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Serious Lady Business is the podcast where we dive into the serious—and sometimes not-so-serious—realities of being a female business owner. Host Leslie Youngblood keeps it real about entrepreneurship as we dive into the hard lessons no one warns you about to the surprising wins that make it all worth it. Tune in for honest conversations, unfiltered insights, and stories that prove you’re not in this alone.
Leslie Youngblood (00:01)
Welcome to Serious Lady Business. I'm Leslie Youngblood, your host, feminist and founder of Youngblood MMC, a marketing media and content agency. And today we are joined by Lydia Michael. Lydia is a marketing and brand strategist, adjunct professor, speaker, owner of Blended Collective, ⁓ and a number one Amazon bestseller, author, amazing. She's a Detroiter as well. Today we're going to be talking strategy meets emotion, how brand trust and loyalty get built.
So Lydia, welcome to Serious Lady Business.
Lydia Michael (00:32)
Hi Leslie, thank you for having me.
Leslie Youngblood (00:35)
my goodness, we are so happy you are joining us today. There is so much to dig in around strategy and emotion. And you know, I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that most founders are taught that strategy is rational, quantitative data, funnels, KPIs. From your work in your book, why does strategy actually start with emotion instead?
Lydia Michael (00:57)
So, I would say it's definitely a healthy balance of both strategy and emotion, but a lot of times naturally it starts with emotion. And so here's the thing. I think that we've been taught to separate strategy and emotion because a lot of times emotion feels intangible, right? So you mentioned data and KPIs and all of those things and it's because data feels safe. It's something that...
Leslie Youngblood (01:16)
Mm-hmm.
Lydia Michael (01:23)
we can go back to, KPIs we can measure, right? Metrics matter, all of those things. But if you look at research, it actually shows that more than 90 % of customers when they buy, they buy based on emotion. They buy because of their gut feeling. And then later they try to justify using logic. So that statistic is so powerful because it goes to show you...
how important emotion is across the board. It doesn't matter if you're a small business, corporation, it's important.
Leslie Youngblood (01:56)
Yeah, that is so true. And I think that comes down to trust too. It isn't just a vibe, it's built intentionally. So tell us a little bit about those emotional signals that brands send early that either can create trust or quietly erode it, without them probably even knowing it so many brands out there.
Lydia Michael (02:16)
Yeah, I do think that a lot of it happens subconsciously. know, and many times it just starts with, you know, what do I feel here? Like, am I feeling a connection? Are they saying what I believe? Like, is there value alignment? ⁓ And when it comes to trust, I think it forms, it can form really fast, right? Many times before we even buy anything.
Leslie Youngblood (02:36)
Mm-hmm.
Lydia Michael (02:39)
So some of the signals could be things like consistency and consistency for us at Blended Collective is super important because if you're not consistent, you end up being confusing. And if you're confusing, then that doesn't allow for trust, which again, a lot of this happens subconsciously, but consistency are things like, it's what you say and what people experience with your company and your brand. So, you know, are you walking the talk?
Leslie Youngblood (03:04)
Yes.
Lydia Michael (03:07)
Are people able to understand you quickly when they read a summary paragraph on your website or ⁓ you tell people to ⁓ tell them what your company does, right? And if you can't do that in an elevator pitch in 30 seconds, if it takes you two minutes to explain what you're doing, you probably need to go back to the drawing board, right? So things like consistency, clarity, even things like competence, like are you, you know, are you
Leslie Youngblood (03:30)
Mm-hmm.
Lydia Michael (03:36)
a master of your craft. ⁓ Are you the best at what you say you can do the best, right? And then of course, emotional safety. And that I think is truly important because people want to feel respected and they don't want to be pressured into a sale. So I will tell you, I used to always say, I'm never gonna be a salesperson. ⁓ I never used to like sales, right? I'm not saying I like it now, but.
Leslie Youngblood (03:38)
Mm-hmm.
Mm.
Yeah.
Lydia Michael (04:03)
When you become a business owner, and you know this, of course, when you're a business owner, you're in the business of selling all the time. Now, the way you do it is different, right? Like that's the art is, are you genuine in how you connect and who you connect with? Where people end up wanting to do business with you, they choose you, you don't even have to ask them, right? You don't have to chase them. It's sort of this...
Leslie Youngblood (04:06)
Mm-hmm.
Mmm.
Lydia Michael (04:32)
relationship that feels very natural in business like you know like it does in your personal life so yeah. ⁓
Leslie Youngblood (04:36)
Yes. That is.
Yeah, it's so true. And, I wrote down as you're talking, people are smart. They're not stupid. And I think it's not that I feel like brands underestimate people, but I think they don't realize how truly smart their audience is in that people are. And that if there is like a disconnect in the wheel and the consistency or all the things that you do,
they're going to pick up on it and it's going to even subconsciously they're going to pick up on it and it's going to turn them off exactly very much where people subconsciously pick up on is this brand for me or is this brand not for me? Is this brand for me? Oh, it seems like it's for me, but there's something off here and it's just, it's so fun to think about, but you know, has obviously real world implications for businesses that can't get it right and feel like
something's wrong with the outputs or there's something to be discovered in the KPIs when really it comes down to the emotion and the trust that they're building. I think, yeah, some things that must be so interesting, you work across small businesses, nonprofits, government entities, those have to be exponentially different in how they approach that trust factor and the emotion that they're looking to.
Lydia Michael (05:45)
for sure.
Leslie Youngblood (06:02)
connect to with their audience. What though are the emotional needs that show up consistently across them Lydia, regardless of industry or budget?
Lydia Michael (06:12)
Yeah, that is a very good question because like you said, they are all very different, not just in who they are, but also in how they show up and how we help them market or position themselves. I think the common thread is that they're all trying to be seen and understood, right? So they want their potential customers or even their established base of customers to look at them.
Leslie Youngblood (06:30)
Mmm.
Lydia Michael (06:38)
and really understand, okay, this is for me, or, you know, this is for somebody else, let me refer. You know, that seen and understood factor, I think is huge, but also just wanting to feel respected and wanting their customers to feel safe when they make a decision and choose, right? So really, I think it's a combination of all of that ⁓ and understanding how to go beyond just selling your product or your service.
Leslie Youngblood (06:54)
Yeah.
Mmm.
Lydia Michael (07:07)
⁓ I think is just an extra. It's a bonus, right? If you're able to do that and really go above and beyond the transaction and connect with your customer in a way that matters and that's meaningful, ⁓ that to me sets you up for progress in the long
Leslie Youngblood (07:12)
Yeah.
Mmm.
Sure. And that's exactly what you want. You want that loyalty, right? You don't want it to be transactional. You want to cultivate, if you're smart, a relationship with those individuals, those buyers, those supporters. Is there a moment that brand loyalty begins? I don't even know. Is there a point where that loyalty begins, that you've seen across the board?
Lydia Michael (07:54)
Yeah. So, you know, funny enough, I have a framework in my book, Brand Love, where, and it's called the eight brand love stages. And then I also have the brand love drivers, but in those stages, loyalty and advocacy are sort of at that end bar, you know, end bar, end line, if you will, ⁓ where that happens. Now, it doesn't mean that loyalty only happens then, but it's certainly achieved over
Leslie Youngblood (08:11)
Mmm.
Lydia Michael (08:22)
multiple stages on that journey, right? Things like trust and awareness and familiarity and likeness and those are all elements that really help form loyalty. And I think it starts at the moment of recognition, right? So when somebody looks at a brand or experiences a brand or a company and says, okay, this brand gets me, they understand who I am. And many times as customers, the brands that we gravitate to are the brands that
we feel mirror ourselves. Right? So it's almost like I can see certain characteristics of my personality, of who I am, or even sometimes who we want to be. Like brands are also very aspirational. So we don't only use brands or support companies that mirror ourselves, but maybe they mirror the self that we want to be, right? Or that we want to be more of. And you know, this is also question of
Leslie Youngblood (08:56)
Mmm, let's try it.
Mmm.
Lydia Michael (09:20)
of industry and category, right? I mean, if you're looking at a cleaning product, I don't know how much the self-mirroring matters, right? But it could be as simple as, you know, using a cleaning product that's actually clean, like that has clean ingredients, right? I mean, so that could be a good reflection of your value, right? ⁓ So I think it's as long as you feel that alignment in a way, that's where loyalty can start. It's as early as that.
Leslie Youngblood (09:28)
Right?
Yeah, true.
I love that. Do you think a lot of the small business and the small founders miss that step along the way, Lydia? And why do you think that is?
Lydia Michael (10:00)
So which step, the step to.
Leslie Youngblood (10:02)
Like the loyalty, like the
building that or realizing that there's ways to connect along those lines.
Lydia Michael (10:09)
You know what? I don't know that it's a small business thing. ⁓ I've seen a lot of great small businesses, even like a local neighborhood business, you know, just doing a great job when it comes to building loyalty. think building loyalty entails you understanding who your customer is at the core, what they care about and how you can connect with that and how you can, you know, connect the dots. ⁓ So, yeah.
Leslie Youngblood (10:12)
Mm.
Hmm.
Yeah, I feel like maybe from that perspective, small businesses are able to do that better than a bigger brand because you have less of the, whether it's baggage from the brand legacy or whether you could be really granular and pivot and have more of those one-on-one relationships. Is there a brand that comes immediately to mind that you think is doing it well right now, Lydia, whether it's a big business, small business, nonprofit, et cetera?
Lydia Michael (11:06)
In terms of building loyalty?
Leslie Youngblood (11:09)
Yeah, like is doing a good job connected with customers, creating emotion.
Lydia Michael (11:13)
Yeah, so that is a very good question. I'm trying to think of a good example. ⁓ So many brands of mine that are not doing it right and that are not building brand trust. ⁓ So maybe we'll start there and then I'll come back to.
Leslie Youngblood (11:20)
Yeah, me too.
Sure, sure, yeah. Yeah, yeah, let's see who's
not doing it well.
Lydia Michael (11:34)
So I was just in Austin for a weekend with 130 plus marketers and we were hosting a session on brand trust. ⁓ And in our session in brand trust, we were talking about brands that are both doing well or not. And the ones that came to mind are Anthropic. So, and I mentioned that one because it's at the point, it's at that turning point. So Anthropic owns Claude, the AI tool.
Leslie Youngblood (12:03)
Okay, yep.
Lydia Michael (12:03)
And we were
so we were talking about how they've decided to not use their data for surveillance ⁓ for the US government. And they were very much against that, which is unlike any other AI tool or platform that's currently in the market. And they were against that. And of course, customers like ourselves, we were applauding that effort because they were very firm. But
Leslie Youngblood (12:13)
on
Lydia Michael (12:31)
Soon after I got back from that trip, a couple days later, our marketing chat blew up actually, because now the opposite is true. They're actually bending. Yeah, they're going back on their word. I think part of it, we say, could be the competition from abroad that they're competing with. And it's almost like get in line or get out type of thing, right?
Leslie Youngblood (12:40)
Boo!
you
Hmm.
Lydia Michael (12:58)
That was a brand that was kind of doing it well and then now, ⁓ you know, not so much. There is a brand I'm trying to remember. It's a baby formula brand. ⁓ Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a brand that's very much trusted. And I think when you, when you trust a brand and that's where the turning point happens in the framework I introduced in the book, when you trust a brand,
Leslie Youngblood (13:10)
Bobby? No. Is it Bobby? Okay. Yeah. Okay.
Lydia Michael (13:25)
That's the turning point to make it up to brand love and loyalty and advocacy, right? Because without trust, and this is similar in our personal lives, the relationships we have, if we trust a person, whether it's romantic or non-romantic relationship, when we trust that person, then you can build on loyalty, right? Then you can build on faith. You can build on all of those different elements. So it's very similar with brands. And so Bobby is one of those brands that people trust, right? As a baby formula with.
Leslie Youngblood (13:29)
Noooo
Okay.
Lydia Michael (13:55)
the ingredients and the transparency and those are all elements that fall within the branch trust sector ⁓ is transparency, clarity, ⁓ being upfront, being honest. Yeah.
Leslie Youngblood (14:07)
Yeah,
it's so fat. mean, I love it. And it's so fun to dig in, because then you start thinking about, yes, the things that I'm loyal to in my life, whether I'm on my Apple computer and I have my Apple iPhone and I would never switch. And it's like, it's just so deep and granular. You don't even realize it. Like, yes, and I'm going to ⁓ buy these clothes. You know, they're a line of clothing that I like that's.
a little bit more, but I know I'm going to get the quality from them and they have great customer service and they'll take it back if it doesn't fit or this or that and the other. it's like, our lives exist around these relationships. And, know, we don't even realize that we're in a relationship with these entities day in and day out, but it truly makes our world around us. It can affect obviously how you show up.
Lydia Michael (14:37)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Leslie Youngblood (14:58)
in the world and how you go out and interact with others if you're feeling good about yourself because you know, you feel like you got a good outfit on or you can have a great phone call with the perspective client because you have your new computer that helps, you you optimize everything and it's just so cool and yet we don't think about it. Yes, and that's why I fell in love with marketing all those many moons ago because
Lydia Michael (15:17)
Yeah. Kind of a no-brainer, right?
Leslie Youngblood (15:28)
You know, and still to this day people dog on advertising and commercials or whatever and it's like at the very core our lives revolve around it in nature advertises to flowers advertised to bees and and they bloom and it's like and it's so really this basic thing and instinctual and natural and and You can pretend you're above it, but you're not
because at any point, no matter where you fall in the spectrum, you're playing the game. It's so cool. I love it. love it. And so I love to, know, Lydia, one of the things that you talk about is when you're building a business and you're building a brand and you're building this trust and this emotion, this love, there's, there's steps along the way. You're not instantly going to get there. It's going to take some time. And so whether you,
Do an ad that doesn't get the ROI that you're looking for. Whether you're doing a post that might have 30 to 50 likes. That's not a flop. ⁓ It's niche, it's underground. Tell us how the emotional resonance matters more than scale. And especially when it comes to women building thoughtful brands too.
Lydia Michael (16:38)
Yeah. you know, women led brands, especially, I think we focus on emotion just naturally off the get go, right? It's all about just this feel right. And of course, again, strategy always matters. Data matters. Metrics matter, right? I'm not trying to take away from that, ⁓ we're very emotional at our core. So we build, I think, with depth before we consider scale, right? Making sure
Leslie Youngblood (16:48)
Mm-hmm.
Lydia Michael (17:06)
It reaches the right people, making sure that we're focusing on, you know, our community, our group of women. ⁓ of course, you know, it's not just to say all we care about is our women, right? But we have our communities, like we, you know, it's, it's belonging to all those. Yeah, that, matters. So I think scaling without resonance creates audiences that don't stick around. You don't want your audience to disappear. Right? So making sure that.
Leslie Youngblood (17:20)
Okay, your target, yeah.
you
Right.
Lydia Michael (17:37)
We also look at brands that know how to grow quietly at first ⁓ and take some learnings away from that, right? So really understanding how are some of the strongest brands growing quietly ⁓ because they're building trust. They're really looking at trust density, right? Not just visibility. So how do you go beyond that early stage visibility, awareness?
Leslie Youngblood (17:43)
Mmm.
Yes.
Lydia Michael (18:04)
and build trust early on because the thing is if you're building trust early on with just even a few people, but some of the core people and the core leaders, those are the ones that you're gonna need to go out and be free brand ambassadors for you. You don't even have to ask them to do the job because they're gonna want to support you in that way and it's going to feel so organic to them. And by default, they're going to attract huge crowds because they're leaders in their spaces too, right?
Leslie Youngblood (18:32)
Mm-hmm.
Lydia Michael (18:33)
So
building that connection and that trust early on with some of, you know, high level leaders or people who are leaders in their spaces, I think goes a really long way because trust compounds.
Leslie Youngblood (18:45)
Yes, I completely, I love that so much because it's like nothing you do is a flop. You're building trust. Don't focus on getting going viral or trying to get those big numbers. Those will come and you have to, and I think we can put a lot of pressure on ourselves to do those things or to scale super fast. But like you said, you're not going to connect with the right people and you'll probably also burn out if you do that too. And it's so easy.
to get caught up in that race, right? Especially today, especially with all the things, know, whether you see somebody with 50,000 followers on LinkedIn or a million followers on social or whatever the appearance like seems from the outside and you feel like, ⁓ I'm not there yet, I suck or is what I'm doing worth it? Because entrepreneurship and building a business is a difficult path in and of itself and you have to be able to.
tune out all sorts of noise. And I just think that is such an important reframe and thing for anybody listening to keep in mind is don't write that post or that ad looking to hit the jackpot. Look at it as more of a strategic execution to connect with your brand ambassadors and those that really connect with you and the rest will come. That's so cool.
Lydia Michael (20:02)
Yeah, I agree. Yeah, being consistent
here. You know, again, you're I am hearing consistency as you say that.
Leslie Youngblood (20:09)
Yes. Yes. Consistency.
It's true, but it's that unsexy, right? I mean, people want the magic bullet, whether it's exercise or whether it's marketing or business, we all want the magic bullet, but at the end of the day, you're not going to get fit unless you are consistent and you're not going to grow your business unless you're consistent. And it sucks. It's not easy. It's, know, lifting weights and doing the reps, whether it's weights or business, it's not easy, but, that's when
Lydia Michael (20:31)
No.
Leslie Youngblood (20:39)
or an artist, you know, I always, think, you know, last year when Chapel Rome blew up and people thought, she came out of nowhere, but she'd been putting the reps in for years and didn't quit for, I think, and left, she couldn't get a record deal. And it's like the overnight success stories are always the ones that have put in the work because it's that unsexy, it's consistency. That easy and that hard, that easy and that hard.
Lydia Michael (21:02)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Leslie Youngblood (21:06)
⁓ And so I want to pivot now to when you've been consistent, things are working, things are going great, and maybe you need to evolve. And I know this comes, this is something very much personal to you, Lydia, because Blended Collective recently rebranded. And so I would love to get your take on how do founders know when it's time to evolve their brand?
Lydia Michael (21:28)
There are a lot of signs and lot of reasons. ⁓ I will say for us, kind of started with outgrowing our brand, right? So it's kind of been in my mind probably for the last two years, year and a half, two years, ⁓ to want to rebrand because we outgrew it in the sense of who we were focusing on, we were working with. So our client base kind of evolved.
Leslie Youngblood (21:43)
Mm-hmm.
Lydia Michael (21:55)
but also the work that we were able to evolve because the client ask got larger, right? And we were able to kind of meet ⁓ that ask and deliver on that. So, outgrowing your original audience, if you find that people are not able to maybe understand what you're doing and you always have to explain what it is that you do and how you do it, even just the process. ⁓ And for us, another big thread was too, the quality of our work.
Leslie Youngblood (21:59)
Right.
Lydia Michael (22:23)
And this was very much true, I will say, for the website, right? So we also, with our rebrand just in the repositioning, just relaunched a new website, blenacollective.com a couple of weeks ago. And as we went through that, the old website, I realized that it's such a disconnect from how we're actually showing up and how we're choosing to do the work and the process and even what people are saying about us.
Leslie Youngblood (22:44)
Hmm.
Lydia Michael (22:50)
So there was a period where I was like, I really don't want to send anybody to our website, right? Because it just needs to look different. It needs to sound different. And so for us, we knew it was time because of all of those things. ⁓ We're right around the eight year mark for Blended Collective. ⁓ So having that initial brand up to this point, I think, has been a great success. But now I've really thought about, well, what does that next decade look like, right? What is a brand that we can
Leslie Youngblood (23:16)
Mm-hmm.
Lydia Michael (23:18)
that has evolved with us that not only visually is an update, but also is an update in how we speak about ourselves in terms of who we are, who we want to work with, how we're doing the work, and even just who we want to do it with, right? So your brand is so important, this journey, because your brand reflects who you are at all times, right?
Leslie Youngblood (23:33)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Lydia Michael (23:44)
we as people evolve, our businesses evolve, and so it's only natural for your brand to evolve, right? So for us, it was a true rebrand. You know, sometimes hear those ⁓ shorter journeys of like a brand refresh.
Leslie Youngblood (23:50)
Mm-hmm.
Yes, like Walmart,
they didn't, do like a refresh last year and it was ever so and people got all hyped about it. Right. But I think that's really interesting, but I think somebody that also did it well and that made sense that comes to mind is Poppy. When the Poppy's probiotic soda first came out, I think it was like mother's something. It had a different name. The branding looked different. This is totally different because it's CPG.
Lydia Michael (24:06)
Yeah. Yeah.
Go.
Leslie Youngblood (24:24)
But they knew they had to evolve to target a customer for the work that they were want, you know, that they were doing their, their market that they were seeking. Very similar to what you're, I'm hearing you say about blended collective is that you, had served you so well, but you found you were growing and evolving and needed something to reflect that outward to the world as well as to prospective clients. And I just think so many organizations miss that and allow themselves to get.
Lydia Michael (24:45)
Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
Leslie Youngblood (24:55)
say old or stale, that don't that it starts to fray, right? There's like a disconnect there. And so I think it's so important and so incredible to be able to do that and to see that recognize that within your own organization and be well, of course you do because you do that so well with other organizations and the clients that you work with too, but they're the ones looking to you.
So there's just numerous benefits and just numerous reasons why I think it's so cool and makes so much sense. It must feel better too, right? Cause that's, you're emotionally connecting to your brand.
Lydia Michael (25:27)
Yeah,
yeah, absolutely. It's a proud moment. But I will tell you because you said, well, you're already doing it for other people. So of course you can do it for yourself. Leslie, if I tell you, it was so much harder to do it for you. It doesn't matter how free brands or brand develop, whatever it is you've gone through when you're taking yourself through the process that you take your clients through. And this is probably true across different industries. It's different. It's, know, you.
Leslie Youngblood (25:40)
I believe it. Sure.
Mmm.
Lydia Michael (25:56)
you're so much more critical of yourself. You're not looking from the outside in, right? This is your baby. Like you're just, you're so much more sensitive, but then you're also looking at this for months and months at a time with the team. And so you have to, at some point, just take a break and let other people, you know, come in and look and kind of give you some thoughts and opinions because otherwise sometimes you just don't see, you don't see what you don't see.
Leslie Youngblood (26:05)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, definitely. Was there a moment or an epiphany along the way that sticks out in the journey of the blended collective rebrand,
Lydia Michael (26:32)
⁓ that's a really good question. What sticks out? ⁓ You know, just I think how much the current rebrand really aligns with the work that we've been doing over the last years, especially like over the last couple of years, I would say, that we really grew into it and it felt like we truly earned it. Like this is really who we are. We're not just slapping some new colors and logos and you know,
Leslie Youngblood (26:49)
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Lydia Michael (26:59)
messaging that sounds good generated by AI on the site. But it really feels like a reflection, you know? And I think this is, yeah, it's just such a cool moment.
Leslie Youngblood (27:12)
Yeah, well, and I think it just, again, goes to show you about emotion when it comes to branding. And there's so much emotion tied to these things. And that's universal. Whether you're in the United States, whether you're in Germany, which I know where you teach and have roots there as well. And I would love to know, what have you learned about emotion as a universal strategy lever across cultures? Because that's something that Blended Collective really leans into too, is the bridging of the cultures.
Lydia Michael (27:39)
Yeah, absolutely. think, you know, culture just impacts so much. It's like, you know, from the work ethic to how people express themselves, to how they do business, right? How their thoughts are, what is okay to say, what is not okay to say in one culture can be offensive in another. All of those things. think culture definitely changes expression, but the thing with emotion is emotion is universal, right? We can be of different cultures, but many times we all feel the same.
Like we all want happiness and we want to feel accepted and we want to feel seen, right? So that's sort of that common thread. ⁓ But I think it's just the things that are common is, you know, the respect, the identity, the trust, right? ⁓ There's probably different things that you do in culture is to earn that trust. But I think the biggest thing is how we communicate emotion probably is different, right?
Leslie Youngblood (28:24)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Lydia Michael (28:38)
So I'll give you an example. I've been, as you said, I was born and raised in Germany, spent half of my life there, and now I get to go back twice a year to teach global marketing and branding class. And the students that I have are all ⁓ international for the most part. We have some German students, but people are kind of here from, or they're from all over the world ⁓ in this program. And so the way they show up,
The very, said, so the way they show up, but also the way they communicate. What do I mean by that? So they're very direct, I would say. So Germans, and I think a part of me sometimes that bourbon comes out. So, so, you know, I don't need to say anymore, but they're, direct, right? And sometimes that directness can be interpreted as
Leslie Youngblood (29:14)
Mm.
Germans are direct. Germans are direct. have Germans in my life. Yeah.
Lydia Michael (29:32)
you're rude or you're not kind or you're not nice. ⁓ I interpret it as exactly the opposite. When somebody is direct with me, even if it's something I don't want to hear, ⁓ that's kindness. You're telling me what it is. You're telling me the truth. So that, even with my students, they're very direct with their feedback and how they give feedback to each other when we're in class. I think here in the US, I also teach a class.
Leslie Youngblood (29:37)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Lydia Michael (29:59)
here locally, digital marketing class. And here I think the students are a little more, you know, high context, ⁓ you know, read between the lines type of cultures. ⁓ So that is a big difference.
Leslie Youngblood (30:09)
Yeah, fascinating.
Yeah.
my gosh, it must be endlessly fascinating to see that play out before you in the same age and stage and content level. And I just, man, to be a fly on the wall, I think that'd be like so cool. and it makes sense to me. Like I said, I definitely have Germans ⁓ in my life and ⁓ when they're wonderful, incredible people. But yes, in my visits there and interactions, I can, they're direct. And yes, we can be air on the side of like,
politeness to our dismay in the United States, right? And it is culture. It's our culture. It's culture, right? Or even just the Midwest culture and how we have a personality of that Midwest nice or Detroit grit, which I can't wait to, you know, move into and talk about the Detroit grit. And you split this time and have such a unique perspective on those things because you spend time out of the country teaching similar concepts, but to a completely different cultural group.
Lydia Michael (30:49)
Yep.
culture.
Leslie Youngblood (31:17)
⁓ and so I just think I'm sure you could write an entire book on that just alone to Lydia, add that to your list. Yeah. Names withheld and identities changed to protect the individuals. ⁓ but so let's get into Detroit, Lydia, you know, you were born and raised in Germany. Now you call Detroit home. It has a deep earned skepticism. ⁓ people here can, you know, we talk about.
Lydia Michael (31:23)
Ha ha ha.
Well, maybe.
Yeah, exactly. For sure.
Leslie Youngblood (31:46)
being authentic and trust people here can smell in authenticity a mile away. How should founders think differently about trust when building brands in Detroit?
Lydia Michael (31:56)
So Detroit, that's also where I started my business. ⁓ So, you know, with Detroit, and I'm trying to go back in my mind to when I started the business and what was sort of important then, but a big part of it was visibility. It's showing up because when you show up, people take you serious, right? And when you show up consistently, even more so, and that's where you're building the relationships and again, where you're building trust, right? And you're building
Leslie Youngblood (32:00)
Mm-hmm.
night.
Lydia Michael (32:26)
⁓ real connections. So as you're building a brand in Detroit, I don't know if it's just for Detroit necessarily, but you want to be mindful of the culture here, right? So Detroit people have a lot of grit, know, very hardworking, very strong work ethic. ⁓ And so understanding how you can fit into that with your business.
Leslie Youngblood (32:56)
Mm hmm. Yeah. I think that is so spot on and you've worked closely with chambers, municipalities, community based organizations here, and you just talked about showing up and that gives you credibility. Is that something that you haven't seen in other places where Detroit shows up more or it matters more here?
Lydia Michael (33:17)
No, I think so. mean, it's partially dependent on where you are, right? Because your environment matters, your community matters, and that sometimes reflects in your business and how you're running your business and how you're showing up. But I will say it's also very much dependent on the person, right? On the founder, on the team running the business. So ⁓ just because you're based here, you you might be serving a much larger market, you know, outside of that. So, yeah.
Leslie Youngblood (33:31)
Mmm, sure.
Yeah.
Sure, yeah.
And Detroit founders, I feel like we're the underdog. We may have a desire to prove ourselves to coastal markets, other institutions. How does emotionally grounding strategy help founders stop performing and start leading?
Lydia Michael (34:02)
So I think when founders are anchored in their brand, ⁓ in their purpose and in their clarity and really understand what it is that they're trying to achieve, you stop performing success, right? ⁓ And you start to embody it. So that to me is sort of this rawness that you see, right? This, this wrong around ⁓ not just the alignment that you have between the people in the business, but also just being yourself.
Leslie Youngblood (34:14)
Mmm.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think that's so, so true where you don't want to perform Detroit grit. And again, if you are performing Detroit grit, I wholeheartedly believe people will smell it and people can tell, yeah, they can smell a mile away and the jig will be up eventually if it's not immediately up. I think that maybe that can come from a place sometimes maybe specifically.
Lydia Michael (34:43)
people with small. Yeah.
Leslie Youngblood (34:56)
more so with women as a confidence thing. And so you can kind of put on this persona of Detroit grit and take that confidence. And, you know, the emotional clarity at the brand level can also help dismantle imposter syndrome, right? So you have to put on a performance of whatever it is you feel like you need to be, you know, tell us more about, about how that emotional clarity, that emotional confidence.
Again, imposter syndrome, know is such a buzz phrase and it kind of makes me crazy, but having that too, you'll never ever feel imposter syndrome if you are more rooted in that emotional clarity too.
Lydia Michael (35:25)
and
I think so because so I think imposter syndrome, I a lot of times when you hear that phrase, I feel like it's always incorrectly connected to like a confidence issue. But it's also about clarity, right? Because if you think about your own brand and your company and you know exactly why you exist, what you're here to do, that in and of itself creates so much emotional stability and confidence.
Leslie Youngblood (35:49)
Mmm.
Lydia Michael (36:05)
where if you can articulate your value clearly, then your brain interprets it as that. And the opposite is also true. If you can communicate that clearly, then that uncertainty in your brain turns into the self-doubt, right? So I think once you understand, and these are two things that I always say to founders, if you were to ask yourself two questions, know how to answer these. One, who are you for? Meaning who are you serving? Who is your audience, right?
Leslie Youngblood (36:21)
Mm-hmm.
Lydia Michael (36:36)
What does that look like? One. And two, what's special about your offering and how are you doing it differently than others, right? So those are the two things that I think as a founder are truly important. And then also just to add to that, why does your work matter? Like why, you know, why should people care? And how are you creating sort of this change in other people's lives? Whether it's for another business, know, B2B or customers, whatever it might be.
Leslie Youngblood (36:43)
Mm-hmm.
Mmm.
Lydia Michael (37:05)
But I think confidence then becomes a byproduct, right? So you're not really trying to impress, but you're really just owning it.
Leslie Youngblood (37:09)
Yes.
Yes, my gosh. I mean, that is mind blowing perspective shifting. I think so important right there, Lydia, where anybody listening and you're talking about imposter syndrome, it's not a confidence issue. It's a clarity issue. And like you said, you do all those things. You can walk into any room and be confident because you know who you are and what you're bringing to the table. And
Lydia Michael (37:39)
Yeah.
Leslie Youngblood (37:40)
I just think that is so powerful and so important. And again, I hope everybody is writing that down and taking away because that is something that I will forever remember and that I've never thought of from that perspective before, but makes so much sense. I love it, love it, love it. And for Lydia, for the founder listening, so they're talking about people listening, who feels like they're doing everything right.
but growth feels slower than expected. What would you tell her about patience, trust, playing the long game?
Lydia Michael (38:13)
So honestly, if you're in it for the long game, ⁓ you want to build those early relationships in business to last you a lifetime. So going back to understanding who's going to be in my corner as I'm kicking this off, who's going to be my supporter, who's going to be my brand ambassador, who's going to go out there and shout from the rooftop without me even having to tell them anything, right? And what to say.
Leslie Youngblood (38:42)
Mm-hmm.
Lydia Michael (38:43)
Like people who truly are your number one fans. And when you're starting with that strength, you're building equity very early on. And a lot of times that growth takes a while. you anybody that's growing a little slower than expected, it could be for various reasons, right? I mean, sometimes people have to bootstrap their company and they still have to work a part-time job or, you know, so.
Leslie Youngblood (39:05)
Mm-hmm.
Lydia Michael (39:08)
Naturally, that's going to take a little bit longer than somebody who goes all in from day one and they're building, you know, with a team, not even just on their own. And they're just building away, right? So again, lots of different reasons. But I think the ones that are growing slower, even though they're building correctly, they're doing everything right. They're not really behind, I would say. ⁓ Growth really comes from, you know, building those strong and successful relationships. I mean, you've heard this, you're not worth
is your network, right? Or your network is your network. I guess it goes both ways. But, and that's what I talk about in the book a little bit and brand love. ⁓ I describe it as moving from attention to attachment. So those are the things that take long for you to grow, right? And attachment does take time. So, but once people are connected to your brand and growth then stops to feel like it's a constant, you know, effort.
Leslie Youngblood (39:39)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mmm, I love it.
Yes.
Lydia Michael (40:08)
It's
sort of this momentum, like how can you keep staying relevant? So I think sometimes we're so focused on like the metrics and the end game and growth. You don't realize like you may not have metrics at every single point in your journey, but you're still growing. If you're doing things every single day that get you closer to your end goal, then that is still growth. Sometimes we don't look at it as growth also because we're living it every day. So to us, it feels like doing the same thing.
Leslie Youngblood (40:12)
Yes.
Mmm.
Mmm.
Yeah.
Lydia Michael (40:34)
day in, day out, right? But sometimes that's what it takes to get to that next level. So I think just thinking about how can I stay relevant as I'm growing, just even maintaining momentum and staying relevant, that's growth, right? So play it the long game. I'm all for the long game. I'd rather go slow, but you know, go far and go long ⁓ and build something that people want to stay with.
Leslie Youngblood (40:36)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mmm.
Lydia Michael (41:04)
You know,
something that's gonna stick around, not just try once and then move on to the next thing.
Leslie Youngblood (41:08)
Yeah, I love that consistency to bring it all back around just like we were saying. Consistency, baby. Consistency, emotion and consistency. That's what it's all about. Well, Lydia, amazing. As we wrap up today, I would love for you to share with our listeners where they can connect with you outside of this podcast. And we'll also make sure to drop these links in the show notes too.
Lydia Michael (41:11)
Yeah, here we go. That's the theme of today's podcast.
Yes, absolutely. So of course our new website, blendedcollective.com. I also have my own website, lidiamichael.com. And then I'm super, super active on LinkedIn. I post a lot on my personal profile, so find me there, Lydia Michael. And yeah.
Leslie Youngblood (41:30)
Yay!
Awesome. And we will make sure
to drop again those in the show notes. I love connecting and seeing what you're doing on LinkedIn too. It's so fun, Lydia, and so excited for you and Blended Collective on this exciting new chapter. Thank you so much for joining us today on Serious Lady Business. Appreciate you. Cheers.
Lydia Michael (41:56)
Thank you, Leslie. I appreciate you.
Thanks.