Ep.42- Craft a Compelling Value Proposition with Lia Bliss

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Richard Bliss:

Welcome to another episode of, well, this is a special episode because this is a crossover episode.

Lia:

Crossover episode.

Richard Bliss:

This is Digital First Leadership with I'm your host, Richard Bliss, and I'm joined by my co host today and host of their very own podcast…

Lia:

Master Your Bliss Life, Lia Bliss.

Richard:

You will notice that there is a similar –

Lia:

How many times can we say Bliss in one sentence?

Richard:

How many times can we say Bliss in one sentence? I don't know.

Lia:

But Richard Bliss, Master Your Bliss Life, and Lia Bliss. 

Richard:

Wow.

Lia:

A blissful experience.

Richard:

That's a lot of bliss. Ignorance is bliss. Bliss is, you know, I always heard bliss is ignorant, not ignorance is bliss. Anyway, today you are listening to a rather irreverent kind of fun episode of crossover. There is a similarity between our last names, Lia Bliss and Richard Bliss. 

Lia:

Only slightly.

Richard:

Yeah. The reason is because, well –

Lia:

Richard’s obsessed with branding. And anytime that he hires somebody onto BlissPoint – again, bliss, let's have a ticker to see how many times we say it in this episode – he makes us all change our last name.

Richard Bliss:

Why do you tell people that that.

Lia:

Is not true, but it sounds like something you would do.

Richard Bliss:

Plausible. It sounds plausible because Bliss is a way cool name, but it is not true. Lia is the oldest of my five children, also the mother of my grandson, which makes her kind of special.

Lia:

Yeah, we all know I'm not the favorite. We all know who the favorite is, and we won't say that it's Maggie.

Richard Bliss:

Yeah. Are we recording this? All right, here's what we're going to talk about today. So in my podcast, as you listen, we talk about Digital First Leadership business. Lia happens to work with me and many of the listeners here will recognize her as our lead trainer, talking about LinkedIn and the power of it. Lia, your podcast is… 

Lia:

Different. Master Your Bliss Life. It's about the strategies that we use to take us from surviving to thriving, to make it kitschy. It's this idea that not everyone and even most of us are not living the life of our dreams. And so how do we do that? It's also a little bit more irreverent than your podcast, where we dive into all sorts of dating horror stories and pop culture references.

Richard:

Yeah, that's interesting because those dating horror stories, I sometimes share your dating horror stories with my audiences simply because, as the father, what do you call me? You call me a dad boss.

Lia:

The dad boss. Wait, what is the dating horror story that you share?

Richard:

I don't know. You'll have to listen to my podcast.

Lia:

Because I could tell some of your dating horror stories.

Richard:

Oh, wait a minute. I'm controlling the recording of this. I don't know. What dating horror story do I…? Now, for those who are listening, I am married and most know have been divorced.

Lia:

Happily married as of what, how many years?

Richard:

It'll be four and a half years. So we've been married four and a half years, been together for eight. Coming up on an anniversary, a significant anniversary for us. But yeah. So four and a half years married. I have been married a couple of times before. They always say third time's the charm.

Lia:

Third time's a charm.

Richard Bliss:

Right? Last time's the charm. And you got to participate, I guess. And hear some of my dating that happened. I got to tell you, dating I –

Lia:

Witness. I had to against my will, witness.

Richard:

Well it was a new experience for me. I mean I had been married for a very long time and then found myself suddenly thrust into the dating scene in my mid-fifties. And I didn’t –

Lia:

And technology was different.

Richard:

Technology was slightly different.

Lia:

You'd never used dating apps before. It was immediately apparent when you accidentally uploaded a picture of you in a pirate costume as your dating profile picture.

Richard:

I have no idea how that happened.

Lia:

So, yeah, technology is a little different. But.

Richard:

Yeah. And it was only one dating app and I deleted it almost immediately because it was not a good experience for me.

Lia:

So I think that's something worth talking about, though, because so often I've got friends, girlfriends, male friends, all sorts of friends that ask about how do I find – I'm recently divorced, how do I find a new person? How do I find someone I want to date? How do I find someone? And I think that extends to how do I find the best job? How do I find a great group of friends? How do I find the right place to live? And we're constantly looking for this external right. Give me a sign. How do I know? Where do I go? How do I even start? And you got excellent advice. I give very similar advice when trying to find the thing that's going to be the best for you. And we can use the dating analogy here, but the dating analogy, and this extends into all parts of life, is figure out what you want and then figure out where that already exists.

Richard:

Yes. And so if we were to switch over, so while I was dating, getting very frustrated, I sat down with a friend and expressed to him my frustration, and he said that very thing, You just don't know what you want. And he said, look, if you want somebody who's financially stable, look, in the tech industry, that's where you work. He said, if you want somebody who's fit, go to the gym. If you want somebody who is I don't know if he used the term smart but –

Lia:

Intellectually stimulating?

Richard: 

Yeah, join a book club. And I got to tell you, and you know this, at the moment he said that I recognized that there was an individual that I worked with at a tech company that would hang out at the gym at the tech company talking and exchanging books from her book club.

Lia

With you. This woman was interacting with you in a financially stable environment, also in a healthy lifestyle environment, and in an intellectually stimulating environment.

Richard:

And I didn't notice until he blatantly pointed. He did not know that I knew her.

Lia:

That there was a specific individual who fit that criteria.

Richard:

And I got to tell you, I said, I stopped him. I know that person. And the next day, I asked her out on a date.

Lia:

And now you're married.

Richard Bliss:

And now I'm married. Because it was like, wow. So if we're going to talk about we can cross that over. And when it comes to LinkedIn and using it, you and I just got off a call with one of our biggest clients, and the idea was talking about sales personas. Oh, this person's in. Okay. We're looking for an individual who works in this kind of company, in this role, who's dealing with this technology. A sales persona, a demographic of who it is, and then you find them and you start interacting with them. And we teach through our training the concept of giving before asking. And this is true for any relationship, right, is find a way to give to that person or that relationship. On LinkedIn, it's through liking, commenting, engaging. I got to believe that there's ways to do it in your personality and your personal relationships as well. – Yes –  In my case, it was giving respect to each other based on valuing what each other brought to the relationship.

Lia:

Yes. I call this individual Brenda. So Marshall, my son, he had an imaginary friend a few years ago who was a gender fluid bodybuilder who drove a monster truck. Sometimes the pronouns were he/him. Sometimes the pronouns were she/her. But it was always Brenda. And Brenda was big and strong and drove a monster truck. And when I was looking for a way to identify a persona because we know, in marketing that figuring out exactly who your audience is, if you can niche down to an audience of one, you can have much better targeted marketing. Your message is going to resonate so much more clearly if you know exactly who that individual is. And if we think of our entire life as marketing because people who say, I'm not good at sales, we argue, have you ever been on a date? Have you ever had a job interview? You're good at sales. If you can pitch yourself, you're good at sales. But marketing is the same way. Who exactly figure out that persona? So I would always call my persona Brenda. I know who the persona is for the podcast. I know exactly the hot girl that is listening to this podcast right now on her hot girl walk. I know exactly the persona that I'm talking to when I want to reach out to prospective customers. I know the persona for the men that I'm trying to date. I know who that person is. And so the targeted marketing of whether it's literal business marketing or dating marketing or podcast marketing.

Richard:

Right.

Lia:

Things become so much easier. And it all starts with understanding what you want.

Richard:

Yeah.

Lia:

And so as a leader, I've been having a lot of conversations about company culture lately. Company culture starts with knowing exactly what you want that culture to be like long before it's ever evolved, and then hiring to that culture.

Richard:

Yeah, that's interesting. So let's just do a little of on-air analysis of Blisspoint's company culture.

Lia:

Perfect.

Richard:

All right. I have an idea of what I have wanted as founding the company and what I have wanted from the people that I bring into the company. And I like to believe that we have a word here, a single word, which I really believe in, a philosophy that identifies the culture, our company, and how we interact with our customers, our employees, and our vendors, the people who are selling to us. Right. And what is that word?

Lia:

I would say empowerment.

Richard:

Empowerment. That is the word. And what's nice is when I ask that to people who are members of the team, they all have the same word. I see them comment about it. Empowerment. We'd like to empower our employees. We like to empower our customers. We like to empower even our vendors. How many calls have you been on with me? With a vendor who's trying to sell us a CRM, trying to sell us whatever they're trying to sell us? And about halfway through the call, I'm like, okay, thanks, but can we talk about your LinkedIn? 

Lia:

Can we talk about your LinkedIn profile? Because let me help you.

Richard:

Let me help you. And I'm not looking for pro bono or quid pro quo or any type of exchange of services. It's just like, look, I want you to be successful because I want to use your services or your product, but let me help you. And oftentimes that concept of empowerment, that is something we believe here. Now, how does it manifest itself, in your opinion? We did not talk about this beforehand, so how do we manifest that empowerment internally in our company culture?

Lia:

So if we come back to this idea that you have the idea of what you want the culture to be like and then you hire to culture versus hiring to skill set, I think that's the biggest indicator here. Because we were talking about this part beforehand, that for the most part, we hire moms, whether it's young single women or young working mothers. But moms are some of the women who are in a position to feel most empowered, but also show up with some of the strongest work ethics.

Richard:

Yeah, I call it they're hungry. Because it's not just moms, is it?

Lia:

It's people in the position that want to take control of their life.

Richard:

Yeah, it often is single moms. Not always.

Lia

But we do have an above average number of single moms working at the company.

Richard:

That's true. And it is moms, because moms have a lot going on. They've got a time budget, they've got a resource manage. They've got to do all the kinds of things. Now you said it's –

Lia:

It’s those innate skill sets. I always say that the two groups of people that are always going to bubble to the top of a hiring list for me in any position whatsoever are single moms and strippers.

Richard:

Yeah, I'm going to stay away from…

Lia:

Strippers. 

Richard:

I'm going to focus on the single moms.

Lia:

But it's this idea that it's an individual who understands inherently the value of their time, how to negotiate. Have you ever negotiated with a toddler? Awful. Moms know how to do that. They understand negotiation, you know and are comfortable in asking for money. You understand how to read the social dynamics of a situation incredibly well. When you should push harder or when you should pull back, there's all of these just soft skills, these very innate built-in skill sets that come in from those two specific demographics that I think make the best workers. So if I was the king of the world...

Richard:

That's what you'd be hiring. Well, right now we've got a good amount of team because yes, the team members we have hired haven't necessarily been no, they haven't been hired for skill. They've been hired for aptitude, attitude.

Lia:

Yes.

Richard:

Right?

Lia:

Your admin has been a friend of yours for ten plus years.

Richard:

25.

Lia:

25. Okay, I can't even fathom that. 25 years you've been friends and you met her because she was a bartender.

Richard:

That is correct. And let's be clear, I don't drink. 

Lia:

Right.

Richard:

I never have. How in the world would I meet a bartender? Because I was living somewhere else and happened to –

Lia:

Traveling across the country for work. 

Richard:

Commuting back and forth, living between two cities. And I would eat at the local restaurant that had a bar. Well, I'm not going to sit at a table. I'm going to sit at a bar so I can talk to somebody. And she was behind the counter. And so over the months, I got to observe this individual deal with angry customers, drunk customers, high priorities, demands, rush hour, non rush hour, all kinds of issues. And so when it came time I was the vice president of marketing, when it came time for me to hire an EA, I started looking around saying, how could I find an executive assistant? How could I find somebody who has the skill set to handle all of the complexity? And I immediately thought of this individual because she had all those skill sets. I approached her, said, would you be interested in this position? I know at the time they looked at me kind of crazy because it was like, I don't know anything about corporate America.

Lia:

I'm just a bartender.

Richard:

I'm just a like, I don't need you to know anything about corporate America. I just need you to use those skill sets. And here's what happened. I had her interview with the executive team that I was on just to make sure that I wasn't playing favorites because we had become friends. And one of the VPs comes out and I said, so what do you think? His comment was, I still remember it: I think she's overqualified for the position. 

Lia:

Yeah.

Richard:

Right?

Lia:

Yes. And I think that in and of itself is so empowering because I have sat… I was getting my haircut a couple of months ago and the girl was asking me, she's like, I don't love this anymore. I kind of want to transition out, but I have no idea how I could use the skills as a hairdresser in any other job.

Richard:

Right.

Lia:

And immediately, just like, that's ridiculous because all of the skills that you have that you don't realize that you have are the marketable skills. Every single person has marketable skills whether they know it or not. It just is their ability to be a little bit of a spin doctor and come out and say, I know how to build rapport quickly. I'm good at making people feel comfortable. I can upsell with.

Richard:

Yeah. Because what they're thinking is they're like, I'm a hairdresser.

Lia:

Yes. My functionality is cutting hair. No, translate that functionality.

Richard:

We see this also if we switch this over to the corporate side, we see this all the time, is that people are trying to up their game on and I'm going to come back to LinkedIn. They're trying to up their game on LinkedIn and we'll see them write an about section that just list out all the specialties and skills they've developed over their career. And we have to explain to them that that's not you, what you've done in your company jobs. We even had a client the other day push back and say, well, I really don't care what else you've done. I'm just going to look at your work history and that'll tell me everything I need to know about you. And that is so short sighted because you don't know anything about me based on simply the companies I've worked for. What you need to know is what kind of relationship are you and I going to have moving forward. What motivates me, what inspires me, how I approach my work ethic, all of those things can be captured in the about section and it revolutionary. It blows their mind when we sit down and help them describe themselves not through a job lens, but through a value proposition lens. Here are things that are important to me and because they're important to me, I am good at my job. And that's a radical departure.

Lia:

Yeah. That's got to be the biggest and most impactful mindset shift that we can provide to people in the first 30 minutes of this training. Helping them make more money through LinkedIn, that's going to make a difference in their lives. Yes, but helping them shift their mind away from I am my job to I am a set of values and descriptions and successes and all of these different stories. And sometimes with these people, we go as far back as high school. Like, oh, did you play football in high school? What did you learn – Yep – as the captain of your high school football team? What of those skills are you bringing to your customers 30 years later?

Richard:

You don't even have been the captain of the football team. You can simply be, what did you learn being a bench warmer on the team? For basketball, you got to go in. What did you learn? To stick it out, to stay with it, to be there. I mean, that's the memories I have playing basketball, always sitting on the bench. And then what did I learn? I learned how to be a team player. And then when the older generation graduated and left, all of a sudden I found myself as one of the starting five. And there you go. And here's a problem that I discovered, is that those who are on the bench complained, well, we want to play. It was like, well, you get to play, but you – you have to wait – you got to earn your right to be here. And that was interesting that as I was growing up, seeing that next generation behind feel compelled, like, no, I'm entitled to be out there on the court just as much as you are. I was like, no, I put in the time.

Lia:

I put in the time that's I think something that's interesting as we talk about leadership and fostering growth within a corporation, because if you want to heavily influence your corporate culture as a leader, you need to hire for those company culture elements. But you also need to have a system in place to foster the intentional growth of those employees and have them understand, like, there's a system in place here. You will get there, but I can't hire you. I remember I was working at a call center, and this guy got hired underneath me, and I was his shift manager. He was so entitled. He wanted to jump. He wanted his own office. He wanted to be a regional manager because he had a big Instagram following. And he had come into the position under recommendation because he knew somebody. He was friends with, some celebrity status collegiate athletes. He wasn't celebrity status, but he was friends with them. And just the pushback, like, I shouldn't have to do this. Why should I have to do this? We're like, well, you have to be good at this to be good at the next thing.

Richard:

Yep. Absolutely. Absolutely. You've got my thoughts going. We're about out of time. This has been a fun little crossover adventure. Okay, leah, how can they find you, though? My audience who's listening to you, how can they find you?

Lia:

I am on LinkedIn. Surprise, surprise.

Richard:

L-I-A bliss Leah.

Lia:

L-I-A if you are connected to Richard, you can easily find me. I'm also on Instagram: @BestLiaBliss.

Richard:

Got it.

Lia:

I'm the best Lia Bliss there is.

Richard:

And they can find your podcast on.

Lia:

Spotify and Apple Music, and it's called Master Your Bliss Life.

Richard Bliss [00:21:17]:

Master Your Bliss Life. Okay. And obviously, for your followers who want to listen to me, which I get.

Lia:

So many people shout out to OVO, who asked me right straight out, was like, can I quote Richard on some of my marketing for my company? Can I use his quotes for inspirational quotes? Yes, you can.

Richard:

Yes. Shout out to OVO. Hey, OVO.

Lia:

You have full permission, but Richard's also on LinkedIn. Richard Bliss. That's pretty easy. You could follow his Instagram, but you'll be embarrassed for him.

Richard:

No, it's about my plants.

Lia:

That's just an old grandpa gardener on Instagram.

Richard:

Yep, that's what I use it. Yep.

Lia:

I'm on threads too. If I got anybody on Threads, I'm.

Richard:

On Threads, but I'm not doing anything out there.

Lia:

I decided to start adopting technology early now.

Richard:

Yeah, that's probably a good plan. Your father would be proud.

Lia:

Yeah, he would.

Richard:

All right. You've been listening to Digital First Leadership master your bliss life and Digital First Leadership. I've been your host, Richard Bliss, and the co host has been Lia Bliss. Lia Bliss. Thanks for listening. Hopefully you've enjoyed this. It's been a little irreverent. We've always wanted to do this. And be sure to reach out if you have any complaints, direct them towards Lia. If you have any compliments, go ahead and send them my way.

Lia:

That's fine. All right, our relationship.

Richard:

Take care. 

Lia:

Bye.

Ending:

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