER_02 (39:45):
Right.
Don't discount it.
SPEAKER_00 (39:46):
Yeah, don't don't discount it.
And then he could sometimes youdo have to be careful because
some of it is AI, right?
It's so starting to break thatdown and what it is.
Um, but I think financially, uhthe thing that's crazy is if
you're really if you're not infood uh or you're not in some of
(40:07):
the consumable categories, it'sactually a lot harder to get
data, right?
You know, then like if you're athome or or in apparel or in a
lot of the hard lightscategories, it's really hard for
you to get like market sharedata to really understand what's
driving it versus a food and aconsumable is like, oh, you
could buy all that data.
You know what I mean?
(40:27):
And so a lot of in some of thesecategories that's driven mostly
general merchandise, a lot of itis an emotional purchase
subtops.
Uh, because the reality is ifyou're going in the store and
you're buying food, you know,most people are not going in for
general merchandise.
So you have to figure out how totake the emotional connection
(40:48):
and receive the data that youcan from the emotional
connection.
SPEAKER_02 (40:52):
Yeah.
So we call like home andsporting goods data deserts.
Yeah.
And a lot of times you have totake whatever kind of point out
there that's not considered justa point.
Number of reviews versus lastmonth or versus last year versus
your competitor, whatever it maybe, and kind of create your own
data points.
SPEAKER_00 (41:09):
Yep.
And ask the suppliers too.
Yep.
So that's another thing that Ido.
I'll be like, Do you have anydata?
And I'll be like, send my andthen I could somehow we put it
all together and we try todecipher what that data is.
Uh, and there's sometimes you'dbe surprised.
A lot of times, their data,they're just not looking at it.
SPEAKER_02 (41:27):
Yep.
There's a great story that Ilike.
Uh Elf Beauty, uh digitallynative originally, a huge, huge,
huge brand now.
Uh big presence on TikTok.
So they had a TikTok shop eventgoing on.
They were uh offering thisparticular product, but the
comments that were coming inwere asking for something that
was on their 18-month innovationfunnel.
(41:48):
So they learned from them theconsumer is much more ready for
this than than we thought.
So they moved it up 12 months.
Yeah, they got it out in sixmonths in the stores, and you
know, huge, huge success.
But they learned that by justreading the comments on their
TikTok shop.
Love that.
SPEAKER_00 (42:03):
Um, one of my clients uh was working with a
big consumable brand, and it wasuh uh in hard lights, and it was
for an air purifier, and theyhad gone through it, was they're
getting ready to set the mod, doeverything.
Um, and she posted about it.
Uh, and she was like, you know,one of the my favorite places to
(42:25):
do is to travel with it.
It's so small, and we're gonnago to hotels and da da da da da.
So somehow she ended up onInstagram live, right?
And she had at one point when Ilooked at it was like maybe
five, six thousand people on ourInstagram line all about this
humidifier.
And the client was like, This iscrazy, you've never seen that
before.
(42:45):
And we're like, We've never seenit before.
And there was about a hundredcomments on there about uh the
way the purifier worked, and itwas getting right in a set.
And when they went back andtested it, it was a problem.
SPEAKER_02 (43:01):
Oh man.
Oh wow, so they learned thatbefore a big mistake.
SPEAKER_00 (43:03):
So there's that, and she just happened to go on about
eight weeks before, and theywere able to kind of go through
and get with the manufacturerwhere a lot of it, so they were
able to negotiate to pull topush back the mod four weeks to
allow 12 weeks to try to gothrough and figure out what they
could fix it.
Now they had to kind of all thecolors weren't ready uh because
(43:25):
it was supposed to be in fourcolors, or they were able to get
two phrase.
So you just and this is bypeople saying, Hey, well, I've
seen this and this is notworking, and did it and so and I
just thought that wasinteresting.
And that was all kind of youthink about from a TikTok or
from with an Amazon live or forgoing Instagram live.
SPEAKER_02 (43:40):
Because you're not only saving the money on the
returns and the the thebuybacks, you're saving customer
loyalty for the people thatdidn't know there was ever a
problem that came, bought it,and went home and had a great
experience.
SPEAKER_00 (43:50):
There's a lot of noise in there too.
SPEAKER_02 (43:51):
Oh, yeah, sure.
unknown (43:52):
Sure.
SPEAKER_02 (43:53):
But listening and paying attention to the signals
uh matters a lot.
SPEAKER_00 (43:57):
It it really is.
I mean, essentially that's WhatI do is that I'm listening,
trying to solve the problem, andtrying to figure out how to uh
come up with an innovative wayto really shine a light on what
it is, whatever it is of doer.
SPEAKER_02 (44:14):
So you're a year-end.
And when you think about that,like who your ideal client, who
like you need Lenette, createand innovate.
SPEAKER_00 (44:24):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (44:24):
Um, a little bit about who are they and then how
do they find you.
SPEAKER_00 (44:28):
Yep.
So I think for year two, um, Ithink we're getting a lot of um,
a lot of good companies, largercompanies.
And so what we're gonna beworking on for year two is
really going after our smallbusinesses and entrepreneurs.
And so what we did is a wholepart of the business is as I
grow, I want to also be able tomake sure that I am bringing up
(44:51):
kind of the ones that are juststarting out.
And so we're creating a separatetoolkit uh just for
entrepreneurs.
It's completely different pricepoints because a lot of times
people are, you know how manytimes people have said to me,
Well, I can't afford you.
And I was like, What do youmean?
Well, how do you know that youcan afford me?
And a lot of those people Iactually brand on and I don't
charge them anything, right?
(45:12):
And then depending upon what wedevelop, then we think through
that.
Yeah, and so I would say isdeferred compensation.
Deferred compensation, exactly.
I would say is uh you're nevertoo small.
Uh all ideas are great ideas,uh, some are harder to put into
action.
And so as long as you're open toum bringing someone along with
(45:35):
your journey that can help getto get you where you need to get
to, and then I'm open.
SPEAKER_02 (45:40):
Nice.
Like it.
How they find you?
SPEAKER_00 (45:42):
How they call me.
Uh they can find me on mywebsite, uh, which is uh
www.linette create andinnovate.net.
And we can talk the differencesof.net and dot com, but we
won't.
Um Instagram, which is LynetteCreate and Innovate, uh, or or
on Facebook, uh, or on LinkedIn.
Uh so LinkedIn's under my nameunder Twila Brooks, uh, reach
(46:07):
out.
Uh I pretty much respond toevery single opponent uh by
myself um or um my team ofsocial media marketing rock
stars.
SPEAKER_01 (46:17):
Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (46:17):
Uh and we still try to operate uh the way Walmart
does, where we try to make surethat we get back to you uh
within uh the sundown rule bythe end of the day.
If we can't solve your problem,we kind of just send you an
email and be like, saw youremail.
Um we, you know, when can wemeet?
You can't do it today, or uh orI do a lot of like reefhabs and
(46:38):
so while I've watched in theDodger name on answering the
emails.
SPEAKER_02 (46:41):
There you go.
All right, go Dodgers.
All right, let's uh we like todo a lightning round.
Oh, yeah.
Oh yeah, I forgot about just afew quick uh few quick
questions.
So what's what's one big mistakeyou walked into this year that
you've learned from that I thinkwould be repeated.
SPEAKER_00 (46:58):
I don't know, but you get it.
One of my biggest mistakesprobably was I helped someone
built something um and is doingreally good, and I walked away
from uh and I walked away fromit um only because I wanted
peace.
Yeah.
Uh and so uh so it might havebeen a financial uh mistake.
(47:18):
Maybe not a mistake, but it wasa big learning great learning
for me.
People matter um and justunderstanding, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (47:26):
Feel that, yeah, for sure.
Uh what about a book, podcast,or some content you're taking in
right now?
SPEAKER_00 (47:32):
I told you, yeah.
So I love um uh Stockton Street.
I'm really uh everything thatPhoenix Williams and Serena
Williams do, uh, because theyboth were athletes as they
transition uh their career toreally being entrepreneurs and
also giving back.
SPEAKER_01 (47:48):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (47:48):
And so I listened to then.
Uh they just watched thatpodcast.
Um, I know it's gonna soundcorny, um, but I read good to
great over and over again.
SPEAKER_01 (47:58):
Oh, I love the book.
SPEAKER_00 (47:59):
Um just because for what I'm building, there's a lot
of principles that happen.
Um so I think that that's likemy most and then lastly, I know
I'm gonna sound like a brokenrecord because it's another
athlete, but uh I pretty muchlisten to Arod after Samuel
Shimori.
Nice.
And then I would say I thinkbecause of Walmart, um, I'm
(48:20):
always on the crypt sheets, Ikeep the CNBC on all the time.
Yeah.
And so it's always good to be inthe now.
SPEAKER_02 (48:26):
I love good to grade.
SPEAKER_00 (48:27):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (48:28):
Um, most surprising thing that a customer's taught
you about your brand.
SPEAKER_00 (48:33):
Uh you know, I think uh there's a couple, but one of
the most surprising things wasuh she told me not to put myself
in a box.
SPEAKER_02 (48:43):
Right.
And so And you didn't realizeyou had been doing that?
SPEAKER_00 (48:46):
And I just assumed that I had to.
SPEAKER_02 (48:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (48:49):
Right.
When you start off a business,you think, all right, well, what
someone says to you, well, whatdo you want to do?
And you just think, all right,I'm gonna consult and I'm gonna
do this.
But you know, the fastest partof our company has been brand
building uh public relations andmarketing.
So and if I kept myself in thebox that I was in for 20 plus
years of just really being inmerchandising, uh, I wouldn't
(49:14):
have the company that I havetoday.
And I think in year two, it'sgonna change because I I'll tell
you in June, I didn't have allthe clients in the back half of
the year.
I wouldn't I never even knewabout them.
SPEAKER_01 (49:28):
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_02 (49:28):
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, that's that's also the thesurprises are congrats, year
one.
Most entrepreneurs fail.
Yeah.
In year one.
Oh, do they?
And you're uh you're thriving.
Thrilled.
SPEAKER_00 (49:40):
I appreciate you to say that I'm thriving.
Uh I still have a whole likecrazy list of uh what are my
intentions for year two, whatare the goals, what are the
things that we need to work onto be better.
SPEAKER_02 (49:51):
As you should.
Yeah, come on.
SPEAKER_00 (49:53):
Yeah, and then how to take care of my people.
SPEAKER_02 (49:54):
Not sure that part changes though.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (49:56):
I'm always trying to figure out how do I take care of
my people.
SPEAKER_02 (49:58):
Yeah, yeah.
James, you're uh was it 17, 18for you?
18.
Still still basically feel thatway every year I figure out what
we need to do better and how wetake care of our people as we
grow up.
SPEAKER_00 (50:09):
You know, the thing that's interesting is I'm
dealing with a lot of people whoare a lot younger, right?
And you would think thatfinancial is the most important
thing to them.
When you build their package, alot of it is also access.
What are the things that areimportant to that?
Like I have one that like paysfor coffee every single day.
I was like, just give her a freecoffee.
SPEAKER_01 (50:30):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (50:31):
She's like, well, but then I realized she drinks
like four to five coffee.
SPEAKER_02 (50:34):
Because uh, can we afford this?
SPEAKER_00 (50:36):
Can I afford this?
SPEAKER_02 (50:39):
Yeah.
So it's stuff like that.
Thank you so much for your time.
Yeah, you're generous to behere.
And uh as always, thank you fortuning in.
Uh, you can find us uh whereveryou get your podcast or on our
website,highimpactanalytics.com, or on
YouTube.
Thank you for joining us.
Hello and welcome to the Retail Journey Podcast.
I'm one of your hosts, CharlesGreathouse.
And I am James Harris, and todaywe are talking to Twyla Brooks.
Twyla is the president, CEO, andfounder of Lynette Create and
Innovate Consulting Group.
This is Twyle's second time onthe retail journey, this time a
year after launching Lynette.
(00:30):
Welcome to the retail journey.
SPEAKER_00 (00:32):
Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_02 (00:33):
Welcome.
A whole year of your owncompany.
How are you doing?
SPEAKER_00 (00:39):
I'm doing good.
You know, every day is adifferent day.
When someone asked me, well,what's your daylight?
I was like, we could talk aboutit.
Oh, but that's the excitingpart, is no day is the same.
SPEAKER_02 (00:50):
Yeah.
So Lynette Create and Innovate.
Well, give us the high level whoyou are, who I am, what you do.
SPEAKER_00 (00:58):
Okay.
So Lynette Create and Innovate.
Most people wonder how did thename come about?
Uh Lynette is my middle name.
Um, and then when I was atLomart, I was constantly being
moved from uh different areas tohelp innovate and create new
brands.
SPEAKER_01 (01:14):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (01:15):
And so when people said, Hey, you know, why would
you want to do something on yourown?
I was like, well, I want to beable to do something that's
created and innovative.
So um it kind of just stuck.
Uh trust me, we went through abunch of names.
Yeah.
Um, but you'd be surprised howmany people have the initials
TLB.
SPEAKER_01 (01:35):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (01:36):
Uh so that didn't work out very well.
SPEAKER_01 (01:38):
Stop doing that.
SPEAKER_00 (01:39):
Uh and then I was like, maybe I'll use my last
name, which is Brooks, butthat's a pretty popular name.
SPEAKER_01 (01:44):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (01:44):
Uh taken by a pretty big uh electrical company,
Ibidit Dow.
Um, and so I kind of had to pickoutside the box.
And that's really what MonetCreating Anime is.
SPEAKER_02 (01:54):
Yeah, I love it.
It's got a great ring to it.
unknown (01:56):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (01:56):
What are your what's the highlights of the last year?
SPEAKER_00 (01:59):
Gosh, the highlights over the last year, um, we
launched a company.
We're going into our secondyear.
We launched our website.
Um, we have quite a fewconsultants that work for us.
And the great thing is I thinkwe really are starting to
understand and learn what thewhat our company is.
And so um it's digitally based,right?
(02:21):
If you think about the worldthat we live in right now,
you're not building something,whether it's a digital brand or
you're looking at the differenttype of platforms, then you're
not gonna win.
Um, and which is amazing for meconsidering I grew up in retail
where I started in retail beforeyou know we really used a
computer.
Uh to now with the fact that umAI has kind of taken over and
(02:45):
it's helping us be better andbuilt better.
And so overall, Lynette createdand innovates a brand and
marketing company uh where withan emphasis on community
relations.
And so the goal is also givingback to the Northwest Arkansas
community, which this is myhome.
Um, and I try to be a part of itas much as possible.
SPEAKER_01 (03:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (03:07):
And there's a lot of entrepreneurs to find in the
community, yes, there is,especially in Northwest
Arkansas.
So it just makes sense thatthat's a pillar.
SPEAKER_02 (03:14):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Love that.
What have been um some of theharder moments in this first
year?
It's hard to get something offthe ground.
SPEAKER_00 (03:22):
Well, you know, here's the thing, which is
crazy.
What they don't tell you is Iworked for a corporation my
entire life, right?
So even when I was in college, Iwas an athlete, right?
Where they paid you kind of, youknow, when you're an athlete, so
that someone paid for something.
And then even when I worked forRobinson's May or Macy's or for
Walmart, for the most part, Ialways got paid on the first and
(03:44):
the 15th.
So that money was always coming.
Uh, I didn't really know how topay myself.
Does that make sense?
So like I didn't reallyunderstand how, like, I would
reach out to a client and Iwould be like, Well, you haven't
paid me.
And they were like, Well, wedon't know how to pay you.
And I'd be like, Oh yeah, that'sinteresting.
(04:05):
So I could learn what, like, youknow, would you just make it
show up in the account?
SPEAKER_02 (04:08):
That'd be great.
SPEAKER_00 (04:09):
That's what I thought.
SPEAKER_02 (04:10):
They were like, Oh, okay.
Um, ACH, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (04:15):
We don't have your ACH.
I was like, What's an ACH?
And they're like a directdeposit.
SPEAKER_02 (04:19):
All the stuff every entrepreneur wants to work on
the wild of really just likesetting up like all that.
SPEAKER_00 (04:25):
The other thing that I learned is there's a big
difference between a personalaccount and a bank account.
You know, uh, there's a lot offees when you run a business.
Um, so really understanding therevenue.
Um, and I think I think for me,like um trying to balance the
time uh where before I wasworthing a lot when I was at
(04:47):
Walmart.
I'm worthing a lot now, but it'sjust a little bit different.
Uh and then lastly, choosingwhat I'm gonna work off.
And so for my team, we all votewhen a client comes in.
And so we have like I take allthe client meetings, we come
together, and then we when wehave our team meetings, we go
(05:10):
through all the new businessdevelopment and all the new
clients.
And then we talk through likewhat we think as a team we could
do.
Is it a pass?
Is this something that we wantto do?
And that's kind of how wedecide.
SPEAKER_02 (05:21):
I got fun.
SPEAKER_00 (05:21):
Um, so a lot of it is trial and error.
Um, but um, but it's been fun.
SPEAKER_02 (05:26):
I mean, I know a lot of entrepreneurs, small
businesses, that is the hardestpart of saying no to business,
particularly in the early years.
SPEAKER_00 (05:34):
Right.
Another unique, differentposition when building a company
um is because I have a littlebit of a fallback, meaning that
I invested in my career atWalmart.
And because I was an officer forseven years, I was really
conscious about saving.
And I was a part of the deferredcompensation program.
So when I went into buildingthis company, I was like, well,
(05:56):
if I don't make any money,that's fine because I have my
deferred comp.
SPEAKER_01 (06:00):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (06:00):
So I set goals for myself and I was like, well,
maybe the first year we won'tmake anything, and then the
second year, and then so far.
Um, and then when I realized, ohwell, you can actually really
make money at this.
So understanding what are ourgoals, uh, really trying to
figure out uh what to chargepeople, how to charge people.
(06:21):
One of the things that I learnedis every single relationship is
different, and the recipe has tobe different because if the
recipe is not different, thenyou're not listening to that
client or the customer.
Exactly.
And so that's the interesting,and not every single recipe is
right for that individualperson, that customer, or that
client.
SPEAKER_02 (06:40):
Yeah, I love that.
I've as the the growth guy here,I get to cur try to create most
of the deal structures to makesure that they work.
And there's a couple of like uhprinciples.
One is I feel like you know weshould earn our keep day in, day
out, like long-term contract.
That's a dumb reason to have towork with someone.
You should work with someonebecause it adds a lot of value.
(07:02):
And the second one for me islike, I don't want to receive a
resentful check from a client.
When they write you a check, itshould be like, yeah, yeah,
thank you for all of the workyou did.
Like it's so worth so worth thisvalue exchange.
You created all this value forus, and we're thrilled to be
able to pay you as a partner.
And it's like early on, notreally um understanding how to
(07:27):
structure deals and just makingsure that they're right.
You're totally right, but likethey're not all this the same.
There's just nuance because somethings are more important near
term, some more important long.
SPEAKER_00 (07:37):
And I learned a lot, you know.
We had one client who uh it wasa preparation, but then we had
to do a conference and we endedup having to be at that
conference for the most part 24hours.
And I realized the all in that Inegotiated for me and two of my
(07:58):
people, it was never gonna beenough.
SPEAKER_01 (08:00):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (08:01):
Right.
And so do you go back to thatclient and say, Hey, you
actually own the XYZ?
Um, or do you just say, you knowwhat?
When you know better, you dobetter.
Uh and then at the end, whenthat client was like, All right,
we have another anotherconference that we want you to
do, well, mistakes were made.
SPEAKER_02 (08:19):
So yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00 (08:21):
So you find like if you're buying selling houses,
you know, like what it costs tobuild a house in 2015 is
substantially different thanwhat it costs to build a house
in 2025.
SPEAKER_01 (08:30):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:31):
Uh, and then learning your value too.
And I don't know, and thatprobably is a big thing for you
guys is understanding what youryour value is, and then how do
you put a dollar amount to thatvalue?
That's something that I don'tknow if I'm ever gonna master
because I think you're alwayslearning and understanding.
Um, and my value to a smallbusiness owner, a small diverse
(08:52):
owner versus a Fortune onecompany is completely different.
SPEAKER_02 (08:58):
Yeah.
The perspective shift umhappens.
And it's really just about, youknow, we tend to think of it as
like, what are the problems tosolve?
What are the the areas ofopportunity, and how do we help
make sure that our partners areable to walk confidently into
the room um and put their bestfoot forward, not be surprised
by what was around the corner,um, or not show up not knowing
(09:21):
you know what was happeningbehind the scenes, that data
could have helped them betterunderstand you're creating and
innovating, uh, which is uh, youknow, there's there's a lot of
nuance to that.
Yeah.
And and a lot of the realizationof the value, it probably comes
later.
You know, you're you're buildingsomething that's going to launch
and then over time mature.
Yeah.
(09:42):
Yeah, that's what I was gonnasay.
The the the varying recipe, uh,especially in a creative
environment, has to be verynuanced.
SPEAKER_00 (09:51):
It's interesting because like so.
We have one client that I'vebeen working with for the last
nine months, right?
And when we first started a makeit up, their ultimate goal was
to just get into Walmart, right?
Uh, where there's so many thingsto get into Walmer, right?
But then once you're now in,like your job's not over.
SPEAKER_02 (10:10):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (10:11):
Um, because I isn't a stationary thing.
It's not a stationary thing.
And so it's constantly evolving.
And it's like, all right, well,here's the marketing, who's
insuring the execution, who'sdoing that.
Sometimes you can get caught upwith saying, Hey, your job is
done here.
Now it's also up to the client.
Do you want my job to be done?
But then it's my job to say toyou, hey, that's just step one.
(10:33):
Yeah.
Right.
Because I mean, truth be told,the easiest thing you can do is
get in.
SPEAKER_02 (10:38):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (10:39):
The hardest thing to do is to stay.
SPEAKER_02 (10:41):
Well, there's so many conversations I've had
where it starts like, hey, doyou have everything you need?
And their answer is yes.
Like, oh, good.
So, you know, you're fullyequipped online, you've got good
content scores, you'reeffectively using utilizing the
growth tools available to you ondot com.
Great, you're you have no OTIFfees.
(11:01):
You know, you walk into a linereview and you you're using data
to to tell the story of why youritem didn't just grow your
brand, but the category.
You and by the end of thoseconversations, it's like, yeah,
actually I need I do need help.
You know.
But you don't know what youdon't know.
unknown (11:16):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (11:17):
Right.
And that's that's kind of ourjob in the consulting world is
to help people know that no,there is like you know your
product really well.
There there's this other thing.
And it's whoever you're tryingto sell to, your customer, your
butt I'm also learning that theythink they know their product.
SPEAKER_00 (11:33):
Yeah, they know it in a subset.
Sure.
Right.
And then I think with, you know,we're in a paradigm shift right
now where you you have to reallyunderstand that, like, in order
for you to grow, if we'respecifically just talking
Walmer, like you can't just say,Hey, I have this amazing item
and I think you gotta have it tothe merchant, and they're gonna
be like, Oh yes, we love it fora thousand stores.
(11:56):
That those days are so far gone.
Yeah, and that if you're notnecessarily thinking about all
the possibilities, then you'resetting yourself up to fail.
SPEAKER_02 (12:04):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, launching new brands,developing brands, creating and
innovating namesake, was likeyour reputation at Walmart.
I think there's a ton of peoplewho are who would love to launch
new brands.
Um, you want to talk to us alittle bit about the journey of
like bringing in new brands toWalmart, both maybe even from
(12:27):
your internal perspective, butnow you're on the outside, you
kind of have the whole picturefor a lot of people.
SPEAKER_00 (12:34):
Ironically, I think it really started like Daf when
uh I became a buyer at my firstcompany, uh, which was uh
Robinson's Main, SouthernCalifornia, where you know I was
I've often always been theyounger side of developing
something.
(12:55):
And so I go into a room, and atthe time I was the plus size
buyer.
And like years ago, like plussizes was kind of frowned upon,
and there was no options, noclothing.
It was like basically you worelike a camp shirt and a
button-up shirt and you woreshorts.
That's all that you did.
Um, and then you know, mychallenge then was like, how can
(13:17):
you make it younger, hipper,newer?
Because at the time, the fastestgrowing of plus size women at
the time were 18 to 24.
And our average age at the timewas like 40 and up.
SPEAKER_01 (13:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (13:28):
And I was like, but we're never gonna win here.
And so I think there's quite afew things when it comes to
building brands.
I think the data's veryimportant, um, understanding
what the customer wants uh andbeing open to kind of trying new
fakes.
Yeah.
And so that actually helped meget my job at Basie's.
(13:50):
Yep.
Um, where when I was at Macy's,I literally just sat in a room
for a year and built brands.
Uh, and then from there, theywere like, oh, you know, she's
young, but she's really good.
So we're gonna throw her inwhere she's gonna work with like
Tommy Hill figure and RalphLumer and Oscar De La Renta, and
we'll see how she does.
(14:11):
Um, and I think then is when Ilearned that it wasn't just
about the brand, it was aboutthe person and the people.
Yep.
The people fall in love not onlywith the item and the product,
but they fall in love with thestory.
SPEAKER_01 (14:24):
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00 (14:25):
And so right then and there, I knew that it wasn't
just about the product, but itwas also what the story was.
And that story could be what arethe benefits, what's the
education, what does thecustomer want, what the data.
So it was for me, it was allabout reading the data and being
curious about how to evolvesomething.
Uh, and then that's how I got myjob at Walmart.
SPEAKER_01 (14:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (14:47):
Is because I had launched Tawny Hillfinger and
Oscar De La Renta.
And uh my mentor was like, I gota call from Walmart and they're
looking for a buyer to move toNew York.
I told them that you are alreadymoving to New York for Macy's,
but it's gonna take a little bitto move you away from Macy's.
Yeah.
Um, but what intrigued me aboutWalmart was that I got to launch
(15:10):
starter and dance yet.
Yep.
And then from there it justbecame kind of like this ripple
effect.
And I became kind of like, allright, you're gonna go do this
and watch this brand.
SPEAKER_02 (15:20):
We need something launched.
SPEAKER_00 (15:21):
Yeah, we need something launched, we need a
paradigm shift.
SPEAKER_02 (15:25):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (15:25):
Um, so at the time, which was probably the biggest
um jump was bedded back.
SPEAKER_01 (15:31):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (15:32):
Walmart was losing market share to bed, bath, and
beyond.
Um, their price points were notright, they couldn't go after
the better, best customer.
Um, their AUR, they were win,they were winning at the opening
price point, their quality.
And so for four four to sixmonths, we just collected data.
SPEAKER_01 (15:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (15:50):
We asked all the suppliers the same four
questions.
SPEAKER_02 (15:54):
Over that.
SPEAKER_00 (15:55):
The questions were if Walmart was going to change
programs, which program do weneed?
What are we missing?
Yeah.
Um, do you think we could sell ahigher price uh towel or a
sheet?
And what are the edu educationaltoponents?
We asked all the suppliers thesame thing.
(16:16):
And so my theory was if you canget most people to say the same
thing, you know you're on theright path.
Right.
But until you ask the question,you're never gonna know.
And so we were surprised at whatso many people said.
SPEAKER_02 (16:29):
I love that sort of leaning in on those that are in
the industry, they know theirproduct, they know the space to
then have the conversation thatat times feels like it's tough
to have.
I've noticed that being like acore strength of Twilight.
Yeah, of taking a situation thatfeels complex, that's maybe not
going the way it should, andjust driving clarity to the
(16:52):
customer, right, to the actualthing that they're asking for,
what is needed, and thendeveloping the solution to go do
that, and just a very like, yep,let's here's what we need to do,
and here's where do it.
SPEAKER_00 (17:04):
Well, my other thing too is a lot of people say no,
or they tend to say no, orthey're like, Well, we can't do
this.
Yeah.
And so my biggest question isnormally like, well, why?
SPEAKER_01 (17:14):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (17:14):
Like, why do you think that that like we were in
New York together and we werelooking for uh some brands, and
there was a supplier, quitefrankly, who had an old way of
thinking, was like, Well, if webring you something, then
Walmart's the only one thatcould have it.
And I was like, Well, why?
SPEAKER_01 (17:33):
Right, why?
SPEAKER_00 (17:34):
You know, because back the five, seven years ago,
you know, the big bad Walmart,like if we had something, nobody
else can have it.
And I was like, Well, actually,I think it's the opposite.
Anything, the goal is to givethem access.
SPEAKER_02 (17:46):
Yeah, and give them what's like shopper watching.
SPEAKER_00 (17:48):
And so I've kind of built my career kind of off of
trying to figure out the why,the why.
SPEAKER_02 (17:54):
Yeah, yeah.
So you had a unique platformwith Macy's and Walmart.
You got a lot of data, you'retalking to all the major
players.
How would you advise someoneoutside of retail?
And how do you how do yououtside of retail spot the
things that the big companiesare missing?
SPEAKER_00 (18:10):
Well, I think because I I would like to think
that I built some credibilitywith my fears and a lot of the
people inside of Walmart.
So there's a trust level, right?
So they know that I'm gonna dothe research, right?
And I'm really only going topoint out or bring something
that I truly believe is a boy.
Right.
Now it's still up to you whetheryou choose to bring it on, but I
(18:33):
might say, hey, I really thinkthis is an opportunity.
Yeah.
Uh and so it, you know, it'sit's a unique thing right now.
Um, the world that we're livingin.
SPEAKER_02 (18:41):
That's part of what's so important in this
space and yours of like sayingno.
Yeah.
Of having the courage to pass.
Because if you're saying yes tothings that you don't actually
think are a good idea, like thenyou lose your credibility.
And that's that credibilitywe've earned, you've earned over
time by just like holding toconviction and and understanding
(19:04):
the market, knowing the customerwell enough.
SPEAKER_00 (19:07):
And people will start to kind of A, you lose
trust, and people will start toreally kind of, you know,
question yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:14):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (19:14):
Right?
You know what I mean?
And so, you know, Charles and Ihad the great opportunity to go
to New York or we met with somany different people that are
offered us so many differentthings.
And, you know, we were verynice, you know, during it, but
then after we had our beefers,we're like, beat, why would we
ever?
Right?
Is that if anything, the metricsto get past F us has to be even
(19:37):
higher.
Yeah.
Um then before we would evenconsider it.
And so, um, and that's what Iwant my clients to know is that
I'm gonna treat you um as ifthat I'm pretty much running
your company, right?
And I'm not gonna put you in asituation that I don't
personally think is the rightdecision.
Now, I'm not gonna geteverything right.
(19:59):
I, you know, I do make my ownmistakes.
Um, but I mean, if you don'ttry, how are you gonna know?
And then if you go in the if byif and I'm very clear that I'll
be like, I don't have the answerfor that.
Um, but the data tells me thatthis is where I think you should
go.
Well, there's nothing that's100%.
SPEAKER_02 (20:16):
Well, you bring up a good point, you know, when we
when you're in a circumstancelike us where we're trying to
find opportunities, brands,companies, uh, match them to
opportunities.
It's easy to see and hear whatyou want to see and hear.
Yeah.
Right.
And to but to keep that clarityof no, this is this is where I'm
going.
You kind of already have to havea little direction in mind
(20:37):
before you walk into the room.
SPEAKER_00 (20:38):
And I love uh walking competition.
I love seeing what's happeningin the store.
I love to see where ever peopleeveryone's doing.
We try to do that twice a monthon my team.
Uh going for all the categoriesfor just kind of walking.
Um, I think it's superimportant.
Um, I was in a meeting today andI heard someone say uh that uh
(21:02):
stealing shamelessly is not aproblem, it's just research.
SPEAKER_01 (21:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (21:09):
Yeah, you live where we call it stealing with pride.
SPEAKER_00 (21:11):
Exactly.
Exactly.
So yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (21:14):
Yeah, a lot of research, and we got to see a
lot of retail in New York.
That was fun.
Um a lot of new ones.
So you mentioned digitalearlier.
Um can we talk a little bitabout that?
Um, it's been a big part of yourgrowth.
What, you know, what's what aresome I don't know, somebody's
starting out some practicaldigital strategies they could
(21:35):
employ that don't also bearingin mind like we don't all have
those enormous budgets, right?
SPEAKER_00 (21:41):
Well, I think you know it's interesting because um
people say to me, um, it's sodifferent what you were doing at
Walmart, right?
Where like I was inmerchandising for the most part,
I had like a hundred people, nowall of a sudden I have like five
people, and I've having thatbuild decks, work on social
media, do different things,which is completely different
than what.
I was doing before.
SPEAKER_01 (22:01):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (22:01):
Um, but a lot of it is there's a lot of people on on
social media and on theseplatforms that are doing so much
of a better job than we are,right?
And so, like with AI, you know,you have to be careful, right?
But we use chat to VT all thetime.
When we have our meetings, we dootter AI.
We take the meeting notes,right?
(22:23):
Because there's a bunch of stuffthat might have been said from
someone else that's a reallygood nugget that we might have
missed.
Um, so I think that that'sreally important.
Um learning how to build yourown websites, right?
Learning how to use QuickBooksand do different financials.
It's all a platform.
SPEAKER_01 (22:40):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (22:40):
Right.
And the great thing about theseplatforms is some of a lot of
them are free.
Right.
So some of them may not be asgreat, but then some if you if
you're spending$129 for a yearand that's going to help build a
small company, right?
Then you have to decide, is therisk really worth it?
And I think it is.
SPEAKER_01 (23:01):
Of course.
SPEAKER_00 (23:01):
And so, you know, we do a lot of us, a lot, and our
company is building brandassets.
So Canva's a huge, yeah, huge.
I mean, everything that we do,and most of my young teen, they
average our average ages, well,not my average age, but they're
average like three, four yearsold.
SPEAKER_02 (23:19):
Oh, yeah.
Well, and that the AI plugin inCanva that came out this past
year, it's reallytransformative.
SPEAKER_00 (23:26):
Well, not only is it transformative, it's like you
don't have to use a separatethird party, yeah, like to do it
because Canva will do it foryou.
We use Firefly for Adobe a lot,uh, which to be quite honest, I
probably would have never usedif it wasn't for a client Ad
Fury AI that we took on at thebeginning of the year and we
went to the Adobe Summit in uhin Vegas.
(23:48):
I we would have never used that,but we use that to help us build
strategic decks uh becausePowerPoint's kind of out there.
Yeah.
Um, and then I have anotherperson on my team that does
product development andsourcing, and she builds all her
decks uh all the AI.
SPEAKER_02 (24:07):
It's a brave new world.
So it's it's it's it's staying.
Yeah.
Just got a proofread, make sureit didn't have yes, a lot of
times.
Any brain farts along thearticle?
SPEAKER_00 (24:16):
Is it's like the platform, you you have to be
careful because sometimes you sopart of what we're also building
is building relationships andthat authenticity.
So a lot of times when I I'mgoing through it, I'm like, does
that sound like something that Iwould say?
SPEAKER_01 (24:30):
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00 (24:31):
And then sometimes I still haven't found the perfect
platform that really meets thecustomer where they need to be,
and that's where I am.
SPEAKER_02 (24:39):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I don't think it fullyreplaces human capital.
SPEAKER_00 (24:44):
And I think that that's what people need to
understand.
I think you need to understandit.
You need to accept it and makeit be a part of the process, but
remember that you are that humanconnection.
SPEAKER_02 (24:54):
I read a really fascinating article a week or
two ago, and it was from a groupthat expected AI to win this
debate.
And it was they put a group of10 coders in this room and gave
them a project, didn't have AI.
A group of 10, same project, didhave AI, and they were looking
for efficiencies.
And the group with AI took 20%longer than the other group
(25:18):
because there were errors in thecard.
Right.
So you so you gotta check thework, and it will get smarter
over time, and you can trainyour own GPTs to help to pick up
your voice to pick up thosethings.
But yeah, it's uh it's acontinuum.
Like it's uh makes 100%.
It's a use and a trust bootcurve.
SPEAKER_00 (25:35):
And I have like people that like, you know, I'm
really I really love SerenaWilliams because obviously I was
an athlete.
She just watched uh Stockton umplace or Stockton Street because
they grew up on Stockton Streetand in uh Compton.
Uh so her and her sister.
So she's talking about venturecapitalism and entrepreneurs and
(25:56):
how to look, how to spotdifferent types of clients that
uh and it was like eye-openingfor me, uh, because everyone's
like, oh, you're into so manydifferent things.
And so for me, is it's about thecuriosity of me also wanting to
know like about that particularsegment, where before I was kind
(26:19):
of uh a little bit in the samesegment at all work.
Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_02 (26:23):
Yeah, so you have a vertical, you you you have this
area you're responsible for.
SPEAKER_00 (26:26):
Well, you know, I've been able to do like technology
and like social media at PR andbrands and strategies and you
know, home and food and bev outlike all over zaplet.
Yeah, spirits.
SPEAKER_02 (26:41):
Yeah, I enjoy the uh diverse experience in in this
kind of world where you get towork across a lot of different
and I'm doing that intentionalin.
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00 (26:52):
So I'm because everyone's like, well, why
aren't you uh, you know, youhave such a experience in
apparel.
Yeah, right.
You were in apparel for 25years.
Why aren't you why don't youhave any apparel companies?
I'm doing that intentional.
SPEAKER_01 (27:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (27:06):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, and and it's it's theproblems from one category to
another, some of them are thesame.
Yeah, but then it's kind of funto like learn that new thing.
SPEAKER_00 (27:16):
Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (27:17):
And and then you can reapply it to the original.
SPEAKER_00 (27:19):
Yeah, like which is my favorite two categories,
which is weird, is um for me,because I don't have experience
with either one of them mostlyis spirits, right?
I don't really drink like hardliquor, right?
But I find myself rapping analcohol company and a bourbon
company.
Yeah, right, which is veryinteresting.
(27:41):
Yeah, right.
And then we just have on a petcompany where I have the pets,
right?
Like, I mean, I would probablyhave like a fish or something.
Yeah, um, but my pets are likemy pets.
Like, I'm sorry, my plants.
Yeah, non-bumps of pets.
But it comes down to thecustomer, the data, and what
does the customer want, not whatthe I want.
SPEAKER_02 (28:01):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (28:02):
Right.
Uh and I think that that'simportant.
SPEAKER_02 (28:04):
When the plants you can just set it to be water and
you don't have to pet it.
SPEAKER_00 (28:07):
Not really.
But I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_02 (28:11):
So when it comes to understanding what customers
want and um helping them findthe products they're looking
for, this new age of digitalmarketing, there's a lot that's
changed.
This is also a core strength ofwhere and how you show up.
unknown (28:27):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (28:28):
Where do you see people walking in with the wrong
assumptions uh into digitalmarketing?
Where do you typically have tohelp people readjust their
plans?
SPEAKER_00 (28:39):
Oh, I think right now it's having a lot of them,
especially a lot of the bigcompanies who've had so much
success with just being instore, I think they're
struggling the most, right?
Because they look at it as it'sthe work is harder and it's
easier for me to just bring anitem and then get it online.
Uh, and I feel as if that a lotof them are not willing to adapt
(29:02):
because they think it's gonna beharder.
SPEAKER_01 (29:05):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (29:05):
Right.
And so, um, and for me, what I'mfiguring out is just offering a
piece of the solution, right?
We're not changing it uh becauseI'm not a company that has, you
know, hundreds of millions ofdollars, but I'm actually
arguing the exact copyright.
Right.
So even if you think aboutmarket, right, gone are the days
(29:27):
where people are well, peopleare still doing it.
It's nothing against very largeadvertising companies that you
have millions and millions ofdollars of budgets to hire a
huge actor um to commercial toreally go after a product.
Yeah, right.
A, you everything from yourphone, right?
(29:47):
These phones are like reallygood.
SPEAKER_01 (29:49):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (29:50):
Uh and you could really target a subset of people
and get immediate feedbackwithout having to wait a month
to basically negotiate thatactor's contract to figure out
how to align schedules, to comeup with the brief to do that.
You know, uh sometimes it doestake a while, but you know, we
(30:12):
had one campaign that weparticipated in uh with Walmart
for it was a Barney commercialwith Mattel, and it was all done
basically for a social mediacampaign.
So it might have been a hundredthousand dollars versus a
million dollars, yeah, but themetrics on that hundred thousand
was so much better than themillion dollars because it was
(30:34):
going after everybody on socialmedia.
SPEAKER_01 (30:36):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (30:36):
So understanding the target, understanding how what's
the best suit way to basicallysell that product, uh, and my
job is to go after that youngercustomer.
SPEAKER_02 (30:48):
Uh and so thought it's not just about, you know,
bang for the buck or spendingless.
It's about no, no, you you justyou're not gonna reach the
customer you're looking for inthat platform or that I don't
think I classify to be thatyounger customer.
And every Sunday I'm humiliatedwhen I look at how many hours a
day I was on my phone.
(31:09):
Never watch television as longas nobody looked at me quite
those.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (31:14):
And I think that that's what's so exciting.
And that and it it's kind of aconnected thread uh for me
because even when I was atWalmart, it's just the model is
continuing to change.
SPEAKER_01 (31:25):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (31:26):
And it's whether or not we're willing to uh
understand what access, accesslooks a little bit different,
yeah, how they're basicallyengaging with that uh that
content and then go from there.
SPEAKER_02 (31:38):
So, future question what's the future of e-commerce
and retail?
SPEAKER_00 (31:43):
Well, I mean, I think the future of e-commerce
and retail, no one really knowsit, which I think it's actually
good.
SPEAKER_01 (31:49):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (31:49):
Does that make sense?
Because that still gives you thevessel where you're constantly
going to learn and there'ssomething new to learn, right?
Versus right now, if you're notfiguring out how to utilize
social media and the platformsin order to drive digital
marketing, then you've alreadylost.
Yeah.
Right.
So what I say to my customers,every single item that I bring
on, I need to understand what isyour what's your content
(32:12):
strategy.
That's a part of your pitch.
SPEAKER_02 (32:14):
Yep.
Social commerce is the thingthat I'm wanting to learn about
right now because I mean it'sbig here.
Yep.
Uh, but if you look in like inChina, for instance, yeah, we're
China where they were seven oreight years.
SPEAKER_00 (32:26):
Seven or eight years ago.
We're we're we're alreadybeyond, right?
So if you look at TikTok shop,TikTok shop was the number three
Shah on Amazon, and that wasbasically a bunch of TikTok
people who are basically drivingcommerce through items.
And now one of the fastestgrowing segments is kind of an
old segment, is taking, youknow, the home shopping network,
(32:46):
sure, right, which was QVC anddoing it on Amazon Live, right?
And typically, or if you take adifferent model, let's take the
US Open for tennis, right?
They were they're trying tofigure out why the US Open one
of the most profitablecompetitions, championships,
like sports, is because if youlook at all the boxes, all the
(33:09):
boxes are companies.
And what do they do?
They're selling product.
What do they do?
They get 10 to 15 influencerscome in where they basically pay
them a little bit of money,right?
Give them all free product, getthem into the US Open, right?
Where typically to go to the USOpen to be in a box,$1,000 to
$2,000, right?
(33:30):
So now they're like, oh, alltheir followers are like, wow,
you're at the US Open.
And now, you know, I mean, lookat Raising Cates, right?
Raising Keynes has one of themost social and marketing
profitable businesses you'llever know.
And you just thought it was adrive-through.
Right.
But if you think about whatthey're doing from a social
media and a commerce standpoint,their marketing is beyond.
(33:54):
And so, in order for you to besuccessful in this day, if
you're running a broker ship andconsultant or whatever you're
doing, you have to be aware ofwhat's out there.
Truth be told, I was not aware.
We had the little fakes when Iwas in men's and we worked with
Shapp or we worked with KevinDarnett, and we had the whole
and one thing.
We used to do uh, you know, thebasketballs and the parks or
(34:15):
whatever like that, but it's acompletely different thing.
SPEAKER_02 (34:17):
Yeah.
Now it's a primary vehicle, notprimary vehicle, not an
ancillary thing that some peopleare into.
SPEAKER_00 (34:23):
Exactly.
SPEAKER_02 (34:23):
Um, yeah, it's perfect.
As far as like this sort ofmyth, I feel like is
misunderstood.
And I think a lot of people areare sort of stuck on where
marketing spend should exist,where it shouldn't.
Another area is like e-commerce.
So you you start with Amazon,you've got a great business on
Amazon, you open a Walmartthird-party marketplace, and
(34:46):
you're like, nah, it doesn't dothat well, and you end up
spending your time on Amazon.
I think people are just missingthe point of how this platform
can be so effective in talkingto uh suppliers or brands as
they're trying to prioritizewhere they can grow.
How do you help folks understandthe opportunity that does exist
(35:07):
with Walmart.com?
SPEAKER_00 (35:09):
Well, I think the reality of the situation is
Walmart versus Amazon, Walmarthas an opportunity, right?
So, you know, but they're it's aunique subset, right?
Because they have all thesestores and they're very
successful and they're doinggreat.
Uh, and so they have to get outof their mind that A, they're
never gonna be Amazon.
To be frank, they should beAmazon, yeah, right, because
(35:31):
they are unique in theirproposition and Amazon can never
do what Walmart could do.
SPEAKER_02 (35:36):
Right.
Be Walmart.
SPEAKER_00 (35:37):
Be Walmart.
SPEAKER_02 (35:38):
When it comes to advice for the supplier and
like, hey, what what do peopletypically miss?
Yeah.
If like, hey, it's not workingfor you right now, what should
you be doing differently toreally get the most out of this
e-commerce platform?
SPEAKER_00 (35:52):
Well, I oh, first of all, I think that they it has to
be a part of their model.
So I think every supplier, ifthey want to be successful, they
have to be on moment.com.
SPEAKER_02 (36:01):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (36:02):
Right.
Number one.
SPEAKER_02 (36:03):
And being on, yes.
And succeeding aren'tnecessarily the same thing.
Totally different.
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (36:08):
And then understanding what is it that
you're getting from yourmerchant, right?
Are you one P?
Are you three P?
SPEAKER_01 (36:14):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (36:15):
Uh, what type of resources do you have to ensure
that you have the integrity ofwhat you have?
That's something at yourcomments, what's your how are
you shipping, all that?
That's vital.
From there, I think, is ifyou're truly trying to drive a
product, right?
What type of marketing are youdoing?
SPEAKER_01 (36:31):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (36:31):
Uh so I think that that is where there would have
been time where even I wouldhave been like, huh, Walmart got
God.
Uh, but if you look at where theworld is right now, like
Walmart's gonna figure it out.
You just don't want to be a leftone.
SPEAKER_02 (36:46):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, it's growing rapidly.
And yeah, I think a lot of folkshave sort of set in their minds
what it is and what it isn't.
Yeah.
And the reality is like it'sit's changing, it's rapidly
changing.
And what it takes to succeedthere is kind of the future of
what it takes to succeed inretail.
SPEAKER_03 (37:03):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (37:03):
Um, like it's the it's the front door into
Walmart.
You're looking to be at Walmart,you're probably gonna start
online.
Um, get to have firsthand dataand understand the experience
the customer has with yourproduct on this platform before
you get to experience othersides of the platform.
I think.
And when you get in the store,it doesn't change.
I mean, it doesn't change.
(37:24):
You walk around and people arelooking at the Walmart app in
the store going through whichproduct they want to buy.
SPEAKER_00 (37:28):
Like it's very much a married and here's the thing
it's like you also have to fightfor yourself.
Yeah, but if you individuallyfeel as if that you can't give
feedback, because you know a lotof the suppliers with fear of
like get kicked out, then that'swhere you hire a hunger impact,
you hire me because we're in themiddle.
And so knowing that we're notgoing to tell you what you
always want to hear, but we'regonna fight for you with Walmart
(37:51):
and say, hey, because they trustour relationship to say, Hey,
so-and-so really needs your helpbecause they're online, they're
not getting any traction.
Um, what is it that we need todo to help them be successful?
Yeah, because this is vital tothe success of your business.
SPEAKER_02 (38:07):
Yeah, yeah.
Shifting gears, maybe just alittle bit, uh still staying
with the digital.
Uh, I want to move to kind ofthe data.
Yeah.
Uh so you get some data one-commerce platforms, some get
more than others, but then onsocial, that's a whole different
kind of data, first person data.
You know, one, what are you alllooking at and analyze and be
able to like stay close to thecustomer?
(38:27):
And what could a new startupsay, uh, you know, direct to
consumer, if they got dreams tobe in stores in three or four
years, what's the data theyshould really be focusing on?
SPEAKER_00 (38:35):
I mean, we're on social, we're obsessed with the
analytics, with the insights.
I mean, if anything, socialcould tell you basically tell
tells you when to post, onceyour most successful post, who's
looking at you, what time, whatage range, everything.
SPEAKER_01 (38:52):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (38:53):
Right.
And so you actually can get moredata on social uh than you can
on a regular uh website orplatform, which is why I think
real-time data, meaning like ifyou partner, I'll make it up
with a microinfluencer, or youdo a campaign online, you can
immediately get feedback onwho's looking at it, one time
(39:15):
are they looking at it, whatthey think of it, right?
And so we're looking at ourdata.
I mean, I'm a little crazy, so Ilook at my data every week, but
we're pulling data uh sometimesdaily, depending upon the subset
and the event.
SPEAKER_01 (39:30):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (39:31):
So that makes sense.
Um, and then once you're gettingthe data, what are you doing
about it?
Yep, because a lot of times youknow, people are like, no, yeah,
I got a three and a half.
It's because that one person.
No, no, no.
What did that one person say?
SPEAKER_02 (39:45):
Right.
Don't discount it.
SPEAKER_00 (39:46):
Yeah, don't don't discount it.
And then he could sometimes youdo have to be careful because
some of it is AI, right?
It's so starting to break thatdown and what it is.
Um, but I think financially, uhthe thing that's crazy is if
you're really if you're not infood uh or you're not in some of
(40:07):
the consumable categories, it'sactually a lot harder to get
data, right?
You know, then like if you're athome or or in apparel or in a
lot of the hard lightscategories, it's really hard for
you to get like market sharedata to really understand what's
driving it versus a food and aconsumable is like, oh, you
could buy all that data.
You know what I mean?
(40:27):
And so a lot of in some of thesecategories that's driven mostly
general merchandise, a lot of itis an emotional purchase
subtops.
Uh, because the reality is ifyou're going in the store and
you're buying food, you know,most people are not going in for
general merchandise.
So you have to figure out how totake the emotional connection
(40:48):
and receive the data that youcan from the emotional
connection.
SPEAKER_02 (40:52):
Yeah.
So we call like home andsporting goods data deserts.
Yeah.
And a lot of times you have totake whatever kind of point out
there that's not considered justa point.
Number of reviews versus lastmonth or versus last year versus
your competitor, whatever it maybe, and kind of create your own
data points.
SPEAKER_00 (41:09):
Yep.
And ask the suppliers too.
Yep.
So that's another thing that Ido.
I'll be like, Do you have anydata?
And I'll be like, send my andthen I could somehow we put it
all together and we try todecipher what that data is.
Uh, and there's sometimes you'dbe surprised.
A lot of times, their data,they're just not looking at it.
SPEAKER_02 (41:27):
Yep.
There's a great story that Ilike.
Uh Elf Beauty, uh digitallynative originally, a huge, huge,
huge brand now.
Uh big presence on TikTok.
So they had a TikTok shop eventgoing on.
They were uh offering thisparticular product, but the
comments that were coming inwere asking for something that
was on their 18-month innovationfunnel.
(41:48):
So they learned from them theconsumer is much more ready for
this than than we thought.
So they moved it up 12 months.
Yeah, they got it out in sixmonths in the stores, and you
know, huge, huge success.
But they learned that by justreading the comments on their
TikTok shop.
Love that.
SPEAKER_00 (42:03):
Um, one of my clients uh was working with a
big consumable brand, and it wasuh uh in hard lights, and it was
for an air purifier, and theyhad gone through it, was they're
getting ready to set the mod, doeverything.
Um, and she posted about it.
Uh, and she was like, you know,one of the my favorite places to
(42:25):
do is to travel with it.
It's so small, and we're gonnago to hotels and da da da da da.
So somehow she ended up onInstagram live, right?
And she had at one point when Ilooked at it was like maybe
five, six thousand people on ourInstagram line all about this
humidifier.
And the client was like, This iscrazy, you've never seen that
before.
(42:45):
And we're like, We've never seenit before.
And there was about a hundredcomments on there about uh the
way the purifier worked, and itwas getting right in a set.
And when they went back andtested it, it was a problem.
SPEAKER_02 (43:01):
Oh man.
Oh wow, so they learned thatbefore a big mistake.
SPEAKER_00 (43:03):
So there's that, and she just happened to go on about
eight weeks before, and theywere able to kind of go through
and get with the manufacturerwhere a lot of it, so they were
able to negotiate to pull topush back the mod four weeks to
allow 12 weeks to try to gothrough and figure out what they
could fix it.
Now they had to kind of all thecolors weren't ready uh because
(43:25):
it was supposed to be in fourcolors, or they were able to get
two phrase.
So you just and this is bypeople saying, Hey, well, I've
seen this and this is notworking, and did it and so and I
just thought that wasinteresting.
And that was all kind of youthink about from a TikTok or
from with an Amazon live or forgoing Instagram live.
SPEAKER_02 (43:40):
Because you're not only saving the money on the
returns and the the thebuybacks, you're saving customer
loyalty for the people thatdidn't know there was ever a
problem that came, bought it,and went home and had a great
experience.
SPEAKER_00 (43:50):
There's a lot of noise in there too.
SPEAKER_02 (43:51):
Oh, yeah, sure.
unknown (43:52):
Sure.
SPEAKER_02 (43:53):
But listening and paying attention to the signals
uh matters a lot.
SPEAKER_00 (43:57):
It it really is.
I mean, essentially that's WhatI do is that I'm listening,
trying to solve the problem, andtrying to figure out how to uh
come up with an innovative wayto really shine a light on what
it is, whatever it is of doer.
SPEAKER_02 (44:14):
So you're a year-end.
And when you think about that,like who your ideal client, who
like you need Lenette, createand innovate.
SPEAKER_00 (44:24):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (44:24):
Um, a little bit about who are they and then how
do they find you.
SPEAKER_00 (44:28):
Yep.
So I think for year two, um, Ithink we're getting a lot of um,
a lot of good companies, largercompanies.
And so what we're gonna beworking on for year two is
really going after our smallbusinesses and entrepreneurs.
And so what we did is a wholepart of the business is as I
grow, I want to also be able tomake sure that I am bringing up
(44:51):
kind of the ones that are juststarting out.
And so we're creating a separatetoolkit uh just for
entrepreneurs.
It's completely different pricepoints because a lot of times
people are, you know how manytimes people have said to me,
Well, I can't afford you.
And I was like, What do youmean?
Well, how do you know that youcan afford me?
And a lot of those people Iactually brand on and I don't
charge them anything, right?
(45:12):
And then depending upon what wedevelop, then we think through
that.
Yeah, and so I would say isdeferred compensation.
Deferred compensation, exactly.
I would say is uh you're nevertoo small.
Uh all ideas are great ideas,uh, some are harder to put into
action.
And so as long as you're open toum bringing someone along with
(45:35):
your journey that can help getto get you where you need to get
to, and then I'm open.
SPEAKER_02 (45:40):
Nice.
Like it.
How they find you?
SPEAKER_00 (45:42):
How they call me.
Uh they can find me on mywebsite, uh, which is uh
www.linette create andinnovate.net.
And we can talk the differencesof.net and dot com, but we
won't.
Um Instagram, which is LynetteCreate and Innovate, uh, or or
on Facebook, uh, or on LinkedIn.
Uh so LinkedIn's under my nameunder Twila Brooks, uh, reach
(46:07):
out.
Uh I pretty much respond toevery single opponent uh by
myself um or um my team ofsocial media marketing rock
stars.
SPEAKER_01 (46:17):
Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (46:17):
Uh and we still try to operate uh the way Walmart
does, where we try to make surethat we get back to you uh
within uh the sundown rule bythe end of the day.
If we can't solve your problem,we kind of just send you an
email and be like, saw youremail.
Um we, you know, when can wemeet?
You can't do it today, or uh orI do a lot of like reefhabs and
(46:38):
so while I've watched in theDodger name on answering the
emails.
SPEAKER_02 (46:41):
There you go.
All right, go Dodgers.
All right, let's uh we like todo a lightning round.
Oh, yeah.
Oh yeah, I forgot about just afew quick uh few quick
questions.
So what's what's one big mistakeyou walked into this year that
you've learned from that I thinkwould be repeated.
SPEAKER_00 (46:58):
I don't know, but you get it.
One of my biggest mistakesprobably was I helped someone
built something um and is doingreally good, and I walked away
from uh and I walked away fromit um only because I wanted
peace.
Yeah.
Uh and so uh so it might havebeen a financial uh mistake.
(47:18):
Maybe not a mistake, but it wasa big learning great learning
for me.
People matter um and justunderstanding, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (47:26):
Feel that, yeah, for sure.
Uh what about a book, podcast,or some content you're taking in
right now?
SPEAKER_00 (47:32):
I told you, yeah.
So I love um uh Stockton Street.
I'm really uh everything thatPhoenix Williams and Serena
Williams do, uh, because theyboth were athletes as they
transition uh their career toreally being entrepreneurs and
also giving back.
SPEAKER_01 (47:48):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (47:48):
And so I listened to then.
Uh they just watched thatpodcast.
Um, I know it's gonna soundcorny, um, but I read good to
great over and over again.
SPEAKER_01 (47:58):
Oh, I love the book.
SPEAKER_00 (47:59):
Um just because for what I'm building, there's a lot
of principles that happen.
Um so I think that that's likemy most and then lastly, I know
I'm gonna sound like a brokenrecord because it's another
athlete, but uh I pretty muchlisten to Arod after Samuel
Shimori.
Nice.
And then I would say I thinkbecause of Walmart, um, I'm
(48:20):
always on the crypt sheets, Ikeep the CNBC on all the time.
Yeah.
And so it's always good to be inthe now.
SPEAKER_02 (48:26):
I love good to grade.
SPEAKER_00 (48:27):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (48:28):
Um, most surprising thing that a customer's taught
you about your brand.
SPEAKER_00 (48:33):
Uh you know, I think uh there's a couple, but one of
the most surprising things wasuh she told me not to put myself
in a box.
SPEAKER_02 (48:43):
Right.
And so And you didn't realizeyou had been doing that?
SPEAKER_00 (48:46):
And I just assumed that I had to.
SPEAKER_02 (48:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (48:49):
Right.
When you start off a business,you think, all right, well, what
someone says to you, well, whatdo you want to do?
And you just think, all right,I'm gonna consult and I'm gonna
do this.
But you know, the fastest partof our company has been brand
building uh public relations andmarketing.
So and if I kept myself in thebox that I was in for 20 plus
years of just really being inmerchandising, uh, I wouldn't
(49:14):
have the company that I havetoday.
And I think in year two, it'sgonna change because I I'll tell
you in June, I didn't have allthe clients in the back half of
the year.
I wouldn't I never even knewabout them.
SPEAKER_01 (49:28):
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_02 (49:28):
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, that's that's also the thesurprises are congrats, year
one.
Most entrepreneurs fail.
Yeah.
In year one.
Oh, do they?
And you're uh you're thriving.
Thrilled.
SPEAKER_00 (49:40):
I appreciate you to say that I'm thriving.
Uh I still have a whole likecrazy list of uh what are my
intentions for year two, whatare the goals, what are the
things that we need to work onto be better.
SPEAKER_02 (49:51):
As you should.
Yeah, come on.
SPEAKER_00 (49:53):
Yeah, and then how to take care of my people.
SPEAKER_02 (49:54):
Not sure that part changes though.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (49:56):
I'm always trying to figure out how do I take care of
my people.
SPEAKER_02 (49:58):
Yeah, yeah.
James, you're uh was it 17, 18for you?
18.
Still still basically feel thatway every year I figure out what
we need to do better and how wetake care of our people as we
grow up.
SPEAKER_00 (50:09):
You know, the thing that's interesting is I'm
dealing with a lot of people whoare a lot younger, right?
And you would think thatfinancial is the most important
thing to them.
When you build their package, alot of it is also access.
What are the things that areimportant to that?
Like I have one that like paysfor coffee every single day.
I was like, just give her a freecoffee.
SPEAKER_01 (50:30):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (50:31):
She's like, well, but then I realized she drinks
like four to five coffee.
SPEAKER_02 (50:34):
Because uh, can we afford this?
SPEAKER_00 (50:36):
Can I afford this?
SPEAKER_02 (50:39):
Yeah.
So it's stuff like that.
Thank you so much for your time.
Yeah, you're generous to behere.
And uh as always, thank you fortuning in.
Uh, you can find us uh whereveryou get your podcast or on our
website,highimpactanalytics.com, or on
YouTube.
Thank you for joining us.
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