Episode 121
Diversity Certification & Sourcing Diverse Suppliers with Heather Cox
Did you know that there are a number of different certifications available to companies - certifications based on race, ethnicity, disability, identifying as LGBTQ?. There are a ton - but where to start?
And if your company doesn’t qualify for a certification, have you struggled with diversifying your consultant or supplier base?
Listen in as I talk with Heather Cox, the President and Co-Founder of Certify My Company which is a company that not only helps simplify the certification process, but they also assist corporations in diversifying their supplier base.
Drink of the week:The Tightrope
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Julie Brown:
Heather Cox
Transcript
What do acro gymnastics, tightrope walking and juggling have to do
Speaker:with certifying your company or sourcing from a diverse supply chain?
Speaker:Absolutely fucking nothing except that Our guest today does all of that.
Speaker:Welcome to episode 1 21.
Speaker:This shit works.
Speaker:I'm your host, Julie Brown, and today I am joined by Heather Cox,
Speaker:president and co-founder of Certify My company, a company that not only helps
Speaker:simplify the certification process for companies, they assist corporations
Speaker:in diversifying their supplier base.
Speaker:All good stuff.
Speaker:Welcome to this Shit Works Your Weekly No Nonsense Guide to Networking your Way
Speaker:to More friends, more adventures, and way more success with your host, Julie Brown.
Speaker:Here we go.
Speaker:Did you know that there are a number of different certifications
Speaker:available to companies, certifications based on race, ethnicity,
Speaker:disability, identifying as lgbtq?
Speaker:There are a ton, but where to start?
Speaker:I thought about getting my company certified as a women's business
Speaker:enterprise, but I honestly haven't had the time to even think about
Speaker:where to start that process.
Speaker:And if you're a company doesn't qualify for a certification, have
Speaker:you struggled with diversifying your consultant or supplier base?
Speaker:I know a number of my clients have.
Speaker:Good thing for us.
Speaker:Heather Cox is here another guest where simply talking about what she
Speaker:does for a living would be burying the lead on how fucking cool she is.
Speaker:Heather serves on the national and regional forums for Women's Business
Speaker:Enterprise Council West, as well as the chair of disability in Nevada,
Speaker:and has held leadership roles with women's president's educational
Speaker:organization, women's Business Enterprise National Council, and
Speaker:the gay and lesbian chapter of.
Speaker:Also the National Association of Women Business Owners and the
Speaker:Advisory Board for Super Bowl.
Speaker:I don't know Roman Nus.
Speaker:Nobody.
Speaker:Nobody does.
Speaker:is XL one 11.
Speaker:So without further ado, New York, New Jersey.
Speaker:That one . Without further ado, let's get this conversation started.
Speaker:Heather, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker:Thank you so much fun we're gonna have here today.
Speaker:This is gonna be fun.
Speaker:I'm excited.
Speaker:I failed to mention that when you are not kicking ass and taking names,
Speaker:you enjoy weightlifting, wine tasting and baking cookies and cheese cake.
Speaker:Well, I actually have been retired from the baking of my house now,
Speaker:thank God, because my oldest daughter decided that she loves to bake.
Speaker:So thank God I don't have to do that part anymore because I
Speaker:tended to eat more than I baked.
Speaker:Yeah, the batter is always better than the final product to me.
Speaker:Yep, yep.
Speaker:So we're able to outsource that to a different child, . Okay.
Speaker:So right outta the gate, let's talk about what being certified
Speaker:means and what the benefits are.
Speaker:Perfect.
Speaker:So being certified simply means that your company is owned, operated, and
Speaker:controlled by a person or people within one of those five categories that you
Speaker:mentioned, women ethnic minorities, L G B T, veteran or disability owned and
Speaker:veteran can be veteran that's not service disabled or service disabled, or it can
Speaker:be a veteran with just a disability.
Speaker:So it means that you have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that that one of
Speaker:those demographics owns, operates, and controls the way your business is.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And then the benefits of it are numerous.
Speaker:For starters, people always understand the business development part.
Speaker:It's access to opportunities, to new opportunities.
Speaker:It's also access to your current clients that can help you grow the
Speaker:business you already have with them, because now they have an extra reason
Speaker:to try to get you more business.
Speaker:And there's actually people inside all these organizations called
Speaker:Supplier Diversity Managers.
Speaker:Their goal, their role is to increase opportunities and business with
Speaker:qualified, capable, certified, diverse.
Speaker:Let's say you are already doing business with Johnson and Johnson.
Speaker:Well now you are certified and you can be like, Hey Robin, I'd love to do more work.
Speaker:I think I could really do a bunch of work for this division of Johnson and Johnson.
Speaker:And she's gonna be like, you know what?
Speaker:You've done such a great job with this so far.
Speaker:Let me introduce you to those people.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Hello, warm introduction.
Speaker:Amazing, right?
Speaker:So how does the company determine whether they qualify for a certification?
Speaker:The ownership is pretty clear.
Speaker:Cut.
Speaker:51% or more, do you own it or not?
Speaker:Now it could be one person, two people, et cetera.
Speaker:So if you own, it's like I own the company 50%.
Speaker:I have a female business partner, the other 50%.
Speaker:So we are a hundred percent let own.
Speaker:But let's say for example, you own the company, but you're
Speaker:like, I don't wanna work.
Speaker:I just wanna own stuff.
Speaker:I don't wanna work.
Speaker:So you could be like, Hey Heather, will you run my company for me?
Speaker:Totally fine.
Speaker:Cause you own the company a hundred percent.
Speaker:You're at least 51%, right?
Speaker:And then that you hired me to run the company.
Speaker:And as a female, as a woman, that means that we are now meeting that second
Speaker:eligible requirement, which is operation.
Speaker:Does a female or do females run the company on a daily basis?
Speaker:And do they have the highest ranking title in the company
Speaker:per the governing documents?
Speaker:Oh, now that part gets a little tricky sometimes because I'm
Speaker:gonna give you a little quiz.
Speaker:I love to give this quiz and I do webinars.
Speaker:Is in a corporation.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:That not an llc, but a corporation.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:I'm an S corp.
Speaker:So for, you're an S corp.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So that's actually a tax designation, not a legal designation.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:But per your corporation in the majority, 98% of templated bylaws, what
Speaker:is the highest title in the company?
Speaker:What would you say?
Speaker:Uh, founder or president?
Speaker:So no one's ever said found it before.
Speaker:That's interesting.
Speaker:It's actually president.
Speaker:You're correct.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:But most people actually say ceo.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Most people throw out ceo.
Speaker:Cause that's like colloquially.
Speaker:We think of that as like the head honcho in a company.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But the majority of template and bylaws, and I don't care if you
Speaker:spent $6 or $600 an hour on attorney, they use the same templates.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So they have, so president is the highest ranking title.
Speaker:So a female would have the highest ranking title.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:The next.
Speaker:Control per those same governing documents.
Speaker:Do female have ultimate control of the voting?
Speaker:Now, that's when it gets to the board of directors and how decisions are made.
Speaker:Okay, so now replace female for any of the other demographics we talked about,
Speaker:and if you're qualified and or if you even think you're qualified, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Then you should reach out because sometimes it's just
Speaker:a matter of understanding the legalities of your documentation.
Speaker:Okay?
Speaker:What is the cost to getting certifi?
Speaker:It's actually the cost.
Speaker:If you go directly to the certified organizations, which people do mm-hmm.
Speaker:, the cost is negligible.
Speaker:It's, if you're under a million dollars, it's $350.
Speaker:If you're one to 5 million, it's 5 50, 5 to 10 million, seven 50 and
Speaker:above 10 million is around 1200.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:That's give or take, you know, $50 per, depending on the organization that where
Speaker:you're located, but it's not a lot at all.
Speaker:And is that every year you pay that every year to maintain that, that certification.
Speaker:For most of them.
Speaker:There's a couple, um, the L G B T one and the, and I'm just talking
Speaker:about the private sector right now.
Speaker:State certifications are a different animal and they often do not have a, uh,
Speaker:application fee associated with them.
Speaker:And that's one of the first things we do with most, with every client.
Speaker:Which certification is going to be the best for you?
Speaker:There are a plethora of options out there.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:You could spend your whole life and your whole bank account getting certified.
Speaker:I don't recommend it.
Speaker:It's not the best tactic.
Speaker:It's not strategic.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So let's figure out the best certification for you based on who your current clients
Speaker:are and who your target clients are.
Speaker:Okay, gotcha.
Speaker:Didn't even think about national versus state.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Yeah, so there's definitely different certification.
Speaker:It's like saying, I need some tissues.
Speaker:Well, do you.
Speaker:The cotton.
Speaker:Now, do you want the The Johnson.
Speaker:The Johnson?
Speaker:What brand do you want of that product?
Speaker:Okay, so for corporations who don't fit into this certification
Speaker:requirement for, you know, they don't fill their requirements.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:They're not a diverse own business, you're saying.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:What are the benefits to them creating a supplier diversity program?
Speaker:There's a couple ways that you could do it, right?
Speaker:So you can either create, you can also partner with
Speaker:diverse own businesses, right?
Speaker:Because a lot of times companies can't fulfill an entire contractual
Speaker:need for big organization.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:You're taken on partners anyways.
Speaker:Why not partner with a diverse business?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Cause then you get, as long as they're truly a partner to you and
Speaker:not just a pastor, like they're truly.
Speaker:Some of the work with you mm-hmm.
Speaker:, then they can hold the agreement, which then gives you more access.
Speaker:That can make you more beneficial to the, the final, the clients.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:. But if they, let's say they're a larger organization, they're 20
Speaker:million, 30 million, 40 million or billion in revenue, then a supply
Speaker:diversity program is good business practice because it's going to, it's
Speaker:like, it's kinda like any other relat.
Speaker:You wanna find as many similarities as you can with, with the person
Speaker:in your relationship with.
Speaker:So let's say like a construction company has a contract with, let's say cvs, right?
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Diversity is very important to cvs.
Speaker:They have a fantastic supplier diversity program.
Speaker:Everyone in the company knows about it.
Speaker:So if you wanna court them, It's a great opportunity to say,
Speaker:we realize cvs, that it's very important to you, supplier diversity.
Speaker:It's also really important to us that we created a supplier diversity program.
Speaker:Cause we know it's very important to you and we wanna make sure
Speaker:that we are the best partner to you that we can possibly be.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Not just a transactional vendor.
Speaker:We wanna be a partner to your clients.
Speaker:And so it's going to give you acc but the, you know, the standard benefits that
Speaker:we talk about all the time, markets new.
Speaker:Companies don't think about changing their vendors, their suppliers, if they
Speaker:don't feel like something's broken.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Like, and I always give the analogy of the gym, like people don't just
Speaker:when they wake up and go, I think I'm gonna start going to the gym today.
Speaker:I feel like getting hot and sweaty and sore, that seems like a really good idea.
Speaker:Most of the time they start because someone has said, The doctor's
Speaker:like, oh, your cholesterol, your blood pressure's a little too high.
Speaker:We really gotta work on that.
Speaker:Or they're saying, yes.
Speaker:They put on their pants and they're like, well, these fit last year and they
Speaker:don't fit this year, whatever it is.
Speaker:Or they're trying to play with their kids and they can't, they're trying to
Speaker:walk with their dog and they're like, wow, I'm really pooped and my dog is
Speaker:like dragging me along, whatever it is.
Speaker:Usually they're like, wow, now I really gotta think about my diet and exercise.
Speaker:Yeah, so that's when they joined the gym, but give it two.
Speaker:Give it two months, and they're like, wow, I actually feel better actually.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:I'm actually excited to go to the gym three times a week, whatever it is, right?
Speaker:But they would've never done it, and there wasn't like a
Speaker:push to make it happen, right?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:. So once they start going though, they're like, wow, this is amazing.
Speaker:I feel so much better.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:. But they needed that thing.
Speaker:So that's kinda how supply procurement people are.
Speaker:They don't always think about something's broken.
Speaker:If it doesn't feel like there's nothing wrong with it, why are
Speaker:you gonna search for a new.
Speaker:A new one.
Speaker:And so by having these programs, it encourages people in your company to look
Speaker:for new ideas, new vendors that could really change up the way things are done.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So say a company wants to diversify their supply chain.
Speaker:In the beginning of our conversation, you mentioned you work with
Speaker:supply diversity managers.
Speaker:Do you help companies fill that role?
Speaker:Like if they're like, we need to have an internal role, do you help companies
Speaker:fill an internal role to manage that?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:We actually created a whole division of the company called, let's Talk
Speaker:about partnering with, I partnered with two other certified diverse
Speaker:business owners who had different core competencies than I did.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:, the three of us together have a holistic offering.
Speaker:I couldn't do myself.
Speaker:Not, not well as well at least.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:It's called Supplier Diversity in a box.
Speaker:Oh.
Speaker:It's for companies that don't have a full desk to dedicate to creating
Speaker:a supplier diversity program.
Speaker:So we create one.
Speaker:We give them like the consulting part of it, the data part of it, and the
Speaker:certification understanding part of it.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Perfect.
Speaker:What's funny is I always like to have stories.
Speaker:With who I'm interviewing and you, in your guest prep form, filled
Speaker:out a couple of stories that I was like, I wanna know more about that.
Speaker:And one of them was, you said stories, you have a former client, I don't know if
Speaker:I'm gonna pronounce her name correctly.
Speaker:Jaque, is that right, Jackie?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Oh, is it that how, okay.
Speaker:So that's how you pronounce it.
Speaker:Okay, perfect.
Speaker:Jackie.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, Jackie.
Speaker:So you said she watched the movie War Dogs and then got a
Speaker:$5 million contact with the.
Speaker:That wasn't exactly like the timeline for it, but yeah.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So she like she watch the movie and then the contract rolled
Speaker:it, but it was pretty close.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So she's actually a really funny story because she's one of those people who
Speaker:was like, I don't need certification.
Speaker:No one's ever asked me for it.
Speaker:Why should I get it?
Speaker:I don't want it.
Speaker:And she'd been in a company for 20 years doing, she created, um, you know, when
Speaker:you go to like a large apartment store and they have like their own brands?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:She makes those clothing for them.
Speaker:Oh, ok.
Speaker:So they're like in-house brands.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And the pandemic.
Speaker:And you know, there was not a whole lot of people ordering more clothes.
Speaker:The stores were closing.
Speaker:Like she had to close a bunch.
Speaker:She had to lay off a bunch of people, but she still had her relationships
Speaker:with some of her factories.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So she started making PPE products, different versions of PPE products.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:and Scrubs and all these different like medical stuff
Speaker:that people were really needing.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:. And so Charter, she got a contract with Charter Communications and they
Speaker:set for ppe and they were like, Hey, we wanna get you diversity certified.
Speaker:You're a woman owned company.
Speaker:And she.
Speaker:I mean, I guess I'll do it.
Speaker:No one's ever really mentioned it before.
Speaker:Like, do I, I guess I'll do it cause you're asking for it.
Speaker:They're like, yeah, we'd really like you to do it.
Speaker:So she called.
Speaker:So we worked with her, we got her certified and we did at the same time,
Speaker:she was doing her women own certification.
Speaker:We did the W O sb, which is the federal government Women Owned
Speaker:Small Business certification.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:You can do it the same time that you do your W B E and I'm gonna throw
Speaker:out a ton of acronyms, so if you need me to translate, just let me know.
Speaker:I use them like they're a whole different language.
Speaker:Most of the people who listen to this podcast.
Speaker:Understand.
Speaker:M B E W B E, DBE E.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So Women Business Enterprise and, yeah, minority Business Enterprise.
Speaker:So yeah, we submitted her application.
Speaker:Everything's good to go.
Speaker:So in the meantime, she's watching War Dogs as her brand new husband, and she's
Speaker:like, I should start selling arms in the government with my WSB certification.
Speaker:She's like joking around and she thinks she's hysterical.
Speaker:She's cracking herself up.
Speaker:Her new husband's.
Speaker:All right, Jackie Whatev, right?
Speaker:We think we're so funny.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:And then she goes to work and she tells her coo, Hey, they were starts selling
Speaker:guns, arms to the government for my wsb.
Speaker:And he was like, actually, maybe not arms, but what about clothing or uniforms?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:. So she was like, yeah.
Speaker:So she goes on to Sam do gov and she finds that they're having, Marines
Speaker:are looking for practice uniforms.
Speaker:A 5 million contract later for a certification she didn't
Speaker:even wanna get to begin with.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So she came to Vegas.
Speaker:I made her buy all the drinks.
Speaker:Yes, I the contract and drinks are spending in
Speaker:Vegas, , there's events in Vegas.
Speaker:I'm like, these are on you Jackie . That's amazing.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So that just goes to show, you might not even think, what is
Speaker:a certification gonna do to me?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:For me, I wanna talk about another story that you teased
Speaker:about a client, Allison, you.
Speaker:Your client, Allison, like she sold 10, seven figure companies
Speaker:so she knows what she's doing.
Speaker:But you say she overlooked the one thing that launched her current company that
Speaker:she hadn't even thought about doing in the other companies that she sold.
Speaker:Yeah, so Allison runs an amazing organization called
Speaker:Pinnacle Global Network.
Speaker:They're a mastermind, they're a business coaching group for, you know,
Speaker:most of the business coaching are for startups, like brand new companies.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Hers is for people who wanna go from six to seven figures or
Speaker:seven to eight figures, et cetera.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So she's works with larger.
Speaker:More like solidified companies, I guess you can say.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:. Right.
Speaker:So she, um, had always, you know, she was a very successful business history mm-hmm.
Speaker:, and people kept saying to her, Allison, you should get certified.
Speaker:And she was like, I don't sell to corporations, I don't sell to them.
Speaker:Like, why should I get certified?
Speaker:And we're like, and everyone kept saying to her, but what
Speaker:about the other business owners?
Speaker:She was like, Ugh, I don't know.
Speaker:Like I don't sell the corporations.
Speaker:I'm like, we get that.
Speaker:But what about the 20,000 certified business women and business
Speaker:owners that are in WeBank?
Speaker:So she happened, there happened to be a local, a regional
Speaker:event near where she was.
Speaker:So her friend and mentee named Robin invited her to come.
Speaker:She's like, just come it's hour of your night.
Speaker:Just come.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:She came and she's like, I'm an idiot.
Speaker:. I was like, what?
Speaker:She said to herself, yeah, she's looking around.
Speaker:She's like, everybody in this room was a potential client for me.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And she did, and her numbers skyrocketed.
Speaker:And then, She really worked the WeBank system and now she runs
Speaker:their podcast, women Who Own It.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:and she interviews, so she gets to market herself on a weekly basis or monthly
Speaker:basis when they do the women who own IT podcasts and talk about what she does.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And Right.
Speaker:That's an unbelievable platform.
Speaker:You're in front of Uber successful women business owners and everybody
Speaker:else who finds that podcast.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So many little things.
Speaker:So many . You have to work it.
Speaker:You have to know what to do.
Speaker:That's the problem.
Speaker:That's the problem is you have to know what to do.
Speaker:Is that once you get certified, people are like, I'm certified.
Speaker:Where's my radi?
Speaker:Where are the contracts not radiating from the sky?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:You have to, it's not a magic wand.
Speaker:It's a tool.
Speaker:It's not a magic wand.
Speaker:It's a tool.
Speaker:That's a great, is that an analogy?
Speaker:Is that a metaphor?
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I don't know my words.
Speaker:I don't know what that is.
Speaker:It's a, it's a, this, none of that.
Speaker:I don't know what it was.
Speaker:Analogy, metaphors like most people who have a domain name.
Speaker:I bought my domain name through godad.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And you said you have a story about mine.
Speaker:Go Daddy and Mommy.
Speaker:Oh, I see.
Speaker:I know what you're saying.
Speaker:I'm like, wait, wait, what?
Speaker:Oh, so yeah, so Go Daddy.
Speaker:During the pandemic, they interviewed me, they were interviewed, somebody
Speaker:who knew me and they said to her, we need an entrepreneur that's
Speaker:dealing with working home with kids.
Speaker:And she's like, oh, I got one for yo, I got one.
Speaker:Because I have five kids, they're now age 13 to five.
Speaker:At the time, the youngest, their twins were three and my
Speaker:oldest was, whatever, two 11.
Speaker:I do the math in my head there.
Speaker:And so we were doing this interview about what it's like
Speaker:and if I have tips and trick.
Speaker:Like I was the expert in this, but I was like, as of those things, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Fake it until you make it with your kids.
Speaker:. Like here's the schedule, we're gonna do whatever it is.
Speaker:And there, and so he asked me and I was so disappointed actually, that
Speaker:this didn't make the final cut.
Speaker:Cause I thought it was like the best thing I said in the entire interview.
Speaker:But they said, um, so were you like sitting on the floor a lot more now
Speaker:with your kids playing games and I.
Speaker:Not really that kind of mommy . I'm more of like the, but I, but I tell you
Speaker:what I did do with my kids, my oldest daughter never really seen me work.
Speaker:Cause I always go to an office or she was at school when I was working
Speaker:at home at the time she was 11.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And she loves mommy's help being mommy's helper, babysitting.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And she saw me on the phone calling people, like hustling.
Speaker:That was, we do as business owners.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Ands, sh.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:and she.
Speaker:Picking up her phone and calling all of her clients and texting 'em,
Speaker:saying, this is when I'm available.
Speaker:I got CPR certified.
Speaker:This is my rate.
Speaker:Let me know when you'd like me to babysit for you.
Speaker:And I was like, oh my goodness.
Speaker:Like she really saw how I was running the company and she picked up on it
Speaker:and she started doing that for her own.
Speaker:And so she'll do that now.
Speaker:She'll be like, I need to make a flyer to post on the women's group.
Speaker:Can you post it so that they can go in there and whatever it is.
Speaker:So she really saw the hustling part of it.
Speaker:Yeah, and I was like so proud of her.
Speaker:I was like so proud of myself that that's what I, so I don't sit
Speaker:on the ground and play Barbie's.
Speaker:I'm sorry I'm not that kind of mom, but I gave a lot of really good life skills.
Speaker:. Yeah, no, I, it's funny how the pandemic just opened up, just all these different
Speaker:conversations about what we do and how we do it and understanding, you know,
Speaker:there's the Bring your daughter to Workday was every single day during the pandemic.
Speaker:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:She just saw like a different side of things and she saw how I interacted
Speaker:with clients and before she had really only heard me telling stories about it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But at the dinner table or whatever it is.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But now she saw it.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:, which was a completely different experience for her.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:She was like, I'm CPR certified, this is my rate.
Speaker:It's more expensive.
Speaker:Differentiator.
Speaker:There are differentiators out there.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Totally.
Speaker:I know baby Heim like, like I would, like, I would've put all that on it.
Speaker:. I know.
Speaker:It was so impressive.
Speaker:I was like, yes, now my job is done here.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Next onto the next kid to fix them . I know.
Speaker:Let me figure out the next one.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I just wanna talk about the acro gymnastics, the tightrope
Speaker:wagging, the juggling.
Speaker:Like how is that in your history and in like, Were you in the circus?
Speaker:I saw, I did.
Speaker:I was in the circus.
Speaker:I actually put that on my bio because I'm always like, it tells me two things.
Speaker:One, it's a good conversation starter with people, and also it tells
Speaker:me if they actually read the bio.
Speaker:So they don't ask me about it.
Speaker:I'm like, they didn't read it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:There's no way they read that.
Speaker:They have no questions about that.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So I grew up in a little tiny town in southern California called Redlands.
Speaker:It's the place you stop in to pee on the way to all the cool
Speaker:places in Southern California.
Speaker:And so, In Redlands though, there was, um, a youth circus.
Speaker:It'd been there for years.
Speaker:It's probably been like 60 years now, but it was years since I was
Speaker:there, when I was even part of it.
Speaker:And when we moved to Redlands, I was four, my sister was two.
Speaker:And when we were like five and four or five and three, my parents took us to
Speaker:the circus and I was like, this amazing.
Speaker:And it was kids, it was a youth circus.
Speaker:It was kids.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It wasn't just like the profe, right.
Speaker:It was all these kids.
Speaker:And I was like, those costumes are sparked.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They have beautiful makeup on.
Speaker:I wanna do it right.
Speaker:So my parents were like, what?
Speaker:My dad's like, my dad's an engineer, super like engineer square brain, right?
Speaker:And he was like, you wanna be in the circus?
Speaker:I'm like, yeah, I do.
Speaker:So he like signed us up and I did it till I was 18 years old,
Speaker:until I graduated high school.
Speaker:I did everything from like tightrope to un cycle, to juggling, to exercise.
Speaker:And I'm telling you though, it really did change how I work with people
Speaker:because I was always the base of pyramid.
Speaker:You do not have a pyramid if I don't show up.
Speaker:We always did a lot of passing and juggling.
Speaker:There's nobody to pass to if I don't show up.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So it really did help with like understanding how you can't just be about
Speaker:you, it has to be for the whole team.
Speaker:And so there was a lot of that involved in it.
Speaker:And just understanding that you have to kinda get outta your own way.
Speaker:I, I cried every single practice for one of the classes I was in.
Speaker:It was an aerial act and I do not love heights.
Speaker:It's not my favorite.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:. I don't like heights at all.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:My mom, this is where I got my non nurturing gene from, is my mother.
Speaker:Cause they, at the time, this was before everybody gets an award, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They were like, well, she's gonna have to do the tricks or she's out,
Speaker:we're cutting her and she's not gonna be part of this, this performance.
Speaker:My mom's like, you better get up there and do it if you wanna be in the show.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:There's no like goling.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:She was like, better get your shit together or you're
Speaker:not gonna be in the show.
Speaker:. And I did, and I was in the show.
Speaker:Somehow I've magically got over my fear just to be able to do the performance,
Speaker:but Right, we get in our own way.
Speaker:A lot of things, I think, whether it be we don't wanna outsource our
Speaker:certification process or whether.
Speaker:Be like, like we're too afraid to put something out there.
Speaker:One thing that Allison told the story about her, she says a lot,
Speaker:which I've kind of taken heart.
Speaker:She says, you're not embarrassed by the first, um, like
Speaker:version of what you put out.
Speaker:You didn't put it out soon enough.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Because we oftentimes wait so long to make it perfect that we're in our own way.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And we just got it out there.
Speaker:People might have feedback for us.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But we're never gonna get it Perfect anyway.
Speaker:So just put it out there.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And do what you can do with it.
Speaker:See what they think about it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Perfection is the enemy of done.
Speaker:I've heard.
Speaker:Before, cause we do wait and that's a coping mechanism because if we put
Speaker:it out there, then we have to own it and then we have to take action on it.
Speaker:So the coping mechanism is to procrastinate and say you're not ready.
Speaker:And it's not perfect yet, so.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I'm pretty sure there's a lot of people listening right now who are like, yes, I
Speaker:want all of the benefits of certification.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:I need someone to help me work, walk through this process.
Speaker:What is the process for working with you?
Speaker:Well, first I just wanna mention that we only talked about the
Speaker:business development benefits.
Speaker:We didn't even talk about the company, our leadership development benefits.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:Which are, in my mind some of the greatest benefits of being certified.
Speaker:So I'll give you an example that through my disability in, so we're
Speaker:dual certified as women owned and disability owned business enterprise.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Which is the one that is the most unknown.
Speaker:And so we can go into that if we have time.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Nope, we have time.
Speaker:What falls under disability owned.
Speaker:So that's where, so that's what gives people, like people forget about it.
Speaker:So women owned is obviously your women ethnic minority is black,
Speaker:Hispanic, Asian Indian, Asian Pacific, and Native American.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:veteran means that you have a DD two 14 that says you're officially an,
Speaker:um, an other than honorable or is cannot be dishonorable discharged.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And so some of 'em like.
Speaker:Not the Coast Guard, but like the reserves, it's like 20 years.
Speaker:Like there's some different caveats to that, but Okay.
Speaker:And then there's lgbt.
Speaker:You have to be a member of the LGBTQ community.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And then the last is disability.
Speaker:You know, this is the one that's most unknown.
Speaker:It's for if people have a diagnosis that the a d has identified as a
Speaker:disability and if it is not managed correctly, can infringe on your
Speaker:ability to run your business.
Speaker:So what do I mean by that?
Speaker:So the ADA has, has identified everything.
Speaker:Thyroid conditions to sleep apnea, to diabetes, to asthma, okay.
Speaker:To adhd, anxiety, depression.
Speaker:Anything though, why do I, what do I mean by manage this?
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:So if you have a sleep apnea, you have to sleep with a C Pap machine.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Cause if you don't, you can't function the next day cuz you haven't slept, you
Speaker:don't have enough oxygen in your system.
Speaker:Okay?
Speaker:If you have a thyroid condition and you don't take your medication by day three.
Speaker:You are lethargic.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:And you get sick.
Speaker:All these things happen to you, which means it very much
Speaker:harder to run your business.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:The people will say, And I've had people with one arm who are like, it doesn't
Speaker:hinder me from running my business.
Speaker:I'm like, I understand that.
Speaker:That's why you're a successful entrepreneur cuz you didn't let it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But nonetheless, you have one arm which does make things like typing slower.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:It's whatever else you're doing.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And so that is the disability owned business enterprise certification.
Speaker:And it's one of my favorites.
Speaker:I get a ton out of it.
Speaker:One of them being this Toyota mentorship program that I, I
Speaker:applied for and I was selected for.
Speaker:So they match you up with one of their executives.
Speaker:So I was.
Speaker:Step with the CIO of Toyota North America.
Speaker:Now, first of all, if you sell to the Fortune 100, having access to the
Speaker:C-suite is an invaluable opportunity to get their feedback on stuff, right?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:. You can't even hire somebody that's currently in this needs
Speaker:probably to consult with you.
Speaker:They don't have the time to bandwidth or you can afford it, whatever it is.
Speaker:And so her feedback and her working with me was so mind blowing on like stuff
Speaker:that she probably thought was so simple.
Speaker:Now, she did say to me, I'm not an entrepreneur, Heather, I cannot
Speaker:tell you how to run your company.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:like, you can teach me that all day, but I can't teach you that what I
Speaker:can teach you or things that I'm good at, process is a good thing
Speaker:for her, which I struggled with.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And so she was able to help me kind of walk through the process and when to.
Speaker:Like how much things cost us so we can make sure we're
Speaker:spend costing things correctly.
Speaker:But then she also said, I would say to her, I was like, Holly
Speaker:companies will tell me all the time, Heather, you're so amazing.
Speaker:You're so, so fantastic.
Speaker:I mean, we're not gonna hire you, but you're fantastic.
Speaker:I'm like, okay, Holly, where's the gap there?
Speaker:Like, yeah, somebody's missing.
Speaker:I'm like, what?
Speaker:I'm saying what they need to hear.
Speaker:And so we worked on my messaging.
Speaker:We created a whole video just for my corporate clients to send to them.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:That she said, and she.
Speaker:That wouldn't speak to me.
Speaker:What the first one I did.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:She's like, you need to tell me this.
Speaker:I'm like, you need to know that I, that's so simple.
Speaker:She's like, for you, for you.
Speaker:We don't know that and so you need to, and I was like, oh my goodness.
Speaker:It was like such simple things, but it was mind blowing in a sense that it changed.
Speaker:It changed the trajectory of our work with corporate America.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:. That to me is just as valuable as the business development
Speaker:benefits of a company.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Or just I was able to take part in.
Speaker:The Tuck Business School, which is the Dartmouth Business School.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:They, um, I got a scholarship through one of my certifications to go.
Speaker:It's a $5,000 class and I got a scholarship to go.
Speaker:I actually got two scholarships.
Speaker:I'm just waiting for the second one to be able to do it when they back in person,
Speaker:which it just started back in person, so I have to apply for the second one.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:because like, but not to me like get an executive MBA and
Speaker:having someone else pay for it.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Like those are unbelievable benefits that so many people just don't talk.
Speaker:And you can help people unearth, understand that and find those benefits.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So once you're certified, so first of all, our other company, diversity Masterminds,
Speaker:which is the second logo back here.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:, we aggregate a lot of those opportunities so people sign up for
Speaker:that listserv, that that's whatever, they'll get those sent to them as well.
Speaker:But yeah, we help them understand that exactly how they can take
Speaker:advantage of the certification.
Speaker:Because there's other things besides just getting business.
Speaker:Totally.
Speaker:There's so many things, right?
Speaker:There's even like partnerships, like how I found my partners for, for both Diversity
Speaker:Masterminds and Supplier Diversity in a Box was from the conferences for my
Speaker:other certified diverse businesses.
Speaker:I mean, just think about the resources that you have access
Speaker:to once you're certified.
Speaker:I know once I had an issue with the corporate procurement, And we
Speaker:didn't mess up, but it was like a miscommunication thing necessarily.
Speaker:But I like called a resource of mine, another supply diversity manager
Speaker:and like, help me, help me fix this.
Speaker:I don't wanna lose this contract.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And they did.
Speaker:They helped me with the verbiage I needed and I saved the contract.
Speaker:And five years later, they're one of our biggest accounts.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So how many different offerings does your company have?
Speaker:So, certify, my company does certifications.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But now that could.
Speaker:Private sector, it could be the public sector, it could
Speaker:be a lot of different options.
Speaker:The only ones we don't do are eight A and hub them.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:We have partners we can send you over to people like that that know how to do that,
Speaker:but we also do like those registrations.
Speaker:So once you're certified, you have to fill out the registration portals.
Speaker:So we offer a service for registration portals.
Speaker:We do re-certifications annually for our clients.
Speaker:And we do consulting about supplier diversity programming.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And training.
Speaker:We do a lot of training for corporations.
Speaker:So the majority of our work is corporations actually hiring us
Speaker:to work with their suppliers that are already in their supply chain.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:To make sure that anyone who should be certified is, but then we also have,
Speaker:you know, we do educational programming, speaking at events about the different
Speaker:benefits of certification, mostly for entrepreneurial organizations.
Speaker:Mm.
Speaker:We'll do internal trainings cuz sometimes like the supplier diversity manager's,
Speaker:like I've told my team so many times, like I don't know why they're not listening.
Speaker:And I always equate it to like, if I tell my husband something,
Speaker:he's like that stuff, whatever.
Speaker:So when also the same idea, he's like, you know, mark had the most genius idea ever.
Speaker:I'm like, oh that sounds so familiar.
Speaker:That idea.
Speaker:It's funny cuz I get hired by major corporations who have business
Speaker:developers in place, but they're like, we just need an outside voice because
Speaker:they don't listen to us anymore.
Speaker:It's so crazy.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:But it's the same thing, right?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:. So what we'll do now, and they'll be like, I said that, I'm like, I'm sure
Speaker:you said it verbatim, if not even better than I said it, but mm-hmm.
Speaker:I'm an outside voice.
Speaker:I'm not, there's nothing for me, nothing in it for me.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:For them to do better.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:So that way they think it's a genius idea.
Speaker:And then the Diversity Mastermind is also something that you offer.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Diversity Masterminds teaches you how to leverage that
Speaker:powerful tool of certification.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And I kept hearing people going like, I'm not gonna re-certify.
Speaker:I got nothing out of it.
Speaker:And I was like, what?
Speaker:How is that possible?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And then I'm like, did you do this?
Speaker:Did you do that?
Speaker:No, I didn't know I could.
Speaker:I didn't know I should.
Speaker:I was like, all right, there's another gap here of what you think
Speaker:you can do, or what you should do versus what you actually should do.
Speaker:And so we created a course and one, we have an OnDemand version.
Speaker:It's just videos, and we have a live cohort.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:That we do quarterly and people can sign up and we can teach them
Speaker:how to use their certification.
Speaker:Time after time, people will tell us they learned more in the first
Speaker:hour of the course than they did in, in five years of being certified.
Speaker:Do you have to be certified in order to take the Mastermind?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:You do.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Because you won't, you won't get anything out of it.
Speaker:You can watch the videos, but then you're not gonna log into the
Speaker:different portals to see different things that we're telling you to do.
Speaker:Pull information out.
Speaker:Okay, perfect.
Speaker:But you don't have to be the owner.
Speaker:You can be the salesperson in the company to take it.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And so how can people find.
Speaker:You and get in touch with you.
Speaker:So we go to certify my company.com.
Speaker:Mm-hmm emails, Heather certify my company.com.
Speaker:And just let us know that you wanna reach out and either myself or someone on my
Speaker:team will let you, will get back to you.
Speaker:Um, usually it's me, their initial call.
Speaker:Cause I wanna make sure you're getting the right certification, as I mentioned.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:people will call and be like, I want the state of New Jersey.
Speaker:I'm like, why?
Speaker:They're like, cause I wanna sell the target.
Speaker:I'm like, target doesn't care about the state of New Jersey.
Speaker:That gives you WeBank or our NMSDC certified, whatever it is.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Okay, perfect.
Speaker:So I'm gonna put a link to that.
Speaker:Can I put a link to your email, the notes as well, or all over,
Speaker:like social media as well?
Speaker:Instagram is probably the preferred.
Speaker:Instagram, LinkedIn, which is just at Certify my co.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:That's all the social handles, but we put like in information out there.
Speaker:Like congratulatory messages out there.
Speaker:We like to put products out there, like Screwball was just, screwball is one of
Speaker:our clients, screwball whiskey, and they just on the Today Show, I love Screwball.
Speaker:That's a peanut butter, right?
Speaker:The WeBank and Disability and certified?
Speaker:No, they're peanut butter.
Speaker:Peanut butter whiskey.
Speaker:I love them more.
Speaker:Yeah, whiskey.
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:Yeah, that's my go-to in the winter.
Speaker:My husband prefers just.
Speaker:Like whiskey, and I'm like, no, I need the peanut butter one.
Speaker:. What's good in coffee?
Speaker:We use like col, we use it like in coffee and stuff.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:But I have a great woman owned Burman company.
Speaker:If you're a whiskey person.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And she's in Boston.
Speaker:Where, what is it?
Speaker:Is it?
Speaker:It's called Boston Harbor Distillery.
Speaker:Boston Harbor Distillers, yes.
Speaker:I've been there a number of times.
Speaker:I love Rhonda.
Speaker:She's amazing.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Rhonda is my friend, Frances.
Speaker:One of my friend Francesca's best friends.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:Amazing.
Speaker:Yeah, I love her.
Speaker:I met her at a Woman of the Mind and Spirit event.
Speaker:We were like kindred spirits.
Speaker:I love her.
Speaker:Cuz she'll like, it's a good day for whiskey.
Speaker:I'm like, isn't every day.
Speaker:Every day is a good way.
Speaker:It's . So her, her backstory was, she was part of Sam Adams.
Speaker:Sam Adams, right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:No, that's funny that you know Rhonda.
Speaker:Yeah, I've, I've met her a handful of times.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:So there's so many amazing, amazing products out there that
Speaker:people just don't know about.
Speaker:And it's really funny cuz like whenever we go to Target with the kids, Who's
Speaker:buying the women own logo, right?
Speaker:So you're like, we're all running around Target trying to make
Speaker:a game out it looking for it.
Speaker:So it's been really fun to do that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And there's no excuse to not look for, for women owned business, disability
Speaker:owned business, minority owned business, like again, You have to look for 'em.
Speaker:You have to know who they are.
Speaker:So yeah, that's great.
Speaker:Well, and the truth is, like I, you know, WeBank did something really smart.
Speaker:Let me see if I have this one here.
Speaker:So you can see on this product right here, can you see the Women Own logo?
Speaker:It's on there.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Oh, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker:I can see that.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Nope, I can see it.
Speaker:Yeah, so that's the one that was created with Walmart and WeBank together.
Speaker:And the reason they did it, and you might know this so I apologize if I'm telling
Speaker:something you already know, but they did a study about seven years ago and they.
Speaker:Walmart knew that women control about 83 to 85% of all consumer decisions.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:And they know that women control like one point something or no, maybe
Speaker:it's like $5 trillion in domestic.
Speaker:Cuz it's a big number.
Speaker:I think it's like 5 trillion, 3 trillion.
Speaker:It's a lot of money.
Speaker:It's a lot of trillions.
Speaker:It's a lot of trillions.
Speaker:So, and so, I'm paraphrasing, so don't Google these exact words,
Speaker:but they were like, we want more of that money in our pocket.
Speaker:How are we gonna get it?
Speaker:And so they were asked a bunch of their customers, like they
Speaker:asked like Nationwide, you know, some, a lot of questions.
Speaker:And one of the questions was if you went in to buy shampoo, for example,
Speaker:again paraphrasing, but you were more likely to buy one if you could
Speaker:easily identify it as women owned.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And I will let you guess what percentage said they'd be more likely to buy it.
Speaker:A hundred.
Speaker:It was 90%, but pretty close.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So they were like, what that, A lot of money.
Speaker:So they helped create this logo.
Speaker:So that's a reasonable logo.
Speaker:And just to let you know, there's a, a magazine called
Speaker:Wine UM Intelligence Magazine.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And you've heard about this study.
Speaker:So did you know that this is pre pandemic?
Speaker:So it's probably gone up since then, but 70% of all wine purchases
Speaker:are made by women in the us.
Speaker:I can a hundred percent believe that.
Speaker:I think it's more now post, you know, as we're like moving on a pandemic.
Speaker:I think that went up a lot over the last two years.
Speaker:Wine intelligence wanted to know if the same statistic
Speaker:held true for wine drinkers.
Speaker:They asked the women wine drinkers like, if you wanted to buy a bottle of wine,
Speaker:would you be more likely to buy it?
Speaker:If you could tell it was women owned.
Speaker:And so what percentage do you think said yes?
Speaker:90% ? 90%?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know, there's a retail logo and so there's just like understand
Speaker:now the other organizations have.
Speaker:Not done retail logos, but a lot of times they'll say things like,
Speaker:there's a chip company called Nana's Chips out here in the southwest.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:, they're the best tortilla chips you'll ever have in your life, by the way.
Speaker:So if, if that's your trigger, don't buy them.
Speaker:Cause you'll eat the whole bag.
Speaker:They're so good.
Speaker:But they're minority owned.
Speaker:They're Nmsdc certified.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So they don't have the logo in there, but it does say we're
Speaker:a minority-owned company.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:On their brand.
Speaker:So you can look around, but you can definitely find them.
Speaker:But you know, it's.
Speaker:We all wanna know money's going, has that logo on it.
Speaker:So, um, Senor, who's it?
Speaker:El Jo.
Speaker:Oh, there's a great women owned one too, in Chicago.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:In Spra tequila in, oh my god.
Speaker:It is truly sip bowl just on ice.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's how I like it.
Speaker:With a, yeah, with a squeeze of line.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's amazing.
Speaker:But it's truly a sip of buzz, fear and tequila.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I'm gonna look that up.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So good.
Speaker:I know people are always like, do you have other products that aren't booze, Heather?
Speaker:I'm like, I do.
Speaker:I promise.
Speaker:I promise.
Speaker:I have other products that are not booze, but they just happen to.
Speaker:But resonates with a lot of people . Right.
Speaker:Especially during the pandemic.
Speaker:So you can go and you're spending your money.
Speaker:Like we wanna know what are we doing with our money?
Speaker:We've all heard the, if you buy from a large company, just
Speaker:buy the CEO a second house.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But I'll tell you like my kids are like, no, I get to go to dance lessons
Speaker:cuz people are hiring my mommy more.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Like you really, it really does impact your community.
Speaker:It so it really does.
Speaker:You can be shopping or you can shop intentionally.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Which one are you gonna do?
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:, I'm writing this down cuz that is a great way to.
Speaker:I'm gonna put it back in my wrap up.
Speaker:So I'm gonna put links to everything.
Speaker:I'm gonna wrap this up with all the amazing things that you've said.
Speaker:This was so much fun.
Speaker:Thank you for being here.
Speaker:I'm so glad we got to connect and you have to tell me how you know about in spirit.
Speaker:Tequila.
Speaker:I think you're gonna like it.
Speaker:I'm gonna have to find it and I, and you know me.
Speaker:I will find it.
Speaker:thank you again.
Speaker:My pleasure.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:So, two tracks of thought here as I wrap up this amazing interview.
Speaker:First, If you're eligible for a certification, get it.
Speaker:If you don't know if you're eligible for a certification, reach out to
Speaker:Heather and work with her to see what is available to you and what you qualify for.
Speaker:Here's no downside to that.
Speaker:Second, diversifying your supplier chain doesn't mean just diversifying the color
Speaker:or the kind of people you work with.
Speaker:It means diversifying your thought.
Speaker:A diverse way of looking at problem solving, a diverse way of
Speaker:thinking about your business and how you can serve your clients.
Speaker:There is no downside to this either.
Speaker:I know a lot of you who listen to this podcast are eligible for a certification
Speaker:in one form or another, so if you have been thinking about it, maybe now is the
Speaker:time to jump in and take action on it.
Speaker:Like the stories Heather told you have no idea what that certification
Speaker:could do for your business growth.
Speaker:To tip our hat to Heather's love of the circus and her
Speaker:tight rope walking abilities.
Speaker:The drink of the week is drum roll, please.
Speaker:The tight rope.
Speaker:Here's what you're gonna need.
Speaker:One and a half ounce of mezcal, one and a half ounce of rye,
Speaker:one quarter ounce F tomorrow.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:One quarter ounce of cinnamon syrup, homemade.
Speaker:You know how to make this.
Speaker:You make the simple syrup and you put some cinnamon sticks in it and you steep
Speaker:it and then you take cinnamon sticks out and then fall you got cinnamon syrup,
Speaker:uh, couple dashes of chocolate bidders and a couple dashes of Angus store vs.
Speaker:And if you have it spreads of grape for oil, what you're gonna do is you're
Speaker:going to put everything into a cocktail.
Speaker:You know, one of those crafts, you're with ice, you're gonna stir it, stir it, stir.
Speaker:So this one's gonna shake.
Speaker:You're gonna stir, stir, stir, stir, stir, stir, stir until it all comes together.
Speaker:And then you're gonna strain that over one of those big rocks in an
Speaker:old fashioned glass, and then garnish with that spritz of grape float oil.
Speaker:All right, friends, that's it for this week.
Speaker:If you like what you heard today, please leave, review
Speaker:and subscribe to the podcast.
Speaker:Also, remember, you can find me on LinkedIn, Julie Brown bd.
Speaker:Just shoot me a note and let me know where you found me.
Speaker:You can also find me on Instagram, Julie Brown bd, and that's it.
Speaker:Until next week.
Speaker:Teams.
Speaker:Hey, thanks for taking the time to listen.
Speaker:Be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss a tip.
Speaker:And remember, you can unapologetically be who you authentically are
Speaker:and still be wildly successful.
Speaker:That's a fact.
