Get Your Startup off the Ground with ChatGPT

In this episode, Alicia and George discuss the realities of navigating the startup landscape, emphasizing the importance of understanding market dynamics and the long-term commitment required for success. They explore the rise of fractional leadership as a viable option for startups seeking expertise without the full-time commitment, and the ethical implications of email marketing in the entrepreneurial space. 

The conversation highlights the misleading nature of clickbait headlines and the toxic culture surrounding side hustles, ultimately advocating for a more grounded approach to entrepreneurship. In this conversation, the speakers explore the importance of having a clear business vision and the necessity of aligning expectations within teams and families. 

They discuss the dynamics of energy management in both parenting and leadership roles, emphasizing the need for proactive strategies to regulate energy and maintain morale. The conversation also touches on the significance of harnessing momentum for productive initiatives and the timing of launches to maximize engagement and effectiveness.

Chapters

00:00 Navigating the Startup Landscape
09:54 The Reality of Startup Success
12:17 Exploring Fractional Leadership
18:56 Strategizing with Experts
19:05 Defining Your Business Vision
21:14 Expectation Management in Business and Life
23:30 Energy Dynamics in Parenting and Leadership
25:41 Regulating Energy: Strategies for Success
32:51 Harnessing Momentum for Productive Initiatives

Transcript

Alicia McKenzie (00:00.174)

And the headline that caught me was, never buy an executive, rent them. Yeah. Right? Because a lot of these executives that have been successful in their career, they're not in the market to go back into the grind, but they still like engaging in that work. Welcome to Married to the Startup. I'm Alicia McKenzie, a wellness entrepreneur and digital creator. Alongside me is my amazing husband, George, the CEO who's always ready for a new challenge.

We've been navigating marriage and running startups for over a decade, and we're here to share the real, unfiltered journey with you. Join us for insights and candid conversations about integrating love, family, and entrepreneurship. This is Married to the Startup, where every day is a new adventure.

Alright, we are back for episode 32 and... Sorry, there you go. 32. We are dressed like this because we had a death in the family. No, I...

I'm trying to tell you the rules.

George McKenzie (00:58.402)

Interviewed for Transporter 3, 5, 7.

We had the service today. So back to work. Where do we want to start? Let's start with... So I'm subscribed to an email list and every so often they send out a roundup of posts that have been published, which is great because I love it. But there has been a lot of emails sent with the title...

Let's just say four fast startup ideas you can steal and launch before Monday. Or here's how to leverage chat GPT to get your brand new startup off the ground doing X, Y, and Z. Or here's a quick way to get to 10,000 a month in revenue. And it's happening real, it's happening a lot. And it's super problematic.

I don't think that's new. I that's been happening forever since the internet's been around. Between that and your great uncle in Africa.

No, but I-

Alicia McKenzie (02:00.324)

TAT chat GPT has not been around forever.

No, I'm saying the good rich quick scheme idea. It's just taking on a different form.

Now, words.

Yeah, it's always, yeah, I've seen tons of those. Use chat GPT to launch your business or here are seven great chat GPT prompts to help you grow your business or increase your side hustle or create a side hustle.

Yeah, I think that's the issue here. I feel like the toxic culture of side hustle is starting to revamp because of AI. But how many people are reading this and then like, I could do this and then try it and then nothing happens. And then 30 days later, like, well, this email came out. Let's try this and see what happens.

George McKenzie (02:46.734)

I think it's the same as any MLM or any of the other snake oil salesmen trying to get rich quick schemes. It's preying on people that are downtrodden or not successful and say, here's the way to do it. This is how everybody does it. You just missed this one email last week, but everybody gets rich this way. You're just not. But if you do it now, you too could.

I want to see the real data.

Yeah, the real data is the guys who are sending those emails getting it to click on them are the ones that are actually making money on it. Because you're downloading their articles or viewing their articles and or downloading the pieces of software that they tell you will help you. If you do these five things and all five of which tie to a revenue stream from the person behind the email, yeah, someone will make money on this. Just won't be you.

I just feel bad for the people that are like falling prey to...

I think those are the same people that have fallen prey to everything. The same ones that fell prey to now have these Tupperware parties at your house or you know whatever tchotchke you used to sell in your neighborhood by having events and invite people over and then sell it to your neighbors and friends and have them sell to their neighbors and friends.

Alicia McKenzie (03:56.832)

You know that yellow colander? I know. We have this one yellow colander and it is older than I am and it is Tupperware.

No, that was Tupperware's downside. That was the downfall of Tupperware is that it was actually made to last and no one needs 75 colanders. So you buy the one in 1974 and now in 2024 it still works because it drains water and keeps things in.

2025. It's 2025. also, I got rid of a lot of our plastic. I got rid of everything plastic in our house, right? There's no plastic cups. There's no plastic bowls. We use basically metal and glass and wood. But I kept that one yellow colander because I have such an attachment to it. Like I'm sure it's shedding microplastics.

and would.

George McKenzie (04:44.206)

I don't know. mean, that was so long ago. If it was, I don't know. I think that will maybe pre-date all the issues we have. Yeah, I think so.

Does it predate microplastics? And it's just so bulletproof that I can't get rid of it. Like, feel like this yellow colander is going to be a part of our family until the war ends. Exactly.

kid will get it it's gonna be bequeathed down like I want the yellow condom the top of

Anyway

Yes, when I die I want mom's yellow call and day.

George McKenzie (05:15.476)

It's the, it is the, I mean, it's what you would think that color scheme, it's like perfection, personification of Tupperware.

I'm so obsessed with it. But back to the point, successful startups are not fast. I think that is a huge takeaway is that most startups that are worth anything, whether they've been bought by a company, whether they've sold outright, whether they've dissolved, it did not happen fast. And what was the company I told you about yesterday in the shower?

something was one of the material

Oh, it was Touchland. So the Touchland brand, I want to say just sold for what was it? $120 million? It was $120 I feel like that's not enough. Yeah, numbers are relevant. I think it was $800 million. Something crazy. $120 million is not it because that wouldn't have stopped my... I wouldn't have caught my attention. But Touchland was sold and they started in 2009.

Numbers are real.

George McKenzie (06:17.922)

Yeah. You said it was over 15 years. Yeah. That's what most brands are. things. mean, there are some things that start quick and dissolve quick if you're on a hot idea and you don't have the ability to execute and someone else can acquire the idea and execute it better. But, you know, most companies that succeed have been around long enough to have the ups and down cycle and be able to have a solid strategy that's proven and a loyal customer base and, you know, an ability to sell in.

I was over 15 years old.

George McKenzie (06:47.192)

to a market. all those things take time.

But you never, you don't see timelines when you see acquisition headlines.

Yeah, well that and back to your email point. No one is gonna clickbait an email that says, you too with 15 years of really hard work, you could sell one, you could be successful of going without a salary for three years and almost going bankrupt and then having 10 customers and slowly building up your take home pay to 300,000. You too could be rich in 20 years. Like no one would click that article or.

or go down that path, but then everyone who looks at the headline that says whatever that name of the company was sold for 800 million, they're all like, oh, I want to do show, how come I can't do that? I'm just, my idea is just as good as that one. just, you know, I just not lucky.

I think what caught my attention about the Touchland deal is that we use this product. Like our kids are obsessed with it. And I started using it because it was a really clean hand sanitizer brand that wasn't gooey gel. And you just squirt it on your hands. It's phthalate free. It's paraben free. Like it checked all of the boxes. And I think our kids have like five each. it's a game out of collecting all the different scents. And then I saw this. I'm like, wow. Seven.

Alicia McKenzie (08:04.226)

The deal included $700 million in cash and restricted stock at closing, along with a contingent payment of up to $180 million tied to touchland sales this year. Yeah, or no. It's nice. It is nice, but this company is 15 years old, right? They don't tell you that in the headline. I think the ethical implications of these email marketing

or no.

George McKenzie (08:25.166)

There's nothing ethical about email marketing.

That's not true.

These types are the five ways to get rich quick or five things to improve your side hustle. Make $10,000 a month with passive income by doing these five income generating streams. Like write your blog, have AI write a blog for you. None of those things will instantaneously yield you $10,000 a month or $1,000 a month. They're all misleading.

Yes. None of these will yield $10,000 a month. Yes. Or a successful startup by Monday. No. Right. It is, it's not about the speed. Right. Like it's about building a substance that fits the market. Yeah.

market fit that I think that's a lot of people want a startup because they like they want the exit yeah without actually knowing what it is they're trying to do it what problem they're trying to solve what it is how they're gonna have value creation along the way that's worth something at the end same with like buying or building a house you know if you want to build a house you got to understand the market dynamics of what are people wanting to buy and then build the house according to what the market wants so if you built a

George McKenzie (09:38.542)

20,000 square foot one bedroom house with two bathrooms, you're probably not going to have a good outcome. But if you know what the market bears and you build a house that meets the market demand, then you'll sell it for a lot. So businesses are really no different.

Yeah.

Alicia McKenzie (09:54.99)

Which is really interesting because we we toured a couple houses this past weekend where we're in that weird phase of like we've been in this house for almost seven years and I think we're outgrowing it but I'm not quite sure. But we love our interest rate and we don't want to sell but do we want to put another X amount into it to make it what we want to be. So we just looked at houses to get some ideas. But we saw this one brand new build and there was no formal dining room. Right. They took the formal dining room and

Maybe I'll get you to eat in the kitchen, almost.

Yeah, it was an Eden kitchen that was built off of the full size kitchen. Did that one have one kitchen or two kitchens? had one kitchen. Okay, one kitchen, but it had a second like fridge, fridge, fridge water area. But our formal dining rooms going away now. Is that a thing?

one can.

George McKenzie (10:38.732)

I think so. Unless you're hosting dinner parties, I don't know what you use it for.

Which we do. Do we? I guess people more so eat outside than...

Yeah, I don't think we have dinner parties. think it's more hors d'oeuvres or something. Dinner parties are traditional sit down, have courses served to you at a dining room versus hang out in the kitchen. hang out in the kitchen, eat food, talk.

I think our friends are too active for that.

It's interesting to see the dynamics in architecture and how things change. And then one of the other houses was a relatively new build, but it was a stark contrast. It was very, very small, a lot of small rooms.

Alicia McKenzie (11:16.82)

small rooms and then the kitchen was kind of separated from everything. And the one selling point, like they're trying to spin it to say that you can cook while your children are doing their homework in another space and out of sight. I'm like, I don't trust my kids to be out of sight for that. Like I had all these.

Who wants that? The sight lines I think are, you know, what has that been around for probably 20 years now? I think it... Open concept? Yeah, think everyone loves that. I don't believe that that is a trend that has passed its time.

No, that turned me off. Yeah. I wasn't into it. I want to see my children because they're adorable. That's why we had them. All right, moving on.

That's what they say, children are meant to be seen, heard.

that's why they're so cute. Ours didn't get the memo. They're just really loud. they're... hostile. all the time and our house echoes, so you hear them everywhere.

George McKenzie (12:08.248)

heard.

George McKenzie (12:12.92)

Yeah, most open concept houses doom.

All right, let's turn to Let's talk about being a fractional CEO because I know you and I have or I have posed this to you And I'm like you like to build shit. You're really good at it, but you don't want to work full-time So what could we do be a fractional CEO?

No, no for me, I don't think that works

No, well not for you personally, but for some people.

Yeah, for some people that's good. I think if you're a startup company and you need outside expertise, paying someone to do that unless you're, because someone that has that experience, they're going to want equity, like large chunks of equity. It's got to be worth their time, effort and energy. You can't afford that. So you end up either middling and get, some, overpay someone who's not quite good enough and you're second guess it or

Alicia McKenzie (12:58.56)

Exactly.

George McKenzie (13:08.14)

you're a good CEO yourself or you have the ingredients, you just need someone to help you articulate a strategy or to outline how to grow the business. And yeah, I think a fractional CEO could work for that or not even a fractional CEO, like a fractional COO or fractional CFO. I think those are probably even more beneficial, like a fractional CFO to understand finance, understanding, know, leveraging debt if needed or how to...

pull forward cash and do things that make the business more economically viable or how to go out and raise money. Those are things that a fractional person could help you with.

And the headline that caught me was never buy an executive, rent them. Right? Because a lot of these executives that have been successful in their career, they're not in the market to go back into the grind, but they still like engaging in that work.

Yeah, it all depends. think, I guess, I've only had a couple experiences with it and I'll say the one experience I had with board members who were former high level executives, because I thought they were fucking useless. Did not add value at all. But I imagine if you got someone who was younger and who had just done what it is you're trying to do, right? And had relevant experience and connection and could help guide you.

you

George McKenzie (14:33.452)

Like I think, yeah, there could be tremendous value in that.

Okay, so let's say you're trying to bring on somebody fractional, whether it's a fractional CFO, a fractional CMO, how do you vet that person? Right? Is it just word of mouth? Is it like, I just trust that you actually did what you're telling me you did? Because we know people who have said that they have taken companies to exit and they actually haven't. Part of a team that took a company to exit.

They were part of the team that took up the

George McKenzie (15:02.062)

Yeah, I think you'd have to, like you would vet any new hire. You would have to do your due diligence on that person, especially someone at this level that you're going to be looking at as a leader in your company or to help guide you to lead a company. Like if you make a wrong decision in that aspect, it's probably hard to recover from, especially if it's someone that's setting a strategy, which is 18, 24, 36 months to bring to market or to bring to fruition.

by the time you realize that you're off, then you've wasted a lot of time. too late, yeah. Yeah, I would say you're going to have to check out the companies that they were or thought they were a part of and then look to either if you have in your network connectivity to that company or to the companies around it to kind of vet out them. you know, I think especially if they're in your industry, you you probably have connectivity, you know, seven degrees of Kevin Bacon away from them and some degree in which you can.

find someone who knows something about that company, that former company or that deal that they can then enlighten you as to how that person performed in it.

You know a few people, though, that just go around and CEO shit. Like, they put deals together. Yeah. It's kind of like a trust. It's a trust deal, right? Like, nobody's vetting these guys.

I think it's almost like a PKI and a root certificate authority. It's like, I know this person and this person vouches for this person, so I then trust that person. I think a lot of that, especially in cybersecurity, you know people or people know people and everyone, if you're connected in some way, you can vouch for somebody else. But then it's still, even after you've been vouched for, it still comes down to, you have to...

Alicia McKenzie (16:42.136)

do what you say you could actually do in a short period of time.

Yeah, or you vet people in an interview process or you have dinner with them and you talk to them and you can kind of sniff out bulls**t.

I just want to start coming to dinners with you. Why? Because your face does it all.

No. Yeah, so you talk to people and you ask a couple questions and for me it's you can get a read on someone. What did you ask? I just asked them how the deal went and well how was to diligence? you, yeah. And then what would you like about that? What was your best part? What's the funniest part about working with an investment banker? then, or know, give me a, tell me a story about the acquisition or right after acquisition, what was the first thing you did? Yeah. And you know, go there and

What would you ask?

George McKenzie (17:22.286)

You can relate to certain people and you would have a commonality in some way as to how it happened or just learning specifics and then if you got the answer the thought you wanted and then drill in keep asking more specific questions Yeah until you get to the root of it or if you get an answer that just totally didn't vibe with you You can probably suss out that they don't know what they're talking about Exactly

Yeah, like, you're full of shit. Where were you during your first, when you got the call, first acquisition?

when I got the call already, I when it closed. Yeah. Yeah. When the money, when everything.

Everything happened when it closed when it was done. Yeah

We were playing golf. What hole? I don't remember what hole. But yeah, that's where we were. But I remember when the money hit the bank, was the... On the golf courses when the money hit our bank, when the money hit the bank for the company, that was the night before. And I was on the call right when everyone, know, the big call everyone gets on and it's like, oh, is everything... Lawyers talk all this stuff and they're like, yep, yep, yep. All right, there's gold, all right, money. Why are the money? Yeah.

Alicia McKenzie (18:00.664)

I don't either.

George McKenzie (18:23.882)

And then you see it at the account and then you're like, holy shit, that happened. And then we all went out to drink and hung out at the bar for quite a while.

and that's where Maverick came from.

And then we played golf the next day.

Aw, buddy. All right. So I actually am considering bringing in a fractional CEO. A startup. But it's not even bringing her into CEO the company. It's bringing her into bounce ideas of the strategy off of her.

Yeah, I'm just not sure. Yeah, that's where I am.

George McKenzie (18:56.854)

Yeah, so I think that may be something different. Now, there's lots of management consultants you bring in for what you're talking about, right? Where you can do this sort of thing. No one's going to tell you your strategy. No. Right? They're going to help you execute it. until your company can align on what it is it wants to be and what it is it wants to do, then there's no point in bringing anybody else in. Because if that was

How so?

Alicia McKenzie (19:05.282)

But I want someone who's done it before.

George McKenzie (19:21.75)

If you don't know your core business and your value proposition and what it is you want to bring to market and what it is you're doing, right? Then no one's going to give it to you. You can't go have a meeting with a fractional CEO and say, hey, help me build a company. Right? Yes. No, you got to have an idea of what it is you want, what you want to execute. And that person can help you execute a strategy to fulfill your mission and what you're trying to do. But if you're having, you want to bring someone else in to create a vision for the company, then

Yeah, then right. that's my, my outside opinion is that you have to lock that in first. Once you've locked in where you want to be, right. And then what, what kind of company you want to be. And then it's all right. Now let's talk to someone who's done kind of what I'm trying to do and then help create a strategy around getting from where I am today to where I want to be. And until everybody is on board with where you want to be, it doesn't really matter.

No, you can't bring in some rock star that everyone will just go, yeah, okay, okay. Right? But then, you know, when it comes to the hard work when shit ain't working and everybody's got to put in more effort and energy, you know, it's easy to go, well, it's that asshole's idea. Like they fucking said this would work and it's not working. It's very easy to pin the rose on somebody else. you know, success as many fathers, failure as a bastard. So it's really easy to say, you know, it's failing because of X, Y, or Z when if you all agree, this is what we're doing.

Yeah.

George McKenzie (20:47.298)

Right? And everyone is doing it. There's no second guessing it. This is what we're doing. Then maybe it makes sense to bring in an outside person to help craft or bounce your strategy off of, of how I'm going to go from here to there. But no one's going to be able to sit down and give you a business. I know, I'm just saying. I think that's the thing a lot of people want. Right? They want to bring in somebody, a board member, an executive, a management consultant, someone that basically designed the business for them.

Thanks, Dad.

Alicia McKenzie (21:14.934)

No, I don't want that. I'm too controlling.

Exactly. So I think that's that's my I think you already know what you want. You just got to do it That's I don't think bringing in a fractional CEO is gonna help you But yeah, Know I think you just need to everybody agree where you're trying to get to It's the same with life. It's with everything. It's with kids. It's expectation management I can tell everyone has the same expectation of what an outcome is gonna be. It's very hard to get everybody to

it wasn't for me. Yeah.

Alicia McKenzie (21:28.994)

not to see you.

Alicia McKenzie (21:33.592)

to you.

George McKenzie (21:45.134)

be on board and do the things required to answer the mail. What's going on on a road trip? If you don't sit down with the kids before you put them in the car and understand, hey, we're going to go from here to there, it's going to take eight hours, we'll stop three times, right? And we're going to eat at this place and we're going to do this and you only get an hour on your iPad or you get an hour to watch a movie and you set the expectation of what it's going to be like and then you go execute.

versus everyone get in the car and then 10 minutes down the road, when are we stopping? I'm hungry. Where are we gonna eat? I've got to go here. And how long is it gonna take to get there? Yeah, you solve all that upfront and you, you level set expectation of what it's gonna be like.

This is why I don't do road trips.

Alicia McKenzie (22:23.586)

I know what it's going to be like and it's going to be terrible.

I love a road trip. It's all about the journey.

Sitting in the same spot for multiple hours and like not being able to get up like that's just a pure form of torture. me maybe. I can't. If you wanted like a road trip wife you married the wrong one I'm sorry.

for you.

Fine for me.

George McKenzie (22:44.398)

So my retirement plan of us becoming long haul truck drivers is not going to be able to become fulfilled. I was going to be a transporter. So I wore the tie. I'm ready to be a transporter.

Elon Musk made an AI-generated... He did. It's gonna drive itself. All the semis are gonna drive themselves.

I've heard that story for 10 years.

By the time we retire, fully believe that semi trucks will be auto drive only. Nobody behind. It's just a straight road. They just have to go back and forth. do.

because

George McKenzie (23:15.662)

No, they don't. No, they still have to. Where do you think they drop it off at? On the side of the interstate? Like, we've reached the destination. I'm at the exit. I'm just going to drop the load right

That's what the guy with our pallet of tile did. He just dropped it at the edge of the driveway. No turns necessary.

You have to turn somewhere to get in our driveway.

All right, moving on. So you brought up our kids. Let's talk about our children, their energy and whether or not we match it at home. So we had a kid who woke up on the wrong side of the bed, very low energy, very tired, very cranky. One of us matched their energy. One of us did not. Which one is which?

I don't know. No, because that can only take so much.

Alicia McKenzie (23:55.79)

I think that's why we work well together. But the same thing happens in companies, right? And I remember this one huge proposal that you were working on, massive, massive. This was circa, I would say maybe 2015, 16? Huge proposal that if you had won this proposal, it would have meant X for the company and you did not win. And that is the hardest I've seen you take anything ever. Do you remember which one I'm

I do, of course.

Uh-huh and that situation like the low was so low for all of the company and I think in that point you had like your couple days of wallowing but then you like flip the switch and You're like, all right, we're this low, but I can't I can't match it not for the company and you I don't know how you did it like you you brought back the morale and everybody was rah rah rah and everything was fine deal went through everything closed everybody made their money I do that at home with the parenting

Yes, yeah, just, yeah, when I hear, when the kids complain and it's just like, I'm, I get over it. Like I can't do it anymore.

But how are you so good at regulating your own energy within a business? Like, you're really good at that.

George McKenzie (25:07.608)

Yeah, I don't know. I think it's easier when you're dealing with adults, yeah, maybe, but it's also you're trying to drive an outcome. You're leading them and you understand that how to get the most out of them is to get everybody on board and excited to come to work and to be a part of something that's bigger than themselves. And with my kids, I want to train them to be leaders and warriors and to be resilient.

adults.

George McKenzie (25:37.494)

The bellyache is not part of it.

It is though. That's something they have to go through. Yeah. And they to learn how to regulate their own energy. Yeah. And they have to learn how to not... We have to learn how to not be reactive, right? We have to be proactive with them. It's not easy. Like this morning, I could not get one child to eat. So what I did was I took out two shot glasses and I had them race. had one kid on each side and I had them race to see who could take the fastest protein shot.

And I just kept filling the cups and kept filling the cups. And by the end of it, they had downed two protein shakes, but it was also a game, right? Like, I feel like it gave them a little bit of energy to go out into the world. And he's like, I beat my brother at taking protein shots. He's like, no, I beat you at taking protein shots. Like, and it just, got them.

They were still talking about that as they were getting onto the bus. Yeah.

Great idea. It was an idea. It was a good It could have gone either way. It did, but...

George McKenzie (26:33.422)

It worked out well. I had to just shove the pancake in his mouth.

George McKenzie (26:43.31)

Is that not appropriate?

No, it's not. It's definitely not.

Don't tell me you haven't thought of it.

No, no, I'd let them starve before I shove food in their mouth

Okay, well let's see that's where you and I differ. least mine they eat and they get sustenance. It's better than starving. I get it, it's challenging. I think it's kind like coaching baseball and t-ball. It's like I am way easier at motivating and understanding the emotions of kids during the game. Like nine-year-old boy emotions are...

Alicia McKenzie (27:00.238)

Fine, you don't get to eat.

Alicia McKenzie (27:05.742)

Finally with

George McKenzie (27:26.03)

I can only equate it to 13 year old girl emotions. That's kind of what it feels like. But it's rampant. It's the vacillation between crying and anger. It's like the flip of a switch. They're so close to each other. And it's very easy for me to be able to talk or find a story or an analogy or something to say to one of the kids on the team when something happens to try to turn it. And then when

It's my son that has that reaction. My internal monologue is to match the energy versus try to transform the energy. It's weird.

It is very strange. It's like you're trying to fight fire with more fire.

Yeah, it's just because I think you expect more from your own kids or right, or you expect. And this is where I've, you know, I've watched a lot of videos on this because I do want to be a coach. So I watched tons and tons of videos on coaching and from all angles. And I do believe that like dealing with your kids, it's, it's super frustrating, you gotta, I try to at some point reel it back that you're, you're asking a nine year old child to have full.

emotional control and regulation of a highly emotional thing. Like they put a lot of time, effort and energy into playing the sport and practicing and when things don't go well, especially when a sport that even hall of famers, it doesn't go well 70 % of the time. It's a very challenging game. then asking a nine-year-old to have complete control of their emotions and the ups and downs of something that happens even when adults can't control their emotions in sports.

Alicia McKenzie (28:54.946)

Yeah.

George McKenzie (29:08.488)

is probably a bridge too far. But in the heat of the moment, you as an adult has the same problem, right? It's kind of like that, was that inside, inside out?

yeah, Inside Out 2, where you've got like eight-

Guys, it's just that red anger monster always. And when you see your son or daughter or child doing something that you know is wrong, that guy just takes over. It's really hard to put the genie back in the box.

And I'm the water. Yeah. I'm the calm. Unless it's like day 20 to day 27.

don't get me started. I have a whole calendar of Alesias.

Alicia McKenzie (29:49.23)

Stop it. That's all. You just need to look at the calendar.

Day 1 through 10, it's this one. Day 11 through 16, it's this one.

Yes, go on. Explain me to me. Yeah. Day 20 through 27. Yeah. Just maybe you should just go out of town those days. You're not making this easy.

Mm-hmm.

George McKenzie (30:05.646)

Felicia.

George McKenzie (30:09.454)

We need one of those like mood boards they have in kindergarten. We can put it on the fridge. red face. Felicia's in town. Aunt Felicia's here. It's like the inverted Mary Poppins. They fly up from the ground. No umbrella, just rawr.

You know, and I was talking to my nurse practitioner about this because I'm like, is there something wrong? Like we're actually going to do a Dutch test on me because I just want to see. test? What is that? It's a test where you take samples of certain bodily byproducts at certain times throughout the month just to get a full reading on.

what's going on. And I was like, are you sure there's not something wrong with me? She's like, maybe your family should just stop pissing you off. I'm like, okay, fair enough. Fair enough, right? Like, why do I have to ask you four times to put on your shoes? If it's day one through 20, like I'm okay with it. But if it's day 20 through 27, put your fucking shoes on.

That's why I think we need the sliding scale of which it's like different Alicia faces every day. Like, no, that's good, Alicia.

It's not hard to understand though. It is.

George McKenzie (31:25.198)

It's challenging for everyone.

want. is simple math.

I'll put my shoes on faster. Fuck. Jesus, you don't have to tell the world.

right? Like it's only cute if it's like date night.

And you think boys are difficult. They're the same asshole day one and day 31. Same. Same time.

Alicia McKenzie (31:43.756)

Yes, but you're also useless. Like you can't make other demons.

Yes, we can, just not by ourselves. Maybe we need to go back to, you know, physical education class with you because it does take both male and a female to reproduce. Yes, until you can do that without any male part and then let me know. Yeah, well, I'm sure if scientists, which the whole world says is mostly a male-dominated field, if they're focused on it, it's probably about creating an egg, not sperm.

Not really.

Alicia McKenzie (32:05.9)

No. I'm sure we're getting close to it.

Alicia McKenzie (32:18.094)

Cybernetics.

Cybernetics, yeah, well, I'm sure that's it too. that, yeah, guys are creating cybernetic women, not the other way around.

Okay, can we like circle it back? I don't even know. All right, so to circle it back. After our last luncheon, I feel like the energy was just super, super high. Like everybody was excited. All the founders were like, ooh, let's do this, this, this, this, and this. How do you channel that energy? I think it's great. How do you channel it into something productive though?

I don't even know how he got started

George McKenzie (32:51.104)

Yeah, I think you get everybody, know, when the vibes are flowing like that, I think it's a great opportunity to harness the momentum and get those ideas while they're fresh. And also it's a great time to kick off an initiative because everyone is so geared up and gung-ho and ready to execute, ready to be successful, ready to win, right? It's much harder to kick off a quarterly initiative when you just get the shit kicked at you. You you're lost of the event went terrible or

You have a lot of, it's been a very difficult quarter and everyone's been grinding it out. And then all of sudden, Hey, let's turn it around and get geared up for next quarter. Right. That's so much harder.

That's actually a great idea. Note to self, have our next initiative ready to go by the time our October event happens.

Yeah, and then you're coming off that high and then you can assign taskers and everyone understands what their role is and are super stoked to do it.

That's actually a really good idea. One other thing I wanted to touch on is that I'm working with a PR company for my upcoming book and the minimum between actual asks, right? Like let's say you launch an initiative and then you're asking for something a few months later. He said the minimum spacing between launches is four months. I guess that is considered a quarter. Yeah.

George McKenzie (34:05.688)

So once a quarter.

No, it's a little more than a quarter, it's like a third, I guess. Yeah, that sounds about right. Yeah, it's long enough to go probably through the whatever emotional or mental cycle of being able to kind of, you still remember something from the last one, but you forget it. That it's not fresh enough that you still have association that, my God, didn't I just get an email from you?

Does it?

Alicia McKenzie (34:29.292)

Yeah, and I mean, what really got me thinking about this was that we just did a fundraiser for one of the local foundations and they've had several fundraisers within like last six weeks is what it feels like and it's just been bam, bam, bam, give me more, give me more, give me more and it just feels not good.

Yeah, instead of spacing it out throughout the year, know, it's a spring, it's a spring event, right? It's a spring kind of charity. Yeah. But, you know, you can do things in the fall or even over the winter break to still try to keep the audience engaged.

rather than just letting it completely fizzle and then try to revamp it in a period of 12 weeks.

Exactly. So I think, you know, trying to keep the momentum and having events, even if those events are later in the year, outside of the season in which that thing actually operates, could probably be beneficial.

I feel like the optimal time is somewhere in the middle. Four months seems a little long. Six weeks, way too short. I don't know. Only time will tell.

Alicia McKenzie (35:37.144)

Thank you for tuning in to Mary to the startup. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you did, please take a moment to like, rate, and subscribe to our podcast. Your support helps us reach more people and keeps the conversation going. If you have any questions or topics you'd like us to cover, drop me a message. I love hearing from you guys until next time. George out.