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.

Today, we are celebrating Donna Peterson and World

Innovators, a B2B marketing firm.

Hi, Donna.

Hi, how are you today?

Wonderful.

Wonderful.

How are you?

I am great right now.

We are trying not to melt.

It's very hot, so we are trying to, I don't mind being inside at my desk.

Let me just tell you that.

Oh,

we go from AC to AC.

Yeah, you know, our feels like temperature sometimes yesterday, I

think it was the actual temperature was 91 and the feels like was 103.

I don't know how you people do it.

I could not live down there.

I

There are times we don't know either.

There's a lot of people in winter in, in the, in the central Florida area

that have summer homes in the Carolinas in the mountains for just that reason.

Yeah, snowbirds.

We get them up in Vermont all the time.

Yep.

The Carolinas, they used to call them Floridiots.

Yeah, because we didn't know how to do the switchbacks, so we would

ride in the middle of the road.

Oh,

We are flatlanders.

That's right.

okay.

So Donna tell us about the history of world innovations How did it get started?

I think that's a fascinating story if I recall

Yes it is.

Um, first the company is World Innovators and was founded

43 years ago by my mother.

Now you can imagine back then that was a big deal for her to go out on

her own and start up the company.

But it was all because she saw a need for mailing lists.

Because we didn't have the internet then and she had clients like

Frost and Sullivan, Forrester, NYU, Fordham, Caltech, who wanted to

promote their programs, but didn't know how to reach these executives.

And she went around the world talking with different publishers and conference

companies about what mailing lists, so I mean postal lists, did they have

available that her clients could rent.

And that really is the basis of our company.

It started as a list So it was postal lists.

And of course, now we have evolved into email lists, but we've also grown

with our clients so that we are a full service B2B marketing agency, helping

our clients get their message right in front of their target audience.

Because gone are those days of doing those big, broad, general messages to a

large audience and getting all the sales you need that it won't work anymore.

And we help our clients find that specific niche audience and get

their message in front of them.

So as the years have grown 43 years, it has evolved.

I will not say it was all easy.

It definitely was not.

We have been through some things in the economy.

You know, there was September 11th, which shut a lot of things down.

We had anthrax scares that again, shut things down.

People weren't going to travel.

People wouldn't open up mailing.

And then you also had the whole evolution of.

Marketing and the technology that's out there.

That's kind of changed our workspace.

Yeah.

So, um, what was the transition like when, when, you know, you've got

mail when, when that became a thing?

What, did that just really rock your, your business?

You know, at first everyone wasn't sure and everyone still was very secure

that it had to be a postal mail piece.

A lot of people still wanted to get print.

And then you did start to see the change and it wasn't a drastic boom.

It was boom.

A gradual let's okay.

Let's incorporate some email into our campaigns.

And then again, a little bit more and then a little bit more.

And you did see a lot of companies leave doing a print or a postal

campaign and going into emails to then setting up banners.

You know, we didn't have banners back when the company started.

There was no internet back when the company started.

It was 43 years ago.

Yeah.

why the ingenuity my mother had about traveling around the world.

I don't mean getting on a zoom call.

There was no zoom call.

It was getting onto planes, meeting people in person.

because she did that, some 43 years ago are still in existence.

Wow.

Yeah, there is such a value to the personal contact.

Um, that you, you just, I mean, this is great and it's so much better than a

phone call because I can see your face and I can read your expressions and

we can connect on a much deeper level.

And I found that with my parents when we lived across the country from my

parents, trying to get, getting on a video call was a huge difference.

But it's not the same as face to face.

It's never the same.

I totally agree with that.

I met with a vendor this week on Tuesday and same thing.

He flew in, he goes, I don't do as many meetings like this anymore,

but I get so much value out of it.

And now, especially well with marketing, but everything in our life has to be

about building those relationships.

And if you want to build a relationship where you really connect with the

individual, those in person meetings.

up so much.

not just business.

It's not just, okay, let's do this interview.

We're going to leave.

It's, oh, where are you going on your vacation?

What are your kids doing?

Oh, your dog.

It just opens up a whole plethora of different

Mm hmm.

about, but things for you to connect on.

Right.

Exactly so.

Well, and you're more relaxed because you're not recording.

Right.

Yeah, you can say things that, one to one, that you couldn't

say maybe that on a recording.

I'm notorious for that.

you're doing and if you're doing a 20 minute zoom call, you know, you want

to get to the point, you want to get your information and everyone leaves.

Right.

sitting down, I'm just meeting him in Starbucks.

We were sitting down for an hour, just sipping on, I was having a cold brew,

I think with some cinnamon on it.

And our conversations went in a variety of different ways,

Mm hmm.

something I didn't know.

About him in business, what he could do for my clients.

Wow.

my clients go further.

Nice.

Yes.

Nice.

Y'all must want to play for his plane ticket for that, don't you?

You know, sometimes

Yeah.

when you

Yeah.

in person, it saves, I say at least 10 emails

Mm hmm.

you know, trying to figure out like, what, what exactly are they saying?

Did they mean

Right.

Right.

What is the tone?

confused.

All

Emails do not, and texts do not have tongue.

They don't?

please.

They don't.

And sometimes, well, sometimes I do read an email like, Oh, they're mad at me.

Why are they mad at me?

Uh huh.

to them.

They're like, I'm not mad.

And I'm like, Oh, I'm sorry.

Some reason I read your email and it came across

Right.

No, I'm just a snark.

What can I say?

I like to be a little sarcastic.

Okay.

Well, that's it.

I'm a

Yeah.

and sometimes people don't get it that I'm really, it's a, it's a joke.

Right.

being serious.

And I, I tell people when I meet them in person, I'll say something and I can

tell by them being reserved or quiet.

They're not quite sure.

Was that a joke or was

Mm hmm.

Mm

I look at him going, I was joking.

hmm.

Mm

I'm a

hmm.

Yeah.

Well, and that's how you figure each other out.

And that's part of, you know, the, the establishing kind of the relationship

and the, the rules of engagement.

Yeah.

Cause, um, I've, I've always tended to be, uh, uh, taking myself too

seriously and been very literal.

And so when I meet somebody that messes with me, I'm one of those, I don't know.

And I'll get that deer and I don't have a poker face at all.

So I'll get that deer in the headlights look and you know,

they'll say, I'm messing with you.

Oh come on, if you work with family, you'd better be funny.

You better run with it, because I want to...

otherwise,

Exactly

Yes.

Yes.

Well, so mentioning that, um, your, so your mother started the business.

You said, in our pre-interview, that you've worked both with your father in

the business at some point, and also your husband works in the business currently.

And now her daughter too.

And your daughter?

Yep.

My, um, mother Oh, started the company in 1980.

My father then joined two years later to help her on the sales side.

Cause he was a salesman for different, food brands, but then decided to join her.

I joined, uh, around their 10th year.

I've been here ever since.

I swore I was never ever going to do this.

I

Famous last words.

it was, it was well, and also in college, you have to understand

when I was in college and my friends thought my mother had male lists.

M A L E lists.

They got quite excited and I had to calm them down and say,

no, not males, mail, M A I L.

Then it wasn't as glamorous anymore.

Right.

Oh, that's so funny.

I

swore I was going more the accounting.

I wanted to be a certified financial planner.

And while I was studying, I worked for my mother part time

and that's where the love sparked.

I couldn't believe I had the opportunity to work in a variety of

different industries around the world.

So I wasn't dealing with just people in the United States.

We were over in the UK.

We were all over Germany, Asia, just speaking to different people.

And I love learning about their culture.

I love learning about different industries and then the nuances of

marketing; just don't even get me started.

And if my family was around me, they're like, really don't get her started!

I love that nuance of trying to figure out what does resonate with people?

What would they find interesting to read?

What colors are they drawn to?

I'm just, I really can geek out on it.

So the whole world of B2B marketing going into that industrial side

where it's really intricate.

I got hooked, joined and never left.

And then my husband joined in 2002.

Because at that point we were starting a family and he didn't want to work

his long financial hours anymore.

And so he joined the company.

He still works here today.

My, both my children have worked in the company at some capacity.

And my

daughter right now is doing her graduate degree.

So she's back working with the company, helping us on our podcast,

the B2B Marketing Excellence podcast, and getting it produced

and promoted out in the marketplace.

Ah, okay.

Very good.

Yes, I've watched a couple of episodes.

There you go.

Yes, yes.

So, what do you love most about working with family?

And you talked about falling in love with, uh, You know, the multinational

and the nuance part of it.

And I mean, we could geek out on that for an hour.

Yes.

That's all the different cultures and communications and all that, but within

the business, the family in the business, how, what do you love about that?

And, and what is like your greatest, um, two part question.

So what's your greatest tip or secret that you've learned about balancing

harmoniously balancing the two things.

All right.

I'm going to answer these two questions, but that last question,

still working on that one

Okay.

But I have to say something about working with family business

is that unconditional support.

Just like when you're in a relationship at home, it's that unconditional love.

When you're working in a business with your family members, there is that

unconditional support that, you know, they're always going to be there.

You know, that they really do have.

You top of mind, they don't have a separate agenda for themselves because

we're working together as a family.

And when this is the livelihood for at times, it was two families.

It was my parents and then my husband and I, and that was the only income

coming into our house was this business.

You do work together to make it succeed.

And it is not always easy.

There's definitely pluses and minuses to a family business, but I feel that one

of the best tips I could give people as they start a family business is make sure

each individual has their own specific role that they're responsible for.

Yeah.

I find if everyone is too much like this, it gets very muddy, very

quickly.

too much like this.

Yeah.

It really does.

So, for instance,me, I'm more on the sales.

I talk, I am more forefront right in front of the clients where my

husband is in the financial side.

That is his wheelhouse.

I work like this.

He works like this.

So he's able to go over the details carefully, make

sure everything is spot on.

My mom, who is 91, is still with the company and she comes in

and works and to have her as a sounding board is, is priceless.

Because there is something about knowing the history and the evolution

of marketing To be able to talk to someone about that And that's what does

worry me about when people go out to do marketing, especially in the b2b space

They have to understand the history that came before in order to really be

successful for all the years to come.

Okay, my, my coach hat just went on.

When you say when they go out into market, they have to understand the

history, the history of the company that they are representing as a

marketing agent or, or the history of the company that's doing the marketing.

Well, kind of both.

I think your clients have to

understand

your, your family dynamics, how the company is structured,

How it is set up your basis, you know, there's something about when

you work with a family business, there's a, there's a work ethic

you don't find in other companies,

You know,

within

our company, we're family owned, we don't want to turn around and

just sell this, like my mother said, this was her fourth child.

this company is her baby.

And I think if I ever tried to sell it, I might as well just go out and dig a

hole because she would absolutely die.

And I didn't understand that for the longest time, but after putting

in the sweat and the time I've put in, I have no desire to sell it

and just, you know, manage people.

I like being in the meat of it.

I like talking to the clients.

I like talking to the vendors.

I like to go to the industry trade shows.

So it's important for clients to know that.

But then when you want to be a really good marketer, it's important to know

the history of marketing, like how

did

postal campaigns work?

How did it evolve into email?

You know, now with marketing, everyone wants to use like special phrases, like

omni channel account based marketing.

And it's like relationship building.

Even I use that word a lot because that's what everyone chooses, but

we were always concerned about that.

My father, when he came in from being sales for big food brands,

like General Mills and Stouffer, you know, Stouffer, he knew that.

It's all about building those relationships with your prospects,

but also with your fellow employees and the people you work with.

And

Yeah, and before the internet, it was like, well, the only way you're going to

do anything is to build a relationship.

It was, it was a given and, and

that's when you had to travel to see them.

right, right.

And now you have the option of just, you know, sitting behind a screen and spitting

out a bunch of stuff and sending it out and never making any personal contact.

And so it's really, you know, You know, we're, we have to keep

remembering that we're human.

Yes.

Especially in this AI world.

Oh,

I think this is going to be another don't get me started.

it is going to be another, don't get me started because I go around now and

I'm speaking at different industrial shows about how they can incorporate

AI into the mix, but you just brought up a very good point, Connie.

AI is great.

You have to learn how to use it correctly.

And that's what I talk about.

But don't forget that personal side that cannot come from AI.

You

And that's one of the joys of working in a family business.

Yes.

and, and being a part of that, because you can have that personalization

that you're not getting from a big corporation that's faceless

Yes.

much deeper because of the history.

Right,

Like people know, clients know, uh, you work with me, you're going to

work with me until I get hit by a bus or I don't know what happens.

It's not that I'm going to jump ship for another higher salary.

That's not going to happen.

And you know, that's the other thing about family, everyone's here for the long haul.

We're not here for three years to then move on to the next job.

right.

We're here because we're invested.

We care about our clients, but also as a family, we want this

to grow and be successful.

Yes.

And, and yeah, that was one of the things that I heard in there I wanted to make

sure to, to tease out was that, you know, the, one of the differences between the

corporate world, you mentioned agenda.

The family members , they're not having to, , manage and protect

their own career and build their own brand separate from the business.

Because they're, they're part of the business, they own the business,

and, you know, hopefully, unless they do something really stupid,

they're not going to get kicked out.

Like Connie said, also, there's that story.

You know, right now, how do you as a brand stand out and it's all

about telling your unique story.

So for instance, there's lots of B2B marketing companies out there.

Please, there's ones popping up every day.

You know, kids come out of college and they're marketing experts,

but what makes you separate?

Well, You know what?

We're 43 years old.

We are woman owned.

We work in the industrial space, you know, it's all family.

So you see, we've whittled down our story to be very unique.

And some people will

say, no way, we don't want to work with you.

We want to work with the big, huge corporations.

Well, that's fine because we wouldn't be a good match anyway.

Yeah.

So,

yeah, but by all means, let us know how that worked.

yeah, well, I always just say, you know, there's personalities come into play

and you will align yourself with the people who resonate with your story.

And don't try to push it.

Don't try to push it that you can work with everyone

because it's not going to work.

And half the time, those people you shouldn't have been working with,

if you do get them as clients, they're going to be headaches.

So, you have to get rid of them now.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Let them weed out themselves.

And that would fit with, with, you know, I think a lot of companies that

they don't have to be a family business for that, but I, um, I'm so again,

my, my curiosity is, is asking, so is there something that comes out of the

experience of working with family that

makes that clearer or easier to do.

What telling the story.

Um, recognizing where there's a fit and where there isn't.

I don't know if that's a family business thing or an age thing, because as I've

gotten older, I've gotten better at that because when I first joined, it was

all about, okay, let's just make sales.

Let's just work with everybody.

You know, even our promotions would be more.

Marketing.

So we would work with B2B and B2C brands where now we're really more

B2B and really on the industrial side because we know the pharmaceutical

manufacturers and food manufacturers and metalworking manufacturers better

than if you were trying to sell shoes.

And now I guess over the years I've learned; I've grown that

we are better just sticking in our little, our wheelhouse.

We'll be more successful as a company, but our clients also are

going to reap the benefit because they're going to get our specialty,

Mm hmm.

Our expertise.

And, and so B2B and I, I think most anybody will know that means business to

business, but the, when you say in the industrial space, so B2B could be, uh,

an accountant, you know, that works with small businesses doing their accounting.

So that would be a form of B2B, but you're more in, uh, product based,

like somebody's a manufacturer that's creating physical things that

these other companies buy, right?

Right.

Right.

A lot of this stuff we do is large pieces of equipment.

So there'll be HPLC or CNC machines and how you market something

like that is totally different than if it's accounting services.

Because some of these pieces of equipment that we're trying to help sell can

be hundreds of thousands of dollars.

can't just slap up a social media post and get someone to buy that

That's not an impulse buy.

No, no, it's, it's a different type.

And, and that's why going around to industry specific publishers has really

helped us and finding that niche audience.

Oh, wow, that made me remember we were in the egg business when I started my career.

And, and we, when I joined the company, we were in an expansion and, um, our

manager, hired manager, had located the, the world's most, world's best,

I'll call it, most advanced egg grading machinery was from a company called

MOBA, M O B A, out of the Netherlands.

They still are as far as I know, but we, we imported this machine from

the Netherlands and it came with two guys to, you know, put it together.

And so I understand exactly what you're talking about from that point

of view, 1977, it was 150, 000.

Oh, I have no idea.

I have no idea what it was.

That's what it was.

At least that.

And because we had to build a building to house it and we had to have and then

guess who was in charge of Running it and making sure that when things happen

Yeah, I needed to know how to do all the maintenance, but there again was running

24/7 but and and that yeah the the I wasn't involved in the decision process,

but making a commitment to, to something that's that central to your business where

your whole, basically your whole process is, is dependent on that thing and taking

a risk on something that's not popular because it was popular in the world, but

it wasn't popular in the United States.

There were other local or more local manufacturers that owned the market.

So we were really going against the grain.

Yeah.

And that's, and that's one of the things when you are trying to buy a piece like

that, everyone comes into the decision.

You got your CEO who's got to be in there.

Your CFO obviously has got to tell you, do you have enough?

Money, but then you want your production and operations people

involved too, to say, is this really going to make us more efficient?

Is this really going to take our business to the next level to be worth building a

new building or, know, bringing over two technicians and then training you to use

the machine and to maintain the machine

Right, because we couldn't pick up the phone and just call the guy to come, you

know, down the road to fix something.

decision.

Like one of the companies I work with, they're a German company and same thing.

They get the piece of equipment sent here, but then some of their people have to come

over from Germany and now they're trying to train people from the U S to do it.

But there's a lot more time education needed in order to get

people to make those decisions.

And especially in a small family business where, you know, you're spending, you're

outlaying this much money on a hope, a dream, a prayer that, that is really

is going to in the long run pay off.

But, and you don't have a lot of the backing that you've got in a large

corporation where they can absorb that and go, yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll mark it

off, you know, tax free, whatever it is.

But for us, it was, are we going to, in a year from now, can we

support this family with this?

Yes.

the families that were working for us.

That is a

very, very hard decision to

mm hmm,

you were asking me, John, about, is there something I wish I had

done differently in our business?

And one, I think maybe to be a little bit more courageous, To take those leaps, like

you just said, Connie, because we never, ever got outside funding for our company.

We have never taken out a loan for the company.

We're very conservative and sometimes that was to a fault

hmm, right, mm hmm,

because as a 43 year old brand, I think maybe we should have had a little

bit more confidence in our abilities to take maybe some of those riskier

investments and go out into an area.

But we were always of the thing;

we didn't want outside money.

mm

We

hmm,

want to take out loans that we could not pay back.

right.

Or it was going to take food off the table for our children to pay back.

That's right.

And that, that, it is a big decision.

It is a big decision, but I've seen other family brands where do take that

leap, some of them mortgage their homes

Right?

they invested back in the company and you did see, not all the time,

doesn't always work out, but sometimes when you are confident with what

you are doing, you see the company really get to that, that next level.

Right.

I would think it's not always an all or nothing kind of thing.

I mean, there are times when you can, you can start small, you know, there is some

investment, but you can test and, and go in a new direction and see how it works

without, you know, betting the farm on it.

Right.

As they say.

Mortgaging your children.

right.

But, but if you ask my husband or my family, I'm like, uh, we got to do it all.

If we're going to do this, let's just do it all and make it that, you know?

And he's always like, well, how about if you test it out first?

And I'm like, Oh, I don't, don't like waiting.

I like doing things fast.

So, but you're right, John.

I think if you took it as a slower in segments.

You could do it that way.

Right.

That's where we work, and how we think.

So.

Yeah.

And it underlies everything.

So, but this is not about us.

Um, so, something, is there something you wish that you'd known

uh, about the, the family aspect?

That, you know, what did you, what did you learn from those years of work?

Like you said, I'll never do this.

And then, and then you're in it, and now, and then you're in love with it.

So, what would you say to that person that said, I'll never do this?

Sometimes I think we all look around and the grass looks greener on the other side.

So you say, I'm not going to work with family.

I want to go and I want to go big.

then you realize that with family, it just fills your heart.

You know, maybe we're not the biggest corporation out there.

But every time I tell that story of my mom starting the company 43 years

ago, I'm telling you, I do, I feel like the Grinch in the movie where

you feel like your heart gets a little bit bigger because I am in awe of her

bravery at that time to do what she did.

Because she didn't do it as a second career.

Yes, I told you my father was in sales, but he was going in

and out of jobs at that time.

And my mom started the company to keep our family alive, to, to support our family.

So for her, it was, this has to work.

This is not, I'm doing this business to buy a lampshade.

This is, I need this to support my three kids.

And when I tell that story.

My heart gets bigger, but I think when I was younger, I didn't understand that.

And my mother did a great thing when I came out of college, she would not

let me work for the company right away, even if I wanted to, she says you need

to go out and work for other people

Smart.

and that, that is something I tell to people all the time, definitely do that.

Mm hmm.

Because when I started, I was working with a real estate

developer working in accounting.

And there was a day where I literally sat in a back room, just

cutting up old checks, because we had changed bank accounts.

And I remember going home and saying to my mother, this is ridiculous.

What did I go to college for?

I'm sitting in this room, cutting up these checks.

I should be doing more.

And she's like, It's character building

over the years.

My mother has said that to me quite a few times, character building.

And even to this day, I'll say I've got enough character.

We don't need that, but, but she's right.

Like everything you do in your life builds your character

Mm hmm.

you need to go through those before you jump into the family business,

otherwise you don't learn to respect.

Maybe the top management.

I would not respect my mother or my father working with them as much if I

hadn't worked for somebody else first.

I get that.

And there's, I know that there's some division in the, in the advisory world

about how important it is, for next gens to work outside the business first.

A lot of people require it.

Other people, you know, recommend it.

Um, And other people don't think it's necessary.

Naturally, and, and some don't do it.

I think from my perspective, I didn't really.

I went straight into the family business as kind of a default.

And most of my career, I wondered if I deserved to be there.

Could I work somewhere else or, or am I, am I only here because I'm the heir?

And, and that is not a comfortable psychological position to be in at all.

It, and I was worse than uncomfortable, but so I'm a strong advocate of getting

some experience somehow that shows you your, your skills and your strengths.

that you know, that you've earned your position.

And there's also policies within the family business.

Like especially if you've, if it's big enough to have, you know, more

than family members as employees, then the family members, there needs to

be very clear policies in place that everybody, goes through the same process

to, to be hired into the position and has to qualify the same way so

that there's no question about that.

And.

I totally agree.

We have people in our company who are not family and our philosophy

there is we treat them like they are.

Mm hmm.

We really, we acknowledge birthdays or anniversaries or

care about when a pet passes away.

When people come and join us, they are, they are family.

We care about them, but I agree with you, you know, even just going

through the interviewing process, you know, Everybody should go through an

interviewing process with another company.

You should never like walk out of college and go right into a company because

like you said, John, you'll sit there later wondering, "Do I deserve this?"

And even when I started with the company, I'd worked for somebody else.

I felt like I really needed to prove myself because I felt like I was young.

I also felt like I was just Anne's daughter.

I needed to prove that I knew what I was talking about.

And the only way to do that is to get out there and put yourself out there early.

Well, and that says something about you, too.

You know, that you felt that way.

Because there are, you know, there's a lot of different kinds of personalities.

And there are second generations that, you know, come at it from the point of

view of, I don't have anything to prove.

I deserve to be here.

You know, I'm part of the family.

And, you know, there's an entitlement there that That they

want to coast and and that is toxic in a family business culture.

That, it won't last the long haul if, if you have people who feel

that way, because you've got to get down and dirty in a family business.

You know,

I still empty out the trash on days.

You know, you are always doing something.

But when you

were talking, here is my big tidbit for anyone in business

really, or family business.

Get yourself a speaking course.

Now I'm a big Toastmaster person.

I think everyone should join a Toastmaster Club so that you get that regular

time to work on your speaking skills.

Not only if you want to have a podcast, but how you speak to other employees, how

you learn to speak with top management.

And understand how everybody has different communication skills.

I only did this five years ago and it changed my life.

I wish I had done it earlier in my career because it would have helped

me be a better spokesperson for the company, but it also would have

helped me better relate to my parents.

As they were the leaders in the company to then coming on to then maybe my kids

joining, or even my spouse joining.

Cause that got a little interesting because I was in the company first.

I knew more about the company than he did.

And so he had to work underneath me,

but there's a delicate balance there.

And Toastmasters has all these different paths of training

that you get to go through that helped me with all those things.

So there's my big, my big, definite tip.

That that's a great tip!

I was not aware that toastmasters had those different levels because

you were talking about like different styles of communication And and

Yes.

you know who you're communicating with I thought it was about preparing a talk that

you give to an audience and That was that.

No, it can be everything from doing a presentation to giving a toast at

your mother's 90th birthday party to giving a eulogy, but then just every

day communicating with employees or even being a mentor or a coach.

It just, that has really helped me a lot because like I mentioned

before, I am a thinker that's like this and my husband is a little

bit, I need to see the full picture.

He's slower.

And before I started to analyze communication skills,

he used to get so annoyed.

Why can't he work like me?

But he wasn't me, and it wasn't until I really identified his communication

style that I was able to work it all out.

I see.

So, all right.

Weather, so weather, yes.

Communication.

And, and we did a similar thing using the Clifton StrengthsFinder

and, and working with that.

Yeah, different, different personality, uh, strengths and personalities and

values, you know, looking at all that and, you know, Appreciating the

differences, I want to, I want to say is the Yeah, he finally got it

through his head that I hate computers, I'm not going to learn computers.

It's, it's, it's a, it's, it's a dead subject.

Okay?

My husband's the same way.

He's like, I'm not sales.

And I'm like, well, I'm not sales either, but I do like to talk to

people, but I'm not hardcore sales.

But he was always like, nope.

understand.

Understand.

And like details.

Ooh, ooh, we don't do details.

We do big picture stuff.

Yes.

Yes.

That's it.

So what's next?

What's, what's on the horizon for you?

Well, like I said, right now with that Toastmasters, I'm doing a lot more

speaking, I'm trying to get out there and be more vocal about quality ways

of doing marketing, but especially in the industrial space and what's also

getting incorporated in there is AI.

I'm doing a lot of training organizations about the AI tools that are out there,

how they can implement them into different departments, but again,

making sure that they stay unique, that they, they remember their story and

work on building relationships, and it can't be something you just hand over

to AI tell them to do, because you won't ever create those relationships

unless you're able to do that.

Yeah, A.

I.

Is homogenized.

Yeah, it is.

And people have to be very careful about that.

Yes.

Okay.

Right.

And so future plans.

You mentioned a son.

Your kids are in the business.

Are they have they expressed an interest in carrying on, you know, a

transition beyond your your career.

Okay.

to be honest, no.

And I'm perfectly fine with that at this point because.

I said, they need to go out, work for other people, figure

out what they like to do.

And then if they do come back, that's great.

But our company can go in a variety of different ways that they can take it

in any direction that they want because marketing is constantly evolving.

so we'll see what happens.

But right now what we're doing as a brand is just getting

out there and speaking more.

Promoting the podcast and

All right.

And we will make sure to put that in the, in the show notes.

So, uh, for, for people, uh, that, uh, clearly we're going to, you know,

mention the podcast, the, uh, your website, anything else, uh, that you

want people to discover you at on.

No, they can just check.

Um, obviously LinkedIn, it's Donna A Peterson.

They can check us there.

I also have a world innovators, YouTube channel where there we post

regularly about different topics.

I'm about to do a whole series on AI tools.

How to use them

Ooh.

a special tip.

And then our podcast, you'll find us on any of the podcast platforms along with

YouTube, because we do just like yourself.

We do the audio and the video side

Yeah.

That's where I I've watched it on, uh, I liked the video part of it.

I'm not, I'm not a old school audio podcaster.

Yes!

Yes, and if anyone has needs for B2B marketing, please feel free to reach out

to me and I can see if I can help you.

Excellent.

We look forward to recommending you.

Thanks so much for spending this been so much fun.

Yes,

We could.

We could.

Uh, yeah.

much for having

now we have to go on to our business, right?

A pleasure.

And if one of those kids joins the business, then maybe we'll circle

back and, uh, and get you both on camera together and, and, uh,

talk about, you know, how you're figuring out the That dynamic.

That dynamic.

Yep.

Yes, definitely.

All right.

All right.

Let me see if I can get my husband on here one of these

Yes.

We'd love to do that too.

Alrighty.

Well, thanks so much and we will look forward to a future conversation.

Okay.

Bye.

Bye bye.

you.

Bye.