A podcast following Tami and Tara as they experiment, learn, prevail, overcome, sometimes trip & fall, but then get right back up and continue to grow their thriving business, Evyrgreen. Yes, that’s E V Y R green with a Y.
Tara and Tami discuss their progress toward remaking the Sales CURE Masterclass, our new networking CRM Tomato, and more!
Recorded a few hours before the coup, we live in a blissful reality where we can focus on our company holiday party and give status updates on the Goal Setting Masterclass, spoofers, and more!
Tara and Tami share a glimpse into an internal meeting they had at the end of the year. Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!
Tami and Tara discuss their ever growing frustration with Facebook ads and continue to brainstorm ideas for their next course.
Tara and Tami discuss the next course they are going to produce - which subject is best? SEO? Organic social media? Paid advertising? Email marketing? Landing pages?
How do we create a sense of urgency for our course? We need people to feel like they have to sign up now, otherwise they never will (even though everyone needs this!)
Tami and Tara discuss the state of the business and brainstorm our strategy for the path forward.
Tami and Tara propose and discuss changes to their podcast format and strategy including all the pros and cons.
Tara & Tami reveal the brand new Goal Setting Masterclass - available for a Limited Time only as the new year approaches!
Tara & Tami discuss their election week anxiety and not much else. Is anything else even happening this week?
The first draft of new Facebook ads are here and they're a hot mess. It appears that attention wasn't paid to the document we were asked to fill out. No clarifying questions were asked, either. Yikes! As a result, we are Super Proud of the Ajax Union Process! Ajax Union gets results for their clients because of the amazing client management processes they follow.
Tara and Tami discuss what has been going on in the last month and why they've missed 3 weeks of podcasts! Life happens, pandemic happens, re-focus on other priorities happen. It's business!
Tara and Tami run through the first half of their new masterclass for the Evyrgreen Networking course. Get a sneak peek into our new messaging and follow our process of telling a story to the viewer and taking them on an emotional journey that ends with a solution - our course!
Tara and Tami discuss the prospect of redoing all their marketing messaging, landing pages, webinars, pricing, and launching a new funnel with advertising to match. Woof!
Tara & Tami review, organize and prioritize all the projects they have going on right now and discuss the importance of each.
Tami & Tara recap their recent discussions and their frustration with unqualified leads and how it relates to their advertising campaigns.
Tami & Tara discuss vacation culture and struggles in America and in our different companies and roles.
Tara interviews Michael to learn all about his 7 years at Ajax Union. Different locations, different iterations of the company, watching the company culture change, what it’s like now, and what it’s like to work with Tami & Joe. We love you, Michael! Ps. This is Michael who made our theme music!
Tara and Tami chat about ideas for future courses, our transition to Demio, and moving away from free educational webinars toward paid-for educational webinars.
Tara & Tami debrief about recent communication issues. This is a great example of an episode created with no preparation. The show must go on.
Tami and Tara discuss LinkedIn connection strategies. Who should you connect with? How can you proactively find strategic connections? How can you outsource this work to your admin? Which connection requests should you accept? How many connections should you have and why? What is the purpose of connections on LinkedIn? This is a GREAT episode for LinkedIn strategy! Don’t miss it.
Tami and Renina discuss what it’s like to be a virtual admin for Joe and work with both of our companies remotely. Renina tells us hilarious and inspiring stories of how she found Evyrgreen, the early days of working with us, all the hiccups that have come along the way, and how she overcame them. In reviewing the laundry list of responsibilities that are on Renina’s plate, Tami realizes how crucial and clutch Renina is to both companies. Renina manages our recruiting/hiring, business development, Joe’s calendar, all virtual events, Evyrgreen's instagram, and more!
Tami and Tara discuss LinkedIn Direct Messaging - why you should care about it, how to do it correctly, common mistakes that people make, and how to avoid them. They also give an update on Black Lives Matter, Pride, Juneteenth, and allyship.
Tami and Tara have a follow up discussion about their white privilege and the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement before discussing how to make their work at Evyrgreen more fulfilling in a holistic sense.
What can white people do to combat systemic racism in their everyday lives? Donate to the movements or people you like. Record all interactions with police that you witness. Actively diversify your friend circle. Talk to your white friends and family about your own biases and how you are combating them (you don’t have to talk about their biases - you talking about your own biases will prompt them to think about their own). Listen to the 1619 podcast. Watch “The 13th” movie. Read the book ‘White Fragility,” etc. It’s important for white people to “get over” feeling blamed. No one is blaming you personally, for anything. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s take action collectively to help our country live up to its founding ideals of equal treatment under the law for all humans. Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness for all humans. Here are some resources to get started
Megan and Tami talk about what it’s like to work at Ajax Union and take on a new crazy client, Evyrgreen, that isn’t really on Ajax Union’s ideal client list. Communication breakdowns and breakthroughs, learning moments, and more.
Tami and Tara recap all that they’ve gone through in the last year and a half with Evyrgreen (including changing the name of the company!) and talk about their current struggles and what they plan to do next.
Tami and Tara talk about Diversity - no they aren’t the most diverse duo in the world, but it’s important that we all focus on this topic, right? They talk about how they are succeeding at it, how they are sucking at it, what they can do to be better at it. Joe joins the conversation for a bit, as well!
Boundaries are easier to maintain when you physically leave one space and go to another for a different task or part of your life. Boundaries used to be super clear between work and home! The majority of us who are still working are working from home now. We are working out at home, meditating at home, eating at home, entertaining at home, relaxing at home. We are doing EVERYTHING at home. Tara and Tami discuss how “well” they are managing this.
Tami and Tara talk about imposter syndrome. They ponder the official definition and talk about the syndrome inside academia and the rest of the world. Tara is grateful for laughter, and Tami is trying to learn how to better herself, since she’s almost perfect. (wink wink). It’s been a hard week, so Tami isn’t giving herself any priorities for the next week. Tara is going to start the automated webinar follow up series in Active Campaign.
Tami and Tara interview their favorite client, affiliate, networking contact, and advisor - Judi Hays. In this week’s episode, Tara and Tami detail all the work they’ve done on the affiliate program, explain what the affiliate program is for Evyrgreen, and discuss the difficulties and successes they’ve had in building out the infrastructure to support their affiliates over the past year. They celebrate Michael’s 7th year on the team and discuss their progress toward priorities. I think this week, they are tied on their progress! 50% done, 50% not quite done.
Tami and Tara are officially over the pandemic. They give an update in last week’s priorities and how their priorities are changing as they enter a recession and their business loses revenue. Tami expresses how grateful she is for Tara, and they talk about how the stresses are different at Evyrgreen versus Ajax Union. Tami talks about the difficulties that come with running an agency that services clients on a retainer model. Tara talks about how silent the city is, and how unnerving it is. Tami is enjoying it though; it’s like a permanent holiday. They talk about how people just this week are starting to take social distancing seriously in NYC. Tara talks about how weird and hard it is to strike the right tone during interactions in the normal course of business during a global pandemic. Is it ok to sell? Is it ok to upsell? Is it ok to address business and financial issues? They talk about how to follow up on accounts receivables during a pandemic. They discuss managing employee mental health during a pandemic while maintaining productivity. Tara talks about how we are good at teachable moments versus shaming moments. Tami expresses concern over her tone of voice, she knows it’s scary but for some reason she can’t change it! Tami talks about the time that an employee accidentally wasted $18,000 and what she did about it - hint: the lesson of “I just invested $18,000 in your education” only works in the person takes responsibility for what went wrong! “Recently, I was asked if I was going to fire an employee who made a mistake that cost the company $600,000. No, I replied, I just spent $600,000 training him.” - Thomas J Watson, IBM Listen, Tommy J. … your quote should be re-written: “Recently, I was asked if I was going to fire an employee who made a mistake that cost the company $600,000. No, I replied, I just spent $600,000 training him and he took full responsibility for his mistake; I am sure he will never make it again.” Tami and Tara touch on imposter syndrome and how surprised they were when a man had never heard of it before. Next week they will talk about their affiliate program.
We discuss what it’s like to run two service businesses as we enter an economic recession! At Ajax Union we are losing clients and other clients are reducing their retainers. At Evyrgreen, we are struggling to close new deals, even though we have a product that can help people in this exact moment! We teach people how to generate leads and referrals ONLINE, and we are now all quarantined and online - shouldn’t people be beating down our doors to learn how to grow their business online? Tara and Tami discuss how the partnership between Ajax Union and Evyrgreen has exponentially increased due to the dramatic drop in revenue in both companies. Tara asks Tami how she is doing as a leader and person during this crisis. Tami shares how she has dealt with this both successfully and unsuccessfully as a leader. Tami and Tara talk about how fear and anxiety has made it especially difficult to focus on being productive at work when we are at the epicenter of a global pandemic. Tara shares that she is grateful that her brother is still safe in the epicenter in Italy and Tami is grateful for Basil. Tami’s inspiration of the day is Congresswoman AOC, and Tami and Tara chat about the CARE act that congress passed. Tara shares that she successfully completed last week’s priorities, and Tami did not. Tara and Tami share their next week’s priority - Tami’s is to get these podcast episodes out!
Tami and Tara discuss week 2 of the shelter-in-place order in NYC, the effects of shutting down the economy on their business, how they are dealing with being at the epicenter of the outbreak in America. They are experiencing technological issues which they surmise are due to the shelter-in-place order in Silicon Valley where our technology vendors are located. Tami updates us on her progress toward re-doing the Evyrgreen Networking videos. Spoiler - she’s DONE! Tami and Tara discuss the pandemic’s effects on their physical health, mental health, familial health, economic health, business health. They discuss the unemployment situation in the world and what efforts they are taking to prevent their own unemployment. Tara updates us on how her brother is doing in Italy, as he is in the current epicenter of the pandemic as of the date of this recording. They discuss whether we are entering a recession, a great depression, or just a blip? They seamlessly transition (please read with sarcasm) into discussing how to launch a course and all the elements that come along with doing so: marketing, business development, product development, etc. They update you on last week’s priorities, and set their intention for next week so you can hold them accountable. Tami had a majorly productive week and Tara was hit with even more technological difficulties. So goes the life of being quarantined! You can watch the recorded version of this podcast on YouTube.
Tami and Tara talk about the real-time effects of the ever changing Coronavirus pandemic and the associated economic fallout, and then we naturally segue into finishing last week’s podcast that was abruptly interrupted mid-conversation. This is real business, this is what happens, and this is why we are sharing it all with you live on this journey! The podcast is already getting so very real. Tami and Tara talk about the sudden stock market crash and what does that mean? Ajax Union has lost 30% of its revenue. Evergreen has lost 30% of its revenue. How long will this last? Tami and Tara talk about how week 1 of the pandemic has affected them and their business - emotionally, mentally, and financially. They talk about supporting local and small businesses during this time. We get a shot of Basil and Basil tip taps in the background and barks a bit. Welcome to podcasting at home! Tami and Tara talk about the skill of speaking in layman’s terms even though you are an expert. Tara talks about how her humanities education helps her in writing effective copy for marketing! Communication is key! Tami and Tara talk about the “new economy” we are on the brink of, and WHY Evyrgreen was created to address this new economy, and how the pandemic has brought it about overnight. They talk about how they are living in history. Tara updates us on her brother in Italy and what is going on there. This was when Italy was the epicenter of the pandemic, and before it had fully hit NYC. Tara addresses our biggest pain points at Evyrgreen. She mentions how important asynchronous learning is - the ability to learn on your schedule and timeline. Tami is almost done re-doing the course! BOOM!
Tami and Tara give an update on Coronavirus and how it is affecting their business. They are still allowed out and about in the world as of the date of this recording! Events just started being cancelled en masse, but some events are still scheduled as of the date of this recording. Tami expresses how uneducated she is about the Coronavirus as of the date of this recording :-) Fun to watch how the reactions to this pandemic evolve. They discuss politics for a minute. Tami is learning transcendental meditation. Tara was nominated for an academic grant for her PhD. Tami and Tara talk about the importance of the humanities. Tara tells us about her background and her family. She gives us an update on her brother who is in Italy, the center of the Coronavirus pandemic at this time. She tells us why she is obsessed with scary movies, and tells us about her tattoos. Tara tells us about her PhD in women’s gender and sexuality studies and how it relates to being a business manager of an online course creation company, and an entrepreneur in general. She champions the humanities, educating us on how academia in general teaches us how to think, which is really important and is sorely lacking in many young people today. **At 36 minutes in, we get cut off by the studio manager—she held up her index finger telling us we had one minute left. By my timer, we had 20 minutes left. She explained that because they started our session late, they have to cut us off early. We were shocked! We close up the episode and continue this topic in the next episode, which was NOT planned. We wanted to share this “mistake” with you because moments like this are the exact reason we are making this podcast! When you are trying to run a business, sh&t happens that you can’t control, and you have to roll with it. We later emailed the studio owner to explain the situation, and they didn’t refund us, they instead granted us one hour recording time in their studio. Once we come back from quarantine, we will record one more episode here, and then probably not return.
The Jittery-ness In this episode only lasts the first 3 minutes - we are not returning to that studio! In this episode, Tami and Joe talk about starting a podcast and introduce the fact that they need a talking stick to have a normal conversation because they are very competitive. Tami and Joe talk about launching Evyrgreen in January 2019 and the years-long path they took to get to this idea. They talk about their biggest problem with growing Evyrgreen right now - marketing and sales. They talk about how they are running 2 businesses at once, which will be addressed in future episodes, so this is a great episode to listen to to gain context. Joe and Tami ask - is Evyrgreen B2B or B2C? Why are we having so much trouble growing this business? They discuss the various marketing tactics that Joe likes versus those that Tami likes. Joe and Tami have very different taste in landing pages and marketing emails, and they don’t know which method is best! They also discuss what is the best way to teach inside an online course for busy professionals? How can they convey the information in such a way that their students actually implement changes and see results in their lives as a result? Tami addresses subconscious bias, tells the story of how Basil got her name, and tells the story of how she re-built her life after she lost everything in 2015. Joe and Tami discuss their top 5 strengths, how they work together to make us who we are, and how they are also weaknesses. Tami and Joe talk about meeting and hiring Tara and how happy they are to work with Tara.
In this episode, Tami tells us about the company at which she is President, Ajax Union. Tami and Tara discuss the history of Ajax Union, how Joe started the company in the middle of the 2008 recession with his first partner, how they grew the business together the next 7 years, and how the business model and culture changed. Tami tells the story of how she met Joe, and how she became president of Ajax Union. She tells us how she fixed the profitability issue at Ajax Union and fixed their issue with accounts receivable. Tara asks Tami for some advice or thoughts on how to get the job you want.
Welcome to the Growing E V Y R green podcast! A podcast following Tami and Tara as they experiment, learn, prevail, overcome, sometimes trip & fall, but then get right back up and continue to grow their thriving business, Evyrgreen. Yes, that’s E V Y R green with a Y. You’re going to be going on a journey with us as we work to grow Evyrgreen to 5 million in annual revenue. In this episode we’re going to talk about HOW and WHY Evyrgreen began as well as walk you through an amazing company culture cultivating tool: The Company Dashboard! We refer to this dashboard often in future episodes. We called this episode “Start Here!” as a callback to the first video in all of our courses; they are always titled “Start Here!” Tami and Tara talk about how they met each other. They are both PhDs leaving (or fully out of) academia and they talk about their journey of leaving academia to join “industry” (that’s what academics call the real world. Seriously). Tami talks about how her dad is not her dad. See instagram for more information and pictures @evyrgreenlearning. Tami talks about how the idea and concept of Evyrgreen came about and why we started the business and why we are so passionate about it. Tami talks about how they need to be better at gathering student testimonials and successes because Evyrgreen students are achieving amazing results, but Evyrgreen is not the best at sharing that information with others in their marketing. We are struggling, too! Tara talks about how she is better at networking now; Tami is envious because she still dislikes in-person networking events. At minute 30, Tami and Tara talk about what is happening in THE world, and it takes them about 3 minutes to even barely **mention** the Coronavirus. This was filmed on Feb 26, 2020 in NYC, and there were 0 confirmed cases in The City at this point. Instead of talking about COVID-19, Tami’s focus is on the leap year. This gives great context to how rapidly the world changes over the next few weeks.
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