You talked a little bit about we've talked a little bit around the people side. So, how many people do you have in your organization?

So currently, we have seventeen people

from

all over the world. So everywhere from the UK to Italy to the US, to also we have Portugal. We have South America. So we have quite a diverse team, all around the world. I was always a remote first company before the cool kids started doing it. Mhmm. I do see value still in remote work. I do see value in, you know, work from home. I also do see value in in person collaboration. I do think the collaborative the creative collaboration part is more electrified in person. So that's kind of probably the next step that I'm looking towards. Like, how can I get all our creative minds together and, like, just create more and create more space for that too?

Oh, I like that. That's a Yeah. That's a really fantastic goal. So on the people side then, I guess, you talked a little bit about some of the challenges, and and you seem to be managing people more perhaps than maybe media, I guess, we could say. So we have a global staff. What is what's one of the biggest challenges with that?

Energy management. That that's something that's having a challenge for individuals yet alone, a global collective of individuals. It's very easy for any job to get caught in the day to day mundane. It's like, okay, here's a task. I've gotta write show notes. Done. Submit. It's going to the next person. And that kind of lack of energy, you feel it with how people show up. You feel it with the questions that they ask. You can tell very quickly who's engaged and who isn't. So managing that energy is very difficult, especially when I'm not in that physical location to you know, I can't be that personal trainer yelling in there and like, alright. Write those show notes and give me some energy. I can't do that. Right?

No.

I can jump on so many calls and be like, yo, you know, need you to be more put more energy in, but how do I create that energy remotely? And is it through collaboration? Is it through accountability measures? So that's the biggest challenge for me at this stage, like, knowing who are the a players. So you've gotta understand, you know, how how connected they feel to their work. Some of them are very brutally honest with me. They're like, I don't live to work. I work to live. I'm like, okay. You need people like that too. People who are reliable, who work, who are very consistent, but they do the job. You, you do need people like that. Not everybody's gonna be as crazy about your company as you are. But I think it's just a fine line of assessing how much how much they care. Do they care that appropriate amount for what you need them to do? And how do you continually foster that environment of, like, do people feel autonomous enough in and in control enough of their tasks? Like, there's all these categories that you can kind of look at your team and manage, but energy management is the most difficult because life changes, things ebb and flow. So it takes a lot of investment as a leader to continually check-in with people. Hey. So you've had two kids since you started. Like, life's different. Like but the fact that I hear, like, some leaders don't know that, you know, their team members have gone through this big life change. They're gonna be different, and it's important to check-in where they're at.

Yeah. It really is. And I suppose the the energy management is such a great thing to talk about because if you don't have that and then you talked about bringing creativity, the that level up. You're gonna lose the creativity if you don't have the energy, I suppose.

Energy is the most important ingredient in content creation, in anything, really relationship building, insert whatever you want. Energy is the most important ingredient in insert whatever you want. If energy isn't there, you know, very quickly that person isn't invested. They're not engaged. And they're not willing to make the best decisions for you or your company or your clients insert whatever you want responsibility that you have in the company to take to to take that piece of work, that that creation to the level that you expect or the standard that you expect. And that's why I think energy management takes the most work, takes a lot of energy for energy management. Yeah.

So So let's get some advice from you now. So you've talked a little bit about how you've grown Ginny media and how you've expanded into the podcasting studio. So how do you know when it's time to grow or scale a business?

That was a great question, that you ran like, gosh, that's like a question, Amy. How do you know when it's time to grow our scale? So for me, I'm just going off personal experience. I ran a business before Ginny media that failed miserably. Wasn't profitable, hired the wrong team members. Didn't listen to my gut when I'm like, this isn't making sense. You're spending more money than bringing back. So that's a time where you know that you need to abort the mission. But in terms of growth and scale, I would look at the first thing is look at your resources. It's a process of constant evaluation. And I use these words and people are like, it's so boring evaluation. I'm like, call it reflection. I don't know what you wanna call it. Call it a thinking day, but you do need to constantly reflect on what you're doing, why you're doing it, what you've done. Do you need to be doing it? Do you want to be doing it? Is these are questions you need to ask yourself very often. Right? And there's things that, you know, I talk to my my right hand, Courtney, who's my assistant. Every few months, I'm like, this is what I want, how I wanna manage my time. And she's like, okay, cool. We'll block this out this way. And if I'm realizing I'm more energetic in the morning and in the afternoon, I can do this. You gotta constantly ask yourself questions, constantly evaluate your energy, constantly evaluate evaluate your resources. Because nine times out of ten, you will find when you do that evaluation, there's things that you can eliminate, there's things that you can delegate, and there's things that you could probably modify altogether. If you don't do that and you continually run on the mill, you're probably gonna burn out or you're gonna burn through money very quickly. So that's a point where you know you need to grow or scale. And then the other option is to think about how are you going to source that financially to grow and scale. Are you gonna take out an SBA loan? Are you gonna take out, you know, a line of credit? One thing that I didn't learn about until very recently was something called MCA loans, merchant cash advances. That's quick money in, doesn't affect your credit score, but it has a high interest payback. That's probably the last recommendation I'd make. I would say that's probably a last resort. You gotta really practically think about how you're gonna financially source this situation, how you're gonna grow it. So resources, how you're gonna financially manage that, and do you need people, money, tech? You know, think about what you need to actually grow and scale that.

That's really good advice. I think we get a whole other podcast on how to finance an entrepreneurial venture for sure.

Yeah.

So I'm gonna ask you this then. When in your reflection or I forget what the boring word was, which I like better. What's the last thing you delegated?

Oh, last thing I delegated was, so I like running tests on things. I am obsessed with, you know, processes. I'm like, how could we do this more efficiently, but still maintain the standard that we expect? So the last thing I delegated was a test that I ran with the trailers that we're making for, for clients, Virginia medium. Like typically we know we'll, we'll take the content that's recorded and we'll pull it into a certain like order and then we'll add audio to it, then we'll put video to it. So I ran a test on how do you pick the parts for the best trailer. So I did that and now I'm I'm teaching someone else to do it. I'm teaching one of my writers to do it. So that is all thing. I'm like, okay. Now you go write the trailers and I do the same thing for show notes. I'm like, let me look at showing notes. What can we do here? I'm gonna test doing these keywords instead for this client. Done that. It's proven. Here you go. So that's kind of what I do day in, day out. I run tests, and I'm obsessed with running tests because I'm like with AI and, you know, everything that's changing with production. I'm like, okay. It's if you can jump on the bandwagon at some stage, it may as well be now.

Yes. It's a whole another thing you have to figure out along the way for sure. Yeah. It's an interesting thing to delegate. It's like you you know what you want, and then you're able to give it to someone. You're not just offloading it without figuring out how you want it done first. I think that's a really good way to do things.

Yeah. Exactly.

So outside of interviewing awesome people, what's your favorite thing about podcasting? I guess more on the back end. What's your favorite thing about it?

I just love I I love learning, Amy, and that sounds really weird. You mean No.

Not at all.

I I just I love learning new ways about I I like being invited or like being shown new ways of thinking. And this goes back to what we were talking about before where I feel that nowadays thinking can be so, siloed in certain ways. And when we we kind of jump to conclusions when we don't know how to react to someone. Right? And I get sometimes those reactions are valid, not invalidating that, but I think we've lost that touch of how do I understand where this person is coming from because that's not being demonstrated. All we see is this polarity of you don't agree with me, therefore I'm against you. Like, why can't we just make this an NBA game? Not that life is a game, but like, I can, you know what I'm saying? Like, can't we adopt that same,

Like the rules, the societal rules that go with being in a sporting event, for sure. I get that.

I think like, it's like you have permission to disagree with me and, you know, you have the safety of knowing that I'm not going to vilify you or invalidate you for that. So, again, you know, wanting to elevate voices also does come with a consequence. Right? The freedoms that that comes with it, it it's all these different things, but I think podcasting definitely has has the ability to be a vehicle to learn how to ask questions to get curious and to really be able to really hear someone in in a way that you probably and be open to a way of thinking that you probably wouldn't have had before. So that's what I really love about podcasting.

Oh, I love that too. I mean, to to feed your curiosity, that's partly why I do it as well. And you're right. I would rather people be curious about the other opinion rather than be just close minded to it.

Yeah. It's like, well, why do you think that? What what what what are you scared of in that consequence? Like, understand that about them. It's like, okay. You don't have to agree with them. No one's saying that you just because you understand that, that you agree with them, but just understand why they think that way. Let's connect with that. And, you know, if all else fails, ask them if they love their mother, if not ask them, if they love food, what are those two things you're going to get a yes and something to connect on?

Those are I like that. That's really good, simple things. That's perfect. I love that. It's good. So one more big piece of advice. What advice do you have for the next generation of women leaders?

Don't be afraid to say no. I know we're in a world and and a culture, especially digitally, where it's like, say yes. It's all positive reinforcement. Yeses are necessary. Yeses are what gets you to trial things. Yeses give you opportunities. Yeses get you in the right rooms with the right people who help you build your business. I get the yeses. But, also, don't be afraid to say no because if something isn't feeling right, chances are it's not right for you. I think we're we also ignore our gut a lot as female leaders, right, because we have that fear of I'm not gonna get this opportunity again, you know, going back to high school or or elementary school if you weren't picked for the team. You you relive those experiences in entrepreneurship. That doesn't change unfortunately entrepreneurship is like therapy it's like a it's like a playground and you perhaps do need a therapist outside of that as well but it things that you life is like a playground right and entrepreneurship is no different so don't be afraid to say no and don't be afraid to ask questions, rather than accept things as they are. Because, you know, I found with reasonable people that you work with, if you ask questions, if you agree to certain things and you say no to certain things, reasonable people will be reasonable with you. Right? Unreasonable people will be unreasonable with you. It's just setting boundaries, having those boundaries for yourself. That's so important. The other thing I will say is invest in yourself more so than you invest in your business. I think that's the most important thing. I wish I learned how to take care of myself before. Now I had no choice when I started to be an entrepreneur. It's like, well, you've got to take care of yourself because, you know, you have bigger responsibilities and people relying on you to make life decisions. And I don't mean that sound like I put on my cape every morning. I'm literally in my pajamas. But whatever your cape is, like, that is so important that you invest in yourself and not feel guilty about it because you need that for yourself and for your business.

Well, we all need it. If you have to show up every day, you have to be able to show up every day, and that requires taking care of yourself. So that absolutely makes sense. But we don't do it. Women, especially, we do we're last on the list of what all the things that we're doing, and it's a hard thing to change.

Yeah. A hundred percent. A hundred percent, Amy.

I love when you say ask questions. I'm a huge question asker, question asker. It has I no. I wouldn't say it's gotten me in trouble. I don't I don't say that anymore. I probably used to, though. I think now what it does is it gives me information because how people react to me asking question tells me a lot about them and if I want to have a relationship with them or be in business with them. Because if they think that makes me difficult, then that's a big red flag for me. Or are they interested in having a conversation about my questions and don't see it as threatening?

Now let me ask you a question on that.

Wait a second. I didn't agree to that.

When you ask someone a question, what do you observe, Amy? Do you observe their body language and response to that question, or do you more so take in their verbal response or

both? Probably both. I mean, sometimes so my first career was in automotive, so highly male dominated. So you can sort of for me and it was, you know, twenty five years ago. So there's a different culture and scenario that I was working within. But being dismissed is something you can easily pick up on very quickly. When you try and ask a question or, you know, it's like they make you feel badly for not knowing the answer if you're new because I would have been new at that point. And or someone says, oh, you can if someone guides you, oh, you can find that there. This is where you could you know, how do they respond to me asking questions? Is it is it an annoyance? Is it something they see as curiosity or willing to grow? You know, those kinds of things. And it takes a long time to figure it out because sometimes you think, oh, that was a dumb question. I shouldn't have asked that in that space. That was wrong of me. It takes you a long time to get the point to say no. I should be able to ask any question that I want within reason, politely, all of the things, obviously, but it's okay to ask questions. I totally agree with you. It's okay. And but it takes a long time to get used to doing it because you get so many different responses. So you have to be able to react to so many different responses. It's not just yes, no. It's it's varied.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I think it's, also you do learn a lot about when you ask people questions, because if people stew on it, I can't believe you asked me that question. It's like, I was curious.

You're just want to know.

You're clearly still hung up about it. Yeah. I find it interesting, Amy, when you do ask people questions, what they're more upset about? The fact that are they upset about the fact that you were thinking something to ask that question, or are they reading into what you might be presuming to inspire asking that question? And some people are just offended that you questioned that in the first place. So it's I just find that all fascinating, the reactions to questions sometimes.

I do too. I'm always like, why are you giving me a hard time for asking a question? But I've run into it a lot, and it's, it's interesting. But, you know, you get to pass that knowledge on like you are, and I think that that's also very important because, you know, there's all kinds of problems in the world. If we can mitigate some of them for female leaders, we might as well try.

I think George has come to join in. Wow.

Oh, yay.

Well, you wanna join in? He's he's such a diva. God.

Hi, George. George. Okay. We love when cats join. So before we go, I wanna ask you sort of what's next for you personally, professionally, or creatively?

I think professionally for me, Amy, I'm really thinking about, okay, what is this next phase of Ginny Media? Because it's a rapidly changing world there with AI, and and you I was just thinking, okay. How can I really level up Gini Media and still make it in alignment with how I started it? Because I love what I do every day. You obviously have to to be tier to want to run a business. But I'm really thinking about, could I integrate things more? Like, could I integrate the studio more into to what I do? And I'm also really looking at my relationships. Like, who are really the relationships in my life, business or personal, that are bringing a player value to me, and how can I be a player value to them? You could just meet one person, and all of a sudden, you look at things differently and, you know, you think of a business idea. So that's what I'm that's what I'm leaning into too and kind of, you know, I'm married now, and there's more priorities. And

You have a cat that is very high needs. I mean, that's high priority.

He's very high priority and high needs. Yeah. He's he's such a ham. But, it's just those things, like, you know, you I wanna make sure that I'm present for for my family too. So that that's kind of where I've gotta really say no to some things to do that. I've gotta really be disciplined, and I've really gotta take care of myself in order to do that too.

So you're taking all your own advice and applying it. That rarely happens, so good for you.

Thank you. I'm I'm trying. I am trying.

That's all we can do, really. Well, thank you so much for taking the time. This has been so much fun, and I look forward to season what number is it? I didn't even ask, I don't think. Gosh. I'd I've been Season lots season lots of of the Ginny show. And so we'll we all will look forward to learning along with you. So thank you so much for taking the time today.

Thank you so much for having me, Amy, and thank you for putting up with these little ones.

We love the cats. Always. Miss. They're always welcome. Like

He just wants to be on a podcast. I'm like, I can't produce your podcast, George. I don't do that for family.

That's right. No. You know, that might be your next idea, the cat podcast. I think that could be something.

That'd be great. Oh, thank you, MC.

See? Collaboration already.

Amazing.

Voices of Leadership is part of the Bespoke Productions Hub network of independent podcasters. If you are interested in partnering with us as a sponsor or if you have a podcast of your own, please visit bespoke productions hub dot com for more information. This episode is hosted, produced, and edited by me, Amy Schluter.