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Becoming an entrepreneur takes grit.
Deciding to do it solo takes courage.
This is 1,000 Routes, the podcast where we explore the stories of solopreneurs who have made the bet on themselves to build a business that serves their life. Every episode you'll hear about the lessons they've learned and the uncommon routes they've taken to stand out in a world that is purposefully trying to commoditize them.
Bridget Poetker [00:00:00]:
My mantra is, I want a little job so I can live my big life, you know?
Nick Bennett [00:00:05]:
Hey, it's Nick, and welcome to 1000 Routes, the podcast where I explore the stories of solopreneurs who have made the bet on themselves to build a business that serves their life. Every episode, you'll hear all about the lessons they've learned and the uncommon routes they've taken to stand out in a world that is purposefully trying to commoditize them.
Bridget Poetker [00:00:26]:
My name is Bridget Poetker, and I am the founder of a collective agency called Outside. We're a group of marketing consultants. It's slow going. I originally was just founder and CEO of Bridget Poetker LLC, but I'm working on, as I build other brands, too, I'm working on building my own brand as well. And that doesn't scale, but it looks good on the paperwork. So hell yeah.
Nick Bennett [00:00:52]:
I love that. I want to know more about Outside because I haven't seen anything about that yet. So hell yeah. But we first met through mutual connection, Adam Pash and I met him somehow through doing LinkedIn things. And then I hit him up looking to meet other content marketers, and he introduced me to you. We became fast friends. Like, we methemeral one time, and we were just like, this makes sense. And we've just been connected ever since.
Nick Bennett [00:01:24]:
And it made sense that you launched your thing two months ago. And I was like, this is the perfect. I've been waiting for this moment, really, since you did.
Bridget Poetker [00:01:33]:
Me too.
Nick Bennett [00:01:33]:
You were doing it. I think this is why people are going solo now, is to get on the show.
Bridget Poetker [00:01:37]:
Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah.
Nick Bennett [00:01:38]:
I think that's really the major draw of solopreneurship these days, is really just to get on this show.
Bridget Poetker [00:01:44]:
I love it.
Nick Bennett [00:01:45]:
You can tell by all 50 people who listen to it.
Bridget Poetker [00:01:48]:
Hey, those are the most important 50 people that we have in our circle, man.
Nick Bennett [00:01:52]:
That is true. I want to understand from you. Walk me through the moment where you decided it was time to move on from w two life and do this crazy thing called become a business of one.
Bridget Poetker [00:02:06]:
I guess to go back to the, like, beginning of my career a little bit. My first job out of college, I started at an ad agency. Like a boutique ad agency we never scaled over. I think it was like, 40 people. Most of our clients were, like, manufacturing. It's pretty boring, but, like, very lucrative. And so we were essentially functioning as, like, the marketing departments for our clients. And I was like, this is interesting.
Bridget Poetker [00:02:32]:
The caveat to that was three years in. First of all, making it three years at an agency in and of itself is like a feat. But, you know, I wasn't seeing growth, like, because the team was small. Like, my boss would have had to leave for me to move up, and he's still there. So to this day. Love him. He was a great first boss. Like, I was very, very lucky to have him as, like, my first boss.
Bridget Poetker [00:02:59]:
To understand a little bit about, like, workplace politics and how, like, you don't have to like everything, but there's a way to use things to your advantage and, like, how to mentally prepare for work even if it's not being nice to your brain and, like, things like that. But, yeah, I just wasn't seeing growth, like, personally, but also, like, working somewhere for three years. Like, I wasn't making more money. So I actually left there and did freelance for like six months because I just needed to leave. And then I was like, okay, now I need a real job because I don't have health insurance. And I just literally lucked into a job at g two when they were scaling their content team, they were hiring like 30 marketers in Chicago. And somehow I ended up with that job. Amazing team.
Bridget Poetker [00:03:46]:
I was there for a year and a half. So that was like my first dip into tech, which again, was also very lucky of just like a place where really was on the forefront of, like, the personal branding stuff. Like, it wasn't even called that then because it shouldn't be called that. And we use that kind of as a launching pad. I ended up, a bunch of our team got laid off at the beginning of COVID did another tech company in Chicago called big time for about a year, learned some paid stuff. So I kind of too, like, moved around functions on the marketing team because my goal was always BCMo. I think was just like, I just want to be the boss for better or for worse. For better, for me, for sure.
Bridget Poetker [00:04:26]:
So I knew that I wanted to learn, like, all the facets of what a marketing team is. Then I got the opportunity to go work at postal when they were, like, up and coming. And then I went to kind of a competitor of them, loop and tie and. Yeah, I don't know, I've just done about a year and a half at all these different tech companies. Like, a year and a half feels like a lot longer than that.
Nick Bennett [00:04:46]:
It's like dog years and tech companies. It's like a lifetime. Yeah.
Bridget Poetker [00:04:50]:
And I just, I felt like the last couple places, even if I was in a different function, I was building the same thing, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Thing. Like, yeah, if you're on a marketing team at a tech company, you're building a go to market function and a go to market engine of some kind, whatever channel you're specializing in. But I just kept running into the same issues. And when it gets to the point where your job is less about doing the work and more about convincing people that you should do the work, it's like, I'm not moving fast enough for myself, and that's crazy enough to say in a tech company that they're already asking you to do a million things. But I just wasn't being personally fulfilled in that structure. And I think at loop and tie, great company, great boss, great boss's boss, amazing CEO. All the things 90% women like.
Bridget Poetker [00:05:40]:
The last couple companies weren't like, lupin tie was for me, but the market hit us, and there were some layoffs, like, small team layoffs, but also pretty severe pay cuts, and I just couldn't sustain that. So I dipped my toe into, like, well, what if I take on some side projects just to make back my salary what I was making before? And I quickly found that I was not only making more money hourly doing that stuff, but also I enjoyed the work more because I had more freedom. And these people are hiring me because they don't know anything about marketing. And so if I got a lot of validation out of that, of doing things my own way again and then getting back to, like, I think, sass. I got sass pilled, right? Like, the playbooks and the. You're doing this the wrong way, and the shame of that and just the constant, like, am I doing this right? Is there something new to look at instead of just focusing on what's in front of me? And that's mental. Like, I'm still, like, deprogramming my brain from all of that. It's a game, and you can use it to your advantage, but the game gets old, and I'm like, I need something else, you know? So all this to say, it wasn't necessarily my brave decision to take the leap into entrepreneurship and start my own thing, but I also feel like every job, every decision that I'd made up to that point was pointing me towards something.
Bridget Poetker [00:07:06]:
And I'm like, well, it's not now when.
Nick Bennett [00:07:08]:
Yeah, I feel you, especially on the whole, spending a lot of time justifying the work instead of doing the work. And then when you have an opportunity to work with someone else and you've run your play the way that you see it in your mind and not the way that it gets mangled and diluted through consensus and committee inside of another company, that validation of being like, this works. I knew it worked. And you start to doubt yourself. And I felt that when I was exiting the agency, I was like, I doubted a lot of the stuff that I was doing and I was like, did this work? Is this wrong? Am I wrong about all the things that I think and believe about the way things should be done? And then you do it for yourself and you do it with other clients and it delivers that momentum and that burst of energy that you get from that can carry you along a long, long way. And like you said, it deprograms a lot of the stuff that you've been, like, you said it sass pilled.
Bridget Poetker [00:08:12]:
Yeah.
Nick Bennett [00:08:13]:
Like, you just lose sight of all those things because they really make you doubt that what you know is effective or can work.
Bridget Poetker [00:08:21]:
I think a lot of that kind of mindset and mentality for me came from being, like, predominantly in martech software, too. So it's like inception a little bit. Like we're creating problems for marketers in order to sell our software to them. But are those things really problems or are they symptoms of larger problems that could be solved in other ways? And, like, I think to marketing specifically, like, you can't all run the same playbook. Every channel is going to be crowded in the same way with the same types of things. I'll never forget the company that I was working at in Covid, of course, the messaging, everybody changed the homepage h one to ROI focused. I'm like, but every company is going to do that. I understand the logic.
Bridget Poetker [00:09:08]:
You're not wrong for that. But we need to find a different way to say it or what our version of that is so that it doesn't just get lost with everything else and with marketing and the way that I really think about it and with my advertising like background, solving the problems and the unique issues, a unique way is what makes you stand out. It's not, are you new in a channel? It's like, what's our point of view on this? What flag are we going to plant in the ground instead of, we don't want to piss anybody off. So we're not actually going to message to any specific person. We're going to try to message to everyone. And it's like, it doesn't move the needle forward. You're just kind of going in circles.
Nick Bennett [00:09:49]:
Yeah. And I think the Chris Walker vacation of tech marketing, like, I think what he did is brilliant, and I love his point of view and his content. But that has permeated so deeply across the tech world that it's just like all these, like, little clones.
Bridget Poetker [00:10:07]:
Yeah.
Nick Bennett [00:10:08]:
Like you said, this is, everyone's just kind of running the same playbook at this point, and they're all trying to say they'll make ROI in these uncertain times.
Bridget Poetker [00:10:17]:
Well, what that does, I think, too, is it crowds your market even further, because if your category only has five people in it, and you're saying the same kinds of messages, like, you're competing with everybody on LinkedIn, it's not just your specific vertical, it's everyone that has something to say about marketing is what you're competing with. And I think that that's really difficult. It creates another uphill battle. It's a steeper hill now. I think that a lot of people get lost in the, we have to be everywhere, all at once, and do everything, and it's like, but what if all of our customers came from one channel and we really knocked that out of the park, and then we, like, went to the next one after that one's, like, already really working for us, you know, it's make the team work together. I think that's another thing that I really struggled with an in house role was we weren't working together. And I don't know if that's a symptom of working remote and everybody has their own responsibilities and small teams and all that, but you can still, like, pull campaigns together and everybody runs the same direction versus, like, we're just running a completely opposite direction than our demand gen person. And, like, if content and demand gen aren't together, what are we doing?
Nick Bennett [00:11:27]:
Yeah, I've felt that personally, where you see the world a certain way, or you know how you want it to be done, or you have a vision of what is possible, and then you also have these strategic conflicts with people above you who not poll rank, but they're just kind of like, we're gonna tilt in this direction, and then you have this dividend. I think this was one of the reasons why I never applied for a job after I left this agency, which was, how am I supposed to show up to another company? First of all, compete against 2000 other people for some director or VP level role in marketing, but also try to convince them that I know something about marketing that they don't, or that convinced their leadership that my way of doing things is more effective, or do marketing the way someone else wants it to be done. And it's like you feel like you're being split in half. So there's too much.
Bridget Poetker [00:12:24]:
Well, and in my experience, the last two jobs, I was at a director level, and so I was reporting into a CMO and then this CEO. Right? And like, I was in meetings with the CEO, we were talking directly to each other. And sometimes it was great. And some, you know, it just depended on if you got them in a good mood or not. Like, did they see a podcast and think, we need to start a podcast now? Like, it's ridiculous, honestly, but it's just, it takes you off track. And it's like, you asked me to present my h two strategy. We're sick into it. I even had a slide, like, this is what we're not doing so that you can't come back to me and say, why aren't we doing this? Because you signed off on us not doing this so that we could focus on these other things.
Bridget Poetker [00:13:04]:
If you're not going to give me a team of five people, then we can't be in every channel. It's not going to be effective, like, even deeper with the workplace politics. And I struggled with this because I know that I. It comes off like ego and not to say that I don't have one because I think everybody does, but I struggled with people that had never been in the position or done the things that I've done, telling me how to do my job. And it's inevitable because CEO gets money from VC. VC says, we need to see three x on this in a year. Don't sign that, first of all. Like, it's so sad that, like, that's what the, that's what it's come to.
Bridget Poetker [00:13:45]:
But then it's like just trickle down effect. And I had a CEO CMO that really, their background was mostly in demand gen so when I was hired, they were like, this is amazing. Like, I don't know much about your thing, so we want you, like, we pulled you from this place to run the thing that you were running because we liked it. And then within a couple months, it was like, well, Bridget, can we do this? Well, Bridget, can we do that? Well, can we do this? Can we do this? And I'm like, yes, but I'm only happy to support your programs. If you're also going to give me at least a little bit of avenue to still do the things that I know are going to hit the goals that you asked me to, you're still going to hold me to those goals at the end of the quarter, but you're asking me to do all these other things and then that turns into 1012 hours, days, and I'm like, what am I doing? I don't have the boundaries like that. I care too much. I think that's the thing, too. In marketing, everybody's, like, passionate.
Bridget Poetker [00:14:35]:
Nobody goes into marketing in college to be like, I love numbers and doing analytics. Rah. Like, I love the idea of an open ended question that I get to have a creative answer to. And that's the magic that can't be replicated by automation or AI. So it's like, I picked this job to be passionate about it. Why would you take that away from me?
Nick Bennett [00:14:56]:
That sums up so perfectly the way that I think a lot of marketers feel about doing this work.
Bridget Poetker [00:15:03]:
It's like disillusionment. Now we're all a little disillusioned.
Nick Bennett [00:15:07]:
You're not allowed to feel that way. Like, you're not allowed to have open ended questions almost. You're not allowed to not have the answers. A theme that I've kind of picked up just doing this show is the people who build the things that are really interesting and the things that have, like, the deepest roots are built with almost not no plan, but very little structure.
Bridget Poetker [00:15:31]:
Right.
Nick Bennett [00:15:31]:
I had Chris Mar on recently, and he said this, and it summed it up so well. He was like, if you asked me where I was going with this thing, I would tell you, I'm going to the end of the week with it. The thing that he was referring to was what became a book, a coaching service, a full business, a podcast, an entire newsletter, and all these things and courses and stuff that he's building. And what is crazy is that you're not allowed to build that way inside of a company because it feels risky. So you try to plan everything to death, and then when you do that, you end up building something that's like, very meh.
Bridget Poetker [00:16:07]:
Yeah.
Nick Bennett [00:16:08]:
That no one really cares about, or you end up trying to build thing. This was something that came up a lot when I was in house, and I noticed it. You notice it in other companies. They'll say, we need to start YouTube. And then they make someone do YouTube who doesn't watch YouTube, or they make someone do a podcast who doesn't listen to podcasts. And it's like, go post on LinkedIn. It's like, well, do you even. Have you ever been on LinkedIn? Have you ever scrolled LinkedIn or commented on something?
Bridget Poetker [00:16:32]:
Yeah, no, I think that that's so true as well. Like, we've lost the, like, art of it. And I think for me personally, like, it gets down to that, okay, we make a plan, and then we're confined to that plan, which is fine. Like, I love to cross things off a list, but then the list just gets longer because there are going to be things that aren't on the plan that needs to get done. But also back to, like, what Chris said, like, if you do something with an outcome in mind, then your possibility is only the outcome. You're putting yourself in a box. It's a lot scarier to think about it, just, like, because we're taught from such a young age, what's your five year plan? What do you want to do for your career? Like, all these things. And it's like, yeah, it's really scary to start your own business.
Bridget Poetker [00:17:20]:
But I told people, they were like, what's the goal? I'm like, make the same amount of money and work less. I don't care what I'm working on. Of course I want to work with people that I enjoy working with and that we. Great products and great services and all these things, like, things that I actually believe in, which is also a benefit of having my own thing is I get to pick my own clients now. But I just struggled with the handcuffs of it all. I was like, this is not how my brain works. And for somebody that I thrive on structure. I talk about this a lot with my therapist of, like, I struggle when there's not structure because I don't know what I'm done.
Bridget Poetker [00:18:02]:
And you could be at a company where you have this huge launch, and it's a great success, but your boss isn't affirming you because the next thing on the list is three weeks behind schedule. And it's like, what's the point? If we're not celebrating the things that we're doing? Well, then our team culture is just churn, churn, churn, and go, go, go. And I'm just not. I don't want to live my life like that.
Nick Bennett [00:18:26]:
Let's fast forward a little bit. So you go out on your own. I'm sure there was a moment when you did this, when you were second guessing yourself. So what kind of things were you questioning? How'd you work through those things?
Bridget Poetker [00:18:39]:
Yeah, like, I'm a single girl, I live by myself, and my parents are not bankrolling me. So the first thing was like, how do I basically make a director level salary mid six figures? You know, doing the math of breaking that down and saying, this is what I have to make before taxes every month? Okay? This is how many clients I need to do that. But also part of it is just winging it, and I really have enjoyed the winging it. Part of it, like, I don't know how to describe it, but I feel like I'm driving the car again and, like, I get to decide where it goes or when I want to take a break or whatever. I really wanted to lean into the, like, not traditional nine to five. Of course, most of my friends are on the nine to five, so one of the other, you know, things that I was wanting to make sure that I balance into my schedule was seeing my friends more, seeing my family, being around people again, because even in a remote environment at work, like, at least you're still talking to people every day. Whereas if I don't go out of my way to talk to people, I'm not going to. You know, I got really lucky with a few, like, larger clients right off the bat, and I found a balance.
Bridget Poetker [00:19:48]:
And, like, some of them are more open ended, like fractional CMO kind of things, like new company beta launch stuff. And another one is like, you're going to edit blog posts, but it's like, some risky, some stable. I think was, like, finding that balance was tough for me. So far so good on, like, the money coming in. I haven't had any issues with, like, people not paying me, which I think was like, a big concern of mine. You know, they shout out chat GPT for writing my contracts.
Nick Bennett [00:20:16]:
For me, my first contract was also written by chat GPT.
Bridget Poetker [00:20:20]:
Luckily, one of my clients is like, a legal tech software, so he was like, use this one. I'm like, okay, great, thank you so much. But also, I think, like, one of the biggest rewarding things is also helping my friends that have been doing this, too. Like, how do you structure your sows? Like, do you want to put a scope together for this client? Like, things like that. I honestly haven't struggled much Outside of, like, okay, I just got paid today, and I'm going to put that money away for rent for July 1 already in the beginning of the month, you know, instead of having the concept paycheck. So obviously, like, my brain is on money, and I'm hoping that we get to the point where I feel comfortable enough where it's not, but not having a structured schedule with that, it's like, I work more, I get paid more and more often. So it's like, cash flow was my biggest thing. Also healthcare, just the logistics of all of it.
Bridget Poetker [00:21:12]:
I was like, I know I can do the work, but can I actually be a business owner? I don't know.
Nick Bennett [00:21:18]:
Yeah, I felt that one pretty hard. The first time I had to file my quarterly estimates and the quarterly tax.
Bridget Poetker [00:21:24]:
Stuff, that was the one thing that I did right, is I hired somebody. I was like, I don't want to have to figure this out. And I found Kara, and she's amazing, and it's not that expensive, so I'm like, great.
Nick Bennett [00:21:33]:
Yeah, I had a really terrible accountant experience. I mean, it's your money and it's the government and taxes, like, the one thing you really don't want to screw up. And, uh, I just had a bad experience, so I learned how important it is. I thought I had a good account. Turns out it didn't. But, like, you learn that one the hard way. Do you find someone who's really reliable and responsive? That goes a really long way for the peace that you feel trying to operate your business because you go into this work, because you're really good at doing content, and then you find yourself. Now I have to run a business, and I don't want to spend all my time on that thing, but it's a very necessary part.
Nick Bennett [00:22:11]:
Like, how do I budget this cash flow properly so that I have money in the bank when July 1 hits versus. Oh, well, I know I get paid every other week.
Bridget Poetker [00:22:22]:
Right. No matter how much work I do. It's coming in.
Nick Bennett [00:22:24]:
Yeah. So how did you acquire your first clients?
Bridget Poetker [00:22:28]:
All of my clients have come from referrals. I feel like that's normal for agencies and contract work and et cetera. My biggest client, they just are launching their beta this week. So it's still like a free product and things like that. He did secure investment money already, which is amazing. So we love that. I'm really trying to pick clients like a. Don't know much about marketing because then I have Elaine.
Bridget Poetker [00:22:53]:
Right. And they understand that I'm learning as much as they're learning. And the earlier that I can get in and we're all learning together. It creates this bond. But I got connected to him through a vp of sales at Alaska company that I used to work for. I used to work with him at a different company. And, like, it's really nice. That's another validating.
Bridget Poetker [00:23:12]:
Like, hey, do you have a friend that does, like, positioning, branding content? And they're like, oh, yeah, this is the perfect person for that. Like, knowing that I've networked and I've worked my ass off to do that. But it comes very naturally to me. You just have to spend the time talking to people. I know that I have a good network of people that will say my name in a room full of opportunities and that's really important to me. No matter what my experience was at companies, and it wasn't all bad, but to know that I was doing good work and that people, whether it was my boss or not, saw that that matters to me. And I think that that will pay off. Throughout my like, consultancy, you had mentioned.
Nick Bennett [00:23:50]:
This idea, like when, if people will say your name in a room when there's like opportunity like that, that. And you had alluded to this idea earlier in this conversation of like personal branding being the wrong thing. I completely agree with you. This is reputation and these two things often get mixed up. People who are out there looking for personal brand, like looking to build a personal brand. I think some people would look at you and go, well, yeah, she built a great personal brand. Maybe I don't see it that way. I think you've built a great reputation for doing great work, being reliable, for doing all those things.
Nick Bennett [00:24:23]:
And that is why people say your name in a room when there's opportunity there. That's why you get referrals. Personal branding is being known for the sake of being known. You're known for something very specific and for the results that you're capable of helping people achieve. And I think that's just a very different lens on what you're trying to build. And I think on, from the Outside looking in, it could look like you're trying to do the same thing, but the mechanics of it and how it impacts your business are totally different.
Bridget Poetker [00:24:55]:
Right. I struggle with, you know, and I don't want to like poo poo anyone for the way that they build their business, like personal branding. And I, I think it's important. Networking is important, getting yourself out there is important. Having your own unique thoughts and ideas is important, but also publishing them is important. Like, even if, like you said, even if 50 people like it or listen to this podcast, like, those are 50 people and we're all moving in the same direction, you know, that's my audience. I struggle with like the personal branding thing and influencer this and I'm like, I'm not like nagging the people that are getting business just through that. But I think I had a post like very early on in my LinkedIn career that was like, stop calling it personal branding and start calling it like, being a person.
Bridget Poetker [00:25:43]:
Like, I do my job. That's the important part of this is secondary to me doing a really good job. That matters. It matters to me and I've said that a few times, too. Like, I'm less about if the work is flashy and more about, like, did we set out to do what we'd set in the scope of work, and did we crush the project? Because that is what's going to help your reputation. But now that I run my own business, I'm like, yes, there's a scope of work, but if I think a program or a campaign could be better with 10 hours more of work in a different direction, I'm going to do it because it's my work, it's my reputation, it's my name. But also, that's why I picked this is so that I could go in the directions that I felt like it wanted to take me.
Nick Bennett [00:26:25]:
It's not as rigid as we have been led to believe. You can learn something along the way and change course.
Bridget Poetker [00:26:34]:
Yeah. Lastly, on the personal branding thing, I never set out to get business that way. I don't. People reach out to me on LinkedIn because they've been reading my LinkedIn content. But also, I have nothing like actually groundbreaking to say on LinkedIn. Everything that I post is hopefully because it's in my little brain and I'm like, maybe this will make somebody laugh today out of the monotony that is this platform. There are girls. Girls.
Bridget Poetker [00:27:00]:
I'm an idiot's idiot. That's how I feel. I want people to laugh and smile and approach work that way. Pull yourself out of that and just try to have a good time. It shows in the work if you're having a good time, and that's important to me. I think there's a lot of things that are important to me that are not numbers based.
Nick Bennett [00:27:19]:
I love it. I was gonna ring up how, like, your approach to social content is.
Bridget Poetker [00:27:24]:
Vibes.
Nick Bennett [00:27:26]:
It's just like, extreme of consciousness. It's like, however you're feeling that day. Yeah, vibes. And Jay Akonzo talks about this one a lot. He's like, when you're creating stuff, he's like, I judge how good I think the content is by a made up metric he calls cackles per piece. Like, when he's editing and he's laughing to himself about something, he's like, this thing is going to be good. And I think the same sort of litmus test that you have, you're like, am I smiling when I'm writing this thing? Do I think other people are smiling when they're reading it? When I listen to some podcasts, especially when I was like, really in b two b marketing, and you listen to other b. Two b marketing podcasts and real stuff.
Nick Bennett [00:28:04]:
And he said, it's so serious, or it's so dry. And I listened to one show, and they were laughing on the show. They were having a conversation and laughing. And I'm in my kitchen, like, doing dishes, smiling, and I was like, wait a second. Something different is happening right now. Like, I have an emotion. It's not just jamming dry, raw information into your brain. I read somewhere marketing lost the plot because we all went from trying to just share things and creative things and do and create things to telling people what to do.
Nick Bennett [00:28:39]:
Like, that's what marketing became or what they're not doing. Yeah, here's what you're not doing or telling people to steal stuff. And it's like all this, like, very bizarre, like, direct response type of thing. And the whole thing that got me was people were laughing, and it made me laugh and smile, and I wanted to consume more of it. And it also happened to be decent. I. Information for my brain and for my career and job and all the stuff I was trying to do. And that's the kind of thing that I was like, when I make a show someday, this was a couple years ago.
Nick Bennett [00:29:07]:
When I make a show, that's the kind of thing that I want. That's the kind of vibe and the feeling, because it doesn't have to be as, like, raw information. Do this, don't do that. Steal this. Like, you're doing it wrong. All that stuff is just. I don't know. I think we've lost the plot along the way.
Nick Bennett [00:29:25]:
And to tether all this together, to go on your own, to be able to run that, your strategy, and do the things the way that you see it should be done or the way that you believe it can be. And to see that work is just lights me up. And I think it seems like it's really lighting you back up, too.
Bridget Poetker [00:29:42]:
Yeah. Like, I feel lighter. And I think a lot of that, too. Like, is being on my own schedule. I really do. Like, if I can't lean into work when I. And feeling, like, really energized by it, and there's days that I don't feel like that. Like, yesterday, my family was in town, and we went and did the architecture boat tour, and I wasn't supposed to go, but I'm like, I'm gonna go do that because I can.
Bridget Poetker [00:30:07]:
But, yeah, it leaves me working sometimes on a Saturday afternoon. But also, I did that to myself, and I picked that, and I don't. I don't care. It almost feels like a cheat code now where I'm, like, gaming the whole system, but I also just love that.
Nick Bennett [00:30:20]:
Yeah, it took me a bit to get through that same thing. Like, in the early days, for me, I think I needed that structure to help convince myself that I was doing it, I was working. And when you're trying to get those first clients, there's so much up in the air and it feels the stakes are a lot higher. And so I'm like, I need to start working at nine, and I'm gonna work till five, and then I'll hang with the kid and the wife, and then I'll start working again at eight. And I worked till like nine or ten, and it kind of went on this way for a little bit. And now it's just like, you log on when you log on and you take breaks when you take breaks and you log off when you log off. And that level of rigidity is not necessary because you're not building a prison like you're building a business. You get to do whatever you want.
Nick Bennett [00:31:10]:
That's kind of the point here.
Bridget Poetker [00:31:12]:
If I wanted to be miserable, I'd have a real job.
Nick Bennett [00:31:14]:
Without a doubt. What's the most frustrating part about going solo for you?
Bridget Poetker [00:31:19]:
I will say there are definitely clients that I love working on, and it's not even the client specifically. Some of the work is just, like, monotonous. But again, like, I structured it that way so that I wasn't overwhelmed with all the open ended questions all the time. I think a lot of it is just, it's time boxing and, you know, telling myself, do the hard stuff at the beginning of the week so that it's not hanging over your head the whole time. But also just being nicer to myself is hard. Like, not shaming myself. I'm so used to the last three jobs that I've had. Like, when you finish the list, there's more like, you're never done.
Bridget Poetker [00:31:53]:
And so now I've just like, okay, I have a list of ten things for the whole week. I get to pick and choose what I want to work on, when I want to work on it, how I'm feeling. So that's been the most, like, frustrating is more of just, like, the internal, like, stuff. Also just the paperwork in general sucks. I'm just, I hate it. But I tell myself, if I want to get paid, you have to do the paperwork. So just trying to, like, find the right tools that, like, work for me and that kind of stuff. And I've got a pretty streamlined now.
Bridget Poetker [00:32:25]:
So there's a few, like, big proposals that I put out, too, that you just get ghosted. And I'm like, okay, that can be frustrating, I think, signing with the client and then them saying, can we actually do a trial? And that's like, okay, cool. And then like, actually I find out that I don't enjoy the work or working with the person as much as I thought it was gonna be. And then we kind of like split ways. And then they're like, in my DM's about it, and I'm like, hey, I just didn't think that this was a good working relationship for us. So it's frustrating from a, like, I don't really know what I'm doing side of things, but it's also liberating. Like, there's nobody that has the answers, so nobody's telling me that I'm doing it wrong either.
Nick Bennett [00:33:09]:
Yeah. There's this idea that you sure supposed to only work with perfect fit clients, and there's only one way to figure out who a good fit client is or to figure out how to figure out. It's to take on a bunch of clients that don't work out.
Bridget Poetker [00:33:25]:
Yeah. And, yeah, not feeling like that's a failure, I think, too.
Nick Bennett [00:33:30]:
No, it's more so a badge of honor than anything. It's one of those, like, been there, done that, got the t shirt type of things than it is. Like, you don't just show up knowing exactly how to vet for all the different things. Nobody can do that. And everyone that I've ever spoken with is like, I tried my best. I thought this would be a really good opportunity. Turns out this one wasn't for these reasons. I didn't even consider those reasons when we were having sales conversations.
Nick Bennett [00:34:00]:
And LinkedIn will tell you, because I've written about this idea of taking on bad fit clients is just kind of part of the process. And people will always hit my comments and being like, well, you're just really bad at this. And it's like, no, first of all, money is better than no money, and clients are better than no clients. People need to take on clients because they need to earn a living. But also, how else are you going to figure out how to figure out what a good client is or isn't? And I don't think that job is really ever done. That's an always evolving criteria. Like, as you dial in the things that you like to do and the things that are also really high impact, no one has it figured out. And even people who claim they do have it figured out, I think they're lying.
Bridget Poetker [00:34:46]:
I think most people that claim that they know anything about anything are lying.
Nick Bennett [00:34:50]:
I think this is back to the personal brand like Mirage, which is people build this stuff and they try to win in public to show that. They take pictures at the pool with their MacBook. They want to show that they have it all figured out. And I think that it's okay to not have it all figured out. And it's definitely okay to let people know that.
Bridget Poetker [00:35:11]:
Yeah, the way that my stream of conscious posting is that's similar to how I would show up at work. I know that I am maybe too casual, maybe too candid, but that's the most authentic version of me. And it's worked out really well for me, even in companies, because it's like an injection of, like, good vibes, because I'm excited. I'm excited to do the work. I'm excited about what we're working on and especially working in marketing. Like, you lead the charge on a lot of stuff and get the company hyped to go post on LinkedIn and to do these things, and you have to lead by example, which I love. But when things are bad and I go quiet, they're like, well, you're not, like, showing up the same way. And I'm like, well, I don't feel safe, or I don't feel like my work is being appreciated or whatever it is.
Bridget Poetker [00:35:58]:
It's just, you love my authenticity. But then do you? You really don't want it when it's not going well.
Nick Bennett [00:36:04]:
Yeah. When it's not like all sunshine and rainbows, authenticity, it's. You know, I think there's also the element of the work that you do for other people. Like, I don't know. I don't know if you're like me, I'm very convicted in what I do and what I believe. I'm also very willing to be wrong.
Bridget Poetker [00:36:26]:
Same strong opinions loosely held.
Nick Bennett [00:36:28]:
But I am very convicted. And I think that that tension doesn't work so well inside of another company, especially if you're not running the top level programming and initiatives, but on your own, it works really, really well because clients really want that out of their consultants. And this is where I think things fall apart for a lot of people. They're very convicted, and then when they learn something new, they're afraid to tell people something changed. And I don't understand that because you're being paid to know stuff and to learn stuff, and it's okay to say I learned something, or things have changed and now it looks like this. People are way too afraid to outwardly say, hey, I learned something and now something is different.
Bridget Poetker [00:37:18]:
It doesn't make sense to me, but that's marketing.
Nick Bennett [00:37:21]:
I think that's just life.
Bridget Poetker [00:37:22]:
I think that's any. Exactly. I am somebody that, like, I used to have very strong opinions, very closely held, and it did nothing for me. It only pushed people away. And also, I looked like an idiot because it was like, I'm aging myself here. These are not good opinions anymore. The world changes and all this stuff. Don't you want to move and stay at the forefront of whatever is happening next? But I agree with you.
Bridget Poetker [00:37:49]:
I think that with conviction comes confidence, and I think that, that, like, oh, I don't want to change. What I'm doing is I don't want to be perceived as I was ever wrong. But it's not about being right and wrong. It's about getting the work done.
Nick Bennett [00:38:05]:
Yeah. And people are afraid of this public idea that they're being seen as, like, they're niche hopping or they're just constantly changing their thing because the last thing didn't work. I'm like, no one cares about you. Like, in the nicest way possible. Nobody cares about you. No one's paying attention to what you're doing. I have evolved my whole platform several times over the last year, and guess what? Precisely one person has ever asked about it.
Bridget Poetker [00:38:33]:
Yeah. I think it's important. If you're doing the same thing day in and day out, I'm gonna get bored.
Nick Bennett [00:38:39]:
There's very few hills I'm willing to die on. Of all the things that I believe and all the things that I'm convicted in, there's very few of them that I'm like. This one is immovable.
Bridget Poetker [00:38:48]:
Yeah. Weiner, like, stupid. Like the Oxford combo and, like, shit like that.
Nick Bennett [00:38:53]:
Well, that one is just objectively true.
Bridget Poetker [00:38:55]:
Yeah.
Nick Bennett [00:38:56]:
I don't think there's, like, I think things that, as it relates to marketing, it's like, I believe category first, I will die on that hill.
Bridget Poetker [00:39:05]:
That's because you're, like, only focused on your target market. What's the point of marketing to everybody else?
Nick Bennett [00:39:12]:
I think people want to focus on other things, but that's, like, one of the very few pillars of the way that I try to market another one is I don't go to market. I condition the market. I think that's like, that's a very, that's a hill I'm willing to die on, is that it's not about going out and trying to find the market. It's, you condition them around the problem as you see it in the world in the way it is. Like, these are very few things. So I want to get back to some of the stuff that you're building. So you have your kind of main, like the you thing you're doing. You're one to one stuff.
Nick Bennett [00:39:48]:
But you had mentioned you're building this collective. Tell me about that first, your vision. How'd you end up on this idea? Where are you trying to take it? What is it?
Bridget Poetker [00:39:59]:
Candidly, like I said, I started my own thing because I needed cash flow and money. And I was like, well, I need to pick up clients by myself first. And even in my, like, I'm starting a business post was like, I'm an agency of one for now because I knew that that was the best way to get started. And I've, I've always struggled with the, like, I want everything to be perfect before I get started. But when you start your own business, you have to shed that immediately. Even my, like, I started a LinkedIn page for bridgetputger.com just so it looks good on my LinkedIn thing. And people go there, but it literally says, like, building your brand now and my brand later.
Nick Bennett [00:40:35]:
It says major, look, I slowed to it. I went to it this morning and she copied.
Bridget Poetker [00:40:43]:
I'm an idiot. It's great, though. Cause it's like, you know, maybe you click on the website after that. I don't know. I did exactly. But I'm really bullish on this. Like, you know, I've got one client now that I am doing more fractional cmo stuff, and I'm really getting him to buy into my campaign. Kind of thinking of like, let's build, let's put product and marketing next to each other.
Bridget Poetker [00:41:06]:
Whatever product's working on, marketing will create a story and a campaign for that. We'll do them in. Product has three months on this launch. We're going to launch a story for three months. Whenever products working on the next thing, then we'll launch the next thing. But to your point, conditioning the market instead of going to market, instead of product launches being feature based, it's going to be story based. And we worked with these lawyers to come up with this prior to the product and we worked with whatever. So I'm really bullish on that.
Bridget Poetker [00:41:35]:
Like, more campaign thinking versus channel thinking. And that's really just getting back to the basics. But also my, like, foundation in advertising was like, okay, if we have these three features what's the overarching thing that that solves? And then how, what does that mean for the pain point for the customer? It also really helps you like fact check. Like the CEO saying we need this product. And it's like, okay, let's go talk to people first before we decide if that's what we need or what do they call it or using their language. Like the marketing becomes really easy when you're actually building stuff that people need.
Nick Bennett [00:42:08]:
Crazy how that works.
Bridget Poetker [00:42:09]:
Yeah, I know, just shocker. But I know that I'm really good in the channels of copywriting and websites specifically is really where I want to spend most of my time building landing pages and conversion copy and stuff like that. But I know that some of my clients will at some point in these campaigns need paid and they'll need, you know, SEO like part of the campaign. And yes, I can do all of those things, but I would so much rather like bring in the expert off the bench to help us support the campaign. And then we all collaborate on what the collective idea is and then again we bring that into our own channels and like this is what the twelve week campaign for paid looks like based on this larger thing. And so you get that like whole company speaking the same language kind of stuff. But also I think it's selfishly a way for me to work with my friends. So many of my friends now are working on this like doing stuff on the side or have full time jumped into this stuff as well.
Bridget Poetker [00:43:10]:
And I know that I'm in a unique position with my network, that I'm turning down business and that's amazing. Three months into business, like, I never thought like I would have a semblance of a waitlist, but I know that that's not the same for some of my colleagues and friends. So I'm like, if I can bring people together and obviously I'm going to be very picky about who I work with. Back to the reputation conversation. But the idea of bringing in channel experts and bringing other people work I think is just really important to me. And I know some of the best people in the industry doing these things. And one of the things that I'm sure you've experienced with too is clients will say, do you have somebody that does this? Because how did they find me? It was through somebody else. So if I have a network of all marketers, then I most likely know people that can help.
Bridget Poetker [00:44:04]:
So I don't know, similar to, I don't have an end goal Outside of like I want to build more of an ecosystem of creatives, because I just don't think that that really exists right now.
Nick Bennett [00:44:17]:
I like this vision, and I'm very passionate about a similar, one of the same things. Right. It's like, how do we all maintain our independence?
Bridget Poetker [00:44:28]:
Yes.
Nick Bennett [00:44:29]:
As entrepreneurs or as solopreneurs and still support each other in a more tangible way.
Bridget Poetker [00:44:35]:
Right.
Nick Bennett [00:44:36]:
I think the hub and spoke waddle on a professional services is a really great way to do it.
Bridget Poetker [00:44:42]:
Well. And frankly, I don't want to pay for your healthcare or have to have one on ones or any of that stuff. Like, I don't want to be somebody's boss.
Nick Bennett [00:44:49]:
Totally. And I think this is so desirable for businesses because they don't have to pay for most of the overhead.
Bridget Poetker [00:44:56]:
Correct.
Nick Bennett [00:44:57]:
And entrepreneurs are, or oftentimes much more ambitious and driven than a w two employee will be. So if you could have an entire team of entrepreneurs as your marketing team, instead of w two who feel the sense of security, like, entrepreneurs know that if they don't hustle, they don't eat. I think there's a lot to be said for that. And I like the mission that is like, rising tide lifts all boats.
Bridget Poetker [00:45:23]:
Right. When I eat, you eat.
Nick Bennett [00:45:24]:
And it makes your work more effective. Like, your clients see more success if you can tap into the people within your network to help do these things. And it's like you being this, in this model. Right. The hub, that you have opportunities, and I'm sure they will soon run in both directions, that everyone can utilize everyone else's resources or capabilities.
Bridget Poetker [00:45:45]:
Yep.
Nick Bennett [00:45:46]:
So what are you calling this thing right now?
Bridget Poetker [00:45:48]:
The working title is Outside collective. I want to stay away from the word agency just because, I don't know, I'm maybe allergic. I think a lot of the market is allergic to the word agency.
Nick Bennett [00:45:58]:
I definitely agree. I mean, they might be rightfully earned.
Bridget Poetker [00:46:01]:
Right? I think collective kind of gets across the idea that, like, I'm not in charge too, you know? Like, maybe I bring in a good chunk of, like you said in the beginning, but that's not always going to be the case. Like, the point is that we all bring food to the table, but eventually too, like, way down the line, because cash flow and all of those things. Like, I'd love to have an office space in Chicago for people to come and hang out and do. Like, even if it's four desks. Like, how often are people going to the office anyway? They're not. But I would like to be able to sit next to my friends even if we're not working on the same things. Even my friends that have full time jobs that are remote come hang out, let's go get a coffee, whatever. That's definitely not a fully formed idea, but I think the start of it is there, and everybody that I've talked to that is an entrepreneur, they never say no to a business opportunity.
Bridget Poetker [00:46:54]:
I think that's the best part too, is like, we'll see how it goes. If it's not for me, then whatever.
Nick Bennett [00:46:59]:
I have a similar mindset, just in a slightly different direction. I have this vision for this idea of a lot of people build in a really linear fashion. It's like there's one to one, private services, private consulting, private whatever, there's one to many. There's like the cohort style or the group style services that people offer. Then there's asynchronous or self paced, there's courses. It's pretty standard stuff. Then there's community in there, membership and all that stuff. But largely it's very binary.
Nick Bennett [00:47:31]:
These are the options. I had this idea for this, what I am calling hybrid services, and it's this idea of sum to sum in this collective idea, basically, where it's like, how can I partner up with other solopreneurs to combine our skill sets in a way that there's very little overlap, they're very complementary. And it's not like we're going to have ten people in one space. It's like we all have our pocket and we contribute to the greater intellectual property, like the greater core offering, and then there's some sort of asynchronous or group coaching or small group coaching. That's like people can have access. I haven't worked out all the kinks, but I think what you're saying, it's a similar idea in that how can we all contribute to help each other succeed, but still maintain our independence?
Bridget Poetker [00:48:24]:
It's more advantageous to my clients. It's a plus. It's like I have a bench of people that if we do want to expand on. Because again, I'm really focused on like Mark, more marketing strategy, initial messaging and positioning, rebrand stuff, whatever. You know what I need for that? A designer. Can I do it myself? Sure. Is it going to look a million times better if somebody else does it? And it's going to be way faster? Absolutely. And I think clients are open to that.
Bridget Poetker [00:48:52]:
And especially the idea of this a la carte. Like, you don't need a blogging person full time, but if we can have them for a month and they write content for three months. Like, it's just advantageous to them, too.
Nick Bennett [00:49:06]:
Yeah. I am highly inspired by the spark turo model of business, which is they're just like, pay for the month when you need it, and maybe you need for a few months and then don't, and just kind of just come and go as you please. And I want to bring that to services. Not to make services more transactionable, but to make it more accessible. Services don't have to be so mysterious. You shouldn't have to get on a sales call to know what you're going to get. You shouldn't have to go through this intense sales process or make these really long commitments. You should be able to come and go as you please.
Nick Bennett [00:49:43]:
And I think that was even some of the problems that I've faced in my own business. Those are problems that I've faced interfacing with other consultants. So I'm really trying to solve for some of these problems that I've experienced myself. And I think you're doing the same thing for tech companies.
Bridget Poetker [00:49:59]:
Yeah. And it's funny because, like, as you were talking, it popped into my head, like, the meetings, the discovery calls, and somebody's asked me, like, how do you take these first calls with clients? I'm like, I just, I want them to speak. If I'm talking, it's wrong. Like, what do you need then I build the services that I think will help solve the outcomes that you're trying to get to. But I know within five to ten minutes if we're going to be a good match, because that is a mindset thing. It's like, I'm not going to say we're going to start this call and the deliverables are going to be 30 blog posts. I got on with a fairly large tech company and some of my friends work with them and they love working with them, but my call didn't go well with them. Looking at their website, they're like, well, what would you do? I'm like, why don't have the analytics information? It would be silly of me to say what I would do without actually getting into it.
Bridget Poetker [00:50:49]:
Well, did you prepare for this call? I'm like, of course I did, but I need more information directly from you of what you've done, what you haven't done, what you think we need to be doing, so that we can try to layer our thoughts next to it. Because, like, I am really collaborative, too. Like, I want to work with you. I want to fill the gaps that you feel like you have so that we can move the boat forward.
Nick Bennett [00:51:14]:
Yeah. I think there's also this idea that you can't steer a stationary ship, and there's a. A lot of things that make them feel like they're moving the ship forward, like they're adding, they're pushing, and they're not. And I think that this is also a huge component of it. Like, did you even prepare? It's like prep looks different.
Bridget Poetker [00:51:38]:
Yeah.
Nick Bennett [00:51:38]:
It doesn't look one way or the way that you think it needs to look like. And like you said, sass pill, because everyone's kind of just in this one way of doing things. And I think I. The overarching theme I'm getting here is, like, there's more than one way to do this work. And I think that's the beauty of it.
Bridget Poetker [00:51:58]:
That's my ode to myself, I think. Right. Like, I've tried this however long, and I've succeeded in many ways in an internal environment, and I am bullish on, like, well, what if I did it the way that I want to do it and it all works out? Maybe that's delusion.
Nick Bennett [00:52:16]:
No, I think it's.
Bridget Poetker [00:52:17]:
I think it's working so far.
Nick Bennett [00:52:19]:
I think it's conviction. I think there's confidence in that. And, I mean, hey, I was second guess to myself. We talked about that. It's like, I went out and I was like, am I wrong about all the things that I believe? And then you do, and you're like, no, I was right. Or at least like, I was right about most of it. There's something to be said for publicly planting the flag and saying, this is the way that I believe it should be done. Like your idea of this campaign.
Nick Bennett [00:52:43]:
People don't talk about campaigns in the same type of way or in really any way anymore. And I think publicly planting that flag, it gives you the necessary context. And it also, I asked this of everyone who is considering working with me, and I think it's really the question, like, the primary question that I think all of our clients face, that everyone in our line of work should be asking, which is, how do you want to grow?
Bridget Poetker [00:53:06]:
Right.
Nick Bennett [00:53:06]:
If you don't see the world the way that I see it and you don't want to grow this way, there are a thousand other people out there that can help you. The question is, do you want to grow like this? Do you want to build your business like this? If the answer is no, cool. Thanks for the consideration. And I can introduce you to a whole bunch of people that can probably help you grow the way you want to grow. At this point, there's unlimited options, and it's finding people who believe and agree in that trajectory.
Bridget Poetker [00:53:34]:
Right. Well, and I think, and that's to bring it back to, like, the one client that I stopped working with. But that's what it was. It was, our mindsets were different about the work in front of us. One week in, and I said, we don't think about this the same way. It's trauma from my last CEO or two, whatever, saying do it this way and me saying, I've done it that way, it's not going to work, you know, and I just don't have that in me anymore to do that. And it's better for them if I introduce somebody else that thinks more similarly to the way that they think. It doesn't mean the point that I was trying to get across to them was, it doesn't mean that the way that you're thinking is wrong.
Bridget Poetker [00:54:18]:
I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that's not the way that I work. And we're not going to be good partners for each other because we're both going to get frustrated because we are going different directions. But just because I feel I'm right doesn't mean that I feel you're wrong. I just feel differently than you, and you know your business better than I do, so that's great. But I have other clients that are. We're all in the same ship. Adam Goya had a post a couple weeks ago that was the typical, like, what got you here won't get you there.
Nick Bennett [00:54:51]:
Yeah.
Bridget Poetker [00:54:52]:
I think that understanding and perspective, and again, like, most of my tenure at companies has been about a year and a half. So I'm only seeing them in one growth phase, but there are multiple growth phases. It's like, okay, we've completely saturated this part of the growth. Where else can we go to find the next layer of growth? And I think that there are different ways to do that and different ways to go about it, and I think you have to be open to that. It's like a perspective thing. It's like, okay, what's next? Like, how do we stay open to that and not block our blessings, too?
Nick Bennett [00:55:27]:
It's interesting. I haven't really thought about it this way very much, but you have seen inside of certain growth phases for these companies, and you've seen inside of several companies. And I'm just thinking about how you said you acquired your clients, which was all through referrals. My client base was built all through inbound, like LinkedIn inbound almost 100%. I didn't have the ability, or I didn't create the ability for myself to generate referrals because I didn't really apply force to my network in the same way really at all. And when, just as this relates to growth phases, like, people who are really new, they want to grow through inbound and you can't, if you haven't built that layer, growing through inbound is going to feel really impossible and tiring and frustrating. I mean, it's not that it's impossible to do in life. You have a time frame in which you need to start making money, and if you can't pull that off, you're going to be really, really frustrated.
Nick Bennett [00:56:29]:
And so I think just understanding those growth phases of, like, well, where are you at in the whole thing? Do you have a network and a tradable contacts list that you can go out and introduce and be helpful in a way that they're also willing to introduce you? Like, do you have this reputation? Are you that public? All those good things? So there's a lot of mechanics, there's a lot of mechanics there that I haven't thought through, but this is very revealing and that I think there's more to it than just, I only want to be, I only want to grow through inbound. I think it's like everyone's like, golden goose, go North Star. Like, let's go inbound.
Bridget Poetker [00:57:00]:
I think when I, and when I say referrals, I don't mean like, you know, the ten people that I reached out to while I had a full time job, still, those are not my clients. It's people that know of them.
Nick Bennett [00:57:13]:
Right.
Bridget Poetker [00:57:14]:
It was me saying, hey, I'm trying to take on some work. You've seen what I can do. Do you know anybody that's in need of marketing and just knowing that you're open for that, like, even if they don't know somebody, then of course I did the, like, most of the people I reached out to were C suite, because they're very connected. They all talk to each other. They're all in these CMO groups.
Nick Bennett [00:57:40]:
Whatever you went out and asked for what you wanted or just said, I'm available, and you can't keep it a secret. This is the big thing. People are afraid to ask for what they want and or just make it known that they're doing business.
Bridget Poetker [00:57:52]:
I think that inbound works. If you build it, they will come. But the caveat is you have to build it first before they come there. And I was like, I don't have time to build it, I will. And I think, again, I just go back to this. Like, I'm going on feeling what feels organic to me right now. Guess what? I'm really good at community and organic marketing as well. So at some point, I am going to get that inbound engine going.
Bridget Poetker [00:58:14]:
But I also don't have the capacity yet before this, like, I set up this collective, like, if I was spending all my time on sales calls, I wouldn't be getting paid as much as I am right now.
Nick Bennett [00:58:25]:
I think that you do have a bigger inbound engine than you're willing to give yourself credit for. I think if you asked, you would be shocked by what you can receive on that front. Looking back, what is something that you would have done differently personally?
Bridget Poetker [00:58:43]:
And I know that this is a bridget problem, but I think that as I spout my mouth out more and more on LinkedIn, like, there are more and more people that are feeling similar to the way that I feel. I'm very emotional in everything that I spend my time on. Work was one of those things. And I let it be a big part of my identity for a long time. And that's why I would get so up and down, so frustrated, would work the long hours, would do all of these things because I was so emotional about it. And I learned maybe halfway through, like, you can be emotional, but it's not personal. Like, if somebody says no to your idea, you can't take that personally. But I would.
Bridget Poetker [00:59:27]:
I would caution myself to how much I give to you can do your job and not give yourself to it. And we're told, like, bring your soul whole self to work. And I'm like, cool, I can do that. But you're also only getting marketer Bridget. Like, I I will show up as who I am personality wise and all those things, but this can't be my full identity because when things go bad, your whole life turns upside down and I have to have other things going for me. And I keep saying to my friends, I'm like, it's weird that I feel the least connected to work while I'm running my own business, but that's amazing. Like, that shedding that layer has been incredible for me. And it's very scary because I'm losing part of my identity.
Bridget Poetker [01:00:11]:
And the constant, like, this is great. Or the slack, all the emojis and all the dopamine that you get from that, but that means that I'm getting that dopamine. I have to go seek it out in other ways in my life. And that is what I want. I want the balance. That's what I want to bring me. Dopamine. The work.
Bridget Poetker [01:00:29]:
It's great if it gives me all of that same feeling, but work is for money.
Nick Bennett [01:00:35]:
Work to live, not live to work.
Bridget Poetker [01:00:37]:
Yeah. My mantra is I want a little job so I can live my big life, you know?
Nick Bennett [01:00:42]:
I like that. I think, as you were saying this, it's coming to focus for me that once I stopped working for someone else's company and that is kind of taken away from you, the company you work for is so closely tied to who you are and your identity. I don't have that now. And I didn't realize until this moment until you said it. But that is. It's such a good thing because I get to invest that identity ness in. Like, for me, it's being a father and like.
Bridget Poetker [01:01:11]:
Yeah.
Nick Bennett [01:01:11]:
And being a husband and doing all that, like, just being a friend and spending all that time and energy there and all those things come first.
Bridget Poetker [01:01:18]:
Well, it's way more fulfilling.
Nick Bennett [01:01:20]:
Yeah, totally.
Bridget Poetker [01:01:21]:
You control more of that, too.
Nick Bennett [01:01:23]:
Yeah, but it's so weird because I've never been more connected to the work that I'm doing. My mind is blown. I haven't thought about this whatsoever until you said it.
Bridget Poetker [01:01:32]:
It's true, though. Therapy really helps.
Nick Bennett [01:01:35]:
This is my form of therapy, is talking with solos on this show.
Bridget Poetker [01:01:39]:
I'm unsaspilling myself, you know.
Nick Bennett [01:01:41]:
There you go. I guess it's like, what is the antidote pill? It's like the solo pill.
Bridget Poetker [01:01:47]:
Yeah.
Nick Bennett [01:01:48]:
Awesome. Bridget, you're awesome. Thanks for coming on and sharing your story and just being open and all the stuff. It means a lot to me. And I know other people feel more seen because of it.
Bridget Poetker [01:02:00]:
Yeah. Thanks for having me. It's been a really nice conversation. Also, things that I didn't think about that I'm like, oh, I need to think about that now. And that's good.
Nick Bennett [01:02:08]:
Hey, Nick, again. And thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this episode, you can sign up for the 1000 Routes newsletter where I process the insights and stories you hear on this show into frameworks and lessons to help you build a new and different future for your own business. You can sign up at 1000 rounds.com or check the link in the show notes. This is the real question that I need answered. The most important question you're going to hear all day, probably all month. What would be your last meal on earth?
Bridget Poetker [01:02:41]:
Oh, my God, there's a place. First of all, I live in Chicago and I've always lived in Chicago. I grew up in the suburbs here, and I've dabbled with moving away from here, but I. Every place I visit, the food just isn't as good, and so I'm stuck here, and I think that that's fine, but there's a place here called crisp that has these korean fried chicken wings, and that would be my last meal. Like, I would eat that every day if I. You know, I used to live across the street from there, and I had to move away because I was just too close.
Nick Bennett [01:03:12]:
I know the feeling on, like, the food, the local food scene when I left the northeast. I live in South Carolina now. We're moving back up to the northeast at the end of the month. But when I left, I didn't realize how spoiled I was by just good food. South Carolina food is just very average.
Bridget Poetker [01:03:29]:
Yeah.
Nick Bennett [01:03:29]:
New Haven is pizza capital of earth. I don't care what anybody says.
Bridget Poetker [01:03:32]:
Yeah, my sister moved to Seattle, and I would send her pizza from here. You can send Lou Malnatti's pizza. Apparently, the grocery stores didn't even have, like, good pizza for her to, like, buy, so I'm like, okay, well, I guess this is my sisterly duty, is to send you pizza.
Nick Bennett [01:03:49]:
Yeah, I get it. My cousin lives in Brooklyn, and there's some second best pizza next to New Haven. It's over there. And you can, like, get that pizza, like, mailed across the country. It's like, $150 for a pie.
Bridget Poetker [01:04:03]:
Yeah. You're paying for dry ice and everything.
Nick Bennett [01:04:06]:
Yeah, it's crazy. It's outrageous. But I could talk about delivering pizza to people all day, but sounds like.
Bridget Poetker [01:04:12]:
A better podcast than talking about my marketing consultancy.
Nick Bennett [01:04:15]:
Well, we'll find out. We'll find out. If he starts getting off the rails, we'll go back to pizza.
Bridget Poetker [01:04:20]:
Sounds good.