Season 3. Episode 7: Talking with Daisy Newson about how she connects to small businesses in Central NJ

Right away you know you are talking to a warm and knowledgable person when you start a chat with Daisy Newson!  She has been a  BWNICE member since 2018, formerly of Somerset, now in Mercer County  She is the Regional Director of Marketing at Scott Counsel Law, which specializes in Elder Care cases. She also loves to be out in the community, talking to Central  New Jersey small business owners to help promote them.

In fact, you can watch Daisy do just that on Central Jersey TV.  Daisy believes in the power of connection and community to help small businesses continue to thrive. She interviews business owners of all kinds and gives them a chance to highlight their businesses, what they offer, and a little bit about who they are.

We loved talking to Daisy and we learned a lot too. Make sure you check out her Central New Jersey Buy Local Connection show on  Central Jersey TV.

You can contact Daisy at:

Email: redomynest@gmail.com

To see some of her shows:
https://www.yourtowntube.com/videos/cnjn-tv-central-new-jersey-network

Learn more about BW NICE and our mission to help end domestic violence HERE

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Transcript

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Hi, everyone, and welcome back to the BW nice voice podcast. I am your co host, Debbie Weiss and I'm here with my other co hosts, Lynne Thompson and our wonderful guest today named Daisy, who now that I'm thinking about it, I have these wonderful Daisy earrings. I should have worn them. Yes, we should all just wear everything. Hi, everyone. This is Daisy Newson. It's a pleasure to be here with you today. Thank you so much. We're glad to have you. This is Lynne Thompson. I'd like to introduce you guys a little bit to Daisy. She's from our Mercer County Chapter. But she started in our Somerset chapter. She's the regional director of Scott council estate in eldercare. And I think her passion is she she does interviews for the central New Jersey network television show called central New Jersey by local connection, which I love. And she introduces people to small businesses, and she talks to them and interviews them and encourages people to join her on that show. So we love. We love that you help local businesses. We'd love to hear more. And welcome Daisy. Thank you so much. Yes, I do have two roles in life, two hats that I wear constantly. I love them both. They're very creative. As a regional director for Scott Council, I do business development and marketing for an elder law attorney Justin Scott, who is a wonderful attorney. And my second half is being the host of central New Jersey by local connection on central New Jersey television, which is a local cable TV show. And yes, that allows me to talk to a lot of business owners and small businesses in central New Jersey. It used to be just Mercer County, but we have now expanded to central New Jersey. We've been doing this for a year and a half. And since the governor now has made it official that there is a central New Jersey. Now that we have now that we now that we're official on the books, we decided to expand it to all of all of the central area. Yes. Did you even get into that in the first place? Daisy, right. I mean, it was kind of different from eldercare, you know, marketing a little bit, you know, so it's still business to business, right? I got into this about a year and a half ago, talking to a good friend of mine, she is the producer. And we were discussing how difficult it is for small businesses to sometimes market themselves and highlight their business. You know, I've been a business owner myself, I've owned several small businesses. And it's really hard to be in the, in the heart of it all, and go out and help market yourself. So when we sat down, we started talking, how can we help these local businesses, which started out in Mercer County, we, we decided to reach out to economic development, Mercer County Economic Development. And they agreed that it would be a great to have a way to help these local businesses to market themselves. So we created a shell on the central network. And we go out, we talk to small businesses, we get to know them, we see how they started, you know, the root of it all. And then we show what they do. So whether it's all businesses, right, it's not just food in our stores, but it's really people that are providing services. And then we highlight their service. Sometimes I get hands on, which is a lot of fun, because it gets me it gives me an opportunity to see what it's really like. And and then we show it on TV. So our shows are brand new every two weeks on Thursdays. And they're always streaming. So business owners can also use that for their own marketing efforts. That's wonderful. So you go to their location, yes, we go our location cool. And we get to meet them. And you know, and talk to them and see what it's really like, right? So then we show the viewer about all these businesses and most of the time people come to us and it's always the same thing. We have tons of people that contact us. And they always say, Well, I never knew that this place existed, which is great, because how you know, it's a great way to get the business out there. Sounds like a great service. I mean, you you had mentioned earlier before we started recording that with the pandemic small businesses have really suffered and they're trying to come back. So this is a great tool for them. Absolutely. You know, things have changed in the past three years. It has affected local business a lot There are a lot of online shoppers, obviously, you know, the big box stores are also suffering from from people coming into the store, it's still, it's still different, right? It's never going back to normal, it's just a different way right now. So by being able to highlight these local businesses in small towns, it really is beneficial, because encourages people to go out, try the different store. And it's not just that one store, it's their neighbors as well, because now they're walking down the street, and they're, you know, looking at everything else that's around them. So it really does help produce that, you know, extra excitement to go back and shop in person. I love love both, right? I mean, convenience of being able to order something is great. There is nothing to me, like actually the experience of going to the store, especially for me with clothing, like I need to see it right things, you know, I don't have that brain that I can just look at something and visualize where it would go in my house or how it would look on me, I want to go, I want to touch it. I want to feel it. You know, all of all of that. And, like, I hate that. So many local businesses have had to close up in the last several years. I hate it too. And you know, we just bought two pieces of furniture. And it was so nice going out. Really good salespeople. We were walked around the store, we knew what we wanted, they showed us exactly what we wanted five different examples. encouraged us. They weren't high pressure, it was delightful. I forgot what that was like, you know. And then I had exactly what I wanted, I needed a dresser, I was very specific about what I needed. And I found it and it wasn't even expensive. And I thought the same thing to be can't do this online. You know, I literally have ordered a dresser online. And it was fine, because it was very nondescript, and I needed it for another room. But this was special, I needed a certain number of drawers and I have a small bedroom, and I have my office in my bedroom. And they were so great. So I love that you highlight the brick and mortar and that people can remember what you know what they have what it's like to get out there and be waited on in person, there's nothing like it, you know, and also highlights the personality of the people in the store. Right? It's like that personal connection. Yeah, getting to know what that local business owner is all about, you know, how they contribute to local community. You know, I think it's really important to develop communities and keep working towards and everybody kind of work together. You know, every time we go and talk to a business owner, it's, you know, they then they talk about their families as well, right how they're involved in the community. So it's not just about getting people to go in and to buy in their store, but also to see what that reflects that going back out. So this is a person who owns a business and lives in town, their kids go to school, they're so involved, you know, and I think we forget about that. Because we have become a society that just goes to like online, just clicks on the up, you know clicks a key in your purchase, in my goodness, it's by your door within the hour, it's kind of crazy how quick it happens. But that whole interaction of getting to see what it's like to be in this business, how people struggle, you know, people struggle, it's not easy, it's not easy to own the business, I've been there myself, owning a business, running your numbers, worrying about your profits worrying about paying the rent, you know, it's a lie. And they can't come to you, they can't leave their store, because a lot of them don't even have staff right now. Because that's become very difficult to do as well as to staff a store. So for them to come out in work in the community, they can't do that. So for us, it's a it's a pleasure and a delight to be able to come into their stores, they're always so welcoming, and they're so happy. You know, and then we'll show what they're doing. We just did recently on a skillet in Trenton. And that was the that was so much fun. I got to go behind into the kitchen and cook with everybody. And, you know, it was like that high pace and things were just flying everywhere. And we were making some skill edits, and some grits were flying everywhere. And it was really exciting. So I really really didn't enjoy that. But I got to see everyone's personality working there. You know, they're just people trying to make a living and gussto working so hard. So it is really is you know, to me, it was the highlight of my day to go out there and talk to them in work around them. I understand that you're going to be the next guy for Yeti right on Drive ins and whatever it is, you know, diners drive, whatever, I can only hope that I could become that famous. Let's just about it is I think that for most of us, you're not buying the product or the service. You're buying the person, right? That's right, because that's what we want. I want that connection of somebody I like And by you highlighting them, like you said, your viewers get to really know the people so much that they're selling because it really doesn't matter. Yes, it really doesn't. And you know, customer service is key. Connections are key. From my role in marketing. That is what I see every day is what I live, right? It is the, it's the culture, right? It's it's the culture of the company, but how do you get to know that unless you make those personal connections. So it's all about the connection. You know, marketing itself is all about connection, it's who you know, how you know them, how you relate to them, and then the service that they provide with the customer service. So it's key to see someone face to face, and you sound like you have a lot of fun. And that makes the interaction fun. People want to connect, I love that you highlight that, because we've become isolated, I know I am more isolated, I'm just getting out there. My family said, it just feels weird to normally go out, you know, go to the store or go to dinner, or it just still feels a little odd. So it's nice to encourage those connections, you're helping to keep the community connected, and you're having fun. So people want to go to a business that looks so fun. Exactly. It's a win win. It is a win win. You know, it's so funny, you know, people have become very isolated. With my full time job being a director of marketing for elder law. You know, we've worked with elders all the time, and we've worked directly with their caregivers, you know, their families. And that has been so impactful for the seniors, you know, for the folks that were in the healthcare, field workers and people that reside in these communities, the impact is incredible, you know, and it showed what the lack of contact can really do to a person, right. So during COVID, when everyone was so isolated, how, you know, people just declined, and they could show their health declined for not having the contact. So that really is important. It really is key. I think I was just doing another interview yesterday, and they were saying that 50% of people die of loneliness, it's loneliness that kind of triggers the physical decline. Having that connection, I want to ask if you don't mind going a little bit in a different direction, since marketing is your thing. What would you say to a small business owner out there? I mean, boy, the landscape is certainly different from when I started about almost 30 years ago. Now, you know, back then I just had yellow page ads, right? And took out ads in the local newspaper, and you know, you had a lot of money, maybe I could do something on a radio, but what what do you do now is social media, is it you know, what do you recommend for that entrepreneur? You know, social media has become the key to engagement, right? Because everyone has their phone at hand, all the time. So to be able to have a podcast like yours, especially right to have that, to have that communication and put it out and be in people being able to log in and listen to it or see it. So in videos as well, that is key right now. And yes, I do you remember the phone books. I do. Remember, you know, as a business owner back in the 80s, door hanging was a thing my business would go door to door and hang on their door. It's hard to do down right now, obviously, you know, sometimes we want to go back to our old roots, because it worked. But times are just so different. So really is on social media, you know, video, voice, those are, that's what connects people now they want to see it, they want to hear it. So that is really key. And that's what we try to talk to business owners when we're out there. We try to encourage them to go on and do videos of themselves or you know, or just sales mail kind of thing. People have a hard time doing that people just sometimes they don't think they're creative enough. Sometimes they just don't have the time. For some things. They don't want to be on video. They don't think they look right, or they can come up with something else. But the truth is that you just you have to put yourself out there. So this is what we do. So when we go out and we do these videos of these owners, and we provide them with a link, so then they can put that on their websites and use that for their social media. So it really helps promote them besides being on our show, but it Yeah, social media is everything. You know, it's really important. Yeah, the Facebook's the LinkedIn, the instance the tape talks, whatever, you just got to do something just gotta be out there. It's more about everybody has to get to know you and have a feeling for your personality like Debbie said, Right? They're not just buying something that if I knew and that feeling and that they can come back and get treated well that customer service so if they know your personality a little bit more and feel like they know you and that's when people forget because I wasn't a podcasting class. And they said, don't just go on and say, buy this go on and say, Oh, today's a little busy. I've had a hard time doing this. And I did that didn't even unpack my new shipment yet. But that personal touch that's hard for people to just whip up. So I love that you give them a video when you're done and they can, they can link to that and show. Look, I was interviewed. And here's what I do. It's hard to say that about yourself. Yes, it really is. A lot of people just struggle with that, you know, I have, sometimes sometimes we do on on location, we've done a flea market, we've done the Trenton flea market, which was It was great. There was so many small businesses in there, we were trying to highlight the businesses. There were people that just couldn't think of being on camera. They they just they apologize. They were very nice about it. They're like, I can't, I can't do it. There was a woman who was walking around it, she ran from us she saw she just ran fear of being in front of the camera. So So yeah, but you know what, if you can't do it yourself, there's someone in your business that can there's a customer that can you can ask a customer, they will be more than happy to do it. So yes, if you can't do it yourself, there's definitely someone around you. And you just can't be afraid to ask because someone wants to be out there. I think that's a great point, right? It doesn't have to be you know, it could be your product, it could be someone else, it could be a guest. It could be something right? In coming up with ideas. Sometimes it's really hard. But you know what I mean? If they again, they have their their, you know, phones at hand, they can just search you can search for anything, nowadays, anything. And if you don't know what to say, you just go on chat. She PC and they'll tell you what to say. That's true nowadays. And you know, she's not going to give herself a shout out. But Debbie Weiss is amazing on Instagram. But that's how I got to know her better. She's just able to connect, you go on a walk with her. And she tells you wonderful things like right now she's telling you want to tell what you're doing, because I love it. And it's a great idea for anyone. I launched my book on August 9, which was 60 days, for I turned 60. So I'm turning 60 On October 9. So starting on that day, every day I do a video, something that I've learned in 60 years in my 60 years. So it's 60 days until 60. So about I guess what's it about halfway there now? Yeah, my Yeah, I'm about halfway there. And you know, when you talk about the video, I remember when I first started making the videos, I was nervous, I thought the same thing. My hair had to be perfect what I was wait, like I thought about everything. And I would write a script, and then I would say it and then if I flubbed I did it again. And I realized this is not happening. Like I cannot do this on a regular basis. So I just really decided, you know, what, who do I want to see? Well, I want to see someone who's all made up and perfect. Not that I was looking all made up and perfect. But no, I want something real. And so I that I ditched it. Ditch the hair, I did the makeup, I did the clothes. And when ever a lot of times I do it in the morning, like Lynn said, I'm walking the dog and I just came back from exercise and my hair is in the half ponytail and I look half asleep. And I just click record. And I just say what's on my mind. And 95% of the time I do not rerecord whatever it is it is however I look, I look. I love that authenticity. It's really important. People trust you when you're authentic, when you show up as your real self, and I have to tell you, I love your walks. I just got to know you so much better before I knew you. Well, you know, that's, and you get a lot of views. And that's really what it's about it it goes back to Daisy's point. It's not just about talking about business. It's not just talking about what you sell. It's talking about who you are, and how connected you are to the community and what you're thinking, and people need that relationship. People need to connect again. That's so true. You don't you know, sometimes people don't people are not looking at how made up you are and they truly are just they just want that engagement. And they do want that to be genuine. Yeah, I agree. I agree. That's why now it's so funny. You know, like you said, so many people are running away from you being scared. And I understand that because I would have felt the same way. But it's like anything else. You've got to face your fears. And you'll find I mean, there I was so scared. It's like everything. When you think oh, I can't do that, or I'm so afraid. And then you do it and the more you do it, the easier it becomes and you look back and thought oh yeah, I thought I could never do that in and now it's just second nature. So yeah, I would encourage small business owners to get more involved with social media. And I mean, we're all Central Jersey, they should probably contact you to get on your show. We'll put that in the show notes, the details about that. Yes, yes. If anybody would like to highlight their small business, they can definitely reach out to me as central New Jersey television. I'm on LinkedIn, I am on insert as well. They can send me messages and let me know. And I would be more than happy to come out. I think it's more fun than they even realize, right? I think it's just really fun. It isn't only fun. This is not scripting. And it's not we don't go in and we tell them what to say really is it will one take also we love one take. Yeah, so if it comes down great, you know, obviously, if there's something that really does need to be added we would. But it's best when it's genuine, it's best when it's sincere. It's not scripted. It truly is who the business owner is what they're doing. So that's that's how it works the best even when you make a mistake, then that makes you more genuine because nobody's perfect. We all make mistakes, right? makes you human, right? Yeah. Listen, if I can have somebody laugh at least one time a day. I don't care if it was at my expense. Okay. Oh, it is so important to laugh. That's another thing they say you have to stay connected to people. And it's good to have a lot of they said toddler's laugh, like so many times a day, you know, and that we have to laugh more we lose that I think some of us but it's really important to connect to that right to connect to that. That joy and that enjoyment of what you do and sharing what you do. It's really fun. Yes, you have to have a positive energy. I say Yeah, right. And you do I can feel it over the Oh, yeah. Thank you, I try. I try. I tried to be positive, you know, nothing, my life is perfect. But there's no point in dwelling in things that aren't working or that are negative, because I think then you just end up attracting more negativity for you. So I think by being positive, and you know, now someone could be having much worse time than you. So when you think your problems are huge. There are somebody out there who's having a harder time. So why make it more you know, you just have to be kind, right? You know, that is one of my my favorite thing is, you know, it doesn't it doesn't take much to be kind. You just be kind to someone, of course. It's free. It's free. It is. Sometimes it's just a smile. Right? Exactly. It is. Yes, it is. Yes, absolutely. Gosh, I could ask you so many other questions. I know we could have a lot of directions we could go I know. I know. I just love talking to you. But I think what you've you've already shared will be so resonate with our audience. Yeah, hope so that absolutely. It's my pleasure to be here and chatting with you guys. I had a great time and I hope to see you guys soon at one of the BW Nisa events. Thank you so much, Daisy. We loved having you. Thank you