You've Got to Feel it - Ashley Selzer

Join Wendy, President of Hummingbird Creative Group, as she discusses the power of authenticity in branding with Hanna Jernigan and guest Ashley Selzer. Ashley shares her journey from owning furniture stores to franchising Wallaby Windows and Doors. Learn how small innovations and being true to oneself can lead to significant business transformations. Ashley also talks about the impact of social media presence, community involvement, and overcoming the pressure to be perfect. Discover invaluable insights on navigating business challenges and staying connected with your community.

00:00 Introduction to Hummingbird Creative Group
01:00 Meet the Team: Wendy, Hanna, and guest, Ashley
02:27 Fun Facts and Personal Stories
05:16 Ashley’s Journey: From Furniture to Windows
09:36 The Hummingbird Effect in Marketing
12:47 Embracing Authenticity in Branding
17:51 Handling Criticism and Staying Authentic
21:08 Applying Lessons to Broader Marketing Strategies
23:11 Authenticity in Business
23:23 Adapting to Change
24:09 Innovation and Experimentation
24:58 The Impact of Social Media
30:31 Networking and Community Engagement
33:58 Rebranding and Recognition
40:16 Finding Passion in Business
43:32 Conclusion and Contact Information

Creators and Guests

Host

Hanna Jernigan

Account Coordinator at Hummingbird Creative Group

Host

Wendy Coulter

As CEO at Hummingbird, I generate ideas that TAKE FLIGHT! I also have a passion to advocate for women in business, and I am an active real estate investor.

Guest

Ashley Selzer

Franchise Owner, Wallaby Windows

What is The Hummingbird Effect with Wendy Coulter?

Welcome to "The Hummingbird Effect," a podcast dedicated to uncovering the subtle yet powerful ways that small innovations can transform your business. Hosted by Wendy Coulter, CEO of Hummingbird Creative Group, this show delves into the stories and strategies behind successful brand building.

For over 25 years, Wendy has helped CEOs and business leaders redefine their brands through innovation and compelling narratives. In this podcast, she shares the insights and lessons learned from her extensive experience, exploring how a strong brand orientation can significantly increase the value of your business.

Each episode features engaging conversations with industry leaders, business advisors, and innovators who have harnessed the power of branding to make a substantial impact. Discover how focusing on core values, mission, and vision can drive your brand beyond mere marketing tactics, fostering a culture that resonates with your audience and enhances your business's reputation.

Inspired by the concept of the Hummingbird Effect—where small, adaptive changes lead to remarkable outcomes—this podcast aims to help you understand and implement the incremental innovations that can elevate your brand and business.

Join Wendy Coulter on "The Hummingbird Effect" and learn how to evolve your brand, attract more customers, and ultimately enhance the value of your business through strategic branding.

29 - HBE - Wallaby
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Wendy Coulter: [00:00:00] Hi, I'm Wendy, culture President of Hummingbird Creative Group, where we help CEOs and marketing leaders unlock the hidden power of their brands. For years, business leaders have focused on marketing tactics, but what truly matters is building a strong brand.

I. Have you experienced a hummingbird effect, like the co-evolution of the hummingbird and the flower? This is when small innovations in branding can lead to surprisingly big results in other unrelated areas of the business, like an increased valuation, a stronger culture, or an operational [00:01:00] breakthrough.

I'm excited to have Hannah Jernigan with me as usual today. Hello Hannah. Hello, Wendy, are you having a good morning? I am. How are you? It's a Monday. It's a Monday. It started. It tweeted out as a Monday too.

Hannah: It did.

What happened? Those emails were rolling

Wendy Coulter: this morning.

Hannah: I did. Had a lot of emails.

Wendy Coulter: I had so many emails before seven o'clock. Today I am

Hannah: down

Wendy Coulter: to zero. Are you? Yep. Yes. Well, we won't talk about, that could be my fun fact today, Hannah. The number of emails we don't even talk about. Emails I have that are unread in my inbox.

Too many. I let that little fact out a few days ago, and I think Hannah, about hadn't heart attack. I did. I haven't. I haven't recovered.

Ashley: I hired my 13-year-old this summer to clear out my inboxes, so I have at least 15,000 in each of my email accounts. So I hired him to sit next to me and go through and unsubscribe and ask me, do you wanna keep this or do you wanna delete this?

And he's cleared out. Cleared out three of 'em so far.

Hannah: Wow. So

Wendy Coulter: Ashley Seltzer is joining us [00:02:00] today. That was her jumping in there. Hey, Ashley. Good to you. Good morning. Thank you for having me. And she jumped into my phone fact and, and shared her own number of unread emails. Isn't it crazy? It blew me away.

It's just ridiculous. It blew me every

Ashley: time I saw it on my phone. I got anxiety, so. Yeah. Well,

Wendy Coulter: my number's bigger than yours. Yeah. And there's no way my 16-year-old would sit and go through that. So I guess I'm just doomed. Yeah, just doomed. Virtual assistant. So, so Hannah, do you have a phone fact this morning?

Hannah: About myself or about Ashley? About yourself? Oh, about myself. Um, did I have anything that I don't, the world doesn't know. I

Wendy Coulter: don't know. The last one was. Can barely beat that one.

Hannah: I might not have a fun fact about myself, but Ashley. Is impossible to find a fun fact on as well. In case you're wondering, you know what though? I might,

Wendy Coulter: I think she has one. I do. I think she can tell us some, but I think she's gonna tell us about [00:03:00] swimming.

Yes. Yes. I'm a swimmer. Tell us about swimming.

Ashley: I love swimming. Had to quit right outta high school because of injuries. So later in life I picked up open water swimming and it led me to swim Alcatraz twice. That is crazy. So what is that like? So you go out in a boat and they drop you in the water right outside the island, and then you swim back to shore, huh?

And I did it with two different racing companies. The first one, you actually jump off the boat and that's when your tracker starts and you just swim to shore as fast as you can. The second time I did it, we all jump in the water and you line up and you sit there floating and you wait until everybody's outta the boat and everybody's lined up and then you start.

It was so, you tire yourself out before you even start. Yes. And you freak yourself out. Right. Because it was definitely just sitting there floating and bobbing in the water, getting colder and colder and just, you know, and then when they say go, it's elbows and knees and thrashing and, and. By the time I got to shore, my husband said I look like a swamp monster because I was just [00:04:00] green because of all the, like the nastiness in the bay there.

Wendy Coulter: Yeah. So when you say you swam Alcatraz, like that sounds like so amazing and so interesting to hear it. But then I'm like, but what makes that amazing is that the coldness of the water. Yeah. It makes that so tough.

Ashley: It was this daunting thing, right? They built a prison in the middle of the bath thinking that it was impossible to swim to shore, and it really messed with the prisoners thinking it was inescapable.

But it's only a mile and a half. And as long as you are a decent swimmer and as long as you know, you know roughly where your goal is and where the tide is pulling you. Then on the second time I did it, then I did the six mile run to the Golden Gate Bridge afterwards. 'cause then it's truly like escaping Alcatraz.

It's absolutely possible if you're fit.

Wendy Coulter: So I'm glad we're sharing this with the world. Any criminal stills out there can hope to go to Al Therese. So

Ashley: it wasn't escape. The escape inescapable. Right. It was not the inescapable prison, I guess is the whole reason why people do it every year.

Hannah: Wow. If you can [00:05:00] swim, if you can swim, if you have any endurance.

Ashley: Right. If you don't mind, hop in Nasty Bay. I'm gonna And present. Right. You. You and I would not be a stay bagel.

Wendy Coulter: Right. For sure. Exactly. For sure. Well, thank you for that fun fact and welcome to the show, Ashley. Thanks for having me. I have met you through, um, the Chamber and a lot of friends we have in common.

I do. So Stephanie Connolly, Joe Navarra, and Mickey Paradise. Oh yeah. Who was in the, um, construction world with you, Uhhuh. Um, and you are, um, a franchise owner of Wallaby Windows. And doors. And doors and doors. Um, and so tell us about that. Give us some background on how you became a franchise owner and what that is like.

Alright,

Ashley: so before this my husband and I owned a. Furniture stores all throughout the west coast. We owned nine. It was just your basic furniture store. You go in and buy, you know, [00:06:00] retail furniture. We did that for 18 years and it was just he and I for, for the last half of it. We had a business partner for a little while.

We bought him out somewhere along the way and we, we went it alone. Right. And it was so hard to differentiate ourselves. It was so hard to. To bolster our weaknesses because there were just two of us, right? I have a degree in soil science and he has a degree in ag business. There's a lot missing there in the infrastructure of business and marketing and we, we kept recognizing where we had weaknesses, but we didn't know how to hire, to replace and fill in those gaps appropriately.

And we battled and battled that When the pandemic hit and a bunch of other, you know, cards sort of fell into place, we decided. It was time to stop retail furniture. That wasn't fulfilling a dream of ours anymore, and we decided we could live anywhere we wanted. So we moved here and we [00:07:00] knew first and foremost that we wanted to be a part of a franchise because we had recognized over those 18 years where our shortcomings fell and we realized.

There was a way to find the right franchise that would help fill in those gaps for us. So,

Wendy Coulter: so tell me how you make a decision coming from science and ag. To sell windows and doors. It's, so

Ashley: that actually is less of a big leap than furniture to me. Mm-hmm. But, um, I actually have a minor in construction management as well.

Okay. So I already was drawn towards geotechnical engineering and towards the, the home and the building side of things. Anyway. When the opportunity came to find a, a business that was in the home improvement sector that really was more construction based, that spoke to me. So I got my GC license and leaned heavily into the more of the art of what it is and, [00:08:00] and finding that passion that I already sort of had towards home improvement and.

Towards helping. I guess to me, we helped serve the community and a need in the community, and we felt like replacement windows and doors was something that that could help us scratch that itch.

Wendy Coulter: You really are committed to service. I saw pictures on social of you with Mickey Paradise. Oh yeah. And, um, working on the Hope Renovations project.

Absolutely. Um, and I'm always seeing you so active in the community, so big, big shout out to you. Thank you for all of what you're doing through the Chamber and other organizations. I appreciate

Ashley: that. It's really important to us. Yeah. We feel like we picked here to live intentionally because we love what Carrie has done.

We love the whole triangle area and we believe that it's a really special place to live and to get to live. And so we wanna make sure that we're as ingrained in the community as possible. Yeah. Wherever we can, whenever we can.

Wendy Coulter: I totally agree with that. I love the town. Um, they're building a lot. My [00:09:00] daughter was making a comment last night about the big building at the corner of.

Harrison and Chatham, I think that's going up 'cause it's close to where she went to preschool and she was like, I just don't like it. And I said, I love everything about the way this area is growing and changing and becoming a little more urban. And there's so much more to do. So, um, and

Ashley: it's thoughtfully done.

It really is, is there's so much planning that that really goes into an intentional growth that to me. Is why it feels so good to be here. It feels more like home than anywhere I've ever lived.

Wendy Coulter: Yeah, I totally agree. I totally agree. Well, so let's jump into a hummingbird effect since that's what we're here to talk about.

Good. I think that's good. Um, so talk to me about a specific instance when you made a seemingly small change in your marketing or branding and maybe it led to a really significant. Change or result in another area of your business?

Ashley: This is something that I talk about a lot whenever [00:10:00] people ask about our social media presence and what we do.

To me, it happened when we were, we were brand new. We were just launching our business, and we did all of our filming of our social media content with just my husband and I. We've got three kids, two dogs, a cat, and so finding the time to film content together was really hard as it was. Then he would, we knew that we wanted to get the message out that we were the owners.

We're here, we're in the community. We're accountable to you. This is what our faces look like. We'll always do right by you. So that was really the only kind of thin grasp I had on me as the brand and, and making sure that I had a presence in it. So we're filming some content and it was just as dry as can be.

It was as boring as can be, and I was, I was trying to show. I had, I had our old 20-year-old windows and I had a new window set into an open window and I was using a thermal gun to show the difference of, you know, the summer sun hitting the two different [00:11:00] windows. And it just could not have been more bland and boring.

The scientist was coming out. Yes, I can tell. Yeah. And I was like, people need to see this. It's a visual representation of the beauty of our work and so trying so hard to do it. My husband is going, this is just not you. And I said, why isn't it me though, right? I'm an educator at heart. I, I want people to understand this.

And he's like, yeah, but you're goofy and you're weird and you're, you're quirky and none of that is coming across. And so he said, why don't we just pretend I don't have the camera on you? What would you do to communicate to our kids what you're trying to do? And so I grabbed the thermal gun and I started walking around like I was James Bond or something, and I started like shooting the windows and.

Getting the thermal readings that way. And it was this goofy thing where I relaxed and I just let people see that I'm not this polished person, you know, who I thought they needed me to be. And instead I just let them see that I was weird and quirky and a little bit goofy. And, and it [00:12:00] was, it took one take and it was, it made all of us kind of laugh and I sent it over to my digital marketing team and they were like, this is, this is amazing.

This is you. This is the you we've gotten to know weekly in our calls. That sort of broke something in me that had been really rigid and, and it reminded me people wanna connect with me and our, our followers just doubled and doubled after that, and it continued to grow. People comment on that video all the time.

We still show that video as part of our social media marketing and our paid presence. And it's still the reminder whenever I get really stiff. My content feels like a dissertation. Someone just has to remind me, you know, be quirky. It's okay. Be yourself. And I find that our customers love that.

Wendy Coulter: So do you feel like that has made, where all in your business has that made a difference?

Ashley: It's made the biggest difference in in our social media because our social [00:13:00] media presence. Is the way for us to communicate who we are when we're not actually in front of somebody. So when somebody finds us through our digital marketing or through our paid, you know, click ads, or even on our commercial, they go and they find us still on our social media.

And when they find us, it tells a story about who we are and how quirky we are. And I find that when our consultants are in the home or when I'm at a home show, people, they relate to me, they connect with me. People are. People feel like they know me, and I feel like that happened because I let down that wall.

And so I hear people talk about our brand. In a way that makes me feel like I'm getting something across.

Wendy Coulter: That's great. So you making a small change in the way that you were thinking about something led to the community, like really embracing the company in a different way? Yeah. And the culture in a different way?

Ashley: Yeah. My misconception that you had to be perfect, that your, you know, hair had to be perfect, your makeup had to [00:14:00] be perfect, your outfit had to be perfect. Your scripting had to be, you couldn't bumble over anything. Realizing that, that makes you less relatable and, and just being comfortable and letting people see the people who are gonna judge you for it.

Probably were gonna judge you for something anyway, so it's, it's more comfortable just

Wendy Coulter: to be yourself. I think it's interesting to hear you talk about judging. I think the world has changed quite a bit in that sense since Yeah. Um, since I was younger there was a lot more judging. I, I watched my daughter and her friends and they don't seem to care about the same things Yeah.

That we were taught to care about. Yeah. When we were young. I think it's actually really refreshing and it's neat when we talk about authenticity and brand that we can actually be ourselves and be. I agree, completely transparent, and it actually improves the brand as opposed to being judged. Right. I

Ashley: agree.

I think culturally we have shifted and I, I need to let go of [00:15:00] that and once people do let go of it and just let people see who they truly are, which I agree. I think this generation has definitely got that better. They understand how to relax a little bit more and just let their own quirky light shine.

Wendy Coulter: So Hannah, you are, um, you are a younger generation. What are your thoughts on that? I mean. I don't think social would be what it is if people couldn't be themselves. Yeah. I

Hannah: think that that's the big, biggest part, and we talk about it all the time, is you follow people because you relate to them.

Wendy Coulter: Mm-hmm.

Hannah: And it's crazy to think that I, I. I'm connected to people who have so much more money than I will ever see and go on these trips that I will never go on, but I feel like I'm there with them because they were just authentically themselves. They mess up. They show you. It's not this picture. Perfect. I don't know, like model anymore.

And that I, it just is, it's what works. People wanna feel comfortable. In your case, I wrote this down, um, as a question of when you're [00:16:00] at those shows, if people make these decisions because they're comfortable around you, like, is that how you feel? 'cause this is a big purchase that they're making. Yeah. And if they can't, if they're just like, oh, this is a corporate.

Person coming into my home and I'm spending all this money, it's gonna be different than when you're like, no, like me to you. I also have these windows. I also went through this and it just makes people more comfortable with the decisions that they're making.

Ashley: Yeah, absolutely. I think we definitely get that.

People feel like they know us when they do business with us.

Wendy Coulter: Yeah. So you talked about measuring that your followers grew. Mm-hmm. Um, do you feel like that was. Like the best that you've, that, that first time that you did it, was that the one that just really, you could measure the success of it the best?

Ashley: I think it's the one that was the catalyst.

So we do a lot of other filming now. I do monthly filming with a friend and [00:17:00] she now knows the gauge by which to say this is good content or not. And it's usually how relaxed I am and, and then we know. That's gonna resonate with people because tip, technically I'm our ideal customer, right? I'm, I'm a middle-aged woman homeowner, and I feel like if I'm making content that has me feeling comfortable and relaxed, then that's relatable to my customer base.

So it makes sense. But she, she can tell when she's filming my content, if I start to get stuffier, if I don't get the scripting right. So you're, you're caught up, right? You need to let go. We're having a conversation. You need to just relax. And then I know that content will do well. So I think it continues.

Wendy Coulter: So talk more about other unexpected consequences. What else has come out of you being quirky and having fun?

Ashley: I called it a heat gun, and I got slammed by that because it's a thermal gun and, um, the number of, you know, nasty. [00:18:00] Mansplainers who came on to tell me what an idiot I was, and this is why women shouldn't be in construction and things like that.

All because I had a one take moment, you know, with my thermal gun and called it a heat gun and didn't hesitate to put it out there. I definitely got a lot of negative feedback as well, and I had to just let that go. Right. Wow. Like you've got four older brothers, they've been heckling me my whole life.

You would think that I have thicker skin, but for a while it really did bother me.

Hannah: Yeah, I mean, that's an understandable feeling when people, did anybody

Ashley: defend

Hannah: you on

Ashley: that one? Um, I did have some of our distributors jumped in and even called me and said like, you know, this is a mistake anybody could have made.

I hope you don't, I hope this doesn't discourage you. That was the number one thing I got was this, don't let this discourage you and, um. Otherwise, no, it was mostly trolls. So it was hard, like, you know, the, the smartest thing with a troll is just to ignore it. Mm-hmm. So for the most part, we just kind of let it slide.

But it gave me an opportunity. We were talking about my [00:19:00] kids. I, it gave me an opportunity to have conversations about social media bullying with my kids. Because I got to show them, you know, I put my authentic self out there. Mm-hmm. And granted, I pay to have this content advertised, so it's a bit different.

But when you go into this realm, same things will happen, but it'll be hurtful. It'll be from your friends and it's inevitable. And here's how it made me feel. And it's okay, but we still gotta just remember it's important.

Hannah: Well still do it anyway. And did you find, I know it was a, I I wouldn't even say it was a mistake.

It was just a blubber of words. They mean the same thing. It doesn't matter.

Ashley: Yeah.

Hannah: But did it. You found that people remember it in a good way? Like are people like, oh, like, well, I heard this, I remembered your company, and now when I need this, I know who to call.

Ashley: Yeah. And after that moment. Was when I went on to get my GC license.

No, and the funny thing is, at no point did I learn the difference between a and a thermal gift. So it was sort of like, you know, I kind of, that stuck with me that I kept thinking, you know, how many details might be important to somebody else and they, [00:20:00] they got hung up on it.

Wendy Coulter: Right.

Ashley: Um, and I, one of my favorite lines in a book I've read was just, you know, and yet you got the point.

Right. I didn't, sorry, I misspoke. Right. But yet you got the point. And do I need to really worry that much about, you know, being eloquent and being, you know, articulate every time? Or do I just need to make sure the point is getting across? I can't let, I can't get too hung up on the trolls, but that was probably the most, you know, having to just swallow that.

I knew it was coming, but it was, it wasn't fun.

Wendy Coulter: [00:21:00] So you talked about, um, like changing your approach going forward mm-hmm. With social media. And I know you, when you walked in the studio this morning, you were talking about how you were supposed to be shooting a commercial today. Oh yeah. And you look great, by the way.

You look very well prepared to shoot a commercial today. Um, are you taking some of what you learned? From the social piece and applying it to other things. And if so,

Ashley: that is the funniest question you could ask me because the script for the commercial is actually me with the thermal gun. Oh. So yeah. Yeah.

We're taking bits of that, that I filmed years ago and turning it into a commercial now, because that resonated so well over so many different followers, over so many engagements that we decided. For the new commercial. That should be the point. Mm-hmm. That should be, you know, a little bit of educational, but a little bit of just, you know.

Me being myself,

Wendy Coulter: [00:22:00] I think you should, you could make something like really funny out of the whole heat gun, thermal gun question. Oh, probably just by itself. Just, you know. Yeah. What is this thing? I think it's a heat gun. The difference. But isn't it thermal? Well, what's the difference? Nothing.

Ashley: Really nothing.

Yeah, yeah. Just what I'm calling it versus the tomato. Tomato. Right. Yet you get the point.

Wendy Coulter: Exactly. This heat thermal gun is showing us that these windows are more efficient. Yes. It measures the

Ashley: temperature through the window. I don't know. Right. Whatever you call, whatever matter rose by any other name.

Right. I mean, come on. It's still measuring temperature,

Wendy Coulter: so what advice would you give other people? Um, in terms of their marketing that they could learn from their situation here.

Ashley: Being authentic, letting your true self shine no matter what your business is. People wanna relate, people do business with people, they wanna do business with other [00:23:00] humans.

And, and, and we're flawed. And we're quirky, and we have pieces of our personality that we don't know who's gonna relate to it, but. At the end of the day, people just wanna do business with people and be authentic. Be yourself. It shouldn't feel scripted. It shouldn't feel stiff. It shouldn't feel forced otherwise, you know?

Why are people doing business with you? What is your brand all about? If it's not authentic

Wendy Coulter: and real?

Ashley: Yeah.

Wendy Coulter: So we're in a super changing environment right now in business. Everything's just, um, once again in kind of an interesting place. What's your advice to business owners to be able to stay nimble and adapt to times like this in business?

Ashley: I think always be listening. Always be listening to what your employees are saying and what your customers are saying. Always be. Humble enough to adapt and change and, and never be so married to one concept. Even if it did work great for, you know, 5, 10, 15 years, whatever it [00:24:00] was. Always be willing to adapt to what the people around you are saying and what it feels like your community needs

Wendy Coulter: from you.

That's

Ashley: great.

Wendy Coulter: That's great. Do you feel that in innovation and experimentation is part of your world? Can you talk about that a little bit?

Ashley: Absolutely. I, college, I went to the motto was, learn by doing. So you just, you're supposed to just get out there and try it, do it. And, and once again, be humble, right?

Learn from your mistakes. Learn from own it. Say, okay, that didn't work. Let's try something different. We tested a couple of different social media recently that definitely did not work. And instead of looking at it as lost money, it's, you know, a lesson learned. Yeah. And I paid for some education, so I think every opportunity can have a positive, every lesson there's a lesson in every experience we're having.

So. Just, just continuing to be open to the lesson and, and then keep trying, keep

Wendy Coulter: doing, always innovating, always trying something different. I think earlier [00:25:00] Hannah was talking about learning lessons from. Trying to do some TikTok these days. Oh gosh. Um, talk about experimentation. Yeah. We've been experimenting with TikTok now for, what, two years.

Hannah: It like ebbs and flows. You have the time and then you don't have the time. But I, I really liked what you said of you invested in education or you paid for education. Yeah. That's a really great way to think about it because it is very disheartening when you try and you put hours into something. No one sees it or no one likes it, or you don't get the reaction that you were expecting, but to flip your thinking and just say, well, I learned like this is not, no matter what I researched about our, our customers, it's not what they wanted

Ashley: and on.

Great. That line, I've, I think I'm all about cheesy quotes and things like that, but I read, I read at some point that you know how many people in your life come up and compliment your outfit. On a daily basis. [00:26:00] Right? But yet how many people do you see have a cute outfit or a cute haircut or whatever that you don't comment on?

And social media still has that same effect. So just 'cause one or two people like it doesn't mean that 20 or 30 people didn't see it and like it, they just didn't go out of their way to engage it. Right. And, and we have to remember that when we put social media content out there for our customers mm-hmm.

Or for, you know, just for some engagement with people in the world. It could be resonating with far more people than you know, just because the likes aren't there to reflect it. So listen, right. I hear people comment all the time about how they saw a particular thing in a commercial we did, or how they saw a particular piece I did on social media that got barely any traction.

But I'm hearing it and I know that particular person never commented or liked it even, but it impacted them, right? So we, it's, it's hard and it's unattributable, but. A lot of our impact actually has no attribution.

Hannah: Yeah. And it's important to remember that as [00:27:00] well. 'cause it, a lot of leaders want to see hard facts.

Mm-hmm. And impressions aren't. Something that they're necessarily accepting. 'cause it's like, oh, we got 12 likes, but 50,000 people saw it. Yeah. Or 12 people saw it that have never seen it before. Exactly. And now we've stepped into their world. How can we keep going? So you're a great leader and for someone to learn from, you just, you have to keep trying and you can't focus so much on all of the numbers that come because they are doing something

Wendy Coulter: Right.

Hannah: Your job is to figure out what they're doing and how you can keep. Going with that. Exactly.

Wendy Coulter: I do think it's so interesting because, um, we're in such a world of analytics now. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And just to bring up that thought, that. Maybe there are unseen analytics. Mm-hmm. There, i, I, I firmly

Ashley: believe that,

Wendy Coulter: you know, and you can't measure everything.

Um, we always talked about in the early [00:28:00] days of, um, Google. Search, we always talked about that lift, that when you see something in one place, you might go to a different place and that would be a lift. Um, I think the media, the numbers of different media we're using now in business, especially as small business owners like you and me, um, to be able to, to measure, lift across the, all those media outlets.

You just really cannot, you really can't measure it. Yeah. Yeah. I just

Ashley: try, I try to. Measure it through my experiences, right? So I walking through a swim meet the other day and a guy asked me, are you on my TV? Sometimes? Have I seen you? Yes, I probably am. And he said, wall, it'll be windows, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Exactly. Those are the things when I'm hearing that out in the community, when I am, when I know there's a recognition happening that that reaffirms to me that for, you know, the hundreds and hundreds of people who saw it and did nothing. I know I got that impression. [00:29:00] It's working, even though there's no hard analytics for it, there's no strict attribution, which probably makes me one of my social media companies like favorite customers to have because I'm always telling them, I get that.

This doesn't even paint the whole picture. I know that many of these appointments I got are because of the work that you do. That's not even attributable. I know that we're just building branding and putting the word out there and that's hard and that takes time and, and that doesn't come across as hard.

Firm hard numbers. You just have to feel it. Yeah.

Wendy Coulter: You have to feel it. I love that. That should be the title of the episode. You have to feel it. Um, because I think we, I think we lose sight of that. Mm-hmm. Sometimes with so many people trying to measure everything. Yes. Um, and I think when you're in, um. I don't know that I can call carry a small town anymore, but when you're in a community like this and trying to make an impact, you have to, yeah.

Like realize that you have to [00:30:00] feel it and not necessarily see the facts Right. All of the time. That's, I think

Ashley: it's, I, I try to tell the other Wallaby franchisees that all the time, you know, don't be so firm on your analytics that you're not looking up also and seeing. That people recognize you in the community or that there's just your brand is starting to build a snowball effect the longer you're there and, and that it's a really hard like intangible thing to grasp.

But if you're paying attention, you'll see it and then you'll know that what you're doing is working. I. Yeah.

Wendy Coulter: So you also network a lot in the community. I do. Talk about that and how you've seen that impact the business as well.

Ashley: It does not come naturally to me. I'm the kind of person who would rather be, you know, at home, curled up with my dogs on the couch or hanging out with my kids.

But I do find that at my core, I want wallaby windows to serve the community. And I can't serve the community if they don't know why they should choose me. Mm-hmm. And so I need to make sure that when I'm in a room, I've left an impression. [00:31:00] So that when I'm not in the room, the people in that, that room will, you know, if, if replacement windows or doors or if just a locally owned businesses or women in construction comes up, I've made some sort of impact that has brought me up in a room that I'm not standing in.

So every opportunity to network gives me another opportunity to make sure that somebody understands my brand and its purpose and why we're there to serve the community and. For me that that's the high that I need to be in those rooms and to, to drag up the energy to be in that room. Plus, I love Carrie.

I love the town, I love the people. So I think going to the networking events is, I, I'm from California. Everything is very different there and I feel like here. If people are accessible, they wanna engage, they want to know you. They want to help support you If they get to know you and learn that your business is worth supporting and that feels really good too.

And then [00:32:00] you can't wait to support their businesses and to see them grow and thrive. So. Networking's important. Yeah. And, and you can serve your customers better. There's a lot of opportunity for me to help a new family who moved in. We're helping replace their windows and doors. What, what else do you need?

I, I network with a ton of professionals and whatever else you might need, there's a possibility. I know somebody who I, I trust and who I would do business with if you would like somebody, you know, across whatever profession. My networking allows me to be a better resource for them.

Wendy Coulter: Yeah. I think the, the number of people that you know, and that you're now surrounding yourself with in the community, um, can benefit anyone.

Yeah. I mean, you've

Ashley: been a member of this community for so long. You know, you see it, you feel it, that it just feels good to be a part of it.

Wendy Coulter: Yeah. Yeah. So Hannah, you mm-hmm. Um, you mentioned this morning, so, um, I laugh 'cause I take Hannah with me to things and I forget [00:33:00] that where she was, I'm just there and what she was doing with me.

But she had mentioned that she had spoken with you. Yes. At an event in the past. Um, it was

Hannah: the, um, business Expo. Business Expo Expo. Yeah. We were beside each other. So we were,

Wendy Coulter: we were chatting, we were booth buddies. Yeah. Yeah. And so, um, and the expo is another just great way. Yeah. Um, to, to see the community and be, be a part of the chamber and, um, get to know all of the other great businesses who were there.

Yeah. Um, so, you know, you are kind of the. Premier example of how to get involved in the community and Thank you. Um, yeah. And, and to benefit from that. Mm-hmm. Um, and feel it. Um, and I think there've been some great, um. Awards that have come your way. Like Raleigh's Best. Yeah. As a result of that. Yeah, as well.

Ashley: We did. We got it for Windows and doors

Wendy Coulter: and indoors. Wow. Yeah. So talk about for doors. So let's talk [00:34:00] about and indoors, because when we were coming into a Hummingbird Effect, I kind of thought that you might say, well. We've added the words and doors. I'm

Ashley: a franchise, so getting them to add and doors has been like pulling teeth.

And you know what the catalyst finally was, was winning Raleigh's Best Gold Four doors. I went to the franchise and said, I can't advertise my brand new award as Wallaby windows. This has gotten ridiculous. We, we sell just as many doors as we do windows. I think we need to rebrand officially. And they were like, oh, it's, you know, it's like turning a ship.

It takes forever, you know? We'll get there, we'll get there. And I said, well, I have a very strict deadline because I will be advertising as wallow be windows and doors because we won gold for replacement doors. And that matters to me. So. It took my marketing team making the logo and then getting special approval from the franchise for them to make it for me, which is why it's not on all my branding.

It's [00:35:00] not on my truck still. Um, it's taking a long time for the rest of the franchise to build. We also do replacement siding, but it's not part of our branding and it's taking me forever to get that part of the branding messaging going, but. I fought hard and I got and doors on my logos. At least you go girl.

You go girl. We'll have to have

Hannah: a follow up. Oh yeah. When it's fully branded everywhere. It's brand and launched. Yeah,

Ashley: we're getting there. But it's, I mean, the fact that we do doors and we're a window company definitely has not been a clear enough message. Yes, Wallaby windows and ORs rebranding, but that's still a slow process and Right.

Um, and all the catalyst for that was Raleigh's best,

Wendy Coulter: but I feel like just you talking about it Yeah. In the community. 'cause I, I heard it and I may need doors worse than I need windows. Yeah. Right? Mm-hmm. So when the time comes, yeah, I'm gonna remember that you can help with that too. Yeah. And if we had never.

Talked about doors being a part of your world, then [00:36:00] that it wouldn't

Ashley: have been assumed,

Wendy Coulter: it wouldn't have been a thing. And so I think that that's just like this little tweak that you are able to make. Mm-hmm. Even in your conversation. Like it doesn't have to be on your shirt. Right. But the fact that you talk about it and you've, um, made a point to, um, call it out and make sure that people know.

I think is, is great. And we convert

Ashley: windows to doors. We convert doors to windows. Now that we have our GC license, we can, we can pull permits, replace headers, and do whatever's necessary. So it really is windows and doors, whatever your needs are. And siding and, and cider. Yes. That, that one's too much of a mouthful.

I haven't pulled that one. That's a lot, right? Yeah, a lot.

Hannah: Yeah. You can also just, I have to say it 'cause it popped into my head. Just pitch down under doors if they wanna keep the alliteration going.

Ashley: Alright. Wall opening. Windows down under doors. Alright, perfect. Oh, I love it. I'll come up with siding

Hannah: eventually.

Yeah, I, yes,

Ashley: exactly. I said, oh, we have exciting news. We do siding now.

Hannah: There we go. Look, we did it. You better girl. Good job. I, I had to say it. The camera caught my [00:37:00] eye. It was like 20 minutes ago. I was like, Ugh. Damn your doors. Alright, I like it. Okay, perfect. I'll throw it out there.

Wendy Coulter: So what do you think, Hannah?

Any thoughts in your last thoughts on this one? I have

Hannah: a lot of thoughts and I wrote like chicken scratch, so sorry to have to put this up in front of my face. Um. But looking back at everything that you were saying and your small change or your hummingbird effect was just accepting your authenticity, which wasn't something that you didn't know you had.

It was just realizing you didn't have to do everything by the book. Um, and I even took a little note that you probably thought you needed to be the way that you were doing with the thermal heat gun. Because of videos you had seen. Yeah. Whether that be like a maintenance video or a training video, it's the same thing you've seen over and over again.

So your head just went, well, I'm gonna do what I've always known to do and known to see. But your husband was standing there like, okay, this, this, for lack of a better word, sucks. Like we have to, to [00:38:00] be better. So you guys just really, you took a step back. To where you wanted to be. You wanted to move here to be a part of something.

Yeah. You wanted to change into a franchise because you knew you needed the strengths of other people, and so that was another thing that you did it as well. You accepted your strength and relied on other people who had a. The other strengths. And you, you

Ashley: haven't said weaknesses, you almost said, oh no, I would not.

Hannah: I would never say weaknesses. Yes. Things you could better.

Ashley: And other people's strengths. And other people's strengths aren't our strengths.

Hannah: Um, but you also have accepted, and I wrote failure in quotes because you didn't fail. You were successful just. You had to flip the script on what you were looking at, but you're willing to accept that it didn't go well.

But you gotta have to keep trying. Yes. And you also listen to the people who are doing your social media when they're like, okay, mm-hmm. You might have [00:39:00] really wanted to do this, but it's not coming across. And you're just like, okay, well let's do what you're saying is correct. So there was a lot of little tidbits of things, but just these small shifts and how you were doing it has made just a.

Tremendous outcome. Yeah. For you.

Ashley: Thank you. Yeah, I do agree though. You gotta listen to the people you hire. Yeah. Right. You gotta hire people you trust and then remember why you trusted them. Right. And then even when it feels like, I think also I was trying to build authority. Mm-hmm. In a new space. And I felt like the best way to do that is by being articulate and authoritative and making sure I got my point across that I knew what I was talking about, but.

Even when I wasn't a window expert yet. Mm-hmm. I was still a window enthusiast and I was more of a window enthusiast than the average person. And so shifting that mindset, right, and recognizing that it's okay to not be an expert just because sometimes we'll never give ourselves the confidence to feel like an expert, right?

So sometimes we have to just admit when. Expert is a ridiculous [00:40:00] goal to achieve. Enthusiast is just fine and it's okay to just be enthusiastic about your field, whatever it is. And you don't have to know everything. You don't have to pretend to know everything, but you can embrace that and still share what you do know.

Hannah: Yeah,

Ashley: with enthusiasm.

Hannah: Well, and can you talk just a little bit. Quickly, I suppose on what you're saying there goes back to what you were saying before of just the passion wasn't there in the furniture business. Mm-hmm. So you wanted to switch. Can you talk about bringing what you just said into losing that passion?

Ashley: Yeah. So in furniture, or at least, especially in our particular world of furniture, it was a, mm-hmm. We were Hello Furniture, always a goodbye. And it was literally just always the cheapest price, right? Mm-hmm. And it, it was constantly raced to the bottom and you were competing against Wayfair, Amazon, and, um Jeff Bezos owns a big, or not Jeff Bezos.

Um, Warren Buffett owns a big [00:41:00] furniture company out there called RC Willie. And all of these competitors that we were drowning in, that were owned by billionaires that could get people stuff. Faster and cheaper than I ever could. Mm-hmm. Right. And my customer base had no relationship with us. Mm-hmm. They wanted, they wanted transactions instead of experiences.

And you can't build a relationship with your community when it's transactional. And no matter how hard I tried to shift that, it never seemed like what retail furniture ever wanted to be. And nobody wanted sustainable. Nobody wanted to take care of anything other than this immediate need for a couch or a mattress.

The longer we were in that space, the less I felt like I was serving anything. And that was eating away at us long hours. My husband was away from the kids a ton 'cause he was always in the stores and that wasn't serving our family. It wasn't serving the needs that we felt our business should fill.

Mm-hmm. So when we were looking for the next business, we knew serve the community. Do something good for the [00:42:00] community, right? People are staying in their homes longer because of interest rates and things like that, and they need to know that they have someone in their home that they trust and replacement.

Windows, doors, actually, I mean, all home services in general, it's a really, I. High pressure sales. It's almost like having car salesmen in your home. Mm-hmm. And, and I don't mean all car salesmen. Some of 'em are wonderful, but the, the cliched car salesmen in your home, you can't get rid of them. They're high pressure.

They're telling you whatever they can to get you just to sign the deal. And I felt like people deserve better. They should expect better and I can provide better. And there's no reason why there's no barrier that would prevent me from bringing down that, that low bar of expectation for home services that that people have come to expect.

So I could get really passionate about that and I could get very excited about bringing a better experience that I believe the community deserves and I can get really excited about. Fulfilling a need that that makes me feel like I'm [00:43:00] serving my community while I, while I build a business and grow. So that's the difference between windows and furniture to me.

I'm making their homes more energy efficient. I'm helping them stay in their homes longer. I'm giving them a pride of home ownership that, that we don't always get to experience. Sometimes it's just frustrating to have to fix up your house and hopefully they had a great experience with us that made them feel good about that home maintenance project that was big and expensive.

That feels like I'm doing more with our business than we could have in furniture. I guess that's where the passion comes

Wendy Coulter: in. Yeah. Well, congratulations and thank you. Thank you so much for bringing your enthusiasm to carry and finding your place in the community. It's been amazing to watch that and get to know you more.

Ashley: I really appreciate it. I appreciate getting to be a part of. You know your circles and watching what you do and watching how you build others up and what you do for the community. So thanks for having me on and thanks for always being there whenever I go to my networking events and [00:44:00] building me up whenever my energy level's low.

Wendy Coulter: Absolutely.

Ashley: We have to do

Wendy Coulter: that. We have to do that. Yeah. Um, so share your contact information for our

Ashley: listeners. Absolutely. So we're wallaby windows of the triangle. You can find us on most social media channels as wallaby windows of the triangle. And [e-mail] would be a good email address for us.

And if you want a phone number, [phone]. Perfect. Thank you so much, Ashley. Thanks for coming on for having me. I really appreciate it giving us

Wendy Coulter: your time today. Yes, thank you ladies. Yes, now thank you listeners for giving us your time as well and go out and find your own hummingbird effect. [00:45:00]