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IAM1214 – Founder Helps Her Clients on How to Strengthen Communications and Leadership

Podcast Interview with Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Marie Gettel-Gilmartin, the founder of Fertile Ground Communications, is a writer and marketing communications coach who loves to connect people and resources or solve seemingly impossible problems. She guides clients in discovering what makes them special and helps them share that with the world. She has two podcasts: Finding Fertile Ground features grit and resilience stories from historically excluded populations and Companies that Care highlights business leaders who are working to create a better world for all.

Marie helps clients communicate about pressing issues; creates compelling websites that showcase company culture; implements world-class sustainability and community engagement strategies; ghostwrites for clients to position them as experts in their fields; writes communications that boost employee engagement; coaches leaders and executives on how to strengthen communications and leadership; helps win work by writing compelling, unbeatable proposals and award applications, and coordinates authors and reviewers to produce documents in one voice.

  • CEO Story: After 28 years in the corporate world while reinventing herself, thus, completely prepared herself to start her own company. Naming the brand that has her authenticity about finding her own fertile ground in her career.
  • Business Service: She loves helping her clients as a communications manager. She also does website copy, research, internal & external communications, marketing, social media, and leadership coaching.
  • Secret Sauce: Her number one goal is to make communications really interesting and that the reader wants to read. She brings corporate business savvy combined with outstanding writing and strategic skills.
  • CEO Hack: She uses Trello for making lists and Canva – which is a great tool for creating social media images, brochures, flyers, etc.
  • CEO Nugget: For the B2B approach, email funnels and hard selling can turn people off. She wants to see somebody’s value when they share freely of their expertise.
  • CEO Defined: Be able to create a company that started with her own values of compassion and respect for all. Be able to chase her own dreams instead of someone else's. Leading others to follow their own dreams.

Website: http://www.fertilegroundcommunications.com

LinkedIn: mariegettelgilmartin

Facebook: FertileGroundCommunications

Twitter: MarieMiracles

Instagram: fertile_ground_communications


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Transcription

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00:15 – Intro

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

00:42 – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today, Marie Gettle, and Gill Martin of Fertile Ground Communications. Marie, it's great to have you on the show.

00:53 – Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Great to be here, Gresh, and it's so great to actually put a voice to your name. I did a little bit of research on you, and I see that you are a fellow English major and communicator with a background in environmental, the environmental industry like me. So that's very cool.

01:08 – Gresham Harkless

Yes, absolutely. That's what I love most about having fellow podcasters on the show, is you get that opportunity to realize that we're a lot more alike than we are different, and get that opportunity to kind of hear those stories, hear what passions people have is phenomenal. So I appreciate you so much and taking some time out and being on the show. And before we jump into the interview, I wanted to read a little bit more about Marie so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing.

Marie is the founder of Fertile Ground Communications, and she is a writer and marketing communications coach who loves to connect people and resources or solve seemingly impossible problems. She guides clients in discovering what makes them special and helps them share what that is with the world. She has two podcasts, finding fertile ground features Grit and Resilience, stories from historically excluded populations and companies that care. Highlights business leaders who are working to create a better world for all. Bere helps clients communicate about pressing issues. Creates compelling websites that showcase company culture. Implements world-class sustainability and community engagement strategies.

Ghostwrites for her clients to position them as experts in their field write communications that boost employee engagement and coach leaders and executives on how to strengthen communications and leadership. And then she helps win work by writing compelling, unbeatable proposals and award applications. Finally, she coordinates authors and reviewers to produce documents in one voice. Marie, super excited to have you on the show. Hear about all the awesome things you're doing. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

[restrict paid=”true”]

02:33 – Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

I am.

02:34 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Well, let's make it happen then. So, to kind of kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

02:41 – Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Yes. So I worked my way up the career ladder for 25 years in the corporate world. And as I mentioned before, I was in the environmental consulting industry. I worked for a really big global firm called Chum Hill. And so throughout that time, my 28 years there, I found myself being. Being in major leadership roles and reinventing myself over and over again. My favorite part of that time was for 13 years, I managed 70 publications professionals around the northwest, which really felt like running my own company. When I look back on it, I had this high degree of autonomy and freedom, and I was able to cultivate an outstanding team.

I also had a boss for much of that time who really gave me that freedom, and he was an awesome mentor for me. So I got my job eliminated after I moved into sustainability communications when my company was acquired. And I found what I thought was my ideal job within one month. And it was working as a very small company's first communications manager. But my first day of the job was horrible, and I stuck it out for a year, and my job got eliminated, like a year after I started. So.

03:58 – Gresham Harkless

Oh, no.

03:59 – Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Yeah. So it took all that to finally start my own business and realize that's what I meant to be doing. So I also have reflected on the fact that all my experience in the corporate world, reinventing myself, as I mentioned, completely prepared me to start and run my own business. The reason that I call myself furlong communications is I had an epiphany one morning when I thought, this is what I need. This is what I need to do, is find my own fertile ground in my career. So it's a very powerful meaning for me, the name of my company.

04:32 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, that makes so much sense. I appreciate you sharing that. And unfortunately, we have a third thing in common. Cause I, too, have been laid off from a position. It's not a fun position to kind of be in, but I love how I say so many times we go through things in life, and sometimes we're not aware of how it's preparing us for that next thing. But you, like you said, having to reinvent yourself sounds like the definition of entrepreneurship. And being able to have to reinvent it to rebuild, to define that fertile ground, as you said. So I love kind of hearing how you've been able to kind of, you know, land on your. On your feet and hit the ground running. It sounds like.

05:05 – Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Yes, definitely.

05:07 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more and hear a little bit more on how you work with your clients. I know I touched on it a little bit, but could you take us through, like, how you serve the clients you work with?

05:15 – Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Yeah. So I specialize in translating lackluster, jargon-filled, or technical prose into clear, dynamic narratives, and I help them do that. Bye. Like, for example, I can be a communications manager on a retainer with my clients. I also have done a lot of website copy, and in the first couple of years, that's an easy way to get communications clients. But really, what I love to do is really work in partnership with a client in communicating whatever they need to communicate. So in the last six months, one of my fun gigs has been working for one of our local counties here in Oregon with their Covid communications.

So I know it doesn't sound fun, but it's been, you know, it's kind of my. Yeah, it's very important. And what is really what it's tapped into is my love of research. So I do, like, a weekly newsletter every week with three important things to know about COVID and they give me topics, but I do the research and then I write it. That's been really interesting for me. I just took on a new client a few weeks ago that's a nonprofit here in Oregon that is advocating for arts and culture and humanities. So those are some fun ones.

But I also, what I'd really like to do more of is working in partnership with, like, corporate clients to be their adjunct communications person. Like, companies that don't actually have communications or marketing teams on staff. So that's kind of my sweet spot. And so I can provide internal and external communications, marketing, social media, leadership, and coaching, and I work with companies, government organizations, and nonprofits.

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07:00 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I appreciate you so much and sharing that I almost feel like, and I don't know if you would echo the same thing that we sometimes don't understand, like, how valuable communication is until it's not there. When it's not there, that's when things just become chaotic. So I appreciate you so much and, you know, in helping people to be able to, like, articulate those things, because I think it's easier said than done. So many times you need somebody that has that experience has that expertise to be able to kind of, I guess, translate, for lack of a better term, what we're thinking into. Like, how we need to manifest itself. I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. You might have already touched on this, but this is for yourself your business, or a combination of both. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

07:40 – Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Yeah. I say that I make business communications painless for my clients because a lot of people really struggle to actually put words to the page or actually, they struggle to actually sound professional or effective or get their points across. A lot of business communications is, frankly, boring. Really boring. Right. So boring. So that's my number one goal, which is to actually make communications really interesting and that the reader actually wants to read. I think that sets me apart.

I'm highly creative and a great problem solver, and I also have a high level of positive energy, so clients benefit from that as well I think that I'm a great bridge between corporate and the smaller business side. I bring corporate business savvy combined with outstanding writing and strategic skills. And then the other thing that's different about my company is that even though I'm right now, you know, I'm a solopreneur right now, that's not going to always be this, always going to be the case. I have lots of goals, but I have a corporate social responsibility commitment, which is really unique for small businesses.

08:47 – Gresham Harkless

I truly appreciate you for sharing that, of course, and doing that as well. And I think it makes so much sense and making sure that you are, you know, staying true, you know, to what those things are. But I think one of the things that we often forget, or can forget is that we can make an impact wherever we are and whatever we're hoping to do. We have certain tools and a lot of times it's that creativity that you talked about to think, how can I creatively maybe sometimes use my gifts or my talents to support certain causes or things that I value or even, you know, use my dollars or my resources or whatever that might be in a creative way. So I appreciate you sharing that because it also, I think, creates that opportunity for us to think creatively about, like how we can make the same impact and things that we value just as much.

09:27 – Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Absolutely. Yeah. Everybody has, has different gifts. And how can you use your gifts to, how can you use your gifts to support a cause? Definitely.

09:36 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely love that. And so I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you?

09:47 – Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

More effective, efficient, that's so hard to choose one. I think it's a tie between, I'm going to cheat and give you two.

09:53 – Gresham Harkless

Go for it.

09:55 – Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

It's a tie between Trello, which is a list maker, and Canva, which is a graphic design tool for nongraphic designers. So making lists has always been part of my life, but I feel like it's absolutely critical now. As a business owner, I have to make a list, I have to make a schedule for my day. So that helps me do that. Canva, I worked, you know, for years. For most of my career, I worked with graphic designers. I had a graphic design department. So as a business owner, I don't have that. So Canva is a great, a great tool for me to produce social media images and I mean, images of all sorts and brochures and flyers, etc, etcetera. I can do that easily with a great resource of photos, you know, nonroyalty photos that I can use for my, for my business. So I love both of those.

10:48 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. Absolutely love those hacks as well, too. And I think Trello, a lot of times we were holding on and juggling so many different things as business owners or business leaders or professionals. To have it in a place where you're able to make those lists and kind of organize those things is huge because it allows you to be more present in the things that hand and being, you know, in, in whatever it is that we need to do. A lot of times that's serving clients. I really like using Canva because it allows me to be a graphic designer without having to go through all the traditional steps, such as getting a degree. Canva provides templates and stock images that make it easy for me to visually communicate my ideas.

11:33 – Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Right? Exactly.

11:35 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this is a little bit more of a word of wisdom or piece of advice and might be something you would tell a client or if you happen to be a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

11:46 – Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Yeah. So when I first set put out my shingle, I was connected to a lot of entrepreneurs who were business to consumer, partly because I enrolled in Marie Forleo's b school. So I got connected to all these b, two c people, and I felt like I was a square peg in a round hole because I do b two b almost entirely. So this is something that I noticed, is that as a b two b tip, email funnels can really tick people off. I would say, I mean, right now, incessant emails are the go-to for B to C right now. But coming out of the corporate environment, if I get more than one or possibly two emails a week from a company, I immediately unsubscribe, which is, like, annoying emails. Right. It drives me crazy.

So when I gave that feedback to some of my b two c people in my, like, Facebook groups, they were all like, oh, we love to get lots of emails, like, oh, my gosh. From a corporate environment, that's just not the way you communicate. Right. So, then to add to that, hard sales also really turn me off. I want to see somebody's value when they share freely of their expertise. I mean, you do that so well, gresh. You know, you really put it all out there, and, you know, and then, and I feel like once I know that they really know what they're talking about and they have something that is of value to me, then I might be interested in hiring you.

Somebody who does that so well is a woman named Liz J. Simpson, who I actually just hired as a business coach last month because she provides these incredible webinars about how to get corporate clients to small businesses. It's definitely B to B. She shares her expertise so freely, and she doesn't actually even tell you how much her services cost until the very, very end. She just does it incredibly well. So she's sort of my mentor. That's like building relationships, sharing your expertise freely, and then if somebody asks you about, you know, hiring you, then share what your cost is. I think that's a really good approach for a lot of us.

13:56 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, well, I appreciate you so much and sharing that, and I think, you know, understanding who you're targeting, who you're interacting with, who you're communicating with at the end of the day is so important. So I want to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEO's on the show. So, Marie, what does being a CEO mean to you?

14:15 – Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Yeah, for me, it means being able to create a company that's founded on my own values of compassion, inclusion, and respect for all. It means being able to chase my own dreams instead of someone else's. It means not having to work for anyone I don't respect, and it means leading the way for others to follow their own dreams.

14:35 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. Well, Marie, truly appreciate that. Again, appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is just pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you want to let our readers and listeners know and of course, how best they can get a hold of you, subscribe to your podcast and find about all the awesome things that you're working on.

14:51 – Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Yeah, I think that the final word I would say to all business owners is, as I said before, the best way to establish credibility in the world is to share your expertise freely. So writing blog posts, sharing tips on social media, going on podcasts, becoming a public speaker, and if you're not updating your website regularly by writing blog posts, you're losing out on a huge share of SEO value. So that's one area that I can help people with. If they're not comfortable writing or they just need help getting the word out there and enhancing their website with blog posts and things like that. Yeah, I'm available to assist with that kind of thing.

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It's a huge opportunity and people can reach me on my website, which is www.fertilegroundcommunications.com. I have podcasts and two podcast tabs on my site for my different podcasts. I'm also looking for business leaders who are making a difference in the world through social impact sustainability or some other way to showcase companies that care. Yeah, definitely. So I would love to hear from anybody who wants to chat about communications or yeah, has any questions.

16:04 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you so much again, Marie, and for all the work that you do. We will definitely have the links and information in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you.

16:12 – Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Thank you so much. Gresh.

16:15 – Outro

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.

00:15 - Intro

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

00:42 - Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today, Marie Gettle, and Gill Martin of Fertile Ground Communications. Marie, it's great to have you on the show.

00:53 - Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Great to be here, Gresh, and it's so great to actually put a voice to your name. I did a little bit of research on you, and I see that you are a fellow English major and communicator with a background in environmental, the environmental industry like me. So that's very cool.

01:08 - Gresham Harkless

Yes, absolutely. That's what I love most about having fellow podcasters on the show, is you get that opportunity to realize that we're a lot more alike than we are different, and get that opportunity to kind of hear those stories, hear what passions people have is phenomenal. So I appreciate you so much and taking some time out and being on the show. And before we jump into the interview, I wanted to read a little bit more about Marie so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing.

Marie is the founder of Fertile Ground Communications, and she is a writer and marketing communications coach who loves to connect people and resources or solve seemingly impossible problems. She guides clients in discovering what makes them special and helps them share what that is with the world. She has two podcasts, finding fertile ground features Grit and Resilience, stories from historically excluded populations and companies that care. Highlights business leaders who are working to create a better world for all. Bere helps clients communicate about pressing issues. Creates compelling websites that showcase company culture. Implements world-class sustainability and community engagement strategies.

Ghostwrites for her clients to position them as experts in their field write communications that boost employee engagement and coach leaders and executives on how to strengthen communications and leadership. And then she helps win work by writing compelling, unbeatable proposals and award applications. Finally, she coordinates authors and reviewers to produce documents in one voice. Marie, super excited to have you on the show. Hear about all the awesome things you're doing. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

02:33 - Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

I am.

02:34 - Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Well, let's make it happen then. So, to kind of kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

02:41 - Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Yes. So I worked my way up the career ladder for 25 years in the corporate world. And as I mentioned before, I was in the environmental consulting industry. I worked for a really big global firm called Chum Hill. And so throughout that time, my 28 years there, I found myself being. Being in major leadership roles and reinventing myself over and over again. My favorite part of that time was for 13 years, I managed 70 publications professionals around the northwest, which really felt like running my own company. When I look back on it, I had this high degree of autonomy and freedom, and I was able to cultivate an outstanding team.

I also had a boss for much of that time who really gave me that freedom, and he was an awesome mentor for me. So I got my job eliminated after I moved into sustainability communications when my company was acquired. And I found what I thought was my ideal job within one month. And it was working as a very small company's first communications manager. But my first day of the job was horrible, and I stuck it out for a year, and my job got eliminated, like a year after I started. So.

03:58 - Gresham Harkless

Oh, no.

03:59 - Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Yeah. So it took all that to finally start my own business and realize that's what I meant to be doing. So I also have reflected on the fact that all my experience in the corporate world, reinventing myself, as I mentioned, completely prepared me to start and run my own business. The reason that I call myself furlong communications is I had an epiphany one morning when I thought, this is what I need. This is what I need to do, is find my own fertile ground in my career. So it's a very powerful meaning for me, the name of my company.

04:32 - Gresham Harkless

Yeah, that makes so much sense. I appreciate you sharing that. And unfortunately, we have a third thing in common. Cause I, too, have been laid off from a position. It's not a fun position to kind of be in, but I love how I say so many times we go through things in life, and sometimes we're not aware of how it's preparing us for that next thing. But you, like you said, having to reinvent yourself sounds like the definition of entrepreneurship. And being able to have to reinvent it to rebuild, to define that fertile ground, as you said. So I love kind of hearing how you've been able to kind of, you know, land on your. On your feet and hit the ground running. It sounds like.

05:05 - Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Yes, definitely.

05:07 - Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more and hear a little bit more on how you work with your clients. I know I touched on it a little bit, but could you take us through, like, how you serve the clients you work with?

05:15 - Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Yeah. So I specialize in translating lackluster, jargon-filled, or technical prose into clear, dynamic narratives, and I help them do that. Bye. Like, for example, I can be a communications manager on a retainer with my clients. I also have done a lot of website copy, and in the first couple of years, that's an easy way to get communications clients. But really, what I love to do is really work in partnership with a client in communicating whatever they need to communicate. So in the last six months, one of my fun gigs has been working for one of our local counties here in Oregon with their Covid communications.

So I know it doesn't sound fun, but it's been, you know, it's kind of my. Yeah, it's very important. And what is really what it's tapped into is my love of research. So I do, like, a weekly newsletter every week with three important things to know about COVID and they give me topics, but I do the research and then I write it. That's been really interesting for me. I just took on a new client a few weeks ago that's a nonprofit here in Oregon that is advocating for arts and culture and humanities. So those are some fun ones.

But I also, what I'd really like to do more of is working in partnership with, like, corporate clients to be their adjunct communications person. Like, companies that don't actually have communications or marketing teams on staff. So that's kind of my sweet spot. And so I can provide internal and external communications, marketing, social media, leadership, and coaching, and I work with companies, government organizations, and nonprofits.

07:00 - Gresham Harkless

Nice. I appreciate you so much and sharing that I almost feel like, and I don't know if you would echo the same thing that we sometimes don't understand, like, how valuable communication is until it's not there. When it's not there, that's when things just become chaotic. So I appreciate you so much and, you know, in helping people to be able to, like, articulate those things, because I think it's easier said than done. So many times you need somebody that has that experience has that expertise to be able to kind of, I guess, translate, for lack of a better term, what we're thinking into. Like, how we need to manifest itself. I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. You might have already touched on this, but this is for yourself your business, or a combination of both. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

07:40 - Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Yeah. I say that I make business communications painless for my clients because a lot of people really struggle to actually put words to the page or actually, they struggle to actually sound professional or effective or get their points across. A lot of business communications is, frankly, boring. Really boring. Right. So boring. So that's my number one goal, which is to actually make communications really interesting and that the reader actually wants to read. I think that sets me apart.

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I'm highly creative and a great problem solver, and I also have a high level of positive energy, so clients benefit from that as well I think that I'm a great bridge between corporate and the smaller business side. I bring corporate business savvy combined with outstanding writing and strategic skills. And then the other thing that's different about my company is that even though I'm right now, you know, I'm a solopreneur right now, that's not going to always be this, always going to be the case. I have lots of goals, but I have a corporate social responsibility commitment, which is really unique for small businesses.

08:47 - Gresham Harkless

I truly appreciate you for sharing that, of course, and doing that as well. And I think it makes so much sense and making sure that you are, you know, staying true, you know, to what those things are. But I think one of the things that we often forget, or can forget is that we can make an impact wherever we are and whatever we're hoping to do. We have certain tools and a lot of times it's that creativity that you talked about to think, how can I creatively maybe sometimes use my gifts or my talents to support certain causes or things that I value or even, you know, use my dollars or my resources or whatever that might be in a creative way. So I appreciate you sharing that because it also, I think, creates that opportunity for us to think creatively about, like how we can make the same impact and things that we value just as much.

09:27 - Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Absolutely. Yeah. Everybody has, has different gifts. And how can you use your gifts to, how can you use your gifts to support a cause? Definitely.

09:36 - Gresham Harkless

Absolutely love that. And so I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you?

09:47 - Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

More effective, efficient, that's so hard to choose one. I think it's a tie between, I'm going to cheat and give you two.

09:53 - Gresham Harkless

Go for it.

09:55 - Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

It's a tie between Trello, which is a list maker, and Canva, which is a graphic design tool for nongraphic designers. So making lists has always been part of my life, but I feel like it's absolutely critical now. As a business owner, I have to make a list, I have to make a schedule for my day. So that helps me do that. Canva, I worked, you know, for years. For most of my career, I worked with graphic designers. I had a graphic design department. So as a business owner, I don't have that. So Canva is a great, a great tool for me to produce social media images and I mean, images of all sorts and brochures and flyers, etc, etcetera. I can do that easily with a great resource of photos, you know, nonroyalty photos that I can use for my, for my business. So I love both of those.

10:48 - Gresham Harkless

Nice. Absolutely love those hacks as well, too. And I think Trello, a lot of times we were holding on and juggling so many different things as business owners or business leaders or professionals. To have it in a place where you're able to make those lists and kind of organize those things is huge because it allows you to be more present in the things that hand and being, you know, in, in whatever it is that we need to do. A lot of times that's serving clients. I really like using Canva because it allows me to be a graphic designer without having to go through all the traditional steps, such as getting a degree. Canva provides templates and stock images that make it easy for me to visually communicate my ideas.

11:33 - Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Right? Exactly.

11:35 - Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this is a little bit more of a word of wisdom or piece of advice and might be something you would tell a client or if you happen to be a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

11:46 - Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Yeah. So when I first set put out my shingle, I was connected to a lot of entrepreneurs who were business to consumer, partly because I enrolled in Marie Forleo's b school. So I got connected to all these b, two c people, and I felt like I was a square peg in a round hole because I do b two b almost entirely. So this is something that I noticed, is that as a b two b tip, email funnels can really tick people off. I would say, I mean, right now, incessant emails are the go-to for B to C right now. But coming out of the corporate environment, if I get more than one or possibly two emails a week from a company, I immediately unsubscribe, which is, like, annoying emails. Right. It drives me crazy.

So when I gave that feedback to some of my b two c people in my, like, Facebook groups, they were all like, oh, we love to get lots of emails, like, oh, my gosh. From a corporate environment, that's just not the way you communicate. Right. So, then to add to that, hard sales also really turn me off. I want to see somebody's value when they share freely of their expertise. I mean, you do that so well, gresh. You know, you really put it all out there, and, you know, and then, and I feel like once I know that they really know what they're talking about and they have something that is of value to me, then I might be interested in hiring you.

Somebody who does that so well is a woman named Liz J. Simpson, who I actually just hired as a business coach last month because she provides these incredible webinars about how to get corporate clients to small businesses. It's definitely B to B. She shares her expertise so freely, and she doesn't actually even tell you how much her services cost until the very, very end. She just does it incredibly well. So she's sort of my mentor. That's like building relationships, sharing your expertise freely, and then if somebody asks you about, you know, hiring you, then share what your cost is. I think that's a really good approach for a lot of us.

13:56 - Gresham Harkless

Yeah, well, I appreciate you so much and sharing that, and I think, you know, understanding who you're targeting, who you're interacting with, who you're communicating with at the end of the day is so important. So I want to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEO's on the show. So, Marie, what does being a CEO mean to you?

14:15 - Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Yeah, for me, it means being able to create a company that's founded on my own values of compassion, inclusion, and respect for all. It means being able to chase my own dreams instead of someone else's. It means not having to work for anyone I don't respect, and it means leading the way for others to follow their own dreams.

14:35 - Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. Well, Marie, truly appreciate that. Again, appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is just pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you want to let our readers and listeners know and of course, how best they can get a hold of you, subscribe to your podcast and find about all the awesome things that you're working on.

14:51 - Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Yeah, I think that the final word I would say to all business owners is, as I said before, the best way to establish credibility in the world is to share your expertise freely. So writing blog posts, sharing tips on social media, going on podcasts, becoming a public speaker, and if you're not updating your website regularly by writing blog posts, you're losing out on a huge share of SEO value. So that's one area that I can help people with. If they're not comfortable writing or they just need help getting the word out there and enhancing their website with blog posts and things like that. Yeah, I'm available to assist with that kind of thing.

It's a huge opportunity and people can reach me on my website, which is www.fertilegroundcommunications.com. I have podcasts and two podcast tabs on my site for my different podcasts. I'm also looking for business leaders who are making a difference in the world through social impact sustainability or some other way to showcase companies that care. Yeah, definitely. So I would love to hear from anybody who wants to chat about communications or yeah, has any questions.

16:04 - Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you so much again, Marie, and for all the work that you do. We will definitely have the links and information in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you.

16:12 - Marie Gettel-Gilmartin

Thank you so much. Gresh.

16:15 - Outro

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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Dave Bonachita - CBNation Writer

This is a post from a CBNation team member. CBNation is a Business to Business (B2B) Brand. We are focused on increasing the success rate. We create content and information focusing on increasing the visibility of and providing resources for CEOs, entrepreneurs and business owners. CBNation consists of blogs(CEOBlogNation.com), podcasts, (CEOPodcasts.com) and videos (CBNation.tv). CBNation is proudly powered by Blue16 Media.

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