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0:00:14 And now from the marquee media studio inside Mark Take. It's the Mark Haney show. Yes. This is the Mark Haney show are on a mission to ignite the entrepreneurial revolution right here in the hometown we love. And you know what? The backyard advantage has become such a instrumental part of igniting the entrepreneurial revolution. I have to I just have to get a give a shout out to the tribe that is forming to help entrepreneurs in our hometown. And today, we have one of our tribe members and You know, I don't know her well, but every once in a while, you meet somebody that is truly remarkable.

0:01:05 Somebody that makes you go, wow, that is impressive. And and Meghan Phillips is that person. She's coming on the show today, and she is gonna share what she is doing. And she's she's doing work in multiple areas, which I which I think is really admirable. She's she's definitely working on building two incredible businesses which we'll talk about on the show. One is around branding. The other is actually a platform company that has all kinds of scalability within it. But she's also on the show. She mentions some of her passions, and she's very passionate about the economic development of the Sacramento region as MI, as as is my entire team and this entire tribe, that is the backyard advantages. So we talk a little bit about that. But what really strikes me, I think, around her whole persona is she's so positive. She's so driven. But yet, she's the mother of two children, and she's doing this all so well. Moving the ball forward in all these direct It's just truly impressive to see a woman with that kind of drive that has it all together, and you're about to hear her story. So stick around my friends. Entrepreneurs are the heroes of the American economy. They take the risks, create the opportunities and move the molecules.

0:02:51 Now back to the Marquis Media studio, it's the Marquis Haney, show. And now it is my pleasure to bring on Meghan Phillips. She is the founder of the Honey Agency, but she's also the co founder of simple summers, and so we're gonna hear about her businesses. But maybe we just talk about I wanna get to know you a little bit better too, so Maybe just start with your pathway to entrepreneurship. And from that, maybe I'll glean a little bit more of your background. Absolutely. Well, thank you for having me on. It's just an honor to here at Earth Factory and to be on, you know, this incredible podcast.

0:03:25 I've spent a lot of time listening to entrepreneurs for the past few weeks. So my background, I grew up in sort of rural Sonoma County, probably before everyone knows that there was lots of amazing line tasting opportunity 70s and, you know, gorgeous hotels going in. It was just a small town that I grew up in. And and wine just was sort of absolutely part of how I grew up. So sort of the entrepreneur mindset came early because everyone around me was sort of entrepreneurs. They were either, you know, working to you know, in the wine industry starting their own labels or, you know, I just found it to be all around me, and I didn't even know it the time. It was just sort of like the craft of labor to to love. Even your was your family entrepreneurial? My dad actually worked for Safeway. Okay.

0:04:10 So I had the great opportunity of seeing how products ended up in the market. And I think that's been a huge bridge in my life is to see from a consumer product perspective, how sort of, you know, farm to fork to food ends up to grocery, which is how we do marketing and work today at Honey. But I think always, I just knew that I wanted to be a storyteller and a problem solver. And sort of that's been my, I would say, my North Star coming into where I am today, which Honey is actually entering fifteenth year. Wow. Which is awesome. Congratulations. Thank you. Yeah.

0:04:45 But I will tell you it was Sacramento. I'm a huge champion of this town, and I think it was Sacramento. I know that really believed in the entrepreneurial mindset. And I'm so grateful that my husband went to law school exactly readout because it would've it brought me out. That would happen. That's what happened. I would I mean, I'm a I'm a wine country girl. And never did I think that a government town was gonna embrace an entrepreneur who wanted to talk about food, beverage, and agriculture all day. And it did. It was amazing.

0:05:13 When are we here in Sacramento? Some people call us the farm to fork capital, if you will. And I think I agree with you. We're more than just a government cow town. There's a lot of entrepreneurial things happening here. But our image does lend itself to you're just a government town, but there's a lot of do you think the image is changing so that we're getting recognized as a as a food and beverage place? Absolutely.

0:05:38 I think Even more so, Sacramento is being looked at as a space of innovation. I think from the way we feed people, to the way even our government operates, to the way we think about just, you know, I would say, embracing young, you know, innovators in in any arena, there's just this momentum of public and private sector support that I appreciate. I hope that's the case. I hope that we continue to just be a space where, you know, there is play. There is ideation. And that's what the best things come from.

0:06:13 And, you know, I never thought I would start an agency that dedicated its entire craft and niche to storytelling for food and beverage. I mean, it's a dream come true. And it's really the most important thing. I mean, we're a seven point two billion dollar food economy in Sacramento. We feed the world. And to be able to tell those stories, to make deeper connections is like where all my passion comes from. Okay. So I wanna dive into storytelling then. So you brought that up and then maybe we'll dive back into your business specifically.

0:06:47 So people a lot of times people have trouble telling their story in a way that is compelling. Are there certain principles. Well, first of all, why is storytelling such an important piece of our marketing and branding and in the way people perceive us? But then how do you do it right? So it's a fantastic question. I think for for so many of us when we think about our products or our services, we kind of always explain, like, the what? I can achieve these things. This is how I make revenue. This is what I do.

0:07:23 When we start to think about, like, humans, I always tell the story of, you know, when we when we connect with something at a deeper level, we sort of forget about the what or the statistics. We need to have our brains turn on to something much more, like, just enriching. Something that's beautiful that will open up our memory set, I think. You know? And so when we're talking about stories, you have to really tell a story. You have to make people get involved and see themselves in your story. And really, I think food is one of the most, you know, beautiful storytelling pieces. You know, when I talk to people, And they I say, what's your, like, most memorable moment? Or when do you have the most meaningful conversations? It's ninety percent of the time around food. And I believe it just is really about unlocking something in our brains as humans that allow us to take that image or conversation in a much deeper way. But that same idea can translate to anything. Right? It's more about, you know, your whether you're a tech company or you're a nonprofit.

0:08:25 I always say, like, tell me your story. Like, why does this matter? Tell me somebody involved in your story. And then I connect to it at a deeper level and I'll remember it. If you route all office statistic or your gross revenue goals, I'm probably gonna forget it. Well, I agree with you a hundred percent. I I love it when somebody is a great speaker or when it's easy to tell what they do by getting onto their website. It's it brings me in as potentially the customer. But it's not there's a lot that are not good. It's hard. There's a lot that there's no story there. It's the other way. I mean, are there certain, I guess, steps? Is there a step by step process for crafting your own story so that it's effective?

0:09:05 One of the biggest things is I think of us is entrepreneurs or owners. I would say we're, like, the cobblers with no shoes. Right? Like, we're constantly doing the work that we forget the why behind it. One of the things that we do a lot with our clients is we ask any of the stakeholders or CEOs or owners, and we say, tell us, why do you go to get up in the morning? Why do you do this? And making the com making that simple question be answered is sometimes very illuminating. But what's even more illuminating is when you actually ask employees or their customers. What does that company do? And I will tell you, nine times out of ten, the owner and the employees or the consumer have just a little bit of a difference in the way they talk.

0:09:45 So it's a really good moment to be like, wait, my stories different between my end user and how I wake up in the morning and do it. And that's just a beautiful way of saying, okay, well, just bridge those, figure out what is that sort of, you know, medley of storytelling that can be brought to the forefront in a much more, I would say, like, a way that resonates. You know, but it is hard because it's hard to tell your own story. You're just like, I don't know. I saw a problem and I solved it and that's the way it is. When you're telling a story, is it so you talked about the why. Is it good to start the story with either the problem or like, the why a lot of times as a you're solving a problem or maybe it's a it's something that you're doing that can be a great change Is it good to start a story with, you know, something like that? I've always been inspired and I think there's so many different ways to tell a story Right? And I think it's so personal to to each unique person.

0:10:40 I personally love when someone says, imagine this. Where you can you can all of a sudden be engaged in a conversation and imagine how either that product or that that that consumer experience is aspirational. So it's like, imagine being able to do x y z ten times easier. And you're like, I'm hooked to talk to me. Or imagine you brought this amazing bottle of wine to a table and you were able to say that you met the owner and you know exactly where the fruit was picked. So if you start to get the, you know, sort of that storytelling into the conversation, it really, like, helps just create this imaginary picture and and be childlike for a moment and creative. And it's fun. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Did you When did you know you were gonna go into this line of work? So you're in Sonoma. You you're in and around the food space. But this is pretty specialized. And so was there a moment where you said, I'm a great storyteller or you did you learn it somewhere?

0:11:43 I think I realized that I wanted to work and I wanted to do two things. I wanted to work in goods I loved. So for instance, I love I loved what wine, how I perceived wine growing up. It was like I I went to school with so many of the the vineyard workers I went to school with so many folks that had parents that were knowledgeists and my brother is now a winemaker. I mean, that's how much it exuded into our family. But really, I wanted to be able to be passionate about what I was selling. So I definitely went into the wine industry right out of college. And as I mentioned, I had a degree in wine business.

0:12:22 But then when I came to Sacramento, I thought, well, what else is fantastic? And so I went into coffee. So I worked for Java City for years when I got to Sacramento. And that is the moment in time where I realized that storytelling things that are so deeply ingrained in our lives could be could actually become a job for me. And I started Honey right after I left Java City and actually Java City came with me as a client, which was Thank you. Don't know how to pay the bills there for a while. And then it's just all sort of a mess. Nice to start a business with a built in. I highly recommend That's a do you risk it just a bit? I highly recommend it. Because the risk was there. I was pregnant. So I was pregnant with my daughter. My daughter turns fifteen this year. That's why I know how old honey is.

0:13:10 And truly, it was just like how could I story tell, but help folks who maybe don't know how to. And I think that's one of the biggest gifts we have is that, you know, being a creative and storytelling and helping not only the end user, but also you have retailers. I'm just tributors. And there's always sort of middle folks within our all of our businesses. Right? Whether you're, you know, selling to b to b, you have to educate them on that story because they are your messengers too. And I think that's just really critical in storytelling. It's like, inform the messengers about the story, so they can be evangelical to it in a way as well.

0:13:45 And you built a team that helps craft. How important is it to have more than just you and the person on the other side of the table who might be the business owner or somebody in marketing at the client. To bring in other people for collaboration and idea generation. We're lucky enough so. Honey is a team of thirteen women now. We have grown quite a bit over the past fifteen years. You were taught me in Scott or here we're talking about women. Why did you discriminate with that one? I don't know. I Yes. Somehow, we've we're women now. We haven't the matrix always hasn't been. You guys need to get a little more diverse. We absolutely do. And we're we are welcome to find any any general who would love to come in and story tell.

0:14:27 But, you know, going back to sort of your question of, I I think, what what was it? How do you? Well, I'm just thinking about the multiple Having it I would have to have a marketing agency. It's just that. And I always think, wow. Where do the great idea? How do you get synergy going and creativity going? Because a lot of times you're starting with very little and you need a lot of ideas.

0:14:47 I think it's that tapestry of, you know, all of us have a different perspective on how something should resonate. So all of us grew up differently. All of us have different perspectives on how a food product or even a campaign because to be fair, we are very much now in the public sector as well. So, you know, if we are doing impact work for instance, and helping tell the story of, you know, our housing crisis, or, I mean, we recently we do a lot of work with the Department of Cannabis control. How do we make sure our storytelling is really empathetic? And, you know, research and perceptions are everything in terms of, like, we don't thing I can tell you is if I was alone, I would be in trouble that I would expect that my story was everyone's story. And I think that's one important thing about, you know, just surrounding yourself with different perspectives because it crafts the storytelling so differently.

0:15:43 You can enter into a brand so differently by having other people at the table who kind of helped craft it with you. You know? So it's that's what I would say is lovely about the creative process is we all come to a table. All of us have ideas and they're all different. That's really cool. How how much different is it working with somebody that might be more about, like, a government agency that's advocating something around cannabis. Than dealing with a small business owner, like a like a restaurant or a maybe a even a winery. Is that because you're dealing with so it could be a be more bureaucratic sort of decision making process. Very true. That's the correct word.

0:16:22 I would, you know, one of the things that we believe in is if we set the stage correctly for the right search, and we do the right listening. Normally, our outcomes, whether it's a, you know, a large twenty five hundred person you know, coalition that we're trying to mobilize or it's a four person marketing team at winery, the process is still kind of the same. We've done rebrands for the California Medical Association. We've done rebrands for, you know, some the largest entities in the state of California. And even though we sent a survey out to twenty thousand people or four people in a marketing department, the questions that we're asking will still be hugely impactful to the way we strategize. So it's just the sample sets larger. Yeah. But you're still gonna get these really impressive sort of like thought provoking moments between an owner and how their brands perceive.

0:17:20 Alright. Tell me the story of the your favorite campaign you've ever done. I don't have a favorite campaign. I don't children. Can't have a Yeah. Right. Can't have a favorite child.

0:17:32 I would say some of the more, like, top of mind remarkable moments in my career have been when I've probably pushed myself out of my comfort zone. Meaning, you know, when you're small fourteen person agency that does creative and strategy, you sort of get that impostor syndrome of, well, why aren't they going with the giant firm out of San Francisco with, you know, sixty account directors and multiple creative directors. But if you believe that you can elicit a an impact through great storytelling and design, you just gotta believe in yourself. Right? So I think some of the biggest moments in my career when have been just sort of like putting that impostor syndrome in a box and saying, no, I could do this. And some of our biggest campaigns are campaigns in which you're gonna know. And nobody else knows that honey did them.

0:18:24 We worked on to save our water campaign for the drought for four years. We came up with the brown as the new green campaign. Which y'all let your lawns go brown because of -- Yeah. -- you know, great price on a billboard. You probably if you price on a billboard, we wanted lawn sign I mean, for us, it was the research that made us realize that our biggest impact was not turning our faucets off when we were brushing our teeth. It was letting people make significant change by changing the color of their lawns. That's cool to be able to work on things. I mean, I believe in driving the economy through, you know, advertising and promotion, whether it be a winery or a restaurant or something like that. But It's cool when you're doing something that is a part of a movement, like water conservation. Absolutely. And then two others that were sort of out of our comfort zone. And and to be fair, that was a statewide campaign that was that changed exactly we changed behavior for years.

0:19:20 Us, this little boutique agency out of Sacramento, you know, I think also working on projects like the central kitchen, which is the Saxony Unified School District's they made a huge innovative effort to really start to feed kids in Sacramento differently. So I applaud their effort. They decided to build a huge central kitchen. So all food would be crafted from scratch and food would then be delivered to the schools so that it was fresh. It was locally sourced. And we truly became well, they became this mantra of no, we can do farm to school. We can do it.

0:19:59 And that project is really incredible because you can see something that has like a lot of your chronic tape and a lot of institutional sort of expectations of the cafeteria lady and really rethinking the way food would be delivered. And we have the great opportunity to even think about literally the way food was delivered. High schoolers were not gonna go into the cafeteria. They were just like, so what did we do? We helped brand food truck. So that food trucks served the same exact food outside. It looked cooler and that was just a really beautiful way of thinking about innovation and having and having actually conversations with high schoolers who were like, yeah, we're not gonna go into that room. But we're like, how do we get you there? With the hero of that story be the high schooler. That person that needs to get the food really it's it's that was showing the story of their life changing because they've got this piece of food eat. Absolutely. They're the hero of the story.

0:20:55 I would say the nutritionists, you know, who thought about ways to take a budget and use it within from an economic development standpoint, say, we're gonna actually spend the money in our region. We're gonna and that's that means the fascinating part about what we do is we can make significant economic development within our region if we just think differently, you know? So that was really impactful. That's awesome. Okay. I'm gonna circle back to economic development, but you started another company as well It's called simple summers. Yeah. Okay? So you got this it sounds like you're full you got a real job with big clients and then What prompted the the new company? That's a fantastic question. I think it all goes back to we saw a problem. Okay.

0:21:41 So my neighbor who's also my dear friend, DJ Waldo and I, we had we had met I think in about May of two thousand and I would say, I don't know, nineteen because it was right before the pandemic hit. And we were we're very tech savvy. Both of us are working parents his wife is an incredible physician in town, my husband's an attorney. We were we were a mess. He has four kids I have two. But I needed to figure out ways to carpool my kids throughout the summer.

0:22:08 And I think when I share this story, any parent with children, any parent, you don't have to be working, you don't have to be on June sixth or whenever they get out of school, you sort of panic. You're like, I have eight weeks that I don't know what I'm gonna do with my children. And you want them to be active, but you also have a household budget, you also have places you need to be. And I was sitting there with DJ and we had massive spreadsheets. And he we were cross you know, we were sort of, like, looking like, okay. If this kid goes here and this kid goes here, And I we both sat there and said, this is insane. If you and I can't figure this out, how are other communities? Yeah. Who are maybe not so tech literate, figuring this out as well? This is insane.

0:22:50 So we decided to start a company called Simple Summers. And essentially, it is a it is a platform that you can sort, filter, find and save summer camps that match your family's needs. And I say families needs for a few reasons because my need, I have a thirteen year old daughter who likes art. My son is a nine year old who could play soccer five hours a day, six weeks out of the summer. My family's needs were different. And the way we were operating was the only way to start searching for summer camps was just Google it. Mhmm. And you're just you were not finding things in an aggregated manner. So we were super excited. We we decided to kind of be the Airbnb of summer camps, and we did it as a pilot here in Sacramento. But then we started to realize as we piloted Sacramento, I'm getting texts from my friends in Denver. He's getting texts in Raleigh. There's nothing like this that exists nationwide. And I say I say that because There are sites that aggregate, but they're advertising driven. So you're actually not being sort of shared information that is necessarily unbiased, and we try to get every summer camp in the sixth county region. We're not trying to just be Sacramento. We have Placer County We've got, you know, Amador County. We want this to be an inclusive place for people to find and sort their camps.

0:24:15 So we are entering our fifth year And this is the year we realized. Well, not even this year. Last year we realized that it wasn't just the parents that were having a problem, it was actually the camp directors that were struggling with technology. They were they were these people are hosting Spanish camps and soccer camps. Guess what they're not. Administrator -- Right. -- or marketers. Is it predominantly the people doing these camps? I'm imagining that it being like a park and wreck district for a city or something like that or maybe even a school district? Absolutely.

0:24:52 So we're trying to we're trying to look at not just city or school district run camps, but we're looking at private camps as well. Every single camp that goes on simple summers at DJ Bets. And that's another thing. You can run a summer camp in the state of California and you don't have to have a license. And so another thing that we started to realize was that parents should have a place where they feel like there is a trusted source that they're going to to find camps that are I would say reputable. Right? It's kind of scary to think, like, you could just Google something and you don't know where you're dropping your kid off. Right?

0:25:30 So simple summers is there to kind of solve a few problems. The first was we just need to make this easier for parents. And when we started to do that, when we just started to solve the parent problem, the camp directors were like, can you just market for us? Can you you have thousands of people going to your website right now, thousands. Can you just make sure we're a featured camp? We'll we'll pay for it and we're like, oh, yes, Absolutely. And then it started to make us just realize that, you know, once we can kind of help even more through, like, a registration process -- Mhmm. -- which is what we're looking to do in the next few years is we could really create a model that could be applicable anywhere, any city, you know, USA.

0:26:12 You know, when you're solving I mean, the problem you're solving is not just time and inconvenience. I mean, more people, I'm sure, are going to camps. Right? These camps in many cases are very good for the child's development. And if we can make it easy for them to be developed, you know, otherwise they just stay home and play video games whenever you do when you've when you're bored, you got nothing to do. There's a summer slump. And I think even more are following an are graphic grew in twenty twenty during COVID when there was no camps. And I think it was really validating for us that people still wanna go to a a safe place where they could find camps in an aggregated spot even if they were virtual. They just needed to ensure their kids sitting on video games all day.

0:26:56 And to be fair, we've learned a lot over this process. This was a we found a problem we tried to solve it out of love and passion, but then we also realized that this is a problem nationwide. And we also know that summer camps are a luxury And, I mean, my biggest goal with simple summers is that I hope that one day, you know, a family is going in during their three kids in one spot. Able to make installment plans just like using any of the installment, you know, sort of commerce that we're all used to right now. Installment plans, like payment plans? Plans. Yeah. Because it could be a payment plan. Yes. For the whole year. And then imagine you're checkout, and it says, please donate five dollars to this to a scholarship fund. Mhmm. I mean, not everyone has the luxury of going to camps.

0:27:46 And if you if we can figure out a way to embed philanthropy as part of what the ease of simple summers could do, it could really, like, think it could change the trajectory of a lot of communities. It could help kids just absolutely have just a more active and more educational summer. And I think we all saw that during COVID. They were all behind screens. From a business model standpoint, you've got one business has a bunch of employees getting paid for their time and they produce a product. This other one is a scalable platform with once it's built, from a business model standpoint, it it's probably got the potential for very, very big upside.

0:28:29 I would think. Are you thinking that way? A hundred percent thinking that way. I mean, we've spent the past eight months probably, you know, talking to, you know, venture capitalists and angels and also talking to even folks who know the problem themselves. Like, they're like, oh my gosh. I remember doing that. I remember not knowing where my seven year old was going because they couldn't go to the thirteen year old camp. I mean, it's been really just a moment in time where we know that this idea could help not only be hugely scalable but also adopted by so many parents.

0:29:06 And I just believe that if simple summers can help one family or help the ease of multiple families, it truly eases an entire city. It does. Because then people are they're coming to work. They're not so stressed. There's The summer slump isn't isn't there across the kids or the parents. So it's really exciting, but you're right. Honey versus a tech company, my brain is like, I'm just all over. Well Okay.

0:29:34 So I've asked this I look at my daughter. She's got four kids and, you know, husband's got a job and she's got she's an entrepreneur and she's juggling her her business and it's, you know, it's a lot that. And so from a working mom standpoint, you're like a hero. Look at you. Two businesses, couple of kids solving them for not only entrepreneurs and business people, but you're you're solving a problem for all the working all the busy parents in America. How do you do how do you juggle all that? Two businesses, family, and, you know, life. You don't you get I'm sure you have stuff. Right?

0:30:13 Mark, I think if you were to ask every year my answer is probably different. I think I think adaptation is something that I've learned. You know, I've never had a work life balance. It's been one and the same. And I and I wish sometimes I I probably globally did have better boundaries than I'm working towards. Okay. You just say, look, this is my life. This is me.

0:30:33 Both are what your like, your kids know about the business. Oh, yes. I it's just it it fuels who I am and it's and it maybe isn't a linear it isn't as linear as some folks, but I'd say the biggest thing is adapt every year based on the need of the family first. So I'm lucky enough that I know I would say the toddler years. I wasn't I wasn't gonna be able to start simple summers. But now I have two incredible, you know, the children are older. They can get the cereal going in the You did a good job with them the first, whatever, today. It's twelve, fifteen years. They can make coffee. That's the thing. Do a good job when they're young and is gets easier. It gives you a little breathing room I think the breathing room also allows for that creativity.

0:31:13 And I and I just I know how hard it is for so many either trying to work or trying to manage a family that you can't sometimes think when you're in that survival mode. And honestly, I think I was able I've been able to think a lot more strategically about my time and my energy because I'm not as much in survival mode. Don't get me wrong. Like, you're so hustling for business on the honey side. Like, you can't rest on your laurels. You just have to always what's my next business development move? What's my next business development move? And I think from the simple summer standpoint, I regret nothing because all I'm doing is constantly learning and being you know, even having critiques on your pitch, you're just like, alright. I'm gonna keep going and it just makes me more, you know, adopted.

0:32:00 Well, I know you're really busy in the community. You talked about economic development, which is kind of a word to get thrown around and somebody who's civic minded. Right? And cares about our our town. I know that you are part of the Sacramento Chamber board. You're running this cap to cap trip to wash and in D. C. You're really involved in the community.

0:32:22 So, I mean, what do you say no to? Oh my goodness. You gotta say no once in a while and I suppose because Mark, you'd be so proud of me. In the past week, I've said no to three things. Which I did. And I and that's sort of the editing that I'm learning to do, and I haven't always done that editing. I've been I wanna help all the time. I'm, you know, I'm a number two if you're ever in the enogram thing, which is a helper. I'm always trying to help. Oh, interesting. But but I think I can only help as much as I can get, like, I have the ability to give. Yeah. Right? And it's been in the past few years where I started to realize, like, edit yourself, do what you can do to make those priorities that you're looking to prioritize top of mind.

0:33:05 But cap to cap, I'm very excited about. I've been on the Food and Ag Committee doing advocacy work for five years with the metro chamber. Their cap to cap program, I think it is the largest in the country. We bring the most delegate from our region to DC to advocate. And I have the great honor of chairing it this year. And I feel like that's it. I get it's so humbling because I look at the city which is made up of incredible CEOs, you know, we're talking like, you know, you're sitting at a boardroom table with, you know, the CEO of Smud and ValleyVision. And I and I think I'm this little fourteen person creative agency. And it's humbling to be the chair of that, but it's also a great reminder that small business is still a backbone in so many of our communities and entrepreneurs.

0:33:55 And I think if there's if there's one thing that I just am so honored by is that the entrepreneur voice is is being sort of like recognized this year. And I think entrepreneurs are just keeps everything not homogenous. Yes. And to elaborate on that because I I've never heard anybody say it in that way, but could you elaborate on that? Every entrepreneur I've met, and I have the great honor of teaching at this cohort called Maker's out of midtown Sacramento. But the ideation, creativity, and also unique perspectives that are ruminating in this town will keep it vibrant.

0:34:45 If everything's the same and we all sort of like operate in the same it just doesn't it doesn't excite me as much. Yeah. And I am it's boring to everybody. Exactly. And you just like, it's it's the storytelling thing. I wanna sit down and talk to someone and be like, what are you doing? And I just I can every time I hear somebody answer that, like, when I say, what are you doing? It's like, I'm creating this new web platform that's gonna do x y z or I'm starting, you know, this business that's gonna change the way we package wine bottles. I'm just like, this is so cool. Yeah. And those great ideas come bigger organizations can't turn on a dime like a restaurant to come up with something innovative or creative or interesting, sexy. It's just it can't happen quickly, but it can happen for a small business. That's so you just made me get have the chills. Yeah. It's You can be flexible and kind of move faster. And be more relevant to what's happening in the world. And I just I think I think there's a lot of sort of that right now in this vibrant dynamic city. I wish everyone would see it. Yeah. It's I think we're coming. Okay. We only have a few minutes left.

0:35:54 What did I not ask you? We covered a little bit about economic development, a little bit about your two companies, a little bit about what must be a really crazy fun life with the the kids and the attorney for a husband and everything. What did I not ask you? What did you not ask me? What did you do for fun? Ugh. Okay.

0:36:11 So a little fun fact is I have been a cycling instructor -- Mhmm. -- for over twenty years. And I don't think many people know that about me. Now is that, like, on on the road or on the you stationary? Okay. I used to be an outdoor I used to do outdoor road cycling quite a bit, and then I injured myself and decided to do indoor training, and I took up sort of teaching road cycling indoors. And I don't necessarily do rhythm writing, which is dancing. You've never wanna see that. But I haven't even heard of that. Yep. You know, it's amazing. It's a great workout, but I teach as I would ride on the road. And so I do that to an amazing, amazing gym called Urban Flex and Carmichael. And then I would just say, you know, what do people not know?

0:36:51 Or I think the biggest thing that I love talking about to is mentorship. And that's mentorship and passion, I think, are another thing that is leaders and and is business owners. We have to remind ourselves to carve out space for. Because Or to be a mentee or to be a mentor. To be a mentor and to accept the mentee ship too. And I think there is this need for a lot more of that within businesses where we're carving out the next generation and that succession planning could come within sometimes.

0:37:25 And I do believe that if we commit to this this relationship of teach and be taught, I mean, I don't I have so much to learn by so many incredible people that it's just it's a it's a it's a symmetry that can continue on, I think. I think to and and I don't know if you've discovered this or felt this, but when you have to teach something or you're mentoring, many times you learn as much in that process as what they do as the mentee. Hundred percent. And I think that's even saying this out loud reminding myself to be ready to learn. Like, it's be ready for the next conversation and I just love that and I think that it's it's fueled my passion and what has continued for me as as an entrepreneur to learn about that company that's coming to me. Like, don't just accept it as a transaction. I don't wanna have it transaction with a client. I wanna have a partnership. And they could teach me a lot just as much as I can teach employees. And employees teach me every day many things. And so I just think it's a continual sort of like open mindset.

0:38:33 Well, Megan, appreciate what you do for the entrepreneurial community, the business community. It's really I respect what you're building in all facets, but really excited to see what's gonna be happening with the summer camp business. That thing sounds really really cool and I expect to see that blow up. I hope so. That's really seems like a cool concept. So I hope. And we're editing features all the time because I can tell you one thing. The parent community is quite vocal. Perfect. And I love it. I'm like going back to the fact about, like, learn from what they learn from your consumers or learn from your clients. It's amazing because we can learn every day. There's constant suggestions. Oh, let's love it. Well, thank you for calling Assurant. Appreciate it. You bet.

0:39:21 Now, let's get Mark's perspective and closing thoughts from today shows. We're back to the Marquee Media Studio. It's the Marquee Haining Show. Welcome back to the Marconi show and Meghan Phillips incredible building two great companies and doing that well She's multitasking with the family and driving economic growth, running cap to cap, which is this journey to Washington DC with a bunch of other Sacramento leaders. She's just doing it all. Wonder Woman and it's if she's the reason I think that I started the show is I we need to we need to be sharing those kind of stories with the up and comers within the Sacramento entrepreneurial community so that they are not only educated about how to do it, but they're inspired and and hopefully they're thinking, if Meghan can do it, maybe I can do it too. So I I know that that happened for me today in talking to Meghan, but I hope that it happened for you as well.

0:40:31 I also want to, you know, making touched on the young people and how that's a focus. And there's a group of young entrepreneurs blossoming in the Sacramento region is is we get you know, we're right down the street from the Silicon Valley in the Bay Area. And entrepreneurship is begin part of the entrepreneurial revolution is that entrepreneurship is beginning to get a little bit more popular. In Sacramento. Entrepreneurship, I've always believed, is the cool factor in business. It's what's cool about business. And I think our young people are beginning to see the light on that front. And it's my pleasure to be working with a group of young people in a group called Roseville Rising. It's in partnership with the city of Roseville. And we're helping high school entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs begin to discover their entrepreneurial aptitude learning about what it is to be an entrepreneur, how to be a great entrepreneur, and so at the very beginning stages of this this effort. But my cofounder within the growth factory and I last night got to spend some time with some of the up in comers in entrepreneurship at the high school level. So we're going down a little bit younger than than we normally would, but it was really remarkable. I I definitely learned from these young people a little bit about what they care about.

0:42:03 Early on in the in the in the in the event, I asked the question, why do you want to be an entrepreneur? What attracts you to becoming an entrepreneur? And is it the is it the big house with the circular driveway in the Lambo up there and they're there to see you because you are the one with the power. Is that the kind of reason that you're interested in entrepreneur, and we had a couple of hands go up. And then I asked, is there is there a part of you that wants to make an impact, really change the world, really do something that affects our planet and makes our world a better place. And by a show of hands, I would say, at least a third to maybe half of the group raised their hand to that. And then I asked the question, what about the the people out there that don't wanna have a boss? Right? They they don't wanna work for the man. They don't wanna have to take orders and and work under other people's rules. They wanna create their own rules. And we had a few hands go up for that.

0:43:15 But overall, there was this wide range of reasons why people want to be entrepreneurs. And I think one thing about entrepreneurs and I say this is as an entrepreneurs that In almost all cases, we're an underdog. We're somebody that maybe has been told know you can't do that or look, maybe you're not ready for primetime yet. Right? So we've had people second guessing, hasn't because entrepreneurship is a you are an underdog. It's, you know, nine out of ten entrepreneurs. Making so there's this inherent risk associated with spending your time on entrepreneurship. And so I I think there's some of us that maybe I don't know if we have a chip on our shoulder, but maybe we wanna prove people wrong at some level. I don't know if that's something that you can relate to, but if If it is, if any of these reasons resonate with you, then we need to think of these reasons as assets. Right? These purposes for entrepreneurship, they're it it's something that's valuable. Right? That why, that reason we want it so badly, it's a re it's a it's an asset and we need to tap into that asset when the going gets tough, when we're trying to inspire other people to follow our vision. We have to have them tap into the the reason. And hopefully, it's a shared reason that other people can rally around. And I think that's so important and The other thing we talked about last night was that entrepreneurs end up thinking different.

0:45:00 Right? We did a little quiz. Who who said the famous quote, think different. And some of you listening or watching already know that it's Steve Jobs, but really had one person that got it last night, and his name was Hudson, and he really he stood out as one of those people that was ready to ready to play, ready to get in the game, and that to me is a sign of somebody who's out there and creating opportunity for themselves because that when we stand out like that, then opportunity finds us. If we're in a group, there's probably thirty plus people in the room last night, students. And when you are forward leaning and stepping up, and and many did, but Hudson is one that comes to mind and you raise your hand with the right answer, it makes a great impression. You stand out.

0:45:57 And every time we stand out, we attract opportunity. And opportunity is all around us, but so many times we we forget to stand out. Right? We get so caught up in what society has laid out for us, you know, you you do your job, you get in line, you conform, and ultimately we become almost like sheep. I call it sheeple syndrome because we it it is kinda like a syndrome. We all of us have that. And we sometimes get caught up and just going through what other people have laid out for us. And I would submit to you to all of us that we need to stand out a little bit, be one of those sheep that, you know, kicks off their hooves and, you know, has a little bit of stress to it so that we We get noticed, get to the front of the line, get to the front of the pack, get ourselves doing it a little bit differently And if we do it differently enough, we'll stand out.

0:47:07 And when we stand out, that definitely creates opportunity and one of the things about thinking different that I know from experience is I we're all a little bit weird. We all have things about us that are a little bit weird. And if we can tap into that weirdness. If we can tap into that way that we're a little weird, we think a little bit different. If we can lean into that weirdness, tap into that, double down on some of that stuff. That's when the discovery. It's it's not only is it what we like, but it's what we're kinda naturally good at. It's our gift, and we have to lean in to those gifts.

0:47:53 And for me, I'm I guess, I have a couple of I have got a lot of weird things if if you ask my wife, but one of those weird things that I don't know if I've really shared on the show too much is I like to dream. I'm like a day dreamer type of person. And those dreams to me are sort of like secret friends and I think about them all the time. Right? But I talk to you guys about Hanyville and being the most magical place on earth. Outside of Disneyland and that dream, that vision for me, it's almost like this secret friend and it's weird. I know that it is. But you know what? It's actually happening. Right? Because I'm thinking about it all the time.

0:48:30 And what we think about gets, you know, it's obviously getting our attention And and I like to obsess on that. It's a weird thing about me. But look, I'm leaning into it and it's working. Same with the backyard advantage, all these business partners in our hometown and in the greater backyard that all love each other. Sounds kinda weird. Right? It's it's it's out there. But I I'm leaning into that weirdness and it's actually happening.

0:48:56 So I would just submit to you that think about what you're weird thing is, I know you got it. We all have something weird and think about saying, it's a sheeple syndrome and leading into your weirdness and I would say you've got a much better chance of being who you want to be instead of being whoever you everybody else might want you to be. So now all you got to fight a good fight for our freedom, our security, and our way of life. And of course, all you fighting a good fight for entrepreneurship. We here at the Haiti Biz, effort in the Marconie show and the growth factor in the background of Andrew. Never bother you. We'll never bother you. Well, he's by your side. This segment includes the personal knowledge experiences and opinions about Angel investing by seasoned Angel investors. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as legal tax investment or financial advice. Nothing in the segment constitutes solicitation, recommendation, or endorsement.

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