Episode 052 – Kristi Porter

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Richard Matthews
I’m your host Richard Matthews and we are on in 3-2-1.

Hello and welcome back to the HERO Show.

My name is Richard Matthews and

I’m on the line with Kristy Porter.

Kristy, are you there?

Kristi Porter
I am.

Richard Matthews
Wonderful to have you here Kristi. For those of you guys

Who are regular listeners, you notice

I’m back at a Starbucks in my car.

Because we’re traveling and having a signal up here.

What I want to do real quick is introduce you to Kristi.

So you know who she is.

She is the founder of Signify

Which is a marketing and consulting firm firm

For cause-focused organizations and you even helped with

You said, philanthropy for businesses.

So what I want to start with is I want to find out

What it is that you do now Christy?

Why do people come to you and how do you help them?

What’s your your primary service and

Stuff that you offer to people?

Kristi Porter
Thanks, I’m excited to be here. This is fun.

And so, as you said, I’m a copywriter and

Marketing consultant with cause-focused organization.

So I help with nonprofits and social impact companies

Get noticed and grow through

Effective marketing and communications.

And I also teach solo printers and small business owners

Easy philanthropy strategies, so when they’re just

Interested in giving back not sure how,

Not sure what they have to give,

But really want to participate in the issues

That they care about and I help break it down and

Make it super easy to them.

So I love working with causes, love working with people

Who are trying to do good.

So that’s kind of my main area of focus

Why people come to me.

Richard Matthews
That’s really awesome. I have a question for you.

Because the the cause-focused organizations

And having philanthropy, I actually discovered

In one of my companies that philanthropy

Was a good marketing tactic, as well.

So I have a supplement company and one of the most

Successful programs we have run with our supplement company

Was partnering with Vitamin Angels.

And Vitamin Angels delivers vitamins to children

In need all over the world.

And the leading cause of death in children

Under the age of six, worldwide, is a lack of vitamin A.

Vitamin A is what allows your body to fight off infections

And things like that. And what the program we started

Was for every bottle of supplements we sell,

We donate enough,

We donate enough money to Vitamin Angels

To provide the vitamins for one child for one year.

And it actually, it saves lives.

So are the marketing that goes along with that

Was buy a bottle, save a life.

And we actually, we noticed it increased our sales,

But it also, so philanthropy is you get to do good things

But it also, it comes back very quickly.

And I’m curious if you see that regularly and

The clients that you work with,

Since that’s something that you like to do professionally?

Kristi Porter
I think it’s absolutely true. First of all,

I think from an insider standpoint, from an employee standpoint,

We spend so much of our time working.

And so I think more and more people want to know

That they’re working for somebody

That’s doing something good and not just trying to make a buck.

So they’re excited about that.

If they’re going to spend all of their time in some place,

Forty plus hours a week somewhere,

Then they wanted to feel good, as well as earning a paycheck.

So I think from an insight standpoint, works well from that.

From an outside standpoint, I think it’s just what you described.

We have so many options these days.

So if I have the choice to buy vitamins from you,

That also have a social impact component, or

I can buy something similar from somebody else that doesn’t,

It’s just such an easy sell, which is one of the reasons

I like it so much because most people are going

To navigate toward one that has the social impact component

And there was a study done and

… Communications does a great study every year.

And one of their last studies, I’m going to quote this poorly,

I’m sure, but it was something like

Almost 80% of people were interested in

Social impact companies and social impact products.

And they wanted to know that companies stood for something

And didn’t just sell something. So I think those kinds

Of numbers are really hard for anybody to ignore.

And for those of us who either own our businesses,

Have a small business, I think, if you have a small business,

And I guess in large businesses too,

But retention, finding qualified candidates,

Those are often issues that bosses have to deal with.

And so if you can offer that, something like that,

That may be is another value add along with your benefits package

And everything else and people can really engage

And then customers will engage in the mission as well.

They may not initially come to you for or

They may, some people like me, that’s who we want to.

For the general consumer, if they’re out there searching

For vitamins or something, then if they stumble across

Your website and they have the chance to buy something quality,

Something they can afford,

But it also has a social impact component.

I just think it’s such an easy sell and we’re in an age

Where we have the privilege and ability to do that.

And I think more and more people

Are looking for that aspect, as well.

Especially led by millennial generation and but now I think

Everyone’s trickling into it. I’m certainly not a millennial,

But that’s how I lean as well and

I think there are a lot of us that do so.

I think it answers a lot of questions and

Checks a lot of boxes for a lot of us.

Richard Matthews
I think I just barely scraped the teeth, I’m not being millennial

Because I graduated college right before social media hit.

So I think that disqualify me as being a millennial,

But to that point, I’ve just, I’ve noticed the social impact is –

It’s something that I like, I recommend all of my clients

Consider it because it has a positive impact on the bottom line

And it also has a positive impact on your business,

Is having a – It has a larger impact on the world.

Because most of us when we’re building businesses we’re doing

Because we want to make a legacy, want to do something.

So if we can create something at a profit and

Have a profitable business that impacts my clients lives

And my customers lives and also has a social impact,

Like you’re saying. I think there’s –

It’s one of those really easy win win win situations.

And because of things like the internet,

There are so many social impact organizations you can find.

And I don’t know what it was like before because I didn’t run

A business 20 years ago. But I would imagine

That it wasn’t as easy as we can just take our financial statement

At the end of the month and be like,

Here’s how many things we sold and

Go on to Vitamin Angels website and make a quick donation.

It’s not hard. It doesn’t take any extra time or effort

From our business and it has an impact on the people

That we’re working with. So it has an impact like you said

All the way around employees that we hire,

The customers that buy from us, the marketing messages

That we have and the the kids

That actually are benefited from that.

Kristi Porter
Absolutely, and I think we just don’t live

Compartmentalize lives anymore. I mean, the internet has,

For good or bad taken that from us, as well.

So, it’s the same thing. I spend, whether I’m, again,

Working on a solopreneur, whether I’m a solopreneur,

I have a employees, we’re all checking our email

At different times, we’re working at different times

And all the lines are blurred, so it makes sense that

You would want to spend your time,

I’m giving from a different standpoint,

Rather than just that happens on Sundays or

One hour a week when I volunteer or

Something like that. We just want really integrated lives.

And I think we have so many opportunities to do that now.

So, even as so many people that I talked to

They’re like, “I want to give back How do I make that happen?”

That run very small businesses, or just one person like me.

Because we’re just not content to say,

“I’m going to wait until I have a million dollars” or

Whatever goal they have for themselves

And then start giving back.

They’re passionate about something right now.

So what can they do right now?

Richard Matthews
I’m a huge fan of the slice a portion of the profits and

Allocated towards something and

It doesn’t have to be big either. It can just be a portion

That makes a difference. And then it’s something that

It happens every time you make a sale.

So it’s not like it’s coming out of your pocket.

It’s something that you can just build into your business model.

And I really like that. And one of the things we put on

All of our stuff is where you shop matters.

And that’s got a little link to it and talks about

Here’s why where you shop matters.

And we use a little bit of storytelling, which as a copywriter,

I’m sure. Anytime you get a chance to tell a good story,

It always helps.

Kristi Porter
For sure. And I mean, the greatest –

We complain about a lot of things we don’t have control over.

But I mean, much like you just said,

The power that you have every day is your purchase power.

So, who are you supporting in that way, whenever.

And, we talked about voting and voting is great.

But it happens in cycles. And it happens at certain intervals

Where I go out and spend money daily at coffee shops,

Meeting with people or on shoes or clothes or something else.

So we have the power to choose where we want to put

Those dollars and who we want to see supported in that.

Richard Matthews
Absolutely. So I want to change gears a little bit

And talk about your origin story. Every hero has their origin story.

It’s where you started to realize that maybe

You were different that maybe had superpowers,

And maybe you could use them to help other people.

What started you on this sort of hero’s journey, so to speak,

Of becoming an entrepreneur and starting your, is it Signify?

Starting Signify.

Kristi Porter
And so I started here, I’m here in Atlanta.

And I started working at a boutique PR firm,

Not long after college. And I really enjoyed that.

We worked with a lot of restaurants.

And that was really fun and different in a really interesting,

Small business environment. And one day we had a journalist

That was supposed to write about our clients, one of our clients,

And they fell through at the last minute because they had

A death in the family. So I was, I’ve always been a writer

Since I was a kid. So they said,

“Can somebody at the firm?”

This is falling through but we still like to do this work

“Can somebody at your firm just handle the article.”

And so since I was basically the in-house writer

I ended up doing it turning it in. They liked it that led to more stories.

And as a kid, I thought about being a journalist for a hot minute,

But kind of moved on to other things. And then at that point,

When I started doing the freelancing and

Started working more for them, I thought,

People pay you to write words. And so at that point,

That was my first like, freelance opportunity.

And it was like, “This is fun, this is different.”

And I could do some more of this.

Extra money is a great thing on the side.

And it was kind of an ability to be able to flex those muscles

And continue writing and writing about different things

That I am – other than restaurants, which is fun,

And that’s primarily what I was doing.

But of course, we’re all multi-passionate individuals.

So I got to read some more lifestyle stuff in that way.

And so that was kind of a eye opening moment,

When I took that on. And continued doing that.

Worked for or freelance for a couple other magazines, here locally,

While I was at the PR firm, and then a couple of years after

I left there, it was really like I said,

It was a fun and different environment.

And people were like, “You’re always doing restaurant openings,”

And Atlanta’s a great food town and stuff like that.

So it was really fun and interesting. But at the end of the day,

It wasn’t really fulfilling to me as a person.

That’s where restaurant industry, it was sort of something

I fell into and wasn’t something I was super passionate about.

And I was like, “Well, this is really neat, but my weekend

Doesn’t live on and die on the fact that

Your happy hour sign was or was not delivered.”

And so it was just, it was something I wanted more of.

And so I left there and I became a freelance writer.

I did that for a couple of years there.

And they were still my primary client,

But I got to take on other work and meet other people

And do other kind of interesting things.

And through that process, and one of my friends worked for, or did,

The PR for an environmental foundation here.

And so I freelanced for a couple years and then she said,

“They’re actually looking for somebody in-house

To be the director of communications.”

And so I went and worked. I never worked at a foundation before.

Never worked in the environmental space. So that was really cool.

And I got to flex some new muscles and learn some different things.

And so did that for a couple years freelancing on the side, as well.

I’m just taking things by request and referral.

And then, I’m from there. My friend recruited me

To my last full time job, which was the director of

Event marketing for a Christian event and curriculum company.

So I was there for almost six years, again,

Freelancing on the side. I was volunteering a lot.

And volunteering for years and years and

Grew up going to church. So you were always volunteering,

Whether you signed up for it or not.

And, so I was working there and kind of had all these things going

And really love playing in all the different spaces.

And that’s when, in 2006, I got introduced

To the social justice community through

The issue of human trafficking.

And so my world just kind of stopped at that point.

Certainly knew there was lots of bad happening out there

But didn’t realize how massive everything was

And what was going on. And so I just kind of stopped

And started volunteering in a lot of that space

And putting really a lot of time and energy there.

And really wanted to play there more.

And so it was like I couldn’t do with a full time job

And the other freelancing and things I was doing,

But I really wanted to be in the social justice space more.

And then in 2012, was when I got introduced, really

To the social enterprise model of the intersection of

Cause and commerce. And so for example,

Like Toms or Warby Parker, or something like that, where –

Richard Matthews
I’m wearing Warby Parker

Kristi Porter
Oh, you are?

And so that sort of rocked my world again.

And so I was trying to figure out what to do next.

And I was in the PR industry and working with restaurants

Right as chefs started becoming rock stars and

We really kind of started thinking about all those shows

They started being on and really elevating that

Over the restaurant itself. And then,

I was in the environmental space when green

Really started taking off. And so got to learn those.

And then when I saw the social enterprise model,

I said, this is the next big thing.

I think this is where business is headed.

How can I be in this space because it was, I love nonprofits,

I’ve worked at nonprofits, there will always be nonprofits.

Most of my clients are nonprofits but the ability –

We were just talking about to not always ask for money

But to sell things that people wanted.

Really wanted and to be able to do good with that

Was just sort of revolutionary at the time.

And I thought this is where everything is headed.

And I really want to be in this space.

And so that was sort of the impetus of where all that came from

And then went back to all the people I’ve been volunteering for

And giving out free advice for and

Working with on the side as well as my employer and said,

“Hey, I think I want to go do this. What do you guys think?”

And so that was how I got all my first clients.

They were the people that had been with me

And kind of seen me and tested me and

Let me play in their space and

Were gracious to teach me along the way.

And so that was kind of the birth of Signify.

That was just over three years ago.

Richard Matthews
So you’ve got quite like a roller coaster past

Going all over the place in different areas.

Kristi Porter
I don’t know if I would have the best resume to be recruitable,

But it was a lot of fun.

At least, I can see how the thread ties together.

Richard Matthews
So I’m curious, how did the transition go from being an employee

To being a freelancer to running a company?

What was that like?

Kristi Porter
Chaotic. I asked a lot of people,

Who are much further along in business than me,

And you know, when am I going to stop feeling like

I’m flying by the seat of my pants and the universe?

Richard Matthews
Never.

Kristi Porter
Right. So I guess now I’m have at least tempered expectations that

That will never stop. But it was different because as a freelancer,

It’s just filling in the gaps for people and to a certain extent.

I still do that but I’m trying to build a business at the same time,

Which is a different mindset. So I feel like really,

The first year, you’re kind of just everything is being thrown at you,

And you’re making decisions all the time.

And decision fatigue is a real thing. And so you just sort of learn

To move through it and accept this new reality.

And then, in year two, I think you’re kind of becoming better

At your systems and processes and filling in the gaps

And really feeling like, at least it’s a little more understandable,

Even if it’s still a bit of a foreign world.

And then, I feel like this year and year three is when

I’m really starting to develop my model more and

Since I don’t sell lots of really small products like

Shoes or books or something like that, I have larger clients,

So it takes more data points to really be able

To look at the spectrum, as well. So I really feel

It’s taken to this year when I’m like,

“I really like working on this.

I don’t as much like working on this,”

And really being able to tell those now

That I’ve worked in it for a while.

And so it’s been, I am not I am always, like very clear to say

I’m a words girl not a numbers girl.

So even just learning that aspect of business

Has been something I’ve really been having

To struggle through in the last year and be like,

“Okay, I gotta get a handle on this because

It’s a crack in my foundation, and

I can’t let it get any bigger as I grow.”

Richard Matthews
So if you – Because my business is sort of like that, as well.

And where you think you’re at the end of year three,

Just wait till you hit like a year 10 you really like

To start hit your stride and you’re like,

I know what I’m doing and I know how to grow and

I like, you’ve got all the cracks settled in and you sort of like

Have an idea of what’s going on and you really start to

Rocket up there.

Kristi Porter
Okay. So another seven years to go.

Richard Matthews
Only another seven years of figuring it out.

But I just for one, I think that a lot of times,

Entrepreneurs, we vastly overestimate what we can do in a year.

And we vastly underestimate what we can do in 10.

And we don’t realize that, you’re not going to build something

Of significance in a year. You’re not going to do it in five,

It’s probably going to take you a decade

To build something of significance.

And as long as you have that, in your mindset,

You’re I’m going to put 10 good years into this.

And build something awesome.

Next 10, I think will grow wonderfully.

It helps with your expectations, I think at least, as well.

Kristi Porter
Once you kind of take the expectation of it’s just

A constant adventure to be on and kind of stop fighting

Against the wave to. I think that makes it

A little better to you and just surrounding yourself

With people that know better than you do.

Richard Matthews
So have you gotten to the point where

You’re starting to hire staff and scale that way, as well?

Kristi Porter
I haven’t. I hired contractors now and again for projects.

I’m one of those people, I haven’t read it yet,

But I’m really interested to rea -.

Gosh, I forgot the author all of a sudden,

That company of one book, because it is –

At this again in 10 years, seven years, whatever,

Things could change dramatically. But even as much as

I want to scale and grow,

I don’t have the desire to build my own agency.

I’ve worked in agencies and they’re fun and different,

But I even I’ve had interns and so I felt it was really important

To kind of help, shepherd a new generation of change makers

And give them experienced I know how

Exciting those experiences were for me

And to have somebody to be able to teach you along the way.

So I have used interns over the past few years.

But as far as employees, it’s just something –

Again, my mindset could change but right now,

it’s just not something I’m so interested in.

Even my interns, I only have them work five hours

Or 10 hours a week because I don’t want to have

To manage them all that much either.

I want to be able to do my own thing and kind of have

That more aspect of control at this point

We’ll see if that change. Right now, I’m happy with just one

And I, only for seeing it, just one.

Sort of like, I live in an apartment and now everybody’s like,

When are you going to get a house?

I’m like, I don’t really have a desire to own one.

Richard Matthews
I don’t have a house either.

I’ve got four kids and a wife and no house.

Kristi Porter
You don’t even you

Richard Matthews
Don’t even have my wifi. I mean, I do

But it doesn’t connect to anything because

There is no signal over there. But I totally get that.

I will submit that getting a VA will dramatically help your life

At some point may not be now but at some point.

And think of a more, like an assistant,

To help you get your stuff done.

And then like running an agency, like employee style thing,

But a VA is very helpful then you can get more things done.

Kristi Porter
So always a good thing, especially on that underestimating portion.

Richard Matthews
And you can, a VA can really fill in your gaps.

I’m like, for instance, I’m terrible at, like repetitive things

Are things that are very detail-oriented.

I’m definitely a big picture kind of guy.

And I’m like, okay, here’s all the big picture stuff.

And here’s the automation and here’s all the processes

That we’re going to have happen.

And then someone, like that it needs to happen.

And if I’m going to do it, I’m going to pull my eyeballs out.

So having having someone to help with implementation

Is really helpful for me at least. So I’m curious.

In the vein of the superheroes, we talk about superpowers.

So it’s what you do, or building or offer this world

That really helps solve problems for people,

Or the things you use to help slay this world’s villains, so to speak.

If you could narrow down and all the things that you do

For your clients, what you think your superpower is,

What would that be?

Kristi Porter
Writing has always been my superpower, even before

I was doing it full time. And, my friend said,

“If you have one word to describe yourself,

What would it be?” And ‘writer’ was it.

So that’s something that comes naturally to me

And just being able to put words to concepts.

And the other thing is just being able to look at things

Holistically and see, I think the reason a lot of people,

Including myself, and I’m sure you hire own consultants

And things, it’s just because you can’t see the forest or the trees.

And so being able to look at other people’s things holistically,

In order to kind of help cut the clutter and let them grow.

And scale is a really beautiful thing.

And then, just carrying one of my friends is like

Your marketer that cares. And it’s because so many people,

as I’m sure as you know,

Have such a bad connotation of marketing.

And so, keep in touch with all my clients and check in

On them periodically, even if we haven’t worked together

In a couple of years and stuff like that.

And I just, when I think of that, or when I think of something

And think of them and I see their way and just want

To make sure that they’re doing a great job.

And I’ve always been in the positions I’ve been in

Even at companies and things,

I’m usually the first person or one of the first people into the role.

And so being able to help something grow

From the ground up is really something I love as well,

Which is why I work I like working with small organizations too.

So I think that’s really fun and to be a champion in their corner.

Richard Matthews
So my question has to do with the writing.

So writing for those of us who are uninitiated, who aren’t writers,

Writing comes in lots of different flavors.

The skills it takes to be a good copywriter

Are different than you know,

Being someone who can write a good article or

Critique piece or tell a story. I those are all they’re all like –

They’re slightly different skills.

And I’m curious how much of your writings skill

Do you think was natural?

And how much of it had to be developed

In certain areas to run a business?

Kristi Porter
And that’s a great question.

I’ve always been somebody who could tell a good story.

So, way back in the dark ages,

Before we had social media and everything,

I had my own newsletter when something interesting would happen

Or I would take a really cool trip or whatever,

I had a newsletter that would go out to friends and family called

Porter Perspectives. So, I’d send that out.

So people would always respond back like,

“You’re such a good storyteller. I felt like I was there with you.”

So I felt like that’s something that’s always stuck with me.

And luckily, that is in vogue right now.

And so I’ve been able to carry that through.

And then, even when I worked at the PR firm,

A lot of people, otherwise at the agency had journalism or

Public relations or something and a specific degree

To go with that where I had more of a

General business communications degree,

But I was still strong writer. And so, my boss at the time

Was very kind and considerate to encourage my style of writing,

Even though it looks different from a lot of the other

Just factual writing that was out there.

And so when you compared my press releases with someone else’s,

Mine were a little more colorful, they were a little more storytelling.

They weren’t just like, Happy Hour’s this time, show up.

There’s free appetizers –

Richard Matthews
You’re a fan of active voice writing, aren’t you?

Kristi Porter
I am. So all of that translated well, and she really helped,

Really, let me keep that intact when she could have pushed me

In a more journalistic standpoint. But she liked my writing.

And so, my motto with writing has always been,

I don’t want to write anything I wouldn’t want to read again.

And so, I’m not the person who’s going to write text books

And things that are along those lines.

That takes a different skill set that I don’t have,

And it’s something that I’m just not interested in,

so I wouldn’t be very good at it.

So, I think when it came to copywriting, it was just –

I ended up in all these different environments.

In my career path, I ended up in all these different environments.

As we went through my repertoire of randomness

And so there was the ability to change and adapt

Versus taking their brand voice and figuring out

What key messages needed to say and

How those can be made relevant to the person reading it.

And figuring out that adaptability that I learned

At PR agency that I took with me into these other various fields

Just always seemed to serve me well. So for me,

It’s actually, even though I try and always keep in touch

With what’s happening in copywriting or

What’s changing or even just sentence structures,

How everything is much shorter paragraphs on the web now,

Than it used to be things like that. I try and keep up

With those techniques.

But really, it’s been a very intuitive process for me

Because I have been a writer for so long.

It doesn’t … me the way it does some people.

Richard Matthews
So, this is a really interesting discussion for me

Because I think communication and writing

Is one of the most essential skills that we have,

As a business owner and –

Kristi Porter
YouTube video …

Richard Matthews
Writing is good. And even when it comes to getting on stage

And speaking or putting videos together,

A lot of that is going to start with learning how to write.

Kristi Porter
Yeah.

Richard Matthews
And my 80/20 great writing, even in – especially in copywriting,

It’s copywriting where you’re going to convince someone

To do something, is two things, curious to find if

You just do this naturally or for something that

You have to work on.

And the first one is the first person versus second person.

So we tend to naturally because we like to talk about ourselves,

When we write we like to say ‘I’ and ‘me’ and ‘we’

And that kind of stuff, when we refer to ourselves in our writing.

And so, I’ll encourage my clients when they write something,

It’s just take your paper after you’re done and

Find every single time that you’ve written the word

‘I’ or ‘me’ or ‘we’ or whatever, anything that includes you in it,

Encircle it, and then do the same thing in a different color

Every time you talk about the customer, ‘You’ –

And that kind of stuff encircle them and

The one that says ‘You’ should be bigger.

There should be more of the other person.

And we make that mistake a lot. So that one’s really big.

And the other one is the active voice versus passive voice.

And it’s a very nuanced skill.

And I don’t think a lot of people naturally – right away

Because it’s something you have to learn to do

Unless you’re just a natural writer, like sounds like you are.

But that’s the whole the am, be, being, was –

Anytime you have those verbs,

Those are stationary verbs. The table is oak. It is big.

There was a big table. There’s no motion there.

And when it comes to copywriting,

You’re trying to get someone to take action.

And so, if all the verbs you’re using are not in motion

Then your not going to get the person,

Who’s reading them, to take like take motion.

So always go through this, after you’ve gone through and done

The first person to second person writing

Is go through and take all of your sentences and move them

From the passive voice into the active voice and

You’ll be surprised how much just those two things

If you learn to master those two things,

You’ll become a better copywriter than most copywriters.

Kristi Porter
And I think, along those lines, I think that’s one

Of the most interesting shifts in the last few years

That we’ve seen for like for example, about pages.

And how to bring the reader into your About Page.

It used to be remember About Page was just

A copy and pasted mission statement from a business plan or

It was just entirely about you. But everything, just to your point.

Everything is so customer facing now. It’s about the reader.

It’s about how they come into your story.

It’s about how they participate and come along,

And especially in my industry where you want people

To be either donating or buying something that has

Some sort of social impact, like they’re doing it

To also feel better about themselves and things.

So they really need to see themselves in your story and

How they fit in and how their mission

Doesn’t succeed without the reader.

And so that’s a common shift

I keep having to push people back on.

It’s like, even your About Page isn’t about you anymore.

I mean, you’re certainly in there. But you’re doing that same shift.

It’s really about us, this journey that we’re on together,

And here’s how we overlap and intersect and

Here’s what our journey looks like and

It may come through in these services and products

And everything like that, but really,

This whole thing is about us and I think that’s been

Such a really unique and interesting shift

In the last few years as far as copywriting, and it’s really fun.

Richard Matthews
Are you a fan of Orson Scott Card?

Kristi Porter
I don’t know who that is?

Richard Matthews
So, Orson Scott Card is the author of Ender’s Game,

Which is, I believe today still,

It’s the most successful sci-fi novel in history.

It sells out it’s printing every year and has since 1978.

So really, really good. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it.

Is at the end of the book, he has a chapter that he writes,

That’s not in the story. It’s just him pontificating about life.

And he’s a really successful author, and I liked what he thinks.

But one of the things he does in all of his books

And one of the things he says in his books is that

Writing a story is only writing half a story.

So you write half of the story,

And then the reader reads the story.

And in their head, you end up with the full story.

Like it’s not realized until someone reads it.

And I think one of the mistakes that we make in businesses

Is we don’t realize that we only have like –

You can only build half a business.

Until someone buy something and engages with your product

And does something with you, then that’s when

You actually you have a business.

It becomes realized when the customer is part of it.

And I think what’s happening is, copywriting is storytelling

Is just catching up with the reality.

Like the reality is that it is about us.

It’s about the relationship between you and the customer.

And making that sort of part of what we’re doing.

Kristi Porter
Because again, I think that’s part of the differentiating factor of –

We have so many options now. You can go anywhere,

Search Amazon, go to the grocery store anything you need,

You have so many options. So if I have, if I can find a brand

That speaks to me and relates to me, and like, I feel like

I know them and understand them, and I fit in with them.

Whether it’s one aspect or if they’re small,

And you know the founder and stuff like that,

Then those are always going to be the ones

That appeal to you over just the

General run off the mill, every day thing.

Richard Matthews
That reminds me, for whatever reason, of –

My favorite modern statistic is that –

King Louie, I think it’s like 250, maybe 300 years ago,

He was the King of France, and he’s famous

For being the king who, every night for dinner

Would bring in 50 chefs and have 50 different meals

Prepared every night. So 50 different meals.

And they say, today, a single mom on food stamps,

When she goes to the grocery store has more options

Than King Louie did at dinner every night.

Kristi Porter
Wow.

Richard Matthews
Just to see, how capitalism has sort of raised everyone out of poverty.

But to your point, we have so many options.

It doesn’t matter where you fall on the spectrum,

You have so many options. And we can choose the businesses

That we’re working with and I said it,

That’s really what what makes the difference.

So we move on and flip over to the other side of superpower strengths.

So if your superpower is writing, the fatal flaw is the other side.

It’s the other side of your superpower.

Just like Superman had his Kryptonite,

Your fatal flaw, something that you have struggled with

In growing your business and I’m curious,

What do you think that is and

What have you been doing to combat it so that other people

Who might suffer from something similarly

Can learn from your experience?

Kristi Porter
Just one thing, I feel like I need to stretch out on a couch.

I think when I live inside my head a lot and

So just getting caught up in that cycle,

I don’t know if you’re familiar with the Enneagram? I’m a four.

And so we’re all feelings, and all internalized and,

So that gets me a lot. And I will go zero to 60 in 30 seconds

When I think about something and

I’m already off to the races with it.

And so, I get caught in that a lot, especially if it’s a bad day.

And so that has been a problem with me.

Especially working on my couch all the time just by myself.

So it’s really easy to internalize and

There’s no one there to talk you off the metaphorical ledge

And be like, “You know it’s not a big deal,”

And I’m like, “But it feels like a big deal.”

And because I live in my feelings.

And so that has been one.

And the other, which I didn’t even really know,

This was a thing for me until about a year ago,

Speaks to a little bit of something I already mentioned,

But just money and my money mindset.

And I didn’t know I had issues with money before.

And so I read, You Are a Badass at Making Money, last summer.

And it was really fun and different. And like in that I heard,

I was also listening to a podcast that I listened to at the time,

They were actually, they got me interested in the book

Because they were sort of doing their review of it.

And they were talking about their own money mindsets,

And just things that have happened to them and

How a lot of that is solidified when you’re small

And things like that. And I was like,

“I didn’t even know that was a problem for me.”

Recognized I had issues one way or another with money,

But didn’t really know that how I was still stuck in them and

How they were affecting me and the conversations

That I heard and did here as a kid, and even just

The people you surround yourself with

And the way they talk about money or other entrepreneurs,

As you become an entrepreneur and kind of

Go down that journey, you learn and you meet more people

In that space. But when I first started,

I didn’t have a lot of entrepreneurial friends.

So even just the ways that people consciously and

Unconsciously communicate about money,

I just didn’t know that was a thing for me

Until they started talking about their own issues.

And I was like, “That’s an issue? I have that too.”

And that was one thing too. I feel like I’ve been working on that

A lot over the past year and just sort of trying to deal

With my own issues about that. I mean,

Even on my business cards and on my website,

I’m the Chief Do-Gooder, when you start your own business,

You get to make up your own title and

So Chief Do-Gooder as mine.

And so, it was like money was always a means to an end for me.

It wasn’t something that you held on to.

It was, you held on to it long enough to get rid of it

And it goes somewhere else.

And so learned just from that perspective.

So really, I’ve done a lot of work on that over the past year

And still have a long way to go. But I would say,

Living inside my head and the money thing are two of my kryptonite.

Richard Matthews
Money is really an interesting one too,

Because I don’t think it ever goes away.

You just change which problems you’re currently dealing with.

Because I know, early in my business, my problem with money was,

I didn’t think I was worthy of it. And so, you’re like,

I’m doing good services and doing things for people.

And I would charge them nothing for it, like pennies,

Like not even enough to feed my family, kind of thing.

And it doesn’t do great for growing your business.

Kristi Porter
Sounds crazy but yeah.

Richard Matthews
So you get over that and you start realizing

You need to charge what you’re worth.

And then you start getting good at those things.

And you get to a point where

You’re making good money and you’re like “Oh!”

And then, you’re like I’ve got these financial goals

And I’m going to hit them and then you realize

You get to a certain point, you’re like,

“I don’t really need that money.”

So, now I have to find another motivation for other things.

I feel like it just changes, wherever you’re at, in your business.

Your relationship with money,

It’s always going to be a thing you have to work on.

Kristi Porter
Because especially, if you’re continually having –

if a business continues to grow and scale,

Which we hope it all does, you could be reaching

New levels of money that you’ve never been around in your life.

So what … it’s like, all the statistics around,

So many people that win the lottery and

Then end up poor again, because you just don’t have

Any concept of what that actually … do with it.

I wish I had that problem, but we’ll see.

Richard Matthews
They say before you win the lottery,

You have money problems after you win the lottery.

You have money management problems.

Kristi Porter
Totally.

I completely agree with that.

It’s so interesting on so many levels.

Richard Matthews
So you know, I’m just, I’m still – not to discourage you,

But I think that’s always gonna be a thing you deal with

Because I’m still dealing with it. Every time I hit

A new revenue level in my business and I’m like,

I’ve gotten to a point now where my revenue levels,

My business earn more than anything any of my family members

Have ever had, which is like, I just have to figure it out, which is cool.

But at the same time you’re like, I don’t really know

How to deal with it and what to do with it.

So you’re just learning as you go

Kristi Porter
… Charging what you’re worth, it’s a great statement.

Richard Matthews
And picking things up. And, you know –

Kristi Porter
But if you have worthiness issues or

Don’t know anything about pricing or anything of that,

Then charging what you’re worth

Could be practically nothing, as well.

It’s sort of all relative, again, trying to figure out –

Richard Matthews
That’s one of those things too that I struggled with

It’s like and I think a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with this.

Charging what you’re worth is,

You have to actually be worth something.

Like, you have to be worth charging for.

So you have to develop a skill set.

Like, listening to your story,

You spent a number of years developing skill set.

So you’re actually worthy of charging for the skills

That you’ve developed over the years.

And I think, a mistake I see happen a lot in this-

Particularly in our space, in the agency space

And stuff like that, where people are like,

I want to start an agency and I’m going to run, just as an example,

Facebook ads, and I’m just gonna go out and start running

Facebook ads for companies and what should I charge for it?

And they’re like, “Well, do you know how to run a Facebook ad?”

“No, not yet.” It’s like, “Well, then maybe you should learn that first.”

Kristi Porter
For sure.

It’s also sometimes hard to charge

For things that come so easily to you

Or that you can do quickly or that you have fun with.

We also have this idea that and this is another thing

I still struggle with as well, that work should be hard

And it should be, I’m charging because of the effort

And the exhaustion and all of that whenever –

It’s harder sometime, I think, we just overlook our own gifts. So –

Richard Matthews
Why if you didn’t break a sweat, you can’t charge for it.

Kristi Porter
I did this in an hour. I heard a guy at a conference

Speaking recently and he was like,

“I just got paid for a consulting hour, it was like $700.”

And he said, “Oh, I realized in the first like, 30 seconds

What his problem was, and had it fixed in like two minutes.”

And he was like, “Oh, well, we still have all this time left.

So what do you want to talk about?”

And he was like –

The guy was like, “That’s all I needed?”

Richard Matthews
We’re good.

Kristi Porter
“Send me the invoice.” The guy was like,

“But I was only with you for two minutes of the 60.”

And the guy was like, “I know but you fixed the problem.”

The guy was begging him for an invoice and

He could not figure out how to turn it over.

Because it was so easy. And he figured it out and it didn’t take –

Richard Matthews
What I tell people is when you hear yourself saying,

“Wow, that was easy.” That’s an indication that

You’re in your zone of genius. And that’s the stuff you should be doing.

Because other people will pay for that.

Because it comes easy to you, chances are

It doesn’t come easy to someone.

Definitely that’s where you can come in and make a difference for them.

Kristi Porter
Absolutely.

Richard Matthews
Cool. So let’s talk about your common enemy.

So a common enemy is, just in terms of your clients.

So if you could, someone hires you and brings you on,

If you could wave your magic wand and remove one thing

From your clients life that you know is holding them back,

Holding back your relationship,

Holding back the results you can get for them.

What do you think that is something

That you run into regularly that you wish you could just make go away?

Kristi Porter
I think part of it is just the – what is marketing mindset or

Having such a negative connotation with it?

I don’t want people coming to me because it’s something

They really dislike doing.

And that’s why a lot of people come to you

Because either it’s confusing or

They don’t like doing it or they don’t understand it,

And it feels manipulative, and so I’m getting past that hurdle.

I think it’s just one thing.

The other thing of that

Is just making it understandable and actually executable.

So somebody probably, also or whatever

They’ve been reading or learning, or

However they picked up the information.

They also thought it had to be super complicated.

So, like I said, I work with a lot of really small organizations.

So they have every social media account under the sun

And all the blogs, and all the things,

And there’s just like 1900 moving pieces to their strategy.

When I’m like, “Well, why don’t you just do these things,

This is what you like doing. This is what you can put on hold.

This is what somebody else can take care of.”

And so really just helped simplifying.

And I actually did an audit with a client today and

Streamline was the name of the game.

They were like, everything just –

There’s so much it’s just exploding everywhere.

We have all these media channels. We have all these documents.

We have all this stuff, and it’s confusing our people and

It’s confusing us in-house and

So neither one of those is a good thing.

So somewhere along the way, we just you know,

We always think more is better or in the marketing world

Somebody told them or

They read a book by somebody super successful,

Said they needed to be on YouTube,

But they absolutely can’t stand video.

And so now it’s just this hurdle that they feel like

They have to overcome.

And why would I make somebody do something

That they just will hate doing?

Those are kind of the two sides of that coin for marketing in them.

Richard Matthews
Marketing is an interesting thing.

Because you have the people who think of marketing,

Like used car salesman.

Kristi Porter
Yeah.

Richard Matthews
And marketing is – it’s a sanitized term for persuasion.

And persuasion is a neutral tool.

You can use that for good or evil. That’s where you get,

You can either persuade people for your own benefit,

And that is manipulation or for their benefit,

And that’s leadership. And I think the struggle

A lot of people have is they think marketing,

That it’s capable of being used for manipulation.

So they don’t like it at all without realizing that

The tool itself is neutral and it’s what you do with it.

That makes a difference.

And that mindset that you have to work on

Overcoming with your clients is that marketing is a neutral tool.

And you can use it as particularly,

When you’re working with organizations

That are like, we were cause focused

And we want to do good things.

And they think in their head marketing equals manipulation,

You’re like, “We have to break that because that’s not true.”

Marketing can be leadership. You can help other people with it.

And you have to do good marketing,

If you want to change lives for the better.

So like, I can totally see how that’s

A thing that you would run into a lot.

Kristi Porter
Especially in the nonprofit world for sure.

Richard Matthews
Yeah.

Kristi Porter
You know, we’re at our wits end.

We’re ready to start marketing and I’m like,

“Well surprise! You’re already marketing.

Let’s talk about how to get better.”

Richard Matthews
And the complexity thing is definitely a –

Particularly today, I think, probably more so than ever before.

If you go back like 30 years ago, it was like,

The Yellow Pages and the newspaper and that was it.

And unless you were a big multinational company.

You couldn’t afford TV or radio.

So but like nowadays, there’s like a bajillion channels.

And it’s like, every other day, there’s new ones.

Like, what is it? TikTok … all the time.

And I don’t even know what it is. It’s some sort of small little app.

I shouldn’t say that. I know what TikTok is, but it’s the –

It’s got access to millions of people.

And it just showed up a little while ago.

And you have to like, figure out and choose

Where are the places that a make sense from business?

And makes sense to put time and effort in, as a business owner,

As a nonprofit, to actually like, get my information out.

I think when it comes to simplifying the conversations

I have all the time with my clients is like,

“Where are your people?”

Because that’s what matters more, it’s not which …

… Or being on all the networks.

I’m curious, do you think –

If the problem is sometimes, they don’t know

Who their people are or where they are.

So they’re be everywhere. People are so –

We just talked to everyone, then eventually our people will hear us.

So what are your thoughts on –

Kristi Porter
It’s just so hard to narrow an audience to –

Especially when you’re, for anybody really,

But especially in a … when you’re thinking

But everybody needs to help.

Everybody needs to care about this issue, or

This is doing something good.

Why wouldn’t everybody want to be a part of this?

It was last year, I was at a conference and I met a woman

Or I was over, I was listening to a conversation of a woman who was,

They were sitting next to me and somebody said something

The talk had just finished about knowing your audience and

Everything and she said, “Okay, I’ve been working on my audience.”

Like she’s really building up to this. And she was like,

“I’ve narrowed it down – its women.”

And that was like where she had narrowed it to and

That was sort of the stopping point for the moment.

And she was going to go back and think about it after that.

Who it could be because she’s –

And she’s felt fairly certain it was women.

And so she’d narrowed it to you know that.

That was the stopping point for that.

And so, it’s so hard to think about excluding somebody

From something that we care so deeply about,

And so passionate. So trying to think this isn’t for somebody

Is really hard to wrap your mind around to begin with.

And then it just sort of goes from there.

Richard Matthews
Yeah.

Bless her heart. I hope she’s figured it out by now.

You have to work on learning to exclude people.

And that exercise of learning who to exclude and

Who you’re talking to actually broadens your audience.

I went to Bible college, so got preacher training

And one of the things they taught us in preacher training

Was to speak to an individual.

You talk to one person in the audience.

And it was just like a technique for learning how to talk in a –

To a large group of people is – you’re still –

You’re only ever talking to one person.

Doesn’t matter how many people are in the room,

You’re talking to one person.

And they proved it in an exercise we did is like

If you look into an audience of people, and you ask one person,

You look in their eyes and you ask them a question.

Don’t have them answer, but then just ask the audience

Who did I ask that question to?

The person you were looking at,

And a whole circle of people around them all raisee their hand,

“You were talking to me.”

And if you repeat the exercise, and you look between two peoples,

You’re not actually looking at anyone and you ask the question,

And then ask the audience who you ask the question to,

Nobody will raise their hand.

Because you weren’t actually speaking to someone.

So if you don’t know who you’re talking to,

If you’re not speaking to an individual,

Then you’re not going to get anyone.

You’re not going to be speaking to anyone.

So you have to pick your person.

And that actually is what’s going to allow you

To have an audience.

Kristi Porter
I agree, completely. It’s hard work, but it’s got to be done.

And, I think that’s probably another reason

A lot of people don’t make it, is they haven’t really defined

Who they’re talking to or even, you know –

In my space and in your space, even as service providers,

It’s also like, much like you asked at the very beginning of this,

Who comes to you? Why do they come to you?

And so I have other people that I know that are

Great graphic designers or copywriters, or something like that,

But they don’t have any sort of specialty.

And so if somebody needs a copywriter

They might get referred that way, but by and large,

Sometimes I’m like, I still don’t know who to refer you to.

And so, it’s so important to be known in your space

For what you want to do and be known for doing that well.

Like I said, I’m not somebody who’s like,

“Oh, I need a textbook writte,” then, “I’m not the gal for you.”

I’ll help you find somebody that is,

But that’s not my area of expertise.

And that’s not why somebody comes to me and

Wouldn’t you want somebody that does that?

And does that well, rather than me that can write well.

Richard Matthews
That’s a really cool point too.

I’s like when you get known for something and

You know who your person is,

Then you become a really easy person to refer to.

So like, I don’t have anyone in my network now other until today

That I could refer nonprofit marketing work to.

It would just be – and then I’ve had a couple of come to me

And they’re like, “I want to do this kind of work.”

And I’m like, “I don’t know anyone.”

They’re like, “Can’t we just do general stuff?”

I’m like, “The kind of stuff that I do is very direct response.”

And I know for a fact because we’ve tried it

That a lot of your nonprofits if you get into like

Hardcore, direct response, take action now, kind of thing,

Your audience just shuts off. It’s not my thing. So it’s cool.

When you’re known for something, it’s easier to refer and

I got a friend of mine who works in the real estate space.

And he’s like one of the number one marketers

For real estate agents. Really easy to refer business to.

Every time someone’s like, “I got a real estate company,

I’m trying to grow this.” I’m like, “I know the guy you need to talk to.”

I’m talking to this guy, really easy, versus the person who’s like,

“I just help people with marketing.”

Like, “Okay, well, lots of people do that.”

Kristi Porter
There’s so many facets to it, or I was having a –

One of my friends is starting a business and

It’s really cool business. And I think it’s going to do really well.

And the first idea he came to me for,

It was a narrowly defined audience, still,

Narrowly defined, but still lots and lots of people.

And then when he sent me like his –

He had written like a sample newsletter and some other things.

And he was like, “What do you think?”

And so just a couple of weeks later,

It wasn’t directed at that audience.

It was at a much broader scope for so –

It’s a very small subset of like health and fitness.

And so, whenever he revised everything,

It was just written to health and fitness.

And I was like, “This is cool.

But it’s not written to this audience anymore.”

And now you just open yourself up

To a million competitors where hardly anybody

Was competing with you in this other space.

You could really make a name for yourself

Over here and there’s still a huge market for it.

Nobody’s feeling that market. If you go

In this direction, then you’re just competing

Against lots and lots of—

Richard Matthews
Everyone.

Kristi Porter
Having to gain market share.

That will be years and years of work.

Richard Matthews
Absolutely. If your common enemy

Is the thing you fight against. Your driving force

Is the thing that you fight for. Spider Man

Fights for New York. Batman fights for Gotham.

Google fights to index all the world’s information

For us. What is it that you fight for with your company?

Kristi Porter
I fight to be a voice for the little guys

In the cause space. I’ve always been a fan

Of small businesses. I love working

With the big guys. They’re lots of fun too.

It’s really cool when you get to work

With Hero organizations and everything.

But my stance I’ve always worked in and for

Small nonprofits and for profits.

My kind of stance has always been

From starting Signify. Part of the reason

I wanted to do that was that there’s lots

Of cause-marketing agencies. There’s lots

Of general marketing agencies

That will work with huge organizations,

But nobody was really fighting for the little guy,

And that’s who I really wanted to help.

Because those are the businesses I love.

They’re the people I know. Signify was really

A way for me to professionally support

The people in causes I was already supporting

Personally. I thought, if nobody helps them

On the front end. They can’t get their marketing

And communications. They can’t—

One of my stances is you don’t have to be

A big organization to look and sound professional.

If somebody is donating to you

Or buying something from you,

Then they still have to look professional,

Whether they’re doing 100 grand a year

Or 2 million grand or 2 million a year. It’s always

You can still really level the playing field

With words which I like that as well. I thought

If nobody helps them on the front end,

Then how will they ever get to be

One of the big guys? That’s where

Signify has always stood.

Richard Matthews
I call those unconscious trust signals.

The things like their words, their typography,

Their pictures, and their colors.

Those four things. If you can nail those,

You can look like a multimillion dollar

Business. If you’re using them consistently

In your marketing and your branding,

And all the things that you’re putting out

To the world you can compete on a playing field

That you couldn’t have competed on

In the past. It’s interesting, it takes skill set

To do that. A lot of business owners are:

They just want to do the thing that they do

Or help the cause that they help.

That’s where you can come in and be like,

“I can help you. Put you on a playing field

And be able to compete there, where

You might not be able to otherwise.”

That’s really cool.

Kristi Porter
It’s amazing to me that you can

Go through and get entire nonprofit degrees

Or go through school for nonprofit management

Or something like that. And they never teach you

Anything about marketing. You may learn

Some fundraising skills along the way.

But so much of that is still left out.

A lot of them just don’t have some of these basics,

That some of the rest of us would consider

Starting from and they just—you don’t know

What you don’t know until you get there.

I’m trying to be there for them on the front end.

Richard Matthews
I, for the life of me, don’t understand

Why every business degree

Or anything that even is associated with businesses

Isn’t taught basics. What’s the call to action?

You should know what a call to action is.

If you have a degree in anything related to business.

Kristi Porter
That’s another reason it’s fun to have interns

And stuff too. It’s also hard to turn a ship

That big at universities and things.

There’s just little things that I take for granted

That I learned all that—that even

Just like I mentioned before, just the paragraph size

And email newsletters on websites

And things like that. I get these initial writing samples

From interns, and they’re just these huge paragraphs

And chunky and they’re just jargon and all of this stuff.

So, I’m even teaching them to be more marketable

Themselves on the front end, at the beginning

Of their career, too. It’s a lot of—

Richard Matthews
Learning how to break paragraphs,

Shorter sentences, physically shorter. If you hit

Get 37-40 characters across break to a new line.

You got to take the jargon and put it

Into what is it like third or fifth grade reading level

For the most part. And it sounds like

That would be easy to do. It’s really not.

It’s harder to be brief and simple,

Than it is to be long and verbose.

Kristi Porter
I was actually telling a graphic designer friend

About that the other day. There are multiple times

When I’ve read through entire websites

And didn’t know what they did. I would have

To click over to Twitter and to their Twitter bio,

Because when they only had a few characters,

They could explain it succinctly. Yet I was reading

Their entire websites not clear on what they did at all.

Richard Matthews
Absolutely. It is. It’s a big problem

That marketing people have. I want to move on

Just a little bit and talk about something

Really practical. I call this the heroes tool belt.

Maybe you have a big magical hammer

Like Thor. Or a bulletproof vest like

Your neighborhood police officer. Maybe,

You just really liked the way Evernote

Helps you organize everything. What are some

Of the practical tools you use on an everyday basis

To actually deliver the work that you do

For your clients. Whether that’s client

Management or the product deliver be delivered—

What am I saying. The deliverables

That you actually give to your clients

Like some of the tools you use on everyday basis

To make your business run.

Kristi Porter
G Suite.

Richard Matthews
Absolutely, I love that place.

Kristi Porter
….be in big trouble.

Just close my doors and sit in the dark,

I think. G Suite. Everything lives

In Google Drive or Dropbox for a lot of that.

Asana is sort of my right arm. I use Asana

All day every day for just managing tasks.

That’s also how I manage my interns

And it’s a great free tool. I use that a lot.

I use things like HelloSign for email signatures

And contracts because who on earth

Still thinks it’s a great idea to scan

And send documents back and forth?

I don’t know when there’s—

Richard Matthews
I have no idea.

That’s the worst.

Kristi Porter
It’s the worst and those are some

Of my favorites. Evernote.

You mentioned Evernote,

I keep everything in Evernote.

Richard Matthews
My favorite thing about G Suite, I like.

I actually don’t even know how other people

Deal with this. Especially with writing stuff,

Because we do a lot of copywriting in our agency,

We’re like emails and home pages and

About pages and product copywriting.

The old way of doing it was you have

A Word document. Then, you’re going to ship

This word document to four different people,

And they’re all going to make comments on.

You’re going to get them all back

And someone’s have to figure out which

Goes where. Before they end up the one document,

You’re ready to mind explode.

Kristi Porter
You need to get your edits in time.

Then you’re submitting a second.

Somebody’s sending you a completely different

Version that’s not up to date.

Richard Matthews
And then it gets lost. There’s like

Fifteen different versions. And this is just

One document, let alone four or five

Different documents spread across 15 different clients.

We’re like 50 documents in. For me,

It’s like, the Google Drive document, it’s the document

And everyone can work in the one document

And it never changes and you don’t send documents

Like, “Here’s the link, edited in here, do the things

Anywhere you just send them the link.

That you need to do. If you have comments,

Put them in there, we’ll work on it.”

That was life-changing for us. We’ve been using

Google Documents since it came out.

Like, 10 years ago. I don’t know, that’s one

Of my hero tools. I’m with you

G Suite, Google Drive. It’s like the best.

Kristi Porter
….Google Voice just so

I don’t have to give out my cell phone number

A lot of times to people so that’s my office line.

Richard Matthews
I do the same thing. I tell people

My Google Voice number. I secretly call it

My whore number. Because I will whore it out

To anyone it doesn’t matter who or what.

If you want a phone number you’re getting

My Google Voice number because

It has office hours and I can filter it. Set up rules.

Kristi Porter
…Messages to email which is just so lovely.

Richard Matthews
I just get those things and then you can—

The only people who have

My cell phone number, are family and clients.

Kristi Porter
For me who works from home. I have a P.O. box.

I have Google Voice so I don’t have to constantly

Give out my personal details. Makes it great

From that standpoint as well.

And Canva. Another one I can’t live without.

Richard Matthews
I like Canva. I don’t use it much because I grew up

In Photoshop. The other ones and I have

Certifications in those apps. I’m really

Comfortable with them. I definitely have

Started putting things into Canva

For the same reason that you use Google Drive.

It’s because if it’s in Canva, they can log in

And look at it. And we can make changes

And do other things. Because we send them

A Photoshop document. They can’t open it.

Kristi Porter
How to open it or where the buttons are

Or anything else. It’s been many years

Since I use the Adobe Suite. And so I didn’t really

Keep up with that after a number of years.

Especially when I moved into just PR

And marketing and that wasn’t—

Richard Matthews
It wasn’t a thing you did all the time.

Kristi Porter
Yeah. So, Canva’s been great.

All the tools that we have

Available to us. That’s why I’m like,

It’s so easy to look and sound professional.

How are things, like say, it looks like I have

This big team over here. I’m like, “It’s just me

And my interns.” I use the term we

Because it’s me and my interns but…

Richard Matthews
….for interns.

Kristi Porter
I don’t I use either personal connections or

https://www.internships.com/ or https://www.handshake.com/

Richard Matthews
Have you heard of Jenna M is wonderful

For interns, we’ve used it a couple of times.

But you you hire an intern for a couple of months.

I can’t remember how it works. But anyways,

It’s worth looking into Jenna M for interns stuff,

Since you use them regularly.

Speaker
Music is by Purple Planet Music.

Visit https://www.purple-planet.com/

Richard Matthews
And here is your own personal heroes. Frodo had Gandalf.

Luke had Obi Wan Kanobi. Robert Kiyosaki had

His Rich Dad. Who were some of your heroes?

Were they real life mentors, speakers, or authors,

Peers who are just a couple of years ahead of you?

And how important were they

To what you have so far with your organization?

Kristi Porter
Probably a lot of people that you’ve never heard of,

Because they’re just my own personal heroes.

One of the common pieces of advice

I give, and something I’ve been lucky enough

To have myself, is to have mentors; for more

Than a decade now. I think that’s super important.

To have somebody who speaks into you

From that standpoint and can give you feedback

And guidance and somebody else to tell you

What you’re worth, sometimes. There’s a lot

Of my heroes are just the people who have

Said yes to investing in me personally

Over the years as either personal

Mentors; professional mentors,

That kind of thing. A lot of my heroes are

Just the people that the whole—handful up

To 10 or a dozen people that I started

My business for. I started with them in mind

For even when I write my own content

And everything, and thinking about audience,

It’s really easy to think about who

My audience is because I knew them.

They were the people that I started

My business for. I picture them in my mind

When I’m writing things. When I have

The discussions with people, and

A lot of my content is based on recent discussions

I’ve had with somebody and if they have

This question somebody else does. Those people

Who are working on a very small scale,

Trying to solve very big problems and trying

To push those rocks up a hill, those are a lot

Of my heroes. I think, probably some of the—

A lot of authors. I love to read. I usually listen

To books because I’m a very slow reader.

A lot of my heroes and I go to like, if somebody

Would just pay me to go to conferences,

I would also be a very happy person.

One of my heroes are just people that I go

To conferences and listen to. Atlanta is a great

Conference town. Reading books and going

To conferences and listening to people speak

And so a lot of those people who are on stages

To…been many of those people

Over a year. I used to have

A very long commute. It was over an hour each way

At my last job. I would get through 50

Audio books a year.

Richard Matthews
That’s awesome. I am a fan of audiobooks as well.

Mostly it’s my son’s fault because he really—

What do you call it? Him and I are both

Auditory learners. And it never dawned on me

That you could listen to books because I’m also

A pretty good reader, but my son was like, “Wait.

There’s audio books. I’m never reading

Another word in my life.”

Kristi Porter
I had to train myself to be, but

It was a matter of I really wanted to learn

But I wasn’t taking the time to read

Because I just frankly don’t enjoy it very much

And I’m slow at it, and probably have

Some slight dyslexia or something.

It was like, “Well, if I want to learn, then

This is the way it’s going to happen.” I had

To train my brain to pick it up a little bit better

Than probably I normally would,

Because I would normally be more of a visual

Person but it was a great way to make it happen.

Richard Matthews
My son will pick up—he’s still into the fictions—

He’ll pick up a fiction book and listen to it

On his iPod. I mean, everywhere his headphones.

After the sixth run through of all eight

Harry Potter books, I was like,

“You’re gonna have to get a new book son

Because I really like Harry Potter

And you’re ruining it by listening to it on repeat.”

Kristi Porter
…the greatest audio books in history.

Richard Matthews
I got him a subscription to Audible

For Christmas just last year so he gets a new book

Every month from Audible. I tell him it was for him

But really was for me because I want him

To stop listening to the same couple

Of books on repeat. Now, I get to hear

New stuff that he’s listening to

Around the house.

Kristi Porter
Absolutely.

Richard Matthews
Cool. So, last question. I want to bring it home

For our listeners a little bit and talk about

Your guiding principles. Top one or two actions

Or principles you use every day that you think

Contributes to the success and influence

Your company enjoys. Maybe something you wish

You had known when you started your company

Three or four years ago.

Kristi Porter
The three for Signify really are:

Creativity, curiosity, and generosity.

Those are sort of the three that I live

And work by, when it comes to Signify because I think

Being a curious person and always wanting

To know how things work and how

They’re put together. Looking at things holistically

And wanting that continuous wanting

To learn and grow and know more,

I think has served me well in a lot of ways.

That’s part of what’s taken me down;

There’s multiple winding roads.

I really value friends as well. A lot of my close friends

Are people that are continually trying

To improve themselves from that standpoint, too.

That’s sort of how I look at curiosity. Creativity,

Which can come in so many different ways. Especially

When you’re working with small organizations

Or being on staff in small organizations,

You learn how to do a lot with a little. I think

That being resourceful skill and being able

To use resources, creatively. Being a writer

Who’s creative. Loving beauty and art

And all of those things. I think it’s a great

Mindset to have and serves me well

In a lot of ways. Then of course, generosity

Fits in line with what I do and so can

Also take on a lot of forms. Which is what I try

And also stress to people who are very new

In their philanthropy journey. If they’re

A small business or solopreneur. If you have

Five minutes and zero dollars, I can show you

How to make a difference for somebody.

It really is. That’s the creativity coming back

Into play as well. But the, the generosity aspect

As well. I think there’s so many ways

To be generous. From a company standpoint,

A personal personal standpoint, and

What we’re seeing in the world and everything.

I think we’re just constantly looking

For people who are full of hope, and generous

And want to see others succeed. That’s a great thing

For the company to work through as well.

Richard Matthews
Absolutely. Those are good principles. Creativity,

Generosity, and what was the last one?

Kristi Porter
Curiosity.

Richard Matthews
Curiosity. I like the curiosity one, that’s a good principle.

To be curious about new things

And whatnot. It’s also good copywriting techniques.

Kristi Porter
sound similar? Yeah.

Richard Matthews
It’s a secret we know things. Alliteration is wonderful.

Mnemonic devices help people remember things.

It’s good that way. Last thing I do on the show,

I do this every time it’s called the Hero Challenge.

Hero Challenge is really simple. Do you have

Someone in your life or in your business network

That you think has a good entrepreneurial story?

Who are they? First names are fine, and why

Do you think they should come on the show

And share their story?

Kristi Porter
How to pick just one. Let’s see.

The interesting thing is you asked me

In five minutes or in five days, and it’ll change

Every single time as well. I’m going to say,

I just had a great conversation with her.

I’m going to say my friend Ashley. She has a nonprofit

Called Love Not Lost. Her daughter died

Of a terminal illness when she was

Two years old. Ashley was a photographer.

Needed a reason to get out of bed every day.

So, she started working. And then she started,

Just out of the kindness of her heart,

Donating photoshoots to other people

Who are going through tough situations.

That’s kind of how Love Not Lost came to be.

They provide free photo sessions for people

Facing terminal illness. They get a beautiful

Photo session that’s donated, they get a book.

Then, part of the thing that came out of that,

Which she never anticipated, was so many people

Come to her, asking her how to deal with grief

Or how to deal with—how to be the caregiver;

How to have conversations with people

Facing a terminal terminal illness. Now,

She’s adding that to her portfolio

And even talking to businesses and things like that.

She’s had a model that shifted and changed

And gone to for profit than to nonprofit

And kind of is working through that and just has

A really interesting story. And she’s a great person.

Richard Matthews
Awesome. I think I’ve actually heard

Of Love Not Lost. That’s a cool business.

I look forward to reaching out and seeing

We can connect with her. Last thing, thank you

So much for being on the show. Really appreciate it.

Where can people find you

If they’re interested in working with you?

If they have a nonprofit, something like that.

More importantly, who is the right type of person

To reach out if they want to reach out and work with you?

Kristi Porter
I have a very atypical URL, it’s https://www.signify.solutions/

Not signify dot solutions dot com that’s not a thing,

https://www.signify.solutions/

That’s because I did not have the $20,000

To buy signify dot com. All of the variations

Were taken under the sun. So I was like,

“I provide solutions for people. I’m gonna go with it.”

So, signify dot solutions. You can connect to me

Through all of the social channels and everything

Through there. And that’s the easiest place

To find me. The three types of people that I work with

Are: of course, nonprofits, for profit,

Social impact companies, solopreneurs,

And small businesses who are ready

To start giving back

But they don’t know where to start.

Richard Matthews
Awesome. I really enjoyed having you

On the show, Kristi. It’s been been a really

Entertaining and enlightening conversation.

If you’re listening to this, and you are in that place

In your business where you want to start

Adding philanthropy, I know that was where

I was with my business, or if your nonprofit,

Definitely reach out to Kristi. If you’ve been listening

This far she knows what she’s talking about.

Hopefully, you’ll get some people talking to you

From this and you have any final words of wisdom

You’d like to leave our audience with

Before we end the recording.

Kristi Porter
I would just say to get out there

And do good. We all need to see more people

Doing good things. Whatever that looks like to you.

Whether it’s personally or in your business

Then get out there. And if you just want to send me

An email and tell me what you did,

Then I’m happy to hear from you that way too.

Richard Matthews
Awesome. You heard or get out there

And do good, guys. Thank you so much

For coming on the show, Kristi.

Kristi Porter
Thank you. I appreciate it.