Balancing Parenting & Work Together In the New Normal

WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.840 --> 00:00:09.020 Welcome back to BTB Growth. I'm Dan Sanchez with sweet fish Media, and 2 00:00:09.020 --> 00:00:14.590 today I'm joined What Tiffany Heiple, who is a sales manager at LinkedIn on 3 00:00:14.590 --> 00:00:17.590 just to kick it off with a fun question I always like to start with, like just 4 00:00:17.590 --> 00:00:21.820 a random one. Question. If you could have any superpower Tiffany, what would 5 00:00:21.820 --> 00:00:26.420 you want? Why, oh, mind reading? Absolutely. I have a six year old son, 6 00:00:26.420 --> 00:00:32.659 so we play this game a lot. And mind reading is absolutely what I would take 7 00:00:33.040 --> 00:00:37.250 and why, I think. I mean, it's probably why I'm in sales and marketing. I love 8 00:00:37.250 --> 00:00:41.000 to know what people think. I love to see what people are thinking. I think 9 00:00:41.010 --> 00:00:46.340 people are the most interesting things, and I love hearing what's going on in 10 00:00:46.340 --> 00:00:50.120 that in that Kaufer up there, because it makes a lot of sense as a sales 11 00:00:50.120 --> 00:00:53.450 manager. It's like you're like an expert at mind reading. You get 12 00:00:53.460 --> 00:00:58.410 rewarded for the best for mind reading essentially right exactly to predict 13 00:00:58.410 --> 00:01:02.010 what they want, where they're gonna be when all that kind of stuff Well, it is 14 00:01:02.010 --> 00:01:05.600 marketers, right? It's our goal toe come up with Where do we think they're 15 00:01:05.600 --> 00:01:09.490 gonna be. So if we could start Thio here it before, it's a win win on all 16 00:01:09.490 --> 00:01:13.620 sides? Absolutely. That's why we read a lot of psychology books to try to make 17 00:01:13.620 --> 00:01:18.940 that better and better. Thanks for joining me on the podcast today. The 18 00:01:18.940 --> 00:01:21.960 reason why, um, interviewing Tiffany now is cause she brought up an 19 00:01:21.960 --> 00:01:26.770 interesting conversation to me on linked in talking about how difficult 20 00:01:26.770 --> 00:01:32.240 it's become to manage both a family and while managing your work. Managing a 21 00:01:32.240 --> 00:01:36.050 sales team, managing a marketing team, trying to be productive while also 22 00:01:36.050 --> 00:01:39.340 trying to home school, your kids essentially trying to keep them going, 23 00:01:39.340 --> 00:01:43.950 trying to keep the peace at home. And if you have both parents are working 24 00:01:43.950 --> 00:01:48.150 and all kids air home, then that could be. It's been it's been a hard time for 25 00:01:48.150 --> 00:01:52.280 a lot of people all over the place, and it was interesting how you've drawn 26 00:01:52.280 --> 00:01:57.380 some correlations between managing teams and being a parent, as well as 27 00:01:57.390 --> 00:02:02.280 some of the difficulties behind it. So I thought it was an interesting point 28 00:02:02.290 --> 00:02:05.120 from the very beginning. I was like, You know what? I haven't seen a lot of 29 00:02:05.130 --> 00:02:07.880 people talking about this, and I'm sure there's been other podcasts about that. 30 00:02:07.880 --> 00:02:11.660 But I know we haven't talked about it at length here. That is a real reality 31 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:16.130 for a lot of people listening to this podcast. Now, you're currently trying 32 00:02:16.130 --> 00:02:19.940 to be as productive as possible because, you know, everyone is taking a hit in 33 00:02:19.940 --> 00:02:24.280 some way, shape or form from the pandemic. Yet you're under more stress 34 00:02:24.280 --> 00:02:28.710 than ever before with just having everything at home. And maybe that's 35 00:02:28.710 --> 00:02:32.500 not your situation. But we know this is a situation that's very common right 36 00:02:32.500 --> 00:02:36.310 now. So, Tiffany, can you tell us a little bit about what your experience 37 00:02:36.310 --> 00:02:41.370 has been and why you think people aren't talking about this a lot on 38 00:02:41.370 --> 00:02:46.000 social media and out there on the Web? Sure. So, yeah. I mean, Dan, how this 39 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:51.150 all came up is I'm a parent of two young kids, so 6.5 in 3.5. So it is 40 00:02:51.150 --> 00:02:54.620 hands on, right? Like virtual learning. It's not virtual learning like they're 41 00:02:54.620 --> 00:02:59.820 not autonomous, and I live in Ontario, Canada, and so we're currently in a 42 00:02:59.820 --> 00:03:03.610 full provincial locked down and have been since December 26. What that means 43 00:03:03.610 --> 00:03:08.340 is literally. Everything is shut Everything. Grocery stores were open. 44 00:03:08.350 --> 00:03:13.670 That's it. So we are all home schooling our kids to the best of our ability. 45 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:18.820 And it was funny because first of all, I believe there are a myriad of skills 46 00:03:18.830 --> 00:03:22.630 that you have as a parent that also help you as a sales and marketing 47 00:03:22.630 --> 00:03:28.090 leader. I think that too, Like I believe that in my heart of hearts, um 48 00:03:28.100 --> 00:03:31.380 But what I found so interesting And you know why I reached out to you is why is 49 00:03:31.380 --> 00:03:34.980 nobody talking about this? And you listen, I listen to a ton of sales 50 00:03:34.980 --> 00:03:38.480 podcast. They listen to a ton of marketing podcast. I read all the books. 51 00:03:38.490 --> 00:03:42.790 I love it. But then you go when you look at these people behind the scenes 52 00:03:42.790 --> 00:03:47.070 and you find out like their parents before, or, you know, they like they 53 00:03:47.070 --> 00:03:50.070 have this whole other life that we don't hear about. And what's so 54 00:03:50.070 --> 00:03:54.130 interesting to me is during co vid That veil has dropped and we were already 55 00:03:54.130 --> 00:03:57.290 getting to that point, right? Like it was kind of a slow burn. We were all 56 00:03:57.290 --> 00:04:02.180 starting Thio merge our our work in our personal life, but never more so than 57 00:04:02.180 --> 00:04:07.230 now where we're literally sitting in my house, vice versa on Do you see kids 58 00:04:07.230 --> 00:04:11.450 pop in and you see dogs and all of that and you hear someone go on mute and 59 00:04:11.450 --> 00:04:14.960 have to like, school their kids, which is really interesting. And so why are 60 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:18.190 people talking about it? I don't know. But that's why I reached out to you, 61 00:04:18.200 --> 00:04:21.370 because I think it's something we should talk about. And so what happened 62 00:04:21.370 --> 00:04:25.400 was and what actually spurred this on is on LinkedIn Thea Other day I had a 63 00:04:25.400 --> 00:04:30.390 conversation with my son and I sit here literally. My son sits right here like 64 00:04:30.390 --> 00:04:34.150 you can't see but like, this is normally where he sits, um, with his 65 00:04:34.150 --> 00:04:37.720 little laptop. And so we're both doing our meetings. And of course, the first 66 00:04:37.720 --> 00:04:41.770 week was treacherous. And by the end of the week, he said to me like, Hey, Mom, 67 00:04:41.780 --> 00:04:43.900 did you know and he was really concerned about. He's like, Did I 68 00:04:43.900 --> 00:04:46.580 interrupt you today? And you know, I thought about it. I'm like nobody 69 00:04:46.580 --> 00:04:49.850 actually didn't. He's like you didn't You didn't yell at me and I'm like, 70 00:04:49.860 --> 00:04:52.870 Guess I didn't. He's like, I guess we're getting better at working 71 00:04:52.870 --> 00:04:57.160 together. And I just thought it was a really sweet conversation. So I thought 72 00:04:57.160 --> 00:05:02.050 of a sweet I posted it on, like, did well, far and like, lone behold tons of 73 00:05:02.050 --> 00:05:06.020 engagement people like Oh my God, yes, that's what's happening to me. Oh, is, 74 00:05:06.020 --> 00:05:09.190 And some people, Isn't this a sweet time? Some people Oh, my God, I'm 75 00:05:09.190 --> 00:05:13.870 struggling And I was like, Wow, okay, there is a lot of people who want to 76 00:05:13.870 --> 00:05:17.940 talk about this. So why are people talking about it? I think really, we're 77 00:05:17.940 --> 00:05:24.630 still stuck in 2020. We had this notion that things would go back to normal, 78 00:05:24.640 --> 00:05:28.170 right? And so we all did our best. It was like a band Aid solution on. We all 79 00:05:28.180 --> 00:05:32.680 mirrored and worked through as best as we could. But now 2020 happens, and 80 00:05:32.690 --> 00:05:37.000 it's not going away. And we all were. We knew that, but I think I mean, 81 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:41.890 obviously the events on Capitol kind of made us all look a 2021 again and go, 82 00:05:41.900 --> 00:05:47.200 Oh boy. Oh, it's 2020 extended version. It's three mics. Why they keep calling 83 00:05:47.200 --> 00:05:53.130 it the new normal. I know. Welcome, Thio like I hate calling it that, but I 84 00:05:53.130 --> 00:05:56.210 think because people realize now that this is happening, I think you're going 85 00:05:56.210 --> 00:06:01.870 to see a lot more people talking about it. And how do we actually truly start 86 00:06:01.870 --> 00:06:09.370 to really live as one entity, parent worker manager? Health, whatever it is, 87 00:06:09.370 --> 00:06:13.770 but like, this is all one being there is no distinction right now. It's 88 00:06:13.770 --> 00:06:17.500 interesting. Do you feel like how good of a parent you are is now considered 89 00:06:17.500 --> 00:06:22.300 in how stronger than employees you are, since you can't really have a veil 90 00:06:22.300 --> 00:06:25.630 between your home life now and your work life that actually is coming 91 00:06:25.630 --> 00:06:28.890 through in some cases, right, Unless you just always have your video and 92 00:06:28.890 --> 00:06:33.190 your mike on your video off your mike on you people are going to see the 93 00:06:33.190 --> 00:06:36.560 craziness of your home. I've never heard so un employers say that actually 94 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:40.240 think they legally can't say that so But I gotta imagine that might be 95 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:44.920 effective. Maybe e. What's interesting and hilarious to me is when people do 96 00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:49.490 the mute and they're like, Oh, hold on the second on and then they come back 97 00:06:49.490 --> 00:06:53.900 on and they're like, Oh, hey, you know, like I saw that, Okay, but when I find 98 00:06:53.900 --> 00:06:57.770 the human part of that is going like, I'm really sorry. My son was trying to 99 00:06:57.770 --> 00:07:01.410 eat a sock, you know, and people were like, Oh, that's random. You're like 100 00:07:01.410 --> 00:07:05.360 Yep, sorry. Like that's what's happening or whatever it waas right 101 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:08.570 like my son was or my daughter was pulling on the other one's hair. I just 102 00:07:08.570 --> 00:07:13.120 had to save their scalp like So I find it anyway. It's just it's it is all 103 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:17.330 coming in tow one right now. It makes me We didn't talk about this ahead of 104 00:07:17.330 --> 00:07:19.900 time, but it actually makes me think of like, what's the new level of 105 00:07:19.900 --> 00:07:23.700 appropriate when these two things are blended together and I've wrestled with 106 00:07:23.700 --> 00:07:28.620 this even as a manager, you're like, Should I require people have them their 107 00:07:28.620 --> 00:07:32.980 videos on or not? Because I understand we need some privacy, you know. But at 108 00:07:32.980 --> 00:07:35.720 the same time, I'm like, I don't know how many meetings you've tried to do 109 00:07:35.720 --> 00:07:38.390 some training sessions where you're the one speaking and you're getting 110 00:07:38.400 --> 00:07:42.710 literally no feedback from anybody. You can't hear them, you can't see them. 111 00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:45.290 They're not chatting in there. Actually, it's worse that there chatting and 112 00:07:45.290 --> 00:07:48.220 you're talking as you can't read and talk at the same time. But I'm like, I 113 00:07:48.220 --> 00:07:53.390 don't know how well I'm doing like Hello, is anybody there? You know 114 00:07:53.390 --> 00:07:57.490 what's interesting, and I think this is where the worlds collide and this is 115 00:07:57.490 --> 00:08:02.610 where we have to be. I leave my camera on all the time. Good, bad, indifferent. 116 00:08:02.620 --> 00:08:07.150 And I think, at least for my team, that enables them to see what's really going 117 00:08:07.150 --> 00:08:12.210 on. And it's It sets the stage right. You lead by example, whereby if you can 118 00:08:12.210 --> 00:08:17.800 see what I'm going through and you can see what's happening, then hopefully it 119 00:08:17.800 --> 00:08:24.650 gives you permission to not be perfect, right? We all need that right now. And 120 00:08:24.650 --> 00:08:29.380 so if I have to go on, you find you do too, Okay. I was in a training session 121 00:08:29.380 --> 00:08:32.860 the other day, and there were kids, literally the trainer. The kids were 122 00:08:32.860 --> 00:08:36.010 screaming in the background, and she's like, I'm really sorry, like my kids 123 00:08:36.010 --> 00:08:38.880 just got a really cool Christmas present, but I'm talking, so I can't do 124 00:08:38.880 --> 00:08:42.539 anything about it right on. I think the more we see that the more comfortable 125 00:08:42.539 --> 00:08:47.180 you become with it, and especially in this world, until we go back to 126 00:08:47.180 --> 00:08:50.670 whatever it is, we're going back. Thio, where there's a physical distinction. 127 00:08:50.680 --> 00:08:55.020 This just is what it iss now. It's interesting if you have your video on, 128 00:08:55.030 --> 00:09:00.240 How much should you know? We call this like a professional appearance counts. 129 00:09:00.250 --> 00:09:03.560 I've found this has gone in all kinds of different directions now since zoom 130 00:09:03.570 --> 00:09:07.630 on. I came from a background that was really like, I mean, higher education 131 00:09:07.630 --> 00:09:11.290 is very buttoned up. It's very like where button up? Sure, like maybe wear 132 00:09:11.290 --> 00:09:14.770 a blazer. Maybe not, you know, kind of a place. It's sweet fish. It's the 133 00:09:14.770 --> 00:09:19.180 total opposite. Like the CEO, he measures his success by the amount of 134 00:09:19.180 --> 00:09:23.160 days he doesn't have to wear. Shoes is his line, right? So he's always been 135 00:09:23.160 --> 00:09:27.010 baseball hat T shirt. But at the same time, it's kind of like well, like, can 136 00:09:27.010 --> 00:09:30.680 I wear PJs like, can you just dress professional now? Like, how much does 137 00:09:30.680 --> 00:09:33.850 that become a thing professionally when all you're doing is doing zoom meetings. 138 00:09:34.140 --> 00:09:37.420 I think that's a really interesting point to, but I think all that has to 139 00:09:37.420 --> 00:09:41.970 do with, like, your professional persona. So to me, it's a matter of and 140 00:09:41.970 --> 00:09:44.500 this is where you know you pull on your marketing brain like, what is your 141 00:09:44.500 --> 00:09:48.870 brand, right? And so at the end of the day, I would still like to be thought 142 00:09:48.870 --> 00:09:55.460 of as professional and capable and all those things and eso I believe that you 143 00:09:55.460 --> 00:09:59.440 show up differently when you are dressed accordingly. And so, for 144 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:03.140 example, I was having some C suite meetings earlier today. I fully had on 145 00:10:03.140 --> 00:10:07.680 a colored shirt and blazer because yes, I'm just sitting here, but it puts me 146 00:10:07.680 --> 00:10:12.040 in a different mindset. And funny enough, it signals to my Children, too. 147 00:10:12.050 --> 00:10:15.220 They're like, Whoa, you're dressed up. You have a work meeting and I go, Yes, 148 00:10:15.220 --> 00:10:19.550 I dio And they're like, OK, well, now we know we have to be like extra quiet. 149 00:10:19.560 --> 00:10:23.950 So I found that even that visual representation helps with the kids 150 00:10:24.140 --> 00:10:27.700 because they know that if you're dressed down well, I could probably bug 151 00:10:27.700 --> 00:10:30.370 you a little bit more. It's only internal meetings, doesn't really 152 00:10:30.370 --> 00:10:33.230 matter. Whereas if I say like mummies on the phone with a client, they're 153 00:10:33.230 --> 00:10:38.170 like, Oh, okay, we get that the guilt, even our recording, This podcast. My 154 00:10:38.170 --> 00:10:41.550 kids are watching a movie because my wife is like making sure they're like 155 00:10:41.550 --> 00:10:45.770 preoccupied. But at the same time, it's kind of like I have like this. You 156 00:10:45.770 --> 00:10:48.500 can't see me because I'm in your listening to this. I'm in my little 157 00:10:48.500 --> 00:10:53.550 podcast office home video studio and I share a room with the baby like that 158 00:10:53.550 --> 00:10:56.720 baby could literally wake up and interrupt this podcast, but luckily 159 00:10:56.720 --> 00:11:00.320 there's like editors and stuff so we could deal with that. But for a lot of 160 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:04.380 zoom meetings with customers and clients and just doing normal things 161 00:11:04.380 --> 00:11:09.140 where you can't edit it out, it's just a reality, totally. And for the most 162 00:11:09.140 --> 00:11:13.050 part, I think most employers are becoming blacks with that, because it's 163 00:11:13.050 --> 00:11:16.990 hard not to be. When you're in the same boat, right as the employer. I think 164 00:11:16.990 --> 00:11:20.620 what's nice is we're going. I don't know we're going back to, but I mean a 165 00:11:20.620 --> 00:11:25.350 lot of a lot of the industry's you talk to and you have on the show and and 166 00:11:25.350 --> 00:11:29.170 certainly I work in their results oriented, and so it wasn't necessarily 167 00:11:29.170 --> 00:11:33.760 weren't really tied to an office. But the industries that were e banking law, 168 00:11:33.770 --> 00:11:37.720 etcetera, that were a little more old school. It's nice to see that they are 169 00:11:37.720 --> 00:11:42.170 getting the opportunity to be a little more lax. One of my best friends again, 170 00:11:42.180 --> 00:11:46.700 working Mom works in capital markets and so talk about, like, button up 171 00:11:46.710 --> 00:11:51.170 always. But now she's at a point where she totally keeps her blazer on the 172 00:11:51.170 --> 00:11:55.090 back of her chair. But otherwise she's in a running gear, like most of the day, 173 00:11:55.100 --> 00:12:00.740 which is really interesting. So I think that that it's again, it seems like all 174 00:12:00.740 --> 00:12:05.130 the industries air blending like this. What are they calling it? Industry 4.0 175 00:12:05.140 --> 00:12:09.250 is our new where we're at. I've heard that one. But all the Google after this. 176 00:12:09.260 --> 00:12:12.910 Yeah, I think Wall Street or New York Times put it out this week, and they 177 00:12:12.910 --> 00:12:17.530 were talking about how we're now in industry four point out, which is nice 178 00:12:17.530 --> 00:12:21.840 to see, because the old way of work was you went somewhere and now it's you do 179 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:26.010 something, and that is a great distinction and certainly again 180 00:12:26.010 --> 00:12:29.360 bringing it back. That's a great distinction for working parents. Yeah, 181 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:33.070 so what are some of the difficulties that you've run into have being a 182 00:12:33.070 --> 00:12:39.300 parent, full time parent now and full time worker sales manager. So I would 183 00:12:39.300 --> 00:12:45.250 ask you the same question. Damn. Like I know for me, uh, guilt is huge because 184 00:12:45.260 --> 00:12:52.300 when they're here and I'm virtually schooling them and I there so kind and 185 00:12:52.300 --> 00:12:55.650 they just want to ask the question. But you're in a client meeting and they can 186 00:12:55.650 --> 00:13:00.030 and then they miss it like that. Guilt of being tourney into directions is 187 00:13:00.040 --> 00:13:06.820 awful. Eso that's that's one challenge for sure. Noise obviously focus any 188 00:13:06.820 --> 00:13:12.720 sort of focus. So getting into a flow on any larger project, sure task 189 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:16.950 oriented stuff, cleaning up emails, responding, doing quick things easy to 190 00:13:16.950 --> 00:13:21.170 do fine. We're multitaskers. But actually, when you have to sit and 191 00:13:21.180 --> 00:13:26.120 build something or think about something and do that, that is really 192 00:13:26.120 --> 00:13:31.080 hard. When there's someone sitting right here asking for your attention or 193 00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:33.940 you're help, there's certainly been a lot of times I'm like running back from 194 00:13:33.940 --> 00:13:37.810 the bathroom like my meeting is starting in one minute, and my daughter 195 00:13:37.810 --> 00:13:41.470 is like, I don't know how to do this. Can you help me like almost breaking 196 00:13:41.470 --> 00:13:43.570 down because you can't get a hold of the teacher or whatever. And you're 197 00:13:43.570 --> 00:13:47.750 just kind of like you, like, try to read it real quick and realize you're 198 00:13:47.750 --> 00:13:52.230 not gonna figure it out. 30 seconds. So you're like, What do I do? Do I show up 199 00:13:52.230 --> 00:13:58.560 late for this meeting? Like, can I do that? Like, uh, exactly eyes, right. 200 00:13:59.340 --> 00:14:02.160 But yeah. I mean, I think those air, but at the same time, I think there are 201 00:14:02.160 --> 00:14:06.040 a lot of benefits, and that's what I think. Like, I think it's hard, and I 202 00:14:06.040 --> 00:14:09.590 think we can all like misery loves company. But I do think there is a lot 203 00:14:09.590 --> 00:14:13.000 of positive stuff coming out of this. So tell us a little bit about that. 204 00:14:13.010 --> 00:14:16.580 What? What are some of the things you found to make it better and to improve 205 00:14:16.590 --> 00:14:21.930 the new work life balance. So tactically, like actual execution 206 00:14:21.930 --> 00:14:27.620 skills, right time blocking, obviously absolutely imperative. Right? So what 207 00:14:27.620 --> 00:14:34.710 we've done is we've instituted, I mean, in our household, it is pretty rigorous 208 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:40.150 in that the schedule is adhered to. So, like we wake up in the morning, we go 209 00:14:40.150 --> 00:14:43.900 through all of the activities that have to be done that day, like all the work 210 00:14:43.900 --> 00:14:47.470 that has to be done and basically go. Okay, These are the five things you 211 00:14:47.470 --> 00:14:51.430 have to dio Now, What we have found and I was actually talking to someone else 212 00:14:51.430 --> 00:14:57.540 about this is if you have an in law or an aunt or literally anyone who is 213 00:14:57.540 --> 00:15:02.150 willing to spend an hour of time online with your kid because a lot of places 214 00:15:02.150 --> 00:15:05.490 to are in this spot, where were where you can't visit. They're actually 215 00:15:05.490 --> 00:15:10.870 helping. So the kid is logging on with grandma from like 11 to 12 and now 216 00:15:10.870 --> 00:15:14.900 granted both of our grand parents or teachers. So that helps, um, but 217 00:15:14.910 --> 00:15:18.260 logging on and asking questions and the grand parents were actually 218 00:15:18.260 --> 00:15:24.420 facilitating that Q and A and helping with them. And so that has been 219 00:15:24.420 --> 00:15:28.260 actually really helpful. Really lovely to see, because you get to build that 220 00:15:28.260 --> 00:15:30.860 relationship and they feel like they're helping. And the kids get to see 221 00:15:30.860 --> 00:15:36.640 Grandpa or Grandma on a regular basis. So that has been exceptionally helpful. 222 00:15:36.650 --> 00:15:40.500 Time blocking. So any sort of time blocking, right? I feel like I live and 223 00:15:40.500 --> 00:15:45.390 die by time blocking now because me too totally with Talyn Li links all flown 224 00:15:45.390 --> 00:15:48.850 out there. Anybody can throw something on your calendar and it's a disaster. 225 00:15:48.860 --> 00:15:53.050 You gotta block out your work. You have thio. Otherwise it's not going to get 226 00:15:53.060 --> 00:15:58.010 done. The other thing I found is, and it's I feel like you do. This is the 227 00:15:58.010 --> 00:16:02.370 beginning of every year a to some point, but like actually consciously removing 228 00:16:02.370 --> 00:16:07.060 the apse from your phone that you do not use so sure I can put on. I have 229 00:16:07.060 --> 00:16:10.330 time limits on it, and I always get the time limits. It's like you're spending 230 00:16:10.330 --> 00:16:13.580 too much time and I'm like, Give me 15 more minutes given and I'm like Okay, 231 00:16:13.590 --> 00:16:19.690 no. So I just took off a bunch of APS off my phone to make sure that I could 232 00:16:19.690 --> 00:16:23.910 go on once a week and I can see it on desktop. Nothing happened because no 233 00:16:23.910 --> 00:16:28.740 one's going anywhere, but at least it's not there. And I'm not going down the 234 00:16:28.740 --> 00:16:34.490 rabbit hole. So that and then ah, list in the morning and a list of night. So 235 00:16:34.490 --> 00:16:38.650 what I have found is the biggest thing is, so there's the guilt right, and 236 00:16:38.650 --> 00:16:41.270 there's the feeling like when you're going in a million directions that 237 00:16:41.270 --> 00:16:44.360 you're not actually accomplishing anything. So sitting in the morning and 238 00:16:44.360 --> 00:16:47.290 going through your kids priorities, these are the things we have to 239 00:16:47.290 --> 00:16:50.500 accomplish today. Your own work priorities. These are the things I have 240 00:16:50.500 --> 00:16:54.820 to accomplish today. And then at the end of the day for you, when you finish 241 00:16:54.820 --> 00:16:59.530 your work day looking back and saying, Okay, what did I actually accomplish? 242 00:16:59.540 --> 00:17:03.350 And whether that's in the morning identifying like of this to do list. 243 00:17:03.350 --> 00:17:07.040 These are the three things thes air, the absolute three things I have to do 244 00:17:07.040 --> 00:17:10.390 today. I don't care what else happens, and then at the end of the day, if you 245 00:17:10.390 --> 00:17:13.530 could look back and say, Oh, man, I actually did like two of them or hey, 246 00:17:13.530 --> 00:17:17.230 you actually got all three done. I'm finding that really helpful with 247 00:17:17.230 --> 00:17:20.970 alleviating some of the guilt because the to do list never ends, right? Makes 248 00:17:20.970 --> 00:17:25.480 sense. So what I'm hearing and what I'm thinking a lot about now is it. Like 249 00:17:25.480 --> 00:17:29.280 the whole work, life balance just looks a lot different. You have to be 250 00:17:29.290 --> 00:17:32.370 intentional about where your professional, in order to remain a 251 00:17:32.370 --> 00:17:36.160 professional. Where you're showing up you're showing up is a professional. 252 00:17:36.170 --> 00:17:40.540 But at the same time, Mawr of life is working its way in tow work. And that's 253 00:17:40.540 --> 00:17:44.260 okay. And I think I remember back in April, people were like, Hey, like, 254 00:17:44.270 --> 00:17:46.880 give people extra grace, give people extra grace. That was kind of like the 255 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:49.440 phrase in April was everybody was on lock down and try to figure out home 256 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:53.820 schooling and even trying to, like, figure out the like, but not zoom for 257 00:17:53.820 --> 00:17:56.950 the first time or the first couple of weeks. But I feel like that Needs still 258 00:17:56.950 --> 00:18:00.980 needs to be extended like we still need it. Even incorporate, I think even 259 00:18:00.980 --> 00:18:04.350 intentionally bring some of that in and not be, like shameful or try to push it 260 00:18:04.350 --> 00:18:07.310 out, but even be like, Oh, look, hold my son. Come here. Come here. Come here. 261 00:18:07.310 --> 00:18:10.260 Come here. You know, and just pull. Pull your family into the zoom call. I 262 00:18:10.260 --> 00:18:12.990 mean, it's internal meeting, for goodness sake. Maybe even maybe even 263 00:18:12.990 --> 00:18:17.420 client meeting. You know, we all have family or a lot of us have family 264 00:18:17.420 --> 00:18:20.320 around, and there's nothing wrong with pulling them into it. a little bit 265 00:18:20.320 --> 00:18:23.960 depending on how you feel about getting your kids and family in front of 266 00:18:24.340 --> 00:18:29.100 totally. And I'm honestly I'm finding to. And I heard this review of my 267 00:18:29.100 --> 00:18:33.250 teammates is they were saying that the nice thing about Cove it is it actually 268 00:18:33.250 --> 00:18:36.870 accelerated some of that relationship building, too, because you could peek 269 00:18:36.870 --> 00:18:39.640 into someone's life. Now, all of a sudden you saw their pets, you saw 270 00:18:39.640 --> 00:18:43.920 their home. You could remark on artwork behind them and say like, Oh, that's so 271 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:47.380 interesting. Tell me about it and then all of a sudden it uncovers this story, 272 00:18:47.390 --> 00:18:52.570 and now I have, ah point well in sales. Our whole job is to try and build 273 00:18:52.570 --> 00:18:57.870 relationships. So that was a huge bonus. And I think it's something that's 274 00:18:57.870 --> 00:19:02.470 really positive that's coming out of this. Maybe even think of a video I did 275 00:19:02.470 --> 00:19:05.580 on LinkedIn because they still haven't given me access to stories. For some 276 00:19:05.580 --> 00:19:10.290 reason, I'm like on the unlike the ah. Lot of people are still were working on 277 00:19:10.290 --> 00:19:13.760 it. Come on there, like we haven't rolled it out. I tell people on linked 278 00:19:13.760 --> 00:19:16.300 in there like you still don't have access to it. I thought that was a long 279 00:19:16.300 --> 00:19:20.000 time ago. I'm like, e think they pressed Pause on that for a while, But 280 00:19:20.010 --> 00:19:25.130 anyway, I posted a video to my my feed of me and I take my kids to school in 281 00:19:25.130 --> 00:19:29.470 the morning. This semester I have last spring semester. I did. They were all 282 00:19:29.480 --> 00:19:34.510 on virtual, but I usually stopped in the parking lot toe work on LinkedIn. I 283 00:19:34.510 --> 00:19:37.550 usually do commenting during that time, but this time I reported a video of me 284 00:19:37.550 --> 00:19:40.930 in the parking lot, the minivan just being like, What's up, everybody? This 285 00:19:40.930 --> 00:19:43.660 is usually my linked in time. And here's some tips for you. And people 286 00:19:43.660 --> 00:19:47.820 are like, Dude, I didn't even know you lived in Minnesota or like Minneapolis. 287 00:19:48.010 --> 00:19:51.950 And they were like, Oh, like you literally like one city over for me 288 00:19:51.960 --> 00:19:56.050 like it was a For a few people. That was an insightful moment into my life. 289 00:19:56.060 --> 00:19:59.480 Like I'm on my way, Thio dropping my kids off from school. It's like 8 15. 290 00:19:59.480 --> 00:20:03.310 I'm about to head back to work, but just being a little bit more vulnerable 291 00:20:03.310 --> 00:20:05.790 and throwing things out, things like that, I'm like, maybe you should be 292 00:20:05.790 --> 00:20:08.670 doing more of that. Maybe we should all be doing a little bit more of that 293 00:20:09.040 --> 00:20:14.790 instead of trying toe button everything up to be just you professionally. Maybe 294 00:20:14.790 --> 00:20:17.980 I should open up a little bit more. It's interesting you say that because 295 00:20:17.980 --> 00:20:21.320 I've been thinking a lot about this and probably because it's January 15th and 296 00:20:21.330 --> 00:20:23.770 it's the beginning of the year. And, you know, we're thinking about 297 00:20:23.770 --> 00:20:26.910 resolutions and and stuff like that. And I've been thinking about brand 298 00:20:26.920 --> 00:20:33.810 right, actually professional brand, which now is personal. So it's personal 299 00:20:33.810 --> 00:20:37.750 and professional brand. And because we can't go out, we can't network and we 300 00:20:37.750 --> 00:20:41.680 can't be events. We can't meet new people like What does that mean for you? 301 00:20:41.690 --> 00:20:46.740 So going back to exactly what you said like being intentional not only with 302 00:20:46.740 --> 00:20:52.590 your time, but in what you are sharing and commenting and someone told me and 303 00:20:52.590 --> 00:20:57.850 I really liked it, she said. I tend to post I have four buckets that I believe 304 00:20:57.850 --> 00:21:00.570 in, and they were. They were very different things. And she said, I 305 00:21:00.570 --> 00:21:04.820 always post comment. I always post content and I comment on things in 306 00:21:04.820 --> 00:21:09.610 those four buckets so that optically people start to understand that that is 307 00:21:09.610 --> 00:21:12.830 my brand. Those are the four pillars of my brand. And I was like, God, this is 308 00:21:12.830 --> 00:21:17.010 just like building brand. Like yeah, of course. Right. But I don't think we're 309 00:21:17.010 --> 00:21:20.430 very intentional sometimes in building our professional brand. And I think 310 00:21:20.430 --> 00:21:26.170 part of a working parent is that can be part of your professional brand now. 311 00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:30.700 But to your point, you just have Thio figure out how that's presented. So do 312 00:21:30.700 --> 00:21:33.040 you. Are you comfortable sharing pictures of your kids? If you're not, 313 00:21:33.050 --> 00:21:37.230 it's totally fine. Are you comfortable sharing anecdotes or do you tie the 314 00:21:37.230 --> 00:21:41.170 anecdotes back to sales or marketing developments? Like, What did your kids 315 00:21:41.170 --> 00:21:43.880 say that made you think about something? That's what I'm finding really 316 00:21:43.880 --> 00:21:47.840 interesting is just having their little perspective here on even some of the 317 00:21:47.840 --> 00:21:50.930 calls, right? Like all finished colonies, like who was that like? Oh, 318 00:21:50.930 --> 00:21:54.290 that was so And so he said, Oh, you put on you know this voice. Why did you put 319 00:21:54.290 --> 00:21:57.060 on that voice? And you're like, Oh, that's weird. Yeah, I don't know, man. 320 00:21:57.060 --> 00:22:00.160 Why did I put on that voice? Or on the flip side, he's like, what were you 321 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:04.100 talking about and then we'll start talking about it. And then he's 322 00:22:04.100 --> 00:22:07.070 interested. And all of a sudden I have, like, a little new person that I'm 323 00:22:07.080 --> 00:22:12.350 educating on digital content when he's like, Okay, all right, Walk me through 324 00:22:12.350 --> 00:22:17.560 that right and it's just it gives you in marketing and sales, period. It's so 325 00:22:17.560 --> 00:22:21.930 easy to stay in our bubble of people that we know and continue to, like, 326 00:22:21.940 --> 00:22:25.570 communicate with those same people. But having that fresh perspective is 327 00:22:25.570 --> 00:22:29.480 actually really nice as well. So to me, that's another bonus of this whole 328 00:22:29.490 --> 00:22:34.730 professional brand co vid work from home mass experiment, whatever you 329 00:22:34.730 --> 00:22:39.760 wanna call it. And it's actually got me thinking a little bit about ways you 330 00:22:39.770 --> 00:22:43.590 could possibly be pulling your kids into what you do, you know, they used 331 00:22:43.590 --> 00:22:46.610 to be like, you know, bring your kids to Work Day, almost like now that's 332 00:22:46.610 --> 00:22:49.790 every day, except I'm still not including my kids at all and one of 333 00:22:49.800 --> 00:22:53.440 what's going on. I'm like, Maybe, but maybe we should be. I mean, as a 334 00:22:53.440 --> 00:22:56.680 marketer, I love marketing. It is like my thing. I'm passionate about it. I 335 00:22:56.680 --> 00:23:00.250 read about it. I'm like I want my kids to be marketers. If if that's what 336 00:23:00.250 --> 00:23:03.270 they're into. You know, that could be an interesting thing. Pulling the men, 337 00:23:03.280 --> 00:23:06.470 getting him from getting them in front of the camera, even making some. I 338 00:23:06.470 --> 00:23:09.760 don't know. I could make some content with my daughter If she was up, it 339 00:23:09.770 --> 00:23:13.570 would be kind of fun. You just got me thinking, like, actually Dancy even 340 00:23:13.570 --> 00:23:17.200 talking to new people about this idea. Like what if you ran an internal 341 00:23:17.200 --> 00:23:20.650 meeting and your kid was like the moderator, you know, And you were like, 342 00:23:20.660 --> 00:23:24.810 Listen, you know, the purpose of this meeting is X. Okay, So, like, if you 343 00:23:24.810 --> 00:23:27.430 hear anyone talk about that, that's what we're supposed to be talking about. 344 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:31.280 If you hear them go off topic, try and rein them back in. Tell them to start, 345 00:23:31.280 --> 00:23:35.330 you know, and like, coming from a kid, throw the squirrel, throw the squirrel. 346 00:23:35.340 --> 00:23:38.630 My team all. I'm throwing a squirrel, a literal stuff squirrel in front of the 347 00:23:38.630 --> 00:23:42.810 screen because our leadership team has stuff squirrels for when people go off 348 00:23:42.820 --> 00:23:47.290 the train. That's awesome, Right? But it could be a kid and the kids would 349 00:23:47.290 --> 00:23:50.580 have fun. Yeah, they would have so much fun. Well, that's really fun. I'm 350 00:23:50.580 --> 00:23:54.120 actually working. It's really got me thinking a lot. I'm actually working on 351 00:23:54.120 --> 00:23:57.960 a Children's book about I wanna be a marketer when I grow up with the 352 00:23:57.960 --> 00:24:01.480 Children's book writer who just specializes in these types of books. Oh 353 00:24:01.480 --> 00:24:06.340 my gosh, just because I'm like, yeah, I like this book exists like marketing 354 00:24:06.350 --> 00:24:09.370 like there's so many marketing opportunities out there. A lot of 355 00:24:09.370 --> 00:24:13.370 people become marketers, even if they majored in something else or sales, 356 00:24:13.370 --> 00:24:17.940 right? It's both are very super common professions, hardly ever kids air like 357 00:24:17.950 --> 00:24:22.250 thinking about those things when they're young. So how might we should 358 00:24:22.250 --> 00:24:25.360 be getting our kids involved a little bit what they do, at least to give them 359 00:24:25.360 --> 00:24:27.960 a taste of it? Maybe they go a different direction, but it won't be 360 00:24:27.960 --> 00:24:31.960 because they don't understand it, Right? Right. I think that's so interesting. 361 00:24:32.440 --> 00:24:37.550 Uh huh. Well, there you go. Dance So many thoughts, right? There you go. So, 362 00:24:37.940 --> 00:24:41.370 to kind of wrap things up where we covered a number of interesting topics 363 00:24:41.370 --> 00:24:45.350 today about the some of the difficulties of working from home 364 00:24:45.350 --> 00:24:49.500 balancing the professional life and parenting life. Some of the 365 00:24:49.510 --> 00:24:54.160 difficulties around that hurdles around, sharing it and some reasons why we 366 00:24:54.160 --> 00:24:58.370 should actually be more open to sharing it, being okay with it at the same time, 367 00:24:58.380 --> 00:25:02.700 balancing being a professional, still showing up with your a game. And I 368 00:25:02.700 --> 00:25:05.800 think lastly, kind of maybe one of your kids into some of it, letting them 369 00:25:05.800 --> 00:25:10.220 experience what life is like for you at your work. Uh, interesting ideas. All 370 00:25:10.220 --> 00:25:13.490 of them. Thank you so much for joining me on the show to talk about these 371 00:25:13.490 --> 00:25:17.910 things today. Took me. People want to connect with you to talk more about 372 00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:21.720 this topic. Where is a good place to connect? They can find me at Tiffany 373 00:25:21.720 --> 00:25:26.550 Heiple on Lincoln. That's probably the best place to find me. Perfect. Thank 374 00:25:26.550 --> 00:25:29.550 you so much for joining me on the show. Thanks, Dan. Have a good one. 375 00:25:31.240 --> 00:25:36.480 Gary V says it all the time, and we agree Every company should think of 376 00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:41.560 themselves as a media company first. Then whatever it is they actually do, 377 00:25:41.940 --> 00:25:45.780 if you know this is true. But your team has already maxed out and you can't 378 00:25:45.780 --> 00:25:50.190 produce any more content in house. We can help We produce podcasts for some 379 00:25:50.190 --> 00:25:54.110 of the most innovative BB brands in the world, and we also help them turn the 380 00:25:54.110 --> 00:25:58.800 content from the podcast in the block posts, micro videos and slide decks 381 00:25:58.800 --> 00:26:02.230 that work really well on LinkedIn. If you wanna learn more, go to sweet Fish 382 00:26:02.230 --> 00:26:07.050 media dot com slash launch or email Logan at sweet fish media dot com.