Drink Like a Lady Podcast

It's Tuesday morning. Back at my desk after an epic 11 hour flight back, an overwhelming sadness grips me.

After 13 days of discovery, magic, nature, and sun, its hard to re-integrate.

I was actually really irritated with Istanbul the first two days. Previous visitors called it 'magical.' I found it dirty, crowded, hot, and very commercial. If I saw one more KFC or Popeye's Chicken, I was going to scream. Sitting in taxi's, the traffic rivalled LA, but on streets dating back to the 13th century and not designed for the load.

Where was the magic?

It came the last night.

We had no dinner reservations at Michelin star restaurants. No art historians leading us on a historic tour of a mosque. Matt and I wandered the city until the sun set. It was Sunday, and all of Istanbul was out, walking on foot. Modern women in hijabs and Converse sneakers, walking with purpose. Women in full black abayas in 90 degrees walking slowly.
By nightfall, we were crossing the Galata Koprusu bridge. I was eager to get back to the hotel, the weight of an 11 hour flight awaiting. Fishermen bent their long rubbery poles over the sides of the bridge, patiently waiting for catch. Some set up makeshift tables for conversation and cigarettes. The silver flecks of fish visible in gallon water bottles sawed in half and off to the side.

I was engrossed in my phone. Google maps is my north star when traveling, offering directions back to our hotel in the Old City. I looked up, searching for Matt, who was busy photographing the fishermen. Something had happened in the interim. The entire city had lit up. It was like looking at the inside of a glittering jewel box, like the ones I had as a kid, with the ballerina tinkling music inside. The Blue Mosque with its six minarets, floodlit at night, held its own against the Hagia Sophia on the other side of the square, both standing high on the hill overlooking the Bosphorus Strait and Golden Horn.

As the driver brought us to the airport the next day, I was really emotional. I didn't expect Turkey to impact me so deeply. If you are seeking ways to keep pieces of vacation in your routine once back, here are a few things I do:

1. Write Down Realizations

Often you come back with a renewed sense of what is actually important. WRITE THAT DOWN. For example, I came back knowing I needed to figure out some way to better manage reading and learning daily. Out to sea, my mind was like a sponge, soaking up stories and habits of 7 figure founders. Rather than watch TV, I wrote down that I will reserve one hour each night to read. And be kind to myself. Implement one new idea each week. Not all at once.

2. Use 5 Senses to Connect to

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1.Join the Samita Lab Mastermind. Join 7 other women leaders in the core program that sits at the center of my business model. The Mastermind teaches you exactly how to build a powerful person brand and the mindset to support it. It culminates in a TEDx talk on stage in front of 200 people at the end.

I only enroll for this program once a year.

The waitlist is open for the Class of 2025.

2. The Anatomy of a 'No' If you’re struggling to say ‘no’ gracefully at work, I created a free download here with scripts (15,000 downloaded)

I’ll add to it each week.

3. Help! I need confidence! ****Join 2500 people in taking my mini-public speaking Masterclass. Learn to organize a compelling talk and my framework for making it super easy.

In this talk, you will learn to: Be disciplined about your 'me' time. Learn to say 'no'. Buck convention. Go it alone. Try new things. Say 'yes' to new experiences. Embrace the lessons, rather than fight them. Be kind to yourself. If you make a mistake, move on take stock of your values so you can prioritize. I'm in conversation with author Alka Joshi, author of the "Henna Artist" and "The Secret Keeper of Jaipur." It's fascinating trilogy that is a Reese Witherspoon Bookclub Pick and set to become a Miramax TV production.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1.Join the Samita Lab Mastermind. Join 7 other women leaders in the core program that sits at the center of my business model. The Mastermind teaches you exactly how to build a powerful person brand and the mindset to support it. It culminates in a TEDx talk on stage in front of 200 people at the end.

I only enroll for this program once a year.

The waitlist is open for the Class of 2025.

2. The Anatomy of a 'No' If you’re struggling to say ‘no’ gracefully at work, I created a free download here with scripts (15,000 downloaded)

I’ll add to it each week.

3. Help! I need confidence! ****Join 2500 people in taking my mini-public speaking Masterclass. Learn to organize a compelling talk and my framework for making it super easy.

In this episode, we share two lines of questioning you can use to become a more strategic thinker. We use Spanx as the case study to illustrate both schools of thought.

PART I

Look for solutions, not problems.

When she wanted to find manufacturers to make her prototype of her shape wear, all she could find was men making hosiery.

She, her mother, and her friends personally testing the garments. This was innovative at the time, as the industry did not test products with people. Blakely's research revealed that the industry had previously been using the same size waistband for all hosiery products to cut costs, and a rubber cord was inserted into the waistband. For her product development, Blakely created different waistbands to suit different-sized consumers

Ruthlessly prioritize

• She wasn’t going to go door to door like she did selling fax machines. She knew she needed to get into department stores.
• Blakely had a meeting with Neiman Marcus Group, at which she changed into the product in the ladies restroom in the presence of the buyer to prove the benefits of her innovation.[9] Blakely's product was sold in seven Neiman Marcus stores as a result of the meeting;

Spending time in the stores where your product lives will not only let you pull sneaky marketing maneuvers, but it will also let you learn directly from customers about what’s missing in your market.

Do some research and find out what podcasts, television shows, publications, social media platforms, and events your target demographic is into.

Sara’s top media priority was Oprah, so she sent the TV mogul a gift basket of Spanx to get her attention. Don’t be shy about sending samples of your product to your favorite podcasters, Instagram celebs, or journalists in the hopes that they want to review it.

In 2017, Sara invited her friends to take pictures of themselves skiing in Spanx. In your notebook, label a page “(Kinda) Crazy Marketing Tactics.” Come up with at least 10 out-of-the-box marketing ideas

Be Willing to Take Risks.

Sara decided to patent Spanx early.

Use Packaging to Stand out

Spanx’s packaging shone in bright red—and the color alone subsequently became a form of advertising.

For inspiration, go on a recon mission to the types of stores that might carry your product. Take a good long look around. What packaging trends do you see? More importantly, what do you not see at all? Write your observations down and look for a packaging niche you can fil

Listen to and Recruit Others' Perspective.

She met Laurie Ann Goldman at the Saks Fifth Avenue in Atlanta in 2001, w

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1.Join the Samita Lab Mastermind. Join 7 other women leaders in the core program that sits at the center of my business model. The Mastermind teaches you exactly how to build a powerful person brand and the mindset to support it. It culminates in a TEDx talk on stage in front of 200 people at the end.

I only enroll for this program once a year.

The waitlist is open for the Class of 2025.

2. The Anatomy of a 'No' If you’re struggling to say ‘no’ gracefully at work, I created a free download here with scripts (15,000 downloaded)

I’ll add to it each week.

3. Help! I need confidence! ****Join 2500 people in taking my mini-public speaking Masterclass. Learn to organize a compelling talk and my framework for making it super easy.

Amanda used to wish there were more women creators for her to look up to. But she realized two problems: 1) It was her own fault for not paying closer attention, and 2) She could be the change she wanted to see. So she took her Twitter account seriously and started publishing online. One year later, she grew herTwitter following from 1k to 60k. And she would love to share her learnings with you. I will be interviewing her this Thursday at 12pm EST on LinkedIn Live
What you will learn:
Why the world needs more women to create and publish online
How to uncover your personal "why"
Redefine the typical audience building goals
Define and create your content strategy
How to deal with trolls (and red flags to look for when engaging online)
Bio:
Amanda Natividad is VP of Marketing for audience research startup, SparkToro. In her 9-year marketing career, she has managed B2C and B2B marketing teams across consumer packaged goods, software-as-a-service, and agency side. Earlier in her career, Amanda created Fitbit��s B2B content program and helped build their B2B marketing team. She also led marketing for ski lift ticket company Liftopia and for SEO content agency Growth Machine.
Amanda has spoken at marketing events like Demand Curve’s Growth Summit, and guest lectured at Columbia Business School and Cornell University. She is also a contributor for Adweek, a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef, and a former journalist.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1.Join the Samita Lab Mastermind. Join 7 other women leaders in the core program that sits at the center of my business model. The Mastermind teaches you exactly how to build a powerful person brand and the mindset to support it. It culminates in a TEDx talk on stage in front of 200 people at the end.

I only enroll for this program once a year.

The waitlist is open for the Class of 2025.

2. The Anatomy of a 'No' If you’re struggling to say ‘no’ gracefully at work, I created a free download here with scripts (15,000 downloaded)

I’ll add to it each week.

3. Help! I need confidence! ****Join 2500 people in taking my mini-public speaking Masterclass. Learn to organize a compelling talk and my framework for making it super easy.

Let’s say you are ready to think strategy, how do you get started? In this episode, we will talk about the steps to take and much of this is shaped by Kathie's time at the Wall Street Journal to build up the Lifestyle Brands division.

THINK STRATEGY

1. To Get Started You Will Need to:

• Plan your team
• Create a Schedule
• Gather documents, data, and information for decision-making

2. Establish a Timeline

• Most productive strategic planning sessions take 3-4 months on the average.
• Make sure that the process moves along at a pace that allows you to not just “Check the Box” but to actually believe that you are accomplishing your objective(s)

3. Invest the Time Needed
1-2 Weeks (1 – 1.5 Hour Meeting with CEO/Owner, Strategic Director, and facilitator to discuss process, information collected and direction on how often you plan to revisit the strategy and reassess.

4. Questions to Ask the Planning Team

• Do they have the right answers or ability to envision a different outcome than the current path of events?
• Do they have the time to dedicate to this endeavor?
• Do they have the skills to pull information together and create a concise strategic plan?
• Who will lead? Will there be a strategy Director or special task lead? You absolutely need to have a point person to guide the entire process.
• Fast forward 12 months from now, what do you want to see differently in your organization as a result of embarking on this endeavor.

CREATE A BRAND PLAYBOOK

1. ESTABLISHED ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE TEAM MEMBERS. 1 day meeting dedicated to this. Key functions were data operations, marketing, customer service, finance and analytics, and advertising.
2. ESTABLISH TIMELINE FOR BRAND BOOK. Decide what will be used internally and externally? (with Brand partners). This took 2.5 Months including the interviewing of potential brand partners.
3. DATA COLLECTION/MEASUREMENT. We used current planning information and established a feedback loop to continuously get data. Customer service ongoing demo and psychographic studies
4. BUILT A BRAND BOOK. Hired outside consultants to create logos, fonts, how to’s, the brand’s tone of voice, positioning statement and brand story, emotional connections of the brand to our customers, voice, tone, and the right and wrong way examples on how to use our brand.

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Planned Introduction Meetings for Internal Stakeholders
   • List of those departments/brands that we needed to meet.
   • Calendar meetings and availability of the top interactions to optimize brand expansion
   • Reconnecting via a brand intranet site.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1.Join the Samita Lab Mastermind. Join 7 other women leaders in the core program that sits at the center of my business model. The Mastermind teaches you exactly how to build a powerful person brand and the mindset to support it. It culminates in a TEDx talk on stage in front of 200 people at the end.

I only enroll for this program once a year.

The waitlist is open for the Class of 2025.

2. The Anatomy of a 'No' If you’re struggling to say ‘no’ gracefully at work, I created a free download here with scripts (15,000 downloaded)

I’ll add to it each week.

3. Help! I need confidence! ****Join 2500 people in taking my mini-public speaking Masterclass. Learn to organize a compelling talk and my framework for making it super easy.