L. Scott Ferguson: Hey, time to Shine today, podcast Varsity Squad. Welcome back to another powerful edition of Time to Shine Today podcast. I’m your coach. I’m your host, coach Fergie. Blessed to be your gap coach, specialize in peak performance mental conditioning, working with business leaders, entrepreneurs, entertainers, athletes, C-suite, and students to help them bridge their success gap.

To live a life of options and not obligations on this platform where you’re stoked to bring you high performers who are not just attaining. And chasing success, but refin it through, [00:01:00] providing above and beyond service and squad. Lemme kick this off with something, with a, a coaching client I had this week.

And he’s a really good guy, you know, smart, talented, but he kept getting stuck in his own head. Overthinking every move, second guessing every decision, trying to calculate his weight to confidence instead of embi embodying it. You know, he, like me, is a, is a real dog person. Like I have my pit bull stitch that I rescued and my other.

Fur babies and stuff like that. So, and he is as well, he is a rescue guy. And I, I said like, let’s look at the animals. They don’t negotiate with themselves. They don’t talk themselves out of who they are. You know, a wolf doesn’t wake up one morning wondering if today, he feels like being a wolf. He operates in instinct, identity alignment.

Every move comes from a place of knowing, not hoping, but humans, we complicate the hell out of everything. We stack emotions on top of stories, doubts, on top of expectations. We drain all of our energy, debating what we already know we’re built for. So we kind of circled it back to himself and, and I kind of told him, you know, stop trying to earn permission from your feelings.

Act from identity. [00:02:00] When you do that, hesitation dies. And the shift was instant. He dropped back into his instinct. Decisions became faster, pressure got quieter. Performance went up. ’cause he wasn’t trying to feel ready anymore. He was operating from who he is, not what his fear tells him who he might be.

That’s the parallel. When you reconnect with your instinct, your standard, your built-in wiring, everything gets simpler, cleaner, more powerful. You don’t waste time negotiating with doubt. You just execute. And today’s guests understands this identity clearing instinct at the highest level. So today’s squad, we are leveling up with someone who has built, shaped, and scaled brands that most people only dream of touching.

I’m talking about a powerhouse leader with more than 25 years steering, billion dollar empires such as h. Tv. Fox Television stations, CBS television stations. Yeah, the big leagues peeps. And she didn’t just sit in the room. She moved the room. Lori Asbury is a strategic assassin in the best possible way. A master at brand development, digital marketing, organizational operations, and consumer.

Engagement. When [00:03:00] companies wanna evolve, expand, or exploit into new mar new markets, they call Lori. She sees the big picture, executes the tiny details, and connects dots. The rest of us didn’t even know were on the page. She holds an MBA from Cornell University SmartyAnts is, which is one of the toughest programs in the world.

Along with a BA in journal journalism from the nationally ranked Gaylor College at the University of Oklahoma. So when it comes to communication, media and message, she’s playing chess. While everyone else is just setting up the board. But here’s what I love most behind my good friend here. Behind the business brilliance, Lori’s a lifelong animal lover, a former farm owner, a competitive equestrian, and a fierce advocate for animal welfare.

She’s an A SPC, A supporter, a diehard Oklahoma Sooner fan, and we’ll talk about that. And someone who brings passion and heart into everything she touches. You’re about to learn from a leader. Who has mastered both boardroom and the barn strategy and soul execution and empathy. So let’s lean in, tune in, break out your notebooks squad, especially if you’re looking to build anything, because we’re talking about someone who’s led billion dollar businesses.

And Lori, thank you so much for coming on. Please introduce yourself to the Time to Shine [00:04:00] Today, podcast Varsity Squad. But first. What’s your favorite color and why?

Speaker 2: Blue yeah, is probably my favorite color and I think probably because I see it in so many places and it’s just always, it comes in so many different shades and so, and I think all shades are pretty beautiful of the, of, of the color blue.

Yeah. And I have blue eyes and when I wear blue shirt, I think it brings out the color of my. So,

L. Scott Ferguson: yeah,

Speaker 2: I’ll, I’ll, I’ll go with that. And

L. Scott Ferguson: you got blue behind you in your logo there,

Speaker 2: and I have blue behind you. It’s part of our logo colors and our brand

L. Scott Ferguson: colors. It’s definitely in your color. Will, I mean, squat if you’re watching Vimeo.

Ort YouTubeing, she’s absolutely stunning, but she’s a powerhouse, so I cannot wait to like take some super, super awesome notes here. So let’s get a little bit of this backstory. ’cause I mean, Cornell, I mean,

Speaker 2: yeah,

L. Scott Ferguson: like Gaylord, I’m like, do that. Like this is like some. Serious education.

Speaker 2: Well, it happens over time, right?

So I, I did get my undergrad at the, at the University of Oklahoma at the, I was very blessed to be a part of the Gaylord College of Journalism, mass Communication, which is a top ranked school. Huge. And, and so I had a lot of really great foundation, [00:05:00] great education, but I feel like I’m really blessed.

Because I actually was able to build a career in my field of study and I know a lot of people, you know, weren’t able to do that. Right. You know, so, and, and, but my career’s really evolved over many, many years. So, you know, I started out really always on the marketing and advertising or promotion side, working for major media companies or working for local television stations.

So, started out college and, you know, local. TV stations, working in the promotions department, promoting the news and working in newsrooms that type of thing. But, but you know, ultimately every, every job, you know, was a different, was the next step in, in building my career. Moving up to, you know, either a more a, a position with higher responsibility or a larger market.

Mm-hmm. Where you have, you know, more, more responsibility, more pressure if you will. But then, but then ultimately you know. Opening up my own business, you know, so it’s, it’s definitely been a career that has evolved over, over many years. Sure. But one that I’m blessed to say I absolutely love.

Yeah. It’s, it’s been a passion of mine ever [00:06:00] since I studied it. And I just feel so blessed to wake up every day and get to do what I love.

L. Scott Ferguson: So are you standing on the shoulders of a lot of giants that helped you out along the way?

Speaker 2: You know, yeah, absolutely. And I’ve learned so much from so many people.

Sure. I had mentors, of course, all the way along the way. So many I, I would say, you know, there are definitely, I, I don’t know that I had a mentor in every job that I had, but I certainly had. Few that stood out and really guided me and, and I think even, you know, some encouraged me, like to get my MBA for example.

I think that was a, a, a pivotal point in my career because it really changed my way of thinking. It helped me change and, and kind of shift or pivot the way I approach marketing brands. And thinking of it more from a business perspective than versus just strictly from a creatives perspective, right?

So yeah, absolutely had influencers along the way. That kind of steered me in specific directions. Glad

L. Scott Ferguson: you said that. ’cause some people, they’ll be like, no, I made it. And it’s just like, dude, they like the, and I love that you said shift and pivot. ’cause like our generation used shift, right? Mm-hmm. [00:07:00] This newer one used pivot.

I just say shift it now. You gotta moves along. But lemme ask something, Laurie. So you’ve led billion dollar brands and guided teams through massive growth, right? Mm-hmm. So, but what was the moment in your career when you realized I’m not playing small anymore and I belong at the top table? Because again, I know your age and I can say it, but I know your age.

Yeah. Yeah. So you were at the tail ender of like, dude, you’re a female quiet.

Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.

L. Scott Ferguson: You know what I’m saying? Like

Speaker 2: mm-hmm.

L. Scott Ferguson: Like, tell me like, when you decide to play big.

Speaker 2: Well, I think I, I honestly think it was probably about 20 years ago, maybe, maybe a little more, and, and I think I par my primary motivation for it honestly, was just because I wanted to be the decision maker.

I, I, I would get frustrated working behind people who I felt were making decisions that I probably would’ve made a different decision. And so. My main source of inspiration and motivation came from, Hey, I wanna be in a position of authority where I can make, you know, be the ultimate decision maker.

And, and so I think that was kind of, you know, really [00:08:00] a, a turning point for me. But I remember really my first big job, I would say, what I would say, my first big job where I was in a lead role with a, with a, what I would say is a pretty good sized you know, media company was with CBS in Chicago. I was working for the local owned and operated TV station there, and I became.

Head of the, the marketing and and promotion department there, and I was 29 and I was like, oh man, I’ve made it under the age of 30. And that was like, you know, my first big kind of, you know, six figure job at working for a major media company. But, but again, my primary motivation was just because I knew I had it in me to make, make good decisions and, and to be in a, a, a position of you know, authority and to lead teams.

And, and that was really my, my, you know, kind of my inspiration.

L. Scott Ferguson: Sure it, each brand has its own kind of specific identity, right? Mm-hmm. Because you, you’ve, you’ve built brands that, that reach millions of them, but they, again, they all have their own identity. So like, in your own journey, what part of your identity was kind of the hardest to fully step into?

You know? [00:09:00] ’cause I mean, you seem ballsy, like you’re like this. Yeah. And I love that, right?

Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.

L. Scott Ferguson: But what was the hardest one that you, Lori Asbury had to like really lean into? And then how did you own it?

Speaker 2: I think, you know, that’s such a great question and it’s kind of a, a, a, it’s actually a hard question because I think when you’re working for major media companies or in, in corporate life in general, you have a sense of feeling the need to adapt to that culture.

And I think that’s where you can lose yourself. And I think that it’s really, really important for you to stay true to who you are, stay true to your pr, your principles, your values. And when you see that you’re not necessarily aligned with an organization in that regard, then I think it’s time to really reconsider where you are.

I had that happen. I would say in the last media company that I worked for before, I actually went out on my own and started my own company, and that wasn’t one of the. Primary motivators, I think, was that I had worked in corporate media for so many years and, and, you know, certainly felt like I fit in, in certain cultures [00:10:00] more than I fit in others.

Mm-hmm. And I think the, the last culture I was in, not saying anything bad about that culture, just very much different than my own personal beliefs, my own personal value system. And I think that. It was a turning point for me to say, Hey, you know, I’m at a point in my life where it’s important for me to be true to who I am, to feel like I can say what I wanna say and, and, you know be the, be the type of person that I am and, and, you know, express things about myself that.

That I don’t have to be ashamed of or be afraid of. And, and so I think, you know, really, I would say probably in the last, well, I’ve owned the company now, I’ve owned CMO Co, we’re starting our 15th year in business. Wow. So that’s a great, that’s a great anniversary and a great milestone for us to hit. Yeah.

So I would say really it

L. Scott Ferguson: started it at the tail end or the middle of a recession too.

Speaker 2: Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. Like, yeah. Craziness. Craziness. And then we’ve grown a lot and especially we’ve grown a lot since COVID, but, but I was, I will say, kind of stepping out onto my own is where I felt I, I really, truly felt free.

I felt like I could be myself, I could build my own [00:11:00] company, you know, aligned with my own values. And it’s not to say that I don’t respect my employees who have different values than I might have Sure. Or different priorities in life. But, but certainly, you know, in a position where I feel like, hey, I don’t have to be somebody I’m not.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right. So. Let’s unpack that even maybe a little bit more. So kinda the higher you climb, right? The, the louder the pressure gets.

Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.

L. Scott Ferguson: So what, what, give us a time from your moment of leadership journey where you had to make a decision that that scared you. And how did you keep your instincts louder than your doubt?

Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, so many times, right? So when you’re late, like we’re, when you’re heading marketing for a major media company and you have large budgets and you’re running and very large Yeah, yeah. And very tight timelines and you’re, and you’re, and you’re doing things extremely quickly and you’re spending lots of money.

’cause you’re running full, full on media campaigns across a national, you know, across a national scope. And so you have to make very swift decisions and, and you’re promoting, in a lot of cases, [00:12:00] shows that. You know, you don’t necessarily believe in, or you don’t think they’re necessarily unique or that good, and so you have to do the very best that you can.

But you definitely just have to rely as much as you can on your own instinct and your gut and try to make the best decisions that you possibly can. But you don’t just rely on your gut solely, right? So you try to lean into data, you try to lean into, you know past campaigns or, or market research or trends or, you know, so there there was a lot of tools.

There were, have been a lot of tools that we could, you know, that I could leverage to lean into, to you know, help guide my decision making

L. Scott Ferguson: that That’s amazing. So when you’re working, like, do. Companies come to you for the marketing? Like how does that kind of work? Like is there like a, a discovery meeting that you set up with Yeah.

With the decision maker from the company? Can you kinda just walk us through that?

Speaker 2: Yeah, so for CMO co marketing and advertising, which is my ad agency now, generally what happens when a a somebody’s interested in, you know, hiring. For, for our services, they are [00:13:00] usually at a point in their timeline or at at a stage with their company where they have stalled, growth has stalled, and they’re looking to take their business to the next level.

And they know that they need to do some sort of advertising. So generally we just start with a meeting. A free meeting where we just sit down and talk. I, I gain an understanding of kind of what their pain points are, what they’re trying to accomplish. We really try to be super strategic outta the gate, so we really wanna know where they are currently in their income, where they wanna go within the next year, and then what are their five year goal, their, you know, their five year timeline in terms of what their, their wanting to accomplish from an income standpoint.

L. Scott Ferguson: Rejected.

Speaker 2: Right? Yeah. Yeah. We really wanna know, like. Is it achievable? Is it realistic? And then we really, you know, ask them, you know, try to get a good understanding of where they fit in in their competitive environment, what their products and services are, how they’re differentiated, how they’re telling their story, who they’re trying to target, what does that target customer care about?

So. You know, once we’ve been retained, those are the things that we dive into right away, right? So we spend the first six to eight weeks [00:14:00] really developing a very comprehensive strategic marketing and advertising plan that’s really aligned with an organization’s business goals and their sales goals, right?

And there’s a lot of things that go into it, but by doing that, it really keeps us one. Focused and strategic. And, and also we know that we have a, what we know is a good plan to move the needle. So we’re really looking at what’s the lowest hanging fruit in terms of us reaching their target customer, ah, and converting them into a paying customer, right?

And so we have a lot of strategies that go into that, but I think that. You know what a lot of companies do, that is a big mistake. They just, Dr. Jump right into the creative part of it. So let’s run an ad campaign. Let’s do some digital marketing, let’s do some social media and let’s just,

L. Scott Ferguson: instead of finding what’s actually there that we can take now to build on.

Speaker 2: Right. Exactly. They just, or they just throw things out there to see what sticks without really having a purpose behind it. Right. You know, and so, so we wanna mitigate that. We want to make sure that every. Marketing tactic that we’re employing to grow a company’s business is rooted in [00:15:00] something that’s strategic and that we know based on market research or based on their competitive landscape, is gonna move the needle and well so I, I would say that’s what d differentiates us a little bit more than just a traditional ad agency.

’cause I think a lot of people go to an ad agency for a point in time. We need a campaign for a point in time. Right. Our, we work with our clients more long term. We’re really like their, I would say the reason, kind of the premise of the name of our company, which is CMO Code, we’re like their chief marketing officer and their marketing team.

That just doesn’t happen to sit inside their organization. Right.

L. Scott Ferguson: That, I love that, that you say that. ’cause they’re missing so many. I know there’s a cliche that I could probably say, but they’re missing something that’s already there. And it’s so simple that I love that you grab that and then build a planner around just keep growing and growing and growing.

So maybe in this meeting that you’re starting to have with ’em, maybe even before you’re retained, you know, for, for and squad, for all of the people out there that are like maybe needing an introduction to Lori or your [00:16:00] companies in a spot like this, like, I want you to listen to me. Like is there any good question that they should be asking you but never do?

Speaker 2: Oh. That’s a, that’s actually a really good question. So I think one of the things that we do run into sometimes with, with clients is they know that they need to grow. They come to us for our professional expertise, right. And then sometimes they don’t wanna listen to, to what we have to say. And I understand that like, first of, first and foremost, in, in, in any company’s defense, they know their business way better than we know their business.

Right? Yeah. Actually better. But we, but we also know marketing and advertising, so, and we also know how to reach. Consumers, we also know how to break down audiences. We know how to message to consumers. And when we’re looking at a competitive, competitive marketplace and we’re looking at a business, how they fit in that competitive marketplace, it’s really, really important for companies to understand where they fit in and how they’re differentiated.

And sometimes they know that, but they dunno how [00:17:00] to communicate that. Mm. And so what I would love, you know, we have a. We have a, what we call, it’s a customer success onboarding document. So we actually, when we, and sometimes we give this to a client before we even are retained by them, but we wanna make sure that we understand what their goals are and what they, what they believe to be the path to success is, or what they think success will look like.

So that we’re best set up. To be successful with them. So we wanna know what their expectations are so that we can look at that and say, Hey, that’s a realistic expectation of us. Or this is not a real realistic expectation. Love that. Love that. So we do have a, a questionnaire that we. Do give our clients or a potential client and just say, Hey, let’s talk through these things and make sure that we’re both on the same page.

Sure. And we wanna also make sure that you’re invested in this. So do you have the resources to invest in what we think is gonna be necessary to move the needle? And, and that comes in all shapes and sizes, so it’s not, you know, one size fits all kind of a approach, for [00:18:00] sure. But, but yeah, I think the most, you know, the most important thing is that you’re aligned.

You know, as from, as early on as you can possibly be. Right? And, and, you know, making sure that, and, and that’s part of the reason for the strategy development too, is so that we can use that as our roadmap for success Lock, that we can say, Hey, this is what we’ve all agreed on. This is the strategic plan that we developed.

There was a lot of time thought. Research market, you know, data that went into this. This is what we know to be our best plan to move the, to move your business forward. And so three, four or five months down the road when you see the shiny new object in the corner, let’s not get distracted by that. Right?

Let’s go back to the plan and stay on that plan because you know, things take time, right? And one of the things that’s the most important thing about advertising and marketing is that it’s consistent, right? And you know, a lot of people, they have expectations of. I’m gonna run a digital ad campaign and I expect to see double digit growth in, in a month.

And well, that’s just not, that’s not realistic, you know, probably not gonna happen. Yeah, exactly. [00:19:00] Exactly. So

L. Scott Ferguson: with, with you being like, like myself and all the other awesome animal lovers out there, like you, you have like an amazing balance, you know, boardroom and, and also like being an animal animal advocate.

But what do you feel like the animals, and again, this kind of goes back to this coaching session I had

Speaker 2: mm-hmm.

L. Scott Ferguson: An awesome client of mine, you know, but that. That animals maybe have taught you about leadership and like the human behavior that the corporate world doesn’t understand yet? Like Yeah. What have you picked, kind of picked up from the instincts from animals?

Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. Well, first of all, they teach you to be pretty self-disciplined, especially horses because you know, and I, as a competitive equestrian, you know, that is something that you have to be extremely disciplined with, not only in the care of the animal, but also in your growth as a rider and making sure that you’re doing the things that you need to do to advance you as an athlete.

And you’re not, you’re not solely dependent upon yourself. You’re working with an animal. So but also, you know, just on the, kind of on the emotional side, animals will give you everything, right? They’re just the most selfless [00:20:00] creatures on the face of the planet. You know, for the most part, all of them have just, you know, they have the best souls and

L. Scott Ferguson: Right.

Speaker 2: They’re just, they give unconditional love and yeah. So how can you not, you know, support ’em and try to give back to them and try to help, yeah, try to help, but. We’re the only living being on this earth that does not live to our potential. Right. You know, I mean, anything else that’s living a tree will only grow as high as the roots like.

L. Scott Ferguson: Mm-hmm. A dog will, will people say, well. You know, like that dog’s fat, sometimes the owner isn’t exactly in great shape either. Yeah. You know what I’m saying? It’s like, you know, so they just follow, but they lead, like if I was to let my stitch out, he would roam this whole neighbor, he’s the friendliest pit bull he ever meet and he kind of does meet everybody.

But you know, he would just keep going and going and going. Like, that’s the thing about humans is we don’t live to that potential. No, we have, and I wish that they had that, like your energy and, and even some of mine, but have, have you seen the movie Back to the Future? Oh yes. Okay. So I mean, it’s 40 years old now.

It’s crazy, right? Mm-hmm. I think it was 13 when it came out. Yeah. [00:21:00] So, okay, let’s get in that DeLorean Marty mc, fly. Let’s go back to the do say the double deuce, the 22-year-old Laurie. Mm-hmm. What kind of knowledge nuggets would you drop in her? I don’t want you to change anything, ’cause your journey’s been pretty fricking awesome, right?

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But to maybe help Laurie shorten a learning curve or blast through maybe a little quicker in the situation. So again, I, me, I mentioned earlier that I, I feel like I’m so blessed that I was able to work and, and, and build a career in my field of study. And I think that if I could give one piece of advice, oh yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: If I could give one piece of advice to anybody, it’s just follow your passion and that’s where you’ll find the most success. Thank you. If you can wake up every day and really truly love what you do, and I know not everybody has that option, and I, and I know that. You know again, everyone’s journey is very different, but truly try to lean into the things that you love and try to build on what your passions are.

And I do think you’ll ultimately find success. But the other thing I would say is just continue to educate yourself. Be a lifelong learner. That’s something that I’ve always tried to do. I, I got my master’s at Cornell many years after I [00:22:00] got my undergrad. I felt like it was important to go work. Sure.

First in the workforce. And I thought that I could apply a lot of what I You both, yeah. Yeah. You do both. I thought I could apply a lot more to my education. Yeah. Having worked a, a, a while. So that was something that was important to me to continue my education, but even to this day, and I’m nearing the end of my.

Career is to, you know, I listen to podcasts, I read a lot of books. I, I still try to train myself. And, and, and the other thing too is I surround myself with people that are smarter than me. And, and I think that’s really, really important too. You know, find, find, find people that. You know, love what they do also, but, you know, hire people that are smarter than you.

It’s, they’re not gonna make you look bad. They’re gonna make you look better.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. The smartest guy in the room is the one that hires other people that are smarter than them. Right. I mean, that’s, Henry Ford said that years ago, and look what he built, you

Speaker 2: know, a hundred, a hundred percent. You. A hundred percent.

And you, you obviously, you know, especially when you’re, you have your own company, you want people, you wanna be surrounded. By people that are smarter than you so that you know, you can lean on them, but also they bring so much to [00:23:00] the, yeah. So much to the party, if you will. So,

L. Scott Ferguson: sure. Yeah. I like, I actually am taking, so I got my GI bill, right?

Mm-hmm. And I was like, man, I tried to semester at Western Michigan, and I was like, no, this is not gonna work. So I got like my pilot’s license with it. Right. Oh,

Speaker 2: that’s

L. Scott Ferguson: awesome. So at the end of the last administration, they opened up a lot more GI Bill money. Mm-hmm. Right? So they like offered it to me and I’m like.

Dude, I don’t have a degree, so I’m like, I all, I’m taking the psychology classes because it aligns with my coaching, right? Mm-hmm. So I’m getting the free education on it, but if I was to take psychology only, it’s like I’m not. Probably gonna get a job in my, my vocation, right? Mm-hmm. Like you said, like if try to go to school for something that you really are passionate about.

If you’re passionate about, you’ll find a fricking way. You just will, right? Bottom line, that’s all there is too. So how does Lori want her dash remembered? That little line in between your incarnation date and your expiration date, your life date, and death date. Hopefully it’s way down the line. But how does Lori wanna ask?

Remember?

Speaker 2: Ah, that’s so funny. You know, I just wanna be remembered as a good [00:24:00] person and, and somebody that actually gave back to the community and loved people. And I think that’s so funny ’cause I’m actually in a life group right now and we’re, we’re doing a, a, a this, this reading a book called Life Living, life Backwards.

And it’s really the study of Ecclesiastes, which is really all about that whole, that whole hundred percent. Yeah. It’s all about how from dust you are created and to dust, you will return and Yep. And we toil and we toil and we toil every day trying to reach that next thing, the rated book, the next letter.

Yes. Yeah. And try to do this. And, and no one’s gonna remember it, right? Yeah. So, so, so you know, each day as a blessing and look at each day as a blessing and look at the gift that you’ve been given right now, which is the gift of life. And, and to try to always give back. And I think, you know, part of the things we were talking about with animals is.

You know, just find something that you care about that you can give back to. Mm you’ll find so much more meaning in your life when you can give back to other human beings or to give back to. You know, other creations that we have in the world. And I think, you know, if anything, I love this. I wanna be remembered as, as a good [00:25:00] mother.

Yeah. Of course. To my children, but, but also just a good person who loved people

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. In, in a pit bull when you needed to be.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

L. Scott Ferguson: You know, I mean, that, that’s also I love that.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

L. Scott Ferguson: You’re talking about, ’cause I, I’m, I’m a big believer in that the first part of our life we learn, right? And then second part, kinda the middle we earn and then the third part we return, right?

Mm-hmm. So you’re giving it back and I absolutely love that you’re doing that. Thank you. That’s amazing. So

Speaker 2: I’m trying

L. Scott Ferguson: then, do you think that there’s anything that people might misunderstand the most about Lori?

Speaker 2: I think that, you know, because I have you know, had a long career in media and, and have had some, you know, success and obviously success running my own business, and I think people sometimes.

And I can be very direct. So I’m not gonna lie, I’m not, you know, I, I definitely have, you have to be, you speak up, speak my mind. Yes. Can be a little harsh sometimes not, not sometimes it’s okay and I’m okay with it, and other times I’m like, ah, I probably shouldn’t have said that. But [00:26:00] so, you know, live and learn for sure.

I, I, you know, I think. I don’t know. Like, it, it’s just really, I think people sometimes can get intimidated and, and they don’t have to be sure, you know, I, I think, you know, I’m, I’m very approachable. I will say I’m, I’m extremely fair. I hope that I built a company you know, where my employees say, Hey, she’s super fair.

She’s. She’s, you know, you know, she, she lets us do our job. She’s not a micromanager. I definitely am not a micromanager. Don’t wanna be a micromanager. Why hire people and then hover over them? Why you’re successful. Yeah. Yeah. So, so yeah. I, I, I really just hope that people, you know, know that I care. And that, you know, I’m still, you know, still growing and certainly not a perfect person, but yeah, grown a long

L. Scott Ferguson: way.

I absolutely love your vulnerability, your honesty. It’s, it’s refreshing you . Thank you. . Hey, time to Shine today, podcast Varsity Squad.

Welcome back and thank you for Jocko products, sleep number, beds and indeed.com for all your support. And Ms. Lori, like one of these times I’m up at Knoxville, we’re gonna have to [00:27:00] connect and maybe have a cup of coffee. We might talk about some of these questions. Okay, 10, 15 minutes. But today you have five seconds with no explanations and I promise you.

They can all be answered that way. And what I know about like you, I always ask that and I check the screen and you’re like, bring it on. It was like a smile. Wasn’t nervous. Some people are like, oh crap man. It was like, I love this. I love this. So you ready to level up?

Speaker 2: I’m ready to level up.

L. Scott Ferguson: Let’s do it.

Let’s do it Lloyd.

Speaker 2: Okay. Okay.

L. Scott Ferguson: Lloyd, what’s the best leveling up advice you’ve ever received?

Speaker 2: Hire people smarter than you.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yes. Share one of your personal habits that contributes to your success. Hire people smarter than you.

Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. You, no. Alright. No, no. Say, say that again.

L. Scott Ferguson: Hi. What are your personal habits that contributes to your success?

Personal

Speaker 2: habits. I make my bed every morning.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yes. Perfect. So you see me kinda walking around at a, maybe at an event or something like, Fergie looks like he’s in his doldrums. Is there any book that was handed to you to maybe shift, you know, mindset in your brain that you might hand to me?

Speaker 2: The one that I’m reading now, I, I will say, has been very powerful [00:28:00] and that’s living life backwards.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. I have to check that one out then. Okay. One decision in your career that you would make again, every single time

Speaker 2: just going into television. Working in television. Mm-hmm.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. You most commonly used emoji when you text

Speaker 2: laughing

L. Scott Ferguson: Nicknames growing up.

Speaker 2: Turd.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. Yes. My,

Speaker 2: my maiden name’s tur Well, so let me just explain that.

Oh,

L. Scott Ferguson: okay. That’s okay.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

L. Scott Ferguson: Tur it is Tur well,

Speaker 2: tur well was my maiden name. Okay. Very cool. So, so turd. It was, yeah, it was what people called me turd.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. Okay. That’s cool. Hey, it is. I’m sure they’re only friends that called you that, so that’s good. So, any hidden talent and or superpower that you have that nobody knows about?

Really until now,

Speaker 2: I can sing a little, but not great. Okay. Like I can sing, I can, I sing at church, so.

L. Scott Ferguson: Very cool.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

L. Scott Ferguson: Chefs, checkers or Monopoly?

Speaker 2: Monopoly.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay. Headline for your life.

Speaker 2: Mm. Five seconds. Headline for my life. Happy.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. Be beautiful. Go to ice cream flavor.

Speaker 2: Mint [00:29:00] chocolate chip.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. There’s a sandwich called the turd. Asbury. Build that sandwich for me. What are we eating?

Speaker 2: Grilled cheese.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay. Wow. Really? Very cool. Mm-hmm. A good grilled cheese. Good cheese though, right?

Speaker 2: Grilled cheese. Yep.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. Love it. Favorite charity and or organization like you give your time and or money to?

Speaker 2: There’s several, but definitely farm Uher A-S-P-C-A. Mm-hmm For sure. And then American farmland Trust.

L. Scott Ferguson: Beautiful. Awesome. Last question. You can elaborate on this one a little bit, and I’m actually curious on this one with you, but what is the best decade of music? Sixties, seventies, eighties, or nineties?

Speaker 2: Hmm. Eighties.

L. Scott Ferguson: Eighties. Okay. Really? Uhhuh. Okay.

Speaker 2: Uhhuh.

L. Scott Ferguson: Mm-hmm. I thought you were gonna say seventies or,

Speaker 2: well, some it kind of is abr like it’s kind of a crossover there. Yeah. So I would say late seventies, early eighties. Yeah. ’cause that was like my coming of age time. Yeah. You know, that was when I was in, in, in high school, college.

That was kind of my. Sure. You know, my generation, so I like, you know, guns N Roses, REO, Speedwagon, you know, I like all the, the, the classic rock and roll.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah, yeah. My, [00:30:00] my Susan’s your age. So it’s like,

Speaker 2: okay.

L. Scott Ferguson: You know, so it’s, there’s like, she, like, when we listen to the radio, it’s perfect ’cause we, yeah, we kind of jive with the same stuff.

So. How can we find you, miss Lori?

Speaker 2: Yeah, so go to cmo co.com. That’s cm OC o.com. And or you can just email me if you want to talk about anything or ask any questions. It’s lori@cmoco.com and. Yeah, check us out. Gotcha. We would love to hear from you, work with you. We have a, we have a landing page that you can go to.

Actually, if you just go to lead with laurie.com, there’s a survey there. If your sales are stalled, you can take a quick survey. We will gotcha. Send you some ideas on things to help get your sales installed and moving. And there’s some other good resources there for you to tap

L. Scott Ferguson: into. So on this site here that I have open, that’s, yep.

This is your site. And then

Speaker 2: that’s our

L. Scott Ferguson: website. The other one is Lead with Lori. Right.

Speaker 2: Yeah, it’ll redirect you just to a landing page on the site. Be, yeah.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay.

Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.

L. Scott Ferguson: And then also you said that there’s a survey. Where can they find that? I’m sorry.

Speaker 2: Yeah, that’s at the lead with Lori. Okay. If you go to [00:31:00] lead with lori.com, there’s a survey there.

It’s a, just a really brief survey and it’s for any company that feels like their stalls have, their sales have kind of stalled or just are stagnant or you’re not really kind of moving forward. Mm-hmm. Take the survey, we’ll look at the answers. We’ll give you a I

L. Scott Ferguson: probably spelled it wrong.

Speaker 2: We, it’s lead with LOR i.com.

Yep. Yep. Okay. Yep. There it is. Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. And we will send you some just tips or some things that you should consider or think about. And then there’s some downloadable free resources there, like five things that every company should be doing to advertise their business. So just gotcha. Some stuff there you can check out.

Yeah.

L. Scott Ferguson: And squad, this will all be in our show notes in there, and I’ll, I’ll remind you again in my intro to, to definitely go there. But when are you writing a book?

Speaker 2: Oh, I’m not

L. Scott Ferguson: what, like, I’m sorry. I gotta call you out on that

Speaker 2: one. I’m not, I know. I’m not, I’m not. Right. I’m not, I have no, I have

L. Scott Ferguson: from Chicago to like, everything.

Come on man.

Speaker 2: You know, I, yeah. I don’t know.

L. Scott Ferguson: You could shorten the learning curve for a lot of people. Not,

Speaker 2: it’s really not that interesting.

L. Scott Ferguson: Well, you could shorten the learning curve for a lot of people, I promise.

Speaker 2: Well, I don’t know. Thank you. I [00:32:00] appreciate that. Yeah. But yeah, probably not.

L. Scott Ferguson: No, you should do.

Speaker 2: Yeah,

L. Scott Ferguson: is write it like I’m writing mine. Mine’s a business parable.

Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right. So it’s like, like, it’s called harmonic cuss. Okay. ’cause I don’t believe in balance. I believe in harmony. Yeah. And basically it’s a hero’s journey of mm-hmm. You know, somebody that is in the real estate business like I was for 25 years and loses a big deal and he’s gonna quit and he meets these five people that kind of do, I’m sure there’s been five people that you’ve met throughout your life that you can, I’m telling you like, I see your marketing.

Yeah. Like I, you gotta write a book. I’m gonna, well

Speaker 2: then you blend, you blend in your personal story too. Yes. And it’s like, that’s that, that’s

L. Scott Ferguson: always

Speaker 2: chaos, right? Like Yeah.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. It’s a personal story. Yeah. Just it’s told through another dude’s eyes.

Speaker 2: That’s

L. Scott Ferguson: true. You know that’s true. And I did put Stitch in my book though, so.

Speaker 2: Oh, you did?

L. Scott Ferguson: Oh, there you go. Oh yeah. So do me one last solid. Actually do everybody, one last solid, but leave us with one last knowledge nugget that we can take with us, internalize and take action on.

Speaker 2: Yeah, I would just say, you know, really look to ways that you can give back to either your [00:33:00] employees or your community.

I, I, I think you’ll take so much from that, but also I think there’s, by doing that you add so much to your business. Sure. I, you know, I just, you meet people along the way, but there’s, you know, so everybody’s got a story to tell. So when you’re out there kind of interacting with people and engaging with people, and I don’t mean just give money, I think giving money is important, but I mean, actually touch and feel and communicate with people and yeah, get in front of people and be relational with people.

I think you’ll see you’ll self yourself growing as a person, but also I think there’s so many things that you learn from that, that you can apply to your business.

L. Scott Ferguson: I love that. And, and squad. And again, when you, you start hearing, oh, you’re gonna talk to, you know, a marketing company, like yeah. But this was awesome.

Like the knowledge nuggets that I walking away with from my good friend Lori here, it reminded us, you know, to stay true. To, you know who you are. You don’t always adapt to someone’s culture. If it’s not aligned with you, reconsider where you’re at. Get out. So go on your, go on your way. And she also reminded us to, you know, rely on our instinct and our gut, you know, [00:34:00] use data and history, but stay true to you.

You know, if your growth is stalled out there, you know, or if you know that there’s more to your company, please let me make a warm introduction to see MoCo. I’m a good friend Lori here, who’s, you know, she drives a purpose driven company. They’re strategic, they move the needle, but they’re purpose driven.

They’re gonna look out for your best interest. You know, she, once you remind you, and she does, she’s a lifelong learner, follows her passion and if. You don’t know something, the younger one’s out there get your asking gear. There’s people out there that will answer the questions for you. So do not be afraid.

She’ll be remembered as someone that is a good person gave bla back. And I, I really a firm believer she’s planting trees. She’s never gonna sit in the shade of like, what she’s doing is a lot different. She’s gotta write a book. I’m just telling you, I see her doing things again with her saying, no, I don’t have a book.

She does things for the intention, not the attention. Like she’s out there like. Grinding for the people that she’s serving. And like she talked a little bit, a lot, a bit about mentoring. And we believe, you know, at Time to Shine today. The more we mentor, the more immortal [00:35:00] we become, right? So go out there, give back.

It’ll only add to your business. You know, again, the first part of your life is about learning the second part’s about earning, and third part’s about returning. So give it back squad. And that’s what my good friend Lori does. She levels up her health. She levels up her wealth. She’s absolutely stunning.

She’s earned a varsity letter here. Time to Shine today. Thank you so much for coming on.

Speaker 2: Thank you for

L. Scott Ferguson: having me. Absolutely love your guts man.

Speaker 2: So, so, so, so appreciated to of you having me on. Thank you so much.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yay. Alright, chat soon. Okay, bye.Speaker 2: Bye.