In this special 400th episode of Social Capital, host Lori Highby, CEO and Founder of Keystone Click, is interviewed by Abby Radewahn, Digital Content Manager at Keystone Click. They discuss Lori's background, her passion for sports, and her journey from working at a web development company to founding her own digital marketing agency. Lori shares valuable lessons she learned about networking, mentorship, and the importance of authentic relationships. The episode highlights essential networking tips and emphasizes the significance of strong personal and professional connections in achieving success.

Highlights

00:00 Introduction to Social Capital Podcast

00:49 Lori Highby's Background and Early Life

02:57 The Role of Sports in Lori's Life

04:42 Early Career and Lessons Learned

07:12 Founding Keystone Click

10:02 Personal Growth and Decision Making

18:06 Networking and Mentorship

25:35 Final Words of Wisdom

Connect with Lori on LinkedIn.

[00:00:21] Lori Highby: Hi, I'm Lori Highby, CEO and Founder of Keystone Click and the host of Social Capital Podcast. And today with me is Abby Radewahn. Did I say that right? That's my last name, yeah. That's good. Okay. Abby Radawan, she is the Digital Content Manager at Keystone Click, and she's going to interview me for the 400th episode of Social Capital.

[00:00:44] Lori Highby: Well, I'm excited for this.

[00:00:47] Lori Highby: Yeah, it's fun.

[00:00:54] Lori Highby: How far back do you want me to go?

[00:01:02] Lori Highby: Yeah, so I grew up in a Chicago suburb called Streamwood, Illinois. I played a lot of softball there. And I remember actually right at the end of our block was a bunch of baseball and softball diamonds. And in the summer, we played a lot of like sandlot baseball.

And that was just like one of my favorite memories of childhood. But my family moved up to Wisconsin in my high school years, and I still played travel softball and high school softball then. And I exhausted all the art classes that were available in my high school, so much so that I ended up doing a really cool program at the Milwaukee Art Museum called Art Satellite, where for half a day in an entire semester, I was at the art museum, you know, learning art history, doing art projects, and it was with students like all around the Milwaukee area that had done, exhausted their art programs as well. Got my Associate's in Marketing, my Bachelor's in Marketing, and ultimately my Master's in Business Administration.

[00:02:14] Lori Highby: I worked at a web development company and I thought I would be designing websites.

[00:02:27] Lori Highby: I would ask you if you see that happening. And I would say I'm not as good as like the tactical implementation of the digital art world right now, but I understand the theory of design, and I understand the principle, and I can tell you what's good design and what's not good design.

From a creative perspective though, I love drawing and painting, so I try to do that in my free time when it allows.

Yeah, I've seen your house covered in your paintings. Very cool. So, for people who know you well, they know that sports are a really big part of your life.

Uh huh.

[00:03:03] Lori Highby: Mm hmm.

[00:03:11] Lori Highby: Yeah, great question. So, growing up, yeah, sports was a big part of our life. My dad was the big factor in that. He played a lot of sports, he coached, he reffed. I mean, his whole life was hockey, so growing up, most of our family vacations were actually hockey tournaments for the kids that he was coaching at the time, which was a lot of fun. But we, he instilled in us and kind of treated us like a team, you know, so we were always, you know, training and learning about communication.

I mean, even to the extent of like his punishment for us was doing pushups when we were at home. So, you know, we learned a lot about, we just learned a lot about working together as a team, and I think that's really important, something that I carry over. From a professional standpoint, you know, sports, team sports in particular, and even individual sports, but that's a longer tangent.

Team sports is a lot about communication, and teams that don't communicate well have issues. And that's one of the things, and you've heard me say this, we over communicate. I don't care if you think everyone knows the answer, you still communicate the answer. Even in playing hockey, I mean, communication on the ice is critical because you wanna be able to hear that your teammate is behind you.

You may not be able to see them, but if they vocalize if they're around you, it makes it easier to anticipate what the play is gonna be going forward.

[00:04:53] Lori Highby: So, I was a non traditional student. I, right out of high school, I started working full time at a web development company, but I was going to school nights and weekends. So, but a story and a lesson that I learned was at a second, a different advertising agency I was working at. And it was a very expensive mistake, but I was in charge of purchasing print for, on behalf of our clients, and I would typically get quotes, so kind of like a print broker.

Get quotes from a number of different printers, and then find, like, you know, the most bang for the buck. We put our, you know, markup on it for managing the project and the design. Well, I ended up giving the client one estimate and then going with a different vendor, not realizing that they were the, the pricing was not right.

At the end of the day, we ended up paying more money than the client had paid us for the print work. So, I learned a lesson, the owners learned a lesson about, you know, paying a little bit closer attention to what I was doing. But yeah, it's all about paying attention to the details.

[00:06:12] Lori Highby: There's a lot. There's, yeah. Details are really making, it, it comes down to making sure that there's no assumptions and that you're anticipating potential risks that could happen and trying to get in front of them, whether it's a timeline plan, a messaging plan. It's all about making sure that the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed. And, and so that's a really broad statement, but there's, it's, I'm a big believer in doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well, and that's what's going to set you apart from those that are good versus those are great.

[00:07:12] Lori Highby: Sure. So my first job out of high school was at a web development company, and then I went to the traditional shop. So I, it was 2008, and I wasn't super in love with what it was that I was doing. We were very much traditional, and the web was kind of becoming super hot and sexy, and the folks that were running the agency were kind of like ready to just ride the train to retirement. No judgment guys, but they weren't really interested in jumping into the digital space at all. So I decided to kind of take the leap and start something on my own.

And that's when I started building websites on my own. I got my first three clients by doing snail mail. I literally mailed a letter to every single person on the planet that I have contact information to. And I did an email to every single email address I had. That's how I got my first three clients.

And here we are today.

[00:08:24] Lori Highby: I will admittedly say that I was ignorant and cocky and thought that I could do it better than the other people that were doing it. But no, I, I'm extremely, like I said, that sociology class, I was fascinated by the concept of how culture, community, messaging, branding, positioning influences people.

And I think that there's a lot of people that use that power for the wrong reasons and I'm a big believer in conveying, you know, the truth and doing the things right, the right way. So, that's kind of the approach that I took with that.

[00:09:23] Lori Highby: It's definitely been a longer journey and I don't always choose the right path. I make a decision to move forward and I then realize that was a valuable lesson that I learned and make an adjustment. But at the end of the day, I believe that, you know, reputation is critical.

I mean, Social Capital is all about networking and relationships. And, you know, once you lose the trust of someone, that it's not just that person, but you don't know who else they're talking to, who else they're connected to. So I always do my best to function in doing what I believe is 100 percent the right path to pursue.

[00:10:22] Lori Highby: Ooh, that's a big question. Yeah. I do put a lot of, I try to focus on me a lot. I meditate a lot. I practice gratitude every single day. And I read a lot of self help books, I call them. But, you know, just like how to be a better leader and, you know, just how to negotiate and how to eat better. Just kind of books to better me. But I also have just learned over time that, you know, the lack of making a decision impedes progress.

So if you want to see any sort of progress, you have to make a decision and not question it. You have to start moving forward. You can always stop and make adjustments to the decision, but not making a decision at all, you're still in the same spot you were at that point in time.

[00:11:25] Lori Highby: Sure. It's exhausting. I will admit that. That's why when I go home and my husband says, what do you want for dinner? I say, I don't care. I'm done making decisions today. It's knowing what the end goal is. You know, there's, there's a big shiny carrot that I'm working towards for me personally, my personal life, and the business is a big component and element of that, right? We all have personal goals and we're working on some level to achieve them. So, if just being confident in the decision making to move forward is going to keep progress moving forward.

Is that something that you knew right away going into your founder journey or is it something that you had to learn along the way?

COVID is a perfect example of that among many other things that disrupt the plan that you build. But one of the biggest things that I learned while running a business is that my attitude and how I show up every day to the team is what permeates across the rest of the team. So if I come in crabby and unmotivated, that is going to just seep into everyone else's vibes.

If I come in excited, energetic, and want to get shit done, that's how everyone else is going to feel. So it's, I learned I have to take care of myself so that I can show up every single day to keep everyone else energized. Kind of like on a team.

[00:13:31] Lori Highby: When you play team sports, you always, you want that cheerleader. You know, I noticed when I play hockey, if I have the puck and I hear someone, "Go, Lori, go," like that motivates me, right? So you always kind of need that cheerleader to get everyone else motivated, and as the owner, I'm the cheerleader.

[00:14:07] Lori Highby: Yeah.

[00:14:11] Lori Highby: Aw, thanks.

[00:14:19] Lori Highby: There's lots of business owners that inspire me. Drew McClellan from Agency Management Institute. You guys hear we talk a lot about him and his philosophies with business. I'm really impressed with what he's done and he's, he's got a philosophy of leading with love and giving and being honest and integrity and everything that he does and, you know, I just really try to mirror his business philosophy some of what he's doing.

[00:15:03] Lori Highby: I wanted to be the best web development company that's out there. I mean, that was a really loose, young, ignorant, Lori thought without any bigger picture plans than that. I knew what I enjoyed doing and I just wanted to be the best one out there. And we do way more of the web development now.

[00:15:21] Lori Highby: Yeah. Because when we started, that's all we were doing.

I wasn't even hosting websites at the time. So yeah, and it's just the evolution of the industry. And digital in general has changed so much that is someone that really believes in doing what's best for the client is how we've really evolved. So, before I started the agency, I was doing PPC, SEO, and email marketing for another company.

And those were acronyms that people didn't really know at the time, first off. So I knew how to do all those things, but I just found that, you know, building websites was kind of the sweet spot initially, but folks would come to me and say, Hey, what's this Facebook and should I be on it? And how do I do this for my business?

Or we built this site and how do I show up at Google? And I would just tell them what to do. And well, can you do it for me? Like, hello, light bulb. So that's kind of how we've evolved to be more of, you know, full digital agency.

[00:16:36] Lori Highby: To not try to do everything myself. When I did get started, I was trying to, I would just go to Google to find template contracts. And I was trying to do all of the financials by myself. I bought QuickBooks. I had no fricking clue how to use it. So every weekend after working all week long, I was trying to figure out the numbers and how to use the system and how to plug in invoices and get paid and pay my vendors, and just racking my head against that.

And then eventually I realized like, oh, there's people that do this and this is what their business is. So yeah, the first kind of person I outsourced work to was a bookkeeper. And that just was huge. You know, granted, I was understanding that I have to pay for their services, but it saved me a ton of time.

I got my weekends back, you know, from that perspective. And yeah, and then I hired an attorney and to help with the contracts and create all of the baseline contracts for us to make sure they're protecting us the right way, right? And so yeah, I've got an accountant who handles, you know, the, the taxes and whatnot.

So I've got a business coach. Again, I don't have all the answers. So it's, it makes sense to not try to spread yourself too thin, but to really just focus on your zone of genius.

[00:18:34] Lori Highby: First and foremost, find someone that's already done that. Find someone that's five years ahead of where you want to be, and try to build a mentorship relationship with them. Ask them all the questions, how they got started, what mistakes did they make? Would you be interested in mentoring me? Can I continue, can you help me in any way or connections that you can make with me for me? Yeah, I, that mentorship is extremely powerful and having someone to bounce ideas off of, even if you're stuck in a decision, to just talk through it is extremely helpful.

And I'd say more times than not, especially in that small business entrepreneurship world, people are going to say yes, because they more than likely had someone else that they could kind of lean into. And good people are going to want to pay it forward.

[00:19:34] Lori Highby: Sure. So sometimes it just happens organically. Other times I would say just find someone again that, that you've been looking up to or you find inspiring as a thought leader perspective and ask them. It doesn't hurt to ask, honestly, that again, more times than not, they're going to say yes to that relationship.

[00:20:02] Lori Highby: Yeah. You don't know until you try, right?

[00:20:12] Lori Highby: Networking is a critical part of business. Building relationships, building trust. It was extremely challenging when all networking went virtual, because, you know, people are sidetracked, they're looking at their email while they're on a Zoom call. But there's something different about sitting across from someone or attending an event together and the, the body chemistry and, you know, you, you realize like, oh, we do get along, oh, this is really, there's something here, I'm interested in having, you know, a deeper conversation. So just that building those relationships and establishing trust are critical. And I think I, I, I've shared this numerous times on the podcast, but after interviewing, you know, close to 400 people on the topic of networking, I kind of created my, my three golden rules of networking. First and foremost, be authentic because people can smell through fake real quick and they don't want to be around fake.

And you're going to attract your like minded individuals if you're just being your true self. Two is to give first. And it doesn't have to be anything super big or fancy. Just, you know, a, a, a book. You know, if someone mentioned a book or recommended a book, give a book. If someone mentioned a favorite restaurant they like to go to, if someone says I'm looking for a dog sitter and I've got a friend who babysits dogs, make a connection.

Just give something first. And the third thing is to follow through. If you did make a commitment, you have to make sure you do that. If you don't follow through on that commitment that you made, you're automatically leaving a bad taste in that person's mouth and you're destroying the trust.

[00:21:58] Lori Highby: Led me to learn one of those lessons? The, I, the first networking experience I had came to mind. I don't know if one of those lessons was incorporated into that. But I, when I was working at the web development company, they had won some awards for their work and no one really wanted to go to the award show.

And I was like, I'll go. That sounds cool. And you know, it was a bunch of people sitting at a table, eating, shaking hands, drinking, like, this is fun. Why don't I, how come no one ever told me about this before? And then I actually ended up getting a prospective client for the agency just because I was being Lori. You know, they were interested in having a deeper conversation and, and that's where I'm like, Oh, this, okay. This is what networking is. I thought it was gonna be like super scary, but it's just about building relationships.

[00:23:00] Lori Highby: I think everyone is afraid of it on some level. I mean, especially introverts. Walking in a room with a bunch of people you don't know is extremely scary and intimidating. For the longest time I would have a networking buddy, so we'd like go in together. And I actually find that to be extremely beneficial because you go in, it just eliminates a little bit of that fear and reservation, and then when we get comfortable, we kind of divide and conquer the room so that, you know, I know what that person's looking for, that person knows what I'm looking for. So if I meet someone, not only am I talking about myself, but I'm also talking about the other person that's in the room, and I can make a direct connection to them as well.

[00:23:55] Lori Highby: Sure. Well listen to all 399 episodes of the podcast 'cause I talk a lot about that. But I would say yeah, finding, finding a buddy buddy system is good. Finding a mentor is good. Oftentimes I would attend an event with a mentor that I had at the time and they would start making introductions.

Or going in with a different mindset of not, I'm, I'm not trying to make new relationships, but I'm like, I'm writing a paper for school. You know, like you're, you're kind of going in playing tricks with your mind a little bit. That can be helpful. And start small, just reaching out and asking for stuff.

So I'm, hey, I've got a couple of questions. I'm interested in this career path. You know, again, most people are going to say yes and want to be helpful as opposed to ignoring you.

[00:24:58] Lori Highby: Oh, I guess it's been a while since I've done that.

I, you know, I just, I just show up and be Lori. I used to have a lot of reservations and fears around attending events, but I've learned to just be comfortable with me and who I am and the right type of people will come and talk to me. So I just be me and the right people come talk to me, or they send people to me.

Yeah, I just go be your authentic self and don't be afraid to ask questions. Show genuine interest in someone too.

[00:25:45] Lori Highby: Yeah, that's great.

Yeah, there's two things. One, I wish I would have spent or found a way to stay closer connected to the professors that I had when I was in school. LinkedIn wasn't a thing back then, so there, you know, I had, like, their phone number probably on the syllabus, which I'm sure is long gone. Like, that was probably the only way I could have connected.

I remember that, like, you would actually call them, which no one probably even does that anymore, to tell them, like, I won't be in class next week, or whatever. But I had some amazing professors, so I really do wish that I was more intentional about staying in touch with them. But I also would have found a mentor sooner actually to help guide me. Especially on the, not just the entrepreneurial path, but really the career path that I took, because I was really making those decisions on my own and didn't have someone really like guiding me professionally, like saying, you should go to a networking group, or this is the group you should go to, or this is the company you should, you know, work with.

So I wish I had.

[00:27:14] Lori Highby: I think there's still, I mean, social media, especially on the B2B side, the intention is to ultimately get some sort of a relationship that's happening with most likely the goal being a sale of some sort, right? Or just nurturing that relationship. I do see aggressive sales happening more on like the DM side of things, which is annoying, but I also appreciate that people are, you know, giving it a try and boots to the ground and people are working hard right now because times aren't easy for a lot of companies. There's also a lot of really amazing content though, like thought leadership content on LinkedIn. And I love reading some of the inspiring content that's out there and educational content.

I don't devalue it. The network that I have, even though I'm not 100 percent this type of relationship with everyone I'm connected with. When I do need to tap into my network or find someone, it is great to see the, who I'm connected with and that's where I start that conversation. Even if, and I always share with anyone that from a networking perspective, if there's someone I can connect you with that's on my LinkedIn, let me know, because that one to one connection is going to go a lot smoother than someone blindly reaching out.

So even though I may not have that trusted relationship with them yet, at least I have a smoother in because I have a connection with them.

Do you have any final words of wisdom for your dedicated Social Capital audience before we wrap up?

[00:29:23] Abby Radewahn: I love that.

[00:29:36] Announcer: That's all for this episode of the Social Capital Podcast. Visit socialcapitalpodcast. com for show notes, more episodes, and to see who will be on the show next.

Thank you for listening, and we'll see you next episode.