Lori Highby, Amelia Earhart and Confidence

In this episode of Hello Moxie, host Nicole Donnelly chats with Lori Highby, CEO and founder of Keystone Click, about her journey in digital marketing, the ups and downs of running a business, and what it takes to build confidence along the way. They talk about the inspiration of trailblazers like Amelia Earhart, how self-worth impacts success, and the lessons learned from setbacks.

Lori also shares what it takes to build a great team and stay in the game for the long haul. If you’ve ever struggled with doubt or wondered how to keep growing, this episode is for you!

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Transcript

DMG Digital Support (00:00.834)
You're listening to Hello Moxie with Nicole Donnelly. In each episode, we honor the unbreakable thread that connects the fierce women who came before us to modern day pioneers carving their own paths. We'll share stories of unforgettable heroines, celebrate their courage, and bring to light the lasting impact they've had across generations. Get inspired by the stories of those who embodied true Moxie and pave the way for others to follow. Hello Moxie is sponsored by DMG Digital.

a woman-owned marketing consultancy dedicated to helping B2B companies and e-commerce brands create exceptional customer experiences. Hello and welcome to Hello Moxie. Today I am joined by the amazingly talented Lori Hybe, who is the CEO and founder of Keystone Click, a digital marketing agency based out of the Midwest and

Lori, I am so happy that you're here today. Why don't you tell our audience just a little bit about you and your background and tell us what's lighting you up right now. Yeah, great. Well, first, thank you so much for inviting me to be on the show. I'm super excited to be here. As you shared, I own a digital marketing agency, so we put a lot of emphasis on conducting research first, and then we take the data and the insights we collect, build a strategic plan.

and support the full implementation of that plan. We primarily target and support the manufacturing and construction space. So I like to say people that build things, right? The things that are lighting me up right now, my gosh, there's so many of them actually. And I'm finding, and I was looking at like some of my past social media posts, because when people get excited about something, that's usually what they post about, Education is a big core principle of mine.

So I find that whenever I'm teaching or speaking or just kind of sharing information with others, I get excited about it. And I've got a very like pay it forward mindset and mentality. And there's just something magical about like seeing people like that light bulb moment where they're like, I get it now, or I see the impact. So just kind of that transferring that knowledge is something that really excites me. That and just new experiences.

DMG Digital Support (02:19.544)
traveling, new foods, you know, trying something different. just, that excites me a lot.

Lovely. What new foods have you been trying lately? want to hear. well, just knew restaurants. I Milwaukee has, I guess you could say kind of a foodie scene a little bit. that's a big one. Just new random things. don't, last night I went out to Italian restaurant and had some really cool butternut squash ravioli, but it had, was like surrounded by kale, which doesn't, I don't love kale, but it was like fried kale.

Yeah, it's got this little flavor profile. Yeah, so I'm like, I really like this. Very cool. Yeah. What's the most surprising thing you've ever eaten? I would say frog legs probably were the farthest out of my comfort zone. Not the biggest fan of those. They seem like they'd be really chewy. Yeah, it just was, I don't know. And they just kept this mental picture.

frogs in my head too, which you probably should do that when you're eating certain things. up a plate. Yeah. man, that's amazing. And what is your favorite? I love that you were just lit up by education and I see that in you. spend so much, you invest so much time in educating your customers. You have this great series on LinkedIn where you answer questions that you're getting every week from prospects, which I think is...

So wonderful for people who may be trying to, who need that help, you know? So I love that you do that. And I know that you also are really involved in educating other agencies and being part of the community where you do that as well, which is really quite special. what, what, what topics do you really like to educate people on? Or do you just like, are there some like one or two that you're just like, Oh, I just wish, I just wish more people, I just wish I could share this with more people because it's just so mind-blowingly awesome.

DMG Digital Support (04:19.182)
Well, right now, I think my favorite things to talk about are AI, which is a huge rabbit hole that we could go down. Anything really marketing, digital marketing. And I think the biggest miss, and this is where there's a lot of passion for it, is so many people like to just kind of throw spaghetti at the wall and see what happens. Or like they read an article, like, oh, you're TikTok and this is how do it. And it's like, that's not the right way to do marketing. You really have to focus on your customer.

And figure out like, what are the pains that they have? Where they hang out? Like there is a whole process to doing marketing, right? And I just think that it's, it's got somewhat of a bad rap and like, Oh, well I tried this one thing and it didn't work. So I'm never spending marketing dollars ever again, you know? So there's, a whole stigma around that. But yeah, I'm also a big advocate of elevating the industry and helping other marketing professionals to.

to just be better in their roles from an account service perspective and just help elevate the industry as a whole. I love that. That's wonderful. think as a fellow agency owner, I think I can definitely relate to like kind of the need to have support when you're trying to work through client challenges, you know, because they are, that's like a very common issue is like, how do I navigate this?

particular client who maybe is facing some resistance with whatever I might be recommending or is at this phase and there's, you know, there's all those different challenges. So I think that's a wonderful way to give back because it's a really common thing because as agency owners, we really want our client's success. And it's something that really requires this wonderful balance of being able to meet the client where they are, but also push them sometimes and finding that balance is I think really.

challenging. know, marketing can be scary because there there's always something new out there. And if everyone's doing the same thing, then there's no effective activities and results. So you do have to kind of get creative and step outside of your comfort zone. And especially I'd say in the like manufacturing and construction space, it's very much the mindset of

DMG Digital Support (06:32.866)
This is the way we've always done it. In today's day and age is not the way you want to be moving forward. You have to step outside of that box and try something different. And when you do, I think there's so much opportunity, especially for these smaller manufacturers to really differentiate themselves from their competitors because it's very rare for them to be taking those kinds of risks. So it can be a really cool differentiator for them when they choose to do so. Totally, totally agree with that. Very awesome. Well,

This show is all about celebrating women in history. And so I am dying to hear a woman in history, and maybe it doesn't have to be one, some of our guests have had multiple, but is there a woman in history who has just really inspired you? I'd love for you to just tell our listeners who that is and maybe share a story about them that you just really love that has lit you up. Yeah, and actually I had...

talked about this scale on one of the broadcast for manufacturer podcast episodes. Amelia Earhart actually is, she is just like one bad ass chick. The first female to fly solo across the Atlantic ocean. And she was also the first person, male and female, to fly from Hawaii to California. But man, she's just.

You know, flying is like the thing that everyone thinks of her, but she's done, she just is kind of like, I want to do this and she just does it. So she actually started an apparel line, which I didn't know that I was doing some additional research on her because all of the aviation clothing was built for a man's body, right? So she designed a whole line for a female to wear. She played basketball, which was, you know, not necessarily the typical, you know,

you'd see females playing basketball. She took auto repair courses and she got into flying because she attended an air show with her father and was in one plane ride and became obsessed with it. yeah, I think she's just really cool about doing what she wants to do. And she just kind of threw any sort of stereotypes and defined social norms out the door. And I think that's pretty awesome.

DMG Digital Support (08:49.166)
That's so cool. You know, I didn't know that she had started her own fashion line. And so I was just reading about it while you were talking here. And it looks like her aviation inspired fashion line had parachute cord belts, sleek lines and functionality focused fabrics, like washable materials, which is just so practical, totally like.

A woman would do that, right? Like, % something that a woman would do. And she definitely had such a rebellious streak. There's a story from her childhood where she built a homemade ramp with her sister to launch herself off the roof of a shed so she could mimic the feeling of flight as a child, which is so interesting. Like as a little girl, she wanted to fly at such a young age and obviously she crashed.

but she said it was just like flying. I think it's just, a cool example of like this spirit of just trying something and knowing is, she, I mean, she knew she was going to fall, but she wanted to feel that initial moment of flight. So she was willing to just accept the fact she was going to fall just so she could feel that sense of exhilaration. I don't think that's so stinking cool. Like if we could do that more in our lives, like knowing maybe something might not end up, you know.

the way that we want to or as a win, but we're going to do it anyway just so we can feel what that feeling is like. That's kind of a cool challenge for me. What can I do that would just be something that would bring me a little moment, a little glimmer of joy, even if it's not something that's going to be- Sure. Stepping outside your comfort zone. That's what it's all about. Exactly. Very cool. So what is something-

Like what are some of the qualities that you've seen in Amelia Earhart that you see that shows moxie or that you really try to emulate maybe in your everyday? Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of what she's done historically is just like stepping outside of any sort of norms and stereotypes of what a female should do and be. I she was determined as all hell. I think just keep moving forward, stepping outside of those set

DMG Digital Support (10:57.388)
define norms of society. She was a really big advocate and mentored a lot of individuals and just kind of paving that way for doing awesome things. So I would say empowering others is something that I really try to strive to do and like, you know, lift everyone up and, and say, yeah, you can do this, be the biggest cheerleader possible as possible. And, and those that know me know that I'm, there's, there's no filter. Like she, she's just, she, she was an authentic.

You know, lived her authentic self. confident, quirky, getting into trouble sometimes. But I'd say that's just kind of how I like to live and function. There's no reason to be something you're not. And, know, I'd say confident, quirky, applied to word set resonate with her and me. And definitely when I think about her and you, I trailblazer. She's absolutely a trailblazer, but you're also like a trailblazer to be able to start your own business as a woman.

And how many you've been in business now for decades, right? 16 years this year. Congratulations. That's such a huge milestone to be able to grow a business to make it that point. Not very many make it that far. So I think that's really remarkable. And so I think you've definitely been a pioneer for a lot of women in our industry. And the fact that you're dedicating so much time to kind of giving back in that way is really pretty stinking cool. Thank you.

What, like when you're working with and you're mentoring some of these younger women who are up and coming, what have you noticed to be some of the most common challenges that you see that they're facing? Are they different than what you faced when you were young in your career? And what do you typically advise them? Great question. So it's interesting how you kind of set it up for me to reflect back a little bit on my initial, kind of when I got started.

I'd say one of the biggest things is confidence, actually. So there's a gal that I'm mentoring right now. She's an entrepreneur and we are paired up through a local networking group that we're in. And her biggest thing is confidence. as an entrepreneur, you have to, one, be confident in what is it you're selling. Because people can sense that and individuals want to work with others that are confident. So one of the things that I'm telling her to do is to just do something once a week that just is outside of her comfort zone.

DMG Digital Support (13:17.41)
You know, to build this, like you have to keep pushing yourself outside of that comfort zone. And the confidence is going, is going to come because you're going to realize this was uncomfortable. did it and I'm still alive. And then it's going to allow you to have more confidence to keep doing more of those things that aren't necessarily in your safe space. That's wonderful advice. have to say, I can totally relate to that. This week I just spent.

three days at a public speaking course in New Jersey called heroic public speaking. I really have found that I love. They're amazing. Yes. Incredible. Yeah. And I've really found that like over the last year, I really wanted to get better at that, gain more confidence. I love to do public speaking. And so I was like, I'm going to do this. I'm going to invest in this course. And it has been the most rigorous and challenging thing I have done. Like one of the most, like in my life, it's incredibly rewarding.

And can totally relate to that sense of like doing something outside your comfort zone. This has been totally outside my comfort zone. Even though I've done public speaking, it's a whole nother ballgame when you're like crafting a whole new speech and you have to prepare it in front of people and you're going to get like director's notes and feedback in front of people. And especially like I wrote it on a very personal topic. It's not like a business talk.

And so like, that's one thing, like I can get up and stand up and I can talk, you know, all about digital marketing and business e-commerce. But when you're like sharing more vulnerable parts of yourself, that's where it's like, really like, my gosh, can I, I can write it down, but can I say it out loud? Yeah. Like in of people. So I love that advice. think that's incredible because I, on the other side of it, it's so nice to able to look back and be like, you know what? I freaking did that. Yep. I.

did it, that means I can do it again and get better at it. yeah, I think that's wonderful. Wonderful advice. Yeah. Confidence. What what do you think the differences between confidence and like kind of like self worth? Hmm. that's a that's a big question. Confidence, I think is where you're concerned about

DMG Digital Support (15:29.932)
the perception maybe of others around you where self-worth is more an internal head game with yourself. But there is a lot of, I'd say crossover. Like you have to believe in yourself because that's going to be the fuel to kind of build up to gaining confidence. If you don't believe in yourself first, you're going to have a really hard time with confidence. Yeah. So, and I think there is a lot of

crossover because as you mentioned before, when you do something really difficult, you gain confidence, which also helps you kind of like feel a greater sense of self-worth of like trust in yourself, I think. Yeah. When you do those things, when you use confidence building activities, you learn to trust yourself a little bit more like, okay, I can do hard things. I that you've got it. What do you advise for people who maybe

need or want to help develop more of that sense of like kind of internal self-worth. What's something that's really helped you gain that? Because I think as a business owner, you can only get so far as a business owner on confidence alone. At some level, you're going to reach a point, I've been there, where you have to dig a little deeper and I think like have a greater sense of self-worth and not facing the validation, if you will.

Yeah, I feel like there's a lot of ugly head talk that we all have. Someone referred to it once as the drunken monkey and I've loved that ever since. Like, okay, tell the drunken monkey to shut up and go home. Let's have a really nice positive conversation with ourselves. When we're having conversations with others, we often are really trying to do our best to encourage them and lift them up and...

and cheerlead them on, so why aren't we doing that with ourselves first, right? So I've found that a couple of things help me kind of get out of that ugly mental state. Gratitude, acknowledging things that I'm grateful for have been extremely helpful. Meditation is really important to me, so I try to do that even if it's just five minutes in the morning. Or if I'm finding I'm starting to get really anxious or stressed, I'll just, you know.

DMG Digital Support (17:47.424)
say I need five minutes and I'll go do a guided meditation. And then this is kind of funny, but I find music to be really influential too. So I'm Pandora. One of my favorite stations is called Happy Radio. So all the songs are just happy songs. like good, uplifting, positive songs. And I'm just like, it's good. Sometimes you just need to hear like a song that's gonna put a smile on your face and that'll help.

Love that. So I can imagine you dancing while you're listening to it. Yeah, that's not going to be on video for anyone, but yes. my gosh. So what's your happiest song that you love right now? Today's a good day to be a good day. It's going to be a good day. Something like that, right? Oh, I got a good one real quick. Today's a good day to have a good day. Today's a good day to have a good day. Yep. Today's a good day to have a good day.

Michael Franti. Have you heard that song? No, but I'm going to totally... You need to listen to it. Good day for a good day. Yeah. love that. Okay. Very cool. So, you know, as a business owner, I know you've had your share of really bad days. Every business owner has. And you've had your share of really good days. For sure. So when you're having a really crappy day and it's just, you know...

Maybe walk us through, tell us a story. I want to hear a story from you, Lori. Tell us a story about maybe a really bad day, maybe a while ago. It doesn't have to be current, that you had. How did you pull yourself out of that bad day? What did you do? I know you just told me gratitude of meditation, but I want to hear the story. I want you to tell me what you did. What was the bad day like? And how did you get yourself back up?

Yeah. mean, well, I would say that took, was more than a day to get back up, but I didn't, I didn't even know this. Okay. This is the first thing that came to my head and I'm again, being my true authentic self here. Cause at first I would just have a little head talk. Like, I don't want to share that story, but no, I'm going to be real. So this was a few years back, 2017, 2018, right in that timeframe. And I know that.

DMG Digital Support (20:02.026)
I'll get to why I know the timeframe. I had three employees out of a team of eight resign all in the same day. So that was not a good situation. you know, then I like shut the door to my office and just had some like really deep, what am I doing kind of self-talk conversations. When I, at the moment, it was obviously extremely challenging, but when I reflect back now, and this is where

The timeline is critical. It was probably about six months after my dad had passed and I was very disengaged from the business. You know, it was a traumatic loss. He was killed in a motorcycle accident. So, yeah. and I realized, and it was kind of the trigger, unfortunately that I needed to be like, I need to get back to.

being a functioning human being in life, right? So it was unfortunate that that, I mean, it was a really dark part of my life, as you can imagine. And I guess I was thinking, you know, I was focused on me and I didn't realize that the impact it was having on the business and my team. So I wasn't showing up for them. And I really realized that, you know, employees and teams want a present leader.

right? And I wasn't being present for them. So it took me a while to realize that. I, and, you know, I reflected back on that probably a few years ago, and that's when I connected the dots. But in the moment, I wasn't, I wasn't connecting the dots. So

DMG Digital Support (21:46.35)
experience, Lori, I think that's such a wonderful example of when we're facing adversity in that way, to see what can I learn? What is this meant to teach me? How? What do I need to do differently going forward? Yeah. And once you came to that realization and you kind of were like, you know, I've got to make some changes here. What did you notice shifted once you started making those changes? How has that shifted your business? How has that shifted you personally? How has it shifted the relationship you have with your employees?

Yeah, I've put a lot more emphasis on the team and really realized that I need to hear them and I need to not just hear them, but really make them a part of some of the decision making and just be more present and aware of what's happening, not just with me, but with those that are surrounding me as well.

So I started doing not just one-on-ones, but I call them monthly mentor chats with every single one of my team members. So it's not necessarily focused on the projects and the tasks at hand, but looking at bigger picture, you know, what are your career goals? And, you know, is there something, you know, personally that you're trying to achieve and how can I help elevate you or what can I do to help you achieve these goals that you have? And I found, you know, these are...

Great transparent conversations is a gal on my team that has a big picture goal. And I'm like, this, this role that you aspire to be is not in our organization, but I can help you by giving you the tools and the resources and the opportunities as they present themselves to set you up so that, you know, five years down the road.

you have this opportunity because you've had these experiences. So I appreciate that I'm having more of these transparent conversations with my team and it's just built a stronger bond and a level of trust amongst everyone on the team now. But yeah, it took a little while to get there. It wasn't a light switch that turned on and was like, Lori's a happy person again. So that takes time for sure. But putting the big emphasis on the team, I think, was a big light bulb moment.

DMG Digital Support (23:57.92)
unfortunate I had to get down to that dark spot to have that kind of realization. but I think too, like it's important to remember that even like sometimes I think people have this impression of business owners that you've got to always have it figured out. You can never show weakness. can never, you know, like I think that there's this mindset that if you own a business and you're in that position that you have to be invulnerable all the time.

And you know all the answers. You know, all the proof. Like, you know, you have your vision, your vision statement and you're planned out for the next five to 10 years. Yeah. Exactly. Like all of that, you know, and that's a lot of pressure on a business owner. for sure. Yeah. think. I think what you've shown is that like business owners are, we're just, we're human, just like everyone else. We go through it.

We struggle with deep tragedies and have to deal with those things and have to deal with the weight of having to figure out how to manage the business at the same time, which is a lot of pressure. so I think when I hear your story there, I just invite, it just makes me feel like lot of, let's give ourselves a lot of grace for whatever it was that you were going through at the time. I love how you said it took you time and that's okay.

know, it's okay that you didn't have it figured out overnight and it's okay that you hit rock, you you went through a rough time. mean, your dad had passed away. Like all of that is just life and we're human and we're going to go through the stuff. But how cool that you were able to kind of integrate that experience and create something really special with your company now. It's very cool. you. What do you think has been the key to your longevity as a business?

wow. I'm going to go back onto the education part. So education being a core value of mine, you know, and you know, the industry we are in is changing faster than we can stay up to date with pretty much. But I love learning about these new things. know, AI is obviously the big hot topic. Automation is still really like fascinating and tying those two together. There's so much you can do.

DMG Digital Support (26:06.7)
But not just soaking it in for myself, but then teaching others about it is really been something where we've established that trust and people know that this is the source for that type of information. think one of my favorite things is, you know, when you get a referral or someone reaches out to you because they're like, Lori will have that answer or Lori will be a great resource for this type of information. you know, that it took some time to build that thought leadership kind of.

you know, no like trust approach. But I think I really believe that's been a big part of staying where we are and the growth that we've had. Yeah, that makes so much sense, especially with how quickly the pace of change is now. And being knowledge workers and having a business where you're in the service business and you're, you know, people are paying you to know what needs to happen, you know? And so I love, I think that makes, it just makes a lot of sense that, you know, you have to lead the way in that way.

And that you want to lead that way in that way. It's not a pressure like I've got to do this. It's like, I'm curious. I love this. I want to learn more so I can help my clients and leading that way. Totally. It's really beautiful. Well, I have one more question for you, Lori. And that is, you you had recently shared an experience and I loved this story so much where you had a prospect who called and I guess they got in touch with whoever answered the phone. wasn't you, it was someone else on your team.

And you said, okay, hold on, I'm gonna have you talk to Lori and you get on the line and you're gonna probably tell the story way better than I do, but you overheard them say something along the lines of, do we think that she can help us or is she gonna know the answer to this? you'll have to tell the story, you're gonna do it way better. I'm so curious, can you tell our listeners about that experience? I would love to know, first of all, how you showed up after you heard this.

And what advice, let's start there. How did you show up? So tell us the story, tell us how you showed up and then let's go from there. Cause that's a big one. Yeah. So this was a few years ago actually. And one of the, was a guy on my team, um, male team member that answered the phone just cause I, don't, I don't answer the phone. That's another topic. Um, you know, we're always being sold to. So I have, I have my gatekeepers, but he came into my office and he, shared this like.

DMG Digital Support (28:28.098)
gross conversation basically that, he just did his normal thing and the guy on the phone was, you know, talking about what he's looking for and talking about his business. And he basically said, well, you should, you're going to have to probably talk to Lori, the owner of the company. She'll be, she'll be able to help you. then, yeah, his response was like, do you think she'll understand what we do and actually be able to help us? So that's like, wow. Right. So obviously you just kind of like.

Okay, but, but he advocated for me, right? Like, Hey, she's extremely knowledgeable and I have no doubt that she'd be able to help you. yeah, after over here, like, I mean, he told me directly that this is what the guy said, just to give me that heads up that it's probably not the nicest person on the planet. but I made a conscious decision to, to stay grounded, you know, focus on what I can control, which is.

what I know, right? And just like my emotions and my confidence, which I think is, you know, the theme of the topic today. And just, you know, went in nice and friendly and actively listened to what their challenges were, show that I understood. But in my head, I also realized like, I don't want to work with this person. Like, I'm just gonna go through the motions here, prove that I know what I am talking about and try to maybe reposition his.

his doubts somehow. But yeah, I think that's all you can do is, if you've got someone that's doubting you, just that can impede our mind talk, right? Our head space a little bit, but just kind of do the best that you can do, right? Just put your best foot forward in that situation. I love that you said that you were able to control your emotions. So you were able to just say, I'm not going to take that. I'm not going to try to get this personal about this and get that out of it. I think that's really good advice.

And I love that you said you knew that you weren't gonna work with this person. And I think that is really huge. When people show you who they are, you can set a boundary and say, this person is not a fit and that's okay. It's not a reflection on me. It just means they're not a fit for me. And that's totally fine. They'll find someone who is. And if that's the way they are at the beginning of the relationship, you can only imagine how.

DMG Digital Support (30:44.674)
yeah. That dynamics, what, you know, if you were allowed that, how that could change. So yeah, yeah. I've learned a lot of red flags to look out for. mean, mostly the hard way, but you you learned the lesson and that's what's important there. So yeah, like that, we're not going to get along well, probably in the long run. So let's just not jump into this relationship, but yes, given the benefit of the doubt and just kind of prove them wrong. And I think that was really gracious of you. I think it shows a lot of generosity on your part.

So like what I hear from you is when you're encountering those situations like that, as a woman or even as a man, where someone may be questioning your competence or your ability or without any knowledge, going into it with levelheadedness, being very generous and gracious, and being very clear about what your boundaries are, I think is very wise. Yeah. Yeah. And I would say use that as fuel to like hear.

Ooh, you're doubting me? Let me prove you wrong here. That's energy and momentum that you can, instead of taking it down this negative path of getting in your own space, repurpose that energy to a positive. I'm going to show you. I know my stuff, and I am great at what I do. Having that confidence is extremely important. Beautiful. Love that. Mallory, this has been such a delight. Thank you so much.

for coming on the show and sharing your wisdom with our listeners. I am just so lit up by all the wonderful things you've shared. think we could turn like, I think we could create like 10 shirts with quotes on them. Fantastic. thank you. Yeah, this is great. Thanks for being such a great example of Moxie and, and yeah, it's been a pleasure. It's been a delight. Love being on the show. Thanks for having me.

That's a wrap for today's episode of Hello Moxie. I hope you felt that unbreakable thread connecting you to the women of the past, to the trailblazing pioneers of today. Their stories of audacity, resilience, and courage are a powerful reminder of what's possible for you when you choose to live with Moxie.