What can the right tech do for your small business?
Samantha Morris is an amazing coach who helps entrepreneurs get their ideas off the ground and flourishing through smart leadership skills and the right mix of tech tools. She helps busy women fulfill their business dreams without sacrificing other priorities, and she helps all types of leaders become life-long learners who succeed. Listen in as Samantha guides listeners through essential tech questions, including:
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Where to start integrating business tech
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Recommendations for SM, accounting, and CRM apps
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Leadership essentials for 2022
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And much more
This episode is perfect for non-digital natives and tech-savvy entrepreneurs alike, whether you are thinking about starting your first business or adding another venture to your plate. Don’t miss out!
Mentioned in this episode:
Transcript
Samantha Morris: At any point in your life, if you aren’t happy with what you’re doing, then you’ve got the power to change it. You don’t have to stick to one part.
Voiceover: You’re listening to The Build a Vibrant Culture podcast with professional speaker, coach and consultant Nicole Greer.
Nicole Greer: Welcome to The Build a Vibrant Culture podcast. My name is Nicole Greer, and they call me the vibrant coach. And I am so excited to be here today with none other than Samantha Morris. And she comes all the way to me all the way from Australia. She’s a business coach for women who loves to explore what tech can do for business owners. With a background in the Navy, small business and motherhood and don’t miss this everybody she has five kids. So this woman’s got it going on. She’s armed with a bachelor’s degree in Business Information Systems, and she loves sharing what she knows and helping other women. And even you fellas listening can also learn from Samantha Morris. So Samantha Morris, I’m so delighted that you are here.
Samantha: Thank you, Nicole. It’s great to be here.
Nicole: Yeah. And so tell us where you are in Australia. For those of us who have a you know, Australia longings and we want to go Down Under. Tell us exactly where you are on the continent.
Samantha: So I live in Melbourne, and most people have heard of Melbourne. Well, I assume you’ve heard of Melbourne, you know, because we took the crown for the most locked down city in the world.
Nicole: Oh my goodness, during COVID. That’s crazy.
Samantha: But there’s, there’s a lot of other good things going on down here in Melbourne, so.
Nicole: That’s fantastic. That’s fantastic. And one of the good things that’s going on down there is that you are helping all sorts of people start businesses, especially women and get that underway. So I, to start us out, I want to ask the one question I ask everybody. I’m collecting definitions of leadership. Kind of refining and looking at that all the time. So, Samantha, what would you say your definition of leadership is?
Samantha: I define leadership as being able to bring out the best in the people that are working for you and that follow you. I think that’s that’s absolutely the role of a leader.
Nicole: Yeah, absolutely. So what do you think the skills are or the techniques or strategies to get the best out of people? I love your definition.
Samantha: Yes. So to get the best out of people, I think the first thing you need to do is to, to be willing to get to know people and learn about what inspires them and what they love doing and what they’re good at. Because, you know, in date, in your day to day life, you want to have a good day, and a good day to me is doing things that you love doing. And doing them well, because nobody wants to do anything poorly. So if you’re stuck in a situation where you’re miserable, and you feel like you’re failing constantly, I see that as a sign of poor leadership. You’ve really got to put people into roles and functions where they can shine.
Nicole: Oh, I love that. And that’s my word, shine. That’s fantastic. Yes. And so it’s all about getting the right person in the right role and paying attention, right? Getting to know your people. Yeah, and I love that. So bringing out the best in people. Now you say in your bio, that you love to help people explore what tech can do for them. And I know that like one of the things on leaders’ list is like, you know, how many more pieces of software do I need? How many more apps do I do we have to have? So I’m curious, will you tell us what you think the the best technology strategy is for a leader? What do they need to do? What are some of the great things you’re seeing?
Samantha: Wow, look, I don’t confess to know, every piece of tech out there. I try and learn new things, you know, on a constant basis. I love exploring what tech can do. But I think anybody that’s starting out in tech, you know, particularly the people that I’m working with, they’re they’re not digital natives. So it can be a little bit scary to move into tech. So starting with apps and tools that are quite simple to use, and just starting with one. So that’s a really good place to start. Usually people start with scheduling social media. So it’ll be a scheduling app. That’s the first thing that they can automate.
And the other thing that people normally start using his accounting software. So that’s a route, those two areas are really good place to start. Because once you get those up and running, it’s you know, it’s a constant evolution. It’s like okay, what’s next? What can I introduce next? And so the next step in that in building out your technologies is, I believe, CRM, because that’s when you can start to really explore customer experience customer journey. And how automation can help you deliver a really good experience for people that haven’t bought from you yet that have bought from you, and you want to retain as customers.
Nicole: That’s fantastic. Yeah. And you work with people who do startups mainly, is that correct?
Samantha: Yes. Yes, I do have clients that are, you know, that have established businesses. But my favorite is helping people start out. It’s a really exciting time for people. It’s a very emotional time for people. And I love being a part of that.
Nicole: Yeah, absolutely. And I think you’re exactly right. Getting your social media out there is the first piece. I use Hootsuite in my own business. I don’t know what, which what is your favorite for social media?
Samantha: Oh gosh, because I’m a self confessed tech junkie. I’ve used quite a few different ones. But I see that as kind of a bit of a responsibility I have to expose myself to all these different options so that when I’m making recommendations to people, I’ve got a little bit of first hand knowledge in things. But most of what I’m doing at the moment, I’m using Tailwind for social media.
Nicole: Yeah, a lot of people use that as well. That’s fantastic. And I know that one integrates really nicely with Pinterest. So if your business can benefit from Pinterest, that’s the way it roll is with tailwind. That’s excellent. That’s awesome. Okay, so write that down, everybody. All right. And then of course, accounting software. I mean, I, you know, QuickBooks is my go to. What is the what is the accounting software that you’re a big fan of? I love it, I’ve got it on my phone, I got it everywhere. I know exactly what’s going on.
Samantha: Oh, interesting. So because I have two businesses, one is operating on QuickBooks, and the other is operating on Zero. So I’ve got exposure to two different accounting software’s there that I think for, look, accounting software is so easy to use. But it’s easy for me to say that because I do have a quite a long history in doing book work and things like that. I’m not an accountant. But certainly bookkeeping I’ve done for a very, very long time. So it wasn’t too hard for me to sort of integrate that knowledge into accounting software.
It can be a bit daunting for people that don’t have any experience in that field. Because anytime something goes wrong, if you don’t understand, you know, basics of double entry bookkeeping, and things like that can be a little bit overwhelming to try and figure out and problem solve, I think, in accounting software. But you know, the ability to just, you know, send invoices directly from the platform and to reconcile bank accounts, all of that functionality just makes life easier for business owners.
Nicole: Yeah, absolutely. Okay. And then finally, you said that you think the third thing people should get in place if they’re doing a startup is the CRM, and that stands for customer relationship manager, everybody. Or customer relationship management. What would you suggest for that one? What have you seen? What are the things you’ve experienced with there? I use one called high rise, but high rise is actually been kind of grandfathered. Nobody can get it anymore, but they are supporting it for the people who have it. So what is the software that you use for your customer relationship manager?
Samantha: So I’m very, very new. I’ve just, I’ve just jumped ship from Active Campaign. And I love Active Campaign, the ability to create workflows and audit, you know, the automations, you can build inside that platform are phenomenal. But I’ve recently moved over to Pipeline Pro. So I’m very much a learner in that space. It has great capability. And, look, the reason I moved to that one is just because it allowed me to get rid of quite a few of the other apps and things that I was using. And it makes it simple when you’ve only got to go to one place for everything. So my calendar is in there now. And my landing pages and everything is in one platform. And I’m seeing in the industry that there is quite a bit of movement to making all of these CRM systems, one stop shops, because the idea of creating a tech stack, and then getting all of those things to communicate with each other is really overwhelming for people that aren’t very tech savvy.
Nicole: Right, right. So if you have a separate, like, email service, like Constant Contact, or MailChimp, or something like that, having Pipeline Pro puts everything in one place?
Samantha: Yes, so I were before I was using ActiveCampaign. And I was using Calendly for all my calendar bookings. And I was using Lead Pages for my landing pages. And all of those software’s are brilliant, they’re amazing. But the thing is that it gets tricky when you’ve got to try and get them to all talk to each other. And that’s where people get overwhelmed with tech, because everything is sitting in isolation, so and there are great tools like Zapier, I think there’s a bit of controversy over here in Australia about whether it’s pronounced Zapier or Zapier, but anyway. You can set that up to to connect everything, but it’s just one more thing people have to learn how to use. So I really like the idea of everything just being in under one umbrella. I don’t have to tell it how to talk to my calendar booking and I don’t have to tell it, how to link up to a landing page. It’s all done inside the software. And I know there are a couple of others that are doing that as well. And, and you know, and they’re good options as well.
Nicole: Okay, fantastic. And I love how you said that. It’s your tech stack. Everything in one place. Yeah. So you’re teaching me over here. I love it. Okay. Well, how did how did you get into the idea of being in IT or working with tech? You know, that’s a that’s not typically what the ladies lean towards. Or especially, you know, folks that, you know, are over 30, like us. You know, how did you how did you get into that and get your degree? What led you to that in the first place? I’m really curious.
Samantha: Oh, my degree, it’s a, it’s a strange kind of journey that’s got me where I am because I was kind of aimless and doing things, which in hindsight, it all makes sense. But at the time, it didn’t. So I actually started doing my degree in accounting, because it was a natural progression from the work I’d been doing. So I did my first year in my in a Bachelor of accounting, and I had that epiphany, where I was horrified thinking, oh, my goodness, I don’t want to spend my life being an accountant. Like, I don’t want to do this.
So I kind of jumped over to doing information systems, because all of the units that I’d already done, literally, I could pick up and put into that other degree. So it wasn’t going to extend the time I had to study, because, Nicole, I did my degree as a mature age student. So I already had my five kids, I was already running a business. And when I started, I was also an owner builder. So I was doing a major renovation and extension on a house. So why not add a degree into the mix? You know, let’s just add that.
Nicole: That’s right. Sleep, we can sleep later.
Samantha: I wasn’t sleeping anyway, because at the site at the time, my son was just he wasn’t quite one when I started. So yeah, I was like, I’m used to sleeping, five kids, you know, I haven’t slept in years, so may as well just use the time productively. That’s right. You know, when I was looking through the options, what degree I could study, I was really fascinated by the offerings that were inside information systems. And it wasn’t something that I knew a lot about. But what interested me was learning about how we can take data and interpret it, which is kind of what accountants do with numbers. But this is on a much bigger scale. So learning how to take data and interpret it and then make decisions and take action based on on that data. So yes, so I did that degree. And I don’t think I’ve used it quite so much. But what it did do was introduced me to technology in a way that was kind of gentle.
Because like you say it’s technology isn’t at the forefront of women’s minds in particular and particular particularly older women, it can be a bit scary. But what happens with women in business is that we, like I did with my degree, we add a business on to everything we’re already doing. It doesn’t take the place of anything. And this is where we get overwhelmed, don’t we. Like we just end up with so much going on, and what suffers, we don’t let family suffer. We don’t let those other responsibilities suffer. The business suffers. So the idea that I can help women to, you know, gently and slowly introduce technology in their business and take some of those tasks off them, so that the business isn’t running them over. They’re running it.
Nicole: Great. So that information and the systems that we use, it can help us to be more empowered to get things done. And to be more efficient. That’s fantastic. Well, so you you first of all, one thing I want to say about what you just said is don’t miss everybody that she said I was going down this path of accounting, and I had this moment where I said oh my gosh, that is not what I want to do. And so she she made a zigzag and I just want to say that is totally okay. You know most of us are going to live a life of many years and be blessed that way and life is too short to have, you know, a terrible feeling about where you’re headed right? You want to be excited about where you’re headed.
I think that’s really, really important. Well, as you moved along that pathway, and then you started your business, I’m wondering, did you have anybody mentor you? I’m starting to ask folks about any mentoring processes or programs or person they had in their life. I personally have had a woman in my life name Anne Sturette for many, many years about thirteen now, I think, and she just taught me so many things, and so many lessons. And so I’m wondering if you have a story about a mentor, and maybe some lessons you’ve learned along the way in your leadership journey?
Samantha: Yes, well, as you said when you introduced me, I was in the Navy. So for 12 years, well, even growing up, I grew up in a house, I was one of five children, myself, three older brothers. So my childhood was, I spent a lot of time with my brothers, you know, tom boying and having a great time. And my dad, then I, when I hit 18, I joined the Navy. So then 12 years and you know, another field where, you know, in another big chunk of my life, where I was surrounded by male influence. So I was actually quite late to the game of being surrounded by women, like I am now. And even that’s been a really exciting learning journey, to try and tap into all the traits that I have as a woman, because I’ve never had to use them before. I’ve never had to express myself in that way before.
So my mentor that I have now and I’ve had for a number of years is Marnie LaFevre. And I it was a situation where I was nearing the end of my degree. And it was kind of coming to the point in where I was like, okay, I’ve got this degree, what am I going to do with it? Because I’d been, you know, talking the talk, saying, hey, when I get this degree, I’m going to get a really cool job. And I’m going to be you know, get into a graduate program, or do you know, I was going to do something amazing. This is what I was telling my family, all this sacrifice that I was making. It’s, you know, it’s for something amazing. So I thought, I better figure out what this amazing thing is going to be.
So I started opening myself up to exploring at seminars, which you know, and events and things like anything that was free, I was going to. On any days off that I had. I went to one event that changed everything. And that was an event that Marnie LaFevre was running, and I went and saw her speak, and it was a female only audience. And it was, it was something that just hit home, it felt so good. And I was looking at her and I was like, I just want to be her, like, the influence she had and the way she told her story and what she was trying to achieve. Most importantly, I was like, how can I be her?
But I was even too scared to talk to her that day, you know, when you’re, you know, you’d kind of a little bit awestruck by someone, so I didn’t talk to her that day. But I did connect with her in the months after that. And, you know, that’s where I how I’ve landed where I am today, having that person that you can go to, you know, particularly a mentor who isn’t coming at things from, I’m your friend, and I know you one a personal level for this many years, or I’m your partner, because those people have a perspective that isn’t quite the perspective that you need. You really need that external advice for what you’re doing. And friends and family aren’t the best people to do that.
Nicole: Yeah, I think it’s so important to have somebody that doesn’t have any skin in the game per se to like your time, your energy, your money, but somebody that you know, cares about you enough that they’re going to give you you know, a very holistic view of you know, what you’re getting into, and then also giving you the opportunity to see kind of through their life. One of the things I picked up in what you just said was a she told her story. And I think that’s a really important thing leaders need to do. And that’s a really important thing we need to do to build, you know, vibrant cultures inside of our businesses is we need to be great storytellers. So I’m curious, how did her story affect you? And what lessons did you learn from that? And then I’m curious, what’s the story you’re telling? And what are the lessons you have to share?
Samantha: Oh, my goodness,.I always, I always this this is something I have to work on for myself because I always feel a little bit intimidated telling my story. Because, you know, when when I listened to Marnie’s story, and you know, when I listened to other people that I admire, tell their story. A lot of them have that pivotal moment, you know, that big event that happened, and I was always a bit shy about my story because I didn’t have that. Mine was just bread crumbs. You know, I didn’t get the whole loaf of bread in one hit. But what I loved about Marnie’s story was the vulnerability that she showed in telling it. And I think that’s what really drew me in, I could relate to her being a mom who, you know, loved her children, and I adore my children, all of them.
But staying at home and being a mom didn’t sit right for me, I didn’t feel like I was kind of, I felt like I was supposed to do more. And I, you know, I admire, my mom was a stay at home mom, and I always idolized her and always wanted to be a mom, just like she was. But when I was at home, I was, you know, I filled my day up with other things, because I needed more than just, you know, just staying at home. So anybody that can do that, I have got so much respect for them. You know, the moms that make, you know, do the beautiful cooking and keep the house beautifully clean and everything, that’s just not my zone of genius at all.
So I related to her in that she was at home with her kids, but wasn’t fulfilled as a person, you know, and I think, kind of have this expectation when we have children that you’re your hearts going to be so full, and you’re going to be totally happy. And it feels really uncomfortable to express when that isn’t the case for you. When you’ve got these amazing kids, but you feel like there’s still something missing. So being able to stand up and admit that, hey, I’m a mom, but there’s still so many more parts to me that need to be expressed. And I think the more I can encourage people to do that, and be okay with doing that, I think that’s really what I want my story to, to say to people. You know, and the part about, at any point in your life, if you aren’t happy with what you’re doing, then you’ve got the power to change it. You don’t have to stick to one path.
And I’ve, you know, I did the Navy for 12 years. And I honestly, I really associated myself with the services. And it there’s a I went through this grieving process when that was over. And I you know, as people do when they have a career, and so much of themselves is tied up in in that. So, so I had to figure out who I was after the Navy. I had to figure out who I was without the uniform. But yes, I went out and just explored and tried different jobs and stuff. Oh, you know, I studied, I didn’t just do to the degree, I studied some other things before that as well to give things a go. So yeah, it’s been an interesting journey. But yeah, don’t don’t ever stop changing direction when you need to.
Nicole: Yeah, so write that down everybody don’t stop changing direction if you need to. That’s very good advice. And the other things that I picked up in what you said is some of us have, we have two different kinds of stories, perhaps maybe there’s more than two different kinds of stories. You said that your mentor had like kind of a pivotal moment, you know, like a lightbulb went off. But that you had more bread crumb type moments, like little things that started adding up. So I love that. So you don’t have to have some major weird thing happen in your life to get you to wake up and smell the coffee, if you stop to reflect, you can kind of look at the patterns of what’s been happening. And that can also be the wake up call. I love that. And the other thing that you said that I thought was just genius was that, you know, you need to be vulnerable.
Because when your mentor stood up to speak, she was vulnerable, she shared her truths, whether they might be embarrassing or not. I think that’s so important for leaders to do that. And that we do have the power to change if we absolutely want to change things. We’ve just got the standard choice about that. So that’s fantastic. All right. So um, you know, you help organizations and women, you know, really become great businesses. So when you think about going into organizations, what what are the things that you find quite often that are easy fixes? I mean, here’s something we could do that would just improve the business very simply, what are you finding? I find sometimes people have blind spots about what’s going on inside their business. What do you what do you find?
Samantha: Yeah, yes, the blind spots. I generally when I’m working with someone, I actually like to start at the start. So you know, there are easy fixes you know, you can you can help somebody fix up their their social media profiles, you can have a look and get them to really try and identify who their target audience is so that their messaging can be refined. You can do those sorts of things in marketing. You can certainly look at their finances and help them to you know, pull a few different levers to generate more profits or increase, you know, revenue, there are those kinds of things you can do. But ultimately, I think that you need to work with the, the owner of the business or you know, the leader of the organization, because everything flows from them. You know, the whole culture of the organization comes from the leadership. The direction of everything comes from the leadership, so, working with people and getting them to work on themselves.
And I was having this conversation yesterday where I was talking to a life coach, and I said to her, you know, people think, you know, oh you’re a business coach, so that, you know, they come to you for marketing help, and financial help, and things like that. But more often than not, the help that’s really needed, is the help for them as a person and how they show up in their business and working out what they really want. One of the first questions that I ask people is, you know, they, they want to be successful. I’m like, okay, that’s great. What does success mean to you? What does that look like? And I’m shocked at the amount of times people are really stumped by that question. They don’t know how to answer it. So how do you know when you’re going to be successful if you don’t know what that looks like? So you’ve got to work that out before you really worry too much about all of the business type stuff.
Nicole: Yeah, I think that is absolutely true. And that’s really just getting a vision for, you know, the future, what you really, really, really want. So, you know, when people are stumped with this, I often invite them to go out to the future and meet their future self. Just pick the date on the calendar two years in advance, where do you want to be? Who do you want to be hanging out with? What’s the work you want to be doing? You know, who are you surrounded by? You know, what would be ideal? And I think that people feel like they have to keep things small. And I don’t know why they think that when they can dream, this big dream and oftentimes reverse engineer it.
So you know, if I want this bigger life, and I articulate what it is, to your point about, that’s what my success would look like, then I can work backwards. What would it take to get there? Right, and then I can start putting strategies in place that help me get where I want to go. Yeah, so that’s fantastic. I love what you’re saying. Yes, you got to articulate your success in the future. So, you know, when you’re working with leaders, and you say everything flows from the leader himself, what are the things that a leader needs to pay attention to, so that they understand how they show up? I love how you said that how they show up.
Samantha: Yeah. So I think that the leaders need to think about how, firstly, how they’re communicating with the staff, and communication is two ways. So it’s not about standing up and telling everybody, but it’s standing up and listening to what’s coming back to you. Because the real power that you’ve got is in the people that you’ve got. And if you’re leading them to be their best self every single day, then there is nothing as far as traditional, you know, business departments, you know, the different parts of your business, your marketing, your financial, HR, all that sort of stuff. All of that can be fixed. But you’ve got to create the right environment. And it starts with having an open door, I think leaders need to have an open door for people to come to them with their ideas.
And there’s no bad idea. I always I love a good brainstorming session, and what can start out as a really random kind of idea, through conversation that can turn into something amazing. But the point is that the person that comes to you with that idea doesn’t feel put down or ridiculed, because the idea isn’t what ends up happening. You know, you’ve got to encourage people to come to you and talk to you and the people that are on the ground, you know, doing the work. They’re the best ones to tell you what’s going on. They’re the best ones that have got ideas for improvement. But it’s up to the leaders to listen to that and figure out how can I implement that, that and still have the business as the you know, with the vision that I’ve got for it?
Nicole: Yeah, that’s fantastic. Yeah. So I am also hearing like I’m reading between the lines is like one of the things that leaders need to have is like business acumen. Because you keep mentioning the different parts of the building, the excuse me, the business. So finance, HR, marketing, operations. So I think that’s really important when a leader doesn’t, has a blind spot about one of those particular areas of the business, it can lead to trouble because you need to understand how all these things integrate right? And then I love what you said about having a good brainstorming session because the frontline people know what’s going on. And then when they come to you with the ideas, making sure that you address them, you may not use them all, but you don’t want to ignore or put down an idea that comes your way.
I kind of read between the lines on that. And yeah, I’ll tell you one of the things I learned and both, both of us, Samantha and I are both coaches, and I don’t, I’d like to hear about your master coach, I had a master coach, and he was just absolutely amazing. His name was Dave Cowan. And Dave’s taught me this thing called the art of dialogue. And if you go to vibrantculture.com, and just put art of dialogue in the, in the search box, you’ll get a podcast, and you’ll get a download about that. But he said, you know, imagine, if you could take, you know, a group of people, and you could take the genius out of each one, and then put it in your pocket and walk away with it.
What would that be worth to you? And then he’s like, that’s what employees are. They’re just sitting there with some genius, or an experience or an idea. But leaders don’t tap into that and pull it all out and get that collective genius going inside the organization. So I love that idea of the brainstorming idea. That’s fantastic. Well, you know, we, you’ve talked a lot about learning on the podcast so far. And I’m hearing you know, like, like most of the people I hang out with, I hang out with lifelong learners. I think that’s what I’m hanging out with right now.
Samantha: Yes, self confessed, Nicole.
Nicole: So I’m curious, you know, what does a leader need to do to make sure that they’re a lifelong learner? I mean, I think this is so important as well, a lot of leaders, they get in their position, and they don’t seek any more learning. So what learning do you think a leader needs to be super conscious of or, especially in today’s day and time, what are the what are the subjects leaders need to learn?
Samantha: Oh, gosh, that’s a good question. I think they need to learn a lot about entrepreneurship, and all of that encompasses, and, you know, there are certain traits that are demonstrated by entrepreneurs. And I think that if you’re in a leadership position, being able to learn about those traits, and if you’ve got them how to develop them, that would be a really good place to start. You know, so often, people fill a position because they need people to perform certain functions.
And where they miss opportunity, is when they’re not open to learning more about the people that are working for them and working with them, and learning about the other skills and interests that they have. You know, you’ve potentially got somebody who’s, you know, maybe sitting on some kind of machine, you know, performing repetitive work, but they could be a genius at something else, like you say. And unless you get to know people on that level, you really are missing out. So you’ve got to really get good at your communication skills and tap into those entrepreneurship traits.
Nicole: Yeah, and, you know, I think, a lot of times, you know, we work with a lot of folks that do startups, and that’s your favorite thing, which is mine, too. I love to work with people who are beginning. But you know, so many companies are being disrupted, that they do, I mean, you could be in business for 84 years, and some thing come along and disrupt the process, or though the way things are done, and you’re going to have to be entrepreneurial. So you’ve, you’ve mentioned entrepreneurship traits. So what are the traits that you’re speaking of? What are some traits of a great entrepreneur?
Samantha: Traits of entrepreneurship is I like to say things like, if you truly believe in something, don’t be willing to accept no for an answer. When you hear the answer no, I tell people, you’ve, you’ve received a no, and that’s okay. Think about how you can communicate this idea or this concept, or what you’re trying to do in a different way so that people can understand. Because you’re really passionate about what you can see, but you’ve got to be able to articulate it. So don’t, don’t take no, as I shut it down we’re not doing that anymore. The next one is to be willing to fail. You’ve got to be willing to fail.
You’ve got to go all in and commit to things. I think when people step half into something, being afraid that it won’t work, I feel like that’s putting a big F stamp on it. You know, F for failure. You’ve really got to commit to what you’re doing. So entrepreneurs need to be fully committed. Oh you’re testing my brain here. Don’t say no, be fully committed. Communication skills are a must for entrepreneurs because like I said, you’ve got to be able to articulate and particularly for any entrepreneurs that are trying to seek investments, you know, angel investors or VCs or anything like that. You have to be a good communicator because you’re gonna have to pitch your idea.
Nicole: Yeah. So I think being entrepreneurial you know, pitching, you’ve got to be a good salesperson. I mean, that’s one of the communication skills that you’re talking about. And persuasion is, you know, you got to persuade the people to invest, you got to persuade yourself in the mirror every morning to get up and get going. You’ve got to persuade the people that you’re gonna have working for you. I think persuasion, motivation, inspiration, all those things are so important. So don’t miss what she said, here’s the traits of entrepreneurship, don’t take no for an answer. You got to be resilient, right? Be willing to fail, and be fully committed. So I love all of those. Those are fantastic.
And so in terms of communication, I mean, I think persuasion, inspiration, those are all important. And that’s what happened with you and your mentor. Right? She totally inspired you to, to go down a path and look where you are now. That’s fantastic. Yeah. Okay. So what are the traits that you think leaders need to really focus on in 2022? I cannot believe, can you believe it Samantha? 2022 is going to be here 32 or three days? I mean, it’s crazy. What’s going on? The calendar is just flipping right past. So as you look into the next year ahead, what do you think leaders really need to focus on?
Samantha: I think they need to focus on redeveloping the way we’re doing business, because I think the world has changed in such dramatic and shocking ways and unexpected ways over the last couple of years. So anybody that’s in business, or going into business, I don’t believe that traditional business models are going to withstand what’s coming. And the expectations that people have of business, and all of those things. So I think that people need to really be open minded about how they’re going to do business, and be prepared to go down the path of changing things. And not changing for change change’s sake, be really well thought out about how you’re going to change the way you do business. But we’ve got to get some out of the box thinking happening here.
Nicole: Absolutely. I agree. Um, change management is essential, right? So the three things that she’s given, Samantha’s giving us advice on, redevelop the way we’re doing things. So I think, you know, number one, for leaders to in order to build that culture, that vibrant culture moving forward, you need to step back, how are we doing things, what’s working, what’s not working. I tell you a quick story, Samantha, about one of my mentors. I had a vice president, and she had an annual meeting, where she said, I want you to bring every piece of paper now this was like pre email and everything. That’s how old I am everybody. But we you know, we did so much by fax, right? And so much, we put things in FedEx envelopes, and sent them off and did all this kind of stuff. And we did reporting through our fax machine.
And she she said to us, she said, I want you to bring every piece of paper you touch in your role as a manager. And I want you to bring it to this meeting. And we’re going to reduce the amount of paperwork that you do, because everybody was complaining. And this was a leader who’s listening to your point earlier, right? Great communication skills, be willing to speak, but also be willing to listen. And so she started having this annual paperwork reduction thing. And so she would bring it to us. And she’s like, why are we why are we reporting out on this? Why are we reporting on this? Do you look at this number? Does this number help you do your job? What are the things that we need to focus on?
So I love that idea of redeveloping the way we are doing things and you know, all the mess we’ve created trying to gather information, reduce it get really laser focused on what needs to happen. And then I love that you said be open minded about things. So you know, curiosity, which is something we were taught in our new coach training. And then of course, change management is just absolutely essential. So those are the things that she is saying, Samantha is saying we need to focus on in 2022. That’s fantastic.
Well, we’re at the top of our time together. And I want to ask you one final question, which is, I know there’s a special listener out there, perhaps a female who wants to be an entrepreneur. And she’s sitting there going, I don’t know if I got bread crumbs, or I’ve had an epiphany, but I’m listening to this podcast and I’m thinking, do I want to start a business? I think I do. What would be the advice you would give to that one special listener if you were going to mentor her right now?
Samantha: The one piece of advice I would give is, listen to what your heart’s saying first, because the head, you know, let that be second. Too often. We talk ourselves out of things with logic and what if’s and, you’ve got to go with your heart first. That’s where you’re going to find your happiness because the rest of the stuff we can work out. If your heart’s not in it, we can’t do it.
Nicole: I think that is beautiful advice. Listen to your heart first because if your heart’s not in it, it’s not. We just can’t do it. That’s fantastic. Yeah, but we can overcome all those other obstacles that come up. You know, when your brain kicks in and all the doubt and everything we can we can find strategies. Can’t we Samantha?
Samantha: Absolutely.
Nicole: That’s fantastic. All right. Well, listen, I know you have totally enjoyed listening to Samantha Morris speak to you first of all, because hello, listen to that accent. It was amazing. So you can get a hold of her and she will coach with you even all the way to Melbourne, Australia. And don’t forget, she’s a business coach for women who loves to explore what tech can do for business owners. And don’t forget she’s got this background in the Navy. She has raised five children. Hello, she can handle anything. And she’s got a business degree in Information Systems and she just would love to help any of you get started so you can reach her at linkedin.com samantha-morris-fempire-coach, and will you share with them your website real quick, Samantha, if they want to come and find out more about you? Or they would like to book a little time with you? How can they do that?
Samantha: Yes. So my website is samanthamorris.fempirecoach.com.au.
Nicole: All right. We’ll put all that in the show notes, everybody so that you have all that. Samantha it was just absolutely delightful to be with you today. Thank you for your insights and your advice and your presence on The Build a Vibrant Culture podcast. I’m so grateful.
Samantha: Oh thank you. Thank you so much, Nicole.
Voiceover: Ready to build your vibrant culture? Bring Nicole Greer to speak to your leadership team, conference or organization to help them with her strategies, systems and smarts to increase clarity, accountability, energy and results. Your organization will get lit from within. Email Nicole@nicolegreer.com. And be sure to check out Nicole’s TEDx talk at nicolegreer.com.
