Speaker 1: Welcome.
Speaker 2: You've found your anchor at the crossroads of power and presence.
Speaker 2: This is Musings and Modalities. It's time to move beyond
Speaker 2: the noise and cultivate a legacy rooted in values aligned
Speaker 2: leadership and earth energy. We've evolved the conversation, bringing you
Speaker 2: a grounded perspective on embodying true luxury and beauty in
Speaker 2: your life and work. If you feel the resonance of
Speaker 2: truth and are ready for the shift, you are home. Hi, everyone,
Speaker 2: and welcome to Musings and Modalities. I'm Tristan Stwycki, and
Speaker 2: I'm so excited for today's episode entitled Why Your Merch
Speaker 2: is Boring with Amanda Hoffman. You've spent decades building a
Speaker 2: life that looks successful, but you know your profound legacy
Speaker 2: is meant to be far greater than your current output.
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Speaker 2: And this includes measurable transformation, where we dismantle the exhaustion
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Speaker 2: can book your legacy call today at musingsandmodalities.com and step
Speaker 2: into your true power. And now I'd like to introduce
Speaker 2: Amanda Hoffman. Amanda is the CEO and co-founder of GoToMarket,
Speaker 2: a woman-owned branded merchandising business looking to revolutionize the way
Speaker 2: the world handles swag. Before GoToMarket, Amanda was the founder
Speaker 2: and CEO of Urban Girl Squad, the premier social networking
Speaker 2: group for women in their 20s and 30s in NYC.
Speaker 2: Amanda lives in NYC with her husband, her two dogs,
Speaker 2: her rest, or we'll have to cut that, sorry, Emily. Three, two, one.
Speaker 2: Amanda lives in New York City with her husband, her
Speaker 2: two kids, and rescue dog, and loves running, racing, cycling,
Speaker 2: and bike touring.
Speaker 1: Welcome, Amanda.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited for our conversation.
Speaker 1: I'm really excited to be here with you.
Speaker 2: And I definitely had a chocolate milk before this. I
Speaker 2: feel that like I'm a little, this is a little
Speaker 2: all over the place.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm coming out of a cold, so I think
Speaker 1: we're in the same boat.
Speaker 2: We're both like in this.
Speaker 1: My voice is like an octave lower than normal. So.
Speaker 2: Oh, good. We will raise the energy or raise the vibe.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And it's so incredible that you've gone from building community
Speaker 2: with Urban Girl Squad to really building community with branded merch.
Speaker 2: I feel like there's so much overlap in this. And
Speaker 2: so how did you kind of see that connection? How
Speaker 2: do you take those same skills and pour them into
Speaker 2: the products that you kind of co-create with companies?
Speaker 3: Well, I really love how you phrase that question. And
Speaker 3: when you sent it to me, I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: that's so beautiful. I've never quite thought of it that way,
Speaker 3: that The goal of Urban Girl Squad was to create
Speaker 3: in-person connections between women in a way that wasn't just
Speaker 3: like a gross business card exchange. And now my whole
Speaker 3: goal with branded merchandise is to use merch as a
Speaker 3: way to deepen the relationships between brands and people and
Speaker 3: to help people connect better to the values of a
Speaker 3: company or a community that they're already involved in. And
Speaker 3: so it's interesting. It is kind of the same thing,
Speaker 3: but like completely different modes. And I think the best
Speaker 3: explanation for that is probably that Urban Girl Squad was
Speaker 3: born before I had kids. I created it, you know,
Speaker 3: starting in my late 20s, going into my early 30s. And,
Speaker 3: you know, I was going out all the time in
Speaker 3: New York City and I was like looking for those
Speaker 3: kinds of opportunities. And then I sold that business just
Speaker 3: before my second child was born. And my life changed
Speaker 3: pretty radically, you know, like no kids to mom of
Speaker 3: two is like quite a, quite a big lifestyle change.
Speaker 1: And when I was ready.
Speaker 3: To go back to work and create something, you know,
Speaker 3: I ran urban girl squad, like my life depended on it.
Speaker 3: And I ran it 24 seven, like wake up in
Speaker 3: the middle of the night, write down ideas, like talk
Speaker 3: about it all the time, which is you know, I'm
Speaker 3: not hating on that. That was like really served me
Speaker 3: at that time.
Speaker 1: And I loved it.
Speaker 3: And then once I had kids, I was like, wait
Speaker 3: a minute, I'm more than just this business. And I
Speaker 3: want this business to be like a beautiful part of
Speaker 3: my life, but not the be all end all. And
Speaker 3: so moving away from events, events are very much like
Speaker 3: on fire all the time to something that is a
Speaker 3: little bit more like stable, steady, reliable, And also just
Speaker 3: something I'm personally excited about.
Speaker 1: I've been excited about my whole life.
Speaker 3: I'm always the girl in the merch shop, uh, the
Speaker 3: gift shop, you know, uh, I always like to wear
Speaker 3: the things that I feel like are, um, representative of
Speaker 3: the things that I love and like my identity. And
Speaker 3: I like seeing it on other people too. Um, you know,
Speaker 3: it's the ultimate conversation starter. So I, I think I
Speaker 3: appreciate the way that you connected those two things for me.
Speaker 1: So glad.
Speaker 2: Well, it's also because I'm also the person in the
Speaker 2: gift shop. You know, I'm someone at the end of
Speaker 2: visiting a zoo or aquarium. I'm like, okay, like what,
Speaker 2: what can I get? You know, I want something tangible
Speaker 2: from this experience that feels still represent like represents me
Speaker 2: really well, but also represents like this beautiful thing I
Speaker 2: got to do.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: You want to hold onto that feeling. And I think
Speaker 1: that's what we coach companies about, right?
Speaker 3: It's like, how do you get the people in your
Speaker 3: company world to hold on to the good feeling that
Speaker 3: they have with you and to like extend it, keep
Speaker 3: it longer, make it deeper, really make it work for
Speaker 3: you for everyone's benefit, right? Like it's better for the
Speaker 3: people who love you and celebrate your business, whether you're
Speaker 3: like a coach, an author, a speaker, or whether you
Speaker 3: have a physical product or a community or even just
Speaker 3: like a legal service.
Speaker 1: There's still some good there, right?
Speaker 3: That we can turn into something tangible and make it
Speaker 3: a bit more meaningful and long lasting.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. And I know sustainability is really key to your work.
Speaker 2: And part of that is making sure that we're not
Speaker 2: just throwing a logo on a cheap item. That's going
Speaker 2: to end up in a landfill. Like, and I know that.
Speaker 1: Works everything to me. Yes. Absolutely.
Speaker 2: And so how have you worked with brands to get
Speaker 2: past that kind of? Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean, that's like the foundation of our company. I,
Speaker 3: you know, I think that so many people look around
Speaker 3: at the merch world and they're like, this is landfill
Speaker 3: garbage and I hate it. And the younger people are,
Speaker 3: the more they hate it. Like, the hate is real
Speaker 3: to the point where, you know, my kids are 12
Speaker 3: and 14 and they despise waste in a way that, like,
Speaker 3: our generation doesn't like it, but, like, the younger generation
Speaker 3: is just, like, repulsed by it.
Speaker 1: So, like, just the idea of.
Speaker 3: Seeing, like, a mountain of, like, pins or, like, you know,
Speaker 3: a conference room full of plastic water bottles is like
Speaker 3: actually repulsive to people. So there's the wasteful part of it,
Speaker 3: but it's also like the idea of like slapping your
Speaker 3: logo on lots of things and just like throwing it
Speaker 3: out into the world is like really antiquated and doesn't
Speaker 3: do what you think it's doing.
Speaker 1: So it's just a waste.
Speaker 3: So what we teach companies to do is think about
Speaker 3: what makes them special, what makes them unique, like really
Speaker 3: harness their values and their vibe and trans and we
Speaker 3: translate that into branded merchandise for them. You can do
Speaker 3: it on your own if you are creative and thoughtful
Speaker 3: about this. Um, but it's really just about like. Most
Speaker 3: people's default is the way that brand and merchandise was
Speaker 3: done in the 1990s, which is just like, here's a polo,
Speaker 3: here's my embroidered logo on it. And like, that's what
Speaker 3: branded merchandise is. And it's like, that's, that's not what
Speaker 3: it is anymore. Um, we can do it more sustainably.
Speaker 3: We can do it more creatively and we can give
Speaker 3: people choice.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Especially having print on demand. It's not like there
Speaker 2: are warehouses full of sweatshirts and sizes no one needs.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: You should really not be warehousing branded merchandise unless you
Speaker 3: are sure that there's proven demand for something. So with
Speaker 3: print on demand, everything prints as it's ordered. So you
Speaker 3: can give people, you can create a website, which is
Speaker 3: what we do for our clients. You can create a
Speaker 3: website that's just like, hey, here's like a women's cut tee,
Speaker 3: a unisex cut tee.
Speaker 1: Here's a non-wearable.
Speaker 3: You know, just like a lot of options that people
Speaker 3: can go on and be like, I want this really
Speaker 3: tight fitting thing in a size small. And someone else
Speaker 3: might be like, I want the really loose fitting thing
Speaker 3: in a size large. And it's like, everyone can wear
Speaker 3: something that feels comfortable on their body.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And also what I've loved about our conversations together and
Speaker 2: our work together is that Yes, I do know my customers,
Speaker 2: but I know them from a service perspective. I don't
Speaker 2: know their shopping habits. And that's a very different experience,
Speaker 2: especially when you're a service-based business and you're like, oh,
Speaker 2: the thing I thought that was going to sell well
Speaker 2: actually is maybe not the top seller. And I know
Speaker 2: that you've gone through that a number of times with
Speaker 2: your clients.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And really giving people a choice is a gift. To
Speaker 3: say like, I don't think that I know what is
Speaker 3: going to fit you or what you are going to like.
Speaker 3: I think gift giving on a personal level is just
Speaker 3: very different than gift giving on a company level. And,
Speaker 3: you know, when you're a small company, sometimes you blur
Speaker 3: the lines a little bit and you're like, well, I
Speaker 3: know my clients really well. And it's like, it's just
Speaker 3: still different from a personal relationship. So like giving your
Speaker 3: sister a gift card is like a little cold, like
Speaker 3: kind of, you should know better maybe. Um, but like
Speaker 3: if you're a company and you're giving something to like 20, 30,
Speaker 3: a hundred, 200 people, Like you're not going to please
Speaker 3: that number of people all with the same thing.
Speaker 1: It's impossible.
Speaker 3: So like letting them choose and by the way, also
Speaker 3: letting them opt out and saying like, I'm on a
Speaker 3: journey where I'm like not having a lot of stuff
Speaker 3: or like, I really love this brand and I want
Speaker 3: more than one thing, right? Like letting people choose their
Speaker 3: own adventure with this is a, is a gift, right?
Speaker 2: It is, especially because with the opt out, right, there's
Speaker 2: this element that they could donate, or could you talk
Speaker 2: a little bit about the other options that people would have?
Speaker 3: Yeah. So we love to have a donate to charity
Speaker 3: option so that if you're giving, let's say a holiday
Speaker 3: gift or like an anniversary gift or an onboarding gift,
Speaker 3: and it's like, Hey, welcome to our company.
Speaker 1: You know, whether they're, you know, a client or a
Speaker 1: team member.
Speaker 3: It's like here, you can get all of this stuff
Speaker 3: that's branded and really cool. Or if you, if it's
Speaker 3: just not for you, let's say you're like, downsizing your home,
Speaker 3: or you're like going through a life transition or for
Speaker 3: any number of valid reasons, somebody may not want your merch.
Speaker 3: You can say like, Hey, donate a hundred dollars to.
Speaker 3: You know, this charity that is meaningful to both me
Speaker 3: and the company.
Speaker 1: It's like, that feels great. Absolutely.
Speaker 2: Yeah. People move all the time. All of that stuff.
Speaker 2: Absolutely valid. Um, and so when a brand is really
Speaker 2: starting fresh on their merch strategy or they haven't had
Speaker 2: one before. What's kind of the first thing that they
Speaker 2: need to figure out to make it feel authentic? Yeah.
Speaker 3: So we start all of our partnerships by doing a
Speaker 3: deep dive on the brand.
Speaker 1: And I think that most people say like, oh, I've
Speaker 1: got a logo.
Speaker 3: So now I've got merch and we like to say,
Speaker 3: take a step back and say like, what is important
Speaker 3: to you?
Speaker 1: What is your brand's personality?
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: So like, if you're like a quirky weirdo and you're
Speaker 3: like a consultant and I say weirdo in the most
Speaker 3: loving way. people are hiring you because you're a quirky weirdo.
Speaker 3: So like your merch should have that.
Speaker 1: Element to it. Or if you're like very serious, but
Speaker 1: like passionate, like.
Speaker 3: We have a financial planner who's a really passionate political activist.
Speaker 3: And so her merch is like politically oriented and it's
Speaker 3: like anti-capitalist. She's one of my favorite clients because she's just,
Speaker 3: she's so passionate. And so her merch is, that, right?
Speaker 3: But I think people are thinking like, oh, but I
Speaker 3: don't want to alienate anyone. They've chosen you already. They've
Speaker 3: bought into you, your style, the thing that you're putting out,
Speaker 3: they have picked up already. So like your merch should
Speaker 3: represent that special piece. And the more you water down
Speaker 3: the merch, the worse it is for your brand and
Speaker 3: for the people who get it. Now, because we're doing
Speaker 3: print on demand and it's sustainable, you can have a
Speaker 3: wide variety of things. So like not everyone wants to
Speaker 3: wear like a bold statement on a t-shirt, but some
Speaker 3: people might like it on a mug or they might
Speaker 3: like a quieter design that still reflects your vibe. So
Speaker 3: like having a variety of options is something that I
Speaker 3: always recommend as well.
Speaker 2: And I feel like you're really great about knowing this
Speaker 2: is a relationship where you're growing with the company that
Speaker 2: as their merch needs change. So for instance, in their
Speaker 2: initial engagement with you, if they're like a little hesitant
Speaker 2: or maybe not showing up fully and doing their own
Speaker 2: inner work, you're still working with them year after year
Speaker 2: as they get more bold or they get more confident
Speaker 2: in this space. So if you could kind of talk
Speaker 2: about that transformation that you've seen with clients.
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
Speaker 3: So like one of the most fun things that we
Speaker 3: do is so we launch a merch store and But
Speaker 3: then we work with our clients on an annual basis.
Speaker 3: So we see what works, which is, again, we operate
Speaker 3: very differently from traditional brand and merch companies that are
Speaker 3: really more like you buy more t-shirts, we make more money.
Speaker 3: That's not how we do it, right? Like we're a
Speaker 3: partner for you. So in that first year, we see
Speaker 3: what your audience has responded to. We see what they're
Speaker 3: choosing and we see what message resonates the most. And
Speaker 3: it's always like a beautiful thing to see like what
Speaker 3: people flock to and And we take that and we
Speaker 3: grow that into a new line, a new collection, new ideas.
Speaker 3: So the proof is in the pudding, essentially. If you
Speaker 3: start off slower, but maybe you have one product that's
Speaker 3: a little bit more colorful or out there or weird,
Speaker 3: and everyone gets that weirder one, that's the evidence and
Speaker 3: the confidence you need to be like, okay, I can
Speaker 3: go a little bit bolder.
Speaker 1: Or maybe the other way.
Speaker 3: We definitely have clients where people really like the boldness
Speaker 3: of the person in charge. But when it comes to
Speaker 3: something they actually own, they really actually just want like
Speaker 3: something small, something simple, something embroidered and like.
Speaker 1: All valid, right? Like there's no wrong path.
Speaker 3: It's just, we like to look at the evidence and say,
Speaker 3: what is your audience wanting? And let's build for that.
Speaker 3: And because it's print on demand, you're not gonna have
Speaker 3: a closet full of umbrellas or like weird sizes or
Speaker 3: stuff that is no longer in style.
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 3: That's actually a piece that hasn't come up yet. Trendiness
Speaker 3: is an important part of this. So like the style
Speaker 3: of clothing that's like in style is going to look
Speaker 3: really good with your merchandise. And that's like, that's really fun.
Speaker 3: Like if you can wear something that's like fashionable, that
Speaker 3: is also branded, that's.
Speaker 1: Like the coolest thing.
Speaker 3: Most branded merchandise is literally just a unisex t-shirt or
Speaker 3: a polo. And it's like, it doesn't have to be
Speaker 3: that way. And granted, I know I'm talking about like sustainability,
Speaker 3: something that's trendy may only last for like a year
Speaker 3: or two, but better that than like a unisex t-shirt
Speaker 3: that gets thrown in a drawer or thrown out or
Speaker 3: donated to Goodwill or used as a.
Speaker 1: Rag, you know? Absolutely.
Speaker 2: No, that makes so much sense. Um, and I know
Speaker 2: that in addition to kind of having the storefront, you know,
Speaker 2: you have, um, business owners wearing their own merch on stages.
Speaker 2: So if you could kind of talk about the journey
Speaker 2: that it's been with that as they've been really embodying,
Speaker 2: you know, using merch, their own merch as their new
Speaker 2: business card.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Yeah. That's one of my favorite use cases.
Speaker 3: So, you know, we're all operating in crowded fields, right? Um, Authors, speakers, coaches, especially, um,
Speaker 3: you know, marketing professionals, finance professionals. I really can't think
Speaker 3: of a field that's not, it may be AI, but
Speaker 3: even that is crowded.
Speaker 1: It's crowded.
Speaker 3: It's hard to differentiate yourself. So I really liked to
Speaker 3: use one of my favorite use cases of the merch
Speaker 3: is to develop something that is specific to the team
Speaker 3: or the CEO. Whoever's really producing the most content, um,
Speaker 3: for them to wear that sort of like bold. that
Speaker 3: really summarizes their message, their personality and their values. So like,
Speaker 3: for example, I am wearing my merch mentor shirt. I
Speaker 3: have merch boss, swag boss, merch mentor, but like merch
Speaker 3: mentor is really like, I feel really good about this.
Speaker 3: So I'll say in two ways, one, you'll never see
Speaker 3: me online not wearing something that says merch or swag
Speaker 3: so that my face and those words are always associated
Speaker 3: in people's minds. And the other thing is everything that
Speaker 3: I am wearing is saying something about who I am
Speaker 3: and what my business is, right? So like, I'm wearing
Speaker 3: like a trendier style right now of a tank top.
Speaker 3: It's not like out there and crazy, but it's like,
Speaker 3: you kind of clock that there's, you clock the bigger
Speaker 3: picture of things. So this is what I like for
Speaker 3: my founders, for them to say, like, we have an
Speaker 3: author who wrote a book about the role of black
Speaker 3: women in history. And we made her the shirt that said,
Speaker 3: the matriarchs made me do it. And it's in all
Speaker 3: of these like, you know, African-American skin tones and it's
Speaker 3: really beautifully designed.
Speaker 1: And when she wears.
Speaker 3: That, it's like, it's, I think it's a really powerful statement, right?
Speaker 3: It's something that people feel really emotional about and they
Speaker 3: feel connected to. So when you're wearing on stage, so
Speaker 3: like the, I, there are a bunch of use cases
Speaker 3: of this, but you know, we have a speaker on
Speaker 3: empathy and he has a shirt that says empathy and matters.
Speaker 3: We have another one who speaks about style and confidence.
Speaker 3: and we made her shirt that says trend resistant. Those
Speaker 3: were for their TEDx talks. It's just a really nice
Speaker 3: like at a glance, you can very quickly understand what
Speaker 3: it is they're doing and help them stand out in
Speaker 3: a crowded field.
Speaker 2: That's so incredible. I don't know where In our conversations,
Speaker 2: we'll continue, but it'll be interesting in the print-on-demand space,
Speaker 2: the level of customization and how far that goes, where
Speaker 2: it's like, oh, is it more dresses? I love a
Speaker 2: three-quarter length sleeve and a dress, and that's not always
Speaker 2: moving away from the unisex t-shirt as we think about
Speaker 2: other fit styles. I think that's really exciting to think about.
Speaker 2: Or even the moving away from ill-fitting and moving toward
Speaker 2: very tailored clothing that really works with you, which is
Speaker 2: also really lovely. So in the print-on-demand kind of space,
Speaker 2: as you're my expert in this, is there anything that
Speaker 2: you're seeing in 2026, 2027 that you're excited about?
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean....
Speaker 3: There's this new company that I love that's in the
Speaker 3: print on demand world and they have all of these
Speaker 3: really trendy shapes and styles and they're printing on things
Speaker 3: that I've never seen printed before. So maxi dresses and
Speaker 3: long skirts and tennis skirts and like baseball jerseys and
Speaker 3: basketball jerseys and like colored tank tops and you know,
Speaker 3: stuff that you might not necessarily want, but it's like
Speaker 3: nice to know it's out there and it's a fun
Speaker 3: way to experiment.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: So like, you might be surprised by what people want.
Speaker 3: So it's just nice to give an option of like,
Speaker 3: you want the unisex shirt? Like, look, the unisex shirt
Speaker 3: is the most popular t-shirt in the world for a reason.
Speaker 3: Lots of people actually like it. There are just some
Speaker 3: people who don't. And so if you can give somebody
Speaker 3: an option, like a lot of women who are my
Speaker 3: clients and in their world, they want a v-neck t-shirt.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 3: And they feel really passionate that they want the V-neck t-shirt.
Speaker 3: We can give them a V-neck t-shirt. And that's not revolutionary,
Speaker 3: but that's not like when a company is printing like
Speaker 3: tees for everyone, they're not printing a V-neck, right? So
Speaker 3: like if these women feel more comfortable in a V-neck,
Speaker 3: like let them have a V-neck and.
Speaker 1: Feel comfortable wearing your merch.
Speaker 3: Isn't that the most loving thing that you can do
Speaker 3: as a company is to give somebody something that they're
Speaker 3: going to feel good in?
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it really is. And you know, I wanted
Speaker 2: to talk about when's the kind of the best time
Speaker 2: or a good time to invest in merch, you know,
Speaker 2: as we think about, like, I feel like it's like
Speaker 2: website business card, you know, there's kind of this. So
Speaker 2: talk to me in the process for like the newbie
Speaker 2: business owners and those that are more established where you
Speaker 2: feel like it's, it's most effective.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So, I mean, as a merch passionate person and lover,
Speaker 3: I never think there's a bad time for merch.
Speaker 1: There's only one, uh, time, I would say that you
Speaker 1: need to wait.
Speaker 3: And that is, you do need to have your logo
Speaker 3: and branding in place because we need to create like
Speaker 3: one visual look.
Speaker 1: Now, does it need to be absolutely final? No. Does
Speaker 1: it mean that you can't change it down the road? Also?
Speaker 3: No, but you want to have a sense of generally,
Speaker 3: generally what your colors and fonts look like and what
Speaker 3: your logo looks like. Once you have that, Merch is
Speaker 3: a fantastic way to grow and gain visibility. And again,
Speaker 3: help carve out your niche in a very crowded space.
Speaker 3: There are hundreds of thousand people out there doing merch, right?
Speaker 3: So like I, but like many people on LinkedIn are,
Speaker 3: I'm the only person they know who's doing merch. And
Speaker 3: it's cause like I am sticky in the way that
Speaker 3: I show up. I'm always showing up with something that
Speaker 3: says merchant swag. I'm talking about it in a really
Speaker 3: fun way. I mean, that's like just more general branding,
Speaker 3: but when you're coming up as like a marketing executive
Speaker 3: or like a fractional, um, operations person, right? Like what
Speaker 3: you wear and how you define the way you're differentiating
Speaker 3: yourself from the world is actually really powerful and wearing
Speaker 3: like business casual. You're just going to blend in. We're
Speaker 3: trying to not blend in, but like not in a
Speaker 3: way that's like shock and awe. way that actually communicates
Speaker 3: your message. So I think that it's a fantastic tool
Speaker 3: as you're growing. And if you are established, it's a
Speaker 3: great way to reward all of the people who have
Speaker 3: been along with you along the way, right? Like if
Speaker 3: you're established, you have a whole pool of people who
Speaker 3: love you, who have given you money, who are hiring
Speaker 3: you regularly or hired you in the past and like,
Speaker 3: let them wear you so that you stay top of mind.
Speaker 3: And that's like a referral engine. And that's like a
Speaker 3: social media like activator. Like merch is a way to,
Speaker 3: it's a tool. It's a tool to like direct, you know, energy, traffic, attention, money,
Speaker 3: time towards the things that you want them on. So
Speaker 3: if you have like a workshop coming up, if you
Speaker 3: have a new coach offering, if you have a new podcast,
Speaker 3: if you are writing a book and you want energy
Speaker 3: on those things, like incentivizing with merch is a really
Speaker 3: fantastic way to do it.
Speaker 2: Especially when you feel quality. And I know we've talked
Speaker 2: about sustainability. We've talked about a few elements, but when
Speaker 2: you pick up something and there's a quality to it
Speaker 2: and the packaging is beautiful, the inherent trust I have
Speaker 2: in a business just increases. And I'm sure you've seen
Speaker 2: this time and again with your clients.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 3: And conversely, when a company gives you a legit piece
Speaker 3: of garbage, you kind of feel bad.
Speaker 1: It doesn't feel good to have that. And I think
Speaker 1: that That's something that like companies miss. They're like, oh,
Speaker 1: it's a gift.
Speaker 3: And then I'm like, you gave me like a piece
Speaker 3: of plastic that I need to figure out what to
Speaker 3: do with now. Like nothing feels worse than like putting
Speaker 3: the packaging, the wrapping and the.
Speaker 1: Thing itself like in your recycling bin.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's gross.
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 2: It so is. Um, as we kind of wrap up
Speaker 2: our conversation, I wanted to talk to you because you've
Speaker 2: had two totally different businesses that are both incredibly successful.
Speaker 2: One you, you know, sold, which is a huge accomplishment
Speaker 2: and also having this incredible, uh, personal life and training
Speaker 2: for races. And so as you think about kind of
Speaker 2: the biggest lesson you've picked on, on, on how to
Speaker 2: stay true to yourself and embodying that and the things
Speaker 2: you wear, how you act, um, you know, if there's
Speaker 2: any kind of wisdom you wanted to share for the
Speaker 2: audience today.
Speaker 3: Um, I mean, it's a little bit generic, but I
Speaker 3: think you need to pay attention to the dread. Like
Speaker 3: when you feel dread towards a task or when you
Speaker 3: feel dread towards like, like when I worked in my
Speaker 3: corporate jobs before I started my first company, like every
Speaker 3: morning was like, Oh, okay.
Speaker 1: I have to go do this today.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: And it's like, when it.
Speaker 3: Was time to sell my first company and like things
Speaker 3: just started to feel really not aligned, like, you know,
Speaker 3: I would go to these events and these women were
Speaker 3: like talking about roommates and like all these like totally
Speaker 3: normal things to talk about at that stage. And I
Speaker 3: was like leaking breast milk, you know, it was, I
Speaker 3: was just like, my head was just in a different place.
Speaker 3: And I, I felt like out of alignment and kind
Speaker 3: of told me like, okay, it's time to sell. And
Speaker 3: I getting in tune with what is bringing you dread
Speaker 3: has been an interesting compass point for me over the years.
Speaker 2: That is actually such a great thing to note because
Speaker 2: I've had conversations with women this week about they've recreated
Speaker 2: the life they had under corporate. And so they have
Speaker 2: been ignoring that dread. And even I've took my own
Speaker 2: action where I was supposed to go to a networking
Speaker 2: event this evening and I'm like, not into it. I'm
Speaker 2: just like, Nope, I'm not going to like, it's honestly
Speaker 2: small time. I'm, this is not the stage I need
Speaker 2: to be at, you know, things like that very similarly.
Speaker 2: So no, I think that's so important because anytime the
Speaker 2: cost of your time, your energy, your effort is what
Speaker 2: triple often when you, you continue to do things you dread. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And it's not like, a one-off like, Oh, I felt
Speaker 3: at this time when I think what I mean and
Speaker 3: a place I want to clarify is like when you
Speaker 3: feel dread regularly about things, like it's happening every morning
Speaker 3: before I go to work or it's happening like every
Speaker 3: time I'm about to get on a call with like
Speaker 3: this person or like this client or like doing this
Speaker 3: type of task or, you know, you, I'm sure everyone
Speaker 3: listening knows exactly what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: They can think of something immediately. That's like, Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I have dread about like that thing.
Speaker 3: And like, you probably know you need to change it,
Speaker 3: but like over months or years even is when.
Speaker 1: It's like, okay.
Speaker 3: Especially because these huge changes, it's not about like what
Speaker 3: a little thing like, oh, I'm not going to go
Speaker 3: to this.
Speaker 1: Thing tonight and not to belittle that at all. I
Speaker 1: think that's a fantastic choice.
Speaker 3: But when you're talking about like selling your company, changing
Speaker 3: your job, like something huge, I think it's those like
Speaker 3: weeks and months and possibly even years of that, of
Speaker 3: your body telling you no.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Or like, this is wrong, that it's time to pay attention. Definitely.
Speaker 2: And to that point, this has been probably the fifth
Speaker 2: in a series of me going like, I don't want
Speaker 2: to be in these rooms. And like, why do I
Speaker 2: keep signing up for that? And so now it's like
Speaker 2: the final, like, you're really just, this is not where
Speaker 2: you enjoy or shine. So stop. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Just, just stop. It's okay. It's okay. Permission to let
Speaker 1: go of that. Right.
Speaker 3: Like I had that with some networking groups that I
Speaker 3: was in I was like forcing myself to like engage
Speaker 3: with the online networking, like on the online piece of it.
Speaker 1: And it was dread every time, every time. And it's like,
Speaker 1: you know what? I'm just like not even going to
Speaker 1: add this to my to-do list anymore. Like who needs this? Yep.
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you so much for today. Where can the
Speaker 2: audience find you? Is there anything upcoming you'd like to share?
Speaker 3: Yeah. So you can find us anytime. GoToMarket.studio is our website.
Speaker 3: I am most active on LinkedIn. You could find me there.
Speaker 3: Just remember Hoffman has one F. Um, and, uh, yeah,
Speaker 3: reach out on LinkedIn.
Speaker 1: I will respond to you or go to our website,
Speaker 1: go to market.studio. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: And thank you all for watching musings and modalities. You
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Speaker 2: for more episodes. Thanks for listening. Thank you for tuning
Speaker 2: into this week's episode of musings and modalities. The truth
Speaker 2: has a resonance. And if you felt that today, I
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Speaker 2: share this episode with anyone ready to step into their legacy.