The Speak Easy Podcast

The question of when to hire and when not to isn’t about neglecting your team’s capacity needs. Rather, it’s about taking a more meditative approach to the hiring process. Beyond determining if your business has the budget to hire and what the capacity needs of your team are, it’s important to consider if your organization needs to change and how it needs to change with the addition of a new hire....

As leaders, we can’t (and shouldn’t) do it all. Bringing your team into the decision-making process is important to the health and wellness of your organization. No part of the organization benefits from being overprotective of decision-making, and being excluded from this process limits a team's growth potential. All that said, putting this delegation into practice can feel overwhelming. Preparin...

Long description: How often does it actually serve us to have our expectations set in stone? Even when the circumstances of a project change, the work still needs to be done. This is where “going with the flow” comes in. Instead of becoming mentally invested in things happening a certain way, it takes a lot less energy to focus on the things that can be controlled. Even when a process is rigid, ad...

What difference would it make in your work if you celebrated the success of others? Being happy for someone who has something you want takes practice. It also takes patience with yourself. When we shift away from envying our competition, we abandon a scarcity mindset that brings pressure and negativity into our work and prohibits our own growth. At first, it feels easier to critique somebody else’...

Cheers to our 150th episode! What better way to celebrate than with a topic we both have challenges with? Bandwidth. There are only so many tasks you can work on at any given time, even for us multitaskers. And when overwhelmed, it takes an emotional toll on how we organize cognitively. In our experience, it’s essential to acknowledge your bandwidth and stick to it. There’s no denying that the to-...

How are we already nearing the back half of the year? This is the time of year when we look back on our goals and resolutions. Achieving your goals can be unpredictable, due to any number of distracting outside factors. However, the key is remembering that you can only change what is in your circle of control. Falling off the goal track is inevitable, but reminding yourself why you set them in the...

Compensation is so much more than pay – it demonstrates that you value your employees as human beings, and acknowledges their lives outside of the workplace. At the bare minimum, of course, we’re required to follow the law; but we’re proud to say that our businesses offer benefits beyond what’s expected. A small business’s benefits will certainly look different compared to what the big guys can of...

A balanced life involves joy: that feeling of shared positivity, satisfaction from a job well done, or just plain giddiness. But how do we lead with it? As we transition into new seasons with our teams, this is a question we’ve been asking ourselves a lot. Joy doesn’t just arrive at your doorstep; the balanced, authentic skill of joy takes practice and requires you to slow down, pause, and reflect...

Client feedback is a permanent aspect of the creative industry, due to the endless opinions associated with creative products. For us, client feedback is a daily occurance. It is how we move forward, finish products, and maintain relationships. Although client feedback may not always be positive, we see it as a mindset shift. Think of feedback as a puzzle piece: Once you find where it fits, the ov...

Risk is a roller coaster, and we all have different tolerance levels. As entrepreneurs, we believe the more risk you take on, the better the rewards. But the flip side, of course, is the heightened consequences if the risk doesn’t pay off. The roller coaster of risk has many ups and downs, but it is ultimately your decision whether or not to get on the ride. The amount of risk you can take depends...

Artificial intelligence carries a lot of controversy within the creative industry, and it's not going away any time soon. We already use many forms of AI within our own businesses to enhance our work, but is it a tool to further improve our work or a replacement for people altogether? Our solution (for right now, at least) is that AI needs boundaries. There is a side which benefits our clients and...

If you’ve listened to our podcast before, you know that we never miss an opportunity to discuss our values. They’re the foundation for how we function as individuals and as professionals. As business owners, our values are what creates a cohesive and sustainable space for employees and customers, but they also act as boundaries. However, it’s important to take a moment to ask yourself and your tea...

Rejection is inevitable. But in our experience the more you fail, the more successful you’ll be. Especially in the creative industry, rejection is everywhere. We reject clients and they reject us, but this ensures balance. It never feels good or is easy, but how do we persevere? Our secret is to turn off the feelings and turn on the logic. In this episode, we look at rejection from a positive poin...

It’s impossible to stay the “hot young thing” forever, but how can we reevaluate our skills and goals to better match who we are as leaders today, while keeping an agile, inventive mindset? We love seeing our staff create ideas and solve problems in ways we never expected, so we hope to fine tune their passions and act as mentors on their journey. However, what is our secret to mastering the new r...

We don’t like new years resolutions, but we do like setting goals. Setting goals and achieving them instantly is not realistic. It takes time and persistence to change our habits and routines. In the business world, Q1 and Q4, have expectations which come with them. How do we switch gears as business owners? Refocusing and creating short-term and long-term goals can make our objectives more attain...

In our guest Amber Clark’s own words, she "sort of fell into" her career as neighborhoods and economic development director for Meridian Township – but since then, it has become her dream job. As a Mid-Michigan native, Amber understands her community at its core and has a passion for creating environmental and educational change. Initiating change in a community with existing, deep roots is far fr...

Burnout often comes in waves — so to prepare, we need to have tools ready to counteract the feelings of stress and anxiety when they hit. Being overwhelmed and experiencing burnout is a toxic duo that weighs down all professionals from time to time. To cope, we often go on autopilot hoping we’ll overcome these stressors over a few weeks or months; but this isn’t an adequate long-term solution. The...

Every individual has their own path toward their professional career. Aspects of academics, lifestyles, and family expectations all integrate to direct a person toward a career that best suits them. In the case of entrepreneurship, people use their individual experiences to fuel their careers. Karen grew up with parents and siblings who were entrepreneurs, and she knew that was a professional choi...

Entrepreneurship is the ability to find new opportunities and act on them. Although it takes risk, our guest, Country Millbrook, does not take this risk alone. Courtney has been the executive director of the Lansing Symphony Orchestra for 13 years and her team has been sharing the gift of music with the Greater Lansing community for almost 100 years. Courtney did not grow up involved in the world...

Culture within a business reflects the company's values. However, with many changes occurring over the past few years, we have an opportunity to step back and reform our businesses to become the best they can be. This presents itself as pressuring our employees and clients to step out of their comfort zone, but how do you do this? We start with the hard questions. Challenge your employees and clie...

Is there a formula to measure efficacy? Or is it wizardry? When it comes to developing creative content, we’ve developed some formulas over the years that usually create specific, intended results for video and marketing materials. But these formulas didn’t just magically appear — they come from years of trial and error, adjustment and readjustment, and strategic problem solving. Every piece of co...

Ashlee Willis, CEO of Michigan Premiere Events, built her business from the ground up while balancing her busy family life. Along with her entrepreneurship, Ashlee is recognized as an active member in the community, serving on various boards and participating in many community organizations. Join us this week as Ashlee discusses the importance of community involvement, how her interest in the arts...

Relying on one tactic or one channel for your marketing strategy is dangerous and unreliable. Especially in the digital age, we need to be careful to ensure social media isn’t the only way we’re reaching our audiences. Everyone consumes media in different ways, so it’s important to craft a strategic plan that covers all the bases. Join us this week as we discuss what to consider when developing yo...

Creatives just want to be creative, but there’s more to the job than pure creativity. There are wraparound parts and other skills that are needed to get to the final product. Strategic thinking and project management are needed to understand the problem at hand and to get the details right. Honestly, all the non-creative parts are beneficial to us and make us more whole-rounded. Join us this week...

When Roz Keith’s son came out as transgender in 2013, there were few resources available to help him transition socially, emotionally, psychologically and medically. In Roz’s search to find support for her own child, she realized she needed to fill the void of information for others. As a result, she founded Stand With Trans, a national resource for transgender youth and their parents. Stand With...