The Art of Complex Problem-Solving in Modern Leadership with Sid Meadows

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So many times the person that you're talking to is your younger self. It's who you were 10 years ago, 20 years ago. And what you're providing them is what you needed then. Like, you needed it then. And now you've come so far in your life and your career, and you can use a platform like a podcast and you can share with those other people. So it's almost to a degree, Anika, like you're being a mentor, right? And so really look at like, what is your podcast about? And are you really, really at the end of the day, this is a hard question to ask. Am I trying to serve who I was 10, 20 years ago? And most people are gonna say yes.

Step into the world of success with Your Brand Amplified, the ultimate podcast designed to unravel the intricacies of thriving businesses. I'm your host, Annika Jackson, and I'm on a mission to uncover the stories, strategies, and secrets that have propelled entrepreneurs and business leaders to success. I am so excited to have Sid Meadows on the show today. Sid and I have met through the world of podcasting. We first met in person, right? Empowered Podcasting and then all the other events since. And that's one of my favorite things about this world. Is being able to listen to each other's podcasts, being able to see each other at podcast conferences, and being able to support each other in this community.

That's one of the things I love the most about being a podcaster is the community. And there's so many people to learn from and to hear their stories about what they're doing and why they're doing it and sharing best practices. So it's a really, a really special community to be a part of for sure.

Yeah. So we're not just going to talk about podcasting today though, because One thing that you're very involved in is contract interiors, furniture. But before we get into that story and then how you evolved into podcasting, Sid, you are known as the guy who solves the impossible. So give us, what is the version of who is Sid? What are you building and what does it mean to be the guy who solves the impossible?

That's a really great question. Like right off the bat, you're hitting me with the good ones. So, And I didn't come up with that on my own. And I remember when I left the, my last corporate job in 2017, before I decided to start my own business, I was talking to friends and people I'd worked with and, you know, just kind of really scoping out what I wanted to do. And I wasn't in a hurry. You know, I was fortunate that my wife had an amazing career and I didn't have to like rush into the next thing. And I was talking to this guy one day who's I'd worked with for, at least 10 years. And he said to me, he said, you know, one of your gifts is solving complex problems. And I went, wow, you're really right. When I started thinking about it, you're right. And it started a long time ago in my career when I'm working in the furniture world, when a bid would come across my desk and it would be an impossible task. Like it was no way we were going to win this, but it landed on my desk. and my batting average was really good at winning those. So I started winning these impossible projects and then, you know, my strategy brain starts kicking in and I start working on other things and I just love complex problems because I think every problem has a solution and it may not be the solution you think needs to be, or, or, but every problem has a solution. We just gotta look at it from different angles and really try to dissect it and try to find what the core of the problem is. And so I was doing that without realizing it until somebody brought brought it to my attention, and now I love it. I love people giving me a problem and like, let me, let me figure it out. I will figure it out. It may take me a little bit of time, but I'm gonna figure it out. So that's kind of how I became that impossible— had that, that reputation of being that impossible guy.

Yeah, well, I mean, that's a pretty amazing reputation, and now I'm gonna have to try to brainstorm something that I can give you that would be an impossible thing, whether on the show or off the show when we're having side conversations.

Oh, you're gonna really put me on the spot if you do it now. So that's great. I'd welcome it.

Awesome. Well, let's talk about your origin story a little bit. 3 decades almost in the global office furniture industry. What drew you into that world in the first place? And did you ever think that you would build a career around it?

The— I'll answer the second part of that question first. No, I had no idea that I would build a career in the office furniture industry. I didn't even know it was an industry. When I was in college, I had to pay my own way through college. And so I had a full-time job basically, and I went to school full-time in the morning and worked full-time when worked in the afternoon. And then I worked through, you know, spring breaks and vacations and all that in order to pay for school. And I was working for a school supply company and I was working in their teacher store. And they gave me an opportunity while I was working in the teacher store to also help them with furniture bids. Okay. I didn't know what furniture really was. So I started keeping a library of binders of furniture products and I got to meet some furniture people. So I was 22, 21, 22 years old, something like that. And I got out of college and for all the wrong reasons, I wanted to move to Birmingham, Alabama. and they offered me a job at their furniture store in Birmingham, Alabama. And I said yes. And I went over there and I sold office supplies and furniture in, in their budget furniture store. And about a year into it, I realized that, hey, this is probably not a long-term career for me. So I started looking for a job. And this lady that I'd gotten to know was working at a really well-known office furniture dealer. And she called me and said, hey, there's a job opening here that I think you'd be really good at. She, you should apply. And so I did. And that was in 1992. I started really selling office furniture. I didn't really know what a desk was. I didn't know what veneer or laminate was, or much less what a panel system was. And that just led to an amazing career of growth and understanding. And now I am, I've been in it in different aspects for 30 years and I absolutely love it. So it was by accident, which honestly is how most people fall into the furniture industry because it's not something that's talked about on career day at colleges. And most people, when you tell them you're in the furniture business, they're like, furniture industry? I'm like, yeah, how do you think all that furniture got in that building? Like, where do you think it came from? You know? So, but yeah, I absolutely love it. It's been an amazing journey for me.

I love hearing these stories because I think most of us in careers, I mean, I did not go to school for marketing. I also paid for my school, right? So I had, I took little breaks here and there. When I went back, it was just to finish a degree because I already had a job. I was working full-time and did kind of the same thing. Although I guess my job was in marketing, but my degree had nothing to do with what I was doing in real life and still hasn't to this day. But I, I love hearing these stories, but I'm really intrigued because you said you moved to Birmingham for all the wrong reasons. Now you got to spill.

It was a girl. I moved to Birmingham for a girl. Literally, we dated in college and she moved to Birmingham to go to pharmacy school. And I was moving to Birmingham, Alabama. That was it. And that relationship ended about a year later. So that's what happens, right? But that's why I say all the wrong reasons, but ended up being all the right reasons when you think about it, because I met my wife in Birmingham, Alabama. We got married there this past November. We celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. We have two amazing kids. We moved around the country, moved back to Birmingham, and then we made our way to Texas. And so, I jokingly say for all the wrong reasons, but it worked out to be for all the right reasons in my life. And it's amazing how the universe kind of has that sixth sense and does those things to you, right?

Yeah, that's amazing, right? And that really, yeah, we might think we're doing one thing, but then it's like, just kidding, we have all these other things in store for you. And that really is the best because you're getting to explore the unknown, you're getting that surprise and delight, right? So, you worked with a lot of major manufacturers. So, I wanna learn a little bit more about what did the industry teach you that you couldn't have learned in any other way? 'Cause every industry has transferable skills, right?

Mm-hmm. That's a really great question. And I think one of the things, 'cause most of my career was either in sales or sales leadership, and until I got to starting my own business. And I think the biggest thing that I learned was how to sell complex products. So buying furniture for your office building is a really complex process. It's not like buying a chair for your home or a sofa for your home or a mattress, right? Or like selling pharmaceuticals or other things like that. And so I really got to understand the sales cycle and how complex the sale is and what you needed to do in order to win a complex project, right? And the trade-off for that was, at the end of the day, one of the most satisfying things about working in the furniture industry is we get to walk away from a space and we get to take a look at it and go, I did that, I did that, I played a role in that. Like, that's my furniture, and you know, those are my products. And, and I built some amazing relationships along the way. Some of those people, I'm still— customers that I'm still in touch with today. And but I think it was really understanding a complex sales process and an industry that has a language all of its own, right? And then the next thing I think it taught me was about working with, 'cause at one point in my career, I became a global account manager. So I started working with major brands like Coca-Cola, Ernst Young, Delta Airlines, like these major brands, leading the initiatives for their projects worldwide. And I remember when the job offer came, and I remember talking to my mother about it, and I was like, I'm just 30. Like, how am I qualified for this job, right? I mean, I was correlating being 30 with my supposedly inability to do the job, but I went into that job and excelled in that role and learned so much about international business and how it's conducted and what people look for in different parts of the world. So, I mean, my education, that, that job was with Hayworth, which is now the second largest manufacturer in the world. That was truly an education for me that taught me so much. I had so many— I had a couple of really great mentors that really took me under their wing, and I just learned so much from that. And the other thing, and I'll stop talking now, is I learned the ability to influence. And what I mean by that is, though we have thousands and thousands of standard products, Every day customers ask us for something special, like, well, I want to do this in purple and I want to do this and that. And so I remember very vividly this one particular customer that was a huge project. It was an impossible project and it was on my desk. And this customer wanted something very specific. And I went to the specialist department and he told me no. I went back to the specialist department. He told me no. His name was Kevin. And I said, Kevin, I'm going to help you figure this out. We got to do this together because they want this. They keep asking me for it. And so I learned the power of influence to influence internal stakeholders. And then that led to external stakeholders in order to get what I needed accomplished in order to win the business. We ended up winning that business. There's a lot of those examples in that analogy. We ended up winning that business. At the time, it was the single largest sale the company had ever won. And it is today that company's largest customer to date. And that's been 20 years ago that we won that project.

That's amazing.

Yep.

So, that's—

those are some of those learnings.

Yeah. I mean, those are all really important learnings when we're going through the process of becoming leaders and even more so, perhaps, when you decide to start your own business.

Oh, gosh.

So, what was that like deciding to take the leap from being in senior leadership and having all the success accolades, being the impossible guy, to saying, I'd be better served perhaps, and I'd better serve others if I go out on my own.

So it wasn't an immediate decision. So by the time that this happened in 2017, I had worked for the same company for 10 years, and I had moved around after I left Hayworth. I moved around a couple of places and then landed at this one organization. I was there for 10 years. And at the end of the day, I did not leave to start a job, to start my own business. I left because of me, because I was mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted. I was a road warrior. I was gone 5 days a week. I'd leave on Sundays, come back on Fridays every week, and it wouldn't be just fly to Chicago. I'd go to Chicago and then to Phoenix and then to LA and then back to Dallas, because by this time we moved to Dallas. And I just was, I was mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted. I had 2 of everything. I had 2 suitcases, like always had a suitcase packed. And though I loved the job, I just was exhausted mentally, physically, and emotionally. And I needed a change. I needed to save me. And I remember my wife and I were on a trip, a business trip, and we were down in the Dominican Republic and all of our customers were there and it was so much fun. But we were walking back to the, uh, to our cabana thing. And I said, you see why this is so hard for me? Like, I love these people. I love this company. I love my customers, but I was just miserable. And if I'm miserable at work, it translates into being miserable at home. And I had missed a ton of my kids' lives. And so I did it for me. And when I resigned, they let me leave that day, which was not what I suggested, but my boss at the time, that's what he wanted. I was like, okay, dude, it's your choice. and I just took 2 months off. I just sat around. I relaxed. I detoxed myself. You see these memes, if you will, that the judgment of the mental health of your employee is how they feel on Sunday nights.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

I, Sunday nights were horrible for me. Right? And so I just knew, I knew I needed to change. I didn't really know what I was going to do, but then after I took about a month off, I started calling people and people were calling me like, what are you doing? I'm like, I don't know. Just taking some time off right now. I'm detoxing. Like I'm, going to get back to me. And that's through all that is when I started talking to people and I said, you know what? It's time for me to hang up my own shingle and do my own thing. And so I did in 2017. So almost 10 years. Yep.

I applaud you for identifying that because I used to be married to a road warrior and it's hard on everybody and it did. I mean, we are divorced, right? So it doesn't always go as well as your story. And it, it is hard on everybody because then you have different expectations, different people running different parts of the family or the household or the business. And I've seen the toll it can take. And so many times I feel like people don't find that inflection point, that pivot point until they've already had a major thing like a divorce, like going to being hospitalized or something else happening. So the fact that you could recognize that in the present moment and have a great conversation with your wife and then make that pivot point and fig— have some time to figure out what you wanna do next. So, what did that business look like when you decided, okay, I'm gonna hang my own shingle?

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First off, let's be very clear. I'd never started a business. I didn't know what the heck I was doing. Okay? I had no idea what I was doing. But I came up with an idea and the name of the business at the time still is the name of the business. It's called Embark Coaching, Consulting, and Training. And I had to shorten it because naming a business is one of the most challenging things you'll ever do because of business registration and other names. And like, I'm thinking Embark Coaching, Consulting, and Training, that's going to be super easy to get. Yeah, no, it wasn't. So the legal name of the company is Embark CCT, which is coaching, consulting, and training. And we started out of the gate doing coaching, consulting, and training for office furniture manufacturers, typically small business manufacturers. And I was leaning into my skills as a leader, providing coaching and leadership coaching, training. I'm a bit— I'm really passionate about training, especially training people on our industry. And helping them succeed because, you know, you need training and education in order, I think, to really grow. And consulting just made sense. We didn't really start consulting until about a year or so later into it, but I didn't know what I was doing. I got super busy right out of the gate. In fact, my very first customer was the company that I resigned from. The CEO called me, who was not my direct boss at the time, called me and said, What are you doing? And I told him what I was doing and he goes, okay, I got some jobs for you. And he was the first customer to pay me. And if he's listening, which he's probably not, Bruce, I'll ever be forever be grateful to you for being my first customer.

So what were, and I love that. I love that you stayed within your same niche because you started where a lot of us don't, I think, which is you had an industry that was predefined where a lot of times we, try to do too much and then we have to narrow our focus. And it's when you narrow your focus that you really find your sweet spot. So you were, you were there already.

But I tried to venture out.

Okay.

I tried to venture out into, well, I've been doing furniture for so long, I'm in the industry for so long, like, let me go try this and let me go try that. And they just never worked because the work was, I mean, yeah, maybe there was money associated with it, but the work was never fulfilling. What I realized is you gotta, when you, especially when you're a solopreneur, I mean, I have a small team, but I still consider myself a solopreneur. You gotta really lean into what brings you joy. Like what makes you happy? Like what is it that you get super excited about doing? But also pay attention to what drains you. Like if you open up your computer and you're about to do a consulting project and you're going to spend the next 5 hours working on a PowerPoint analyzing blah, blah, blah. That drained me. And so I started making a list of the things that drained me, and then I started kind of pivoting around like, what is it that I really enjoy? So I did venture out, but at the end of the day, Annika, I love the furniture business and I love the people of the furniture business. And so I've leaned in very heavily in my ecosystem of my business is, because I have two, are all about supporting people in the furniture business. And my podcast is about supporting people in the furniture business.

What a perfect segue, because I was going to ask you about, obviously, your podcast and even the collaborative network that you have is also focused on small business manufacturers in contract interiors. So talk to us about your evolution from, you started one business, podcast, you have this whole other business as well.

Yeah. So the podcast is called The Trend Report and it is lovingly my pandemic baby. So in 2020, my family and I had been on the best spring break trip we'd ever had. Two weeks, almost two weeks in Europe. And we are flying, we are scheduled to come home and we get a call late at night one night from some friends of ours who were in Iceland, basically telling us that the country is about to shut down. So we got a flight a day early home and made it home before all the chaos that you saw in the airports one day before that. And, you know, we're gonna be shut down for a couple of weeks. No big deal. Right? And so a couple weeks go by and then we're another couple of weeks and then my phone starts ringing or my email starts pinging. Hey Sid, we need to put some things on hold. You know, let's just put a hold on this project. I had a membership called the Trend Report with 200+ people in it and pay me $49 a month and I was teaching and educating and all of a sudden, Annika, I looked around and I had no business. I applied for the PPP money. Because I wasn't a politician, I was denied access to PPP money. But, you know, senators and congressmen got hundreds of thousands of dollars where people who really needed it like me got nothing. And so I just sat there like, what am I going to do now? And I pulled up my journal and in my journal I had written for about a year something, the project that I want to do, but I'll do later. And each page that that was on, said podcast. So I'm like, let's do a podcast. And I said, I went to the University of YouTube and I typed in how do you start a podcast? And I went and bought one of those Yeti Blue mics and had my computer and I got Anchor and I put pillows around me and I recorded my first episode and like I had no clue what I was doing. And that was the start. And now we're in season 7. Of the Trend Report. So 176 episodes as of this past Monday.

Amazing.

And we've done some rebranding and some updating. And so basically, the Trend Report is your inside look at the people, products, and ideas that are shaping the future of workplace design. And I interview people that are impactful in our industry in some way— small businesses, large businesses, people with great ideas, you know, bucking the system, doing new things, and You know, it's a lot of fun and this is the— well, was monetized in season 2 and 3 and then I let it not be monetized. Now it is a— in season 7, it is its own revenue stream inside of my business and it's a very successful revenue stream. I have 8 sponsors that are sponsoring it and it just feels really good and honestly, it brings me so much joy. Like I love. The podcast. I love recording. I love interviewing. I love being interviewed. I just, I love the podcast. And so I'm, you know, leaning into what do you love doing? I love doing it. And I don't have a problem sharing my opinions. So you may, may or may not agree with me. This is what I tell my listeners. You may or may not agree with me, but if I made you think and I made you take action on something, whether you agreed with me or do what I said that I think you should do, but you took action that moved your business forward, my job as a podcaster is done because I made you think and I made you take action. And that's what I love about sharing my opinions openly, because my boss can't get mad at me because I'm the boss. So, right. So that's the evolution of the podcast. And I mean, again, I'm super proud of it and where it is. And I did, I did pod fade, if any of your listeners know what that means, in 20 24, I podfaded. I was doing a fractional sales leadership position and I was just so busy and my heart wasn't in it. I just couldn't have the, didn't have the time. And so I podfaded. And then when that fractional thing ended, I said, I'm going back to my podcast.

So, yeah, I will say the one through line for me for all the years since I moved back to LA from Houston in 2019 has been podcasting, no matter what other job I've had. Somehow I've always managed to keep up this commitment and because it is one of the things that brings me the most joy and now it's my entire business. That's great. Besides teaching.

Yeah.

So, so I love this and you already talked a little bit about the audience and what you're trying to get them, impart upon them that can help them, that hole that needs to be filled. So let's talk about the collaborative network. What needs did you see in the furniture business that needed to be filled through the creation of the network?

So I want to take full credit for the Collaborative Network, but if I did, my longtime friend and co-founder Michelle Warren would be really pissed off at me because I'm taking all the credit for it. So I cannot take all the credit. Michelle called me one day and said, hey, I have this idea. And she started explaining the idea to me and I said, That is brilliant. Why didn't I think of it first? Like Michelle and I've been, we worked together twice now, 3 times. We worked together twice. We own a business together now. And I was like, Michelle, that's just brilliant. And so I started doing my thing and coming up with ideas and we could do this and we could do that. And then we went out to the market and we started interviewing executive leaders inside of small business manufacturers. And what we realized, there is a strong need. Inside of the furniture industry, and I think it exists in all furniture industries, for leaders to be able to have a community of leaders to, or forum, if you will, to share ideas, to share best practices, to talk about problems that they're having, and to really come up with strategies that will grow their businesses. Because isolation of small business leaders is a real issue. And it's great. You can make all the decisions in isolation and you're gonna get 50% right, maybe 40% right. But if you can make those decisions and bounce those ideas off of other leaders who are doing exactly the same thing that you're doing or trying similar things that you're doing or have similar problems, how much stronger are we together? So now these leaders get to come together in these forums, and these are all small businesses, and they come together in these forums that depending on which one group it is, the cadence of what they meet. But our executive leadership of small business manufacturers meets monthly for 3 hours every month, and there's 6 of them in that group. And it is amazing to watch what happens in those groups, how they're supporting each other, how they're solving each— helping each other solve problems, how they're sharing their experiences. About they did this and they did that. And just, and these were all 6 random strangers that didn't know each other. And now they have formed this bond. And one of them called me a few weeks ago and said, hey, because the original idea was 10 to 12 people in a group. And one of them called me the other day and was like, hey, Sid, you can't add anybody to our group. We like the dynamic just like it is. And that's one of the learnings that we figured out is a smaller group is better. And so our executive, our owner, group of— it's called the Dealer Leadership Collaborative. That forum is for owners of the distributor group, and that group is new. It's only had 2 meetings, but wow, what a powerful group that is. Again, one of the members in the group was talking about how their first quarter was really soft. I watched 5 other people give this business owner a big old virtual hug and came up with ideas that would help this owner grow their business and get out of this slump that they were in. And that's just so powerful. And that's what the collaborative network does. It brings like-minded leaders together to support their growth and the growth of other businesses like them. And we're just getting started. We're not even a year old, and I could not be more proud of what that organization is doing and how we're growing. And Michelle and I co-founded it together. We invited two other people to join us as, as, uh, business owners as well. But I run the business and Michelle is my sounding board. So, uh, yeah, it's got a lot of, uh, joy associated with it, a lot of pride associated with it too.

Yeah, I, I appreciate your talking about the need for sometimes you don't need to scale really big, right? Or you can have people in a certain level of membership, but then to create cohesion. And I'm finding the same thing with my podcast coaching, which is a relatively new part of my business. I mean, it's something, you know, I created a course that you, that I was gonna launch for entrepreneurs and then I ended up creating it for USC, as you know, a little bit about my backstory. And, and then I just decided to say, oh, okay, you know what, I'm going to also have this for the entrepreneurs like I'd originally intended, but I'm gonna do it with coaching instead of just having it be a course that's out there. And my first cohort is about 5 people. We might add a couple more, But they all, I was thinking the same thing. I'm like, I used to think I wanted to scale it really huge. And now I'm realizing the value of smaller groups because every single person in that group does something that is a tie-in to what everybody else is doing.

Yes.

And it's really fascinating because they all came through different means, but they're all gonna be able to work together, be on each other's podcasts. Maybe a couple of them will go on other, a couple of other people's nonprofit boards. Like there's so much synergy. It's like, I cannot add other people to this group. I have to just start another cohort for the next group of people that I'm bringing in because of that very reason. And those connections that we make are so important, just having that support and being able to test things and iterate things. So what a service that y'all are doing.

Well, thank you. We're really proud of it. And I will tell you, the nice thing about a small group is it forces everyone to participate. Nobody can hide. right? In, if you got 12, 20 people in a group, 2 or 3 people can hide and not raise their hand, not contribute. In a small group, as a facilitator, I get to call them out. Hey, Annika, we haven't heard from you yet today. What do you think about this particular— and I love that. And I'm building great relationships with them, but it's more importantly that I'm seeing them build relationships together because there is a word, and I'm gonna, I would like to take credit for coining it, but I don't think I did. Coopetition. We are better together. We may compete some cases, maybe not directly. Maybe we have a couple of the same products, or maybe we offer the same services. But at the end of the day, especially small businesses and people like me and you, right? Solopreneurs. And I'll say this to any entrepreneur out there. Don't worry about people in your group and if they're a direct competitor to you or a competitor to you, because we are better together. Coopetition. Let's cooperate together. Let's lift everybody up together, because if If we— a rising tide lifts all ships, Annika. And if together we can lift the ship of the podcasting industry, the independent podcasting industry, the office furniture industry for small businesses, then those industries are going to be better together. And the principles that you're doing and that I'm doing will work in any industry if you don't focus on they're my competitor. We are better together. Let's work together.

100%. I think one of the things about your industry is that there is this, of course, this huge disruption that we've had going from, you know, to remote work, hybrid models, open offices versus closed offices. And you had a recent blog post, Selling Easy in the Future of Work. So I'd love to hear a little bit about what you think about the future of work, the future of your industry, and what people should be thinking about whether they are entrepreneurs who are looking at office space or people who are supplying the interiors for the beautiful offices that we have.

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Okay, so I, I love this question, but I am not a workplace strategist, okay? I'm just gonna be clear. So if any of my workplace strategist friends are out there and you disagree with me, it's okay to call me out on it because I'm not a workplace strategist. But the future work is a really important topic, and I talk to a lot of people about it. The future of the workplace is a really important topic, right? And one of the things I think we have to do with the physical workplace is finally put an emphasis on the people. It's got to be about the people that are in the workplace, and it's about making it where they get to choose. Where they want to work, how they want to work. Because there was a time, if you were in corporate, you'll remember— any of you in corporate, you'll remember, like, you would walk into a building and walk down the hall and find your cubicle, and you'd go sit down at your cubicle, and it would be assigned to you, and your pictures and all that stuff were there. But today's workers just want choice. Like, okay, I need to sit, do some heads-down work. Let me go over here where I can do heads-down work. I need to collaborate. Let's collaborate in a collaborative collaboration area. Or I just want to go and sit on a sofa in a coffee area and work. People want choice. And so I think business leaders and business owners and people that are thinking about starting or moving into a space need to think about that. Like, you got to have different zones where people can work and do their best work. Because guess what? If they can find a place where they can do their best work, they're happy. Guess what they're going to do? They're going to do their best work. You have to make it a place where people want to come in and not being forced to come in. Like, they gotta want to come in to work. I've worked from home for 20-something years. I will go days without leaving my house. Days. And it drives me crazy because I used to travel all the time. So like, I want to go some places. So I occasionally, I'll just back up and go to the coffee shop. Sometimes now the weather's getting pretty, I'll just go work outside because I need to get out of this office, right? And so I have that choice, but you need to give people the choice of where to work. I do think the future of the workplace is going to look and feel a lot like an airport lounge.

Oh yeah.

You got plenty of choices in the airport lounge. You got food, you got coffee, depending on the time of day, you got adult beverages, you got quiet zones, you got noisy zones, you got loungy furniture. Some airport lounges like Delta's Sky Club has acoustic booths. You can go in and close the door and have a private conversation. And I think that's something there, there's a lot of merit there to the future of the workplace being like an airport lounge because it gives you choice.

That's a great analogy. And I, I love going into an airport lounge and you know what to expect and you know that, yeah, you have these options. You can, you get fed, you can relax a little bit before your flight.

The only problem that I have with the problem that I have with airport lounges today, they're too busy. You can go into them, it doesn't matter what time of day, I swear, and there's not a place to sit. So the airports need to— the people that own the lounges, I think, need to change the requirements for membership or make bigger lounges to accommodate the mass. Like, I can't tell you the number of times my wife and I go and travel and we go straight to the lounge because you have to be there so early. Because like, airport's a great example. It has to now become an experience. Because you're there for so long and you walk into the lounges and there's no place to sit because they're all taken. Like, so I don't know, that to me, they got to make them bigger or they have to change the requirement for membership so that it makes it a bit— and I hate to use this word, but it makes it a bit more exclusive, right? So that's my two cents on that. It's my hot take on that.

If somebody's listening today And they're in your industry, contract interiors, right? And they're feeling stuck. What's the first thing that you would advise them to do?

Oh, okay. You're in the industry and you're feeling stuck. I think the first thing that I would tell you to do, this is the coach in me coming out, is really look at why are you stuck? What's going on? Like, why are you stuck? Are you unhappy? Are you not making enough money? Do you not like what you sell? Is your boss toxic? Like, what is it? Why are you stuck? Because being stuck is one thing, but you can be stuck and if you don't ever really know why you're stuck, then you can change jobs and go do exactly the same thing at a competitor down the street and still be stuck. Just because you change the environment, you went from Company A to Company B, doesn't mean you're going to get unstuck. So you really got to do that. Let's call it deep work, it is what it is, and explore why am I stuck, why am I unhappy, why do I get a stomach hurts on Sunday night, like why is that happening? And then once you can identify why it's happening, then you know how to fix it, right? And I do believe, especially through my coach training and certification, we have the— you, me, We have all the answers inside. We just have to go look for them. And looking for those answers means being pushed. It means answering the uncomfortable question that you typically don't want to answer. And so my encouragement to anybody in any career, in any industry, if you're feeling stuck, explore why you're stuck. Don't just go change the environment thinking that's going to solve your problem because it's not.

Great answer. Now, for people who are thinking about podcasting or want to reposition their podcast, what is it— make the case, I guess, for being narrowly focused? Because I think sometimes people don't realize that— I mean, we always say, right, I usually say niche, but the riches are in the niches. So can you talk to us about how finding your niche has helped you have more success, right? Led to partnerships, led to these sponsors that you have.

Yeah. So yeah, if you try to serve everybody, you serve nobody. And if you really zone in on the niche, the industry, the people that you want to help, then, um, and you get really narrow with it, you understand who they are, like really understand who they are. Know them by name or name them Joe, you know, Susie, whatever, as an avatar, right? Know who they are, know the problems that they have in their life and/or their business, and then know how your podcast helps them solve those problems. That's what you really have to lean into. Because if you say, I'm gonna have a fitness problem, I'm a fitness podcast, great. We're gonna talk about who you're gonna serve. You're gonna serve men over 50? That have a little extra belly and they can't get rid of it? Is that who you're going to serve? Are you just going to serve everybody? You serve everybody, you serve nobody. And so I think for me, it was never a question of the industry that I was going to serve, but the questions I had to answer were more about who. Like, is it the seller? Is it the leader? Is it the designer? And so where I narrowed into were manufacturers of product, or my primary target— that's not all who listens, but their primary target— manufacturers and people who sell them, the distributors. Those are my targets, right? Because that's what I know. I've sold billions of dollars worth of furniture in my life. I understand furniture. And so can I go talk about the future of work enough to be really dangerous? Can I go talk to an interior designer about biophilic design and why it's important? Yes, I can. But I can really talk about furniture, right? And so this year when we decided to re— I'm not going to say rebrand because we didn't rebrand, but to really lean into— I wanted season 7 to be my best season ever, and I knew that I needed it to be a revenue stream. And so around September, August, September, I started diving into analytics, SEO, podcast SEO. I started like researching and figuring things out. I analyzed other competitor quote unquote podcast and what were they doing that, you know, was good. I looked at key, again, looked at keywords and like really zoned into what I wanted to do because if I could make it the best season ever, then I could go get sponsors, right? And here's what I learned about my sponsors. I went to 12 people. I got 8.

That's amazing.

Had I worked a little harder, I could have had 12 or 15 sponsors. It could have. I could have pushed a little bit more. I could have reached out to a few more people, which I didn't. I had a goal. I got really, really close to that goal. And, but here's the primary thing that I learned through this process, which I hope to speak about, by the way, at the Empowered Podcasting Conference. And I'm going to put my name in the hat for Podfest to talk about what I did and how I went from no money to a lot of money with the podcast that has on average 200 downloads per show. So, you know, small, very, very niche-focused podcast. But here's what I learned. They weren't buying and supporting the trend report. They were buying and supporting Sid and my podcast because I have been a voice in our industry for quite some time. And I have a following. I have a voice and I use that voice. And so they were buying in, if you will, and supporting the impact that my ecosystem could have on their business. And that was a bit of a like aha moment for me because you— it's easy to say, oh yeah, I'm this person and I can do this and, you know, everybody loves me. But when you actually go to do it and sell it, right, you have that imposter syndrome come up. Everybody has it, right? Imposter syndrome comes up. And but listening to them and hearing them like they all are like, you do such a good job of this. You have such a great following with this. And it all ended up centering around me and my ecosystem, and they were buying access to me. And so that was a big aha moment for me. So if you can get really focused and you really know your audience, like really, really know your audience. I asked a podcaster not too long ago, like, who's your customer? Who's your listener? And he gave me a blank stare. I'm like, you gotta know who you're talking to. And so I know who I'm talking to. And here's the one thing I'll say about this too. So many times the person that you're talking to is your younger self. It's who you were 10 years ago, 20 years ago. And what you're providing them is what you needed then. Like you needed it then. And now you've come so far in your life and your career, and you can use a platform like a podcast and you can share with those other people. So it's almost to a degree, Annika, like you're being a mentor, right? And so really look at like, what is your podcast about? And are you really, really at the end of the day, this is a hard question to ask, am I trying to serve who I was 10, 20 years ago? And most people are gonna say yes to that question.

Interesting. Yeah. Well, I know that I learn from every single one of my guests something that inspires me to continue on the road that I'm going on or something that I need to look into more. So I feel like I'm mentoring myself. My guests are all mentoring me by being interviewed.

They do.

Yes, they do. I get that. I get that. Yeah. So, and if you listen back to your podcast, like I, when I listen, I'm like, oh, dang it. You should have asked that. You should ask this follow-up question. It's always great. Hindsight's 20/20, but it does kind of force you to say, okay, the next time I interview somebody, I'm going to do this. Or I'm going to do that. Right. And again, being an entrepreneur, being a solopreneur, being a podcaster, being a consultant, being a coach, whatever it is you are. The one thing you should really focus on is taking one step forward every day. How can you grow today? And that growth will compound over time. So don't think about trying to get from, you know, point A to point X in 3 days. Get from point A to point B today, and then from point B to point C tomorrow, and focus on your growth, whatever that looks like. And that growth will compound over time, and you'll get there. It's not easy, but you'll get there.

Well, this has been so fun, Sid. I love having this conversation. I'm also coming on your podcast.

Yes.

And I just, I love this time that we get together to just learn more about each other so that I can share a little bit more about your story, your business, where you're going. So I know that there are many people, places we can lead people to. For you, I believe we're gonna use Sid Meadows. Your name as.com?

Yes, my website, little, super easy, sidmeadows.com. Annika, somebody told me to buy my name URL and I said, dude, what? You mean buy my name? And they're like, yes. Like, I literally got it. I'm like, I'm thinking, I'm getting on a plane right now. I was literally flying out. I bought it as the flight's taking off on GoDaddy and I'm, I'm rushing like somebody else is going to immediately go buy sidmeadows.com. But yeah, you can find me at sidmeadows.com. I have a mailing list there. Our community there. You can also find me on LinkedIn and Instagram. Those are my two preferred platforms, so feel free to connect with me. If you do connect with me because you heard me here on Your Brand Amplified, just let me know that you did so that I know where you're coming from.

So, I love it. What is one more thing you'd like to leave the audience with? A quote, mantra, verse, poem, family motto?

Okay, so I like this question, and I, because I've heard this on your podcast before, and so I'm gonna go with a quote. And I'm thinking, I have this quote in my brain, I have a postcard with it on it, and I'm looking around my office now and I've got like all these quotes hanging up on my wall and I didn't even realize it. But the one I was going to tell you is, "The future depends on what you do today," which is by Mahatma Gandhi. I think it's an amazing quote because the future really does depend. But based on our conversation and the things that we talked about, the one I want to leave you with and I leave all your listeners with is, Find joy in your journey. Find the joy in your journey. Because you can't find joy externally, you got to find it internally. Find the joy in your journey.

Amazing. It's really funny because I just did another interview earlier today, which I usually don't talk about that, but that was a lot of what we talked about as well. So I know that these are messages for me right now is to make sure I'm continuing to find joy in my journey. And I know that is something we all need to be thinking about in this time of so much going on in the world that is out of our control. How do we control our own joy? And so that is the question I'm gonna leave everybody with today. How do you find the own joy in your journey and how do you make sure that you're staying in that joyful place? So Sid, again, thank you so much. Loved having you on. Can't wait to continue our collaboration and our friendship partnership. And to everybody who's listening, thank you again for being here. Please do reach out to Sid. Look at what he has to offer and let me know what you wanna see or hear more of on the show. Leave us a rating review, reach out. You can get to my contact info through the yourbrandamplified.com website, and I will be back again in a couple days with another amazing guest. Thanks for listening or watching to this episode of Your Brand Amplified. Don't forget to leave us a rating or review on your favorite podcast listening platform. And if you want to learn more, check us out at yourbrandamplified.com.