ALLISON MASLAN: Onstage at THRIVE San Diego

So I'm getting ready to take the stage at Thrive here in San Diego.

Thrive, please get on your feet and welcome Alison Maslin.

It's a great event. It's all about giving back and creating a business that's conscious, that makes a difference. And so I'm the second speaker here. It's Saturday morning, and, you know, I have to get really in the headspace before I get on stage. I do some meditation, and I really feel my body coming alive, and I focus on speaking from the heart and trying to get into the mind and the hearts of the people that are in the audience and think about what is it that they need to hear that's going to really make the difference for them, gonna move the needle forward and just to get them to think in a new way, have a shift in perspective. And so that's what I'm doing right now. Hey, business is the best way to share your creativity. And I want to inspire them all to get out there and make it happen. So here we go. So if you're waiting for the right time to go after your dreams.

There.

Will never be a right time. In fact, the right time is at all the wrong times. In that moment, I knew that if I didn't make a change right then and there, that I would be stuck and trapped in that place forever. Well, what will you do?

One more time?

Create. And the truth is, there's a customer for both. There's a customer that wants that premium. They want the top. Right. And then there are others that. That's just not. They're going to be more budget conscious. Okay. So you need to think about your wheelhouse for your revenue stream that way. And I'll leave you with this. Just like I told Sam, you put your head towards that dream, and you walk towards it every single day. You don't let anyone tell you it can't be done. No. Make decisions from where you're going, not from where you're at. Thank you. Thank you.

Owning your own business can be really, really lonely. Can anyone else relate to that? Because, you know, there's times that you're just like, well, who do I go talk to about this? And I've got this issue, and I'm not really sure decision to make or who to reach out to. And so I decided to start working with Alison about a year ago, and my business has been really, really grown since then. The acceleration has been unbelievable.

When I experienced what it was like to be in a mastermind, which I'm still in myself, I saw a Huge difference, because I would be able to lean on other businesses owners like myself and get answers so I didn't have to sit there and pull my hair out trying to figure out what to do, wasting so much time, wasting so much money and so forth. So what we wanted to do for you all tonight was have you meet one another and support one another. You all live, you know, within a few miles of each other, probably not even knowing that your businesses are right next door. And if anything at all, just leaving, knowing some more people in your community that you can connect with and mastermind with.

We're so incredibly blown away by the event, by Alison's team, by Alison's content. We were so inspired by what we learned there that I think the best testimonial I can give her is that we both signed up for her coaching program because we were so blown away by the event. So if that doesn't say, I don't know, what does. You know, the experience itself will inspire you. It will blow you away. It will change your life if you let it.

When I get started, I'll talk for a little bit, and then I'm gonna introduce you all on. And then whoever's at the chat, please, for the day, pay attention to the agenda. And if you see that you're gonna be coming up for doing this, please be prepared and ready. If you see you're coming up, make sure you're miked well in advance. All right, we're four minutes. Are we all ready? It's gonna be an amazing day.

The point being, if someone's gonna watch that video from start to finish, the odds of them being a potential customer is very, very, very high.

Yeah.

So that's one of the things that I know I've seen in different types of industries, people go out, and even if it's not your own facility, you don't necessarily want to drive people to your facility. The fact that you have your own facilities, that's awesome. But position yourself at the epicenter of the conversation of that industry. That's what I would do. I would become known as the go to person in that industry. Who else is having this type of conversation? Nobody.

Yeah.

Stories really emotionally charge people. And I think we heard one of our speakers this morning, Allison. Maybe actually it was you. Somebody said that people buy based on emotions.

That was you.

And that's absolutely so true. I second that a million billion times.

And the challenge that I'm seeing with a lot of people, not just me back then, but a lot of leaders, is that element of people staying. It's not just being happy. I know people at great companies who are happy. And it's not enough. Because what people want is progress. People want growth. People want to see their future. People want to see, wow, my life is changing in a great way. I'm not just happy. So the idea of progression plans is always challenging. How do we create a plan for people to progress such that they want to stay there forever?

And culture has become a big buzzword.

Yes.

You know, like, you didn't hear much about that even five years ago, right?

Yeah.

You know, but I think it's because I think people have, within the corporate world, got really tired of not having a voice. And I think that whole old dictatorship style of, you know, being the boss doesn't work.

Right.

And they're seeing that if people actually like going to their job, they want to keep day. Right. You know, it's not that complicated at its core.

Yeah. And, you know, I thought that at first reading all the materials on it, but then it was only after, when I was in Zappos, I started to manage a team, eventually 25 people. And then I realized, oh, it's not just, let's make people happy. I mean, people are all different. They're all complex. So much going on. So I only really had true empathy for business leaders such as yourself, who actually have to manage people. Becoming a leader myself and realizing that it is that simple. And it's not.

And it's not.

Because what makes you happy might not make me happy. Right. And it depends.

But bringing John to CEO Success Network.

Where he got to hear Robert speaking.

And what I teach when I teach culture hacking itself, how to hack the culture is this number one tip is it's way easier to destroy things that don't work than it is to create.

Create new things and about culture and about. Go ahead, rip the band aid off. Because we had wanted to fire our warehouse manager for a while. A few of us in here. John wasn't really ready to let him go. But since we did, we've been able to bring in, like, the best people and our errors, like, zero last month.

Amazing. So we are in Seal Beach, California, with my clients, Gila and John Kurtz, and they are the co founders of Dog Is Good. And Dog is Good is an amazing company, and I've just been so honored to support both of them in their growth, which has been tremendous this year. And why don't you tell everybody about Dog Is Good?

Okay. So Dog Is Good is a lifestyle brand for dog lovers. John and I started it about nine years ago, and we did it based on the relationship that people have with their dogs. We wanted to create products that really celebrated that relationship and also reminded people how great they feel when they're with their dogs. And since starting it with an idea, we've been able to grow it pretty significantly. It's an international brand, and we have a great time with it.

Stone was allergic. I love this. Well, let's take a tour.

Okay, so we'll take a tour. So this is our front lobby, and I'm very excited because we have just kind of pulled together our whole merchandising of the wall, and so we'll take you from there.

You're in stores all over the country, right? All of your products, your gift items, and so forth?

A little bit internationally.

Yeah. We sell it wholesale to retailers. We do our own online E commerce, and then we license the brand as well to other manufacturers. So we're in production mode, and so there's a ton of samples everywhere. This is our national sales director for office, and this is where, you know, we try to do all of our planning for sales, and between her office and my office and pull it all together.

Yeah, well, sales is kind of important. Yeah.

This is our creative room. So we have two people working on our marketing team, and then we have a graphic artist also who sits over there.

But basically, you can see we're heavy on the apparel products. We do sell a lot of other items, gift items. But our core products, those that we manufacture and we sell at wholesale as well as retail, are T shirts, hoodies, ball caps, sleepwear, scrub tops, things of that nature. And a number of gift items that we have manufactured. Ceramic mugs, decorative magnets, wall art, car magnets, stickers, just a whole lot.

Everything about the dog, right?

Everything is about the dog. It's about the relationship that people have with their dog and the emotion that they feel when they're with them. So basically, when people ask me what I sell, I basically sell the first two minutes home. That feeling that you get.

That feeling you get when you walk in and your dog is, like, wiggling and so excited to see you. That feeling of unconditional love. And that's what all your pieces like. You read them and you go, ah, yeah, that. That connection that you have.

We do in Pinnacle, what we do with our own team here, you know, we don't. We did not build this business alone. And by surrounding us with the right people to help us see our vision to fruition. And then also with your support and the right coaches that have really helped to give us some, I guess, validation in the things that we want to do and also the great ideas that we're learning. To put it into the right perspective has really made a big difference. So that's a really key message for me.

Allison's a pragmatist and about getting stuff done, whether it's.

Can I add that to my bio?

Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah. No, because that's, you know, there's. There's a lot of people just, they want to get down to business and not, you know, and not mess around. Just, you know, give me the facts, man. And. And that's. And that's what we get. So that's why. That's why I'm impressed with the program and I'm able to get out with what I need to get out of the program.

I want to say just a couple of words about Alison and working with her, and I am a very discerning, fine tuned individual and I like the best of the best, and I found the best of the best in working with Alison.