Podcasts about pr it

Believe in the Run is one of the top sites online for honest reviews of running gear and today's guest Robbe Reddinger knows a thing or two about running shoes. We couldn't think of a more qualified person to give running gear advice so we brought him on the show to chat about his top gear picks. Some of the topics we'll cover include: How the shoe testing process works What makes a good running shoe What other pieces of gear every runner needs What are Robbe's favorite running shoes  Plus find out what running shoe Robbe would choose right now to run a marathon PR It can be hard to choose between so many great gear options, which is where Robbe comes in. The team at Believe in the Run are the ultimate shoe geeks and the perfect guests to help perfect your running shoe rotation.  Believe in the Run Website: believeintherun.com Believe in the Run Instagram: www.instagram.com/believeintherun/ The Drop Podcast: https://believeintherun.com/shows/the-drop-podcast/ Robbe's 5 gear picks he can't live without: Janji multipass sling: https://janji.com/products/multipass-sling-bag Coros Apex 2 Pro GPS Watch: https://ca.coros.com/apex2 Tracksmith Van Cortland Shorts: https://www.tracksmith.com/products/m-van-cortlandt-shorts?sku=MB311001RDC Asics Superblast 2: https://www.asics.com/us/en-us/superblast-2/p/ANA_1013A142-100.html LMNT electrolyte drink: https://drinklmnt.com/collections/salt?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=cold&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiArby5BhCDARIsAIJvjIQfY2Uf6aAAQ4ULZWZkSUiljAHrFes2gybt9Wr1Y1ifvUMRGNqWoq8aAtsoEALw_wcB Connect, Comment, Community Follow RunnersConnect on Instagram Join the Elite Treatment where you get first dibs on everything RTTT each month! Runners Connect Winner's Circle Facebook Community  RunnersConnect Facebook page GET EXPERT COACHING AT RUNNERSCONNECT! This week's show brought to you by: Mushroom Breakthrough One of the most difficult things about training hard in the morning is the brain fog and mental fatigue that comes when you're trying to get your work day going.   I am sure all you morning runners can relate to that feeling of not being able to focus and get motivated those first few hours at work.   That's why I was excited when BIOptimizers released its one-of-a-kind product called Mushroom Breakthrough   It's a powdered blend of 5 potent superfoods including 1.2 pounds of concentrated mushrooms, which have been shown in research to enhance memory, focus, processing speed, and more.    It's the perfect way to not only boost recovery post-run, but improve mental clarity in the morning without taxing your adrenal system with caffeine. You'll notice the difference in concentration, focus and mood, especially on those days when morning training really has you feeling tired and unmotivated.   For an exclusive offer go to bioptimizers.com/runtothetop and use code RUN10 during checkout.   And the great thing about BIOptimizers is that you can try it risk-free with their 365-day money-back guarantee. Lever Have you seen top athletes like Eilish McColgan and Kara Goucher using the LEVER system lately? If not, let me fill you in on why this might just be the game-changer you've been waiting for. The LEVER system is an innovative way to reduce your body weight while exercising on a treadmill, which means less impact on your joints. Whether you're coming back from an injury, looking to increase your running volume, or wanting to add some serious speed work to your routine, LEVER has got you covered. Our own has been using it and only 5 months after hip surgery has been able to build mileage up to 45 miles for the week by reducing impact on the LEVER. She's even been able to run faster with better mechanics while still keeping the effort and HR in the easy zone. What's even better? The LEVER system is incredibly portable. It sets up on your home treadmill or at your local gym in under two minutes. And because we know you'll love it, we've got an exclusive deal for you. Use the discount code RunnersConnect at https://levermovement.com to get 20% off your purchase. Trust me, your joints, achilles, and sore muscles will thank you, and so will your future self.

This week, Brooke talks to Vanessa Grigoriadis who has been at the center of pop culture since the ‘90s. She is the writer for the ICONIC New York Magazine cover story on PR IT girls. And she has only continued to be at the center of culture both as a writer and now as a podcaster with her company Campside Media which produces some of the MOST addictive podcasts including “Infamous”, which has covered people like Keith Raniere/NXIVM and former NY governor, Andrew Cuomo and everyone in between. Vanessa and Brooke talk about top cultural stories now including Anna Delvey, NYC doormen, Jann Wenner, the Roman Empire and SO much more. Pop Culture Mondays Newsletter: https://medium.com/popculturemondays  Brooke's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brooke/  Brooke's Twitter: https://twitter.com/brooke   Brooke's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brookehammerling   Potato's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/potato/  NY PR GIRLS (VINTAGE!) https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/media/features/2917/ Campside Media: https://www.campsidemedia.com/ Infamous Pod: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/infamous/id1652941051 This week's PCM: https://medium.com/popculturemondays/pop-culture-mondays-ix-xviii-xxiii-a6f624d711f

Shawnna Sumaoang: Hi, and welcome to the Sales Enablement PRO podcast. I am Shawnna Sumaoang. Sales enablement is a constantly evolving space and we’re here to help professionals stay up to date on the latest trends and best practices so that they can be more effective in their jobs. Today, I’m excited to have Paul-Olivier join us. Paul-Olivier, I’d love for you to introduce yourself, your role, and your organization to our audience. Paul-Olivier Raynaud-Lacroze: Thanks, Shawnna. I’m Paul-Olivier. I’m French, like the accent probably betrays, and I am working for a Swiss company, dormakaba. We are specializing in secure access to buildings and all the hardware and software which closes or opens doors. I am the senior vice president for human resources and sales enablement for the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region. SS: Well, I’m extremely excited that you’re here to talk to us today. As you mentioned in your introduction, you have a unique position as you oversee both human resources and sales enablement for your organization. I’d love to understand from your perspective, what does the intersection between HR and enablement look like and how do they complement each other? PR: For me, sales enablement at it’s heart is around cultural change, changing the mindset of our sales organization. We make everything, culturally and also from the process point of view, perfect for the sales organization to be efficient, to be able to sell better, to sell more products to our customers. In the end, we revolve around the people, having the right people with the right competencies in place, having the right organizational structure. Onboarding is important and training on soft skills and the product. A lot is actually stuff that I do for other parts of the organization. But I was put in charge the sales enablement function also a year ago, because in a sense, for some strange reason, it was one part of the organization which was forgotten. I’m part of the executive team of EMEA, and I could see that as a good nugget we had to tackle. In a sense, I was pushing for a while to have this function more prominent, or at least say it is a function, but more prominently presented in the executive team. We don’t have any chief sales officer or something like that. Because I’ve pushed too hard probably, it was created and then it was given to me. So, there are a lot of similarities between what I did before in HR, but there are a lot of specificities. I had the luck that very early on, I could hire internally one of our most senior sales directors who can complement myself very well because he’s been doing the sales role for many years. I think we complement each other extremely well. He brings the credibility, the huge knowledge he has, and hopefully I can bring some of my change management and training abilities and experience. SS: Absolutely. Now, how does it sales enablement help you to achieve some of your goals on the human resources side? PR: For me, honestly, it’s not so much of a HR leader. I see more that sales enablement helps me to achieve my goals as one of the members of the executive team of the EMEA region. I think that we didn’t equip our salespeople with the right tools, the right training, the right processes. In a sense, we were not able sometimes to achieve some of our strategic objectives and, of course, related to the customer, sales revenue, etc. I see myself much more as a business leader who has by chance an HR hat, and I just complemented that with another hat now, which is the sales enablement hat. In the end, everything we do in the area of sales enablement is for me to help our EMEA teams and executive team to achieve our common goals. That’s more how I see it. From an HR point of view, the sales teams or salespeople are very important, like any other team, but I think I put myself more as an executive leader, more than as a pure HR leader when I started to push a lot for sales enablement to have a place at the table. SS: I love that, I think you’re absolutely right. I think sales enablement is strategically positioned to help the entire business, especially the executive team. Now, you also have experienced, as you mentioned, leading sales transformation initiatives such as helping your organization navigate a merger. From your perspective, what are some key things to consider as you build a strategy for a transformation initiative to ensure that it’s successful? PR: First of all, you need a vision for where you want to go. We started early on in our sales enablement journey and in collaboration with a business, with alignment with my peers, my colleagues in the management team, a lot of discussion and interviews. We created what we call the sales enablement manifesto. It was just two PowerPoint pages where we established, what was our vision and where we are going to work and where we are not going to work. We started by doing the vision and then of course, starting to communicate a lot, you can never communicate enough. We are in a process where we are constantly aligning where we are with the executive team, but also the country managers, some of the big sales directors, just to make sure that they know where we are going. Of course, we are taking that feedback into account as long as we are making progress in the journey. For instance, we have completely revamped the way we have described our sales operating model, the way we have our sales channels. We have redefined a lot of things, which were probably in some heads and parts in some different PowerPoint presentations, but there were always some differences. It’s really to work together with the business to make that coherent and then with a lot of communication and making sure that it is truly understood by the people, it’s bought in. It’s only when you have achieved that level that you can start going a bit further down the journey. In my company, we are quite decentralized. If you don’t have these constant alignment and discussion it won’t work if you just come from the top-down. If I use my senior VP title, it can work, but it won’t be super long lasting or it won’t be super motivating. We’ll do it in a much more collaborative way. SS: On the topic of alignment, aligning with stakeholders on goals is critical for transformation initiatives, as you mentioned. What are some best practices for securing stakeholder buy-in for your initiatives? PR: It’s really understanding what the priorities of the important stakeholders are and when you understand them, it’s to see how when we are doing the sales enablement initiative or any other initiative, how we can help the key stakeholders achieve their own priorities. For most of my colleagues, they have a strong sales priority in their target. It’s clearly seen then how we can help them achieve their own priorities and overcome their own challenges. It’s a lot of discussion, understanding, using empathy, having a lot of business acumen, because we’re talking about customers, we’re talking about sales, so we need to understand sales. You need to understand PLL and revenue and all of that. It’s really bridging the gap between what we want to do, what the users for it are, and making sure that they are aligned. Basically, it’s making sure that my colleagues understand that if we work together, they have a bigger chance to succeed, and we do as well. So, it’s really a collaborative effort. It takes a lot of communication, a lot of discussion, empathy, business acumen, and making sure that it all comes into one place at the end. SS: Absolutely. You mentioned, as well, this notion of change management. For transformation to happen people need to be motivated to change. What are some of your best practices for, for persuading and motivating people to adopt new approaches? PR: If I focus on what we’re doing at the moment in sales enablement, I think the main behavior that we have chosen is role modeling. For instance, we have established quite early on in our back in October last year, so still quite recent, a weekly call between my boss, the president of EMEA, and the five regional VPs. We have cut our EMEA zone into five regions, and every week we have a call with the president, myself and my deputy in sales enablement, and the five heads of the regions on key metrics. We are looking at pipeline, forecast for the week, forecast for the month, etc. We have started this cadence because we said to start changing the mindset to make sales enablement really part of the business, we needed to instill this sense of rhythm and rigor. We have a weekly rhythm where it starts at the top, and now is being cascaded from the regional heads to the country heads from the country heads to their sales directors, sales managers, and salespeople. People don’t believe that we will sustain because we’re all busy, we have big calendars. But still every week now for the last five or six months, we have these regular calls. I must say that everyone is enjoying them. It’s not like punishment, it’s not asking why you lost this contract or this opportunity. It’s really just to have a lot of discussion about customers, about opportunities, what we can do to win these opportunities. It is creating a lot of talks about sales matters, which I think a lot of my colleagues are super happy with because they are salespeople at heart. At the same time, it’s bringing this rhythm and rigor, which is a phrase we love to use, because people see that it’s not going away, it’s really being cascaded now. In a sense that is a push way, we have really started from the top and role modeling what we expect each level of the organization to do around sales matters or sales topics. At the same time, we also have a more pulling effect where we are understanding, talking with a business about what they need, where they would like us to create or what best practices they would like us to establish. It’s constantly pulling different levers and having a pushing and a pulling effect together. By doing this, we think that we can change little by little behavior because it’s coherent from the top to the lowest levels of the hierarchy. Because we’re working on topics which are important for the business, when a change needs to happen, people just are ready in their mind to change because they see that it is something they wanted also. SS: I love that, rhythm and rigor. I think that’s fantastic. How would you go about measuring the business impact of your sales enablement efforts? PR: We are still early in our journey. We started probably a year ago and of course at the beginning it was more establishing what was our vision and what we were supposed to do. We are still early in the journey. Now, we have the typical metrics such as sales revenue, revenue by product line, revenue by sales channel, so we hope to see an increase over the years. Now, it’s not only through sales enablement that that things may improve. We would like also to measure things which are a bit more specific. At the moment, one key metric we have in mind is simple one, we just want to measure year-over-year, from 2020 and measuring then 2021, 2022, etc., the proportion of salespeople who will have achieved one hundred percent or more of their targets. We assume that the targets have been fairly distributed and fairly established, and just how many people have indeed met or achieved those targets in 2020. So, we look at 2019 before we started anything, 2020 when we are getting on our feet, and 2021 and so forth where we probably will get more and more mature. That’s one specific metric that we never measured before, at least on the EMEA level that we are going to put in place. The second one specific to our sales enablement initiative is just looking at what we call the conversion rate. We know from the number of opportunities which come our way, how many can we convert into others? Again, it’s a relatively simple measure which is not always tracked or perhaps tracked in a slightly different manner. We are going to clarify how it should be measured so that it can be comparable year over year, country to country. These two metrics, how many salespeople can achieve 1% or more of their targets and what is our conversion rate, will be the two main metrics we are going to follow for the moment. Perhaps in the few years we could be more sophisticated, but we are still early. We are going to focus on these two first. SS: That’s fantastic. Thank you so much for joining us today. I really did enjoy learning from you. To our audience, thanks for listening. For more insights, tips, and expertise from sales enablement leaders, visit salesenablement.pro. If there’s something you’d like to share or a topic you’d like to learn more about, please let us know. We’d love to hear from you.

This week we're talking around the idea that during lockdown we all seem to be super busy- but it’s not much fun! There seems to be a relentless nature to working from home that many hadn’t expected. In this podcast, we explore whether this repetitive, somewhat joyless for some, way of working can be avoided and discuss the impact it is having on PR teams.On the show this week are Jackie Elliott, chairman of Cathcart Consulting, Louie Sinclair, CEO of Harvard and Matt Buchanan, head of PR and Influence at Ogilvy UK.Thank you so much to the podcast sponsors, the PRCA.If you haven't taken a look yet, here are all the categories for the PRmoment Awards 2021.Here’s a flavour of what we discussed: 02.00 mins Work-wise, are the panel busy but not particularly happy?04.00 mins Why it’s been a tough time to be a leader in PR: “It’s much harder leading through technology.”04.45 mins The practice of public relations thrives on human connections, how much harder is PR when we’re not all together?06.15 mins “Everything has become an appointment.” There’s an absence of spontaneity. 08.00 mins Why we miss those “happy accidents” of agency life.09.30 mins What processes and schemes have been most successful to try and minimise the negative effects of working alone?11.00 mins Why people have found the lockdown “tougher this time around.”14.00 mins When we return to a normal working environment “we will need to re-look at the boundaries between work and home (life)”.15.00 mins Who on the panel has never taken part in a Zoom quiz!18.00 mins Ogilvy found it was employees in their 40s who were keener to return to the office, rather than their younger employees.20.00 mins The younger generation want work to “revolve around life rather than the other way around...and there have been some benefits of lockdown for that.”22.00 mins The 8.30 - 6.30, five days a week in the office is over. It’s done. After years of PR agencies (mainly) paying lip service, it changed forever, in one day.23.00 mins Bearing in mind ongoing social distancing requirements, to what extent do the panel anticipate office capacity issues when the PR world returns to offices? And are office spaces going to need to be re-designed?25.00 mins Most agencies seem to be planning a 3:2 scheme, 3 days in the office, 2 days at home.27.00 mins Does the agency leadership still need to be in the office full time?30.00 mins What are the cultural implications of a long term shift to remote working? “It has to have an impact doesn’t it?”33.00 mins When onboarding people remotely - how do you avoid the situation where the onboarding process is led by the IT team?!34.00 mins Why last year Harvard CEO Louie St Clare became, perhaps, the UK's best-paid white van man (for a day!).35.00 mins “The longer this goes on, the harder it will be to come back and have the same culture you left with.”36.00 mins Is the panel surprised that the PR world is quite as busy as it is at the moment?38.00 mins Why clients have become more demanding during lockdown.40.00 mins Why many PR agency/client partnerships are stronger than they have ever been.40.00 mins PR has, in the main, had a good lockdown but will it be able to retain its advantage over its marketing peers? “We’ll try but it will be different. When you come out of a war, you embrace the peace.”42.00 mins Has remote working and the loneliness of it changed the type of work coming out of creative agencies?

I often get called by CEOs who are interested in the added value of having a CEO brand that is separate from – but connected to – their businesses. In today’s Thought Talk podcast,, I’ll be discussing the three biggest mistakes I see when it comes to CEO branding as well as the three thought leadership categories CEOs sort into when it comes to their personal brands.   Tips for better CEO branding    CEO branding can’t be done as a  transactional relationship. You can’t delegate the crafting of it to a marketing director. It requires your direct participation and engagement.    CEO branding isn’t just PR — It requires not only reputation management, but also thought leadership, content marketing strategy, and last but not at all least, executive presence.   It takes work and effort, but not necessarily a great deal of time. Don’t  underestimate its value, and don’t let your CEO brand be decided by default. About Karen Tiber Leland   Karen Tiber Leland is the founder of Sterling Marketing Group, a branding, marketing, and color strategy and implementation firm helping CEOs, executives, and entrepreneurs develop stronger personal, business, and team brands. Her clients include Cisco, American Express, Marriott Hotels, Apple Computer, LinkedIn, and Twitter.   She is also the best-selling author of nine traditionally-published business books that have sold over 400,000 copies and been translated into 10 languages. Her most recent book is The Brand Mapping Strategy: Design, Build, and Accelerate Your Brand. She regularly writes for Inc.com and Entrepreneur.com and has had articles published in Self, The Los Angeles Times, American Way, The Boston Globe, and many others.   Karen has spoken for Harvard, The AMA, Direct Marketing Association, and Stanford, among others. She has been interviewed on The Today Show, CNN, CNBC, and Oprah.   Get in touch with Karen on Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook   Resources Has this podcast inspired you to get your CEO brand in better shape? Fill out the contact form at KarenLeland.com and I will be happy to provide a complimentary consultation and discuss ways we might work together.

If you were able to pitch your business and gain exposure in the media to land more clients and create more visibility for yourself and what you do, would you be interested? If so, then today’s episode is for you! Public relations is something that we don’t really hear much about in the online virtual support business space, and we want to know why that is! If someone asked you to define what public relations is, would you be able to? Do you know what the benefits are of utilizing PR? It’s one of those things that we have all heard about and we know it exists, but we never really pin-point why or when it’s necessary for your business or how exactly to implement public relations into your business! That’s why today we are learning why this is such an under-utilized marketing strategy, and here to teach us is none other than the fabulous PR pro Christina Nicholson! Before Christina got involved in PR she spent about 10 years working as a TV reporter and anchor. At that time while she was working long hours in a grueling and inflexible schedule (on top of being a mom!), she noticed a lot of people in PR had never actually worked in the media, and had no concept of what it was like to be in the newsroom or put a story together. That’s when she decided to start her own PR agency, and it has been flourishing for nearly five years! With her team of eight rockstar women who all work remotely, she helps small business owners get exposure in the media without paying for advertising. That sounds like a win-win to me! We talk about:Potential repercussions for small businesses that gain media coverageWhat a media pitch list is and how to make oneHow to know when we're ready for PR and if it’s the right route for us The first steps towards getting prepared, and how to present ourselves as legitVisit https://www.tashabooth.com/podcast for more info! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Christina Daves is a do-it-yourself publicity strategist. Together with her clients, she has over 1 billion views and over 8 figures in sales from free publicity.  She has appeared on over 1000 media outlets and is a regular on-air contributor on television programs across the country. In this episode, Christina shares how to use free publicity to massively grow your business and how to stand out from the crowd when doing media pitching.   "The people who get this, who get it, who get the digital marketing piece, who get the media piece, they're going to win because they're going to get the visibility. It doesn't matter how good they are or not, they're the ones who are going to get the clients and the customers.” – Christina Daves   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Discover how to free publicity to massively grow my business Learn how to stand out from the crowd when pitching the media by making you or your business newsworthy and valuable to the media’s audience Discover what holds people back from doing public relations or PR   Learn More about the 3X Value Growth™ Model Go to www.3xvaluegrowth.com/model     Episode Takeaway: What holds people back from doing PR? "It's inaction. My business coach said to me years ago, 'Christina, imperfect action is better than perfect inaction.' So, just do it. What's the worst that's going to happen? Nothing. " – Christina Daves Resources|Links Get Christina Daves' PR Famous Formula: http://www.3stepstoprsuccess.com Provides journalists with a robust database of sources for upcoming stories and daily opportunities for sources to secure valuable media coverage: https://www.helpareporter.com   Connect with Christina Daves:  Website: https://www.prforanyone.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinadaves Twitter: https://twitter.com/prforanyone Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Prforanyone   

In 2017, University of Kentucky College of Law students Barrett Block and Zach Atwell composed a song titled "The Court is Yours," based on Nas, "The World is Yours" (1994), for an assignment in Professor Joshua Douglas's Civil Procedure class. The song was performed and recorded by Elijah. Here are the lyrics:[PR] Whose court is this?[Nas] The court is yours, the court is yours[PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mineWhose court is this?"It's yours!"It's mine, it's mine, it's mineWhose court is this?[Nas] The court is yours, the court is yours[PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mineWhose court is this?I pray to Ace, watching The Paper Chase ‘til I’m chargedThen writin in my FRCP, the words in the marginBehold the law I'm spitting, procedural postureUnderstandable smooth wit that litigants win withThe plaintiffs play me for lame, they won't act rightBut with Douglas’ Civ Pro knowledge I attack and fight,Improper jurisdiction on my person, rehearsingPerry Mason rule 12 b 2, cursingMy domicile, and contacts they beguile,I ain’t availed the forum state a trialWhether long arm or due process, there’s no jurisdictionI call it, the rules make the court's power fictionI’m waving, but never waiving jurisdictionI'm out for precedents to represent me (Say what?)I'm out for precedents to represent me (Say what?)I'm out for good precedent to represent me[Chorus: Nas, Pete Rock][PR] Whose court is this?[Nas] The court is yours, the court is yours[PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mine[PR] Whose court is this?[Nas] The court is yours, the court is yours[PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mineWhose court is this?"It's yours!"It's mine, it's mine, it's mineWhose court is this?[Nas] The court is yours, the court is yours[PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mineWhose court is this?To my man Burnham, God bless your life"It's yoursTo International Shoe, God bless your lifeCrazy baby mamas tag us with service papers when we in CaliBeef with state tax, dudes flipping shoes in the alleyMinimum contacts, panic attack-the court’s caught meRudkewicz called quits on paying dues to BK Flor-I-day,-when you’re contacts a contract, ya can’t get away caught by a jurisdictional lasso, you’ll payThis Calder test hits like a tec paining my neck,Having to inspect my effects in the forum, what the heck?Traditional notions of fairplay and justiceViolate them and ya get jurisdictional ruckusExpress permission to a court is an admissionEven if penned in a ticket or missive outside your intuitionI ain’t clowning, look to Carnival,Left frowning from venue selection-must read contracts with stiff discretion"It's yours!"[Chorus: Nas, Pete Rock][PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mine[PR] Whose court is this?[Nas] The court is yours, the court is yours[PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mineWhose court is this?"It's yours!"It's mine, it's mine, it's mineWhose court is this?[Nas] Yo, the court is yours, the court is yours[PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mineWhose court is this?"It's yours!"[PR] Break it down[Pete Rock cuts and scratches "It's yours!"]Kulko’s baby mama trying to rob him of his commasbuying his kid’s ticket not enough for Cali dramaExplodin’ Audis caused the Robinson’s real traumaBut VW couldn’t see their cars in Okla hammaOwning stock / east to west / in peace I can rest,Shaffers stock in state outside the courts test,BM Squibb and Daimler, I’m here to call fibgeneral jurisdiction, a state must be yo crib.J. Mac’s machine caused a big fiascoNo jurisdiction for slicin’ NicastroWhen the police seize your gambling stashWalden says no suit in the state you’re ‘boutta crashTo my boys with that global distribution like AsahiAnd feds finna grill ya in court like you’re mahiThey can’t sue thee, just your intermediaryI got civ pro down so well -it’s scary"It's yours!"[PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mine[PR] Whose court is this?[Nas] The court is yours, the court is yours[PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mineWhose court is this?"It's yours!"It's mine, it's mine, it's mineWhose court is this?[Nas] Yeah... the court is yours, the court is yours[PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mineWhose court is this?"It's yours!"Break it down See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

John Ozimek - Co-Founder & Director:John has 20 years of experience in technology PR and marketing, and has worked with global giants such as IBM, Vodafone and Nokia, as well as many incredibly innovative and exciting start-ups.Previous roles include Co-Founder & Director of Dimoso, Associate Director at Liberty PR, Account Director at Edelman UK, and Head of Marketing at Glu Mobile.John's skills lie in helping clients to harness digital and online marketing tools effectively, building a transition between traditional and forward-looking communications strategies, and bringing creativity to his day to day work. James Kaye:James has 20 years of B2B and B2C marketing experience (which is crazy seeing as he claims he’s only 21), and 10 of these years have been spent working at an international level within the mobile sector.James worked alongside John, prior to forming Big Ideas Machine, when they co-founded award-winning PR/Marketing agency dimoso.Over 20 years experience in B2B marketingIn depth knowledge of the Mobile & Games sectorsWorked at the Daily Mirror, BT and OrangeBeen a consultant for several companies including Flurry (acquired by Yahoo), Exent and Scoreloop (acquired by Blackberry). Main talking points include:The Big Ideas Machine – came from the need of B2B tech companies needing Apps. This has evolved into an agency that pivoted into a PR / Marketing Agency. The PR industry is a closed industry – there was a need to have a creative approach in the PR industry. B2B doesn’t need to mean “Boring to Boring” – James Kaye. The creative industry is a linchpin to the economy, yet B2B companies don’t agree with it. The PR industry is based around perception – eg: AppleApple’s PR is making people have a good feeling about Apple and the quality that they createApple's marketing is about showing the benefits of their products and how they can change your life. What PR can do: People are looking for PR to have an effect on the bottom line. PR and marketing are different disciplines and need to be treated as such, but they do need to work together. Building a PR strategy – needs to be a collaborative process:What is it you think you want, and what is it you really want? The PR industry is playing catch up with some of the metrics that the marketing industry. Inbound PR: PR used to be simply shouting about what you do. With social media (LinkedIn primarily for B2B), PR is becoming far more of a trust building factor. See Ginnie Detrich ??The PESO modelBook: Spin SucksPR has now pivoted to a content marketing process. The context: There used to be a lot of trade media that was mixed with product advertising. With the move to digital, some of these streams of advertising have gone. When we’re looking at content marketing / PR / etc… Who is your customer? What problem do they have? What problems do they solve?Why should your potential customer be bothered?A fundamental part of the purpose of content creation HAS TO BE SEO. The affects on linkbuildingThe hardest thing in PR is that you can’t guarantee a result… If you want a guaranteed result, you need to do advertising. Where to start with PR: What is your perception of PR? It’s not about Media Relations!Understanding your objectives and the media coverage that can help you get thereMeasuring the inbound results of this, right down to the volume and quality of leads that you are generatingAutomating the process where necessary www.bigideasmachine.com ShoutoutsBrian Dean – BacklinkoNeil PatelSerpstat Join our Facebook Group! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Podcast with Host: Jai Shukla & Guest: Anthony Peacock Q1 — How did you get started into this world of PR? It was actually an accident. Starting as a journalist writing primarily about motorsport, he found himself being asked by drivers about how to get more media exposure. After noticing his suggestions were quite well-liked, he decided to make a career out of it, gradually moving from journalism to PR. He believes that to truly understand PR you have to be a journalist yourself because you can’t answer to what journalists want without knowing exactly what those things are. Q2 — While journalists are attempting to uncover the truth, PR is about fluffing up the truth. Is that a statement you agree with? Absolutely. In journalism, you tend to get better results from being as honest as you can. The job of PR isn’t necessarily about trying to persuade people, but to present the evidence in a way to allow the audience to make up their own mind. PR people are very sensitive to criticism, but you just have to accept that. If the thing is bad, people have every right to say it is. If it’s good then hopefully people will say it’s good. If there’s one thing missing from PR it’s a higher level of honesty. Q3 — How often do journalists end up finding the truth? About ninety-five percent of the time. It’s generally a bad idea to cover something up because you’ll look like an idiot when it inevitably gets found out! Q4 — Have you ever attempted to cover something up only to learn a valuable lesson or was it your principles in journalism that made it seem unnecessary to even attempt it, knowing the ease of being able to find out the truth in the first place? He succinctly admits that even if it’s negative, he’d never even bother to try to hide it. Q5 — How do you work your magic to present the truth in a relatable way and have people feel positive about it? An emphasis on the positives works great. You can exclude the negatives as long as you’re not pretending things are different than what they really are. In the digital age of Twitter, any cover-up will be uncovered by someone just on their mobile phone! It used to be a lot easier to keep secrets than it is now. Q6 — How do you feel that’s impacted the way you’re able to do your job? Honestly, it hasn’t really impacted his career much at all. Again, If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. Q7 — Tell us about what you’re working on right now and what ongoing projects you’re involved in. Currently, Anthony Peacock is working with Pirelli and Formula 1, he just finished up at a rally in Portugal, and will soon be headed to the Canadian Grand Prix, supporting the in-house Pirelli media office. He’s branching out from motorsport as well, starting his own catering company. Even he admits pizza is about as far from motorsport as you can get. No two days are typical, though, an average day usually split into small chunks involving many different projects, some short-term, some long-term. Q8 — How did people think you even had the skillset to do PR coming from the journalism side? Anthony Peacock stays humble and isn’t even quite sure himself. He chalks it up to putting himself out there, making connections with enough people who could vouch for him, and having enough experience that they believed his opinion was worth having. Q9 — It takes a lot of time and effort to start a business. What was it like going from a one-man role to building up a whole team in your own company? It was a slow build. His team of five people happened gradually, starting from just his lonesome to adding people one by one. If you get too big too quickly, you’ll no longer be able to relate to your clients. Q10 — You started the business when the need for your services was already in place. That seems to be the right way to start a business. It grew organically with, honestly, not even much of a plan. Even Anthony Peacock acknowledges he’s not the best person to be able to sit down and write a business plan. The way the business grew was organic, not forced or contrived. Q11 — What characteristics did you look for when looking for your right-hand man? Skillsets are one thing, but the mindset is another. It can be difficult to find someone who’s willing to put the long, anti-social hours which come with the motorsport territory. Most people would prefer they spend their weekend nights with their friends and family or drinking at the pub, not writing press releases. The best person for the job is someone who can put in the hours and make the sacrifices. Motorsport PR isn’t just sipping champagne on the tracks. It’s hard work! Q12 — I think the biggest myth of PR is that you’ll simply be enjoying the journey of interacting with people that you would already love to interact with, when, really, it’s a lot of long, hard hours. I mean it’s both, really. For example, you can get to interact with racing drivers in exotic locations and that’s part of the appeal, but it’d be a mistake to think it’s just that. No one discusses the daily grind! But the people who love it wouldn’t rather be anywhere else. Q13 — What can people do to increase their reach in motorsport? In terms of drivers, it’s being available and proactive. Even the best drivers need to be marketable and provide journalists and their PR agencies with interesting stories to tell about themselves. A lot of drivers are young kids and they just don’t think about what makes a good story and how to sell themselves. They’re focused solely on driving the car quickly. The truth is, a lot of people can drive a car quickly, but not many can drive a car quickly and be marketable at the same time. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Something as simple as uploading some photos from a recent rock-climbing trip to social media can suffice. It all helps. At the end of the day, a motorsport career is about sponsorship, and if they don’t know who you are or what you’re about, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. Q14 — You’ve worked with many people within the last decade, if not longer. Do you have any interesting stories and anecdotes you’d like to share with the audience? He’s reluctant to share any stories, mostly involving drivers acting silly and immaturely, including an incident involving a driver and a hotel fire extinguisher, and a well-known driver attempting to fit himself inside an airport x-ray machine! He’d love to tell a few stories but rather prefers to err on the side of discretion. It’s a family show, Anthony Peacock says. However, he’s quick to point out that he’s worked with many great people who don’t participate in this kind of behavior. Q15 — Social media has changed the way we interact. What do you think the future holds in terms of communication? There will likely be less and less of a role for traditional PR. People will be doing more things for themselves, likely even running their own campaigns. PR might transition into more of a guiding role, with drivers doing more of their own groundwork. More things will happen in real-time. People don’t want to wait for news anymore. This means having to be up at 3 am to deliver live coverage of a news story if need be. Later than live is too late these days. A digital world also means it’s harder to cover-up any sinful activities. People will need to constantly be on their best behavior! Q16 — How does the PR world for motorsport vary compared to other industries? For example, in Formula 1 racing you’re dealing with big sums of money, so any consequence of a wrong decision can be costly. Because of this, people will naturally be more sensitive and aware of anything that could cause a mishap or mistake. But he’d say the guiding principles are still largely the same. Q17 — What is something you believe that is one-hundred percent right that not everyone agrees with? Many colleagues say you should persuade a journalist or spin a story in a particular way. Having been a journalist, Anthony Peacock believes that this is just counter-productive behavior. If you badger a journalist, you’ll only get on his bad side and that could easily come back to bite you in the behind!

(This episode has some explicit language)   Peter Rahal, co-founder and CEO of RXBAR, didn’t set out to build a multi-million-dollar company. But he had goals, both large and small. Practically speaking, he wanted a clean, healthy protein bar to fuel his workouts. On a bigger scale, he sought freedom and fulfillment. “Prior to working at RXBAR, I'd always had a normal job. I felt really handcuffed and I wasn't in a position to be successful,” Rahal told me on this week’s episode of #WeGotGoals. “And so a goal for me early on was always to really flourish and have freedom and achieve success for myself.” Those dual quests took him and co-founder Jared Smith farther than they could have imagined. In 2012, they began pressing dates, almonds, and egg whites into bars in Rahal’s parents’ basement. From the beginning, they established high standards and lofty values. The product had to be excellent. The process, collaborative. And even as they glimpsed glimmers of progress, they stayed humble, knowing they didn’t have all the answers. Those years weren’t easy. In fact, the pair suffered. “It was miserable,” he says, “pressing bars with your thumbs in your parents’ basement when you’re 26 and while your friends are doing great things and having dinner in the city.” But Rahal likens the experience to a grueling fitness routine. “The hardest workouts are where you stimulate the most growth from,” he says. “And work is the same thing. The most discomfort you have, the harder it is, the more you grow.” And grow they did. Rahal remembers telling Smith early on that if they did things right, this could be a $10 million business. Last year, Kellogg bought RXBAR—which now sells 120 million bars per year—for $600 million. Rahal and Smith stayed on to lead what is now a standalone unit in the larger company, a critical component of the deal, he says. “We were looking for the right muscle, and to protect our people and our culture. So those are kind of two objectives or goals that we were looking for in a partner. Kellogg fit that perfectly and now we have resources to continue to achieve our business objectives.” Armed with Kellogg’s expertise in areas like international distribution, contract negotiation, and performance management, RXBAR will continue its ambitious quest to transform the way food is made and delivered. That starts with shifting the corporate approach, Rahal says. Even big companies can innovate and relentlessly drive to improve. Employees who are valued and respected can truly achieve their potential. Systems codify these values, ensuring businesses continue to serve the right people in the right way. For those of us not in the food industry, who just buy bars at the store or the gym—we’ll see the results on the shelves: “More access to food that’s better for you, that's delicious, that saves you time and that you can trust,” he says. And of course, as the RXBAR package famously proclaims, “No B.S.” And is Rahal now free? Well, yes and no, he says—in fact, he’s not quite sure of the answer. What he does know is that he’s found a deeper satisfaction and a whole new set of priorities, ones he feels he can pursue to truly leave a legacy. Listen to this week’s episode to hear more about what freedom means to Rahal, the reason his partnership with Smith works, and a little bit—but not TOO much—about what it takes to get hired as part of the RXBAR team. If you like what you hear, subscribe where ever you get your podcasts and leave us a rating or a review on Apple Podcasts. And if this post or anything else we’ve created impacted your life, please support our Kickstarter. --- Transcript: JAC: Hey, goal getters, it's Jeana Anderson Cohen from aSweatlife.com, and if you've been listening to #WeGotGoals over the last month, you know that we've been running our Kickstarter. And right now we have just five days to fund our big dream for $20,000 to help grow our ambassadorship to reach women across the country. We’re helping them set big, hairy audacious goals and form a network to achieve them. If you want to help out, check the link in our show notes or go to aSweatLife.com. Here's the episode. JAC: Welcome to #WeGot Goals, a podcast by aSweatlife.com on which we talk to high achievers about their goals. I'm Jeana Anderson Cohen; with me, I have Cindy Kuzma and Kristen Geil. CK: Good morning, Jeana. KG: Hi Jeana. JAC. Hi Ladies. So Cindy, this week you talk to Peter from RXBAR. CK: I did. I spoke with Peter Rahal. He is the co-founder and CEO of RXBAR and he is a very focused, intense, high achieving person and it was great to kind of crack his code just a little bit. JAC: One of the things that I found super interesting was sort of the driving force behind his goals: freedom. Can you talk to me a little bit about how freedom has shaped what he's done through his life and where it's taken him? CK: Yes. He started RXBAR, not necessarily because he wanted to be an entrepreneur, but because he saw a problem that needed to be solved and also because he felt trapped in a job he didn't love, under leadership he didn't respect and he just really wanted to break free. What was interesting, and you'll hear this toward the end of the interview, was kind of how that has played out for him. He doesn't necessarily feel free, but he maybe has a little bit of a new definition of freedom or a new thing that he's seeking in its place. So a pretty interesting to hear how that all unfolded. KG On the podcast recently we did a live recording with Julia and Lauren who are the co-founders of Stylisted. You spoke with Peter about his co-founder. Jared. One of the things I was interested to hear about was how these two different co-founders might approach goal setting similarly or differently. For example, Julia and Lauren spoke about the importance of having the same long-term vision and goals for the company, but at the same time celebrating the little wins and the small goals that you achieve along the way. Did Peter talk about how he and Jared have any approaches to setting goals as partners and working towards them together? CK: Yeah, so like Julia and Laura and Peter and Jared were friends first and Peter talks about how important it is to have that rapport with someone that you're starting a business with. That way you can kind of tell early on when something is amiss and you can take steps to work it out before it becomes an actual problem. He said they've also worked hard not to fight about things like titles or things that were insignificant. They kind of set their egos aside and really focused on what they thought was best for the business and yeah, in terms of setting goals for the business, it's interesting. They didn't really have specific goals in terms of the money that they wanted to make or units sold or anything like that. They really just looked at making the best product that they could to fill this hole in the market and then when they got to a bigger place, finding the best people to help support them in those goals. That's really what carried them to a level of success beyond what they even could have imagined. JAC: Well, I've certainly loved watching the story of RXBAR unfold and especially with this acquisition by Kellogg recently, so excited to hear this interview. So here is Cindy with Peter. CK: This is Cindy Kuzma and I'm here with Peter who is the CEO and the co-founder of RXBAR. Peter, thank you so much for joining us here today on the #WeGotGoals podcast. PR: Thank you, Cindy. I appreciate you coming to our office. CK: It's great to be here and great to see so many people working hard. I'm wondering, Peter, I want to ask about your goals, but I'd first love to hear a little bit about what your day to day is like here at RXBAR. PR: So my day to day first, I'm not like a routine person. I like to think of myself as highly adaptable and I always start each week with like what's the most important thing I need to accomplish. I'm really motivated by accomplishment, so like what I need to, what do I need to get done this week? So I really think about my year through weeks, everything's through weeks and I accomplish as much as possible in each week. So that's like the first half of the week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday is very structured in terms of like what am I looking at, what's important, regular information. And then Thursday, Friday is typically like, I like think of the Wild West where I tried to leave it open and react to and be able to get some work done. CK: I like that. It sounds like you have a nice blend of a very loose structure that you work within that helps you stay somewhat organized, but then you really leave room for creativity and inspiration and doing the work. PR: I think I’m very unorganized, but yet organized if that like there's a paradox or I don't know what the right word is, but … CK: Well, it seems to be working for you. You've accomplished some pretty big things in the past five years or so. Our big question on #WeGotGoals always is what is one big goal that you've accomplished that you're particularly proud of, why was it so meaningful to you and how did you get there? PR: So goals, I guess, goal I had early on in my life, I guess career. I've always wanted freedom. I guess the outcome I wanted was always to be successful and I really wanted to be free. Not freedom in the sense of do whatever I want, but like to be able to make decisions and grow. They have kind of kind of control of my own fate. And so prior to working at RXBAR, I'd always had a normal job and whatnot and I felt really handcuffed and I wasn't in a position to be successful. And so a goal for me early on was always to like really flourish and have freedom and achieve success for myself and I guess I didn't know what that looked like. So it was really just discovering that in my early twenties and then I guess I found it with creating, creating the company with Jared, my co-founder. CK: So you didn't really know what freedom would look like. I mean, how did you sort of take the steps to uncover that? PR: I guess early on, early on in my life, I've always rejected poor leadership and I mis-associated with authority. Like I've always like, oh, I don't like authority, but actually I just didn't like, I shunned bad leadership and I never really had great leadership in my work experience. So that's where I felt like it didn't have freedom, right? Like I needed freedom to think, to grow, to challenge, to do. So creative freedom, work freedom, not go do whatever you want type of thing, but like to be challenged to think differently, you know, to define your own path. CK: So that's a really interesting insight. That freedom maybe was freedom, not from any leadership at freedom from poor leadership. PR: Yeah, for sure. Good leadership allows that, allows an individual to flourish and grow. I never had that, so I was yearning that ability and I didn't realize that until I started working here and moved into like a leadership position that like that's what I was really seeking and yearning early on. CK: So, I mean, you have grown in the company and by leaps and bounds in the past five years and when you were started making the bars in your parents basement, right? And now you're part of a huge national company and you're selling a 120 million plus bars a year. Are those goals that you could have even foreseen back when you first started out? PR: No, absolutely not. So I mean those were like outcomes we never planned. Jared and I were never like, oh, we're gonna build the business to sell it or like having an outcome like that or whatever achieve that. We were, our goal was to make the best product possible, our goal was to make the best company possible. And those were some of our how our approach was and those are really like our strategies and what happened is that great company, those great products, the financial financial performance and those things were really all outcomes of that. So no, and to be honest, I remember sitting back with Jared like really early on and being like, you know, if we do this right, this is a $10 million business and you know, I'd be lying to you if I said how we had planned all this out. We got lucky and we've, we've, we had the right values guiding us and we did what was important. CK: So talk to me about some of those values. What do you think were the important step are the important values that took you from a to b to Z. PR: That's a good question. So I guess the values that were most where I would say like humility, both we like to think of as emotionally and intellectually like, right. We didn't have all the answers. We knew we didn't have all the answers. We stayed curious. We asked for help. And then for Hared and I are working together as co-founders, we never fought over titles, we never fought over responsibility. We did what was in the best interest of the company early on. So that requires a lot of, you know, you have to free yourself of your pride and arrogance. So that was really important early on you see a lot of people fighting over this and that. And like I always say, like if Jared and I were building a house, we never fought over the color of the house, you know what I mean? It was just like we went. So humility is number one and it's both emotionally and intellectually. PR: And then second is excellence. Just like constant improvement and entrepreneurial, like a real entrepreneurial mindset and growth mindset of like, this can get better. We've got to figure it out because you think about a company, all it is, is a group of people that are formed in teams that have to make decisions and those decisions usually are around problems, right? Or opportunity or problem, whatever way you want to look at it. And so doing that really, really well is important, people decisions and problems. So that, um, and then other one is like tenacity too, I don't know if that's an actual value, just grit, but like it was miserable like pressing bars with your thumbs in your parents basement when you're 26 and while your friends are doing great things and having dinner in the city, whatever it is. You can't, you know, it takes a lot of grit. And there wasn't like, you know, you look at the company today and it's like, ‘Oh, it's great. You guys are successful.’ It wasn't like that a while ago and it was actually quite miserable and Jared and I  actually suffered a lot in a good way. I think suffering is good, but so you have to prepared to suffer in a good way. CK: Knowing that you sort of had this idea that maybe you hadn't experienced good leadership before. Did you have other examples of leaders that you've found along the way who kind of helped shape this as you went along? PR: Not necessarily like I'm never had great, I never really experienced great leadership. I've experienced great parenting. I have amazing parents and that is a form of leadership I'd argue, but I know I never, I never had it. When I played sports I had a coach that like was involved in practice run with us. Like was a great leader and I mean it was amazing how it worked, but I know I never had anyone, like oh, that's what great leadership looks like. I didn't realize what it was until like in action here in this company. Like I realized how important it was. So. No, but I know, I know, I yearned it. I yearned it. I never necessarily had it I would say and I didn't know what it looked like either. CK: What's an example of kind of what it looks like now on a day to day basis here and how do you, how do you kind of know that you're here exemplifying it? PR: So I, I think presence is super important. So being available, being around flying in and solving problems, you know what I mean? Like if there's an issue going in and helping fix it. Um, so like, can I call it, like I think of it as like reactionary, reactionary leadership support is super important so you're there and you react to the problem and go down to help fix it. And then also being super proactive in terms of breaking down potential barriers. So you're being there, you're having the vision to help break down a potential problem so it doesn't happen. So that, that's great leadership. PR: Yeah, I mean that, I mean for us, the way we lay out the way we meet, I mean we've systemized that really through our structures. So example, if like a service call comes in and there's an issue like in I can tell, I can hear the, someone struggling with a customer, I can go in and like pick it up and help. Like that's great leadership. Presence is important, is really important. Being consistent, you know what I mean? Like not coming in moody, not, not really self regulating yourself is important. So how you show up consistently articulating the vision and where we're going and why we're going. We're making value-based decisions so being consistent with decision making, not just like arbitrarily, right? So those are all things that are important and being approachable, you know, and also there's another like knowing the business too, like I think there's a level, like a lot of times you hear EQ and like these softer skills are really important and they are absolutely empathy, understanding the business and just everyone's position and situation, but actually like having knowledge and actually experiencing and be able to like tactically help out. I think it's really important and having knowledge of the business uh, is important because imagine if someone came in from here to be a leader here but like didn't know shit about the food business, you know, it'd be hard for them to have credibility. And that's the advantage I have as a founder. Like shit I've came from the beginning, I have this knowledge from experience, like it's really helpful for people. So I think that's important too. CK:  I'd imagine that gets challenging to stay on top of as you grow, and I mean how many people work here now? PR:  I think a hundred 10? CK: How do you kind of keep tabs on that and keep in—it sounds like some of just jumping in and solving the problems and keeps you connected to the front line. Right. What else? PR: Well, that’s, I mean, we’re 110. So I've, I've read a lot and like I know we're on the inflection point where like, I know everyone's name, right? And now we're going to be like 140, 150, 200. At some point that's not scalable, right? Like we exceed every, every individual's capacity to know everyone's name and who they are and how they work, etc. So here it right now sub 120, whatever, it’s easy. I know everyone's name, I know how they work, I know their personality type, I know. PR: But in a year that's going to be totally different. So I, I'm actually, I don't know the answer, but uh, you know, for me it's not necessarily about me knowing it's really about our leadership here in the different teams and the groups of teams and how they work and what is the leadership look like on those teams. So scaling, like what we do in systemizing it so it permeates the whole organization. CK: So as you've grown, how important would you say that the type of people that you've hired has been to your ongoing success? PR: We have the best. The amount of people we’ve accumulated is unbelievable. So I say like where like one of the companies we're in, the people business, the company's responsibility to, to ensure every individual’s achieving their goal and flourishing. So that's probably the most important thing we do is hire people; I’ve said that. We have a good process and a lot of our success actually all of our success is due to the fact that we've been able to build an awesome team. PR: So we at the highest level, like I said, we're a group of people who make decisions and solve problems. Like we are in the people business, the highest level. At the end of the day one of the things we do is make a bar and we make food and we do other things. Um, but that Is what business we're actually in. Ao it's the most important thing. Any business that involves people. CK: What would you say is kind of different about your process or superior about your process for finding these people. PR: We have a very, we have a culture that people were, where the company is aligned on. We’ve defined the competencies that are great with individuals. The question is like, what competencies do individuals possess that make them successful and flourish? So we asked that question and we've really laid it out there and we, you know, we look through those in candidates and also like it's important I think, I don't know other companies like this is the biggest company I've ever worked for. So I don't know what it looks like in other places, but you know, everyone, you know, It's not like P&O or HR does the hiring. It's, it's a very cross-functional process. Our goal is to hire the best people and make sure they're, they're in a position to be successful. And then we put a, a soft process around it. CK: So any tips on what those competencies are for people who might be looking? PR: something that's. I don't want to like you, you have a lot of people listen to this and I don't want to tip our hands. CK: You don't have to give out trade secrets. That's ok. PR: Yeah. Just know that like we want our job is to make sure anyone who has it sits here and is a part of the team is in a position to flourish and achieve what they want to achieve and that's what we look for and that's the most important thing. There is no, lIke if that's not there, then it—you're just going to leave. You know what I mean? So it's actually a, it's a very mutual process. We're not just doing this for us, it's actually like in the interest of the candidate. You know what I mean? CK: That's always, I think as it, you know, when you're a job seeker, that's a really nice feeling have when you enter into an interview and feel like it is a mutual search. PR: To be ultimately successful. I believe it has to be. But at the same time, if there's an individual doesn't know what they want to achieve, that's ok, that's the right answer. They don't have the goal, right, like what their career goal is. It's ok, we can, as long as you have the right mindset and approach, you can discover it and that's our job then for you, to discover your passions and what are you good at. So that's a lot of times younger candidates don't know what the hell they want, which is totally normal. You know what I mean? I don't think anyone coming out of school is like, oh I want to be this. They just want to join a great team and great company and really learn and grow. CK: What has this process been like with a partner? PR: Kellogg? CK: Well, I mean, even to start—starting the company with Jared. How do you two balance each other out? PR: It's been, It's been good. So I always think of like Jared and I are like totally different birds. You know what I mean? Like, so that helps. Like we're—one of our values is collaboration and that's like we not I, right? And not seeking credit. So our relationship is like super collaborative. If you look up any personality test we’re literally the opposite ends and he has more of a financial background and he values stability where I'm more commercial facing and value action. So we're like total yin and yang. So like in the beginning when we first started, I'm remember like, we've been incorporating a company, this is a long time ago. And we're going over like, what is your role? What's our role? You know what I mean? Sometimes it's an uncomfortable conversation. PR: It was like, ok, well you should be the CEO and I should be the CFO. And like that was from the get go really easy. So the role and responsibilities is very natural for us. So It's been amazing. And we wouldn't be here today If we didn't have that balance. For example, when a task, when it was just us and when a task came through, it was very obvious who did what. So yeah, it's been everything in, you know, I don't know what other co-founder relationships are like, but I imagine if you get to like people with the same, two types of birds that are the same, there's holes In the business and things fall through the crack. Where for us it was, we move faster. We didn't fight. I don't think we had one fight. CK: That’s pretty amazing. PR: I mean we've had disagreements but not like an actual like fight. Conflict is normal but not like bad conflict or like ugly conflict. CK: Can you pinpoint any ways that communicated effectively that have prevented that. Or is it just the personality? PR: The advantages that Jared and I have—is when you hire a, like when you work with friends, like you see this a lot with businesses early on, like where they’re, like friends starting it together, you know what I mean? And the reason why is because we have rapport. I've known him since first grade. He's known me since first grade. He knows when I'm pissed. I know when he's upset. So it actually causes us, the rapport and history we have together causes that causes us address things earlier rather than them just boiling or whatever. Like, I didn’t know you were pissed, I couldn't tell like, well no I can actually, I can smell, I can smell when he's pissed off or upset or disappointed. PR: He can smell when I’m—you know what I mean? It's more than. It's like this feeling, this intuition and instincts that you have just because you have rapport with is another human for so long. So that's a huge advantage we've had. And that's why you see like early businesses like you think about, it's all friends usually starting it because you can't be like, hey, want to. Like you can't go to the market place and be like, hey, you want to start this business with me? I don't know you. You want to start this? I don't fucking trust you. I trust Jared, he trusts me. We’re aligned. And you think about the values of our company really stem from our relationship because those are the two people that are at the two inputs that effect how we work here early on. It's shaped it in a totally different way because you know, the next new people come shapes it in a good way. Right? CK: That's another huge phase that you're in now. So how—you're set up as kind of as a company within Kellogg, is that right? PR: Yeah. So like a standalone business, a different business unit in a way. CK: Was that kind of an important goal to you when pursuing this kind of a deal? PR: Yeah, for sure it was table-stakes. Because people use the word exit—like we never actually exited, you know what I mean? As shareholders, we show sold their shares. But um, so for us we were looking for the right, the right muscle, and to protect our people and our culture. So those are kind of two objectives or goals that we were looking for in a partner. And Kellogg fit that perfectly and now we have resources to continue to achieve our business objectives and, and flourish as a company. CK: So the resources is obviously that's a, that's a big change. I mean, what else has changed so far? What else do you predict will change? PR: So change. As a company, we’ve changed a lot and that's just the nature of, of a, of a business. So it's all been good change. I would say in terms of, as it relates to Kellogg and being owned by them. They're, I wouldn't say there's any significant change. It's all good stuff in the sense that like, you know, we have some things we're navigating through in terms of some legal stuff for, not legal but like contracts that we need their expertise. Like, talk about performance management or like how to operate or how to manage channel conflict as we grow. Like there's a lot of expertise that we have in internationally, the global expansion, like that's something we wouldn't really be able to do on her own very quickly. And so with their leadership and their expertise and access, we've been able to move that up on the calendar significantly and go after new opportunities like that. PR: So there's been a bunch of good stuff. But like as a company, I wouldn't say we've changed our, there's been any change. Um, so the, the thing is, I always tell our team this, like we're gonna grow to, you know, we're gonna grow the business to 200 people and whatever—hopefully, you know, 400 people in a billion in revenue in these are things we want to achieve. We're going to change, like, you know what I mean? Change is a good thing and we, we have to fix our processes or improve our processes or whatever and let's not associate any sort of negative part of our size. Like, right, we're growing, we're getting bigger and there's some compromises that come with that. Meaning not everyone has all the information sometimes. That's part of it. Like I can't know what's going on in the social calendar. I just can’t. And mis-associating that change with new ownership or anything. Like that's, there's, we're growing and that's part of the, it's part of the territory. And um, we have to adapt in an intelligent way. CK: Right, so there’s changes that just come from growth and there’s changes that come from the partnership from the acquisition. PR: But like those changes are just things … ike there's really no changes so far. So it's all opportunity to be honest. CK So the second big question that we typically ask on #WeGotGoals is about a goal you have for the future and how you plan to get there. PR: As a company? CK: Well, I mean that's up to you. You can answer it as a company or you can answer it as an individual. PR: Yeah, I mean I think one of our goals is to really change and influence our legacy in the food business and really set the new standard for how food is designed, marketed and done. And so I really like remove the bullshit in big CPG and really restore confidence in different stakeholders from farmers, brokers, distributors, customers, consumers, et cetera. So we always pioneer our own path and, and so I guess the goal longer term or to really leave the impacting legacy on food and how things are done. CK: And CPG? PR:  Consumer packaged goods. So it's a monsters industry in a good way. It's huge. Everything. everyone needs food. CK: That's a pretty ambitious goal to change the way the food system works. I mean, what do you think are the biggest problems and how do you think you can have an impact on them? PR: Like one of the biggest ones is like, you know, as you get bigger, you, why can't big companies innovate in a, in an authentic and effective way? So that's one problem we approach and also how organizations are built or you know, it's totally different today. So I think organizationally through different design and tactics and systemizing things, you can change it in serving, ensuring, making value based decisions in ensuring you're serving the right people in the right way and not not, you know, I think there's a great quote, I actually think it's a Martha Stewart, but power—someone's character is best measured when you give them power and influence. Um, So like when you get powerful and in positions of influence, like how do you treat people is a real test of how you work. CK: And you mentioned that kind of no BS, which I know is on your label and something that, I mean from a consumer perspective, like what do these, what might these changes look like and what does that no BS mean. PR: No BS really just means, like, nonsense. It's not so literal, just like nonsense, like bad, like overly marketed to, gimmicky stuff. So it's across the board, across the business and of course in the products like right, we don't want nonsense ingredients or nonsense stuff, so that's how we, how we think about it. CK: So what can people who are out there buying RXBARs now, like what kind of change my base fee in the long term in the food system, if you are successful? PR: More access to food that like it's better for you, that's delicious. It saves you time that you can trust. So that's how I would think about it or how we think about it. CK: Back to thinking about your corporate path and your, your journey again from the basement to do this nice office to what I understand is going to be in an even bigger office coming soon. When you think back on your journey and if you—I’m sure you often give advice to other entrepreneurs, if you have one or two key pieces of advice that you'd offer people, what might they be? PR: Oh, there's a lot, there's so much, and it’s so situational. A motto I always live by is like, do what's effective and what feels good for me. That’s like, for me, important. There's a ton. Be proactive, not reactive. And like solve a problem, right? I feel like at least in entrepreneurship, a lot of like—Jared and I did this because we saw a gap in the market, like a problem. Like there wasn't a product that fit our needs. It wasn't like—we didn't focus on the outcome, we're not, you know, we were like, oh, we want to start a business and grow a business and do that. It was like, well, here's this opportunity that there's problem in the marketplace and do that. So that, that's important. You know, in a lot of people, like on the surface you're like, oh I want to have a nice business. I'm going to be an entrepreneur one day, like I never, we never were like, oh, we're going to be an entrepreneur one day it was just like, hey, there's this product we didn't, um, we want to make. And like, knowing what's important, doing what's important is important. CK: Like you said, maybe be willing to suffer a little bit along the way. PR: Yeah, suffering’s good. Pain’s good. As long as you learn from. CK: One of those things like, in fitness as in life PR: Well, yeah, think about fitness—there’s actually great parallels. So think about fitness, the most painful brutal workouts, not overused of course, but like the hardest workouts are where you stimulate the most growth from, you know. And work is the same thing. The most discomfort you have, the harder it is, the more you grow. And that's what I tell people, like I've been miserably uncomfortable since the day I started this. Vulnerable and uncomfortable. But that's part of growth and it's not. There's a stupid analogy, but I like to think about it—you know when you like wake up in the morning and you're in bed and it’s like so comfortable, especially in the winter here in Chicago, like. You never, if you take the sheets off, it's like oh, it's freezing and it's uncomfortable. You can just like stay in bed. That’s comfort, is just staying there. But like ripping the sheets off, being cold. Like that’s how you get going and that's how you start. You don't want to just stay in bed all day. CK: Just get out there, get started. Excellent advice. You mentioned early on that one of your goals was freedom. Do you think you have it? PR: That’s such a good question. No, I feel like a slave, but I do have creative freedom, but I'm a servant a hundred percent, but I like that. CK: So do you think your idea of what freedom is has just changed. PR: Yeah. Yeah. I don't have absolute freedom. I guess I need to define what freedom is. I mean, I love my job. It's not a, it's not even a job. It's like what I do. I, you know, I guess to give context, when I was prior to working at RXBAR, I was in a miserable spot, like I didn't like my job. I wasn't successful, I was insecure, I didn't have any confidence and I, I wanted to be successful. I wanted freedom to pursue my talent, whatever I was good at and, and grow and so I guess I needed to do to find what freedom meant. But back to your original question today am I free? No, I'm a servant to the company and I'm not free on paper, I guess. I don't know, that's a great question. I need to reflect on this. I don't have the answer. CK: Yeah, maybe you’re a servant, but a happier one. A servant to a good master. PR: I think what gives humans such satisfaction in serving others actually like for me, like watching all these people grow and achieve their goals is like—I’m high as a kite. Like there's nothing more gratifying than watching someone change and grow and achieve their goals and the way I try to do that is through serving them and serving their interests and whatnot. So I guess my priorities have shifted. Like my original goal was get out of misery and find something that I was good at and be successful and that's what I kind of maybe me my freedom. And now my goals are, or what makes me happy and goals are different. CK: Peter, I can’t thank you enough for joining me. PR: Thank you. No, I appreciate your time and I'm always here. CK: This podcast is produced by me, Cindy Kuzma, and it's another thing that's better with friends, so please share it with yours. You can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And while you're there, if you could leave us a rating or review, especially if you're an iTunes or Apple Podcasts, we would really appreciate it. Special thanks to J. Many for our theme music; to our guest this week, Peter Rahal; and to Tech Nexus, as always, for the recording studio.