September 21, 2023 • 26 mins
Leaning into to charitable work as a foundational step for business growth is the main focus of this passionate conversation with Sandi Prosnitz, graphic designer and owner of LoGo Goods based in Savannah, Georgia. Sandi details her story of connection with nonprofit work and highlights how her priorities and values have launched her local small business on to a national account.
Learn more about the voices in this episode:
Email Sandi Prosnitz Sandi@LoGoGoods411.com
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
What does growth look like in your business in your life as a business owner,
executive or individual,
you can live and lead with intention to create the change you want to see in your community and the world.
Welcome to the Discerning Strategies podcast,
a place where we can see clearly and act wisely.
(00:31):
Hi,
everyone.
Welcome to the Discerning Strategies podcast and I am your host Michael Messer.
And today we are gonna be talking about how to create businesses that are totally aligned with your personal values and how those values can be used to drive the success of your business.
And I'm super excited because I'm joined by uh Sandy Pros of Logo Goods here in Savannah,
(00:56):
Georgia.
Hi,
Sandy,
how's it going?
Hey,
thanks for joining me today.
Thanks for having me.
You actually have such an interesting story because you started your business kind of off the back of your philanthropic interests.
Tell me a little bit about that.
(01:17):
I started Logo goods actually,
before I really became involved with any nonprofits.
Um We moved here from the New England area where there is uh less of an interest in supporting the community and So I really didn't know that that such a thing existed and then,
you know,
coming to Savannah and finding that I'm in a city where there's well over 400 nonprofits not counting the,
(01:42):
the churches and whatnot.
Um It was,
it was a,
a big culture shock for me and to see how interested and,
and not,
not just interested but passionate people here are about supporting their nonprofits was really eye opening.
Logo.
Goods was born before we moved,
but really became a full time business.
(02:05):
Uh A few months after COVID hit great time to start a business and it was fantastic,
fantastic.
But it,
it,
for me,
it really was,
it,
it just worked out well.
The uh the involvement with,
with nonprofits started shortly thereafter.
I had a business mentor that I was working with and she called me up one day and she said,
(02:30):
I'm nominating you to do this thing,
this campaign for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and you need to do this because it will blow your business up.
Yeah.
It,
I had no idea what she was asking me to do.
No clue.
All I knew was that if she said do something.
Um My,
my answer was OK.
Yes,
I'll jump and how high and when should I land?
(02:51):
Because everything that she had pushed me to do had already helped to grow my business.
And I knew that she had incredible success in the business community as well in her businesses.
So I knew she knew what she was doing and,
and I said,
ok,
whatever.
Can you tell me what to do?
I'm curious,
like,
why leukemia lymphoma?
Was it something that you were already interested in at that point?
No,
(03:12):
no,
no,
it was,
uh,
it was an organization that she had fundraising for,
in the past.
She had done the same campaign,
she had,
she had been on a team for the same campaign that she was nominating me to do.
I had at the beginning,
I had absolutely no clue besides that leukemia was a cancer of some sort.
What the impact of leukemia and lymphoma society was on treatments and research and whatnot for not just blood cancer but all cancers.
(03:42):
One of the things that I learned early on when I started digging in to find out what I was going to be fundraising for was that a huge percentage of all cancer research actually starts with blood and blood cancers.
Simply because it's more,
it's easier to,
um,
to test blood than tissue because it's easier to draw blood than extract tissue.
(04:07):
And so the Leukemia and Lymphoma society is responsible for some 40% of all cancer treatments that are currently FDA approved.
I think that's the numbers.
So it,
it became something that was important to me personally.
(04:27):
My wife's a two time cancer survivor.
She had breast cancer and some kind of reproductive cancer.
And I'm ashamed to say that,
I don't know if it was ovarian or uterine or what.
But she's a two time survivor.
And at the time,
my stepmother was battling lung cancer.
She had had stage four lung cancer for a number of years.
She,
she recently passed uh just over a year ago.
(04:50):
Um But to learn that,
that the Leukemia Lymphoma Society actually has a hand in impacting all of the cancers meant that all of a sudden now it was personal for me.
You know,
what's so interesting about that?
Because when I talk to clients sometimes and,
and like your mentor,
I'm very similar,
I'm like,
hey,
find something that you can do good in the community that you can align yourself with.
(05:12):
That feels good.
The important thing about that it's not the opportunism around it.
It's the making that personal connection.
So what I love that you just said is,
you're like,
ok,
there's this opportunity that I can kind of look into and this might be something that can help my business,
but you were able to find something there that was meaningful and directly connected and therefore authentic to you in your life,
(05:36):
right?
I think that's what I think that's what drove our success in the campaign.
And when,
and it became far less about,
oh,
this is gonna blow your business up and far more about what can we do to spread awareness and raise as much money as possible for this incredible organization.
(05:58):
Yeah.
And that was really exciting.
So,
I'm curious,
like,
I'm sensing this sort of evolution in you as you're doing this first capital campaign,
how,
what was changing for you?
I was learning to love giving back.
It wasn't a culture that I came from.
And so it was,
(06:18):
it was something that I had to learn about and I found that,
that giving back really felt good.
Yeah.
It's,
it's become one of the biggest focuses of my business besides,
you know,
being able to afford to pay the bills.
Yeah.
You know,
it's funny because when I first met you,
(06:39):
it was purely in the context of Leukemia lymphoma.
And they were like,
we were,
we were a network event.
We're sitting next to each other and like,
you weren't there talking about your business at all.
You were raising money for this organization and the community.
And so it's so interesting to me that,
like,
it started off as something where we were like,
ok,
OK.
Well,
maybe I'll take a look at this and it's really kind of almost become a bit of your DNA now.
(07:02):
It sounds like.
Yeah,
absolutely.
So I don't talk about logo goods at networking events,
networking events are about building relationships with individuals.
They are not about selling at all.
Yeah.
So my goal at,
at a networking event is to develop a relationship,
a friendship,
a friendly acquaintanceship with other business people.
(07:22):
Eventually,
they may say Hey,
can you,
can you do me a quote on these patents?
But more importantly,
it's,
it's about having those familiar friendly faces that make it more comfortable to go to networking events to begin with.
Um But also just,
just learning about the different people and the cultures and the businesses that surround us.
(07:44):
Absolutely.
So,
like,
just bring out a sense of curiosity and an openness and kind of be human,
right?
How does Leukemia lymphoma like,
help you with,
like even in the networking thing,
like,
is that your entree point and just starting starting to talk to people or is it just,
it's just come as you are,
it's,
it's not at all an opening.
Um I would,
I would rather open with,
(08:05):
with what's your dog's name?
OK.
You know,
tell me something personal about you.
I don't wanna,
I don't wanna know about just what your business is.
I want to know who you are and I would hope that people who want to talk to me at a networking event also want to know who I am.
If Leukemia and Lymphoma Society comes up in the conversation,
great.
If branded pens or cups or business cards for that matter,
(08:28):
come up in the conversation.
Great.
But that's just a bonus.
Um The Leukemia Lymphoma Society,
the first campaign really?
And I say first because we've been involved in three and we're serial fundraisers now,
I guess.
But it,
uh it,
it gave me exposure.
(08:49):
It put me in the forefront and made me visible and made me known.
We were new to the area.
We had not even lived here for a year when that nomination to do the campaign came in.
So no one knew who I was.
And by the end of the campaign,
everyone knew who I was.
And that was the most important thing as far as impacting my business that Leukemia from a society initially did for me.
(09:14):
Yeah,
but just like the networking event,
it sounds like they were getting to know you,
it wasn't,
they were getting to know your business.
They were,
you were becoming a known entity and you were humanizing yourself in the process of like making these connections and raising money and,
and connecting people to your cause.
Yeah,
absolutely.
And what what ended up happening is that we became seen as the,
(09:38):
the non the,
the promotional products provider that understands cause marketing that understands the nonprofits that can help a nonprofit without necessarily being worried so much about the bottom dollar and how much we were gonna make off of an order?
Wow,
cos so it's almost like it,
it sounds like you started,
(10:00):
you were actually kind of adjacently building your brand in a way around cause marketing without investing a dollar into putting that message out there other than just chilling up and doing the thing that you already love doing.
Yeah,
that is so cool.
And I I mean,
I,
again,
I didn't even know what cause marketing was until I started doing cause marketing.
It just,
(10:20):
it was so natural.
And now we,
we work with a ton of the nonprofits locally and beyond.
So you've,
you've done three different campaigns now and you've developed this identity within the community around cause marketing.
Where is this taking your business?
Help me understand?
Like what's the arc here in terms of where you think um you're going,
(10:43):
given this foundation you've built?
That's a great question.
Uh I,
I really don't know where it's going,
you know,
um A lot of people want to scale their business,
right?
They want to grow,
they wanna,
they wanna be huge and make massive amounts of money.
I,
I don't,
I'm interested in living a comfortable life giving back to causes that matter and just being a good human being.
(11:08):
And a lot of,
I think the give back is part of being a good human being.
You know,
initially,
I was giving back to several different nonprofits after the first campaign and I would drop $50 here and $100 there and 10% of the profits from whatever month to three different nonprofits and my clients would get to choose which was really cool for them.
(11:31):
Um But then one of the things that I also learned is make sure that the nonprofits that you're giving back to your are nonprofits that you personally care about and,
and that the impact that you can have is a lot stronger when you say,
ok,
these are,
these are my two or three favorite nonprofits that I really want to support and you're able to give more to those individual nonprofits than $50.
(11:57):
That really,
what's that gonna do?
What's that gonna impact?
What's that gonna provide for the nonprofit?
I love what you're saying because you're actually touching on two things that I think are so important.
You're talking first and foremost about your own personal authenticity all the way through this,
right?
And the way that authenticity is kind of showing up for you is,
it's like you,
um you know what you want for yourself,
(12:18):
you don't need to scale your business.
You don't need to like,
be something that you're not because somebody else told you.
But the other thing you're talking about,
which listeners to this podcast will know I use this word all the time is you're really intentional like you were like,
hey,
it's not enough for me just to give to random nonprofits,
but you want to continue to feel your purpose and you wanna feel really connected to the impact you're having and so you're selective about it and intentional about it.
(12:46):
That's so cool.
Now,
I'm gonna,
I know from talking to you that uh even though your intention isn't necessarily to,
you know,
dominate the promotional goods market uh internationally.
Um Great things are happening some big things are happening for you and uh to tell us a little bit about that.
(13:07):
Sure.
So the,
the visibility that happened through the first Leukemia Lymphoma Society campaign really connected me with some great people in our community.
A couple of the other individuals who were doing their campaigns at the same time have evolved into being my biggest clients.
So those relationships that were initially built are really important.
(13:32):
We've been able to begin working with a large corporate account.
Tanger outlets,
corporate has started working with us,
which is really exciting.
They rebranding and so we're helping them with a lot of the,
uh the rebranding display items.
Uh The connection with Tanger is because one of the other candidates that first year in 2021 is now the,
(13:57):
the marketing director at Tanger.
And that is amazing.
So essentially I'm gonna summarize quickly here just because you were out there invisible in the community and make we're making these connections based around causes that you cared about.
You've essentially landed as a,
as a small business,
a national account.
(14:17):
Yeah,
that's exactly what happened.
That is fantastic.
And the reason that they're working with you is they've seen who you are,
they agree with the values that you bring and they know that you can help them the business.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Right.
That's,
that is fantastic.
What one of the big goals I have for,
(14:39):
for just the work that I do is to help other business owners achieve exactly what you just described.
Um Sometimes my clients will say things to me,
like,
you know,
I don't wanna be like,
exactly like you said,
I don't want to necessarily be huge.
Like I,
I don't want to work all the time.
I have this vision for my life where I'm taking like five weeks off a year and I'm five of those weeks,
(15:04):
I'm sitting next to a lake and I'm just reconnecting with nature and my family.
And I say,
ok,
and I'm like,
is that ok?
Absolutely.
It's ok.
It is.
Absolutely.
Ok.
It's about like,
what is authentic to you.
So let me ask you based on your experience,
like,
if you were to give some thoughts or tips to business owners who are like,
(15:24):
really wanting that authenticity in their business,
what would you encourage them to start thinking about in terms of being able to bring in the things to their business that are gonna feed them as individuals lead with yourself,
not your business.
Ok.
That's huge.
I think so many people are stuck in,
(15:47):
in sales and I've got,
I've got to make the sales and I've gotta get the orders and I've gotta get the clients and I've got to make sure that everybody knows exactly what I do for a living.
Now.
They don't,
they don't care,
they don't care.
They want to know who you are.
They want your,
your clients will become your friends before your friends will become your clients.
(16:07):
It's um and it's become so true.
My friends,
very few of them actually do business with me.
They've started to,
but initially they didn't my clients,
however,
my,
some of my clients have become my best friends.
And so it really is about the relationship and representing who you are.
Not just what you do.
(16:28):
What you do is secondary.
I don't know if I answered the question or not.
I feel like I just went off on a team.
No,
no,
no,
I,
I I'm like sitting over here like totally meta processing because it's landing with me so much like where my head is at.
When you say that is,
you know,
when you coach somebody around like sales and stuff,
like there's all these people out there that will tell you like,
what you have to do to get the sale,
(16:48):
right?
I'll tell you the number one thing that's gonna help sell product or grow your business is building trust with people.
And that's means exactly like you're saying,
like creating an authentic connection,
then people wanna deal with other people,
they want to know what you stand for,
they wanna,
they wanna understand that you have a purpose beyond taking their money,
(17:12):
right?
So that's,
that's kind of where,
where,
where my head was at,
when you say that because um and also just be nice,
like,
just be a good person,
right?
Like the best sales people are the nice ones like the guy that has the energy,
like the bros of like sales culture from like,
you know,
boiler room or whatever.
Like,
(17:32):
no,
no,
that's just not my energy.
Sorry.
But,
and I would never counsel someone to go there,
but I love hearing stories about people that are leaning into that and it's working for them.
My other question for you is you talked to like we're talking about intention,
like you're really intentional about how you want your life to be,
how you want your business to be.
Like,
what helps you get clear about how to manage your life and your business authentically and in ways that are not gonna,
(17:57):
that are gonna be mutually supportive for you.
Sure.
I think everyone's heard about vision boards.
I don't actually have a physical vision board,
but there's a vision board in my head and I know what I want.
Don't be afraid of what you want.
If you weren't afraid,
know exactly what you would do so that you can put those,
those things as your priorities.
(18:17):
You know,
I have a list on my wall.
If I wasn't afraid I would ABC XYZ.
These are my goals if I wasn't afraid of it.
Wow,
that's so powerful if I'm not afraid.
So,
like on one hand,
part of it is just acknowledging your fears,
everyone's got them on them.
It's ok to be afraid.
It's what you do with the fear.
So,
how,
how,
like,
I'm so curious,
(18:37):
like,
how do you manage your own fear?
We all have it.
Like,
how do you manage yours?
So,
I've been riding horses since I was eight years old.
Horses are scary.
A lot of people are terrified of them.
If you're not scared of them,
you are stupid.
They are £1200 animals with hooves and teeth and a lot of muscle and they can kill you.
(18:59):
I am terrified of horses.
They're beautiful beasts.
I love looking at them,
scared to get on them.
Sure.
Exactly.
I've been riding since I was a little kid.
I'm 52.
Now,
that's a long time when you're on a horse's back and they spook and scare you.
You've got,
you've got choices.
You can curl up into a fetal position,
out of fear and you're gonna fall off or you can open up and get bigger and relax into the fear.
(19:27):
And if you relax into the fear,
you're gonna move with that beast under you and find your way to the other side of that spook,
still on the horse's back.
So relax into it,
breathe through it and know that there's another side on that.
There,
there's,
you know,
a,
a side,
something beyond the fear,
something,
uh,
on the other side of fear that is gonna be really worth it.
(19:49):
And when you get through that spook,
maybe because you've pushed your horse to do something that it doesn't necessarily want to do and you relax through the fear and you get to the other side of it and that worse becomes responsive to what you're asking.
That's your reward and it's the same exact thing in life.
So,
one of the things that I,
that I'm really connecting with is when you talk about relaxing into the fear is I,
(20:11):
I actually,
when I work with clients of so much of business and so much of life and I think this is really what you're talking about.
It's about mindset,
right?
So you're talking about confront the fears,
relax into the fears.
Understand that there's another,
there's a,
there's a back end to that be one with the horse,
like the be one with the horse reminds me of just being grounded in the moment,
right?
(20:32):
Like,
and,
and I find like that's one of the strategies that almost universally helps people talk about mindfulness and meditation and all that stuff.
What people don't realize is that you can start relaxing into the fear actually in the moment,
in the moment that you're feeling it by just getting present with it,
(20:53):
feel the feels 30 seconds a minute,
breathe a little bit like,
touch your fingers together,
like feel your weight as you're sitting in your chair,
whatever you need to do,
look at something really intently,
just get really physically grounded for a minute and then suddenly you're on the other side and then the great thing about it is you get to make a choice.
(21:15):
What do you wanna do?
How do you want to respond to,
to your situation that precipitated this fear?
Um Now this is so,
uh I,
I love everything you're saying.
Like,
you know,
your,
you know,
your next gig is after your,
your uh promotional gig runs its course,
it's like it's gonna be a coach because you're already thinking like a coach.
(21:37):
So,
um I'm curious,
uh what last things would you want to tell folks just about the entrepreneurial journey?
Like if you were to give a,
a tip or a strategy unrelated,
maybe to what we're talking about or maybe related,
what would you wanna leave them with?
(21:57):
It's not easy.
OK?
It's a lot easier to go punch somebody else's time clock,
but you're not gonna have the satisfaction and the freedom that you would have as an entrepreneur,
as someone owning your own business.
You know,
I,
I currently work 60 70 sometimes 80 hours a week,
but I can do that from a balcony in Barcelona.
(22:21):
If I want to.
As long as there's wifi,
it's OK.
So it's not about having,
like you said,
five weeks off a year for me,
it's about working through those five weeks wherever I want to.
And I think that freedom,
that liberation is really cool.
Uh You're,
(22:41):
you're reminding me I was,
I was listening to Shirzad Chain speak recently who's uh a coach he's like a phd from Stanford and,
and he was talking about work life balance.
And when you're like executive coaching with people and people are talking about balance,
sometimes it's not necessarily about the hours you work,
(23:03):
but he was talking about what is the quality of the time you are spending at work.
And what you're talking about is like,
you're again because you're aligning your values with your business and you're showing up the way you want to show up.
It's not so much about the hours.
You're already feeling good about it.
It's OK.
It's not,
it's not an issue of balance,
even though in terms of time,
(23:25):
it's a lot of time you're spending.
Sure.
I think the other thing that I would want to leave people with is not every potential client is your client.
You,
you are not gonna catch every single fish and that's ok too.
Your vibe attracts your tribe,
right?
So your clients,
your tribe,
(23:45):
your support system are going to be the people who are attracted to your vibe.
We could do an entire episode on this one topic and fact,
you're inspiring me.
Maybe we need to do that because it is so relevant.
I'm going to take it one step further.
Not only is not everybody your people,
but like on your,
on your journey,
you get to choose who you work with.
(24:07):
Firing bad clients is amazing.
Yes,
absolutely.
Again,
I'm thinking of one of my clients can I do that?
Yes,
you absolutely can.
And you're gonna be better for it.
That person that sucks all of the energy from you.
Actually,
what they're doing in their business is they're making you not your best self and you're not showing up as well as you could for your other amazing clients.
(24:28):
Like that's what happens.
So get rid of that energy.
Find the person that energizes you and that really vibes with you.
I love that.
What an awesome way to kind of wrap everything up.
Thanks so much again for your time.
Uh Remind us how can people reach out to you if they would like to talk more about either your personal experiences or what you're doing with global goods.
(24:48):
The absolute best way to get on my radar is my email,
text messages,
get lost.
Facebook messenger messages definitely get lost.
But my email is always top of mind.
So my email address is Sandy with an ISA ND I at logo goods 411 dot com.
Awesome Sandy.
(25:09):
This was so cool.
I mean,
inspiring story.
I think there's so much to take away from your story and I just want to say best of luck doesn't sound like you need it right now.
Things are good,
things are happening.
Everybody needs a little bit of luck,
but you've got your authenticity and your intention going through and that goes a long way.
So um thanks for joining me today.
Thanks for having me.
(25:37):
You can find Michael Messer at discerning strategies dot com.
Set up a free 20 minute consultation.
Clarify your goals,
scale your business,
amplify your impact discerning strategies dot com.
What does growth look like in your business in your life as a business owner,
executive or individual,
you can live and lead with intention to create the change you want to see in your community and the world.
Welcome to the Discerning Strategies podcast,
a place where we can see clearly and act wisely.
(00:31):
Hi,
everyone.
Welcome to the Discerning Strategies podcast and I am your host Michael Messer.
And today we are gonna be talking about how to create businesses that are totally aligned with your personal values and how those values can be used to drive the success of your business.
And I'm super excited because I'm joined by uh Sandy Pros of Logo Goods here in Savannah,
(00:56):
Georgia.
Hi,
Sandy,
how's it going?
Hey,
thanks for joining me today.
Thanks for having me.
You actually have such an interesting story because you started your business kind of off the back of your philanthropic interests.
Tell me a little bit about that.
(01:17):
I started Logo goods actually,
before I really became involved with any nonprofits.
Um We moved here from the New England area where there is uh less of an interest in supporting the community and So I really didn't know that that such a thing existed and then,
you know,
coming to Savannah and finding that I'm in a city where there's well over 400 nonprofits not counting the,
(01:42):
the churches and whatnot.
Um It was,
it was a,
a big culture shock for me and to see how interested and,
and not,
not just interested but passionate people here are about supporting their nonprofits was really eye opening.
Logo.
Goods was born before we moved,
but really became a full time business.
(02:05):
Uh A few months after COVID hit great time to start a business and it was fantastic,
fantastic.
But it,
it,
for me,
it really was,
it,
it just worked out well.
The uh the involvement with,
with nonprofits started shortly thereafter.
I had a business mentor that I was working with and she called me up one day and she said,
(02:30):
I'm nominating you to do this thing,
this campaign for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and you need to do this because it will blow your business up.
Yeah.
It,
I had no idea what she was asking me to do.
No clue.
All I knew was that if she said do something.
Um My,
my answer was OK.
Yes,
I'll jump and how high and when should I land?
(02:51):
Because everything that she had pushed me to do had already helped to grow my business.
And I knew that she had incredible success in the business community as well in her businesses.
So I knew she knew what she was doing and,
and I said,
ok,
whatever.
Can you tell me what to do?
I'm curious,
like,
why leukemia lymphoma?
Was it something that you were already interested in at that point?
No,
(03:12):
no,
no,
it was,
uh,
it was an organization that she had fundraising for,
in the past.
She had done the same campaign,
she had,
she had been on a team for the same campaign that she was nominating me to do.
I had at the beginning,
I had absolutely no clue besides that leukemia was a cancer of some sort.
What the impact of leukemia and lymphoma society was on treatments and research and whatnot for not just blood cancer but all cancers.
(03:42):
One of the things that I learned early on when I started digging in to find out what I was going to be fundraising for was that a huge percentage of all cancer research actually starts with blood and blood cancers.
Simply because it's more,
it's easier to,
um,
to test blood than tissue because it's easier to draw blood than extract tissue.
(04:07):
And so the Leukemia and Lymphoma society is responsible for some 40% of all cancer treatments that are currently FDA approved.
I think that's the numbers.
So it,
it became something that was important to me personally.
(04:27):
My wife's a two time cancer survivor.
She had breast cancer and some kind of reproductive cancer.
And I'm ashamed to say that,
I don't know if it was ovarian or uterine or what.
But she's a two time survivor.
And at the time,
my stepmother was battling lung cancer.
She had had stage four lung cancer for a number of years.
She,
she recently passed uh just over a year ago.
(04:50):
Um But to learn that,
that the Leukemia Lymphoma Society actually has a hand in impacting all of the cancers meant that all of a sudden now it was personal for me.
You know,
what's so interesting about that?
Because when I talk to clients sometimes and,
and like your mentor,
I'm very similar,
I'm like,
hey,
find something that you can do good in the community that you can align yourself with.
(05:12):
That feels good.
The important thing about that it's not the opportunism around it.
It's the making that personal connection.
So what I love that you just said is,
you're like,
ok,
there's this opportunity that I can kind of look into and this might be something that can help my business,
but you were able to find something there that was meaningful and directly connected and therefore authentic to you in your life,
(05:36):
right?
I think that's what I think that's what drove our success in the campaign.
And when,
and it became far less about,
oh,
this is gonna blow your business up and far more about what can we do to spread awareness and raise as much money as possible for this incredible organization.
(05:58):
Yeah.
And that was really exciting.
So,
I'm curious,
like,
I'm sensing this sort of evolution in you as you're doing this first capital campaign,
how,
what was changing for you?
I was learning to love giving back.
It wasn't a culture that I came from.
And so it was,
(06:18):
it was something that I had to learn about and I found that,
that giving back really felt good.
Yeah.
It's,
it's become one of the biggest focuses of my business besides,
you know,
being able to afford to pay the bills.
Yeah.
You know,
it's funny because when I first met you,
(06:39):
it was purely in the context of Leukemia lymphoma.
And they were like,
we were,
we were a network event.
We're sitting next to each other and like,
you weren't there talking about your business at all.
You were raising money for this organization and the community.
And so it's so interesting to me that,
like,
it started off as something where we were like,
ok,
OK.
Well,
maybe I'll take a look at this and it's really kind of almost become a bit of your DNA now.
(07:02):
It sounds like.
Yeah,
absolutely.
So I don't talk about logo goods at networking events,
networking events are about building relationships with individuals.
They are not about selling at all.
Yeah.
So my goal at,
at a networking event is to develop a relationship,
a friendship,
a friendly acquaintanceship with other business people.
(07:22):
Eventually,
they may say Hey,
can you,
can you do me a quote on these patents?
But more importantly,
it's,
it's about having those familiar friendly faces that make it more comfortable to go to networking events to begin with.
Um But also just,
just learning about the different people and the cultures and the businesses that surround us.
(07:44):
Absolutely.
So,
like,
just bring out a sense of curiosity and an openness and kind of be human,
right?
How does Leukemia lymphoma like,
help you with,
like even in the networking thing,
like,
is that your entree point and just starting starting to talk to people or is it just,
it's just come as you are,
it's,
it's not at all an opening.
Um I would,
I would rather open with,
(08:05):
with what's your dog's name?
OK.
You know,
tell me something personal about you.
I don't wanna,
I don't wanna know about just what your business is.
I want to know who you are and I would hope that people who want to talk to me at a networking event also want to know who I am.
If Leukemia and Lymphoma Society comes up in the conversation,
great.
If branded pens or cups or business cards for that matter,
(08:28):
come up in the conversation.
Great.
But that's just a bonus.
Um The Leukemia Lymphoma Society,
the first campaign really?
And I say first because we've been involved in three and we're serial fundraisers now,
I guess.
But it,
uh it,
it gave me exposure.
(08:49):
It put me in the forefront and made me visible and made me known.
We were new to the area.
We had not even lived here for a year when that nomination to do the campaign came in.
So no one knew who I was.
And by the end of the campaign,
everyone knew who I was.
And that was the most important thing as far as impacting my business that Leukemia from a society initially did for me.
(09:14):
Yeah,
but just like the networking event,
it sounds like they were getting to know you,
it wasn't,
they were getting to know your business.
They were,
you were becoming a known entity and you were humanizing yourself in the process of like making these connections and raising money and,
and connecting people to your cause.
Yeah,
absolutely.
And what what ended up happening is that we became seen as the,
(09:38):
the non the,
the promotional products provider that understands cause marketing that understands the nonprofits that can help a nonprofit without necessarily being worried so much about the bottom dollar and how much we were gonna make off of an order?
Wow,
cos so it's almost like it,
it sounds like you started,
(10:00):
you were actually kind of adjacently building your brand in a way around cause marketing without investing a dollar into putting that message out there other than just chilling up and doing the thing that you already love doing.
Yeah,
that is so cool.
And I I mean,
I,
again,
I didn't even know what cause marketing was until I started doing cause marketing.
It just,
(10:20):
it was so natural.
And now we,
we work with a ton of the nonprofits locally and beyond.
So you've,
you've done three different campaigns now and you've developed this identity within the community around cause marketing.
Where is this taking your business?
Help me understand?
Like what's the arc here in terms of where you think um you're going,
(10:43):
given this foundation you've built?
That's a great question.
Uh I,
I really don't know where it's going,
you know,
um A lot of people want to scale their business,
right?
They want to grow,
they wanna,
they wanna be huge and make massive amounts of money.
I,
I don't,
I'm interested in living a comfortable life giving back to causes that matter and just being a good human being.
(11:08):
And a lot of,
I think the give back is part of being a good human being.
You know,
initially,
I was giving back to several different nonprofits after the first campaign and I would drop $50 here and $100 there and 10% of the profits from whatever month to three different nonprofits and my clients would get to choose which was really cool for them.
(11:31):
Um But then one of the things that I also learned is make sure that the nonprofits that you're giving back to your are nonprofits that you personally care about and,
and that the impact that you can have is a lot stronger when you say,
ok,
these are,
these are my two or three favorite nonprofits that I really want to support and you're able to give more to those individual nonprofits than $50.
(11:57):
That really,
what's that gonna do?
What's that gonna impact?
What's that gonna provide for the nonprofit?
I love what you're saying because you're actually touching on two things that I think are so important.
You're talking first and foremost about your own personal authenticity all the way through this,
right?
And the way that authenticity is kind of showing up for you is,
it's like you,
um you know what you want for yourself,
(12:18):
you don't need to scale your business.
You don't need to like,
be something that you're not because somebody else told you.
But the other thing you're talking about,
which listeners to this podcast will know I use this word all the time is you're really intentional like you were like,
hey,
it's not enough for me just to give to random nonprofits,
but you want to continue to feel your purpose and you wanna feel really connected to the impact you're having and so you're selective about it and intentional about it.
(12:46):
That's so cool.
Now,
I'm gonna,
I know from talking to you that uh even though your intention isn't necessarily to,
you know,
dominate the promotional goods market uh internationally.
Um Great things are happening some big things are happening for you and uh to tell us a little bit about that.
(13:07):
Sure.
So the,
the visibility that happened through the first Leukemia Lymphoma Society campaign really connected me with some great people in our community.
A couple of the other individuals who were doing their campaigns at the same time have evolved into being my biggest clients.
So those relationships that were initially built are really important.
(13:32):
We've been able to begin working with a large corporate account.
Tanger outlets,
corporate has started working with us,
which is really exciting.
They rebranding and so we're helping them with a lot of the,
uh the rebranding display items.
Uh The connection with Tanger is because one of the other candidates that first year in 2021 is now the,
(13:57):
the marketing director at Tanger.
And that is amazing.
So essentially I'm gonna summarize quickly here just because you were out there invisible in the community and make we're making these connections based around causes that you cared about.
You've essentially landed as a,
as a small business,
a national account.
(14:17):
Yeah,
that's exactly what happened.
That is fantastic.
And the reason that they're working with you is they've seen who you are,
they agree with the values that you bring and they know that you can help them the business.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Right.
That's,
that is fantastic.
What one of the big goals I have for,
(14:39):
for just the work that I do is to help other business owners achieve exactly what you just described.
Um Sometimes my clients will say things to me,
like,
you know,
I don't wanna be like,
exactly like you said,
I don't want to necessarily be huge.
Like I,
I don't want to work all the time.
I have this vision for my life where I'm taking like five weeks off a year and I'm five of those weeks,
(15:04):
I'm sitting next to a lake and I'm just reconnecting with nature and my family.
And I say,
ok,
and I'm like,
is that ok?
Absolutely.
It's ok.
It is.
Absolutely.
Ok.
It's about like,
what is authentic to you.
So let me ask you based on your experience,
like,
if you were to give some thoughts or tips to business owners who are like,
(15:24):
really wanting that authenticity in their business,
what would you encourage them to start thinking about in terms of being able to bring in the things to their business that are gonna feed them as individuals lead with yourself,
not your business.
Ok.
That's huge.
I think so many people are stuck in,
(15:47):
in sales and I've got,
I've got to make the sales and I've gotta get the orders and I've gotta get the clients and I've got to make sure that everybody knows exactly what I do for a living.
Now.
They don't,
they don't care,
they don't care.
They want to know who you are.
They want your,
your clients will become your friends before your friends will become your clients.
(16:07):
It's um and it's become so true.
My friends,
very few of them actually do business with me.
They've started to,
but initially they didn't my clients,
however,
my,
some of my clients have become my best friends.
And so it really is about the relationship and representing who you are.
Not just what you do.
(16:28):
What you do is secondary.
I don't know if I answered the question or not.
I feel like I just went off on a team.
No,
no,
no,
I,
I I'm like sitting over here like totally meta processing because it's landing with me so much like where my head is at.
When you say that is,
you know,
when you coach somebody around like sales and stuff,
like there's all these people out there that will tell you like,
what you have to do to get the sale,
(16:48):
right?
I'll tell you the number one thing that's gonna help sell product or grow your business is building trust with people.
And that's means exactly like you're saying,
like creating an authentic connection,
then people wanna deal with other people,
they want to know what you stand for,
they wanna,
they wanna understand that you have a purpose beyond taking their money,
(17:12):
right?
So that's,
that's kind of where,
where,
where my head was at,
when you say that because um and also just be nice,
like,
just be a good person,
right?
Like the best sales people are the nice ones like the guy that has the energy,
like the bros of like sales culture from like,
you know,
boiler room or whatever.
Like,
(17:32):
no,
no,
that's just not my energy.
Sorry.
But,
and I would never counsel someone to go there,
but I love hearing stories about people that are leaning into that and it's working for them.
My other question for you is you talked to like we're talking about intention,
like you're really intentional about how you want your life to be,
how you want your business to be.
Like,
what helps you get clear about how to manage your life and your business authentically and in ways that are not gonna,
(17:57):
that are gonna be mutually supportive for you.
Sure.
I think everyone's heard about vision boards.
I don't actually have a physical vision board,
but there's a vision board in my head and I know what I want.
Don't be afraid of what you want.
If you weren't afraid,
know exactly what you would do so that you can put those,
those things as your priorities.
(18:17):
You know,
I have a list on my wall.
If I wasn't afraid I would ABC XYZ.
These are my goals if I wasn't afraid of it.
Wow,
that's so powerful if I'm not afraid.
So,
like on one hand,
part of it is just acknowledging your fears,
everyone's got them on them.
It's ok to be afraid.
It's what you do with the fear.
So,
how,
how,
like,
I'm so curious,
(18:37):
like,
how do you manage your own fear?
We all have it.
Like,
how do you manage yours?
So,
I've been riding horses since I was eight years old.
Horses are scary.
A lot of people are terrified of them.
If you're not scared of them,
you are stupid.
They are £1200 animals with hooves and teeth and a lot of muscle and they can kill you.
(18:59):
I am terrified of horses.
They're beautiful beasts.
I love looking at them,
scared to get on them.
Sure.
Exactly.
I've been riding since I was a little kid.
I'm 52.
Now,
that's a long time when you're on a horse's back and they spook and scare you.
You've got,
you've got choices.
You can curl up into a fetal position,
out of fear and you're gonna fall off or you can open up and get bigger and relax into the fear.
(19:27):
And if you relax into the fear,
you're gonna move with that beast under you and find your way to the other side of that spook,
still on the horse's back.
So relax into it,
breathe through it and know that there's another side on that.
There,
there's,
you know,
a,
a side,
something beyond the fear,
something,
uh,
on the other side of fear that is gonna be really worth it.
(19:49):
And when you get through that spook,
maybe because you've pushed your horse to do something that it doesn't necessarily want to do and you relax through the fear and you get to the other side of it and that worse becomes responsive to what you're asking.
That's your reward and it's the same exact thing in life.
So,
one of the things that I,
that I'm really connecting with is when you talk about relaxing into the fear is I,
(20:11):
I actually,
when I work with clients of so much of business and so much of life and I think this is really what you're talking about.
It's about mindset,
right?
So you're talking about confront the fears,
relax into the fears.
Understand that there's another,
there's a,
there's a back end to that be one with the horse,
like the be one with the horse reminds me of just being grounded in the moment,
right?
(20:32):
Like,
and,
and I find like that's one of the strategies that almost universally helps people talk about mindfulness and meditation and all that stuff.
What people don't realize is that you can start relaxing into the fear actually in the moment,
in the moment that you're feeling it by just getting present with it,
(20:53):
feel the feels 30 seconds a minute,
breathe a little bit like,
touch your fingers together,
like feel your weight as you're sitting in your chair,
whatever you need to do,
look at something really intently,
just get really physically grounded for a minute and then suddenly you're on the other side and then the great thing about it is you get to make a choice.
(21:15):
What do you wanna do?
How do you want to respond to,
to your situation that precipitated this fear?
Um Now this is so,
uh I,
I love everything you're saying.
Like,
you know,
your,
you know,
your next gig is after your,
your uh promotional gig runs its course,
it's like it's gonna be a coach because you're already thinking like a coach.
(21:37):
So,
um I'm curious,
uh what last things would you want to tell folks just about the entrepreneurial journey?
Like if you were to give a,
a tip or a strategy unrelated,
maybe to what we're talking about or maybe related,
what would you wanna leave them with?
(21:57):
It's not easy.
OK?
It's a lot easier to go punch somebody else's time clock,
but you're not gonna have the satisfaction and the freedom that you would have as an entrepreneur,
as someone owning your own business.
You know,
I,
I currently work 60 70 sometimes 80 hours a week,
but I can do that from a balcony in Barcelona.
(22:21):
If I want to.
As long as there's wifi,
it's OK.
So it's not about having,
like you said,
five weeks off a year for me,
it's about working through those five weeks wherever I want to.
And I think that freedom,
that liberation is really cool.
Uh You're,
(22:41):
you're reminding me I was,
I was listening to Shirzad Chain speak recently who's uh a coach he's like a phd from Stanford and,
and he was talking about work life balance.
And when you're like executive coaching with people and people are talking about balance,
sometimes it's not necessarily about the hours you work,
(23:03):
but he was talking about what is the quality of the time you are spending at work.
And what you're talking about is like,
you're again because you're aligning your values with your business and you're showing up the way you want to show up.
It's not so much about the hours.
You're already feeling good about it.
It's OK.
It's not,
it's not an issue of balance,
even though in terms of time,
(23:25):
it's a lot of time you're spending.
Sure.
I think the other thing that I would want to leave people with is not every potential client is your client.
You,
you are not gonna catch every single fish and that's ok too.
Your vibe attracts your tribe,
right?
So your clients,
your tribe,
(23:45):
your support system are going to be the people who are attracted to your vibe.
We could do an entire episode on this one topic and fact,
you're inspiring me.
Maybe we need to do that because it is so relevant.
I'm going to take it one step further.
Not only is not everybody your people,
but like on your,
on your journey,
you get to choose who you work with.
(24:07):
Firing bad clients is amazing.
Yes,
absolutely.
Again,
I'm thinking of one of my clients can I do that?
Yes,
you absolutely can.
And you're gonna be better for it.
That person that sucks all of the energy from you.
Actually,
what they're doing in their business is they're making you not your best self and you're not showing up as well as you could for your other amazing clients.
(24:28):
Like that's what happens.
So get rid of that energy.
Find the person that energizes you and that really vibes with you.
I love that.
What an awesome way to kind of wrap everything up.
Thanks so much again for your time.
Uh Remind us how can people reach out to you if they would like to talk more about either your personal experiences or what you're doing with global goods.
(24:48):
The absolute best way to get on my radar is my email,
text messages,
get lost.
Facebook messenger messages definitely get lost.
But my email is always top of mind.
So my email address is Sandy with an ISA ND I at logo goods 411 dot com.
Awesome Sandy.
(25:09):
This was so cool.
I mean,
inspiring story.
I think there's so much to take away from your story and I just want to say best of luck doesn't sound like you need it right now.
Things are good,
things are happening.
Everybody needs a little bit of luck,
but you've got your authenticity and your intention going through and that goes a long way.
So um thanks for joining me today.
Thanks for having me.
(25:37):
You can find Michael Messer at discerning strategies dot com.
Set up a free 20 minute consultation.
Clarify your goals,
scale your business,
amplify your impact discerning strategies dot com.
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