How Dialogue Redefined Digital PR with Julianne Fraser

26:08It was such a, so my, my maternity was like a week and I was back in like a power suit getting my pipeline and new business a couple of weeks later. and it was cruel. It was like, it was, and this is what I find interesting speaking to a lot of my friends, like physically, I think we can do a lot as women, but I think with pregnancy, just like the hormonal impact that you can't control, you know, it's the worst part of it. And it levels out. And by the way, I had a great, like, you know, I had a, I didn't have any postpartum, but it is that like two, three week, four week, five weeks postpartum when like the excitement of the new and like everybody stops calling you and then your hormones drop and you're just like yeah yeah and I just felt like out of body like things that I totally would be very calm and chill to manage I was much more nervous and scared like it just wasn't in my norm like I couldn't control how I was responding to things but yeah all to say like but interestingly both times challenging but forced like have really propelled my business especially this year as well because it just forced me to like really get creative and coming back into that and how much our industry had shifted Q1 of last year.

27:22So it was a blessing, but at the time it was pretty scary. So babies bring abundance. Yeah. I've had everybody tell me that I had a mom who was pregnant with her fourth the other night. Oh my God. I was like, I can't believe we're going for it. Like what? And I, and she's like, you need to have your third. And I was like, I don't know. we're kind of like, I kind of like where we are. Like, I don't want to stress our relationship. Like we're so happy. But when I say like, we're not having another one, like I'll instantly sob because I'm like, wait, the third one. I came from a family of three. I love three.

27:56Like I love a big family, a big house. I love a big family. I'll tell you what she said to me. And maybe this will change your mind. She put my hand on her stomach and she said, I am on my fourth child in my forties. She just turned 40. she said, I'm signing the biggest deal of my life right now. I feel amazing. Oh, I love that. And she was like, babies bring abundance. And I was like, yes, they do. Yeah. Yeah. It's the newborn stage. It's just hard for me. Me too. Totally. Yeah. And I think, and also just like, I think I've been humbled so much by it. Like maybe it's now three and a half that like, I just don't have this sort of like cocky sense of like, I got this, like, you know, as soon as we nailed like sleep training then all of a sudden she became a toddler and was out of bed every night i'm like what or like we we figured out one thing and the other so i just think kind of like letting it roll and like whatever's coming is coming not trying to be perfect with it kind of just releases the pressure of it but well yeah because then they're gonna like go to kindergarten and then that's and then they're like five to ten is odd like those are like weird confusing kid years and then they're preteens and then they're teenagers.

29:09So it's like, it's never easy. You know what I think? Everybody's like, Oh, it's the baby. And I'm like, yeah, but then they're going to be like, yeah, a person with like, then you're dealing with like a big personality at the table across from you who has like needs and desires and can like express, you know, it was like, maybe they're in a tutor at school. Like it just like never ends. Yeah. I feel like I'm surrounded by a lot of badass New York women that are like, cool this is the like the game plan this is how you like trick it out you need you know the night there's all these resources but it's like in reaction like reality you're never there's no finish line no it's not like it's just like you're through smooth sailing you know so no just kind of like yeah enjoying the chaos

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33:59This is my fault because I'm a bad interviewer because my ADD brain, we haven't even fully talked about your mindset coach. Oh, yes. So yeah, I like ultimately meet with them once a week, have been doing that for five years and like it started off with just really basic stuff of just I should I should I'm gonna fail if xyz only I can do this so we started to unravel that and then you know really helping me harness and I think you know just I by the way listen to your podcast jogging in the morning I absolutely love it so I think yes yes I adore it it's I've been finding it hard to like wake up and do my full gym routine so i just throw in my sneakers and run for like 30 45 minutes running in new york or brooklyn or any tri-state area is the best thing in the world you're so lucky get me out of here but like i just yeah i love so anyway i think i say that because i think you may be woo woo like me but like just really harnessing the like yeah manifestation visualization gratitude work which i at the beginning i've always been a very math and science it's not woo woo Yeah, no.

35:04Well, that's the funny part. Like my husband's very much a like skeptic of it. And now that he's learning psychology, he's like, oh, well, I guess the science does prove. I'm like, ha, yeah. These losers, these men, they always believe us, but they have to find their own path to get to what we've been telling them for a long time. And I think he just helped me take it away from like, you know, the gratitude journal, which I always did, or like vision boards, like things that I believed in, but really helped me harness it in like daily rituals. And God, it's like - What are those rituals for you?

35:37Because I mean, I need some daily rituals. Yeah, I mean, I think - What time do you wake up? I'm a morning person. I try, like my dream is to wake up at like 5.45, go to Equinox, do a full workout, steam, be back before the girls wake up, 7.30. Dream. Reality, winters in New York are so depressing. It's like pitch black, it's freezing out. I'm like on my bike like I know more reason to do it because other because it feels better yeah it just feels better so much better but that's yeah my so it's either like a jog or or a workout or whatnot but I think probably a really good example of what he really helped me do when I was in this really challenging postpartum scenario this time of June so I'm like a couple weeks postpartum I'm at home I'm freaked out I'm so scared I'm like god like there's so much uncertainty.

36:28I'm out of my game. Like I need to get back in there. I need to like drum up new opportunity. I'm responsible for, you know, 10 women on this team and I'm this whole breadwinner of her family. Like there's so much pressure and responsibility. And I was kind of spinning out. And so he was helping me with just like everyday breath work of just like filling your lungs to max capacity and just like slowing down your physiology and just like really getting into that place because I was so I'm such high energy and like in which I lean into I like that but the breath work first and then sort of this like I think he calls it like a cascade of gratitude where it's just like open up your mind to everything you're grateful for big and small and just like for a full minute like take it all in and sit in like the reality of just how lucky we are and really like center it and then just focusing on a mantra at the time like whatever it shifts and changes on my like recently it's been like exciting opportunities are ahead like lean in in the past like just whatever I needed to hear to repeat it and when everything was kind of spinning out focusing on those three things every morning I did it in the steam room at rock.

37:45So I was just like, cool. This is like my moment. No fun focusing. And I did it over and over and over every single morning. And it just started to move the rock. Like, and I don't know how to like, sometimes these things can seem so ethereal, but yeah, just like really, really, really have led to everything that people will roll their eyes on have really impacted my business and like worked for me. So I just think it's a matter of like believing it and finding your way to interpret, you know, those things to feel right. But it's really helpful, by the way, I think even just like taking any time to stop during the day and just be like, wait, what's happening?

38:24Where do I want to go? You're eating so fat. Yeah. And I like thrive off that energy, but I think sometimes it can be, you know, a blessing and a curse. So yeah, I'm the same because I'm just moving, moving, moving all day long. And then I'm like, okay, I have to learn to harness it here. That like type of energy doesn't work for my family. They need to have like calm, nice mom here. You know, also probably doesn't work for my body. I don't want a cortisol spike. So it's definitely a... I create like actual concrete, like we have this, like my husband bought this like really silly phone house that my toddler gets.

38:59It's like a little door and we put all our phones in it because I would just find myself, like I needed to physically put the phone I have to do that. Because I was like, I picked up June from daycare and I'm so excited to be with her. And I'm like on my phone watching the daycare, like updates of what she did every day. I'm like, what am I doing? Like she's right here in front of me and I'm wasting my time. So I feel like those are like really deep breaths before I like walk into the apartment and just like, we're like shifting gears. I think it can work, you know, personally and professionally.

39:31Yeah, I agree. Okay. So how many clients do you currently have right now? Oh, we, God, we've had probably close to a hundred over the last eight years. And this year we are, what I'm really excited about is just in terms of how I'm thinking about dialogue growing is like, we have had certain clients for just re-signed Littlespoon for seven years. Flamingo and Harry's going on like four years. Sakara we worked with for three and a half years, Seed four years. So we have really long longevity to a lot of our clients. And for me, there's a lot of exciting opportunities to grow within our existing client base because they're just, you know, expanding their scopes with us and their investments.

40:15So really, we just invested in new systems, leveraging AI that help us like really open up bandwidth. But looking at, you know, deciding between how to kind of like scale sustainably. And a great deal of that is like growing internally with our current clients. So we just brought on like ThredUp and we're working with Faraday again next year. I know you just spoke with Sarah Reggie recently. So the new client of ours. So like it's a mix between fashion, beauty, health, wellness, home decor, travel. So cool. You don't work with actual, you don't manage actual influencers. No, no. So there's like, yeah, we are like the digital strategists that work on behalf of the brand.

41:01So they come to us, we help to like guide them in basically how to create a community of, you know, various different tastemakers, experts, influencers, content creators, the various layers of their program, how to activate them. And then we work with agents and managers to find those people. Yeah. So I, you know, I'm raising money for Veranchini. Davide does Ghiaa. he's like if I if I ever have said to him like maybe we should think of a strategy he's like like it's like I'm telling him I want a divorce like it's like that far-fetched of like this crazy like what that's it's so funny but I obviously you know it's an interesting time right because we're moms and I you and I definitely use internet different than like Gen Z like sometimes I'll even if I'm being totally honest like I'll have a meeting with my manager and I'll be like, Oh my God, this girl's really cute.

41:56I'll see this like girl who's doing so much. And this just started for me a couple of months ago where I was like looking at other, I never look at other people. And I started looking at other people and going to my man and realizing they're in my same agency. And so I had like, I sent them like a voice note. Cause I was like, I can't even write this down. It's like so embarrassing, but I sent a voice note and I was like, these girls are like doing all these cool things. And I was like, is it because I'm in Pasadena? Is it because I like, I'm a mom. And she was like, yeah, Gen Z is like, Like if you get a girl right now that has like a Gen Z following, like they're fucking crushing.

42:30And like it was the first time that I was like, oh, I'm shifted into like a completely different demographic. Right. So as much as I know what's going on and I'm on the Internet all day long and I'm and I love what we're doing. I am I and I have no I've never been less nervous to like relaunch a brand. We just did the rebranding. Like I'm so confident in all of that. The only thing that I'm nervous in a good way about is I'm like, what is going to be my strategy? Like what is kind of going to be the thing that separates us and makes us not another like Italian American brand? Cause there's so many like Italian brands.

43:11Like how can we harness our own personalities? Like the niche moments that happen between us as like a strategy, you know, as something that people really want. So I want to ask you in this world full of like insanity of everyone has a brand, every brand is investing so much money. I don't think people really understand how much pressure you have because these brands are investing a lot of money in you to get like, you know, a real good ROI. Yeah. And if you don't have a good ROI, you don't have employees to pay. I mean, you can't pay your employees. Like there's a lot of pressure. Right. So like, where are you looking for like inspiration right now when it comes to like how a brand does break through all the noise, appeal to a little bit of Gen Z, if that's a thing, or is it only millennial?

44:03Like, how are we like being cool on the Internet in a way that doesn't look the same as what everybody is doing? Like, what do you think is like really working? And then like what brands do you think are doing that really well? Yeah, please. By the way, that's mostly what I wanted to talk about. Yeah. Oh, my God. Gosh, I have so many thoughts on this. So wait, first, I just want to go back to the point you mentioned about asking your agency about other creators that they brought. We have worked with you across several of our dialogue clients. Yeah, totally. In our team brainstorms, we use you as such a beautiful example of what we define as like tastemakers, someone who has such a rich and inspiring and authentic life offline.

44:44and there's so much like a great part of our program and strategy which I can share more about like how we approach it is about the power of offline influence like yes surely there's there's benefit of impressions and virality but also especially now in the world that we're in post-covid and with AI like people are craving human connection experiences and I think there's yeah so much of what you do we're like we're using you as an example of like such a beautiful way for other creators to like integrate partnerships and brand and deals into a really authentic lifestyle that's inspiring to others so i'll just say no need to their shtick of like really viral tiktok camp there's a time and a place in our strategy for that and it's great but also like to kind of go back to your initial question we and and this has been my approach for eight years Like it's crazy how much our industry has shifted immensely.

45:44Like weekly, we are adapting and changing the way we approach our program. But fundamentally, we believe in a multi-layered approach to influencer marketing. So for all of our clients, regardless of Shiseido with the biggest budgets to like Gia, who when we were working with them was series A and just starting off, the multi-layered approach includes like an always on gifting and seeding program. And, you know, there's a lot of PR agencies that can send out like 500 PR boxes. We don't do that. We're really intentional with our curation of partners. Like brands will come to us and say, we want boomers in Texas, or we want really, really granular targeting of partners.

46:21We reach out personally. We have, you know, AI-powered systems that help us manage this at mass. But really human-to-human, always on, this builds content coming through the door for the brand, a swell of brand awareness. and kind of starts to act as the gateway of relationships because the worst thing a brand can do is like engage and pay a creator if they've never even tested the product. Like if you've never tried seed probiotics or you've never, so gifting is sort of that like base that we're doing across the board. The second layer, we call it Studio D. We're getting a huge influx of demand for UGC style content that can be really performing well for organic or advertising purposes.

47:00So the client will come to us and say, we need TikTok style video content. We need lifestyle imagery for our sub stack. And we will create a group of, you know, virtual studio creators that we don't care about the reach. They could have 200 followers, but they are experts in developing socially native content. So that now creates a database where you're able to test and try and like content is such a challenge. You've got to keep up with like that content posting. So the second layer kind of acts as that nice database of content. The third is what I was mentioning, tastemaker strategy, offline influence, Are we engaging partners to host intimate events?

47:35Are we activating with the founder? Are we doing retail driving initiatives? Did we just launch a brand partnership that we want to have like some in the face of really tapping into the power of offline influence and individuals that have just amassed a following as a result? We don't care as much about reach. And then the final layer of the cake, we manage paid influencer deals. And so this can be anywhere from like a brand investing$25 ,000 a month to one of our clients invest over a million dollars a month in influencer spend, which like it's bonkers. But then from that, we're thinking, okay, again, we have these really...

48:11Can I ask what the return on that million dollar investment is a month? Well, the way I describe ROI of influence marketing, yes, we can look at like vanity metrics of social media. We can use promo codes. We can use track links. We can use affiliate links. Fine. But just from like a logical standpoint, from a consumer's point of view, if you speak about a product for the first time, what are the chances of me clicking on your story, filling in my credit card information, checking out to a subscription then and there or like a thousand dollar purchase, whatever it might be. It's just not reasonable to expect that.

48:44But you're planting the seed in somebody's head of like hearing the name of me, like you associate that person with that. And like, and maybe the meta ad will get that attribution for the conversion, but you did like the influencer piece was the first entry point. So the way we measure ROI is because we create all these like various layers, we're working with like hundreds of creators for our clients every month. We're nurturing relationships, we're reengaging. Everything is highly strategic. Like if we're going to engage you in a partnership, it's like, cool, could we find a way to integrate into your podcast?

49:16Can we have you host a really intimate event? Can we have you gift your influential group of friends? Then can we do a couple like TikTok reel and reels stories? So it's really intentional and like curated to you as a partner. But the way we're tracking the return on that investment across all the various layers of our program is to like work closely with the performance teams to say, hey, based on our program, are you seeing improvement in your advertisements on Instagram? Are you seeing lifts in your search engine optimization on Google? Are you seeing spikes in your web traffic or conversions around a particular product?

49:51And we can start to piece it back to say, cool, like we activated this large campaign and we can start to connect the dots. And for that, I think it speaks volumes that we have such longstanding clients because they're seeing the return and they're not like hammering us for a direct promo code redemption. I think the industry is starting to really see like the halo effect that influence marketing has.

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54:01you know it's very interesting where I've been my brand has been with revolve for god 10 years now right so it went from I remember like the day that Risa and I were at something together I didn't even know that they had built like their own internal like affiliate yeah they're insane there was an OG, OG. Yeah, totally. She was like, well, we have to. And I get it because, you know, everybody's asking for so much product and like, I'm sure. And I, I understand all aspects of everything. I'm sure people are looking at them like they have so much money. Like, why can't they just give me? But it's like, if it's that times, like, you know, thousands of people giving me products.

54:40So it's makes only sense for them to be like, hold on, like, we're our top performers, blah, blah, blah. And so I remember Risa one day, I can't remember where we where we're like at some event and we were sitting next to each other we were talking about it and I was like so who's performing on she was like so and so in fucking Texas like yeah oh yeah this girl in blah blah blah like you know it really made me under so unexpected like you know it's like the Courtney grow of it all where it's like does Courtney grow have 10 million followers no is Courtney grow outselling all of those people 100 fucking percent because I got drunk going to have dinner with her and I was like, I need you to show me your affiliate apps.

55:21Like, I just need to see what you're doing every month. And I was like, because every girl that I'm with is like where like Courtney grow post something and they're wearing it a week later. And I'm like, did you get that? And it's everyone around me. And so it does go back to what you're saying. Like, you know, people who people identify with and feel some sort of connectivity to like aspiration in a certain way. That's like not too intimidating because their life isn't like so, you know, there's like this real sweet spot, but it is all those other things that you're talking about, like the constant UGC.

55:52And I've, I've, that I just realized was happening in the last like six months. Cause I was like, God, like all these creators on TikToker and I was like, oh, they're all being paid to like make these videos because it is this subtle thing. It's like, if I see something enough in my feed, I know I'm like, I feel like I'm educated on that product so much. Yeah. I mean, I think there's so much to like what I'm really getting from this. Like, I think so many people, first of all, there's a misconception of like an influencer is a viral YouTube star or whatever. We have definitions of like how we define an influencer, someone whose full-time job is managing their social channels.

56:32There's a digital influencer. Generally, these are the people that are going to drive crazy returns. They are more comfortable sharing promotional language. They, and again, it's not hard and fast, but a tastemaker is someone who's going to help position and elevate their position. And then a expert, you know, there's doctors, there's nutritionists, there's stylists, there's people who have full-time careers and they also have a following. And so we diversify our programs. We find different ways to work with both. You can't take the senior coach with like a doctor influencer than you would a TikTok star, but it's identifying like what return looks like for each and not expecting them all to drive crazy returns.

57:10We have our pod of creators that are really conversion based, but also the like brand awareness and like cool factor and positioning are the ones that really helped like drive that conversion as well. So it's an ecosystem. And I think, and also like, just to go back to when you guys are thinking about like the strategic approach. I think there's so much magic in, in just like an authentic community that I always tell early stage brands, like there's not, yes, it's more competitive than ever. The amount of money being pummeled into influence marketing is like ludicrous. But I think there's so many brands out there that have amassed this like cult following and, and like loyalty from their consumers and from followers that brands would pay for, die for.

57:59And I think being able to like really leverage, you know, just the uniqueness to what you guys are building and your brands and your storytelling, you'll be able to achieve a lot in kind. There doesn't need to be a huge amount of like spend up front. You can build upon it little by little and it can scale you. But there's so much that can, you know, can be formed off the bat. What campaigns do you see brands doing that you think like the timothy chalamet a24 thing yesterday was like so good they're just yeah i think i'm just such a believer and like i understand the irony of it like i own a digital marketing consultancy and my team is in a sense chronically online they know all the people they know all the trends like they are on top of it but also i like have implemented these creativity morning's once a month for my team for myself I'm such a believer there's so much sludge and noise and hashtag and copying everyone's just copying a trend that I really believe in order to break through that noise and have impact and actually drive any sort of return from influencer we have to be creative and it's not by being online it's from you know so my team once a month they'll like go to an art gallery or they'll like this is so brilliant you have to get away from it you had to get objective and like touch grass it's like a Tuesday morning I'm like you must you can do anything you want but like you can't touch your phone so like go to morning matinee read the New York Times and start to back go to a museum whatever it might be I like sometimes cook a meal like that's my creative outlet and it's amazing that sounds very frivolous but when we get back into the boardroom we're like brainstorming the like cultural pulls that we can come up with have not been done yet.

59:48And that's the type of campaigns that are breaking through the noise. The partnerships that people are rolling out with, the narratives, the episodic content, the hilarious, like, that takes someone to be creative and not just copy their competitor. And that requires you to get offline. You have to, like, find inspiration elsewhere, you know? That's really cool. I know that's, I was talking to Davide about it the other day and I was like, you not know, because we went through this stage or he was about to fundraise and now he's about to be on paper with like a huge partner. But when we were like, oh, we need a fundraiser.

1:00:19We need, and I was like, I was like, we need to, you need to like follow. I was like, you don't even follow this account. Like you should know what like every collab is that's happening right now and menswear. And he was like, no, I don't. And it hit me. I was like, yeah, no, you shouldn't know any of that. People around you, like, like I know my strengths and it's amazing. My team now is like, like we're just a series of wheels, all vastly different. I managed based on this notion of like zone of genius and like really finding what someone, what makes someone tick and like help them soar in that area.

1:00:53And it can be vastly different for me. And I used to feel super insecure too. Like I own - What you manage on what? Oh, so this note, this is Ben too, coming through my - Yeah, I was like, you just dropped some knowledge we need to talk about for a second. So again, like growing up in old school New York, I like first launched my agency of like, these are, this is the hierarchy. You like come in as a coordinator, then you become an account exec, blah, blah, blah, like old school agency model. And I was finding as I was going along that I would have this great talent that was really excelling in a junior role.

1:01:26I would promote them to be like client management, like client facing. And they hated it. Like they didn't, they didn't have the chit chat. They didn't have the EQ. They didn't want to like, they hated that aspect, but they had such amazing skills. And so working with Ben, I was starting to realize like I stopped forcing putting my team into a job description and like forcing them to do all of it like who's phenomenal at strategy systems and execution negotiations client management and eq like how can you expect someone to be stellar at all and so we do these zone of genius workshops where we identify like there's kind of four quadrants like your zone of but I don't know what you call it, but like just terrible.

1:02:09Like my, I don't know, like accounting for me, just like not my forte. I hire it out, get it off my plate. Then you have your zone of competence where I'm capable and I can get it done. And, but I'm not particularly good at it. I'm not passionate about it. Then I have my zone of excellence where it can be deceiving because I'm really, really strong at this. Like, let's say it's like negotiations or some aspect of it, but it doesn't make my heart sing. It doesn't really like I get burnt out by it. I'm kind of dreading it. I'm procrastinating it, but I'm really good at it. So like my, your boss would kind of push you in that direction.

1:02:44Your zone of genius is what your, what your work is that you can do all day long. Doesn't feel like work. It lights you up and inspires you. And so for me, it's strategy work. Like still to this day, I'm obsessed with my work, like getting into a room with my clients and we're talking about 2026 strategies and I'm hearing all of their like freedom marketing plans and I'm starting to like formulate ideas and that collaboration, that strategy work. And, and I think like leadership, I really, really love training and mentoring my team. Like that's my zone of genius. I have someone on the team who is like so talented at systems.

1:03:19Like they just can see things that I cannot grasp. I never could. And so they built out these like AI powered systems that like the most senior level person you'd expect to do this, but this is just what makes how their brain works. Yeah. And I'm like, this is what you're going to focus on. Another who all day, any day they can get on calls. They can manage clients. She has exceptional EQ. She managed the team beautifully. I relieved her of like other executionary work and she just does that. And so slowly getting everyone sort of in their zone of genius. It's pretty unbelievable. The amount of work and volume of that.

1:03:54What are those workshops look like to like get to that point? How do you discover that for everybody? So it's been my, my business coach facilitates them. And it starts with like personality tests where you, you learn like your strengths and weaknesses, like, you know, all those EMF. People are really into it, but I forget what I am, but we start with that. And then a series of questions to really like, cause you know, my team, I feel like there was pressure of like, no, no, no. I like it all my job. Like, I'm just grateful to be here. I'm like, okay. But like, if you had to be honest, like. No, if someone had done this for me a long time ago, I would be, I'd own LPA.

1:04:31I wouldn't be working for somebody you know what i mean because once you can really like just be in a zone where you can totally thrive like oh my god it's amazing and then we start to build like growth models because now i know like this is what you love to do let's give you more of that so here's how you can grow in dialogue here's what the next steps like it's not just like this linear because i think that's where people get themselves in roles and they're like where do i go from here i'm stuck like is that your boss is that your job yeah so how cool yeah and like also just like the longevity of my team members that stay with me and like just our our like I just feel it's a good vibe and energy and that translates to our work and our productivity our revenue like all of this is empowering but also very much strategic business so you know I it's something I really prioritize.

1:05:18This is amazing. I'm like so happy for you. Thank you. What a wonderful thing. Like you love your job. You're it seems like everybody who works for you just adores you. They've all worked there for I mean, you've had people who've been there for like four years plus two. I mean, that's huge. I don't know. Don't get me wrong. I made many mistakes to get here. You know, like eight years, I made a lot of hiring mistakes. I made a lot of client mistakes. I like held on of the clients that were toxic for the team because I was scared for revenue purposes like I think there's so much that happens behind the scenes that it can appear like it's but I think just you know and still to this day I think I'm more fired up than ever because there's just so much more that we can be doing and I'm excited to like explore but no I think I think it's and again like I really do credit to like mindset of really getting into the mentality of like how to make it a role that you love because why else are we entrepreneurs?

1:06:15Like if that's, if you don't love what you're doing, then there's no point. And it really like nobody, unless you, you know, outsource help or have stuff, like knowing how to do all of this, it's one thing like you can put together a strategy and you can do this. Okay. So expanding that with like other human beings and having a company that is happy, especially the way that people work now, right. Where it's like, I mean I'm so scared this is why I do everything myself too that like if I do something that somebody doesn't like they're gonna like make like a tick tock about like a toxic work environment you know which and just like shut the fuck up like you know people make mistakes we need to have grace for everybody and like I've worked in awful offices and I'm I've turned out okay yeah like yeah not that that's okay but you know what I mean so no I know I think that like and I was even talking to a girlfriend of mine the other day who I can't it'll give away who she is but she just exploded and she texted me and said, have you ever had to fire somebody?

1:07:10And I've said, yeah, you know, and I haven't even built out a team because LPA is owned by Revolve and I'm about to be building out a really serious team for Baranchini. And like, I sent her a voice note because I don't like anything to be on fucking texts because I don't, people are sketchy. And I sent her a voice and I said, you have gained so much popularity so quickly. And an unfortunate side effect of that is people want to make you a villain and they want you to fail. And now that you're having to hire and fire and manage, you need to get a mentor and you need to get a CEO and you cannot be the bad guy.

1:07:45Yeah. Yes. Oh, God. Yeah. Because I think because this is going to be it's going to be one disgruntled employee that's going to go online and and try to take that. You know, it's like the Meadowood of it all. Right. It's like they're going to or Meadow Lane. they're going to try to take down everyone's looking for a reason and that's like an unfortunate big side effect of being in the public eye right now everyone being so chronically online and so I mean going back to what we were talking about like you know you be getting in front of this and like prioritizing having happy employees and you know I feel like we should be doing this with students I feel like we should be doing this most places right but like really just you know you like investing and making sure that you have happy employees by the way not just to cover your ass of getting in trouble, but to have happy employees is good for people's souls and it's good for your bank account.

1:08:32Yeah. Yeah. No, truly. Like a lot of this stuff, like people can roll their eyes and be like, oh wow, a zone of genius workshop or like creative mornings, how cute, but like seriously has direct impact on our profitability. So it's not, but it's interesting to just hearing what you're saying. Like, I think so much, I, we get some of our best, most creative ideas from the interns on our team and I just love like having them in the room and like not the old school New York bullshit of like hierarchy it's like say what you want to say throughout your ideas but also I'm learning like as I want to scale and grow dialogue to the next level I'm looking for new mentors and I just introduced to someone who potentially consult as like a factional COO because there's so much I don't know about growing a larger agency like I built it to this part by myself for eight years, but like growing larger is all the things that you're saying.

1:09:24Like, how do you, how do you protect from the greater risks that come from it or the more responsibility? And so I think just kind of being like humble in what your capabilities are and like asking for help. And I'm kind of excited to like explore all the stuff I have no clue about. Well, thank you so much. I'm so excited to meet you. It's so fun. when I have money to afford you I can't wait I can't I just like I can rip off this all the longest if you ever just want to brainstorm I feel like we should also have like a I think we should do another podcast in a few months or whatever bandwidth wise where we talk about like I would really want to have somebody that we can like talk about like currently what's like going on with like brands and media right now because I find it so fascinating and it's so I think it's like nice to chat about it you know what's cool too i feel like you're on the end of deals you have an agent and then we're on like the brand side and i think it's just like nothing there's so much that's not talked about it's sort of this like do you know how often i want to be like can i can someone just put me on email with this agency yeah i just want to put me on email with the agent no seriously and i think also like i think there's a lot of insights that my team and I always share just like how much we like we go back over and over and over to talent that we love working with for all of our clients and like relationships everything to do with the industry but to your point I think there could be a really interesting narrative just like how does this whole thing works how it's changing because like the you know but also just because more money is being funneled into it doesn't mean that that is going to work like I think there's responsibilities for all of us like brand side management agencies and talent to like up the ante on creativity we can't get lazy with just like cookie cutter things.

1:11:13That's just, it's over. And I feel like that all the time too. Like, you know, sometimes someone like, you know, my girl will come over and we'll just be like, okay, like, let's just bang this out. And then we'll stop for a second. And I'm like, just because we are busy and this is due today, like does not mean that we just need to bang this out. Like if we are getting an opportunity for both of us to get paid with a brand that we love to post content, like how, like it's a responsibility. Totally. And again, like not to toot your horn, but seriously, we use you as an example. We just love the way you do it authentically.

1:11:47Like you're, and I think you do drive sales and returns and whatnot because people trust you. You're not just like reading off scripts. Like you really believe in what you're talking about. And I think that's like, it's funny because it's only come from that place, which by the way, it gets me so much backlash, But now I'm like, am I supposed to be doing videos that like make me more like am I supposed to like I've never done like a get ready with me, you know, do keep you doing you. Now I'm like, I think I need to do get ready with me. So I think I need to do like this or that. Like, oh, my God, now I need to do the other things that like people start with.

1:12:21Right. Which is like really funny. I feel you like on a smaller scale. There's just pressure to have like being an entrepreneur, a female entrepreneur. Like you have to be visible. Should I be sharing more? Like I'm not used to I don't have a large following. like what is the just navigating it because it is such a huge part of owning an agency or a company to be like you know visible as the founder but like navigating and I think what I just keep reminding myself is like I just have to feel good in my skin because if I'm doing something that like totally that's how I feel it's never gonna be good you know like it's wrong it's yeah totally thank you so much next time I come to New York I want to kiki with you in real life Yes, we'd love that.

1:12:59Please do. It was so nice to talk to you. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. This is a blast. All right, talk soon.

1:13:10And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes this week's episode of Everything is the Best. I hope you enjoyed it. Please rate, review, subscribe, all that stuff. Maybe leave a comment. Go ahead and follow me on Instagram at Pia Barancini. And I hope you have a fabulous, fabulous rest of your day. Love you. Ciao.