In this episode of Celebrating Small Family Businesses, we explore the story of Donna Peterson and her company, World Innovators, a B2B marketing firm founded by her mother 43 years ago.
Donna shares the company’s evolution from postal mailing lists to a full-service marketing agency, emphasizing the value of personal relationships and adapting to technological changes like email in the 1980’s and AI in the 2020’s.
She also discusses the dynamics of working with family, including her husband and daughter’s roles, and offers insights into the importance of effective communication and speaking skills through organizations like Toastmasters.
Tune in to hear how World Innovators maintains a leading role in the industrial marketing space and prepares for the future with its unique family-oriented approach.
Learn more about World Innovators at https://www.worldinnovators.com/ and listen to their podcast at https://www.worldinnovators.com/b2bmarketingexcellence
Watch and learn on the World Innovations YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@WorldInnovators
Connect with Donna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donnaapeterson/
00:00 Introduction to Celebrating Small Family Businesses
00:03 Meet Donna Peterson and World Innovators
01:13 The Early Days of World Innovators
03:26 Transition to Digital Marketing
04:45 The Importance of Personal Connections
08:32 Family Dynamics in Business
12:17 Balancing Family and Business Roles
14:39 The Value of Understanding Marketing History
17:18 Incorporating AI in Marketing
18:34 Corporate vs. Family Business Dynamics
19:06 Crafting a Unique Brand Story
19:55 Finding the Right Clients
21:10 Specializing in Industrial B2B Marketing
22:55 High-Stakes Equipment Decisions
26:15 Balancing Risk and Conservatism
30:10 The Value of External Experience
34:31 The Importance of Communication Skills
38:07 Future Plans and AI Integration
40:47 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Hi, and welcome to another episode of Celebrating Small Family Businesses.
Speaker:Today, we are celebrating Donna Peterson and World
Speaker:Innovators, a B2B marketing firm.
Speaker:Hi, Donna.
Speaker:Hi, how are you today?
Speaker:Wonderful.
Speaker:Wonderful.
Speaker:How are you?
Speaker:I am great right now.
Speaker:We are trying not to melt.
Speaker:It's very hot, so we are trying to, I don't mind being inside at my desk.
Speaker:Let me just tell you that.
Speaker:Oh,
Speaker:we go from AC to AC.
Speaker:Yeah, you know, our feels like temperature sometimes yesterday, I
Speaker:think it was the actual temperature was 91 and the feels like was 103.
Speaker:I don't know how you people do it.
Speaker:I could not live down there.
Speaker:I
Speaker:There are times we don't know either.
Speaker:There's a lot of people in winter in, in the, in the central Florida area
Speaker:that have summer homes in the Carolinas in the mountains for just that reason.
Speaker:Yeah, snowbirds.
Speaker:We get them up in Vermont all the time.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:The Carolinas, they used to call them Floridiots.
Speaker:Yeah, because we didn't know how to do the switchbacks, so we would
Speaker:ride in the middle of the road.
Speaker:Oh,
Speaker:We are flatlanders.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:okay.
Speaker:So Donna tell us about the history of world innovations How did it get started?
Speaker:I think that's a fascinating story if I recall
Speaker:Yes it is.
Speaker:Um, first the company is World Innovators and was founded
Speaker:43 years ago by my mother.
Speaker:Now you can imagine back then that was a big deal for her to go out on
Speaker:her own and start up the company.
Speaker:But it was all because she saw a need for mailing lists.
Speaker:Because we didn't have the internet then and she had clients like
Speaker:Frost and Sullivan, Forrester, NYU, Fordham, Caltech, who wanted to
Speaker:promote their programs, but didn't know how to reach these executives.
Speaker:And she went around the world talking with different publishers and conference
Speaker:companies about what mailing lists, so I mean postal lists, did they have
Speaker:available that her clients could rent.
Speaker:And that really is the basis of our company.
Speaker:It started as a list So it was postal lists.
Speaker:And of course, now we have evolved into email lists, but we've also grown
Speaker:with our clients so that we are a full service B2B marketing agency, helping
Speaker:our clients get their message right in front of their target audience.
Speaker:Because gone are those days of doing those big, broad, general messages to a
Speaker:large audience and getting all the sales you need that it won't work anymore.
Speaker:And we help our clients find that specific niche audience and get
Speaker:their message in front of them.
Speaker:So as the years have grown 43 years, it has evolved.
Speaker:I will not say it was all easy.
Speaker:It definitely was not.
Speaker:We have been through some things in the economy.
Speaker:You know, there was September 11th, which shut a lot of things down.
Speaker:We had anthrax scares that again, shut things down.
Speaker:People weren't going to travel.
Speaker:People wouldn't open up mailing.
Speaker:And then you also had the whole evolution of.
Speaker:Marketing and the technology that's out there.
Speaker:That's kind of changed our workspace.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So, um, what was the transition like when, when, you know, you've got
Speaker:mail when, when that became a thing?
Speaker:What, did that just really rock your, your business?
Speaker:You know, at first everyone wasn't sure and everyone still was very secure
Speaker:that it had to be a postal mail piece.
Speaker:A lot of people still wanted to get print.
Speaker:And then you did start to see the change and it wasn't a drastic boom.
Speaker:It was boom.
Speaker:A gradual let's okay.
Speaker:Let's incorporate some email into our campaigns.
Speaker:And then again, a little bit more and then a little bit more.
Speaker:And you did see a lot of companies leave doing a print or a postal
Speaker:campaign and going into emails to then setting up banners.
Speaker:You know, we didn't have banners back when the company started.
Speaker:There was no internet back when the company started.
Speaker:It was 43 years ago.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:why the ingenuity my mother had about traveling around the world.
Speaker:I don't mean getting on a zoom call.
Speaker:There was no zoom call.
Speaker:It was getting onto planes, meeting people in person.
Speaker:because she did that, some 43 years ago are still in existence.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Yeah, there is such a value to the personal contact.
Speaker:Um, that you, you just, I mean, this is great and it's so much better than a
Speaker:phone call because I can see your face and I can read your expressions and
Speaker:we can connect on a much deeper level.
Speaker:And I found that with my parents when we lived across the country from my
Speaker:parents, trying to get, getting on a video call was a huge difference.
Speaker:But it's not the same as face to face.
Speaker:It's never the same.
Speaker:I totally agree with that.
Speaker:I met with a vendor this week on Tuesday and same thing.
Speaker:He flew in, he goes, I don't do as many meetings like this anymore,
Speaker:but I get so much value out of it.
Speaker:And now, especially well with marketing, but everything in our life has to be
Speaker:about building those relationships.
Speaker:And if you want to build a relationship where you really connect with the
Speaker:individual, those in person meetings.
Speaker:up so much.
Speaker:not just business.
Speaker:It's not just, okay, let's do this interview.
Speaker:We're going to leave.
Speaker:It's, oh, where are you going on your vacation?
Speaker:What are your kids doing?
Speaker:Oh, your dog.
Speaker:It just opens up a whole plethora of different
Speaker:Mm hmm.
Speaker:about, but things for you to connect on.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Exactly so.
Speaker:Well, and you're more relaxed because you're not recording.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Yeah, you can say things that, one to one, that you couldn't
Speaker:say maybe that on a recording.
Speaker:I'm notorious for that.
Speaker:you're doing and if you're doing a 20 minute zoom call, you know, you want
Speaker:to get to the point, you want to get your information and everyone leaves.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:sitting down, I'm just meeting him in Starbucks.
Speaker:We were sitting down for an hour, just sipping on, I was having a cold brew,
Speaker:I think with some cinnamon on it.
Speaker:And our conversations went in a variety of different ways,
Speaker:Mm hmm.
Speaker:something I didn't know.
Speaker:About him in business, what he could do for my clients.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:my clients go further.
Speaker:Nice.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Nice.
Speaker:Y'all must want to play for his plane ticket for that, don't you?
Speaker:You know, sometimes
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:when you
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:in person, it saves, I say at least 10 emails
Speaker:Mm hmm.
Speaker:you know, trying to figure out like, what, what exactly are they saying?
Speaker:Did they mean
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:What is the tone?
Speaker:confused.
Speaker:All
Speaker:Emails do not, and texts do not have tongue.
Speaker:They don't?
Speaker:please.
Speaker:They don't.
Speaker:And sometimes, well, sometimes I do read an email like, Oh, they're mad at me.
Speaker:Why are they mad at me?
Speaker:Uh huh.
Speaker:to them.
Speaker:They're like, I'm not mad.
Speaker:And I'm like, Oh, I'm sorry.
Speaker:Some reason I read your email and it came across
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:No, I'm just a snark.
Speaker:What can I say?
Speaker:I like to be a little sarcastic.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Well, that's it.
Speaker:I'm a
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:and sometimes people don't get it that I'm really, it's a, it's a joke.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:being serious.
Speaker:And I, I tell people when I meet them in person, I'll say something and I can
Speaker:tell by them being reserved or quiet.
Speaker:They're not quite sure.
Speaker:Was that a joke or was
Speaker:Mm hmm.
Speaker:Mm
Speaker:I look at him going, I was joking.
Speaker:hmm.
Speaker:Mm
Speaker:I'm a
Speaker:hmm.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well, and that's how you figure each other out.
Speaker:And that's part of, you know, the, the establishing kind of the relationship
Speaker:and the, the rules of engagement.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Cause, um, I've, I've always tended to be, uh, uh, taking myself too
Speaker:seriously and been very literal.
Speaker:And so when I meet somebody that messes with me, I'm one of those, I don't know.
Speaker:And I'll get that deer and I don't have a poker face at all.
Speaker:So I'll get that deer in the headlights look and you know,
Speaker:they'll say, I'm messing with you.
Speaker:Oh come on, if you work with family, you'd better be funny.
Speaker:You better run with it, because I want to...
Speaker:otherwise,
Speaker:Exactly
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Well, so mentioning that, um, your, so your mother started the business.
Speaker:You said, in our pre-interview, that you've worked both with your father in
Speaker:the business at some point, and also your husband works in the business currently.
Speaker:And now her daughter too.
Speaker:And your daughter?
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:My, um, mother Oh, started the company in 1980.
Speaker:My father then joined two years later to help her on the sales side.
Speaker:Cause he was a salesman for different, food brands, but then decided to join her.
Speaker:I joined, uh, around their 10th year.
Speaker:I've been here ever since.
Speaker:I swore I was never ever going to do this.
Speaker:I
Speaker:Famous last words.
Speaker:it was, it was well, and also in college, you have to understand
Speaker:when I was in college and my friends thought my mother had male lists.
Speaker:M A L E lists.
Speaker:They got quite excited and I had to calm them down and say,
Speaker:no, not males, mail, M A I L.
Speaker:Then it wasn't as glamorous anymore.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Oh, that's so funny.
Speaker:I
Speaker:swore I was going more the accounting.
Speaker:I wanted to be a certified financial planner.
Speaker:And while I was studying, I worked for my mother part time
Speaker:and that's where the love sparked.
Speaker:I couldn't believe I had the opportunity to work in a variety of
Speaker:different industries around the world.
Speaker:So I wasn't dealing with just people in the United States.
Speaker:We were over in the UK.
Speaker:We were all over Germany, Asia, just speaking to different people.
Speaker:And I love learning about their culture.
Speaker:I love learning about different industries and then the nuances of
Speaker:marketing; just don't even get me started.
Speaker:And if my family was around me, they're like, really don't get her started!
Speaker:I love that nuance of trying to figure out what does resonate with people?
Speaker:What would they find interesting to read?
Speaker:What colors are they drawn to?
Speaker:I'm just, I really can geek out on it.
Speaker:So the whole world of B2B marketing going into that industrial side
Speaker:where it's really intricate.
Speaker:I got hooked, joined and never left.
Speaker:And then my husband joined in 2002.
Speaker:Because at that point we were starting a family and he didn't want to work
Speaker:his long financial hours anymore.
Speaker:And so he joined the company.
Speaker:He still works here today.
Speaker:My, both my children have worked in the company at some capacity.
Speaker:And my
Speaker:daughter right now is doing her graduate degree.
Speaker:So she's back working with the company, helping us on our podcast,
Speaker:the B2B Marketing Excellence podcast, and getting it produced
Speaker:and promoted out in the marketplace.
Speaker:Ah, okay.
Speaker:Very good.
Speaker:Yes, I've watched a couple of episodes.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Yes, yes.
Speaker:So, what do you love most about working with family?
Speaker:And you talked about falling in love with, uh, You know, the multinational
Speaker:and the nuance part of it.
Speaker:And I mean, we could geek out on that for an hour.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:That's all the different cultures and communications and all that, but within
Speaker:the business, the family in the business, how, what do you love about that?
Speaker:And, and what is like your greatest, um, two part question.
Speaker:So what's your greatest tip or secret that you've learned about balancing
Speaker:harmoniously balancing the two things.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:I'm going to answer these two questions, but that last question,
Speaker:still working on that one
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:But I have to say something about working with family business
Speaker:is that unconditional support.
Speaker:Just like when you're in a relationship at home, it's that unconditional love.
Speaker:When you're working in a business with your family members, there is that
Speaker:unconditional support that, you know, they're always going to be there.
Speaker:You know, that they really do have.
Speaker:You top of mind, they don't have a separate agenda for themselves because
Speaker:we're working together as a family.
Speaker:And when this is the livelihood for at times, it was two families.
Speaker:It was my parents and then my husband and I, and that was the only income
Speaker:coming into our house was this business.
Speaker:You do work together to make it succeed.
Speaker:And it is not always easy.
Speaker:There's definitely pluses and minuses to a family business, but I feel that one
Speaker:of the best tips I could give people as they start a family business is make sure
Speaker:each individual has their own specific role that they're responsible for.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I find if everyone is too much like this, it gets very muddy, very
Speaker:quickly.
Speaker:too much like this.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It really does.
Speaker:So, for instance,me, I'm more on the sales.
Speaker:I talk, I am more forefront right in front of the clients where my
Speaker:husband is in the financial side.
Speaker:That is his wheelhouse.
Speaker:I work like this.
Speaker:He works like this.
Speaker:So he's able to go over the details carefully, make
Speaker:sure everything is spot on.
Speaker:My mom, who is 91, is still with the company and she comes in
Speaker:and works and to have her as a sounding board is, is priceless.
Speaker:Because there is something about knowing the history and the evolution
Speaker:of marketing To be able to talk to someone about that And that's what does
Speaker:worry me about when people go out to do marketing, especially in the b2b space
Speaker:They have to understand the history that came before in order to really be
Speaker:successful for all the years to come.
Speaker:Okay, my, my coach hat just went on.
Speaker:When you say when they go out into market, they have to understand the
Speaker:history, the history of the company that they are representing as a
Speaker:marketing agent or, or the history of the company that's doing the marketing.
Speaker:Well, kind of both.
Speaker:I think your clients have to
Speaker:understand
Speaker:your, your family dynamics, how the company is structured,
Speaker:How it is set up your basis, you know, there's something about when
Speaker:you work with a family business, there's a, there's a work ethic
Speaker:you don't find in other companies,
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:within
Speaker:our company, we're family owned, we don't want to turn around and
Speaker:just sell this, like my mother said, this was her fourth child.
Speaker:this company is her baby.
Speaker:And I think if I ever tried to sell it, I might as well just go out and dig a
Speaker:hole because she would absolutely die.
Speaker:And I didn't understand that for the longest time, but after putting
Speaker:in the sweat and the time I've put in, I have no desire to sell it
Speaker:and just, you know, manage people.
Speaker:I like being in the meat of it.
Speaker:I like talking to the clients.
Speaker:I like talking to the vendors.
Speaker:I like to go to the industry trade shows.
Speaker:So it's important for clients to know that.
Speaker:But then when you want to be a really good marketer, it's important to know
Speaker:the history of marketing, like how
Speaker:did
Speaker:postal campaigns work?
Speaker:How did it evolve into email?
Speaker:You know, now with marketing, everyone wants to use like special phrases, like
Speaker:omni channel account based marketing.
Speaker:And it's like relationship building.
Speaker:Even I use that word a lot because that's what everyone chooses, but
Speaker:we were always concerned about that.
Speaker:My father, when he came in from being sales for big food brands,
Speaker:like General Mills and Stouffer, you know, Stouffer, he knew that.
Speaker:It's all about building those relationships with your prospects,
Speaker:but also with your fellow employees and the people you work with.
Speaker:And
Speaker:Yeah, and before the internet, it was like, well, the only way you're going to
Speaker:do anything is to build a relationship.
Speaker:It was, it was a given and, and
Speaker:that's when you had to travel to see them.
Speaker:right, right.
Speaker:And now you have the option of just, you know, sitting behind a screen and spitting
Speaker:out a bunch of stuff and sending it out and never making any personal contact.
Speaker:And so it's really, you know, You know, we're, we have to keep
Speaker:remembering that we're human.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Especially in this AI world.
Speaker:Oh,
Speaker:I think this is going to be another don't get me started.
Speaker:it is going to be another, don't get me started because I go around now and
Speaker:I'm speaking at different industrial shows about how they can incorporate
Speaker:AI into the mix, but you just brought up a very good point, Connie.
Speaker:AI is great.
Speaker:You have to learn how to use it correctly.
Speaker:And that's what I talk about.
Speaker:But don't forget that personal side that cannot come from AI.
Speaker:You
Speaker:And that's one of the joys of working in a family business.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:and, and being a part of that, because you can have that personalization
Speaker:that you're not getting from a big corporation that's faceless
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:much deeper because of the history.
Speaker:Right,
Speaker:Like people know, clients know, uh, you work with me, you're going to
Speaker:work with me until I get hit by a bus or I don't know what happens.
Speaker:It's not that I'm going to jump ship for another higher salary.
Speaker:That's not going to happen.
Speaker:And you know, that's the other thing about family, everyone's here for the long haul.
Speaker:We're not here for three years to then move on to the next job.
Speaker:right.
Speaker:We're here because we're invested.
Speaker:We care about our clients, but also as a family, we want this
Speaker:to grow and be successful.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And, and yeah, that was one of the things that I heard in there I wanted to make
Speaker:sure to, to tease out was that, you know, the, one of the differences between the
Speaker:corporate world, you mentioned agenda.
Speaker:The family members , they're not having to, , manage and protect
Speaker:their own career and build their own brand separate from the business.
Speaker:Because they're, they're part of the business, they own the business,
Speaker:and, you know, hopefully, unless they do something really stupid,
Speaker:they're not going to get kicked out.
Speaker:Like Connie said, also, there's that story.
Speaker:You know, right now, how do you as a brand stand out and it's all
Speaker:about telling your unique story.
Speaker:So for instance, there's lots of B2B marketing companies out there.
Speaker:Please, there's ones popping up every day.
Speaker:You know, kids come out of college and they're marketing experts,
Speaker:but what makes you separate?
Speaker:Well, You know what?
Speaker:We're 43 years old.
Speaker:We are woman owned.
Speaker:We work in the industrial space, you know, it's all family.
Speaker:So you see, we've whittled down our story to be very unique.
Speaker:And some people will
Speaker:say, no way, we don't want to work with you.
Speaker:We want to work with the big, huge corporations.
Speaker:Well, that's fine because we wouldn't be a good match anyway.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So,
Speaker:yeah, but by all means, let us know how that worked.
Speaker:yeah, well, I always just say, you know, there's personalities come into play
Speaker:and you will align yourself with the people who resonate with your story.
Speaker:And don't try to push it.
Speaker:Don't try to push it that you can work with everyone
Speaker:because it's not going to work.
Speaker:And half the time, those people you shouldn't have been working with,
Speaker:if you do get them as clients, they're going to be headaches.
Speaker:So, you have to get rid of them now.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Let them weed out themselves.
Speaker:And that would fit with, with, you know, I think a lot of companies that
Speaker:they don't have to be a family business for that, but I, um, I'm so again,
Speaker:my, my curiosity is, is asking, so is there something that comes out of the
Speaker:experience of working with family that
Speaker:makes that clearer or easier to do.
Speaker:What telling the story.
Speaker:Um, recognizing where there's a fit and where there isn't.
Speaker:I don't know if that's a family business thing or an age thing, because as I've
Speaker:gotten older, I've gotten better at that because when I first joined, it was
Speaker:all about, okay, let's just make sales.
Speaker:Let's just work with everybody.
Speaker:You know, even our promotions would be more.
Speaker:Marketing.
Speaker:So we would work with B2B and B2C brands where now we're really more
Speaker:B2B and really on the industrial side because we know the pharmaceutical
Speaker:manufacturers and food manufacturers and metalworking manufacturers better
Speaker:than if you were trying to sell shoes.
Speaker:And now I guess over the years I've learned; I've grown that
Speaker:we are better just sticking in our little, our wheelhouse.
Speaker:We'll be more successful as a company, but our clients also are
Speaker:going to reap the benefit because they're going to get our specialty,
Speaker:Mm hmm.
Speaker:Our expertise.
Speaker:And, and so B2B and I, I think most anybody will know that means business to
Speaker:business, but the, when you say in the industrial space, so B2B could be, uh,
Speaker:an accountant, you know, that works with small businesses doing their accounting.
Speaker:So that would be a form of B2B, but you're more in, uh, product based,
Speaker:like somebody's a manufacturer that's creating physical things that
Speaker:these other companies buy, right?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:A lot of this stuff we do is large pieces of equipment.
Speaker:So there'll be HPLC or CNC machines and how you market something
Speaker:like that is totally different than if it's accounting services.
Speaker:Because some of these pieces of equipment that we're trying to help sell can
Speaker:be hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Speaker:can't just slap up a social media post and get someone to buy that
Speaker:That's not an impulse buy.
Speaker:No, no, it's, it's a different type.
Speaker:And, and that's why going around to industry specific publishers has really
Speaker:helped us and finding that niche audience.
Speaker:Oh, wow, that made me remember we were in the egg business when I started my career.
Speaker:And, and we, when I joined the company, we were in an expansion and, um, our
Speaker:manager, hired manager, had located the, the world's most, world's best,
Speaker:I'll call it, most advanced egg grading machinery was from a company called
Speaker:MOBA, M O B A, out of the Netherlands.
Speaker:They still are as far as I know, but we, we imported this machine from
Speaker:the Netherlands and it came with two guys to, you know, put it together.
Speaker:And so I understand exactly what you're talking about from that point
Speaker:of view, 1977, it was 150, 000.
Speaker:Oh, I have no idea.
Speaker:I have no idea what it was.
Speaker:That's what it was.
Speaker:At least that.
Speaker:And because we had to build a building to house it and we had to have and then
Speaker:guess who was in charge of Running it and making sure that when things happen
Speaker:Yeah, I needed to know how to do all the maintenance, but there again was running
Speaker:24/7 but and and that yeah the the I wasn't involved in the decision process,
Speaker:but making a commitment to, to something that's that central to your business where
Speaker:your whole, basically your whole process is, is dependent on that thing and taking
Speaker:a risk on something that's not popular because it was popular in the world, but
Speaker:it wasn't popular in the United States.
Speaker:There were other local or more local manufacturers that owned the market.
Speaker:So we were really going against the grain.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And that's, and that's one of the things when you are trying to buy a piece like
Speaker:that, everyone comes into the decision.
Speaker:You got your CEO who's got to be in there.
Speaker:Your CFO obviously has got to tell you, do you have enough?
Speaker:Money, but then you want your production and operations people
Speaker:involved too, to say, is this really going to make us more efficient?
Speaker:Is this really going to take our business to the next level to be worth building a
Speaker:new building or, know, bringing over two technicians and then training you to use
Speaker:the machine and to maintain the machine
Speaker:Right, because we couldn't pick up the phone and just call the guy to come, you
Speaker:know, down the road to fix something.
Speaker:decision.
Speaker:Like one of the companies I work with, they're a German company and same thing.
Speaker:They get the piece of equipment sent here, but then some of their people have to come
Speaker:over from Germany and now they're trying to train people from the U S to do it.
Speaker:But there's a lot more time education needed in order to get
Speaker:people to make those decisions.
Speaker:And especially in a small family business where, you know, you're spending, you're
Speaker:outlaying this much money on a hope, a dream, a prayer that, that is really
Speaker:is going to in the long run pay off.
Speaker:But, and you don't have a lot of the backing that you've got in a large
Speaker:corporation where they can absorb that and go, yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll mark it
Speaker:off, you know, tax free, whatever it is.
Speaker:But for us, it was, are we going to, in a year from now, can we
Speaker:support this family with this?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:the families that were working for us.
Speaker:That is a
Speaker:very, very hard decision to
Speaker:mm hmm,
Speaker:you were asking me, John, about, is there something I wish I had
Speaker:done differently in our business?
Speaker:And one, I think maybe to be a little bit more courageous, To take those leaps, like
Speaker:you just said, Connie, because we never, ever got outside funding for our company.
Speaker:We have never taken out a loan for the company.
Speaker:We're very conservative and sometimes that was to a fault
Speaker:hmm, right, mm hmm,
Speaker:because as a 43 year old brand, I think maybe we should have had a little
Speaker:bit more confidence in our abilities to take maybe some of those riskier
Speaker:investments and go out into an area.
Speaker:But we were always of the thing;
Speaker:we didn't want outside money.
Speaker:mm
Speaker:We
Speaker:hmm,
Speaker:want to take out loans that we could not pay back.
Speaker:right.
Speaker:Or it was going to take food off the table for our children to pay back.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:And that, that, it is a big decision.
Speaker:It is a big decision, but I've seen other family brands where do take that
Speaker:leap, some of them mortgage their homes
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:they invested back in the company and you did see, not all the time,
Speaker:doesn't always work out, but sometimes when you are confident with what
Speaker:you are doing, you see the company really get to that, that next level.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:I would think it's not always an all or nothing kind of thing.
Speaker:I mean, there are times when you can, you can start small, you know, there is some
Speaker:investment, but you can test and, and go in a new direction and see how it works
Speaker:without, you know, betting the farm on it.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:As they say.
Speaker:Mortgaging your children.
Speaker:right.
Speaker:But, but if you ask my husband or my family, I'm like, uh, we got to do it all.
Speaker:If we're going to do this, let's just do it all and make it that, you know?
Speaker:And he's always like, well, how about if you test it out first?
Speaker:And I'm like, Oh, I don't, don't like waiting.
Speaker:I like doing things fast.
Speaker:So, but you're right, John.
Speaker:I think if you took it as a slower in segments.
Speaker:You could do it that way.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:That's where we work, and how we think.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And it underlies everything.
Speaker:So, but this is not about us.
Speaker:Um, so, something, is there something you wish that you'd known
Speaker:uh, about the, the family aspect?
Speaker:That, you know, what did you, what did you learn from those years of work?
Speaker:Like you said, I'll never do this.
Speaker:And then, and then you're in it, and now, and then you're in love with it.
Speaker:So, what would you say to that person that said, I'll never do this?
Speaker:Sometimes I think we all look around and the grass looks greener on the other side.
Speaker:So you say, I'm not going to work with family.
Speaker:I want to go and I want to go big.
Speaker:then you realize that with family, it just fills your heart.
Speaker:You know, maybe we're not the biggest corporation out there.
Speaker:But every time I tell that story of my mom starting the company 43 years
Speaker:ago, I'm telling you, I do, I feel like the Grinch in the movie where
Speaker:you feel like your heart gets a little bit bigger because I am in awe of her
Speaker:bravery at that time to do what she did.
Speaker:Because she didn't do it as a second career.
Speaker:Yes, I told you my father was in sales, but he was going in
Speaker:and out of jobs at that time.
Speaker:And my mom started the company to keep our family alive, to, to support our family.
Speaker:So for her, it was, this has to work.
Speaker:This is not, I'm doing this business to buy a lampshade.
Speaker:This is, I need this to support my three kids.
Speaker:And when I tell that story.
Speaker:My heart gets bigger, but I think when I was younger, I didn't understand that.
Speaker:And my mother did a great thing when I came out of college, she would not
Speaker:let me work for the company right away, even if I wanted to, she says you need
Speaker:to go out and work for other people
Speaker:Smart.
Speaker:and that, that is something I tell to people all the time, definitely do that.
Speaker:Mm hmm.
Speaker:Because when I started, I was working with a real estate
Speaker:developer working in accounting.
Speaker:And there was a day where I literally sat in a back room, just
Speaker:cutting up old checks, because we had changed bank accounts.
Speaker:And I remember going home and saying to my mother, this is ridiculous.
Speaker:What did I go to college for?
Speaker:I'm sitting in this room, cutting up these checks.
Speaker:I should be doing more.
Speaker:And she's like, It's character building
Speaker:over the years.
Speaker:My mother has said that to me quite a few times, character building.
Speaker:And even to this day, I'll say I've got enough character.
Speaker:We don't need that, but, but she's right.
Speaker:Like everything you do in your life builds your character
Speaker:Mm hmm.
Speaker:you need to go through those before you jump into the family business,
Speaker:otherwise you don't learn to respect.
Speaker:Maybe the top management.
Speaker:I would not respect my mother or my father working with them as much if I
Speaker:hadn't worked for somebody else first.
Speaker:I get that.
Speaker:And there's, I know that there's some division in the, in the advisory world
Speaker:about how important it is, for next gens to work outside the business first.
Speaker:A lot of people require it.
Speaker:Other people, you know, recommend it.
Speaker:Um, And other people don't think it's necessary.
Speaker:Naturally, and, and some don't do it.
Speaker:I think from my perspective, I didn't really.
Speaker:I went straight into the family business as kind of a default.
Speaker:And most of my career, I wondered if I deserved to be there.
Speaker:Could I work somewhere else or, or am I, am I only here because I'm the heir?
Speaker:And, and that is not a comfortable psychological position to be in at all.
Speaker:It, and I was worse than uncomfortable, but so I'm a strong advocate of getting
Speaker:some experience somehow that shows you your, your skills and your strengths.
Speaker:that you know, that you've earned your position.
Speaker:And there's also policies within the family business.
Speaker:Like especially if you've, if it's big enough to have, you know, more
Speaker:than family members as employees, then the family members, there needs to
Speaker:be very clear policies in place that everybody, goes through the same process
Speaker:to, to be hired into the position and has to qualify the same way so
Speaker:that there's no question about that.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:I totally agree.
Speaker:We have people in our company who are not family and our philosophy
Speaker:there is we treat them like they are.
Speaker:Mm hmm.
Speaker:We really, we acknowledge birthdays or anniversaries or
Speaker:care about when a pet passes away.
Speaker:When people come and join us, they are, they are family.
Speaker:We care about them, but I agree with you, you know, even just going
Speaker:through the interviewing process, you know, Everybody should go through an
Speaker:interviewing process with another company.
Speaker:You should never like walk out of college and go right into a company because
Speaker:like you said, John, you'll sit there later wondering, "Do I deserve this?"
Speaker:And even when I started with the company, I'd worked for somebody else.
Speaker:I felt like I really needed to prove myself because I felt like I was young.
Speaker:I also felt like I was just Anne's daughter.
Speaker:I needed to prove that I knew what I was talking about.
Speaker:And the only way to do that is to get out there and put yourself out there early.
Speaker:Well, and that says something about you, too.
Speaker:You know, that you felt that way.
Speaker:Because there are, you know, there's a lot of different kinds of personalities.
Speaker:And there are second generations that, you know, come at it from the point of
Speaker:view of, I don't have anything to prove.
Speaker:I deserve to be here.
Speaker:You know, I'm part of the family.
Speaker:And, you know, there's an entitlement there that That they
Speaker:want to coast and and that is toxic in a family business culture.
Speaker:That, it won't last the long haul if, if you have people who feel
Speaker:that way, because you've got to get down and dirty in a family business.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I still empty out the trash on days.
Speaker:You know, you are always doing something.
Speaker:But when you
Speaker:were talking, here is my big tidbit for anyone in business
Speaker:really, or family business.
Speaker:Get yourself a speaking course.
Speaker:Now I'm a big Toastmaster person.
Speaker:I think everyone should join a Toastmaster Club so that you get that regular
Speaker:time to work on your speaking skills.
Speaker:Not only if you want to have a podcast, but how you speak to other employees, how
Speaker:you learn to speak with top management.
Speaker:And understand how everybody has different communication skills.
Speaker:I only did this five years ago and it changed my life.
Speaker:I wish I had done it earlier in my career because it would have helped
Speaker:me be a better spokesperson for the company, but it also would have
Speaker:helped me better relate to my parents.
Speaker:As they were the leaders in the company to then coming on to then maybe my kids
Speaker:joining, or even my spouse joining.
Speaker:Cause that got a little interesting because I was in the company first.
Speaker:I knew more about the company than he did.
Speaker:And so he had to work underneath me,
Speaker:but there's a delicate balance there.
Speaker:And Toastmasters has all these different paths of training
Speaker:that you get to go through that helped me with all those things.
Speaker:So there's my big, my big, definite tip.
Speaker:That that's a great tip!
Speaker:I was not aware that toastmasters had those different levels because
Speaker:you were talking about like different styles of communication And and
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:you know who you're communicating with I thought it was about preparing a talk that
Speaker:you give to an audience and That was that.
Speaker:No, it can be everything from doing a presentation to giving a toast at
Speaker:your mother's 90th birthday party to giving a eulogy, but then just every
Speaker:day communicating with employees or even being a mentor or a coach.
Speaker:It just, that has really helped me a lot because like I mentioned
Speaker:before, I am a thinker that's like this and my husband is a little
Speaker:bit, I need to see the full picture.
Speaker:He's slower.
Speaker:And before I started to analyze communication skills,
Speaker:he used to get so annoyed.
Speaker:Why can't he work like me?
Speaker:But he wasn't me, and it wasn't until I really identified his communication
Speaker:style that I was able to work it all out.
Speaker:I see.
Speaker:So, all right.
Speaker:Weather, so weather, yes.
Speaker:Communication.
Speaker:And, and we did a similar thing using the Clifton StrengthsFinder
Speaker:and, and working with that.
Speaker:Yeah, different, different personality, uh, strengths and personalities and
Speaker:values, you know, looking at all that and, you know, Appreciating the
Speaker:differences, I want to, I want to say is the Yeah, he finally got it
Speaker:through his head that I hate computers, I'm not going to learn computers.
Speaker:It's, it's, it's a, it's, it's a dead subject.
Speaker:Okay?
Speaker:My husband's the same way.
Speaker:He's like, I'm not sales.
Speaker:And I'm like, well, I'm not sales either, but I do like to talk to
Speaker:people, but I'm not hardcore sales.
Speaker:But he was always like, nope.
Speaker:understand.
Speaker:Understand.
Speaker:And like details.
Speaker:Ooh, ooh, we don't do details.
Speaker:We do big picture stuff.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:So what's next?
Speaker:What's, what's on the horizon for you?
Speaker:Well, like I said, right now with that Toastmasters, I'm doing a lot more
Speaker:speaking, I'm trying to get out there and be more vocal about quality ways
Speaker:of doing marketing, but especially in the industrial space and what's also
Speaker:getting incorporated in there is AI.
Speaker:I'm doing a lot of training organizations about the AI tools that are out there,
Speaker:how they can implement them into different departments, but again,
Speaker:making sure that they stay unique, that they, they remember their story and
Speaker:work on building relationships, and it can't be something you just hand over
Speaker:to AI tell them to do, because you won't ever create those relationships
Speaker:unless you're able to do that.
Speaker:Yeah, A.
Speaker:I.
Speaker:Is homogenized.
Speaker:Yeah, it is.
Speaker:And people have to be very careful about that.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And so future plans.
Speaker:You mentioned a son.
Speaker:Your kids are in the business.
Speaker:Are they have they expressed an interest in carrying on, you know, a
Speaker:transition beyond your your career.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:to be honest, no.
Speaker:And I'm perfectly fine with that at this point because.
Speaker:I said, they need to go out, work for other people, figure
Speaker:out what they like to do.
Speaker:And then if they do come back, that's great.
Speaker:But our company can go in a variety of different ways that they can take it
Speaker:in any direction that they want because marketing is constantly evolving.
Speaker:so we'll see what happens.
Speaker:But right now what we're doing as a brand is just getting
Speaker:out there and speaking more.
Speaker:Promoting the podcast and
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:And we will make sure to put that in the, in the show notes.
Speaker:So, uh, for, for people, uh, that, uh, clearly we're going to, you know,
Speaker:mention the podcast, the, uh, your website, anything else, uh, that you
Speaker:want people to discover you at on.
Speaker:No, they can just check.
Speaker:Um, obviously LinkedIn, it's Donna A Peterson.
Speaker:They can check us there.
Speaker:I also have a world innovators, YouTube channel where there we post
Speaker:regularly about different topics.
Speaker:I'm about to do a whole series on AI tools.
Speaker:How to use them
Speaker:Ooh.
Speaker:a special tip.
Speaker:And then our podcast, you'll find us on any of the podcast platforms along with
Speaker:YouTube, because we do just like yourself.
Speaker:We do the audio and the video side
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's where I I've watched it on, uh, I liked the video part of it.
Speaker:I'm not, I'm not a old school audio podcaster.
Speaker:Yes!
Speaker:Yes, and if anyone has needs for B2B marketing, please feel free to reach out
Speaker:to me and I can see if I can help you.
Speaker:Excellent.
Speaker:We look forward to recommending you.
Speaker:Thanks so much for spending this been so much fun.
Speaker:Yes,
Speaker:We could.
Speaker:We could.
Speaker:Uh, yeah.
Speaker:much for having
Speaker:now we have to go on to our business, right?
Speaker:A pleasure.
Speaker:And if one of those kids joins the business, then maybe we'll circle
Speaker:back and, uh, and get you both on camera together and, and, uh,
Speaker:talk about, you know, how you're figuring out the That dynamic.
Speaker:That dynamic.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Yes, definitely.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Let me see if I can get my husband on here one of these
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:We'd love to do that too.
Speaker:Alrighty.
Speaker:Well, thanks so much and we will look forward to a future conversation.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Bye.
Speaker:Bye bye.
Speaker:you.
Speaker:Bye.
