IAM457- CEO and Podcaster Assists Creatives Start and Scale Their Businesses

Delanie Fischer is a podcaster, business owner, and creative consultant. She’s the co-host of Self-Helpless, a top iTunes and Spotify podcast that has over 1 million downloads, and is the CEO of the humorous custom art business that has been featured on Team Coco, Dicks by Delanie. Fischer also assists other creatives and entrepreneurs with starting and scaling their businesses via her consulting services, Doin' It with Delanie.

Delanie has a background in stand-up comedy, writing, and producing – she has been featured on NBC’s Last Call with Carson Daly, co-wrote and appeared in Lifetime’s Bad Tutor, and executive produced the docu-comedy special, Love at First Cousin.

• CEO Hack: Delegating to people who are good at what they do
• CEO Nugget: Sit down with a consultant to extract what you're good at and package it
• CEO Defined: Running a business with integrity

Website: https://www.delaniefischer.com/

Instagram: @delaniefischer
For creative consulting info: delaniefischer@gmail.com

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Transcription

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, hello, hello, This is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today at Delanie Fischer of Doing it with Delanie. Delanie, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Delanie Fischer 0:38

Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:41

Super excited to have you on and what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Delanie so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Delanie Fischer is a podcaster, business owner, and creative consultant. She's the co-host of Self Helpless at iTunes and Spotify podcasts that have over a million downloads. And as the CEO of the humorous custom art business that has been featured on Team Coco Dick's by Delanie.

Fischer has also assisted other creatives and entrepreneurs with starting and scaling their businesses via her consulting services. Doing it with Delanie. Delanie has a background in stand-up comedy writing and producing and she has been featured in NBC's His Last Call with Carson Daly co-wrote and appeared and Lifetime's Bad Tutor and executive producer Docu comedy special Love at First Cousin. Delanie, Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

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Delanie Fischer 1:27

Yeah, let's do this. Let's make it happen.

Gresham Harkless 1:30

No problem. Thanks for doing all the awesome things. So I wanted to kind of kick everything off with what I call your CEO story. When did you start your business?

Delanie Fischer 1:38

Yeah, so I was a stand-up comedian for about six and a half years. Although I loved it for a good portion of the time, towards the end of my career, I was unhappy with the lifestyle. Um, it's a lot of traveling, it's being out every night. It just wasn't kind of lining up with what I wanted my life to look like. So I tried to figure out a way how be my boss, but like, still bring laughter to people and still do the things I love but just in a way that makes me happier. I had this hobby like this side hobby for a while called Dicks by Delanie, where I would hand paint penis cartoons on coffee mugs.

Like as a joke, it started as a joke. I was invited to a holiday party with a bunch of comedians one year and we all had to bring a handmade item. So I drew a bunch of colorful penises on a coffee mug. The mug was an unexpected hit and friends and family asked me to make them sets of Dick mugs for their home. This is weird this is like a weird hobby that evolved and I started turning characters and celebrities and my friends into penis caricatures. I sound crazy.

Well, this hobby was kind of just like there the whole time but I never really paid attention to it and I decided that I was going to go all in on Dicks by Delanie and see if I could make it a legit business. So for six months, I planned and I trademarked then you know, I streamlined my processes and everything. When I launched, I was able to make that my full-time job relatively quickly.

So that is what started the entrepreneurial journey for me, was this ridiculous, high-quality gag gift business, where I figured out how to be a stay-at-home comedian. Then from there a lot of other creatives and comedians and people were reaching out to me asking me to help them with their own business because they were shocked that I was able to make a full-time living from selling penis mugs.

So that's where the doing it with Delanie, creative consulting came in and now I run Dicks by Delanie and I recently hired you know, my first employee contractor, so I'm very excited about that, then thank you so much. Then and then I do the creative consulting and I help other entrepreneurs and creatives start a business figure out what they want to do scale their business, and all that stuff.

Gresham Harkless 4:02

Nice, Well, I appreciate that it's so funny because what's like the commercial that I think is the people that are doing all this crazy stuff before they're watching a game they say something crazy if it doesn't work, so it's great that you did that even able to kind of build a business around it I think that's awesome because I think some so many people have you know, certain talents and they don't know if they can you know, create a business around it but a lot of times you just have to go out and do it and then next thing you know, you never know what people might be interested in

Delanie Fischer 4:32

I felt you have to go for that ridiculous crazy idea you have you just don't know.

Gresham Harkless 4:38

Exactly exactly. Then like even I heard a lot about you know, just like being a stand-up comedian as well too is like that's a grind. I've heard a lot of you know Famous comedians as they've gotten started just going from different show to different shows and living out of a van and all that stuff. It's just it can be hard but I love how you were able to pivot in a very entrepreneurial form this is what I want from my life, this is what I'm passionate about doing. How can I recreate something that makes that happen?

Delanie Fischer 5:04

Exactly, yeah, sometimes you have to just take the element that you love and figure out something different with it. So like, I love making people laugh. Now I can make people laugh in my pajamas while I paint, like that works for me.

Gresham Harkless 5:20

I love it. So I know you've touched on it a little bit, but I want to drill a little bit deeper down to hear how you're working with clients. Tell us a little bit more about exactly what you do and how you support the clients you work with.

Delanie Fischer 5:31

So I help a variety of people right now. Depending on where they're at, in their journey, some people have no idea what they want to do, and they're unhappy with their day job. I help them kind of uncover the skills and experience they already have, and help them package those things in a way that might make a great service-based business or product-based business. I also help people who already have a business idea, and brand market scale the business, and then I help people with creative projects.

So writers and comedians or people who want to start stand-up comedy. So that's been fun. But I find that, yeah, I'm helping people who kind of want to be consultants a lot. People who want to have a creative product-based business, are the two main focuses I have, which makes sense because that's what I've done for myself. And so that's where I feel like, I'm probably the most helpful.

Then, of course, you know, people who want to try something creative, because I do have a decent amount of experience in the entertainment industry, you know, writing scripts and writing stand-up comedy and, you know, TV tapings, and all that stuff. So it's kind of a mix of people. I just absolutely love it.

Gresham Harkless 6:36

Yeah, it sounds exciting. I can imagine just you are infused with so many different ideas that people have at it probably keeps your juices flowing as well just to come up with different things and how to help them.

Delanie Fischer 6:46

Yeah, and it's so fulfilling to watch your clients succeed. I mean, they're getting their first paid clients, and they're getting shoutouts for like, their favorite influencers. They're doing all these amazing things. I love the creative brainstorming that happens. Then being able to like, send them off with the tools and follow up with them and see, you know, see what amazing things are going on. So yeah, I love it.

Gresham Harkless 7:07

Nice. Sounds awesome. It's funny because I know you touched on like when you were getting started that you know you had the gag gift that you created. Then you saw that it was something that was kind of taken off just from your friends or the close group. So you said you went back for like six months, and you got like the processes as a system to get Was that something that you kind of just picked up? You read about? Because I'm sure that's what you help out, you know, these creatives as well with now, but I'm sure I don't? Well, I don't think most creatives kind of have that intuitive knack. Okay, let's build a business from doing that. So was that something you just picked up?

Delanie Fischer 7:09

That's a great question. You know, I think I read a lot of like different blog tips and articles. But a lot of it was just kind of what I felt intuitively was the right move for my business. So I went through processes where like, I made different variations of my product. I asked friends and family there for their feedback and tried to do like, easy market research. Then I really kind of brainstormed my brand and thought about this vision for my brand. You know, what kind of feelings I wanted my customers to have, and all that stuff.

I let a lot of those things just kind of drive me and, you know, I think it's something where I was kind of letting my Yeah, internally, I was just kind of listening to myself instead of a lot of the business advice I was getting. I'm personally minimalist and simple with my business.

So for me pushing a lot of products into different retailers and stuff does not sound fun to me. So I was taking, I was not listening to a lot of advice I was getting. I think that's also important to make sure that your values align with the way you're running your business. I'm going to be launching an online course very soon to help people who have a creative product business idea. I go through step by step how I built my foundation for my own business.

So that's going to be coming up very soon called the thriving artists course if anybody is interested. But yeah, I reveal all the mistakes I made as a new business owner the advice I wish I had, and the tools and stuff that I use.

Gresham Harkless 9:03

Nice, I think I think there's a way to kind of increase your likelihood of success to be able to kind of tap into people that have gone through the good and the bad the ups and downs of growing that business, and be able to learn from your expertise to be able to do that. Because I think it can be super hard to kind of figure out what your next step is. But I love the fact that you decided and I think you need to do that a lot is there are so many kinds of ways to go about doing this. This is the right way this is the wrong way. But if you can't answer that for yourself, then it's really hard to kind of make sure that you're going to be quote-unquote successful.

Delanie Fischer 9:30

Absolutely. There's so much advice out there for people who want to build a business that like branding and stuff should be the last thing that you do, but I did the opposite like I'm a creative person. I need to do the fun stuff first before I follow through with like the logistics, the legal the packaging, and the finance. I needed to kind of brainstorm and like dream a little bit to follow through on those like not-so-sexy tasks later. So I think creatives have to work differently when they're building a business. So I think, yeah, help me.

Gresham Harkless 10:02

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. It's kind of like the quote, you know, find something you love to do, you know, never work in the day in your life. But understanding that aspect of the business that drives you most, if you're going to do the legal part and the accounting part, and that's not what lights you up, it's probably not going to be able to become a business because you're not quite doing it. But if you have that, and you say, Okay, what to do all this cool, creative branding stuff, I can do a little bit of legal stuff here and there, as I move along back and kind of fire you up and get you going.

Delanie Fischer 10:28

Exactly like I want my clients to fall in love with their vision, so much. So that following through with the logistics is no big deal because they can't imagine their idea not being out in the world. So that's kind of how I kind of work backward.

Gresham Harkless 10:41

No, that makes perfect sense. It's kind of knowing thyself, you know, falling in love with the vision, so you can fall in love with the process a little bit more. So I appreciate that. I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. You might have already touched on this, but this is what you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique.

Delanie Fischer 10:55

Yeah, sure. So I think with my business, because it's, it's a gag gift business, but it's, um, it's a very, like, I think it's a very high quality, unique gag gift. The fact that it's a subtle dick joke. Like, if you bought one of our products, you could display it in your home, and you might know that it's a penis, but your friends and family coming over might not know, they looked hard. So I think it's kind of this thing that has appealed to a lot of people that might not be drawn to like the other gag gifts that are out there, you know, like the plastic penises for bachelorette parties and stuff like that.

So it's kind of like this, this, like more mature, I guess, yes, for everybody that everybody can enjoy. I think that's kind of what people have been drawn to. And we've also now I don't do any mugs or anything anymore. It's all digital design now. So people can buy a penis cartoon image that was professionally made by a cartoonist. Then they can take that image and print it or put it on anything that they want. So they can print it on mugs, or tote bags, or send it in an E-card or invitations or whatever. So I think it's um, it's a very versatile thing as well.

Gresham Harkless 12:07

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. I appreciate that I wanted to switch gears a little bit. I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app or book or a habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Delanie Fischer 12:18

I heard a great piece of advice recently, and I can't remember which podcast it was, or else I'd give them credit because I listened to so many different ones. But whenever I get stuck somewhere in my business, often like the first, the first like instinct for us is like, oh my gosh, how do I fix this? What do I do? What do I need to learn to make this work, instead of shifting the focus to who can I give this to who can help me who can I delegate this to, and who can get you unstuck so quickly?

So that would be that's like a big mindset shift that I've taken in my business, it's helped me a lot is you don't have to do it all by yourself. You shouldn't, you're going to be more productive and more profitable. If you get other people who are good at doing what they do. And you delegate the work to them, or you hire them or you know, whatever the situation is. So that is something that I now live by.

Gresham Harkless 13:07

Nice. So I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. So this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you could happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Delanie Fischer 13:17

You already have the experience and the skills to make money doing something you enjoy more, more often than not people already have exactly what they need. So I wish I could have just maybe Sat down with a consultant or somebody to help me kind of extract the things that I was already good at the things that I was already doing naturally, and package it in a way that was ready to sell to people, whether it was a product or service or whatever it might be

Gresham Harkless 13:44

Nice. Well, I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote-unquote, CEOs on this show. So Delanie, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Delanie Fischer 13:53

Oh, that's a good question. For me, being a CEO means running my business with integrity in every possible way that I can. I pride myself on being as eco-friendly as possible, ethical, and paying the people that I hire well and, and great customer service. So for me, it's all about making sure my customers are taken care of they feel seen and heard, and they're happy with what they get.

Same thing with any contractors I hire as well. Yeah, just honestly, it sounds cheesy, but just like spreading laughter with my business is vision. I mean, that's, that's why I do what I do. So, yeah, those are the things that drive me like, just be a good person. Like, if you're a good person and you run your business with integrity, you cannot fail. There's nothing that you can do to fail. So that's, yeah, that's, that's what I think that needs.

Gresham Harkless 14:44

Nice. Well, I appreciate that. I think when you have that filter, you have that strong passion, that mission, then you kind of can put everything that you're doing through that and as you kind of spoke about before, like sometimes we struggle about should I make this decision or that decision, but a lot of times if you know your mission, you can go back through that and it kind of helps guide you as much as possible.

So I appreciate that perspective. I appreciate your time even more Delanie, what I wanted to do was pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and listeners know. Then of course, how best they can get ahold of you find out about your course and all the awesome things which they want.

Delanie Fischer 15:15

Yeah, absolutely. You can find me at DelanieFischer.com. You can message me on Instagram or shoot me an email there. I'm happy to send you any information about what's going on in the course and my consulting services. My podcast is called self helpless. It's a comedic self-help podcast that I do with two of my best friends. Hilarious comedians, Taylor Tomlinson and Kelsey Cook. So feel free to check that out.

The one thing I would leave people with is you just have to start, you just have to do it. I think a lot of people wait until they feel like they have all their ducks in a row. They have to you know, wait before things are perfect to start and it's the opposite you, you really can't, you can't get better and you can't build on something unless you're already doing it. So just do that one baby step today.

Gresham Harkless 16:07

Exactly. Yeah, a lot of times we forget that we can just take that one step so I appreciate you for reminding us of that and course we will have your links and information in the show notes as well for your Instagram, your website, and of course the podcasts as well too. But thank you so much again, Delanie. I hope you have a great rest of the day.

Outro 16:22

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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