September 20, 2024 • 41 mins
Welcome to another exciting episode of The TradeMarke, your go-to podcast for everything marketing in the trades! In this episode, hosts Sarah Ghirardo and Eric Thomas are joined by the incredible Felicity Monsees. Together, they delve into the intriguing world of trades marketing, exploring insights, stories, and strategies that unite the trades and marketing industries.
The conversation kicks off with a fun icebreaker about favorite road trip candies, setting the stage for an engaging and informative discussion. Felicity shares her unique journey into the chimney industry and how she founded Hearthside Hustle, a business dedicated to helping clients with proper SOPs, employee buy-in, and effective marketing strategies.
Discover the importance of immersive training for frontline staff, and how virtual reality is revolutionizing training in the chimney industry. Felicity also emphasizes the significance of building company culture, employee confidence, and having hard conversations to eliminate workplace drama.
Join us for an episode filled with valuable insights, laughter, and a deep dive into the world of trades marketing. Don't forget to leave us a review, share the episode with a friend, and let us know your thoughts!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
But what is going on, everyone? Welcome back.
Welcome one, welcome all to the greatest podcast episode you've ever listened to.
Why, you wonder? Well, it's because we have a very special guest with us.
No other than Felicity Moncease from Hard Side Hustle.
Very excited. We're going to be talking about a lot of stuff here today,
(00:21):
and I can't wait to just dig in.
So let's go ahead and get started. Step into The Trade Mark,
your go-to podcast for everything marketing in the trades.
Hosted by award-winning industry marketing expert, Sarah Gerardo from Remarkable
and Eric Thomas from Rival Journal.
Together, we're here to unite the worlds of trades and marketing,
(00:43):
bringing you insights, stories, and strategies from the heart of the industry.
Whether you're a trade professional, a marketing expert, or somewhere in between,
this is the place for you.
You listen in as we're here for the big ideas the game changers and the everyday
successes because at the trademark we're with the trades and for the trade.
(01:07):
What's going on hey i've got a really good icebreaker just
to keep the conversation going from backstage all-time favorite
candy i know that we that we had rattled
off a few but like what's like that one candy where it's like you're heading
out for a long road trip like three and a half hour car ride and you're at the
gas station you're just like i'm going inside to get like what is it jelly beans
(01:30):
hamstown jelly beans every time pina colada that's a good choice,
that's a good choice sarah how about you i'm definitely a sour patch kid.
Girl and like i only really like the lemon and the green ones so lemon and lime
and the same Same with jelly beans.
(01:51):
Like I will only buy the lemon and the lime ones.
The yellow Sour Patch Kids get me. Those are sour ones.
I would say for a car ride, it's a toss up between sour gummy worms and then
like the big bag of peanut M&Ms.
Those are good for, I like those for a road trip.
(02:11):
I like to like crack it in half, pull the peanut out, eat the other half of
the chocolate. Uh-huh. Just get both.
Yeah. So it like goes to your OCD side a little bit where you get to like,
you know, pay attention to something else.
And there has to be a process.
You can't just eat it. Like step one, crack it in half. Step two,
(02:32):
pull out the peanuts. Step three, eat the other half.
Like that's the problem. It's a standard operating procedure for eating peanut M&Ms.
You also have to organize them if you're a passenger because you can organize them into colors.
Yeah absolutely or eat them by color I mean we all have done that as well like.
(02:57):
Well, super glad to have you on the trademark today.
Super glad because you're in an industry that we are learning about as we go.
And also, like, you know, you're just starting this business and you're doing
new and exciting things.
And we're so excited for you. We just want to hear all about it.
(03:18):
So first, can you tell us how you got into this chimney industry?
Sure. How I got into the chimney industry is actually really similar to how
I got into the trades in general.
So two little accidents happened. I was happy accidents for sure.
I was like 18. And I started working for a company that is today they're known
(03:43):
as dot com and they're owned by Ferguson. But back in the day,
they were improvement direct.
We were ImprovementDirect, LightingDirect, PlumbingDirect, VentingPipe.com, and MoreHome.com.
Luckily, thank the heavens, MoreHome got tired.
(04:03):
Because I still don't know how to repair shipped furniture without it arriving in a million pieces.
It's a mystery of life. Yeah, absolutely.
Back then, I worked as a CSR. It was a bunch of college buddies.
Originally, it was started by a friend of mine who thought, hey,
(04:26):
I'm working for Slaky Brothers.
It was the beginning of the internet.
I was like, hey, I think we could sell this online.
Slaky Brothers doesn't want to use a computer, so what if we did?
And sure enough it really took off and rocketed and we got a serious thing going
systems and i fell in love with
(04:49):
it i really really loved arguing with old contractors on the phone and,
because nine times out of ten they tell me little girl you don't know what you're
talking about i've been doing this for 50 years.
And I'd be like that might be like you might
have 50 years experience and I might not know what I'm
(05:10):
talking about but here's the thing I read the manual cover to cover and after
a while we had the opportunity to have Dervant come out and teach us actually
how to design a system and teach us how to build a system and all of our team
learned you know if you were going to take vending pipe calls,
we would make sure that everyone had training and knew how to do that so that
(05:33):
we could confidently on the phone say, yes, I actually am doing this according to code.
I'm doing this according to standard and all that fun stuff.
So I did that back in 2007 is when I got into it. So 2006, 2007.
Wow. And then I totally kind of took a million years off of the trades for...
(06:00):
Um probably six years I worked in
medical and just moved around tons
of tiny mountain towns and took jobs
that were available which were medical jobs and I
got back into the trades and back into chimney in particular
living in northern California had a friend who offered me a job and I jumped
(06:21):
at it and I absolutely loved it and I helped I started out as a CSR and quickly
have the chance to jump in and learn even more and get certified.
And so I did all of that. And next thing I know, the rest has kind of been history.
Yeah. And you started up your own business. And in your own business,
(06:44):
what do you do for the chimney industry?
Sure. Yeah. Last year at the end of October, I launched Hearthside Hustle.
And primarily, Primarily, I help my clients out with making sure that they have
proper SOPs, documented SOPs,
and knowing the difference between an SOP and a policy or handbook,
(07:06):
because 90% of them don't know.
And so we have the hard conversations, and we talk about the important things
and how to protect their business.
And a lot of times, more than anything, I focus on getting,
teaching them about kind of marketing to their internal team or to their employees
(07:27):
or possible employees, because I, I know that without having them know and understand
things and really have buy in,
then they're not gonna be able to do a good job.
Yeah. And I think a lot of people miss that opportunity.
You know, they develop these great SOPs. They develop the core values.
(07:49):
They develop the mission.
But then they don't have the buy-in from the staff because they don't continue to talk about it.
And you have to talk about it to be about it is what I think, you know, is the saying.
And it has to be a part of like an everyday ritual. And when it becomes a ritual,
it becomes, you know, part of the history and the foundation.
(08:11):
And so I think that you're absolutely right.
It's just that's a missing piece when it comes to standard operating procedures
and really just honing in and getting your employees to buy in.
And then so tell me about employee buy-in and how do you go about it with the
companies? Do you choose, like, one employee that you know will have influence
(08:34):
and kind of have them as the person?
Or how do you, what do you teach?
Well, it really depends on the company. That's the important thing because every
company is going to be different.
And a lot of these companies have, you know, they were technicians originally
that just, as an industry, we've been around in the U.S. since 1979. Wow.
(08:58):
Not very long. We're a crazy young industry. And so a lot of these guys are
either first generation or second generation of the business.
And they started out in the field. They were a technician.
And then all of a sudden, they got older and their bodies were creaking and doing weird things.
And they stood up and they started hiring and training other people to do those jobs.
(09:19):
And so they are transporting what was really originally in their mind and in
their hearts and trying to convey it to another person.
So a lot of times, employee buy-in has to start with the owners.
I have to make sure that they know what their mission, vision, and values are.
And so I do go through an exercise with clients and I ask them,
(09:44):
I call it a five-by-five evaluation.
And it's just five things that you think you're doing really well or your team is doing really well.
Five success points, and then
five items that you feel need to work on or grow, and then five words,
one or two word phrases that you want to embody the culture and want to have
(10:11):
come to mind for every customer and employee who walks in the door.
And from that, we build out everything else.
We We build out the policies and we build out the culture and we document it and break it out.
And then we let the policies dictate the SOPs.
And usually once we have their buy-in, it trickles down.
(10:34):
Yeah. What's kind of the biggest, you know, after getting owners buy-in.
What's the biggest mistake that you consistently see these owners making when
it comes to documenting processes and procedures.
The biggest mistake is usually the fact that they don't do it themselves.
(10:56):
They don't hold themselves accountable.
And they get, you know, there are so many owners out there who are going and
they're getting coaches and they're getting consultants and they're spending
all their money and investing in, you know, teaching and trainings and books.
And then when it comes down the line, and let's say a technician in the field
(11:17):
is doing it as they were taught by one of these coaches, or they called a coach
and they got advice and then they followed that advice,
the owner is then like, well, why did you do that?
Oh, well, I don't have, I don't agree with that because I do it differently.
And it's like, well, that's how the coach taught us to do it.
(11:37):
So you gotta, you gotta, just like you said, you gotta talk about it to be about
it. You also have to walk it out.
I think that's the really important thing. you know
servant leadership is absolutely key
and you have to be doing the same things you expect your team to do so if you're
not sending off your estimates at the end of every visit then you're not going
(11:59):
to be able to expect your team to do that yeah yeah so so with that like if you.
Are i lost my train of thought there i had a really good question to follow
up on that Okay, so they also need to not just talk the talk, walk the walk.
Okay, I've remembered my question now. Let's just say the field staff,
(12:23):
the CSRs, and everyone, they're bought in and they're following the process,
but the owner's like, that's not how I would do that.
Because a lot of the listeners that we have are, for the most part,
I would say probably the owner of a business.
What's something that, other than just saying, just follow the process yourself,
Like, what's something that they can do, like, to actually, like,
physically get in the routine of doing that?
(12:44):
Definitely. It's about preparing the night before. So 100% of our time,
and I learned this the hard way. I didn't learn this in work.
I didn't learn this in any sort of work training.
I have a colored background, if you will, and I live a sober life today.
(13:04):
But I learned in the process of getting to the life I live, I learned that in
order to be prepared for going to work tomorrow,
the person I am when I go to bed is the same person I'm going to wake up with
and wake up as the next day.
So I have to be mentally prepared for whatever is going to come at me.
(13:27):
That means that I have to do a routine.
I have to have a routine and I have to follow it.
So it might being that during busy season, you don't take showers in the morning.
You shower as soon as you get home from work or you shower before bed so that
you're feeling fresh in the morning and you can get up and listen to a podcast
(13:50):
and have lots of time in the morning to actually go through your day and really
be fit for public consumption, if you will,
because I'm not fit for public consumption before 7
a.m without like three
solid hours of listening to
(14:10):
podcasts reading books meditating and lots of
coffee yeah i have to listen to the there's like this meditation playlist on
spotify i listen to it's not like it's not like spoken meditation or anything
but it's just like beats like music because i'm like i'm kind of like an early bird and so like the
(14:31):
most work I get done for the day is usually like five to seven hairs,
like standing up like Jimmy shorts and a hoodie meditation music on.
It takes us full two hours for me to like get like, okay, I'm ready to go talk to people.
Yeah. Be consumed by the public.
Yeah, exactly. I listen to frequency music.
(14:54):
So yeah. So it's a, it's a different type of meditation, but it's the same thing.
Right and it clears your head sets your
vibrations into place and your energy into the right
place and takes you to the next
level because not every day is going to be
a great day you know if you could just be one percent better each day that's
(15:14):
the goal so is it like white noise or what is it it's just like the way that
the music is and it vibrates to your inner energy G I'll send it to you.
It's, it's, I need to try that.
We have the white noise machine playing with, you know, cause of the baby,
but yeah, I'm down for that. That sounds cool. Yeah. Yeah. It's super fun.
(15:37):
I do a meditation for ADHD people. So I listen to the, I put my headphones on
and, and it has the same thing where it like, it'll send certain waves of sound
and you can feel it in like your neck. It's crazy.
I love that. I must've been like living under a rock or something.
That sounds like I need that.
(16:01):
That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. And
how is it having ADHD and then creating procedures and systems for people?
Right? They get like halfway done. I laugh at it because if you look at my own
systems and my own processes, it took me a solid three months to actually have a full-blown website,
(16:26):
proper documentation for clients,
proper actual logos and branding and everything.
Everything and it was a lot of segmented time and like really really i use a lot of ai,
like i i use shelf full
and it sends me text messages throughout the
(16:48):
day and it's like have you had a sip of water have you
taken your meds did you finish that project
that that's helpful yeah
and I need I found that I
just delegate the as many tasks as
I can right like that's what I'm like nope
Sarah you don't need to do that and then I
(17:09):
find myself doing the small tasks like social media
for this and I'm like okay what's the process and procedure for this yeah so
i feel you on that especially you know me i'm like a squirrel i'm all over the
place if you looked at my tats you'd be like sarah like there's is there a thought here.
(17:32):
Yeah lots of color coding and everything
is in my computer which is so i
have like everything apple so everything talks to
it the other things so that it'll remind me and
tell me and i can't lose any that's my struggle or
it's going to move i i have
a notebook for everything and it's not good like
(17:54):
i have one notebook for this one notebook for that and i'm like oh what notebook
was it in oh wait i don't know that's a struggle that i have is the notebooks
yeah i have the notebooks too sure so we were chatting briefly beforehand and
i know this was something that we wanted to hit on,
(18:14):
which was like immersive training for frontline staff.
And I think that would be something really cool to kind of dig into and chat
more about because I'm not sure that I'm super familiar with that topic and
I would love to learn more.
Yeah. Well, in the chimney industry,
(18:35):
a lot of times the people in the office end up being kind of stuck or pigeonholed
into a more glorified secretary type role.
And a lot of times they won't necessarily know what's going on in the field.
They won't know what the guys do and what it is, the value that they're actually
(18:56):
bringing to the clients.
And that can be really, really tricky because when you have people on the phone,
in our industry, people have to have inspections done before they can have any work done.
And so we have to make sure that everything has been thoroughly reviewed by
that company in particular.
(19:17):
People can't just rely on other reports or anything like that.
And it's held to certain standards in that way.
And so unless, you know, unless the office team has that information and has
had field experience, they don't know.
And they can't really convey that to the customer.
At least that's what I've found in my experience.
Yeah. But now they have virtual training, like virtual reality training is becoming huge in our industry.
(19:47):
So the National Chimney Sweep Guild has partnered with a company called Future Forward.
And they are going through and they are completely compiling a whole virtual
training. and it's amazing.
A whole virtual reality experience.
(20:09):
I had the chance to do it back in March when I was in Florida at the convention
and we went ahead and we got to jump in and.
Feels just like you're on the roof and it shakes and everything
when you fall off the roof and so you get this
100 kind of immersive
experience and it walks them through
(20:31):
the processes what happens when you fall off the roof i was about to ask the
same thing i was like whoa it's like tell me about it like gta does the emergent
like and like so you're have you guys not in virtual reality,
yeah like an office space
(20:54):
and it was like the worst nightmare of my life
and then it's a little queen and they were like oh here's
you can just go off this cliff and i was like i don't i
don't like this i mean that's kind of how it how it feels too but yeah so like
shakes your headset and the handset and then the screen just goes completely
(21:17):
black so it feels like you're falling,
and then it comes on and it jolts you and it like jolts the way i the way it
happens when the headset's on it like jolts the back of your head so it's all
of a sudden like you've just spin heads in the back of the head.
And it's kind of a wild experience.
(21:38):
Wow. We're going to have to test that out next time we're at the... I see everyone doing it.
But usually they're on the ground. Like when it's HVAC, they're on the ground playing.
And I'm like, cool, you guys aren't up in the air. But interesting.
Well, it feels like you're up in the air. I mean, you're still on the ground for sure.
(21:58):
Oh, yeah. That's really cool. How many times did you fall off the roof?
I'm sorry, we're going to move past it, but I need to ask.
No you're fine so i only fell off the roof once but i did fall through the attic,
oh no multiple times you and like a million other people but like them in real life so,
(22:24):
when i was in when i was in college when i
was in college i was working an internship at a marketing agency and someone
fell through the roof through the
second floor like i was on on the first floor like working when
like his leg was like hanging out right next to me and he
hadn't like busted all the way through i was like
you good he was like yeah
(22:47):
buddy he's like buddy you got a ladder come help me i was
like yeah go get a ladder it was terrible it
totally does really happen i mean so the
company i was working with locally we had a guy about
a year ago go fall through the ceiling
and like crash into like fall
through the sheet rock and everything and crash into someone's
(23:10):
living room and just had like just his lower half dangling and
it was it was but it's mostly just embarrassing i think yeah so what do you
feel are the most like like the benefits like the key benefits of doing that
type of training aside from like you know some of the funniest stories that
(23:30):
you get to tell on a podcast.
What are some of the key benefits for the business owner to do something like that?
Well, I think the major fear of most business owners is actually the thing that
ends up being the huge benefit.
So most of the owners that I've talked to have been very hesitant to get their
(23:52):
office staff field training because they're afraid that they're going to answer
the phone and that they're going to try and diagnose the problem right then
and there and not book the appointment.
And the real benefit is the fact that when they do answer their phone,
they have the confidence and the understanding of saying, well,
this is what we're doing. This is the value.
(24:14):
And, you know, I think it could be this or it could be that or it could be a
million other things going on with your chimney. me, but I'm not going to be able to know.
No one on our team is going to be able to know until we get eyes on the system
and until we get someone out there.
And so then they can kind of run through the process and really present it to
them and say, you know, yep, we come out, we park our van on the street,
(24:38):
we'll bring a ladder over to the side of your home and we'll access the gym via the roof.
And we wear a full harness.
We actually do, you know, red chuck installs and all that fun stuff to make
sure that everything's up to code and safe.
And then from there, we'll go do a full 24-point tip-to-tail inspection.
(25:01):
Making sure that after our inspection, your system is operationally ready.
And if it's not, then we'll come up with a solution for you.
But we can't do that without having eyes
on your chimney and so they are able
to build that value and explain how it
works and why they do it that way a lot
(25:22):
of times the objections kind of dissipate and the
confidence is there they're able to have that conversation and
and recognize yeah you know what you got smoke coming
back into your house and that's awful and especially
if it's you know beginning of winter and you've got
babies and stuff you don't want your house smelling like smoke
but it could be that you have a clogged spark
(25:45):
arrestor could be that you have a creosote buildup
in your chimney but at the end of the day
my guys need to get out there and get eyes on it before we can
solve it for you but we will take care of you for it
and so they're they've seen
it you know it's like
doing surgery you don't want
(26:05):
your knee surgeon to have never
seen an open knee right yeah yeah and i think it's the same with every industry
right like we we can diagnose over the phone but like the end goal is to get
into the home because for safety and security purposes.
(26:28):
We're not just dealing with things that are like, you know.
Like not safe. Like it's essential for us to be in the home to look and make
sure that you are being safe and your system is secure or HVAC for electrical,
for garage door, like all of it, you know, essential means something about safety and standards.
(26:52):
And I think that's the biggest point is, you know, when you call someone,
if a customer is listening to this podcast, guests.
When you call someone, you want them to come to your home.
You don't want it to be diagnosed over the phone and you definitely don't want
to do it yourself because there's so much more than you know,
you know, except for me, like even with pest control.
(27:15):
So even with all of them, I would say, but I think you're 100%. Yeah.
Everybody like in immersive training, it's scalable, right?
And it's, they will update the technology because that's their job as a technology
company to update that training.
And it's repeatable. And you want scalable,
(27:38):
repeatable training and processes and things that you can be innovative to bring
into your own training academy and,
and create a training academy that's easier than you just sitting there doing it yourself.
Right? And hiring people. So there's a lot of efficiency with that immersive experience.
(28:00):
I think they're just, I think they're just interesting. Like I would love to
have an immersive experience for a marketing job.
What would that look like? I don't even know.
I don't know what that would look like, but I feel like it would be fun.
Yeah, that's right. Are you just like... There's probably a happy hour involved.
(28:21):
I knew people would say that. Margaret was just sitting at the happy end.
Just patting drinks back and forth, talking. This is what you guys think we do.
I'm playing on social media. This is the immersive experience.
I mean, marketing is everyone's job, quite frankly.
(28:41):
I don't care what your role is in the business. Marketing is your job.
You could be the guy that's clean on the toilets. But if you're the guy that's
clean on the toilets and you go have coffee and someone When someone asks you about your workday.
You should be marketing and talking about your business and like,
oh, yeah, we have the cleanest toilets and the cleanest bathroom and the most
(29:05):
kind employees that don't make messes.
You know it it does not matter what your role
is in a company and quite frankly
that's that's how and why policies
are so important like building out everything
that people carry into the world because they're part
of your brand whether they're on the clock or
(29:27):
off the clock a million years ago i worked for a ski mountain
and we had an absolute hard
and fast role but if you were
off the clock and you were going to the lodge and having a
drink you were not allowed to be in resort gear because
if you had the brand on you would be out
the door fired because they
(29:49):
didn't want anyone misbehaving with the brand on like those immersive experiences
too it just goes back to like you're able to replicate that experience and teach
people really really easy stuff or at least simplify it and make it easy because
none of it's rocket science and none of it's brain surgery.
Even brain surgery isn't brain surgery.
(30:11):
It's just a live operation game and all you're doing is going through the same
thing that you've been doing for years and it's what you know.
For me, what I know is people and relationships and relationships.
Recognizing how to value people and build on that.
(30:33):
I know your energy and enthusiasm and friendliness is absolutely infectious, right?
You get everyone excited and you take that out in the world and you do big things
and you get excited about things like involving women and building up their
(30:53):
presence in rooms where they weren't before.
For that's amazing and that
is like that's what people you
just get to find your spot and find your
magic and and as business owners we
get to find people's magic and just light it
on fire yeah yeah I
(31:16):
love everything that you just said because it's absolutely true like you know
like bringing people out and I know that's another big passionate thing that
you are about right You were big in Lady Titans and wanting to give back and
wanting to help out and wanting to promote women in the trades.
And it's a never-ending thing.
(31:38):
And for me personally, it's about I believe that everyone deserves to be heard, known, and seen.
And it's on their own time. But at the same time, sometimes they just need that
little push to say, hey, you know what? I think you're amazing.
And I just want to hear what you have to say no matter what it is and I can't
(32:01):
wait to know you and So like that's how I feel, you know how I connected with
you I was just like I can't wait to know you tell me more,
You know, so what do you do?
Are you doing anything with lady titans at this moment or are you just kind
of you know helping out in little ways that you can and.
Well, with Lady Titans, I've been kind of showing up and just being present
(32:24):
at the level of kind of going for monthly meetings and all the fun stuff.
I will be at Pantheon later this year and making sure that I hang out around
the lounge and get some time in with the ladies.
I'm also doing a fundraiser for a group called Tools and Tiaras out of New York.
(32:45):
And that's just a group that introduces the trades industries to young girls
and really teaches them that there are things out there other than,
you know, necessarily your pigeonhole role.
And it gives them an idea of something different, right? Right.
And so I've been doing that and been getting involved in the women's groups
(33:08):
for HPBA, which is the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association.
Doing a mentorship, the women's mentorship program through them,
both as a mentor and a mentee.
And then, golly, I feel like I know there's another thing.
Oh, I'm on the NCSG National Chimney Sweep Guild.
I'm on their marketing and membership committee.
(33:31):
Community so trying to get more people involved and
get people excited I am all about giving back I'm
a firm believer in the fact that we get out
of life what we put into it and we get out of our community what we
put into it so I try
and spend my time doing things that kind
of light me on fire right because it gets me excited and gets me energized to
(33:56):
go out there and and do good and and pour love into the world because I know
I get a lot of love and grace in life and I am super lucky to live the life I live today.
And I just kind of want to help everyone in the world do that.
If I could just give everyone a hug, I would.
(34:17):
I mean, like, I know I'm a hugger too. So,
I don't care. I ask them, can I hug you?
And most of the time they're like, yes. And no one's ever told me no. Maybe. I don't know.
I don't know. I might. I'm not a hugger. Whatever. Hug you.
(34:40):
I was just kidding. I had to act tough. I'm just kidding. Yeah,
right. You're like, I'm not a hugger. Who doesn't love a good hug?
Gosh. It's the best connection. It can change your day.
It can change your day that is for sure i used to have a rule like like i used
to have a rule back this was like high school though to like hug three people
(35:00):
a day i fell off that quota,
maybe that's why i'm so mad all the time maybe i think so,
i'm gonna have to bring it back yeah right seriously do you see three people
a day i don't I don't know. I see my dog, my son.
I'll hold all three of them. There we go. Oh, yeah. You've got three people
(35:22):
right there. I sometimes only see Roxy.
That's okay. She gives lots of hugs. She's like, get off me.
I do virtual hugs. Put my hands up and hug someone in a Zoom meeting like that.
Otherwise, I also only see my dog.
(35:46):
It must definitely. So Felicity, if there's, is there anything else that you
want the world to know about your new business and how you can help them and
then get your name out there and how they can contact you?
Sure. I mean, right now,
I'm building a bunch of different kind of buildable, buyable,
(36:06):
fillable templates for business owners that are specifically geared toward the
chimney trade, but trades in general also.
I have employee handbooks and SOPs, and then I also kind of customize them out
for people so that they have kitschy statements in them.
My absolute true confession
(36:28):
passion is that i love puns so
there are a lot of abbreviations using
words related to the industry so that people can remember
them and so that it's cute and kind of punny but other
than that i'm i'm just out there right now i'm i've
got a move underway a cross-country move
underway what you don't know it's behind me
(36:50):
and a whole lot of boxes is i'm in the land
of boxes so i'll be
moving to new york in the next month and a half and enjoying
life out there and in the
meantime i'm working on getting folks started just building out handbooks and
building out you know employee policies as well as sops and helping them figure
(37:15):
Figure out what really is their why because that's the starting point.
And then building confidence into their employees and into their teams because
most of the time what I see is an owner who says,
I trust you 100% in this role and I want you to do this task.
(37:37):
And then they say, why isn't this task getting done? and
if a task gets done without approval or
without hey does this look okay does here's a
rough draft should I send this out should I do this then everything kind of
falls apart and it's not that they didn't follow a policy it's just that they
(37:57):
they might send a really simple response back in a text saying why'd you do
it this way most of the time we can't tell via text what what someone's tone is. And...
Then their employees feel criticized and they lose their confidence and they
don't understand what they did wrong.
So putting things in process and documenting like, hey, here's what we want
(38:21):
you to do before you send this out every single time, submit a rough draft.
And then it's in black and white and people can understand how and why and do all the things.
So a lot of times, I mean, This morning, I
started my day with an hour and a half conversation with a client just discussing
(38:41):
company culture and how to build resilience in that company culture because
they've had a lot of drama and a lot of kind of behind closed doors talks or
text messages and whispers.
And it just didn't need to happen.
And the way to do that is to really build positivity and optimism and joy and
(39:06):
excitement into your team.
And you do that by making it safe.
So just having hard conversations with people. Yeah. That's kind of my other specialty.
Yeah. Having hard conversations can be, you know, interesting,
but also very much needed, right? The drama has to go away.
(39:30):
And I think, you know, you've got to find the person that's starting the drama. Yeah.
I think we've all been in cultures like that in some sort of way in our experiences.
But yeah, well, that's great. And if someone was to want to find out more about
your business, where would they go?
(39:51):
HeartSideHustle.com. And then I'm also on Facebook and Instagram as Heartside Hustle LLC.
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on the trademark.
We completely appreciate you. And speaking about an industry that we are both
learning about and, you know, it sounds very similar to all of the industries.
(40:11):
And I'm glad to hear that, right?
Because it makes it a little bit easier to know that as a marketer,
I am not just speaking to, you know, just one particular industry,
they all have the same kind of systems and processes.
Congratulations on your move and you are such a light. So thank you so much
for being on the podcast.
Thank you guys. I appreciate you.
(40:34):
All right. Thanks for tuning in everyone.
If you could please do us a quick favor, leave us a review on Apple podcast,
Spotify, like it on YouTube, share it with a friend, message us on Facebook,
say, Hey, that was a good episode.
I don't know. Just give us some feedback. We'd love to learn more about how
(40:54):
we're doing, how we can continue to provide good content for you all.
And yeah, so thank you all for tuning in and we will catch you all next time.
But what is going on, everyone? Welcome back.
Welcome one, welcome all to the greatest podcast episode you've ever listened to.
Why, you wonder? Well, it's because we have a very special guest with us.
No other than Felicity Moncease from Hard Side Hustle.
Very excited. We're going to be talking about a lot of stuff here today,
(00:21):
and I can't wait to just dig in.
So let's go ahead and get started. Step into The Trade Mark,
your go-to podcast for everything marketing in the trades.
Hosted by award-winning industry marketing expert, Sarah Gerardo from Remarkable
and Eric Thomas from Rival Journal.
Together, we're here to unite the worlds of trades and marketing,
(00:43):
bringing you insights, stories, and strategies from the heart of the industry.
Whether you're a trade professional, a marketing expert, or somewhere in between,
this is the place for you.
You listen in as we're here for the big ideas the game changers and the everyday
successes because at the trademark we're with the trades and for the trade.
(01:07):
What's going on hey i've got a really good icebreaker just
to keep the conversation going from backstage all-time favorite
candy i know that we that we had rattled
off a few but like what's like that one candy where it's like you're heading
out for a long road trip like three and a half hour car ride and you're at the
gas station you're just like i'm going inside to get like what is it jelly beans
(01:30):
hamstown jelly beans every time pina colada that's a good choice,
that's a good choice sarah how about you i'm definitely a sour patch kid.
Girl and like i only really like the lemon and the green ones so lemon and lime
and the same Same with jelly beans.
(01:51):
Like I will only buy the lemon and the lime ones.
The yellow Sour Patch Kids get me. Those are sour ones.
I would say for a car ride, it's a toss up between sour gummy worms and then
like the big bag of peanut M&Ms.
Those are good for, I like those for a road trip.
(02:11):
I like to like crack it in half, pull the peanut out, eat the other half of
the chocolate. Uh-huh. Just get both.
Yeah. So it like goes to your OCD side a little bit where you get to like,
you know, pay attention to something else.
And there has to be a process.
You can't just eat it. Like step one, crack it in half. Step two,
(02:32):
pull out the peanuts. Step three, eat the other half.
Like that's the problem. It's a standard operating procedure for eating peanut M&Ms.
You also have to organize them if you're a passenger because you can organize them into colors.
Yeah absolutely or eat them by color I mean we all have done that as well like.
(02:57):
Well, super glad to have you on the trademark today.
Super glad because you're in an industry that we are learning about as we go.
And also, like, you know, you're just starting this business and you're doing
new and exciting things.
And we're so excited for you. We just want to hear all about it.
(03:18):
So first, can you tell us how you got into this chimney industry?
Sure. How I got into the chimney industry is actually really similar to how
I got into the trades in general.
So two little accidents happened. I was happy accidents for sure.
I was like 18. And I started working for a company that is today they're known
(03:43):
as dot com and they're owned by Ferguson. But back in the day,
they were improvement direct.
We were ImprovementDirect, LightingDirect, PlumbingDirect, VentingPipe.com, and MoreHome.com.
Luckily, thank the heavens, MoreHome got tired.
(04:03):
Because I still don't know how to repair shipped furniture without it arriving in a million pieces.
It's a mystery of life. Yeah, absolutely.
Back then, I worked as a CSR. It was a bunch of college buddies.
Originally, it was started by a friend of mine who thought, hey,
(04:26):
I'm working for Slaky Brothers.
It was the beginning of the internet.
I was like, hey, I think we could sell this online.
Slaky Brothers doesn't want to use a computer, so what if we did?
And sure enough it really took off and rocketed and we got a serious thing going
systems and i fell in love with
(04:49):
it i really really loved arguing with old contractors on the phone and,
because nine times out of ten they tell me little girl you don't know what you're
talking about i've been doing this for 50 years.
And I'd be like that might be like you might
have 50 years experience and I might not know what I'm
(05:10):
talking about but here's the thing I read the manual cover to cover and after
a while we had the opportunity to have Dervant come out and teach us actually
how to design a system and teach us how to build a system and all of our team
learned you know if you were going to take vending pipe calls,
we would make sure that everyone had training and knew how to do that so that
(05:33):
we could confidently on the phone say, yes, I actually am doing this according to code.
I'm doing this according to standard and all that fun stuff.
So I did that back in 2007 is when I got into it. So 2006, 2007.
Wow. And then I totally kind of took a million years off of the trades for...
(06:00):
Um probably six years I worked in
medical and just moved around tons
of tiny mountain towns and took jobs
that were available which were medical jobs and I
got back into the trades and back into chimney in particular
living in northern California had a friend who offered me a job and I jumped
(06:21):
at it and I absolutely loved it and I helped I started out as a CSR and quickly
have the chance to jump in and learn even more and get certified.
And so I did all of that. And next thing I know, the rest has kind of been history.
Yeah. And you started up your own business. And in your own business,
(06:44):
what do you do for the chimney industry?
Sure. Yeah. Last year at the end of October, I launched Hearthside Hustle.
And primarily, Primarily, I help my clients out with making sure that they have
proper SOPs, documented SOPs,
and knowing the difference between an SOP and a policy or handbook,
(07:06):
because 90% of them don't know.
And so we have the hard conversations, and we talk about the important things
and how to protect their business.
And a lot of times, more than anything, I focus on getting,
teaching them about kind of marketing to their internal team or to their employees
(07:27):
or possible employees, because I, I know that without having them know and understand
things and really have buy in,
then they're not gonna be able to do a good job.
Yeah. And I think a lot of people miss that opportunity.
You know, they develop these great SOPs. They develop the core values.
(07:49):
They develop the mission.
But then they don't have the buy-in from the staff because they don't continue to talk about it.
And you have to talk about it to be about it is what I think, you know, is the saying.
And it has to be a part of like an everyday ritual. And when it becomes a ritual,
it becomes, you know, part of the history and the foundation.
(08:11):
And so I think that you're absolutely right.
It's just that's a missing piece when it comes to standard operating procedures
and really just honing in and getting your employees to buy in.
And then so tell me about employee buy-in and how do you go about it with the
companies? Do you choose, like, one employee that you know will have influence
(08:34):
and kind of have them as the person?
Or how do you, what do you teach?
Well, it really depends on the company. That's the important thing because every
company is going to be different.
And a lot of these companies have, you know, they were technicians originally
that just, as an industry, we've been around in the U.S. since 1979. Wow.
(08:58):
Not very long. We're a crazy young industry. And so a lot of these guys are
either first generation or second generation of the business.
And they started out in the field. They were a technician.
And then all of a sudden, they got older and their bodies were creaking and doing weird things.
And they stood up and they started hiring and training other people to do those jobs.
(09:19):
And so they are transporting what was really originally in their mind and in
their hearts and trying to convey it to another person.
So a lot of times, employee buy-in has to start with the owners.
I have to make sure that they know what their mission, vision, and values are.
And so I do go through an exercise with clients and I ask them,
(09:44):
I call it a five-by-five evaluation.
And it's just five things that you think you're doing really well or your team is doing really well.
Five success points, and then
five items that you feel need to work on or grow, and then five words,
one or two word phrases that you want to embody the culture and want to have
(10:11):
come to mind for every customer and employee who walks in the door.
And from that, we build out everything else.
We We build out the policies and we build out the culture and we document it and break it out.
And then we let the policies dictate the SOPs.
And usually once we have their buy-in, it trickles down.
(10:34):
Yeah. What's kind of the biggest, you know, after getting owners buy-in.
What's the biggest mistake that you consistently see these owners making when
it comes to documenting processes and procedures.
The biggest mistake is usually the fact that they don't do it themselves.
(10:56):
They don't hold themselves accountable.
And they get, you know, there are so many owners out there who are going and
they're getting coaches and they're getting consultants and they're spending
all their money and investing in, you know, teaching and trainings and books.
And then when it comes down the line, and let's say a technician in the field
(11:17):
is doing it as they were taught by one of these coaches, or they called a coach
and they got advice and then they followed that advice,
the owner is then like, well, why did you do that?
Oh, well, I don't have, I don't agree with that because I do it differently.
And it's like, well, that's how the coach taught us to do it.
(11:37):
So you gotta, you gotta, just like you said, you gotta talk about it to be about
it. You also have to walk it out.
I think that's the really important thing. you know
servant leadership is absolutely key
and you have to be doing the same things you expect your team to do so if you're
not sending off your estimates at the end of every visit then you're not going
(11:59):
to be able to expect your team to do that yeah yeah so so with that like if you.
Are i lost my train of thought there i had a really good question to follow
up on that Okay, so they also need to not just talk the talk, walk the walk.
Okay, I've remembered my question now. Let's just say the field staff,
(12:23):
the CSRs, and everyone, they're bought in and they're following the process,
but the owner's like, that's not how I would do that.
Because a lot of the listeners that we have are, for the most part,
I would say probably the owner of a business.
What's something that, other than just saying, just follow the process yourself,
Like, what's something that they can do, like, to actually, like,
physically get in the routine of doing that?
(12:44):
Definitely. It's about preparing the night before. So 100% of our time,
and I learned this the hard way. I didn't learn this in work.
I didn't learn this in any sort of work training.
I have a colored background, if you will, and I live a sober life today.
(13:04):
But I learned in the process of getting to the life I live, I learned that in
order to be prepared for going to work tomorrow,
the person I am when I go to bed is the same person I'm going to wake up with
and wake up as the next day.
So I have to be mentally prepared for whatever is going to come at me.
(13:27):
That means that I have to do a routine.
I have to have a routine and I have to follow it.
So it might being that during busy season, you don't take showers in the morning.
You shower as soon as you get home from work or you shower before bed so that
you're feeling fresh in the morning and you can get up and listen to a podcast
(13:50):
and have lots of time in the morning to actually go through your day and really
be fit for public consumption, if you will,
because I'm not fit for public consumption before 7
a.m without like three
solid hours of listening to
(14:10):
podcasts reading books meditating and lots of
coffee yeah i have to listen to the there's like this meditation playlist on
spotify i listen to it's not like it's not like spoken meditation or anything
but it's just like beats like music because i'm like i'm kind of like an early bird and so like the
(14:31):
most work I get done for the day is usually like five to seven hairs,
like standing up like Jimmy shorts and a hoodie meditation music on.
It takes us full two hours for me to like get like, okay, I'm ready to go talk to people.
Yeah. Be consumed by the public.
Yeah, exactly. I listen to frequency music.
(14:54):
So yeah. So it's a, it's a different type of meditation, but it's the same thing.
Right and it clears your head sets your
vibrations into place and your energy into the right
place and takes you to the next
level because not every day is going to be
a great day you know if you could just be one percent better each day that's
(15:14):
the goal so is it like white noise or what is it it's just like the way that
the music is and it vibrates to your inner energy G I'll send it to you.
It's, it's, I need to try that.
We have the white noise machine playing with, you know, cause of the baby,
but yeah, I'm down for that. That sounds cool. Yeah. Yeah. It's super fun.
(15:37):
I do a meditation for ADHD people. So I listen to the, I put my headphones on
and, and it has the same thing where it like, it'll send certain waves of sound
and you can feel it in like your neck. It's crazy.
I love that. I must've been like living under a rock or something.
That sounds like I need that.
(16:01):
That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. And
how is it having ADHD and then creating procedures and systems for people?
Right? They get like halfway done. I laugh at it because if you look at my own
systems and my own processes, it took me a solid three months to actually have a full-blown website,
(16:26):
proper documentation for clients,
proper actual logos and branding and everything.
Everything and it was a lot of segmented time and like really really i use a lot of ai,
like i i use shelf full
and it sends me text messages throughout the
(16:48):
day and it's like have you had a sip of water have you
taken your meds did you finish that project
that that's helpful yeah
and I need I found that I
just delegate the as many tasks as
I can right like that's what I'm like nope
Sarah you don't need to do that and then I
(17:09):
find myself doing the small tasks like social media
for this and I'm like okay what's the process and procedure for this yeah so
i feel you on that especially you know me i'm like a squirrel i'm all over the
place if you looked at my tats you'd be like sarah like there's is there a thought here.
(17:32):
Yeah lots of color coding and everything
is in my computer which is so i
have like everything apple so everything talks to
it the other things so that it'll remind me and
tell me and i can't lose any that's my struggle or
it's going to move i i have
a notebook for everything and it's not good like
(17:54):
i have one notebook for this one notebook for that and i'm like oh what notebook
was it in oh wait i don't know that's a struggle that i have is the notebooks
yeah i have the notebooks too sure so we were chatting briefly beforehand and
i know this was something that we wanted to hit on,
(18:14):
which was like immersive training for frontline staff.
And I think that would be something really cool to kind of dig into and chat
more about because I'm not sure that I'm super familiar with that topic and
I would love to learn more.
Yeah. Well, in the chimney industry,
(18:35):
a lot of times the people in the office end up being kind of stuck or pigeonholed
into a more glorified secretary type role.
And a lot of times they won't necessarily know what's going on in the field.
They won't know what the guys do and what it is, the value that they're actually
(18:56):
bringing to the clients.
And that can be really, really tricky because when you have people on the phone,
in our industry, people have to have inspections done before they can have any work done.
And so we have to make sure that everything has been thoroughly reviewed by
that company in particular.
(19:17):
People can't just rely on other reports or anything like that.
And it's held to certain standards in that way.
And so unless, you know, unless the office team has that information and has
had field experience, they don't know.
And they can't really convey that to the customer.
At least that's what I've found in my experience.
Yeah. But now they have virtual training, like virtual reality training is becoming huge in our industry.
(19:47):
So the National Chimney Sweep Guild has partnered with a company called Future Forward.
And they are going through and they are completely compiling a whole virtual
training. and it's amazing.
A whole virtual reality experience.
(20:09):
I had the chance to do it back in March when I was in Florida at the convention
and we went ahead and we got to jump in and.
Feels just like you're on the roof and it shakes and everything
when you fall off the roof and so you get this
100 kind of immersive
experience and it walks them through
(20:31):
the processes what happens when you fall off the roof i was about to ask the
same thing i was like whoa it's like tell me about it like gta does the emergent
like and like so you're have you guys not in virtual reality,
yeah like an office space
(20:54):
and it was like the worst nightmare of my life
and then it's a little queen and they were like oh here's
you can just go off this cliff and i was like i don't i
don't like this i mean that's kind of how it how it feels too but yeah so like
shakes your headset and the handset and then the screen just goes completely
(21:17):
black so it feels like you're falling,
and then it comes on and it jolts you and it like jolts the way i the way it
happens when the headset's on it like jolts the back of your head so it's all
of a sudden like you've just spin heads in the back of the head.
And it's kind of a wild experience.
(21:38):
Wow. We're going to have to test that out next time we're at the... I see everyone doing it.
But usually they're on the ground. Like when it's HVAC, they're on the ground playing.
And I'm like, cool, you guys aren't up in the air. But interesting.
Well, it feels like you're up in the air. I mean, you're still on the ground for sure.
(21:58):
Oh, yeah. That's really cool. How many times did you fall off the roof?
I'm sorry, we're going to move past it, but I need to ask.
No you're fine so i only fell off the roof once but i did fall through the attic,
oh no multiple times you and like a million other people but like them in real life so,
(22:24):
when i was in when i was in college when i
was in college i was working an internship at a marketing agency and someone
fell through the roof through the
second floor like i was on on the first floor like working when
like his leg was like hanging out right next to me and he
hadn't like busted all the way through i was like
you good he was like yeah
(22:47):
buddy he's like buddy you got a ladder come help me i was
like yeah go get a ladder it was terrible it
totally does really happen i mean so the
company i was working with locally we had a guy about
a year ago go fall through the ceiling
and like crash into like fall
through the sheet rock and everything and crash into someone's
(23:10):
living room and just had like just his lower half dangling and
it was it was but it's mostly just embarrassing i think yeah so what do you
feel are the most like like the benefits like the key benefits of doing that
type of training aside from like you know some of the funniest stories that
(23:30):
you get to tell on a podcast.
What are some of the key benefits for the business owner to do something like that?
Well, I think the major fear of most business owners is actually the thing that
ends up being the huge benefit.
So most of the owners that I've talked to have been very hesitant to get their
(23:52):
office staff field training because they're afraid that they're going to answer
the phone and that they're going to try and diagnose the problem right then
and there and not book the appointment.
And the real benefit is the fact that when they do answer their phone,
they have the confidence and the understanding of saying, well,
this is what we're doing. This is the value.
(24:14):
And, you know, I think it could be this or it could be that or it could be a
million other things going on with your chimney. me, but I'm not going to be able to know.
No one on our team is going to be able to know until we get eyes on the system
and until we get someone out there.
And so then they can kind of run through the process and really present it to
them and say, you know, yep, we come out, we park our van on the street,
(24:38):
we'll bring a ladder over to the side of your home and we'll access the gym via the roof.
And we wear a full harness.
We actually do, you know, red chuck installs and all that fun stuff to make
sure that everything's up to code and safe.
And then from there, we'll go do a full 24-point tip-to-tail inspection.
(25:01):
Making sure that after our inspection, your system is operationally ready.
And if it's not, then we'll come up with a solution for you.
But we can't do that without having eyes
on your chimney and so they are able
to build that value and explain how it
works and why they do it that way a lot
(25:22):
of times the objections kind of dissipate and the
confidence is there they're able to have that conversation and
and recognize yeah you know what you got smoke coming
back into your house and that's awful and especially
if it's you know beginning of winter and you've got
babies and stuff you don't want your house smelling like smoke
but it could be that you have a clogged spark
(25:45):
arrestor could be that you have a creosote buildup
in your chimney but at the end of the day
my guys need to get out there and get eyes on it before we can
solve it for you but we will take care of you for it
and so they're they've seen
it you know it's like
doing surgery you don't want
(26:05):
your knee surgeon to have never
seen an open knee right yeah yeah and i think it's the same with every industry
right like we we can diagnose over the phone but like the end goal is to get
into the home because for safety and security purposes.
(26:28):
We're not just dealing with things that are like, you know.
Like not safe. Like it's essential for us to be in the home to look and make
sure that you are being safe and your system is secure or HVAC for electrical,
for garage door, like all of it, you know, essential means something about safety and standards.
(26:52):
And I think that's the biggest point is, you know, when you call someone,
if a customer is listening to this podcast, guests.
When you call someone, you want them to come to your home.
You don't want it to be diagnosed over the phone and you definitely don't want
to do it yourself because there's so much more than you know,
you know, except for me, like even with pest control.
(27:15):
So even with all of them, I would say, but I think you're 100%. Yeah.
Everybody like in immersive training, it's scalable, right?
And it's, they will update the technology because that's their job as a technology
company to update that training.
And it's repeatable. And you want scalable,
(27:38):
repeatable training and processes and things that you can be innovative to bring
into your own training academy and,
and create a training academy that's easier than you just sitting there doing it yourself.
Right? And hiring people. So there's a lot of efficiency with that immersive experience.
(28:00):
I think they're just, I think they're just interesting. Like I would love to
have an immersive experience for a marketing job.
What would that look like? I don't even know.
I don't know what that would look like, but I feel like it would be fun.
Yeah, that's right. Are you just like... There's probably a happy hour involved.
(28:21):
I knew people would say that. Margaret was just sitting at the happy end.
Just patting drinks back and forth, talking. This is what you guys think we do.
I'm playing on social media. This is the immersive experience.
I mean, marketing is everyone's job, quite frankly.
(28:41):
I don't care what your role is in the business. Marketing is your job.
You could be the guy that's clean on the toilets. But if you're the guy that's
clean on the toilets and you go have coffee and someone When someone asks you about your workday.
You should be marketing and talking about your business and like,
oh, yeah, we have the cleanest toilets and the cleanest bathroom and the most
(29:05):
kind employees that don't make messes.
You know it it does not matter what your role
is in a company and quite frankly
that's that's how and why policies
are so important like building out everything
that people carry into the world because they're part
of your brand whether they're on the clock or
(29:27):
off the clock a million years ago i worked for a ski mountain
and we had an absolute hard
and fast role but if you were
off the clock and you were going to the lodge and having a
drink you were not allowed to be in resort gear because
if you had the brand on you would be out
the door fired because they
(29:49):
didn't want anyone misbehaving with the brand on like those immersive experiences
too it just goes back to like you're able to replicate that experience and teach
people really really easy stuff or at least simplify it and make it easy because
none of it's rocket science and none of it's brain surgery.
Even brain surgery isn't brain surgery.
(30:11):
It's just a live operation game and all you're doing is going through the same
thing that you've been doing for years and it's what you know.
For me, what I know is people and relationships and relationships.
Recognizing how to value people and build on that.
(30:33):
I know your energy and enthusiasm and friendliness is absolutely infectious, right?
You get everyone excited and you take that out in the world and you do big things
and you get excited about things like involving women and building up their
(30:53):
presence in rooms where they weren't before.
For that's amazing and that
is like that's what people you
just get to find your spot and find your
magic and and as business owners we
get to find people's magic and just light it
on fire yeah yeah I
(31:16):
love everything that you just said because it's absolutely true like you know
like bringing people out and I know that's another big passionate thing that
you are about right You were big in Lady Titans and wanting to give back and
wanting to help out and wanting to promote women in the trades.
And it's a never-ending thing.
(31:38):
And for me personally, it's about I believe that everyone deserves to be heard, known, and seen.
And it's on their own time. But at the same time, sometimes they just need that
little push to say, hey, you know what? I think you're amazing.
And I just want to hear what you have to say no matter what it is and I can't
(32:01):
wait to know you and So like that's how I feel, you know how I connected with
you I was just like I can't wait to know you tell me more,
You know, so what do you do?
Are you doing anything with lady titans at this moment or are you just kind
of you know helping out in little ways that you can and.
Well, with Lady Titans, I've been kind of showing up and just being present
(32:24):
at the level of kind of going for monthly meetings and all the fun stuff.
I will be at Pantheon later this year and making sure that I hang out around
the lounge and get some time in with the ladies.
I'm also doing a fundraiser for a group called Tools and Tiaras out of New York.
(32:45):
And that's just a group that introduces the trades industries to young girls
and really teaches them that there are things out there other than,
you know, necessarily your pigeonhole role.
And it gives them an idea of something different, right? Right.
And so I've been doing that and been getting involved in the women's groups
(33:08):
for HPBA, which is the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association.
Doing a mentorship, the women's mentorship program through them,
both as a mentor and a mentee.
And then, golly, I feel like I know there's another thing.
Oh, I'm on the NCSG National Chimney Sweep Guild.
I'm on their marketing and membership committee.
(33:31):
Community so trying to get more people involved and
get people excited I am all about giving back I'm
a firm believer in the fact that we get out
of life what we put into it and we get out of our community what we
put into it so I try
and spend my time doing things that kind
of light me on fire right because it gets me excited and gets me energized to
(33:56):
go out there and and do good and and pour love into the world because I know
I get a lot of love and grace in life and I am super lucky to live the life I live today.
And I just kind of want to help everyone in the world do that.
If I could just give everyone a hug, I would.
(34:17):
I mean, like, I know I'm a hugger too. So,
I don't care. I ask them, can I hug you?
And most of the time they're like, yes. And no one's ever told me no. Maybe. I don't know.
I don't know. I might. I'm not a hugger. Whatever. Hug you.
(34:40):
I was just kidding. I had to act tough. I'm just kidding. Yeah,
right. You're like, I'm not a hugger. Who doesn't love a good hug?
Gosh. It's the best connection. It can change your day.
It can change your day that is for sure i used to have a rule like like i used
to have a rule back this was like high school though to like hug three people
(35:00):
a day i fell off that quota,
maybe that's why i'm so mad all the time maybe i think so,
i'm gonna have to bring it back yeah right seriously do you see three people
a day i don't I don't know. I see my dog, my son.
I'll hold all three of them. There we go. Oh, yeah. You've got three people
(35:22):
right there. I sometimes only see Roxy.
That's okay. She gives lots of hugs. She's like, get off me.
I do virtual hugs. Put my hands up and hug someone in a Zoom meeting like that.
Otherwise, I also only see my dog.
(35:46):
It must definitely. So Felicity, if there's, is there anything else that you
want the world to know about your new business and how you can help them and
then get your name out there and how they can contact you?
Sure. I mean, right now,
I'm building a bunch of different kind of buildable, buyable,
(36:06):
fillable templates for business owners that are specifically geared toward the
chimney trade, but trades in general also.
I have employee handbooks and SOPs, and then I also kind of customize them out
for people so that they have kitschy statements in them.
My absolute true confession
(36:28):
passion is that i love puns so
there are a lot of abbreviations using
words related to the industry so that people can remember
them and so that it's cute and kind of punny but other
than that i'm i'm just out there right now i'm i've
got a move underway a cross-country move
underway what you don't know it's behind me
(36:50):
and a whole lot of boxes is i'm in the land
of boxes so i'll be
moving to new york in the next month and a half and enjoying
life out there and in the
meantime i'm working on getting folks started just building out handbooks and
building out you know employee policies as well as sops and helping them figure
(37:15):
Figure out what really is their why because that's the starting point.
And then building confidence into their employees and into their teams because
most of the time what I see is an owner who says,
I trust you 100% in this role and I want you to do this task.
(37:37):
And then they say, why isn't this task getting done? and
if a task gets done without approval or
without hey does this look okay does here's a
rough draft should I send this out should I do this then everything kind of
falls apart and it's not that they didn't follow a policy it's just that they
(37:57):
they might send a really simple response back in a text saying why'd you do
it this way most of the time we can't tell via text what what someone's tone is. And...
Then their employees feel criticized and they lose their confidence and they
don't understand what they did wrong.
So putting things in process and documenting like, hey, here's what we want
(38:21):
you to do before you send this out every single time, submit a rough draft.
And then it's in black and white and people can understand how and why and do all the things.
So a lot of times, I mean, This morning, I
started my day with an hour and a half conversation with a client just discussing
(38:41):
company culture and how to build resilience in that company culture because
they've had a lot of drama and a lot of kind of behind closed doors talks or
text messages and whispers.
And it just didn't need to happen.
And the way to do that is to really build positivity and optimism and joy and
(39:06):
excitement into your team.
And you do that by making it safe.
So just having hard conversations with people. Yeah. That's kind of my other specialty.
Yeah. Having hard conversations can be, you know, interesting,
but also very much needed, right? The drama has to go away.
(39:30):
And I think, you know, you've got to find the person that's starting the drama. Yeah.
I think we've all been in cultures like that in some sort of way in our experiences.
But yeah, well, that's great. And if someone was to want to find out more about
your business, where would they go?
(39:51):
HeartSideHustle.com. And then I'm also on Facebook and Instagram as Heartside Hustle LLC.
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on the trademark.
We completely appreciate you. And speaking about an industry that we are both
learning about and, you know, it sounds very similar to all of the industries.
(40:11):
And I'm glad to hear that, right?
Because it makes it a little bit easier to know that as a marketer,
I am not just speaking to, you know, just one particular industry,
they all have the same kind of systems and processes.
Congratulations on your move and you are such a light. So thank you so much
for being on the podcast.
Thank you guys. I appreciate you.
(40:34):
All right. Thanks for tuning in everyone.
If you could please do us a quick favor, leave us a review on Apple podcast,
Spotify, like it on YouTube, share it with a friend, message us on Facebook,
say, Hey, that was a good episode.
I don't know. Just give us some feedback. We'd love to learn more about how
(40:54):
we're doing, how we can continue to provide good content for you all.
And yeah, so thank you all for tuning in and we will catch you all next time.
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