98: {Interview} The Power of Core Values in Business with Emily Green

Never under estimate the weight that core values mean when it comes to running and growing your business. They come into play in marketing, recruiting and in every aspect of growing your business. Today I sit down with serial entrepreneur and expert speaker Emily Green to talk about the importance of having core values in your business. 

In this conversation, Emily shares her journey from working in large corporate roles to starting her own business, Grace Communications, and eventually transitioning into public speaking. She emphasizes the importance of core values in guiding business decisions and attracting the right clients and team members. Emily discusses how living by these values can create a strong culture and lead to organic growth. She also highlights the significance of authentic connections in public speaking and how her experiences have shaped her new venture.

takeaways

• Emily's entrepreneurial spirit was influenced by her family's business.
• She transitioned from corporate roles to starting her own agency.
• Core values serve as a guiding principle in decision-making.
• Living core values helps attract the right clients and team members.
• Public speaking is about connecting with the audience authentically.
• Volunteering can help build credibility and attract opportunities.
• It's important to document and coach team members on core values.
• Walking away from bad clients is empowering and necessary.
• Attracting clients is more effective than chasing them.
• Authenticity in public speaking leads to better connections.

Emily's website HERE

You can connect further with Emily on LinkedIn HERE or follow her on IG at @emilygreen_1983

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Transcript

Caroline (00:01.27)
Welcome, Emily.

Emily Green (00:03.126)
Thank you for having me on.

Caroline (00:05.72)
So you had a really large, you've had multiple really large corporate jobs, some really big companies, and then a little over five years ago, you went out on your own and started your own business. You've since sold it in under six years and now you founded another company. So tell me all the things.

Emily Green (00:16.863)
Mm-hmm.

Thank

Emily Green (00:24.422)
Yeah, I mean, I started out, like you said, well, technically I started out with my family's business. They own a flower and gift shop. So the entrepreneurial spirit, I guess, was kind of born with the family business. And then I got in with Office Max. I was actually a tech specialist, which is hilarious because I'm horrible at technology. But I was a tech specialist with them for a little bit. And then I worked for Target for about three years.

And that's where I started getting my master's degree in marketing and advertising communications. And that led into my first real marketing job with Simon Property Group. And I worked for them about seven years, got to go all over the country. And that's what brought me to Charlotte. I got promoted and relocated to Chicago and then the Charlotte area to help at Concord Mills, which is one of their largest properties. And you're familiar with because you're from the Charlotte area.

And then I got recruited by Northwood retail to help launch a sponsorship program and it was a new position, a new really department for their entire company. And I thought, okay, I've made it. This is awesome. Like I'm running an entire department. I'm in a national position. You know, what, what could go wrong? Right? mean, it's last words. and eight months into it, they eliminated my position.

and around the same time I met my now husband. so, but you know, everything happens like at the same time. And I realized that I didn't want to relocate anymore. I wanted to settle down here in Charlotte. And I'd always wanted to start my own business. And I had three different people in the same week contact me when they found out I was looking for a job and they're like,

Why are you looking to work for someone else? You should really start your own, do your own thing. You've always kind of done your own thing anyway. And I'm like, hmm, that's weird that they knew I was thinking about that. And so I just, I went for it. You know, my now husband, you know, at the time he was just my boyfriend and he was like, I have got your back, whatever you decide to do. If you want to do another corporate job, great. If you want to, you know, launch an agency like you're trying to do.

Emily Green (02:49.108)
I support you. And I think just hearing that was all I needed to kind of give me that extra boost to be like, yeah, I'm going to try my own thing. And if I don't do it now, I'm never going to do it. So I started Grace Communications in December of 2018. And I had my first client before I even got the paperwork signed and done. that was

also very reassuring that I'd be able to get clients. And I think one of the things that helped me grow it fairly quickly was just really a strong culture. And even when we were a very small team, you know, just like me, me and me at first, I still had core values that I held myself to. And I still had

like a sense of I'm building this to be more than just me. I want it to live beyond me. And I made sure that every person I added and every client that I added, that that was part of it to, you know, make sure they fit that culture and that core, those core values. So, so yeah, so that was, that was great. I, you know, I met some amazing people and grew that.

to a point and then I kind of like talk about enough moments. One of the speeches I do like, know, when is enough enough? And it's so hard to figure that out. And for me, I think I could have just kept building forever and ever, but I hit a point where I felt I had another calling. And that's really where my new business came into play where I had been doing public speaking for a while.

And it kept growing and growing. And then I got chosen to do a TEDx talk. And that morphed into a very personal, deep place for me that I didn't explore because in marketing we're supposed to be branded and polished. We don't talk about ourselves. It's about the client. And that kind of awakened another thing for me. And I thought, okay, I can't do both. I'm going to have to pick. I just don't have enough time. So I

Emily Green (05:08.244)
decided I needed to start a personal brand to house that and then that just kind of morphed into being being enough that You know, I realized that it was time to to sell and and move on from the agency to

Caroline (05:23.192)
So let's talk more about the core value piece. What exactly is core values and why are they so important?

Emily Green (05:32.862)
I know there's so many standard definitions for that. How I look at them and what I always told their clients is they're kind of like your North Star or North Stars. And when you're faltering, when you're trying to make any sort of big decision, even small decisions to an extent, you should be able to refer back to those. And if they don't help you get back on track, they're probably wrong. Your mission statement is that as well, those kind of feed into each other.

But the core values, at least for me, those were the statements when I, especially was having the roughest days where you're like, man, I don't know how I'm gonna get through this. You refer back to that and you're kind of like, pump yourself up a little bit too. Cause you remind yourself, why are you doing this? You know, what, what are you passionate about? What do you stand for? And it gives you that thing that's more than just doing the work. It's bigger than that.

Caroline (06:31.042)
So how can leaders communicate their core values and what the organization means to their team members? I mean, I feel like it's so much more than just like our core values tab on the website.

Emily Green (06:43.719)
yeah, you have to live them. You know, I see you have to live them and love them. And I think it is, you do need to have them on your website, obviously. Some people don't even do that. So they need to go on there. But for me, it was even like the very first interview with a potential team member. I would go through those and I would look for reactions from them. And you can fake that a little bit, but...

the people that truly were bought into it, I mean, you could just really tell. And then asking questions around that too, like if, for example, one of them is going above and beyond or being innovative, you can ask questions that would give examples for those qualities. so that's part of it. think finding the people just to add to your team, same with clients, I would go through that.

in proposals when I was pitching to potential clients. And I had one who would at the time been the biggest client I'd ever had for the agency. And they were like, we want basically like this aggressive bulldog type agency. And I'm like, did you just hear the goal or values I just said? Like, that's not us. And there's, you know, that's just not who we are.

we get stuff done, but I'm not going to be aggressive. I mean, that's just not my personality. And I ended up turning him down and I walked away. I just said, we're not a good fit. It's clear to me we're not a good fit. And that was empowering. I will say when you do that and you realize what you stand for, your brand stands for, the first time you walk away, you're kind of like, I am.

yeah I've reached a milestone in my career you know.

Caroline (08:34.572)
Yeah, they're definitely good clients and bad clients and you don't want to compromise just for the paycheck and take on the bad clients. It's not worth it.

Emily Green (08:42.361)
No, they won't be a good fit. ultimately, when I hadn't, when I haven't listened to that little voice, because usually that little voice is telling you they don't match with your values in some way, it has always ended not great, you know, either you have to end it or they have to end it, or you're not able to help them as much as someone else who maybe does fit better for them. So it's like dating, you just have to be a good match. You have to have similar

similar vibe.

Caroline (09:12.846)
I agree 100 % and in a past life, I was a recruiter and on the agency side. And so when I was recruiting for companies, I don't care how small it was or how large it was. I would always look for alignment with the candidates core values and the company's core values. And sometimes a lot of times candidates think that they can pull the wool over your head or whatever, but it comes out, it comes out in the recruiting process and the interviewing process. So that leads me my next question. What if someone

Emily Green (09:26.211)
Mm-hmm.

Emily Green (09:35.424)
Mm-hmm.

Caroline (09:42.09)
on the team is not aligned with the core values, then what?

Emily Green (09:48.323)
Well, I coming from a corporate background, I'm probably more formal than other smaller agencies were. But like I have a handbook that I had created and I had like the steps to go through. I, I believe that's where the coaching comes in. And you know, you have to refer back to that and document.

I don't think you can fix it if it is truly not their personality. But I've had so many conversations like that with my husband, like, I don't know if it's a personality or core value fit, or it's an experience thing. So that's really hard to figure out sometimes if they just need more help to get there, or they aren't a match at their core. Which core values, that's why that's in that.

But I think over time, you give them, you you do go through that process and you coach them, you give them specific things to do to show improvement and they don't do that, then it's just not a fit. There's somehow, there's not a match there.

Caroline (10:56.546)
So an example of this as we're talking about this, I'm thinking about, and especially from a marketing agency standpoint.

I would, let's say I had the agency, I would want my employees to deliver to my clients.

as perfect of a product as they can. And I want the client's experience to be with my employees, a positive experience too, because that experience when you interact and do business really matters.

Emily Green (11:15.349)
Yeah.

Emily Green (11:23.626)
It does.

Caroline (11:27.416)
So how can understanding and knowing what your core values are as a leader really catapult you and your business and your entrepreneurial journey?

Emily Green (11:38.208)
I think for me, mean, beyond beyond like what we already talked about, what I found really interesting is that you start to attract the right clients and attract team members that like I was shocked at some of the people that were like, hey, I want to work with you. I'm like, what really? my gosh, like so cool. And they had seen posts or they had seen things that we were doing that

we're living our core values. And then it was almost like fishing, you know, like we caught, we caught them, they came to us and you start to have that whole leads generation that's, that's organic in a way, but you're really curating it because you're putting it out there. and it's not just saying like my core values are

I go above and beyond. It's showing how you go above and beyond with your clients and your team and all of that. And that's something that I tried to help our clients with, know, PR, social, all those efforts too. It's like, you can't just say it, you have to show it. And sometimes that's hard. People almost feel like they're bragging or they're doing this or that. again, if it's pretty authentic, people are going to feel that and they start to recognize you for that.

And it also, think, has to match a lot of the other things too. So like having the agency and the name of the agency and all that, it had to fit that vibe too. So I always say that when you're gonna name your business, make sure it fits what you plan on doing with it. But yeah, I think that attracting part.

is so cool when you get to a point in your career where you're attracting not chasing. It's really cool. Really, really cool.

Caroline (13:33.964)
really glad you brought that up because I've had the exact same experience with my personal branding and my coaching business on LinkedIn. The people that have come into my ecosystem are the people that I want to be there. And it's so interesting because people will unfollow you or disconnect from you or whatever. And I don't really care. Just buy, you don't have to announce it. This is on an airport. And so what do you do if a client or.

Emily Green (13:42.806)
Mm-hmm.

Emily Green (13:48.812)
Yeah.

Emily Green (13:55.008)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Caroline (14:03.224)
Let's say even you're in a recruitment mode and recruiting employees wants to work for you and it's not a fit.

Emily Green (14:10.176)
I think you have to be careful. I mean, you want to follow all the laws and all that stuff. You you can't, got to be careful with all that. But,

said in interviews with people if they're not a fit, I've said that. I've said, know, thank you so much. you know, I always like to have the compliments that are true. So you can find something good about like anybody. So you could say you have great experience. However, this is just not quite the right fit for this position because of this, this and this. You can even say like, you know, thanks for those examples, but they just don't, they're not quite what I'm looking for.

related to this core value or whatever. And sometimes that can lead to you're giving them an opportunity to argue. But most of the time when I've done that, most people know that that's a graceful way out. And they're thankful that you shared something like that. And they'll take that as feedback for the next interview. Because most people don't want to work for a company they're not a fit for.

Caroline (15:14.798)
Yeah, I would agree with that from a recruiter standpoint. It's just like dating. I mean, you want to work with people that's going to be a match and it's going to be a good fit for you. And when you're looking for a job or you need employment, sometimes, you know, you need to go and make money and there's a little bit more of a urgency there as far as finding the right fit. But, okay. So we talked about attraction marketing. Can you use your core values as part of your attraction marketing?

Emily Green (15:31.468)
See ya.

Emily Green (15:42.37)
I think you absolutely should. I wouldn't say every single post or every single thing you do, you need to have it tied directly to a core value, but I probably could do that if I went back and looked at all the posts that we had done. There's probably some element of it, especially the ones that resonated with people the most that tied into one of them. And I think it just...

It has to feel real. It has to feel authentic. You can't feel like you're doing some kind of cliche commercial where it's like, you know, we do good to be good because we are good or I don't know, stuff like that. And you're like, what is that doesn't mean anything. It needs to mean something. Yeah. So you're good. Are you though? Yeah, that seems like you're trying too hard.

Caroline (16:30.126)
Too many goods right there. That's scaring me off.

Caroline (16:39.768)
So you've transitioned into now a public speaking career and working with clients. What is lighting you up with some of the clients that you're working with right now in your new venture?

Emily Green (16:40.098)
So, we'll next time.

Emily Green (16:50.346)
Yeah, so I just started my new venture and right now I've been really blessed to have just a lot of, you know, the conferences and leads like that for speaking coming to me, being attracted to, guess, what I've put out there. I think that a lot of the volunteer work that I do helps with that. And I don't know if everyone looks at, I look at volunteer.

volunteering in lot of ways. You know, should do something you're passionate about because why volunteer time if you don't like it, right? But it's also great if it's something that will help attract people to you as well. And for me, being in a leadership role with women in business through the Charlotte Air Chamber has been huge. It's connected me to so many cool people between that. then I have done a lot of

other things that weren't necessarily even paid for speaking for years. And a lot of people will never do that. But I did that to build up my street cred, as I say, you And you never know what that's going to lead to. But I think for me, like, I don't necessarily have clients anymore because I'm not doing the, you know, day to day things for people like I was through the marketing agency.

So each client would be like a one day event that I'm working with them on. And that's kind of cool. It's different, but it is cool because you do still establish that relationship and it almost leaves a trail in the back. And then you don't know who is in the audience. Cause then you get stuff from that too. So I guess one of my big things I've learned already with that is it's almost more important what you do before you speak, before and after you speak, then actually you're.

your performance because you will just ruin your relationship with people if you're difficult.

Caroline (18:49.582)
I agree with that 1 million percent. And as I've started and continued on my speaking journey as well, at least in my experience, and I would love to hear your opinion on this, when I show up full energy and I pour into people, not make it about me, not my story, not my success. I make it about them. It goes, it comes back in tenfold. Would you disagree?

Emily Green (19:08.16)
Yeah.

Emily Green (19:16.384)
Yeah, I think what you're hitting on is what I've said. It's about that connection and

I think that's also a really good point for people that are afraid of doing public speaking. If you stop focusing necessarily on every word you're saying and just focus on connecting in a real way, like they're people, these are real people in front of you, it's not really scary if you enjoy connecting with people. It's like, I'm just having a really big conversation.

Caroline (19:50.486)
Yeah, and I'll add to that too. I feel like people get all in their head about wanting everything to be perfect, like maybe their hair, they have to be a certain weight or their outfit or whatever. And the reality is, is you can connect so much faster being just authentically you.

Emily Green (20:00.716)
Yeah.

Emily Green (20:05.954)
That's very, very true. Yes, that's, my gosh, yeah. I had to fill in last minute at the conference last week. I was planning it, know, leading the conference, 17 speakers, one of them had to back out with a day notice. So I had to fill in for a 45 minute session with literally no prep time.

And I was like, I should be like maybe a little nervous about this, but I'm like, no, this is a challenge. This is like an opportunity to prove that I can literally just wing it. So it was one of the best things I've done, because I was just real. I didn't try to even be anything other than that.

Caroline (20:47.096)
So I'm curious, what did you do? Did you workshop with them or did you do more of a keynote or what did you do? Tell me about it. Tell me about it.

Emily Green (20:52.596)
Yeah, I was lucky that I had a exactly 45 minute presentation that I had done about a week and a half before that. So it was still fairly fresh in my mind and it fit the theme of the conference. So I was able to just slide that in and just made a few on the fly changes to be customized to that audience.

Caroline (21:19.49)
love it. So as we wrap up, how can our listeners find you?

Emily Green (21:23.324)
I'd love to connect with him on LinkedIn. You can find me, Emily Green. Also on Instagram and on Facebook, Emily Green, search for me. Look for my face, this face. And then my website is Emily-Green.com. You can look for me on there too.

Caroline (21:40.044)
and I'll tag all the things in the show notes. So thank you so much for being here.

Emily Green (21:43.67)
Yes, thank you.