56: The Power of Purpose-Driven Business Marketing with Chase Friedman

[00:00:00] Welcome to Work it, Live it, Own it, a show that explores how to upgrade your lifestyle through

[00:00:05] life lessons, real estate and entrepreneurship. Here's your hostess, SaCola Lehr.

[00:00:15] Welcome back to another episode of Work it, Live it, Own it. I'm your hostess, SaCola Lehr,

[00:00:20] and today I have joined with me, Chase Friedman. Thank you so much for joining us, Chase.

[00:00:29] Chase is the founder of Vanquish Media Group and he is going to share his incredible journey

[00:00:36] as a brand purpose coach and strategist. Well, what does that mean? Well, Chase has a unique talent

[00:00:44] of balancing purpose and profit, helping businesses achieve sustainable growth while making a positive

[00:00:51] impact. So whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, Chase's insights and

[00:00:58] strategies will inspire and empower us all to elevate our brand. So stay tuned to this episode

[00:01:07] because it's going to be packed with actionable advice and inspiring stories. Welcome, Chase.

[00:01:13] I'm so glad to have you here today. It's my pleasure. Thank you for that beautiful intro.

[00:01:18] I will try to live up to that wonderful bar you've set.

[00:01:22] Well, you know, you got to have a cheerleader, right? You got to have some

[00:01:25] men in your corner. I'm going to hire you for my publicity.

[00:01:30] Oh, okay. Well, Chase, let's get down to it. You have a remarkable philosophy around

[00:01:36] integrating social impact with business success. So can you share your thoughts on how brands

[00:01:43] can achieve this balance and why it's essential for sustainable growth?

[00:01:49] Yeah, fabulous place to kick off. As you mentioned, that is kind of my mantra. I believe that every

[00:01:54] business, every person has the ability to do good and do well, to profit with purpose.

[00:01:58] And I'll tell you, it's not merely just the potential for, it's a necessity.

[00:02:03] I believe it's becoming more and more of a necessity to stand up and stand out in the

[00:02:07] marketplace amidst the sea of sameness, right? By standing up for what you believe in,

[00:02:14] by digging deeper around why you do what you do, committing to those values, and not just talking

[00:02:22] to talk but walking it as well. We live in a time and an age where it's an exciting time,

[00:02:29] although it's tumultuous, where more people are demanding for the businesses and companies

[00:02:36] and products and services they support to not only align with their deeper values,

[00:02:41] but to stand for something. An experience, a social impact, a cause.

[00:02:49] And what I think intimidates a lot of entrepreneurs or small businesses is they think this has to

[00:02:54] be this world-saving endeavor. Change the world, solve social injustice, and climb and change.

[00:03:00] And that's not what it needs to be. Certainly if you have that aspiration, amen. And I'm

[00:03:04] game to support you. Many of us are, but it can be something personal. It can be something truly

[00:03:10] that means something to you that gives you that motivation, that passion to get up every morning

[00:03:14] and provide this service or product for your customers. And in turn, that attracts your tribe.

[00:03:20] I think a lot of us tend to feel we have to be all things to all people. We have to play

[00:03:26] this game of echoing the competition and chasing like I said earlier, this shiny object

[00:03:31] syndrome. But in fact, if we kind of take a little deeper or remain true to ourselves,

[00:03:36] we will inevitably attract that divine right of client, that ideal client that we've been seeking

[00:03:42] because we have similar shared values. And ultimately people buy in emotion first.

[00:03:47] So what better way to start than standing up for what you believe in?

[00:03:51] I like it because that kind of goes back to what some people will say,

[00:03:56] kind of focusing on and narrowing your niche down or your niche down, because

[00:04:01] you have to stand for something. You can't be the end all be all to every single person.

[00:04:09] It's exhausting to do that. It is exhausting. It certainly led me to burnout.

[00:04:15] It's led me to burnout at different points in my career from starting a business,

[00:04:21] as I would call myself an accidental entrepreneur in the beginning.

[00:04:26] You got to keep lights on, you got to pay the bills, you got to pay rent. And so it's easy

[00:04:31] to get sucked into that saying yes mentality regardless of where the work is coming from.

[00:04:37] And that's okay to a certain extent when you're getting started. Absolutely. We all need to do

[00:04:41] that. But hopefully you're building to a point in your life and your career, your business

[00:04:46] where you've earned the right to say no to certain things that don't fit.

[00:04:52] It's easy to kind of make these micro decisions that start to slowly veer you off path, but enough

[00:04:58] of those in enough time, your way off course when you look back and how did I get here?

[00:05:04] So I think that's something that it's if I would have told myself years ago,

[00:05:09] that little bit of wisdom, that would have been a good coaching moment to my

[00:05:15] former self. Yes, same here. Same here. Now speaking on that point Chase,

[00:05:22] many of our listeners are at the beginning of their entrepreneurial journey. So what practical

[00:05:29] advice would you give to startups looking to establish a meaningful and effective foundation

[00:05:36] from day one? Yeah, great question. This is something I advocate for all of my clients,

[00:05:44] whether they're just starting out or they are a fortune 500 business that they've been around

[00:05:49] for many, many years. You got to start with building a strong foundation. Doesn't

[00:05:54] anything just like building a home, right? You've got to start with a good brand foundation.

[00:06:00] And that's the first stage of my work with my clients and framework is the discovery phase,

[00:06:05] discovering and developing who you are as a person, as a brand, what makes you unique,

[00:06:12] what's your compelling message, your story, your identity, how you're positioning yourself in the

[00:06:19] marketplace with your ideal consumer and amidst the competition. So building having that clarity

[00:06:27] is essential, right? A lot of people want to skip the line and go to, well just give me the

[00:06:32] quick fix, lead gen and quick growth hacks and little kind of short term band-aids. If you don't

[00:06:40] have that core foundation in place, you're missing out. You are destined for quite frankly losing a

[00:06:50] lot of time and money and trying to grow and scale your business. So I think it really

[00:06:55] comes down to what we just discussed is being clear with the story and the messaging

[00:07:00] of yourself and your business, knowing your identity. And that's hard. That's hard for a

[00:07:07] lot of people. It's hard for myself. I come from a film-making background, storytelling and yet

[00:07:10] kind of like the barefoot cobbler. It's hard to do for ourselves, but we oftentimes find easy to do

[00:07:15] for others. So that to me is the very first step in building a brand. I know it's, I know

[00:07:20] everyone wants to kind of get going and generate revenue and see that immediate gratification

[00:07:24] and growth. I get it, I've been there, but I've seen it far too often that it's

[00:07:29] diminishing returns if you don't have the core identity of who you are and what you stand for as

[00:07:34] a business in place. Exactly. I like that. I am one of those people that will talk, shout it from

[00:07:41] the mountaintops talking about core values. You got to know what your core values are in

[00:07:46] your life and in your business because that helps you to define who you are as an individual,

[00:07:51] how that defines you as a business owner, how you show up for other people. And it also

[00:07:57] helps with longevity and sustainability. Because again, as you talked about, you start off

[00:08:04] on fire maybe and you're all about profit, but then you burn out because you're not rooted

[00:08:12] in standard values or principles of the driving force behind why you're doing what you're doing.

[00:08:20] So go ahead. I was going to say your app, I mean spot on, I mean obviously we're

[00:08:27] we're drinking the same Kool-Aid, but I think the values and the beliefs are the scaffolding,

[00:08:34] right? That's absolutely essential. And if anything that kind of gives you that compass

[00:08:40] for how to develop the messaging around that, that's what I see constantly businesses being

[00:08:46] in small shrevelle with is can you clearly and consistently articulate

[00:08:53] why you exist, how you're different and what it is you do for your customers. And that is how we

[00:08:59] lose clients time and time again. If that is not clear, we confuse our messaging to our clients.

[00:09:05] We have a muddied message that people don't allow people to identify us amidst the competition.

[00:09:15] I interview stakeholders of business with you asked everybody on the founding team or

[00:09:20] from the bottom up to describe who they are, what they do as a brand, as a business

[00:09:25] and you get a thousand different answers. I mean it's wild. So you've got to have that

[00:09:29] clarity and consistency from the start. Well thank you for that Segway because

[00:09:35] you have transformed many brands. So can you provide us a real world example of a

[00:09:44] campaign that stands out where purpose driven marketing led to significant growth and engagement?

[00:09:52] Sure. I'll give you an example of actually a nonprofit that we've worked with,

[00:10:00] the Brain & Years Foundation. They've been around for 20, well we started working with them

[00:10:06] at least 20 years and they've had a good amount of success but they were kind of hitting a

[00:10:10] plateau. They're kind of legacy donors and members and supporters where there's a little bit

[00:10:17] of attrition and churn there and they needed to attract a new and slightly younger demographic

[00:10:23] and this is something that is, you can tell about Brain & Years and it's not capable of what?

[00:10:29] I think I've heard of that. What does that mean? What is that? Now nonprofit usually has

[00:10:34] purpose and passion and space, right? That's awesome but oftentimes need that clarity of

[00:10:40] message to kind of really penetrate and break through. And through a series of messaging

[00:10:45] and campaigns that we developed, we reframed what they do and what their purpose was to be a little

[00:10:53] bit more approachable to everyone, right? The fact that it affects one in 50 people,

[00:10:59] the fact that every 10 minutes a brain and years of structure. Making it clear that this

[00:11:03] is something that is more commonplace than you might expect. Raising the visibility with their

[00:11:10] donors, with their survivors, with their supporters, my amnesty diagnosis. So it was just a fine

[00:11:16] tune of the dial. It wasn't rewriting this script for them necessarily. We want to always stay true

[00:11:21] to what their purpose is but it was presenting it in a different and simpler and more accessible

[00:11:28] way. Whereas previously, it was a little bit more heavy on medical jargon and the science of it

[00:11:35] was also super important but you have to meet people where they are so that they kind of wake up

[00:11:41] and think, you know what? Wow, this does affect someone I know, my an aunt, a cousin, a friend,

[00:11:47] someone at work and just being the start of the conversation and then having a sequence of

[00:11:53] messaging that will nurture them deeper and deeper into that to learn more and to find out

[00:11:57] ways that can support. So that's kind of one example where we helped redefine their messaging,

[00:12:02] their visual identity, launch campaigns around it. We saw incredible growth, especially with the

[00:12:07] younger demographic that had never heard about this before and came to realize that it affected

[00:12:12] many people in their family and their ancestry. It affected my maternal grandmother and I didn't

[00:12:17] know much about it when I started working with the organization. So it was a bit of a

[00:12:20] cool personal journey for me as well. I like how you did that because I've known people who personally

[00:12:29] have had brain aneurysms, some of them were fortunate enough to survive brain aneurysms,

[00:12:35] but again, you tweak the messaging to where you met the audience or people where they are

[00:12:41] by saying, hey, giving statistics how it can affect people and then people were like, you

[00:12:47] know what? Yeah, I knew someone who had that or let me learn about this. What are some of the causes,

[00:12:54] whether it's some identifying symptoms, things of that nature about the audience.

[00:12:59] You were right, nonprofits do have that passion for passion and purpose, but it's

[00:13:08] got to be relatable to the audience and to people that they're really trying to reach.

[00:13:14] So good job. Thank you. Now, measuring success is crucial, right? How do you evaluate the effectiveness

[00:13:28] of purpose driven initiatives and what metrics do you find most valuable in assessing both social

[00:13:35] impact and business performance? Really, really great and tough question to answer.

[00:13:44] I think there's always this tug of war between as marketers and as brands between performance

[00:13:51] marketing, which is that immediate tangible quick hit, right? Payed ads, PPC, things of that nature

[00:14:00] where the tactics are specifically designed to generate very detailed, measurable results.

[00:14:09] However, it's kind of like, it's a little bit of like a drug, right? You have to continue

[00:14:15] to feed the beast. You have to continue to allocate more and more funds and effort and time and

[00:14:20] energy to stay competitive when everyone else is doing many of the same tactics and your competition.

[00:14:29] So on one hand, you've got performance marketing, which is kind of those immediate KPIs around

[00:14:35] website visits or bookings or clinks or impressions or reach, things of that nature.

[00:14:43] When you look at the other side of it and you look at brand marketing,

[00:14:49] I look at it as more of a longitudinal kind of effort, right? It's kind of like more of

[00:14:54] a marathon out of sprint. You're investing in the brand and collateral and a lot of

[00:14:58] content marketing, for example, storytelling that you want over time to build a deeper,

[00:15:06] more lasting relationship, right? So performance marketing is more sort of

[00:15:10] interuptive. Brand marketing is more that kind of magnetic pull. How are we really

[00:15:15] ingratiating and exciting our customers about working with us? And not just as a one-time

[00:15:21] transactional thing because they saw an ad or a discount or something like that,

[00:15:25] but really believing deeper who we are. So they become from audiences into advocates and ambassadors,

[00:15:32] being loyal to the brand. I think the way we measure that is things like customer lifetime

[00:15:39] value, for example, right? What is the overall kind of worth and value that we're able to

[00:15:44] kind of increase from customer standpoint doing business with us repeatedly over time versus

[00:15:50] a one-time transaction? I think you can look at things like brand equity and brand trust with

[00:15:56] a little bit more intangible, but can still certainly be measured the way you're perceived in

[00:16:01] the marketplace. The other things around brand, right, with a good nurtured brand,

[00:16:07] you're seeing things like increasing margins, right? People are willing to pay more, pay a

[00:16:12] premium for a brand they trust and believe in, right? In some cases, two to three times more

[00:16:19] as a price premium. So that's all about increasing margins. We take a look at Apple, for example,

[00:16:24] right? A lot of times, you know, in many cases the actual product they deliver, the specs of it

[00:16:30] and the actual device, similar if not the same as any products out there, and yet the perceived

[00:16:36] value is the brand allows them to charge a higher, you know, high-feeze, charge a margin.

[00:16:41] We talked about market share. We talked earlier about how can you attract more people to

[00:16:46] come to and flock and stick with your brand? More people are likely to do business with you over

[00:16:52] competitor where you have a compelling per statement that aligns with them versus one who

[00:16:56] doesn't. So you're kind of increasing market share. And then a variety of things such as

[00:17:02] employee engagement or retention, more and more people want to work for those brands that

[00:17:07] align with their values. You're looking at innovation and creativity. So all those

[00:17:12] things I think some qualitative and some quantitative that are once again building a

[00:17:17] stronger, more lasting foundation for the performance of your business versus those kind

[00:17:22] of quick hit, you know, almost fad dieting performance marketing tactics, which are needed,

[00:17:28] which are needed but in balance. Okay. So let's dig a little bit deeper into that.

[00:17:35] So would you say when you're saying longitudinal, realistically, if you are to tell

[00:17:42] an aspiring entrepreneur or someone who's been in it for a few years, how long would you say

[00:17:48] it would take them to actually see a turnaround where they're not grinding so hard and then they

[00:17:55] just start getting clients either by referral because someone resonated with that brand.

[00:18:03] Where do you see that pivotal turn for them to actually start seeing those results?

[00:18:10] Yeah. I mean, look, I wish I had a definitive answer for you and it's not going to be basic.

[00:18:15] It's different for every business in every industry and every company. It really,

[00:18:18] really is. I would say the earlier on in the way you were applying this as a young business,

[00:18:25] I would argue that is more your more agile and nimble to kind of correspond much harder

[00:18:30] for a big legacy business to make that adjustment and therefore longer amount of time to see

[00:18:35] results. There's cases where we'll see some of these great results within a matter of months,

[00:18:41] let's say six months to be conservative, to really see the tide swing in terms of not only

[00:18:46] increasing the amount of overall revenue, new leads, new discovery calls booked,

[00:18:54] the greater engagement with their content starting to see kind of re-keep business

[00:18:59] all the way up to I would say more realistically maybe 12 to 18 months.

[00:19:04] It doesn't mean you're not going to see results sooner, but I'm talking about a full kind of

[00:19:08] transformation of the business because it doesn't just happen with a quick fix. It doesn't just

[00:19:14] happen with tweaking the messaging or the look and feel of some of your content or some of these

[00:19:20] tactics. And that's kind of what is tough for a lot of people to swallow. This is the reality,

[00:19:25] it's a marathon. It's not a sprint. Unfortunately, I see a lot of clients that make an initial

[00:19:31] commitment to kind of walk the talk. And after maybe one or two at most three months, they get

[00:19:39] impatient and they hit the injector button. They're like, this isn't changing things for us holistically.

[00:19:46] We're not really seeing the incredible kind of change in transformation of our numbers we were

[00:19:50] hoping. And they could and unfortunately it's premature. It's a little bit reactive.

[00:19:57] And for better or worse, honestly it shows me where their real values line.

[00:20:04] There's a lot of brands out there that will kind of what we call it purpose washing or checking the

[00:20:08] box. Latching onto a message because I think it sounds good. It's kind of resonate with

[00:20:13] their customers. But when it comes time to quarterly revenue, things aren't hitting the

[00:20:17] mark, they abandon it. They quit it. It does take time and it does take perseverance

[00:20:25] to see results. But I will tell you, you will be more fulfilled in the business that you are

[00:20:31] building at Ronin. Because you're proud of it. You're building the legacy. You are creating

[00:20:35] something that is the last thing versus trying to latch onto every quick fix, every trend that

[00:20:40] comes about that might give you a quick little blip in revenue. But I promise you,

[00:20:44] it's just kind of equalized right back down. That's that kind of fad dieting.

[00:20:48] Right? We'll stick to a protocol but as long as we stick to it,

[00:20:52] right? Religiously, even though we're miserable, yeah, maybe we'll shed a few pounds. But the

[00:20:58] moment I kind of slip, I put it back on. It's not an exact correlation but you can add it.

[00:21:06] No, it is. I would disagree on that one because it is. If you think about it,

[00:21:11] when people say, I'm going to go on a diet, they may lose the weight and they see those

[00:21:16] instantaneous results and they're like, oh goodness. And yes, you may go on vacation

[00:21:20] and you slack off for a while. And then the weight starts coming back on. If not more than what you

[00:21:27] lost, instead of looking at it from the beginning saying, hey, this is a lifestyle tweet. I'm doing

[00:21:35] this for the long haul. I'm doing this for longevity. I'm doing this for health. I'm not

[00:21:40] just doing this for weight loss. I'm doing this for health because, granted, if you are healthy,

[00:21:45] you are eating healthy, it's going to reflect. It may not take it instantly within three months.

[00:21:52] You might see some adjustments in three months but over time in a year or two and you compare the

[00:21:59] growth or the changes that have happened in your business, yes, I would compare that

[00:22:04] to versus someone doing a fat diet versus someone doing a lifestyle tweet for the long haul.

[00:22:12] So, Chase, let me ask you this because this is what this podcast is truly about.

[00:22:20] Everybody has their hero, heroine story, how they started, where they are now and you have a

[00:22:25] successful thriving business but every successful entrepreneur faces its challenges. Can you tell

[00:22:32] us about some of the setbacks you've encountered and the strategies you've used to overcome

[00:22:38] them to continue building a thriving business? Yeah, amen. Thank you for asking that because

[00:22:46] we do see a lot of these self-anointed gurus and experts out there on social media that seem to

[00:22:54] just figure it out overnight, you know, overnight successes. Maybe there's some out there but

[00:23:00] that's not reality as a whole. I have gone through my fair share of struggles personally,

[00:23:07] professionally in life. You know, it took me, I've had a very roundabout way to where I am today.

[00:23:14] It hasn't been easy, it hasn't been linear. I could have stuck with a corporate job earlier on my

[00:23:20] career and just kind of put my head down and gone with the flow. That wasn't me, that wasn't my

[00:23:24] character, my persona. They get a bit of stuffer-ness but I knew I needed to create something

[00:23:29] that allowed me a little bit more autonomy, independence, freedom, creativity, collaboration

[00:23:37] and of course purpose in my life. Like I said, starting out in my business,

[00:23:42] me myself and I, you know, saying yes to a lot of things and quite frankly over

[00:23:46] a couple of years looking back and really not even recognizing myself or what I had created.

[00:23:55] I'm proud of the work but working with certain clients and certain projects that didn't feel

[00:24:02] aligned. It felt like work. It felt like I was working for the business rather on the business

[00:24:08] and wait a minute, isn't this just a typical job? That's led to burnout, physical, emotional,

[00:24:16] that's led to anxiety and stress, that's led to mental health struggles and issues quite frankly.

[00:24:26] At our peak as a business revenue client-wise it felt unfulfilling at times

[00:24:34] and it took being brought to my knees where within a matter of three to four months we went from

[00:24:40] pretty much our best month and quarter to date to almost being completely wiped out

[00:24:46] for a variety of reasons. Losing clients, losing revenue, going through some personal struggles,

[00:24:52] death of a mentor, health issues. I mean it was taking body blows and being brought to your

[00:25:00] knees instead of hanging up and saying all right well I give up let's try something different.

[00:25:07] It actually gave me the resolve and the resilience to dig a little bit deeper and really

[00:25:12] think hard and long indeed about what it was I wanted out of life and my business and my career

[00:25:19] and that was kind of for me that path and pursuit of purpose and finding that for myself

[00:25:24] and it is a constant affair. I don't think there is a there, hey I made it. It is an

[00:25:30] everyday endeavor but I consider my purpose to help others discover and develop theirs and turn it

[00:25:37] into the life and business of their dreams. So that was necessary. I don't recommend everyone wait

[00:25:43] until they're brought to their knees to dig deep and find that but I can tell you it has not

[00:25:50] been an easy journey. It could be lonely, it could be isolating. Another bit of wisdom I wish

[00:25:55] I would give my former self is really align yourself with a great mentor or coach,

[00:26:02] someone to be by your side as an entrepreneur. It's tough. We wear the weight of the shoulder

[00:26:06] weight of the world on our shoulders. I think what's worked for me and helping build resilience

[00:26:13] is mindset really first and foremost learning to set healthy boundaries in work and life.

[00:26:23] Learning to as my former mentor, get your mind right working truly hard on my mental health day

[00:26:28] in day out to take care of me put on my own oxygen mask first at times and try to continuously

[00:26:37] each and every day take one step closer towards that pursuit of purpose. What is it that is

[00:26:44] fulfilling me and what am I meant to be doing in this life? I know that kind of sounds a little

[00:26:49] many flighty and cliche to some people but at least in my journey one of the biggest

[00:26:56] was dealing with mindset mental health and all the success and revenue in the world wasn't going

[00:27:01] to fix that. It was me. Right because at the end of the day we all have to look at ourselves in

[00:27:07] the mirror and like what we see within ourselves and if we can start there mentally,

[00:27:14] physically, emotionally, spiritually and be fit in those circles in those areas then we can

[00:27:22] effectively passionately with purpose show up in our everyday lives in our businesses as well.

[00:27:30] So thank you. Thank you for sharing that because everyone has their highs and lows.

[00:27:36] We all have highs and lows in our business if we especially if we have them in our

[00:27:39] personal life we're going to have them in business as well so thank you for taking

[00:27:43] time to actually share some of your story with us. And guys this is what this podcast is about.

[00:27:51] It is about giving you some practical tips and strategies along the way but it's also

[00:27:55] sharing things that I wish I learned when starting a business and bringing on other people

[00:28:00] who are sharing their story, their passion, their purpose in life but also sharing the

[00:28:06] hindsights in their business as well. So if you find that this episode resonates with you

[00:28:12] download this episode bookmark it save it most importantly share it with others

[00:28:16] who align with this same type of message. Now Chase before I let you go I have two rapid

[00:28:22] fire questions for you are you ready? Let's do it. Okay so what's the most inspiring book you've

[00:28:30] ever read? Wow okay um gosh that's a good one. So the most inspiring book I've ever read

[00:28:46] I would say it's The Pursuit of Havocness Diolomo. Okay that you know I think for me and it's got

[00:28:56] lessons beyond just kind of the spiritual and the personal whichever way you know you align your

[00:29:00] values. I think it teaches something that is great that I need to continue to work on in my

[00:29:05] daily life is you know empathy, patience and equanimity. We exist in a world where there's a lot

[00:29:12] of pressure to perform to succeed judgment criticism and I think that just kind of helps me bring

[00:29:18] back that interlocust of control here being compassionate with others whether they're on the

[00:29:23] same kind of pace with playing as I am and compassion for myself so that's probably one

[00:29:28] better ones I've read. Okay love it second question if you could give one piece of advice to your

[00:29:36] younger self you touched on this a little bit but if you could give one piece of advice to

[00:29:41] your younger self what would it be? You don't have to walk it alone um you know some of us

[00:29:50] have partners in business some of us do it alone you know some of us are solo

[00:29:53] producers, I'm a producer. I didn't have a mentor in the earlier part of my career so if anything

[00:30:01] I was working for people that I learned more about what I didn't want to be and become in life

[00:30:07] so that was a lesson into itself. I was fortunate to have someone in my life who was a best friend

[00:30:13] and mentor a soulmate in some ways and he was a brilliant man and unfortunately I lost him

[00:30:21] a couple of years ago tragically kind of a little too soon but that was he believed in me in a way

[00:30:26] that I couldn't believe in myself um that's really hard to find that's really hard to find in your

[00:30:31] life right and so um I don't think it just has to look and feel exactly like that there can be

[00:30:37] a variety of different mentors people that fill you up in different ways but I also think on the

[00:30:42] flip side of it even with a mentor is having a coach. I don't care if it's a life coach

[00:30:48] business coach, a purpose coach or whatever you want to call it someone that is there to

[00:30:55] as little as be a sounding board provide accountability provide a little bit of direction

[00:31:03] I think it's essential it helps you feel a little less isolated and a little bit more

[00:31:08] sort of confident in the journey. I haven't started that until very very recently I think

[00:31:12] it's a big reason why I like to be able to do that for others kind of like this proxy high

[00:31:19] but having that support system and not just coach and mentor but family friends peers

[00:31:23] whomever that is um I know I've you know especially during COVID I started to become

[00:31:29] further and further detached from community and connection with my peers and I think we

[00:31:33] gotta really work on those muscles and kind of bring that back into our everyday lives

[00:31:37] so that we feel we have a support system and it's not just all on our shoulders.

[00:31:44] Amen. Love it. Good you don't have to walk it alone. I like that but thank you Chase for sharing

[00:31:52] your wisdom and experiences with us today. Your journey is a testament to the power of

[00:31:58] combining purpose with profit and to our listeners out there I hope you found today's

[00:32:04] episode inspiring and enlightening just like I did and remember it's not just about

[00:32:10] doing well it's also about doing good so stay tuned for more empowering episodes of Work It,

[00:32:18] Live It, Own It. Until next time keep thriving and keep making a difference. Take care.