Profitable Pivot: Navigating Business Transformations for Maximum Financial Impact with Jennifer Kem Part 2

When I say we, the collective we, I have a company, you have a company now. But back then, I mean, I was a solopreneur too to begin with. And I had to really look at myself and go, I'm talking about integrity with other people. But am I keeping my word to myself? Am I actually like the promises I'm making to the vision I have for my life? Am I in integrity with that? Do my behaviors align with that? You ask yourself, is the person I am right now fully being reflected in how people see me and where do I want? What vehicles would help me get? There could be social, be stages, writing books, it could be anything, right? Media business is operations. It's like, is my business doing well? Are we selling one to two horror products? Is our business model, right? I named the book Unicorn Team. And even the process that I outline in the book, the Unicorn Team innovation model, that's actually what it's called because unicorns are rare, they're mythical creatures. We think of billion dollar exit companies, they're called unicorn.

Lilly, can you talk to me a little bit about, you know, internal external brand messaging, what that means, how it's different?

Yeah. Oh, I love this conversation, man. I could talk all day about this one. We're going to talk about my books soon, I think, and what my book addresses called Unicorn Team. And it literally addresses this question, which is how do you get the next great ideas out into the world by rallying the internal people to get it done. Like, what is the relationship between the external communication getting people outside of your world to want and desire the great idea that you have? And then how do you rally people, even on a small budget, especially at the beginning, to rally around you and drive that idea forward? And how you do that is it's you, you're the leader, right? If you're a solopreneur, basically this idea of personal brand, most people, again, think of it as like external facing. Right? Oh, you know, I'm Jen Kim, I'm Bob Govro. I'm like, you know, the person they want to follow the personal brand. You are that leader of your company that you're building. Even if it's a company of a tiny company of three people and a bunch of part time or fractional assistants, you got to work on yourself as a leader. And that's the hardest part. I always say, like, if you want to be good at leading others, you have to be even better at leading yourself. You know, you use that word, integrity. Bob, as a young person, when you were a young person, all you ever wanted was to just be highly intact, you know, have high integrity and really, you know, make sure that every time you showed up with somebody, you were. You wanted to basically keep your word. And that's my definition of integrity is that can you keep your word? And we as solo, when I say we, the collective we, you know, I have a company, you have a company now. But back then, I mean, I was a solopreneur too, to begin with. And I had to really look at myself and go, I'm talking about integrity with other people. But am I keeping my word to myself? Am I actually like the promises I'm making to the vision I have for my life? Am I in integrity with that? Do my behaviors align with that? And again, I just want you all to know, because I speak the real truth. I never lie. My kids have a. They've got me a jersey that says, jen, don't lie for Christmas one year. You're not going to do it perfectly. You're not going to always be in integrity. Right. Because that's the other problem. We think we have to be perfect. Perfect. And all I ask myself is when I'm considering doing something, I will ask myself, is this an integrity with my values? Is this an integrity with who I am? And when I ask that first, then I communicate better inside and outside. That's my point. Right. It's like, so when we want to rally a team, as leaders, we have to frankly be organized in a way that if you're a visionary type of person, sometimes you're not that organized. Right. And I have a whole framework for this in my book, of course. Right.

But it's like just sometimes, though. Just sometimes.

Right, Right. So it's like, I call it a brand cast. So what I mean by that is if you're internally trying to rally people around this idea, you want to get to market. Right. Or you want to get through difficult conversations. Because humans, okay, this is why people also want to just deal with like, AI and stuff, because they're like, humans are hard, we are hard. That's. We've always been hard. And it just feels harder because of all the noise on social. But we haven't changed in terms of like, you know, we're all made up of different types of stars, I like to say. Right. And different ingredients that came to our upbringing, etc. So we're dealing with that. And so as leaders, we need to have some tools to be able to communicate clearly where we're going and to speak to our team again. Whether it's our first. Our teenage kid who's doing our social media for us. Because, by the way, that was my kid. You know, she did like my filming in the beginning. She's my first employee. That. Here's where we're going. Not just like, this is what I need you to do. Because actually, you don't really know what they need, right? To do you know what you want. And so if you can't even communicate that and don't take the time for it, I think too many solopreneurs because they. Or with tiny teams, they don't sit once. I have a weekly thing that I do that is called my brand casting time. And I'm just spending an hour going this next three months. Are we on track? Here's what I'm seeing. That's great. That's working. Here's some of the feelings that I have about it. And then once a week, my team reviews the brand cast because it helps us. They. They can get into my mind because they're so sick of trying to read our minds, right? They're like, you're crazy. We don't know what you want. Can you just give us something linear to think about? And great teams understand that linear thinking is. Usually comes after the. The nonlinear thinking, right? And if you're frustrated that, like, your assistant, for example, is a linear thinker, as that person should be, because that's their skill set, right? Why you communicating your brand cast better? It allows that person, that assistant to go, I don't fully understand what you mean here, right? Instead of it later going, hey, go get it done, then let's get this project out. Let's go get it done. And they give you back the work. And then you're like, that's not what I wanted. And then you're frustrated and you're like, I gotta do it all by myself again. Because damn it, this delegation thing doesn't work either, right? And. And I'm like, part of the problem is that we spend so much time thinking about the task instead of the strategy of the communications, right? We don't think about, like, let's spend more time up front. Like, not just planning. Planning feels linear. But I tell that to people like, oh, planning. That's what you mean. I go, yes, we do have to do planning for the project. But I am talking about actually up at the top creating a strategic communication process. I call it broadcasting. And then your team has this process that I call prototyping. And prototyping is where they ask you questions based on the broadcast they go, okay, I created some work for you. Great teams do this. I learned this actually in the corporate world. So it's not like something I made up. Okay. And then I right sized it for my entrepreneurial life because I can't deal with the red tape and politics in the corporate world. We have no space for that. We don't have like tons of resources to waste. Right. So I knew that the key two tools that really helped me communicating to my team in the corporate world were these two things I actually did make up inside of the thing because I was like, I was in charge of product development guys, so I was in charge of product innovation. So for me, it was like I had to get a way that I could translate all the old white men in the boardrooms to vision of whatever big pocket money they were going to make into. Here's the strategic idea. We're going to get out there, we're going to create, and then to the people. And we're talking about diverse people, coders, lawyers, accountants, people who worked outside on telephone poles because I worked in telecommunications. Right. So these are all very different kind of humans. It's no different if you're a solopreneur and you have an assistant. Same kind of thing. You're dealing with people. So this prototyping idea that I'm mentioning, Bob, is really a powerful tool that we use with inside of my company as well as like with our clients is we, we say like we have a five to live thing. So it's like if Bob writes his brand cast, I say Bob wants to build his personal brand, bring it to the next level, right? He goes, he uses the brandcast process. He, he writes it out and then his person, his. Who's your, who's your person? Who does like a lot of what I call like getting your marketing out there on your team?

Bob, Katherine. Katherine.

Okay, so Catherine. So Katherine will say she'll take the brandcast and she'll go. We call it five to live. So she has five opportunities before you get annoyed at all. Okay. Now Bob probably doesn't get annoyed, but inside he's really annoyed because everybody gets annoyed. Okay. He's also Canadian, so he acts like he's happy on the outside, but he's really irritated when people don't get in. So because he's a human being, right? So he's a good boss. He's not treating Katherine horribly, but inside, if it's not translating, it's a little frustrating, right? So instead, now Katherine has this powerful tool Called prototyping, where she can go, is this what you meant? Is this what you meant? And when, like, literally putting in the linear plan that says, this is. This is what I heard you say, this is what it is. Can we move forward or not even? Can we move forward, basically sign off. And that's how on my team, people always say to me, jen, you're everywhere. Like, you must be so good at social media. I'm like, oh, my God, I hate social media so much. I hate it so much. So what we do is these five to live broadcasts because it's an internal communication tool that allows us to create that culture of accomplishment, energy. I like to say people want to feel accomplished. Your team, even if it's, again, your teenager, they don't want to disappoint you. Okay? They're not there trying to disappoint you. They don't want that. They want to feel as accomplished as you right. Want to be. And if you start to use these tools and adopt these tools, you'll get your dreams to happen faster. But a lot of times we again go, what's the next shiny object? Let's go create a new idea. You guys didn't get it. And sometimes we. That's necessary. But to be honest with you, for most of you, that's not what's necessary. You gotta work on yourself as a leader. You gotta work on, can I be patient so I can go faster later, sooner, faster, quicker. The more you do this upfront and the more you. Oh, one more thing I want to say about the leader, because this is so important, the biggest, I think, challenge that I see with clients, and I think you'll see, Bob, and your listeners will see, is there's this weird relationship between the brand, the business and the leader. Okay? So, meaning, let's say you're an expert in your field and you really know and understand I gotta, like, get my personal brand out there like we've been talking about, you know, you need to. But you're also running a very busy practice with team members. That's the business piece. You're making sure that clients are happy that your contracts are being signed, all the sales and marketing and fulfillment duties. That's the business piece. And then there's the leader, which is you, which you're constantly working in yourself, right? Personal and professional development. Those are the three main actors in this decision of getting, like, your work out to more people. And how you address that is you use, you know, you first for your personal brand. You ask yourself, like, is the Person I am right now fully being reflected in how people see me. Okay. And where do I want? What vehicles would help me get there? So it could be social, it could be stages, it could be writing books, it could be anything, right? Media business is really operations, right? It's. It's like, is my business doing well? Are we selling one to two core products? Is our business model, right? For. So that I'm not constantly getting pulled back into the business because it's not going well? Because that's the biggest issue is, like, people be like, I want to build my personal brand. And then they got business problems. And I'm like, yes, you have business problems. And guess why you have business problems? Because you have leader problems, which is the next piece, right? So brand business leader. Because now, like, you're not dealing with the ish that you gotta address right here, right? Which is really. Are you like, do your values. Does the tongue in your shoe match the tongue in your mouth? That's what I'm always curious about, right? You got those Jordans on running forward, but that tongue does not match the one in your mouth. I see a disconnect there, right? Then again, that's why the business is possibly either performing at a mediocre level or in a way that threatens your ability to get more of your work out there. And I'm. That's what my company does is like, addressing those three big. They're supposed to be symbiotic and synergistic, not competing with each other. And a lot of times they compete like personal development people. Like, I got to work on my mindset, right? And then they're like, I got to go get an operator to run my business. And then they're like, I want to write a book and be on stages. These are my clients, okay? And I'm like, yeah. And the reason that you're not doing it is because you have four different coaches, five different models you're working through. Instead of going, what's the integration instead of separation of these three really important actors that are in your. It's up to you, right? It's like what you want. So that's. That's what we do different, too. It's just like. Because I see so much stuff, Bob, and, you know, I just see so much trash on these Internet streets, and I just want to clean it all up. And the problem is it's being recycled instead of thrown away and burnt. I'm like, stop recycling the trash. Like, really? Like, let's go and build something new, something more Sustainable. Right. Because burning the trash and even recycling it, you know, recycling is actually causing a lot of problems now too. So it's like, what really do we need to do with trash? Do we need to turn it into. So we got these people who are now turning trash into patio wear. Maybe that's a better way to use trash. Right. Instead of using plastic. Right. So it's like all these really cool things that could be done if the relationship between the brand, the business and the leader could be more healthy instead of unhealthy.

And I couldn't agree more. And you know, I, I know for me personally, when we went from about 50 employees to a hundred, there was a lot of searching in there where it was like, who is the leader that I need to become and how do I get there as fast as possible? Because everyone who's following needs me to be the leader that they deserve. And I know I spent, I'm going to say, a year just focusing on that and it took a long time. And you know, truthfully, I'm hearing everything you're saying about the whole marketing piece too, and so much trash. Specific specifically in marketing, but in, in everything too. I even get TikTok sent to me about, oh, this, this is tax advice is being given out. Person's got 5 million followers and it's so untrue and actually dangerous. Right? Like, what are you doing?

5 and I were sitting at a table just a few months ago, or maybe a month ago, I can't remember, but where I made a little funny about it. I was like, oh, isn't it true? I should just go buy a Mercedes G wagon and so I can like write off all my whatever. And Bob's like, please tell me you're not going to do that. Like, that's not good advice. And I was like, no, I'm being funny because these are the things that people are telling people on. And even me not being a finance expert, but me being in business quite a long time, I do understand that we should be addressing and questioning. That's back to leadership. Like, Bob, you're the kind of. I just want Bob more out there. I know this is going to sound so selfish because Bob is just going to kindly tell you that's not a good idea. You might go to jail and. Or actually there's a better way to secure the bag with your money. And that the tax laws that are so confusing to everyday people that we're afraid to get in trouble, but instead it's like you need a Bob to be like, no. Do you have a strategy around your tax? Do you have. So that you can maximize and keep more of your money? Right. And especially when you live. You obviously are in Canada. I know your business runs now in all of. In Canada and the U.S. but, like, in the U.S. especially, like, there's a ton of loopholes that are very legal. But a lot of people are taught, I think a lot of solopreneurs, we're talking about the stuff I do on branding, but I want everyone listening that, like, you are losing so much money because you're not managing your tax and your, you know, just your. Your wealth plan. Right. I mean, I think we talk too much about revenue and not enough about what Bob does. And I think that it seems like it's not sexy. So how they make it sexy is they go on TikTok and they put a G wagon in your face. You know what I mean? And so I see it, Bob. I get it. It's frustrating and. But if you're listening to two seasoned chickens here who, like, actually know stuff, that's not really how it works. You know, it's just not how it works.

No. 100%. All right. I love, well, personal brand leadership. Like, both of those. I think, you know, I think leadership is. If anybody is wanting to build a company, first off, you've got to create that personal brand without question that you believe in and that other people believe in. And I feel like that's a. A great initiation of what leadership could look like is building the path for others to follow and, you know, doing so that is genuine to you. And, And I, again, I think leadership is the. The next new thing that everybody should be focusing on. You know, I think it's being the leader that everyone else needs. I had a. I had a dinner one time with a gentleman and very successful guy, and. And he essentially sat across from me and he said, what do you want to accomplish? And I said, well, I want to build $100 million professional services firm. And he's like, okay, so when are you going to become the leader that will lead $100 million professional services firm? And I was like, I don't know what you mean. And he's like, well, you need to get there before people will follow. And that is just something where I was like, oh, man, that stuck with me. And it's something that I think about constantly. So. So we're getting through the evolution of. Of the important things that I know you focus on personal brand leadership. Now let's talk about maybe my favorite Thing and maybe one of your favorite things, which is building the unicorn team. So what does that mean, Jen? Tell us what is building a unicorn team sound?

Yeah, I think that, I think that you know why I named the book unicorn Team and even the process that I outline in the book, the Unicorn team innovation model, that's actually what it's called because unicorns are rare, right? They're mythical creatures. We think of billion dollar exit companies, they're called unicorns. If you've ever worked in corporate, in the HR departments, the unicorn talent is what they're looking for. Like they're looking for the next game changing talent that they can recruit inside of their company. And I'm like, if you mix those two things together, billion dollar companies, exit type of companies are people who had great ideas that solve real problems. And then when you think of the people part of it, which is what I learned at corporate, at HR is like that's what we're looking for. We're looking for the rare talent, the people. When I say rare, I mean all of us are rare. Every single one of us is a unicorn. Unicorns are not born, they're built though. So like, meaning you get to either choose to have a donkey life or a unicorn life. That's kind of how I look at it. And there's nothing wrong with donkeys, right? Donkeys are awesome, right? They are beasts of burden, right? They get the job done, right? But most of us don't want to be the donkey. But we've been fed some lie that we should be a donkey. Think about it, right? A regular but really hardworking person, right? And a unicorn on a unicorn team is made up of what I call three energies. So energy one is visionizer, energy two is strategizer and energy three is mobilizer. And we actually, all of us having mix, all donkeys that become unicorns have a mix of the V, the S and the M. Okay? We're not just a visionizer. We are usually like if you're an entrepreneur and you had a vision to start your own thing and autonomy and freedom is one of your highest values. And that's why you like became an entrepreneur. Usually you have some vision but you probably came with either you're more like a planner type, mobile mobilizer type, or you are more strategic marketing, sales you can understand like where all the dots connect, da da da. And so it's really cool because this book I create, I outlined this assessment I've been using for years. They're private clients called the nine Unicorn leadership types. When I speak from stage, people just hear the V, the S and the M, but there's actually nine. And what you're looking for when you first gotta start with your idea. So again we've gotta say, is this idea mediocre or is it great? And so in the book I talk about how you score, whether your idea is actually worth implementing. Because all ideas are good. I love ideas. I'm an idea geek. I love ideas. But I'm smart enough to know that most ideas are never gonna come true. Especially and they should not be coming true for me, right? I should not be the one to make this happen. And I think a lot of times we get idea bloated and then we're like, oh, we get stuck and whatever. And that's why I call it Visionizer Energy, not visionary energy, because visionary means static vision, meaning just here. So you're a dreamer, but you don't really move it anywhere. Visionizing means you are making it happen and you are, you are emitting this leadership energy that makes strategizers and mobilizer energies want to come to you and work with you. That's what Steve Jobs said. He, you know, Steve Wozniak who was with the co founder of Apple, he was totally mobilizer energy. This guy was a coder, you know, he was like a genius guy who could like code anything, right? He's like one of those guys that's in a garage and he's kind of scary, like who knows what was on his hard drive, you know what I mean? But like Jobs is more what he's a VS leadership type, I call him. He's a visionary strategizer, very good at sales and marketing, understands human behavior. Like he knew what people wanted and he had this vision for using technology as a way to solve everyday problems, right? Like when he talked about when he came out with the iPhone, he was like, he told his team, very visionizer. Like I want you to build something where people see this device as not a device but an extension of their hand, that they cannot be without it, without being close to the people that they love. And that's the way he communicated. That's brandcasting. Okay? Visionizers, Brandcast, okay. He was like, this is it. And so the mobilizers and strategizers on his team, you know, there's this famed. If you ever watched the Apple movie or the Steve Jobs, there's a lot of Steve Jobs documentaries, but the one where I can't remember his name, I don't know, why is it Skasgard? It's the guy who played young Magneto in the X Men movies. Okay? He the one where he plays Steve Jobs. Kate Winslet plays his main strategizer during those era. And the strategizer is the person who's like, takes the vision and can turn it into a strategic plan that actually works, that you can get it to market. They're like your go to market people. Okay. They have that skill set, that energy. Anyway, she was known to be like the only person who can control him because he was crazy, right? And. And then there was Wozniak. Right? Mobilizer energy. And so my book shows you that, you know, you imagine like, oh, I don't want to build a business like Steve's. Most of us don't actually like Bob. I heard you name what you want. At least your next big thing is $100 million professional services firm. You know, that's not the same as building a trillion dollar brand, which Apple is now. But guess what you and Steve have in common and I have in common is that we all started usually at a kitchen table or in a diner or talking to our spouse or best friend about this dream we had, right? What we end up building, it becomes dependent on our own desires, plus the team that rallies around us. Because sometimes even the team is what makes the idea get bigger. In fact, the time. That's the reason. So the book itself is kind of like, what are the ideas? How do you really know how to do it? Then it's like, what is your leadership type and who are the other unicorns you need to send out the siren call to? Like, this is who I'm looking for. Because a lot of times we hire poorly. We hire like the first person who says yes. So in the book, I'm like, do you actually know what you need, okay, to make this idea go to build this brand that nobody can stop talking about? Well, you need to go find the other personal brands that actually see that they have the personality of I want to be part of something bigger than myself. That's how you get what we call this intrapreneurial type of archetype, right? So entrepreneurs should be hiring intrapreneurs, right? People who are have intrapreneurial energy, but really love working with other people. They don't want to do it by themselves, but they don't want to work in the static place. And I even talk about how if you're a company listening to Bob right now or like that, how you can develop that intrapreneurial culture inside of your big company. Because that's what I had to do when I was in corporate and that's where companies need to go. That's my point about this book is like you have to develop this intrapreneurial brand culture that I call unicorn team, right? So then the third piece of it is then the tools. How do you. Actually, I can teach go to market to anybody because that's what I, that I did. Like I bring big brands to market and personal brands, what I do for a living. But I identified in the book like the three biggest problems or the biggest problem is communication. That's the biggest problem is being able to communicate who, how, why and what, right? And so the three tools, I already mentioned a few of them, brandcasting, strategem and prototyping, are the three comms tools that we use to get unicorn teams mobilized towards getting that idea out. And we do it in a short period of time. So I'm excited about the book because people usually, when they think about team, they're like, that's not brand. I'm like, it is brand. Everything is brand. That's the thing. Everything is brand actually, right? The people are personal brands. The products that you're. You're getting out there, even your service, those are, those are brands. That's a product, right? And then the leaders inside and the company that you want to build, right? Ga your company, right? That's the company brand. And so therefore everything is brand. So if that's. If my thesis is true, which it is, okay. Very ruler archetype voice of mine, right? Like when I explain it like this, people are like, holy crap, this is what we've been missing is this like connective tissue? Because we go in after, like, I gotta fix my team, I gotta fix myself. I gotta go make more money, right? And the, this book helps you see like that you're part of the team too. You're an entrepreneur listening. You are. You're not the only leader at the watering hole, right? You need other leaders and you need those leaders to do probably a better job than you would like the Mobilizer Energy and the Strategizer energy is typically better at managing people, right? Rather than just not leading. So what you want is you want to have this leadership council around you, right? Of people who are like, understand strategy, understand brand, understand like implementation, understand customer impact, understand systems and procedures, SOPs, you know, and, and, and the book will also help people. Whether you're a team of One or a team of a thousand. Like, what is your next unicorn you really need to hire? Like, and what. Because sometimes that unicorn looks like a mentor, right? Not like you said that you knew you needed a mentor for a year or whatever to work on yourself. You're like, I really need this. I need to work on myself while I'm running the business. So you're running the business. You're really working on that leader who's going to show up to be that a hundred million dollar professional services firm that's going to attract unicorns that want to help you get there. So sometimes the next unicorn you need is a mentor. Sometimes the next unicorn you need is really just, you know, an admin assistant to take off. Sometimes. It's sometimes like when people ask me, Jen, if you could start a lawyer, what would you have done? I'm like, I would have got a housekeeper earlier when I left the corporate world and people like what I said, but I had all these stories about it, like, who am I? What do I, what am I thinking? What a waste of money. Plus, I'm Filipino. So like, if my mom found out that I had a housekeeper with two young girls, she would have been like, you are embarrassing me. You know, so it was like I had all these stories, but here I was trying to build a business. I still had my job because I was side hustle. I was like building my plan while I was in a very important job at Verizon. And then, and then I got two kids who were like 8 and 4, you know, and so for me it was like, if I could have just had some help preparing meals and like cleaning stuff up, that would have given me three to five hours more a week to actually probably move faster. So my book is not just about obviously like the things we're talking about. Like, in fact, publisher is like, I think you should write Unicorn Team Life. You know, like, you know, because I talk about how like you're not. It's. We try to separate ourselves from the business or the brand. And it's like a lot of the pressure, friction and noise is not just the people we work with, our customers, it's our families, it's our, you know, like how to enroll them. Especially when you're just starting out, it's really hard to enroll your spouse. He's, he, she or they are your main unicorn, you know, of like if you're married or you're in partnership. And so yeah, there's this whole thing, of course everybody's trying to talk me into like let's further the brand this way. The platform for me too. And I'm like, we'll see. Let's start with this. I hope it changes the game and then we'll go from there. But yeah, I mean, I feel like that's the way to live a values driven life is like to know that other humans, I call them unicorns, that they actually do want to help you. They want to be part of something big with you and they just don't understand you yet. And it's up to you to help them understand. And so you got to become a better communicator. And that's when I was pitching this book. I was so annoyed. I should just. For everybody too. If you want to build a personal brand using a book. I got rejected 70 times for this book by traditional publishers. It was really not just frustrating, y', all, it was. It confronted every trigger ever. Because I'm here, I'm thinking, like, I'm accomplished now, right? I have a platform, I have years of experience. I have a decent social media following. I'm like. And look, mo mo pros. I know how to sell, right? So I'm like, why would you not want this book? And I'm telling you, they were like, people have written team books. People are. Nobody's interested in a communication book. If you're going to write out brand, write about messaging, right? And I'm like, guys, okay, yes, that's my second book I'm going to write is about messaging. But why is this so important? Is because this is what's going to change the way people look at working with other people. And it actually can help with this loneliness epidemic. It can help with the people who don't want to become. Don't want to actually go solo for too long. They're just like, I know I have to start there, but I want to actually build something. It's because they didn't get. And I realized here I am working against a violation and a void that's currently present, which is even traditional publishing doesn't understand where the world's going. Because this book is for where the world is now. And it's where it's going not just for what it was. So I'm like, there's great books out there on leadership. I've read them all. I share them with people. But most of them, and I say this, I hope everybody listening cares my heart when I say this, most of the people who've written them are old white guys that were really good at leadership in the 80s. Right. And, and the world looks different now. Right. And the principles of the books are still pretty solid, but the, what we, who we are now is, is, has evolved. And so we need diverse voices on bookshelves, in the media, on the platforms. That's why personal brand matters so much. Because the things that we say are like, we call impressive or like trustworthy. It no longer fits what the world looks like today. So it's people like us that have to rewrite the narrative for the new world. And we can only do that if we commit to being the leader, to running the business or having a career that actually makes an impact and then building a brand that people want to be a part of. Otherwise it's just going to stay the same. And that's a bummer for young people especially. Like, I think about my kids, my two daughters, now that I've mentioned through this podcast, you know, they're both adults now. It's weird to have fully grown adult children, but I also have a nine year old son. And you know, all of them actually are like, they're questioning whether they want to have children. They're questioning whether, you know, and I want them to live their lives and have like, do what they want. But the reason for that is because they feel like, I don't know, can I really make a change in this world, Mom? Like, is this world, like, I think, like now there's like, there's the people who are willing to dance on TikTok and then they're the rest of us, like, who, where do we belong in this story? And I'm like, no, it's time for the new Steve Jobs'. Right? It's time for the new. All those guys, even Elon, like and Jeff Bezos. And notice all white guys right there are. If you're listening, there's room for all of us now. It doesn't matter the color of your skin, the gender that you are, how old you are, like, it doesn't even matter anymore. Isn't that great? You know, and they were disruptors. And here's what's cool, they're still around. I mean, Steve unfortunately passed, you know, because he got. But I think if he, I think if he didn't get liver cancer, he would have, he'd still be here, kick in. And who even knows what Apple would have created if he was still here. You know what I mean?

Absolutely. Yeah. He was the master at the time with a question.

So anyway, I mean, just, I just want you to know that you are, you have the same opportunity as any of those people or even what, what looks like on the bookshelf as your favorite book that you're looking at and be like, oh, that person has all that expertise. Yes. And now do you have other, do you have approachability, authority, stories and, and frameworks and, and work experience and life experience that will actually help people, then I think it's our responsibility to share that if we want the world to change, because it's not good otherwise the world's gonna keep moving and technology is faster than it ever has before and that's not gonna change. So I don't know about you, but I wanna, I don't wanna live the Terminator life. I don't want that, that movie to come true.

I actually want like, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, a hundred percent.

That's what I want.

So, Jen, again, you always absolutely fascinate me and I could chat with you all day. Listen, where can I believe, if I understand it correctly, your book is coming out in the springtime 2025, is that correct?

Yeah, it's coming out in February 2025. Yeah. Okay.

If any of the listeners were wanting to get on a, like a pre list to get notified, how could they possibly do that?

Yeah, so it's all happening at the time of our recording. Obviously you might be listening to this when the book's already out. But if you just go to my, my website, Jennifer chem.com if you're on my newsletter, you will definitely get that, that update where I love to hang out and I, I, it's really me talking to you is on LinkedIn. If you message me, I will. It's me responding to you. I mean, even on Instagram, you know, Instagram's not necessarily my core audience, but I have a pretty good following over there. And so if you like Instagram, you like hanging out there, I definitely, that's a place I respond to DMs. And then I know Bob is gonna give you all this free gift, which is the brand archetype mix reports over 400,000 entrepreneurs have taken it. It'll clarify your brand voice, it'll help you take steps forward. And I don't know what the link is right now at the top of my head, but I'm sure it'll be in the notes. And so I will. And if you do that and you take the test and you get your reports, message me and be like, oh my gosh, I found out I was an alchemist and now I see some connection and I wanna speak more through that voice. And I just like will geek out with you if you like do that. So yeah, LinkedIn, Instagram for chatting, YouTube. I have a whole channel, an educational channel where I talk about brands, unicorn, team messaging, leadership. So you can, you can also find me there definitely.

And if anyone gets a chance to go see Gen Chem speak from stage, it'll change your life forever. The free gift with the archetype assessment is Jennifer chem.com forward/successful. We'll include the link in here as well. Jen, thank you so much for being here and for sharing all of your wisdom with everybody else. I feel much less selfish now that I've been able to share this out with other people instead of just holding this all for me. But thank you for this. For everyone who's watching, thank you for showing up, being here today. If you like this podcast, leave us a comment, drop in some notes. Hey, we'll maybe bring Jen back if she's willing to talk about some of the things that you think are most important. Give us a follow. We want to continue to bring out incredible information to help entrepreneurs truly transform the world through the knowledge of good information. So make sure if you know somebody who you feel Jen's insights could help, share this podcast with them. Make sure you connect with Jen. Thank you everybody for being here. Jen, thank you so much for sharing your time with us and I can't wait to continue to work with you further.

Thank you so much. Thanks, Bob. This has been like the best part of my day.