Episode Summary

You’re in for a treat with this week’s podcast episode! Host Melissa Swink interviewed Shanne Soulier, founder of Big Spirit Inc. They discussed how to grow a business intentionally, the challenges of starting and managing a company, and the importance of building a supportive team. Shanne shared his journey from freelancing to establishing a successful marketing firm, emphasizing the value of relationships, coaching, and effective systems. Listen to learn about the significance that promotional products have on client engagement and the need for a balanced work structure.

Key Highlights:

• Building intentional business growth requires a strategic balance of relationship nurturing and operational excellence.
• Transitioning from solo entrepreneur to team leader becomes seamless when leveraging freelance and part-time talent strategically.
• Investing in targeted coaching and mentorship accelerates business growth by providing structured guidance and accountability.
• Creating effective systems and workflows allows business owners to shift from working in their business to working on their business.
• Implementing a structured weekly schedule optimizes productivity while maintaining quality client relationships.

About Our Guest: 

Driven to help promote the prosperity of his community, Shanne Soulier founded

Big Spirit Inc in 2012, a marketing firm that Brings Visions to Life Through Culturally Conscious Marketing Solutions. At Big Spirit, we help organizations Clarify their vision, Align their goals, and Transform their brand through expert graphic design, promotional products, and multi-media print marketing.

About Melissa:

Melissa Swink, Founder & CEO of Melissa Swink & Co., has a team of virtual assistants who provide administrative and marketing support for small businesses and non-profits.

Since 2012, Melissa and her team have helped more than 100 businesses grow through the services they offer, and she is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs create profitable, scalable businesses they love.

Her work is all about doing what works (and eliminating what doesn’t) and driving real, measurable results. Visit www.melissaswink.com to learn more! 

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Hi everyone, welcome to the Make Space for More podcast, where we talk strategies for growing and scaling your business in a way that's authentic and aligned for you. I'm your host, Melissa Swink, and I am honored to be joined by a very special guest today, Shane Suleer of Big Spirit Inc. I will introduce you to Shane in a moment, but just wanted to kind of set the tone for how Shane and I know each other and some of the things that I'm really excited to.

Talk with him about today. So Shane and I originally met through our business coaching and mastermind group he and I were in a group together for a couple of years and certainly through the course of that group we talked a lot about you know business growth and some of the things that we're focusing on in terms of marketing and team and all of the different things there

We have had the honor of working with Shane as a client of ours. Our team really enjoys working with him and has enjoyed seeing how his team has continued to grow since we originally met. And also, Shane, we have, is one of our vendors as well. So we'll talk a little bit about that towards the end. We're just connected in a variety of ways. with all of that being said,

One of my favorite things about Shane and why I wanted to have him on the podcast today is that Shane, you are just a very intentional business owner. I feel like we both are very intentional about the directions that we choose to grow. And we're doing that very thoughtfully. So it's not something where we see an opportunity to make a buck and we're chasing it and then that's done and we're going to the next thing. It's very well thought out and we're very intentional about.

Big Spirit helps organizations clarify their vision, align their goals, and transform their brand through expert graphic design, promotional products, and multimedia print marketing. Shane, thank you so much for joining me today. I'm really looking forward to our conversation. Absolutely. Absolutely. So I have a confession to make. Until I formally read your bio in preparation for our conversation, I didn't realize that you and I have been in business for the same number of years.

Well, thanks for having me. I'm excited.

really?

We both started in 2012, coming off of still the housing crash and the recession of 2008 and those slower years. So I'm super curious kind of what led you to grow and evolve past and start Big Spirit Inc.

2008, when everything really kind of fell apart, it was an opportunity to start doing some freelance work. And I had been a executive level marketing professional for most of my career. And when that happened, it gave me an opportunity to reevaluate. And I really wanted to do more purposeful work. And that was...

First of all, I wanted to work with kids and in business in a certain capacity, which led me to junior achievement. And then I wanted to figure out how to pay the bills. So I started consulting and at the same time was bartending in the evenings. And the business kind of came about through a vision and opportunities and it has grown into what initially was just strategy and.

marketing plans to now promotional products and things that help those types of initiatives really resonate and then other products around that based on what our clients need. Per your comment, you know, we do work to help others. It's been a slower journey, but it's more of people want to work with folks that are trusted, that are more than capable.

and they like to work with people that can kind of handle everything and that's how the businesses evolve.

I love that. Yes, absolutely. And I think you and I both in our own ways also had a desire to truly work with, I think have more control over the work that we did and who we did that work with when we started our companies. Yeah, yeah. I love how you talked about, you know, starting with doing some freelancing and consulting, because that was my path as well. I went from my corporate role

I'd agree with that, yeah.

to doing some consulting and then seeing these opportunities come out. So yeah, and then having the side hustle as well, or like the part-time job. So you mentioned bartending. I worked as a receptionist at a hair salon for about six months too, in between there. So you do what pays the bills, right? Yep, 100%. So obviously when you started your company,

Yes, you do. Yes. I reflect on that a lot.

you were probably doing the vast majority of the things and like what, how, guess kind of breaking things down a little bit, because I know your company has evolved since then as has mine. In the early days, what were some of the main things that you were focused on? I would imagine you were wearing all the hats at one point or just about all of them.

Yeah, yeah, I know I was wearing all the hats. I was trying to what felt like I was reinventing the wheel trying to figure out how to run a business because you don't realize outside of you find the opportunity and then you figure out how to make money doing that. There's so many other things that have to happen or have to be managed. So accounting, how to do that was doing this process. I think about

Okay.

still to this day called shoebox accounting, which is basically organizing, putting everything in a shoebox and giving it to somebody at the end of the year. So figuring all of that out, trying to schedule things and systems and, you know, what classes to take and just kind of, again, you're kind of reinventing the wheel, it feels, to figure out if you can do this. you know, you know, it took me quite a while to, until I got to a point where it was,

too much to manage everything and then reconnect.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So you mentioned classes. Are there any particular classes that you took early on to kind of help you figure out how to do the running of the business?

In Minneapolis, there are a lot of programs for small businesses, either through the state, through libraries, through small nonprofits that are focused on supporting businesses. Did a lot of research to find out what was out there and then was taking classes, just random classes. Again, like on the shoestring accounting thing, I took that at a library in St. Paul here.

I remember business plan classes. There were different programs, short programs, three weeks, several months, kind of basics. If it was out there, I was taking it just to try to figure out what was necessary, what was I missing, and how to keep it flowed.

That's awesome.

Got it. Okay. That's super interesting because when I originally started off in college, I started as an accounting major. So I felt like I had that under my belt, which was helpful with starting a business and such. And then my major was business management. But one of the things too, I love that all these programs exist because I certainly took things through like WBIC and the

SBDC and all different things. know Score is a former client of ours. They have a lot of programming, so really leveraging and taking advantage of some of those free or low cost services to really help organize the business is huge.

Yes, I did score two. I forgot about them. They were very important in the process. I had several mentors through the early years.

Yeah. Yes. And it's interesting because you see the need. You know what your skills are, have a good idea. You see the need that's out there and then you start meeting that need. And then it's all the details that come after it. We're like, now somebody wants to pay me. I need to get, first of all, I need to get a contract put together.

and I need to figure out what to charge. And then do they pay me with checks or do I get some type of square accounts so people can pay me with credit cards? All the logistics that you don't think about when you're first starting the company, all those little details that come into play. It's really interesting how to navigate all of those in the beginning for sure. Yeah, absolutely. So then now, of course, your business has just continued to grow and evolve since the early days.

Yes. Yep.

You're going to, what does your team look like now at this stage? So you've gone from wearing all the hats and figuring it all out to now having team members, even just freelancers helping, I know with even graphic design and different things. So.

Yeah, the business model that I envisioned was partnering to help build prosperity with others and to give flexibility of work-life balance. And that model was around not only partnerships, but working with freelancers. And now at this current point, I have four team members, I would say. One is with your company.

And she's amazing and she's been with me as of June, middle of June, was, she'll be with me three years. And so she's kind of an admin person. And then I brought on an operations person that runs our branded and promotional products business for the most part. And then I have a couple of graphic designers who have chosen to continue to do freelance. And then, you know, just some miscellaneous.

things, consultants, depending on the project.

That's awesome. Yes, absolutely. And I think the thing is, and certainly listeners to this podcast hear me talk about this all the time, you don't necessarily have to jump into hiring a full-time 40-hour-a-week salaried employee with benefits from going to working by yourself. There's definitely stages of that. So freelancers are great, VAs are great, part-time workers are fantastic in order to kind of keep building those stepping stones.

in to keep growing the company. So now that you have a team in place, what are some of the things that you focus on now as the owner and president of your company? What are some of the most important things that you're doing on a regular basis, would you say?

You know, if I can get away from the daily side of it, which I think is a small business, what's so important to us is the relationships. And there are certain people that either I choose to, or they choose that they work with me. When I get away from that, then I'm focused on the operations side of things. A lot of times it's the systems that we use. It's making sure that our marketing is.

happening when it needs to fully impact sales or make people aware, building awareness with our clients. We do some fun programs now when I can get away from doing the daily grind to spotlight clients in our newsletter. So doing fun things like that. But it really kind of comes around the operations.

you know, the fun, unfun stuff, like the accounting I still have to do, get that ready for my bookkeeper. Yeah.

Yep.

Yes, absolutely. So you still have your hands in it. And I think that's important where, you even as teams grow, you want to empower them and to do their very best work. And at the end of the day, you want to keep a finger on the pulse of what's happening in the business because you do have those relationships, not only with your team, your clients, and you want to have that level of quality control as well.

Yeah, I would, I would agree. think what's so hard with a small business and where either people plateau and burn out or just kind of give up is there is a point where you need to bring on support. need to have people help you and whatever that looks like. For me, it was, I hate management. have not never been a successful manager through the years. And that a lot of that is just.

connecting with people and getting outside of yourself and making sure that you're aware of where they're at and what they need. And I was not very good at that. And I'm still not very good at that. But as far as those stepping stones to get you to start getting into getting people to help you is, if you're not bringing in consultants, then the VA thing in your company is huge.

You have the clarity of vision to understand what I'm explaining I need. So then you have talent that then matches what I need. And then from there, have somebody, you kind of have a backup. So you guys are almost the HR in a sense, if there's any challenges and then you help us work through things. having a VA service, if it's, you know, it's a good way to start kind of down that process of bringing team members on.

And, or maybe you never bring team members on, you stay with contractors and VA's. It's kind of a vision I have. It could be a real possibility for continued.

It's true.

Yeah, you bring up an excellent point because the management piece is huge. And I know that was one of the main reasons why I didn't hire a team for so many years. I worked on my own for about the first six years with the exception of a couple of backups here and there. But I I kept thinking I didn't want to babysit people. Like, I felt like I worked closely with my clients and we worked well together and it just

felt overwhelming to me to introduce somebody else into the mix and then have to oversee their work. And then again, make sure that things are going well so that any working relationships don't take a turn that I don't want them to take. So the management piece is a big part of it. So yeah, absolutely. Having a company like mine, or I know there's a lot of great staffing companies out there as well.

to even help you with the hiring process and the onboarding process and all the things that can be really overwhelming and help troubleshoot when things maybe are going a little bit rocky and things like that. you're right. Not having to figure that all out yourself is huge.

Yeah, I would agree. And there's a lot of services out there and trying to figure out a trusted service that again, in small business, it seems like you're reinventing the wheel, but you have so many people that are using or doing those things that you have or need, I'm sorry, you need. But what's huge is...

hopefully something comes in your path that is reliable. So you and I met through that cohort group and through trusting you. That was where that next step was like, okay, let's jump in because I know Melissa and I know that what I understand is her company is dependable and you know, we'll see how this goes. But I feel more reassured than hiring somebody that I don't know or the many emails that I get a VA services or you know, there's tons of them.

Yes, you're right. And it's interesting because our team is hiring again. And so now, it's funny that you mentioned the emails for VA companies or different searches and things. Now my phone, when I go on Facebook or I go on Instagram, is just inundated with, mean, I hire a VA today. It's so funny how smart our tools have become. I'm like, that's not quite what I'm looking for. I'm looking for somebody who wants to

work with our agency. I don't want to hire another agency for them to find me someone who I have no idea where they're from or anything like that. But it's just kind of funny how I'm doing some searches and now I'm on the receiving end of those emails and that advertising as well. So I get it. I get it. So beyond kind of, I know we've been talking a lot about the team. We've talked about even systems and just the way that you have been

kind of managing the company overall, are there some things that you've invested in over the years that you would recommend to others who are looking to grow and scale their companies? Maybe it's coaching or maybe it's a system or maybe it's a course that you really felt was valuable to you.

Yeah, I would say first thing that comes to mind is depending on your industry, when we started the business outside of consulting, we were just using Outlook as what we chose in that management piece. We went into branded goods and there was a proprietary system that we were able to bring on that helped us. And so I would say, you know, if there are systems out there that work.

that you're hearing about or asking about in your particular industry, that started us off. And then as you get busier, it's trying to figure out ways to manage emails, how to manage customers. For me, the personal relationship and what really resonates for us is those relationships. People say, we like working with you because you're responsive, you're friendly to work with, those types of things.

Part of that is wanting to stay on top of when we need to follow up, when are people's birthdays, when are our anniversaries for events that we need to follow up on for something we heard that's important. That then trying to figure out an outlook or something, larger customer service CRM system. We just invested last year into a new system that is a CRM and also manages our

is supposed to connect with our branded goods division, Big Spirit promo and some other things. And we're still working through that. You know, there's a lot of systems. There's no, there's nothing that seems to answer or connect everything, but we're figuring it out. then classes, you know, I have really enjoyed programs for small businesses that are out there. I got invited to something from a group called MEDA. It was a six month program through the state.

that was done in connection with the Carlson School of Business. And that was amazing. And that introduced me to a book called Traction, which is around the EOS system. And that really opened my eyes to some things, some inefficiencies and some new things to add. So books and that system was amazing. Coaching was really important. And that's how we met.

Yes.

found Ursula and her group through score. You know, she was doing introductory things and I was looking for somebody and I'm glad that I worked with her for several years. And then, you know, there are other mentors in different areas that I have continued to stay connected with. So that's important. But the coaching, an important coach, you know, there's a lot of them out there, but that is huge to really help focus. That was amazing. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I love that you mentioned, you know, there are a lot of coaches out there because you're right. And, you know, I would say that Ursula, you know, the coach that we have worked together with, she is probably the first one that I have hired for a longer term. I've worked with coaches in the past, where we've done like a six week sprint or an eight week sprint on some very specific thing, like rolling out some type of a launch or something like that. But that was the first

longer term coaching relationship on the business side of things that I've invested in. I'm just curious, what are some of the things that you look for in a coach or what are some of the things that kind of drew you in?

Yeah, that's a good question. I was joked with Ursula that every year that I worked with her and Rebecca, my company grew and I could never truly connect whether anything like actual tangible that led to that growth with them. But there was something there and the things that I did that were important to me with them was that they had

constant insights on new systems. They had answers to roadblocks with team members or things that might need to be written up, let's say, like she introduced ChatGPT and they had that class on that and that was amazing.

you know, also the tough love conversation of, think it's important to have a coach that...

tells you, like, we'll listen to you, but we'll also give you practical information versus if you just need somebody to listen to you, then you know, you go get a counselor or somebody that you can sit down and they'll just listen to you. And that's not what I was looking for. they got I got a lot out of what they offered just system wise. Follow up was really important.

Yeah, you're right.

Not only communication and kind of recapping what we talked about. So I had some marching orders to what to deliver the next time and patience also was huge.

Yeah. Yes, I would agree with that. I know that I have worked with coaches in the past and I think one of the things that were important to me, since we were talking about things that we've invested in and along the lines of coaching, it was really finding a coach who was just really genuine and authentic in the way that they

work with their clients and that it's a respectful two-way street kind of a relationship, but also where they weren't teaching theory. I say that because I've worked with coaches in the past who have done a lot of studying, they read a of books, but they themselves hadn't built companies and led companies. It was all theory. Whereas the coaches that we worked with really had

a long history of experience in the areas that they were coaching. Between those two things, I think that's really what I was drawn into for sure. yeah, coaching, there's so many great programs out there like you had mentioned with courses and certainly systems and tools. I want to just take a step back because one of the things you had mentioned, keeping track of client relationships and significant events like maybe it's birthdays or anniversaries of working with you or

Mm-hmm.

in your business, maybe looking at the seasons in which they are needing your services. So upcoming events or company-wide orders that they're doing on a regular basis, just keeping track of all of that. You mentioned outlook. And that's one thing that I think people get hung up on is you don't necessarily need a huge fancy system. Sometimes keeping track of things on a calendar and a spreadsheet.

Mm-hmm.

is more than enough to at least get you started. Where you don't necessarily have to go from zero to 60.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I agree.

I continue to use a spreadsheet probably because it's kind of a comfort thing, almost like a blanket kind of thing. I continue to use that, but Outlook, my calendar, I use it a lot. I'm a list person, but I really use my calendar to put in things and move them around. It's good to see stuff and move it around. And those two things, a spreadsheet and my calendar really have...

Yep.

really rooted the business and continue to kind of keep things going, keep me as organized, but I could definitely be better. Yeah. Well, I had some courses. There's some things that I've learned from you that would be wonderful to implement, but I just go back to, probably put every note in my calendar. And then when people want to book stuff because it's connected to a Calendly account, you know, there's no room because I have all of my like reminders in there and I need to.

All of us, right? Yeah.

move those out so people can get in. But my calendar is so integral to to keep them in top of things.

You're right.

You're absolutely right. And I struggle with that too, because we've probably all heard the phrase, like, if it's not on your calendar, it doesn't exist. And if you want to make progress on this particular project, or if you need to get this task done, you put it your calendar. But then pretty soon there's that balance of, okay, I've got all this stuff in my calendar, but now there's no room for anybody to book with me. Which means that I can't meet with clients or I can't meet with team members.

Mm-hmm.

And then you also don't want to do the opposite where your calendar is wide open, where you're having meetings here and there, and it's hard to have some heads down work time. So I love that you mentioned that because it is a delicate balance for sure.

Yeah, and I would say a little thing that I do that I think clients appreciate is, when you talked about anniversaries and remembering things, think there's a light balance between showing support around wanting to help them that then builds a business and pays you and trying to...

be a salesperson which makes the snake oil pushing you down your throat kind of thing, that piece. I tie that back to what the calendar is that if it's not there, one thing that when people email me, I say, here's my calendar link. If you don't see anything, let me know dates that don't work for you. And,

On top of that, if I see they schedule it and I don't recognize my calendar as being full and they can't get in for two weeks, I'll follow up after I see that and say, I apologize. You let's try to figure out how to get you in sooner. That personal level of wanting to take care of them as quickly as possible is part of my values for the business, but it also, think, is a genuine making people feel important that you appreciate their time.

and are making an effort to really get them in what works around them.

Yes. Yeah, I would agree with that. I love that you mentioned that you include a note. If you don't see times that work for you, let me know and we can certainly accommodate. I have the same message even in my Calibri before people book with me. Please note, if you don't see any times that work for your schedule, let me know. I realize especially for potential clients who are on the West Coast, I'm in central time. Sometimes if they're looking for a meeting later in their day,

Mm-hmm.

then of course by then my calendar is blocked, but I'm happy to open up a time slot if that's when they need to meet. So you're exactly right, having that balance. I'm just curious, because we're talking about calendars here, do you have a particular way that you try and structure your weeks? Do you try to consolidate meetings to certain days, or do you have certain blocks during the week that you're trying to be heads down and focused?

Well, some of this may connect with some of the things, one of your sessions, I just don't remember which one, so I can't give you full street grade, but I know that the root of the structure is I try to have meetings Tuesday through Thursday. I try not to have meetings on Mondays or Fridays. And then I do a block of time in the morning.

And then a block of time in the afternoon, kind of leaving space for lunch, that kind of thing. As small business owners, or well, say probably anybody, we have a bad habit of not getting up and from our chair and eating something or taking a break. So trying to keep that kind of schedule seems to work. However, I would say that Monday is a breathable day. Come tomorrow and Wednesday. I've got meetings all day. Come Wednesday afternoon. I'm like,

Holy cow, like where did the time go? And these meetings, like why do I have 12 meetings on this day? How can I better schedule this? I need to relook at my calendar, but it happens every week and by end Friday, I'm like, I got through it. I'm not even gonna worry about it till next week.

Yep.

Yes, yes, I hear you. love having, know, most, so during the summer, I don't usually work on Fridays. My daughter is home and that's usually our day to be able to go to, you know, we have a small amusement park here in the city of Green Bay. It's Bay Beach for all of our local listeners here.

It's very inexpensive. It's like the antithesis of Disney. So like it's very inexpensive. Bottle of water, I think is still a dollar or something like that. Rides are, you know, a dollar a piece, something like that. So we can go to different things, but I always try before the end of my week, whatever that be, whether that be, you know, Thursday afternoons in the summer or even like Friday mornings to wrap things up during the school year. I like to have that time where I have a couple of hours where I can just kind of tie everything up.

as best as I can so that then I can breathe a little bit and enjoy the weekend. So wrap up the loose ends and then kind of get things tidied up for the following week. But you're right, then it just kind of starts all over again. And then you probably have 12 meetings in one day.

Yes. Well, and for summer too, part of our corporate culture is family and celebrating and having time with them. And in the summer, that's really important. And how we do that is that we do a shorter day on Friday. So we close technically at one o'clock for my team. there's a lot of the business hours that as of this point, I have an amazing team and I make sure to...

A lot of stuff is structured around them, you know, and making that work around them so that they're happy.

Yeah, yeah, I would agree. I would say, you know, our team, you know, of course, we work a flexible schedule and that we're remote. But I would say core hours of the day, you know, nine to three, you know, going to Monday through Thursday being available for client calls or being available for team meetings and things like that. yeah, absolutely. You want to you want to make sure that even the team members that you hire are a good culture fit and also that, you know, it's mutually beneficial.

your working relationship as well. So I like that you mentioned, you're closing early on Fridays in the summertime because you know, if we live, well, Shane, you are in Minneapolis, I'm in Green Bay, our winters are very long. So in summertime, we need to take the time to enjoy it. Yeah.

Yes.

Yes, I would agree. And I'm trying to figure out how to garden, so this gives me more time to garden.

Okay, yes. Well, I would love to hear a little bit more of that about that another time because I want to make sure that we mention that you have an offer for our listeners as well. So 15 % off promotional product orders for new clients. So Shane, how do people get into contact with you to learn more about that?

If you're listening to this and you want to first of all check out our legitimacy, which everybody should typically do for anybody is you look for us online and we have our main sites for the agency, which is bigspiritinc.com. For our promotional products catalog, it's bigspiritpromo.com. I will, little warning on that is that it can be a lot.

you

What I encourage people to do and how we do our business on a personal level is that you email us. So you can email info at bigspiritpromo.com or you can email me, Shane, and it's spelled S-H-A-N-N-E-S's and Sam at bigspiritinc.com. I know there's some confusion there, but we have theinc.com, which is the agency and thepromo.com, which is

And we will link all of this in the show notes, by the way. So nobody has to be furiously writing. Certainly if you're driving, don't feel like you've got to scribble this down. We will have it in the show notes and available for you.

promotional products.

Yeah, you can also see us on social media too. We're on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn.

Okay, excellent. Yes, absolutely. so, you know, as we are, of course it's summertime right now, but holidays are going to be here before we know it. And so I know I personally try to get my plans for holiday gifts for clients and team members solidified by, you know, late September, early October so that we can get things coming in. So, you know, it's a great time as summer's wrapping up to start.

taking a look at what's ahead for fall. I know Shin, you had mentioned that, you know, state fair, like rush state fair orders, you know, if anybody's been dragging their feet a little bit or finds himself a little bit behind, that's another opportunity as well.

Yeah, we get calls for kind of the refresh of what they have. So people have an event, a lot of events happening, just the wrap up there that they need new apparel or people are getting ready for conference season that starts the end of the year, first part of the year for sure. It's always good to be planning and I know it's not always possible, but.

to plan several months in advance, if not sooner on things. The wonderful thing with us is that we take a lot of that heavy lifting and work on, as you talk to us, we start doing the planning and getting things together for you. But starting that process, we'll be having a lot of conversations now around that employee gifts, as you said, conversations with people that have year-end spends that they need to get through, but want to make it.

very impactful spending or just the, again, the employee packages for whatever they might have. And then again, just refresh of things that they might realize, you know, I realized that I went through the summer and my signage looks like crap. And I really need to just, I don't necessarily want the artwork redone, which we can do, but.

I just need new equipment. need it to look fresh and not curled up or ripped, those types of things. So we'll be working on those things too.

Yes, absolutely. And I love that you mentioned kind of the refresh in the company merch because I know even for me personally, a good time to kind of reevaluate when we need to reorder something, right? Where it's a good time to pause and be like, wait a second, is this something that we want to continue ordering? Is it time to maybe look at another option? Do we want to maybe change things up a little bit? And I also say company merch because I know for us, you know, we have

you know, team welcome gifts, we have client welcome gifts, we have client anniversary gifts. And so, you know, when you're looking at your team journey and your client journey, always a great time to, you know, provide them with something, you know, special that's branded, that's meaningful. And Shane, I want to give a shout out to you as well. And I don't want to give up, give the item away. But as I mentioned at the beginning of our conversation, Shane is one of our vendors.

for our client anniversary gifts. I don't want to say what those are because if clients are listening, they haven't gotten one yet. I don't want to give it away. But it was really, really easy. I know Shane, you had mentioned you're going to the promotional products website. There's a lot there, obviously, because there's a huge selection. So one thing that I really appreciated was I sent you an email. said, hey, we're looking for something like this. And you had kind of pre-selected maybe a handful of

10 items maybe that you recommended and it was really easy for me. You took a catalog of thousands of things, narrowed it down and it made it really, really easy for us to make a selection. You got our artwork and facilitated really the whole process. It was really, really easy. if you want somebody who will narrow things down and be simple to work with, Shane is definitely your go-to. So yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Thank you. Yeah. We, you know, the difference, you have an amazing company that has a, a lot of commercials on TV. We won't say who they are and they're, they're a good company. They're amazing. They're leading the industry in promotional things. You know, we're, we're doing the same thing that they're doing. what I, the value added for us is that there are so many companies out there that people get scared on.

Is this going to be on time? Is it going to be of quality? Is it going to last? Those types of things. And our unique value is because we're first and foremost a marketing agency, we're actually having a smaller, deeper dive into why you need what you need. Then to your point, then let us do, now that we understand that, let us gather the items that are actually going to make an impact for whatever you're doing. If you're an engineering firm and you're at a conference,

Yes.

It doesn't make sense to have squeeze balls. Let's get you, for example, a really cool engineering pen that I guarantee you people are going to continue to use and your brand is going to be out there more frequently and for a longer period of time. So we do that to kind of bookend it and then we stand behind everything so that, you know, if there's ever any issue, you're calling and talking to us and we're responding very quickly versus sending in the reply online.

You're right.

or trying to get through robotic customer voicemail, whatever to get through. know, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

We've all been there. Yes, yes. We send in a ticket through the support on the website and then, you know, it takes 24 to 48 hours to hear back. you know, God forbid it's a bot responding to you that clearly didn't understand what your need was in the first place or what have you. And then, you know, it's sending in pictures and troubleshooting and it just, can get really overwhelming and you're not even talking to anybody. You know, you're just this constant back and forth in an email. So,

Yes, absolutely. If anything were to go wrong or there is any questions or anything, I love that your team is right there and able to help and get things on track.

try to do our best. know, in addition to that, with that, people are happy and we don't, we don't market. We don't do a lot of marketing. It's grown through word of mouth. And that says a lot based on what we've, what we've provided. then, you know, in addition to that, people really know us that, but we now are building the print multimedia print services that we're doing stuff for universities, for notebooks and booklets and those things. And then we have the consulting side where we're doing design.

We did a license plate for the state of Minnesota for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives office. We did that logo for them and then we did the license plate. And that's amazing to be a part of that. So we do a lot of design and a lot of consulting around different projects. Yeah, we're doing some great work. That pocket of promotional products is a big part of things. And my team runs that along with us doing these other amazing things to really help build prosperity.

and awareness for our clients.

Agreed, 100%. Well, Shane, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me today and to share more about your knowledge and experience of how you've grown your team and how you run the business behind the scenes. Really, really grateful to you and to all of our listeners. Thank you so much for tuning into this week's episode of Make Space for More. I will be back next week with more tips and tools and strategies to grow your business beyond you.

Have a wonderful rest of your day, everyone.