How to Stand Out in Business Through Authentic Branding and Networking | RR298

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Paige, Hello everyone, and welcome to this

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week's episode of relationships rule. My guest today is Paige

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arnoff Finn, and she is the founder and CEO of global

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branding and digital marketing firm called mavens and moguls,

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and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her clients

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include Microsoft virgin, The New York Times Company, Colgate,

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venture backed startups as well as nonprofits. They run the

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gamut, and she actually made me when I read your when I read

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Paige's bio, I was a little intimidated. She graduated from

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Stanford. She did. She also went to Harvard Business School. And

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I'm like, What can I ask this woman? Alright, but and she

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serves on various boards, and has served on various very

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influential boards, is a popular speaker and common columnist who

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has written for entrepreneur and Forbes magazine. Welcome to the

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show page.

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Paige Arnof-Fenn: Thank you, Janice, for having me. I'm super

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excited to talk to you today.

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Oh, absolutely. But there's so many things that

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I'm like. Does this person really want to talk to me?

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That's how I was feeling. But I do know that stalked you, yeah.

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And I do know that, you know that we had a great first

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conversation, and I really enjoyed it, and so I'm sure that

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there are things that you can share with my audience that will

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be useful, educational and entertaining as well. And I'm

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going to start with a question that sort of says a lot in a

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little bit, but I think, I think we'll start here. I know that

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you back in the early days, you were in the big corporate world,

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companies like Coca Cola and Procter and Gamble and you sort

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of, what did they say bit? Oh, what did they say? Cut your

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teeth, that you cut your teeth in those in those companies, and

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that you worked also for Zipcar, Zipcar to Coca Cola, and if you

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had to start completely from scratch today, no connections,

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no brand recognition, what is the very first thing that you

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would do to build A successful business and make meaningful

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connections?

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Paige Arnof-Fenn: Excellent question. So I think the number

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one thing that I've always relied on is my network. And I

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know you're big on relationships than I am, too. I feel like, you

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know, I got great training. I P and G and coke are like

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Marketing Boot Camp. I mean, you know, you are in the trenches,

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and you are learning from the Masters P and G created the

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concept of brand management. You know, you just work your way up

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the food chain and you learn absolutely all the pieces. Is it

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still like that today? I'm guessing it is, yeah, I was

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there before the internet and digital marketing. So like when

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I started at P and G, we would do a lot of market research. P

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and G is probably the most data driven company in the world, and

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market research to them was always statistically

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significant. Like, you know, you would talk to 1000 or more

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people, and, you know, do quantitative analysis and

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qualitative you do focus groups, and, you know, it's amazing. You

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get a lot of rich insight and data and information, but it

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takes a long time. I mean, it could take six months, nine

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months or longer, when you work for the startups, the zip cars

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of the world, you don't have the luxury of time. If you waited

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six or nine months to do research in a startup life that

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kind of money left. Yeah, you'd have no money, and the market

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would have shifted, and whatever you found wouldn't even be

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relevant anymore. So it's just a very different approach, right?

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And I think talking to the customers critical learning from

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your kind of primary, secondary, tertiary audiences. But I think

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just leveraging your network is so important, because whether

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you're working for a small company or a big company, your

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network kind of, can point you in the right direction. They can

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make key introductions. They can serve as a sounding board, kind

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of, you know, create an ecosystem around you to make

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sure that you've got your cheerleaders and butt kickers

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and kind of you know your tribe around you to say you know

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you're you're asking the right questions, or you're really

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missing the point. Or what about this? So for me, it really does

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come down to having a network of people that know you. You and

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trust you, and you trust them, and you know that you can kind

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of take baby steps and learn and connect your way to success.

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So if you come across a new a new prospect, a

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new client, that that you can see they need that kind of

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strategy to grow their business, but they don't have it yet. They

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don't have a huge network. What do you do? You teach them? How

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do you show them what strategies to use to help build their

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network? And what would you what would you recommend to them?

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Paige Arnof-Fenn: So great brands are really built from the

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inside out. So before you can go out and kind of have your coming

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out party and introduce yourself to the world, you need to make

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sure you've built a solid foundation for your for your

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business, for your brand. And I think it's very natural when

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people come to me, or are introduced to me, they, you

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know, they have this idea of like, here's, here's what I want

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to be, or, you know, here's, here's my goal. And the analogy

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I always use is, you know, if you're building a house, I

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understand that you want your third floor to be a master suite

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and have all these amazing features. But before you get to

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the master suite with the, you know, spa bathroom and

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everything, you've got to have a great foundation to the house,

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and the first floor has got to be solid, and then you want a

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good second floor, and then you get your kind of, you know,

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fabulous, you know, master suite and brands are that way too. You

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need a very solid foundation from the get go, finding the

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right value proposition, the right words, the right pictures

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to tell your story. Who is your audience? What motivates them?

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You know, what makes them tick, what's going to be compelling to

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make them ask questions, to buy, to click, to convert, and if you

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haven't done your homework, if you haven't done your research,

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you're not going to know where to start. And you're not going

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to know where to kind of plant your, you know, put your stake

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in the ground so that you can start with your core your core

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values, your core messages, and kind of build concentric circles

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around that. And kind of, you know, grow your audience. But

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you gotta start kind of with one or two things that you stand

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for, that you own that that real estate in your customer's brain

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belongs to you, so that every time they have a problem, that

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your product or service can help them solve, that they think of

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you first. You

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know, it's really funny when you were saying that,

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when you were saying you need to have that strong foundation

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first. I wasn't even thinking just marketing, I was thinking

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that within your company, yes, you have to have your strong

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values and your and and be true to your core, because that's

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what has to it comes across if you are or you aren't right. But

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I was also thinking you have to have exceptional customer

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service. You have to have people that really care and believe in

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your brand, that work for you, if you know, if you're not a

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solo on entrepreneur, and those things are just as important,

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because they are representing you,

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Paige Arnof-Fenn: right? They're an extension of your brand. And

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if it's not consistent, or if you do have different values or

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different messages, it can be very confusing, and it you know,

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people buy brands they know like and trust, and the way to do

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that is to again, zero in on those core messages that really

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resonate, where you can emotionally connect with your

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audience and be consistent in everything that you do, because

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the consistency and the repetition is what gets people

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to remember you and think of you. And if you're spread too

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thin, or you're you're, you know, on one platform, you're

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kind of this personality, and you have a different persona

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here, and you know, they're not going to know which version of

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you is going to show up. And that's not a way to build a

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relationship, because you want to know that the person cleans

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up well, and that every time they show up, you can count on

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them, right?

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You know, I was just thinking when you said

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that, though too, that when I go shopping, whether it's food

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shopping or clothes shopping or whatever, I am a brand name

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girl, and I tend to always want to buy the brand that I'm used

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to and or that I feel comfortable with, or that I've

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had success with all the way along. And I have a hard time

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with new different. And also I have a hard time this is off

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topic in a way, but the. But I have a hard time with going to

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the local grocery store, for example, which happens all the

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time now. And this where I live, the grocery store, there are

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options. There are definitely options, from Safeway to the

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local big conglomerate here where I live, it's over weighty

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foods, is what it's called, and they have different brands, a

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low cost brand and normal band and a higher end brand, and but

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when you go into the let's say, the middle of the road store,

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the shelves are now completely their label and the brand names

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aren't there. They're squeezing them out of their shelves, and

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it drives me crazy that I don't have a choice. So because I want

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to go back to the, you know, the I mean, they certainly still

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have like Heinz ketchup and all the Procter and Gamble brands,

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but they definitely have their front and center, their brand,

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and I just feel like they're making it. They make me angry,

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because I don't have the choice. What do you say to that? Because

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that's one way the world's going.

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Paige Arnof-Fenn: Yeah. I mean, unfortunately, I think that's

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kind of the times we live in right now. You've got the

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branded products, and people are willing to pay a premium for a

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brand, for a PNG brand, because, you know, every category they

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compete in they're probably number one and sometimes number

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one and number two in the same category. So you're willing to

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pay for the Tide detergent or the Crest toothpaste or the

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Pantheon shampoo Oil of Olay, because, you know, like you

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said, a brand is a promise of a certain experience. And you

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know, if you buy the products that that you like, these

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branded products, you know they're going to deliver for

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you. And the risk is, if you buy something that might be cheaper

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or that might look like it in the packaging, like a knockoff,

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but there's something different about it. Either the scent is

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different, or it just doesn't clean or do as well as it as the

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other brand, you know, it's it falls apart in some way. But I

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think in these inflationary times, where you hear a lot

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about shrinkflation, you know, a lot of companies are downsizing

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their products and charging you the same but giving you less,

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and they think we're stupid that we don't

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you're

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Paige Arnof-Fenn: not fooling anybody. Like you notice you go

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down the aisle and you're like, Wait, where are the things I

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want? Where? And you know, you may have to do a little more

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work looking online and buying them through Amazon, because you

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can probably still get them, even if they don't have the

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shelf space. But I think from the retailer's standpoint, the

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reason why they're doing that, they're private labeling a lot

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of those categories, because they're going to make more money

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doing it right. So it's an economic decision, and I guess

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in this day and age where so many people order so much

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online, they're just trying to, kind of, you know, get their

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tentacles in so that, if you know, if they can convert people

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that are looking for brands they don't carry anymore, maybe

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they'll get some spillover and make a little more money,

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right? I know. I'm sorry I had to sidetrack

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there, because I decided so networking is a huge part of

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success in business, and we know that because we we care about

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relationships. So what are some effective strategies for

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building authentic relationships, both online and

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in person, that you recommend to your clients?

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Paige Arnof-Fenn: So, you know, I'm kind of old school. You

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know, for me, that that's saying your network is your net worth

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is 100% true for me. You know, when I started my company, when

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I hung out my shingle, my very first clients came from my

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network. You know, I, you know, went to great colleges, got a

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great education, but at the end of the day, it's the people that

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I met at those great institutions that have not just

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been lifelong friends, but they've, you know, recommended

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me for jobs. They've referred business to me. I don't think a

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week goes by in my life where I don't, you know, check in on

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people from the network I'm a very gregarious, extroverted

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person, so networking. And I grew up in the Deep South, and

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I, you know, in New Orleans, of all cities, which is a very

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social city, and someone wrote an article on me, and I told

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them, you know, all the fancy degrees and pedigree are great,

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but I swear, growing up in New Orleans, where it's a very

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social city, and you're always talking to people, and multi

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generational you know people invite you, your parents

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friends, and you know your grandparents friends. You know

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people are always interacting. And I think that experience

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growing up in the Deep South, where people. Telling stories

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and sitting on the porch and drinking tea or going out for a

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beer. That probably prepared me better for business than all the

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fancy degrees, to be totally honest. But I think, you know,

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not everybody is extroverted, and I get that some people get a

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lot more nervous. I mean, I would say, Don't stress yourself

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out with this concept of, oh my God. You know, I don't like

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networking. It feels fake. Or I, you know, it makes me nervous to

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walk into a hotel ballroom with a lot of people, and I have to,

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like, shake hands and give out business cards. I try to get

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people to kind of reframe the concept of networking and think

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of it more like you just want to have a few interesting

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conversations. You're not there to collect business cards.

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You're there to kind of meet people, and you might make some

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new friends, or find out about some new groups or some new

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hobbies or something, and you probably have more in common

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with people than you realize. So don't think of it as you know,

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this kind of overwhelming, you know, mountain that you have to

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climb. If you have friends that are in the same kind of work

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field issue or has have the same interest, you can have a

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networking buddy, go with you to an event, and sometimes that

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takes the pressure off. I always say, if you're nervous walking

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up to people you know, go stand in line at the bar or go over

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where the food the food is on the table. And that's a really

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natural way to talk to people you know. So what brought you

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here? How do you know this group or, you know, oh, I just tried

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that. I thought that our derv was so good. What else do you

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like? Where do you live? You know, you can make small talk in

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a way that makes it feel more natural and not so

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uncomfortable. But I really, I feel like it's more like making

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friends, and that you're talking what, you know, ask open ended

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questions. So what do you like to do? You know? What do you do

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for fun? What's your favorite movie? Or, you know, and people

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love talking about themselves. And the funny thing is, in a lot

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of ways, when you are, quote, networking, if you ask good,

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open ended questions, people end up doing 90% of the talk and and

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then, then you ask for their business card. You say, This has

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been so great. I don't want to monopolize your time, but I'd

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love to follow up. Here's my card. You swap cards, and that

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person walks away feeling like you are so interesting, and the

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truth is, they did 90% of the talking. I know, I know it's

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beautiful. It is, and so people don't realize it's really not

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hard to do. And what when you do get someone's business card, or

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if they do follow up with you after that's like gold, because

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you know they've opened the door, you are now invited into

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their inbox. You can follow up. And I always say the follow up

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and follow through is so important totally. If you meet

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someone at an event, or you're sitting next to someone and at

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an airplane, or however you end up meeting somebody you know,

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just dropping an email or sending a LinkedIn request and

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saying, I had such a great conversation with you, I'd love

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to stay in touch. It doesn't take a lot. You don't need to

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write an honors thesis, and when you ask those open ended

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questions, people spill out so much information. They just

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moved to a new town, or they are looking for a new card, you

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know, and they were talking about electric vehicles or

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sports cars or whatever. If you see an article or you listen to

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a podcast that's related to something you talked about, and

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you just send them a link, or you send them a white paper or

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whatever, and say it was so nice chatting with you at that event.

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We talked about XYZ, and I saw this article, and it made me

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think of you. I hope this is helpful. That's all you have to

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do, and it's not cheesy, and it's not inauthentic. It shows

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that you are listening, that you are processing, and people

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genuinely appreciate that. So I think you can be your own worst

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enemy, people that think they're terrible at networking. I almost

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always disagree. I think that if they looked at it from a

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different perspective, I think they'd feel better about it and

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realize it can be a lot more fun, it doesn't need to be

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stressful. Those

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are all great tips, and a lot of them I talk

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to clients about too and and in the last few years, what I'm

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finding is that with with my LinkedIn training, that I. When

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I'm showing my clients, once we've got their profile up to

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snuff and even doing their profile, I try to get them to

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put a few things in there that become actual rapport building

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or conversation starters, that people if they're actually

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listening and actually reading the profile they can pull out

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and start a conversation with. And a lot of people don't do

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that, but it sure shows if you've paid attention by looking

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at their profile, if you bring those points up and sometimes,

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yeah, it's the

Janice Porter: 00:20:36

Paige Arnof-Fenn: same on a resume, you know, putting it

Janice Porter: 00:20:39

things that you enjoy doing, you know, I love jazz music, or I

Janice Porter: 00:20:43

practice tai chi or whatever. That's always a great place to

Janice Porter: 00:20:48

start. In an interview, you know, someone says, you know, I

Janice Porter: 00:20:52

see that you enjoy blah, tell me more. Or I do

Janice Porter: 00:20:56

too. And even you know, to the extent of you know,

Janice Porter: 00:21:01

you were on a sports team all the way through school and

Janice Porter: 00:21:06

university and maybe even beyond, shows that you work well

Janice Porter: 00:21:10

with the team, shows that you, you know, have stick to

Janice Porter: 00:21:14

itiveness and that kind of thing. I once had my daughter,

Janice Porter: 00:21:20

one of my daughters, took piano all the way through school, to

Janice Porter: 00:21:23

the point that she was actually teaching younger kids when she

Janice Porter: 00:21:28

was in grade 12, which was really cool 12th grade, and

Janice Porter: 00:21:31

which is really cool. And she's a beautiful pianist, but one of

Janice Porter: 00:21:36

her, the other students that her teacher taught, young man came

Janice Porter: 00:21:42

to her, came to the teacher one day and said, You know, I'm

Janice Porter: 00:21:45

applying. He was now finishing university, and he said, I'm

Janice Porter: 00:21:49

applying for jobs. He said, Do you think I should put on here

Janice Porter: 00:21:52

that I took classical piano for like, 12 years and blah, blah.

Janice Porter: 00:21:56

She said, Absolutely, absolutely. Because, again, it's

Janice Porter: 00:21:59

that stick to, and that got him a job as a CA student back in

Janice Porter: 00:22:04

the day, because it showed what you know, his his, as I said,

Janice Porter: 00:22:12

stick to itiveness. Because commitment, yeah, commitment,

Janice Porter: 00:22:15

right, and all of that. And so these things don't go by the

Janice Porter: 00:22:19

wayside if you be proud of them, whatever it is that and you have

Janice Porter: 00:22:22

them there in the right places, then it pays. You can pay

Janice Porter: 00:22:26

attention to that. Oh,

Janice Porter: 00:22:27

Paige Arnof-Fenn: when I was a hiring manager once, you know, I

Janice Porter: 00:22:29

got hundreds of resumes every time I posted a job. And one

Janice Porter: 00:22:34

woman on her resume, she had studied in Italy, and she was a

Janice Porter: 00:22:40

big foodie, and had worked in a rest in a series of very good

Janice Porter: 00:22:43

restaurants that I had eaten at. And, you know, a lot of people

Janice Porter: 00:22:47

technically have they're very competent. They have all the

Janice Porter: 00:22:51

skills. But when something catches your eye, I thought, Oh,

Janice Porter: 00:22:54

I've got to interview this, right? And she ended up getting

Janice Porter: 00:22:58

the job because she was not just technically competent. We had so

Janice Porter: 00:23:01

many things like her interview. She was so nervous interviewing,

Janice Porter: 00:23:05

and we ended up talking about, I had studied in Italy. I, you

Janice Porter: 00:23:09

know, I'm a big foodie too, and I thought this is someone I want

Janice Porter: 00:23:13

on my team, because she's great and she's fun to hang out with.

Janice Porter: 00:23:16

Exactly You can teach the skills. It's the other

Janice Porter: 00:23:20

piece that the the unknown and the and the off screen stuff,

Janice Porter: 00:23:24

Paige Arnof-Fenn: the culture and chemistry matter so much

Janice Porter: 00:23:27

when you're in an intense job, you want to work with people you

Janice Porter: 00:23:30

enjoy spending time with, because you spend a lot of time

Janice Porter: 00:23:33

with your work colleagues. Exactly.

Janice Porter: 00:23:35

Okay, so let's, let's shift to today a little

Janice Porter: 00:23:38

bit, because I'm curious to hear your opinion on this. So AI and

Janice Porter: 00:23:44

automation tools are everywhere today in marketing, and you said

Janice Porter: 00:23:48

you were old school. So I'm curious to know, how can

Janice Porter: 00:23:51

business owners, in your opinion, leverage these tools

Janice Porter: 00:23:54

while still maintaining authenticity and personal

Janice Porter: 00:23:57

connections with their audience?

Janice Porter: 00:23:59

Paige Arnof-Fenn: So, yeah. I mean, it's amazing how quickly

Janice Porter: 00:24:03

AI has gone from, you know, being something in the movies

Janice Porter: 00:24:08

that seemed, you know, yeah, 50 years away, to like, it's

Janice Porter: 00:24:12

dominating the news. And seems like they're new AI tools every

Janice Porter: 00:24:18

week, I know. And this week, in particular, the Chinese came out

Janice Porter: 00:24:23

with one cheaper and faster. And our stock market, yeah, and our

Janice Porter: 00:24:28

stock market reacted not so well about that. Yeah, it affected a

Janice Porter: 00:24:34

lot of the technology stocks, because the US thought they had

Janice Porter: 00:24:38

cornered the market on AI. And it turns out a lot of people are

Janice Porter: 00:24:42

working on it too. So I'm a big fan of technology, and I am not

Janice Porter: 00:24:48

an AI expert by any means, but I am definitely playing around

Janice Porter: 00:24:53

with chatgpt and Claude and perplexity I've only. Logged on

Janice Porter: 00:25:00

to the the newest, the deep seek only once. I have not I'm afraid

Janice Porter: 00:25:05

to. I'm afraid to. But, you know, I feel like you have to

Janice Porter: 00:25:10

put your toe in the water. And you know, if you need to read

Janice Porter: 00:25:14

about it, you can go to webinars or podcasts. I think they're

Janice Porter: 00:25:19

great tools for brainstorming. I think there's a lot of things

Janice Porter: 00:25:24

you can do to kind of, you know, you know, leverage the

Janice Porter: 00:25:31

technology to generate ideas, to kind of jump start things, but

Janice Porter: 00:25:38

the big risk is, I don't want my clients or people to rely on it

Janice Porter: 00:25:44

as a crutch, because it does make a lot of mistakes, and I

Janice Porter: 00:25:50

feel like it kind of it turns into like a sea of sameness. And

Janice Porter: 00:25:56

to be a brand, you know, you have to know what your value

Janice Porter: 00:26:01

proposition is and what's unique, special and different

Janice Porter: 00:26:04

about you, and you need to reinforce those things in

Janice Porter: 00:26:07

everything that you do. And what you and I can do that the robots

Janice Porter: 00:26:11

can't, is we can put emotion into our into our web copy, into

Janice Porter: 00:26:16

our emails, into our promotional material, sharing your

Janice Porter: 00:26:21

experience, your your origin story, your back story, the ups

Janice Porter: 00:26:26

and downs, the twists and turns, showing your vulnerabilities,

Janice Porter: 00:26:30

where you made mistakes, your excitement, your enthusiasm,

Janice Porter: 00:26:35

that doesn't come through with with Artificial Intelligence,

Janice Porter: 00:26:39

it's very hard they use kind of generic examples that are out

Janice Porter: 00:26:44

there on the internet for anybody to see and use. And so I

Janice Porter: 00:26:49

really feel like in this day and age, it is so critical, you

Janice Porter: 00:26:55

know, as I said, if you're not a brand, you're a commodity. And

Janice Porter: 00:26:59

if you're a commodity, you're going to compete on price, and

Janice Porter: 00:27:01

that is a downward spiral, because you can't charge a

Janice Porter: 00:27:04

premium for a commodity, for a generic product or service. So

Janice Porter: 00:27:12

leverage the technology to jump start your thinking, you know,

Janice Porter: 00:27:16

generate a lot of ideas. You know, you can if you're stuck on

Janice Porter: 00:27:21

a certain, you know, benefit or feature of your product or

Janice Porter: 00:27:26

service, you can use it to kind of, you know, kind of give you

Janice Porter: 00:27:30

that kick start, to get you thinking, but really tap into

Janice Porter: 00:27:35

why people emotionally connect with With you, your product, or

Janice Porter: 00:27:40

service, and tap into that, because without those war

Janice Porter: 00:27:45

stories, those kind of warts and pimples and all the the things

Janice Porter: 00:27:49

that you know you can really relate to, show your humanity.

Janice Porter: 00:27:54

Don't be scared to show something worked or didn't work

Janice Porter: 00:27:58

and right? Show your energy show your excitement, because people

Janice Porter: 00:28:03

do not connect with facts and figures and data, they connect

Janice Porter: 00:28:07

with the stories and the human element, and so that's where you

Janice Porter: 00:28:12

can really shine and stand out and really connect with your

Janice Porter: 00:28:18

audience. So learn to love AI, but, but don't, don't get stuck

Janice Porter: 00:28:25

too much,

Janice Porter: 00:28:26

right? I think, I think, right now, I was having

Janice Porter: 00:28:29

this conversation earlier today, I think it's a great tool, but

Janice Porter: 00:28:34

it is a tool, and it's important that you understand

Janice Porter: 00:28:39

how to teach it who you are

Janice Porter: 00:28:45

and there are. I know that I've been playing around with this a

Janice Porter: 00:28:48

lot, and I've learned a lot over the last few months about how to

Janice Porter: 00:28:52

make chat work for me, but you have to push back and you have

Janice Porter: 00:28:57

to give it more information about you before it will speak

Janice Porter: 00:29:01

in your voice, right? And and limitations, yeah, and even then

Janice Porter: 00:29:06

you have to add those personal touches and stories. But it can

Janice Porter: 00:29:11

jump start, as you said a lot of things, and I think it's

Janice Porter: 00:29:15

fascinating. I really do, but I think, like I was saying also

Janice Porter: 00:29:20

today that I've been seeing some there's a lot of marketers on on

Janice Porter: 00:29:25

line that are saying, get my, you know, 500 chat prompts and,

Janice Porter: 00:29:31

you know, to get on their email list. And here's a really good

Janice Porter: 00:29:34

prompt, you know, put prompt in the in the chat to to get it

Janice Porter: 00:29:39

from me, and so on, and they're using it, but what they're Miss,

Janice Porter: 00:29:42

what the danger of what they're doing is that they are creating

Janice Porter: 00:29:47

those people that are going to use the system in the vanilla

Janice Porter: 00:29:51

stage, right? They're not going to make it. They're because

Janice Porter: 00:29:54

they're not being taught that they're just being given a

Janice Porter: 00:29:56

prompt. And so, yeah, it's fast. Naming, but I do find that it's,

Janice Porter: 00:30:02

it's you got to, you've got to be up on it today. You don't

Janice Porter: 00:30:05

want to be left behind, right?

Janice Porter: 00:30:07

Paige Arnof-Fenn: But you know it, if you're not careful, you

Janice Porter: 00:30:11

you end up on the lowest common denominator, and that's a very

Janice Porter: 00:30:14

dangerous place to be when you're trying to build a brand.

Janice Porter: 00:30:18

What I've said to my clients over and over is AI is great and

Janice Porter: 00:30:23

artificial intelligence, it is important to understand. But the

Janice Porter: 00:30:26

AI that really pushing my team on are authentic interactions.

Janice Porter: 00:30:31

That's the AI that's going to help you at the end of the day.

Janice Porter: 00:30:34

Because without that authenticity, without those

Janice Porter: 00:30:37

human connections with your primary, secondary and tertiary

Janice Porter: 00:30:41

audiences. You're not really going to go anywhere. It's

Janice Porter: 00:30:45

you're going to hit a dead end. People are going to lose

Janice Porter: 00:30:47

interest there. You're going to bore them. You turn into a sea

Janice Porter: 00:30:51

of sameness where you know you're not going to stand out.

Janice Porter: 00:30:55

People will not remember you.

Janice Porter: 00:30:58

All right, let's, let's jump off there. And just

Janice Porter: 00:31:01

before we end, let's talk about let me get into your head a

Janice Porter: 00:31:06

little bit and see what you're all about. So just basic stuff.

Janice Porter: 00:31:10

Do you read? Do you have hard cover books in your hand? Or do

Janice Porter: 00:31:13

you read online? Do you read on Audible? What do you do?

Janice Porter: 00:31:17

Paige Arnof-Fenn: So I love old fashioned books. Okay, I

Janice Porter: 00:31:20

thought, I don't read on a Kindle. I don't do books on

Janice Porter: 00:31:25

tape. I have always been a big reader, so I'm always reading

Janice Porter: 00:31:30

stuff. People close to me Give me books for the holidays or my

Janice Porter: 00:31:35

birthday. I am finishing up a book about JFK, and I love kind

Janice Porter: 00:31:43

of biographies and autobiographies. And the best

Janice Porter: 00:31:46

one you've read, what's the most interesting one, the one I'm

Janice Porter: 00:31:49

just about my the next book on my cue, which I am really

Janice Porter: 00:31:53

excited about, is the new Ina Garten book. Oh, I love her.

Janice Porter: 00:31:58

Everyone says, be ready when the luck comes. I think it's called,

Janice Porter: 00:32:03

yes, you're right, and I am really excited to read that.

Janice Porter: 00:32:08

Sorry. Go ahead. Did you

Janice Porter: 00:32:10

listen to her interview with um, Julia Louis

Janice Porter: 00:32:13

Dreyfus? Do you listen to that? Oh,

Janice Porter: 00:32:15

Paige Arnof-Fenn: yeah. I love her wiser than me. Yeah. Yeah.

Janice Porter: 00:32:18

Okay. I love I listened to every episode.

Janice Porter: 00:32:23

So did you listen to the one where she went to

Janice Porter: 00:32:26

Aina house and baked a cake with her?

Janice Porter: 00:32:28

Paige Arnof-Fenn: Not yet, but she it's, I was gonna listen to

Janice Porter: 00:32:32

it right before I started the book. Yeah?

Janice Porter: 00:32:34

Do. It's hysterical, but it's a lot of

Janice Porter: 00:32:37

fun. Yeah? So you'll have to tell me how it is because I

Janice Porter: 00:32:42

think she's amazing, yeah, no, I love that. And she's authentic,

Janice Porter: 00:32:46

right? She's so authentic, and she makes no bones about the

Janice Porter: 00:32:51

fact that she loves to cook with butter, right, even today, and

Janice Porter: 00:32:57

how important she and her relationship with her husband is

Janice Porter: 00:33:01

I love it. Yeah, that's cool. Okay, do you watch movies? I bet

Janice Porter: 00:33:06

you don't.

Janice Porter: 00:33:06

Paige Arnof-Fenn: I love movies. Okay, I was just thinking that

Janice Porter: 00:33:11

they're probably only two movies on the best movie list for the

Janice Porter: 00:33:17

Oscars that I'm gonna see. I have not seen any of the top

Janice Porter: 00:33:20

Okay, which ones I want to see the Bob Dylan movie? Yeah, and I

Janice Porter: 00:33:26

want to see conclave. Those two look really interesting to me.

Janice Porter: 00:33:31

Yes.

Janice Porter: 00:33:32

I just watched conclave on Pay Per View and

Janice Porter: 00:33:36

very well acted. I love the cast, yes. But the

Janice Porter: 00:33:42

cinematography, or the, I guess it's the cinematography is

Janice Porter: 00:33:46

really interesting though, the the the angles, and the and the

Janice Porter: 00:33:50

wide angle views of of where they are, because they're in

Janice Porter: 00:33:53

this, like, big monastery kind of place, and it's like, not

Janice Porter: 00:33:57

that interesting. But that struck me, yeah, and the movie

Janice Porter: 00:34:02

is a little slow at the beginning, but it builds and the

Janice Porter: 00:34:05

interest grows. But there's one thing, and I won't spoil the

Janice Porter: 00:34:08

plot or anything, if I tell you this, that Ingrid Bergman, it's

Janice Porter: 00:34:13

her daughter. Isabella Rosaline, has this tiny little part, which

Janice Porter: 00:34:17

for which she was nominated as supporting actor. She's hardly

Janice Porter: 00:34:22

in it. I didn't quite understand that. That's my take

Janice Porter: 00:34:26

Paige Arnof-Fenn: on that. I love her, but I'm very excited

Janice Porter: 00:34:28

to see both

Janice Porter: 00:34:29

of those. She was interviewed by Louis Julie Julia

Janice Porter: 00:34:32

as well, which is really good in this season's episodes. And

Janice Porter: 00:34:37

okay, so I know this is going to air probably around the time of

Janice Porter: 00:34:42

the Oscars. So it'll be, you know, some people don't even

Janice Porter: 00:34:45

care, but I love talking movies with people. So there's one more

Janice Porter: 00:34:48

thing I want to say. I haven't seen the Bob Dylan movie yet.

Janice Porter: 00:34:51

And interestingly enough, at first I was like, I really,

Janice Porter: 00:34:54

really, really want to see it. And then I've changed my mind. I

Janice Porter: 00:34:58

will see it, but I. Don't think it's as big a movie, other than

Janice Porter: 00:35:04

his performance. Okay? And to be honest, I was never a huge Bob

Janice Porter: 00:35:09

Dylan fan, so I didn't know

Janice Porter: 00:35:10

Paige Arnof-Fenn: I'm a big Dylan fan. There you go. You're

Janice Porter: 00:35:12

my sister, yeah,

Janice Porter: 00:35:14

so you've got to see it, but I will see it for

Janice Porter: 00:35:16

his performance. And thirdly, there's a movie I said I wasn't

Janice Porter: 00:35:19

going to see, but I did see on my own at home on Netflix, which

Janice Porter: 00:35:26

is Amelia Perez.

Janice Porter: 00:35:29

Paige Arnof-Fenn: Oh, I've heard great things about it. So

Janice Porter: 00:35:31

interesting. I've heard that I think

Janice Porter: 00:35:34

it because it's going to win everything, but I

Janice Porter: 00:35:37

don't know why, because it's so different. Well, I guess because

Janice Porter: 00:35:39

it's so

Janice Porter: 00:35:40

Paige Arnof-Fenn: different, but wasn't parasite so different,

Janice Porter: 00:35:43

and it won everything. Like,

Janice Porter: 00:35:45

yes, but so was okay, the other one. What is it?

Janice Porter: 00:35:50

Everything about every Well,

Janice Porter: 00:35:52

Paige Arnof-Fenn: everyone, every time, yeah, I couldn't

Janice Porter: 00:35:54

watch that all the time. I didn't watch it either. No,

Janice Porter: 00:35:57

and it won stuff too. But parasite was good. I

Janice Porter: 00:36:02

enjoyed that. This one is really interesting, so I'll just leave

Janice Porter: 00:36:06

that with you until after and see if you see. Oh, I love this.

Janice Porter: 00:36:09

Thank you for the tip. Oh, yeah. So fun. So two last questions.

Janice Porter: 00:36:14

One, I like to ask people what they feel about curiosity. Is it

Janice Porter: 00:36:21

innate, or is it learned? In your opinion? And there's no

Janice Porter: 00:36:25

right or wrong answer. And secondly, what are you most

Janice Porter: 00:36:27

curious about these days?

Janice Porter: 00:36:29

Paige Arnof-Fenn: So for me, I think it's in my DNA. I think I

Janice Porter: 00:36:34

feel like I have an insatiable curiosity, and when I look at my

Janice Porter: 00:36:38

parents and grandparents and great grandparents. I think it's

Janice Porter: 00:36:41

just in me, okay, awesome. But I think for some people, maybe

Janice Porter: 00:36:47

it's a learned habit or response or not, or not, exactly, yeah,

Janice Porter: 00:36:54

um, so for me, curiosity. I love the word. It makes me happy. It

Janice Porter: 00:36:59

makes me smile. I mean, it brings up so many kind of

Janice Porter: 00:37:04

interesting thoughts, because it just leads to good things. It's,

Janice Porter: 00:37:10

it's, for me, when I think of it, it leads you to fun and

Janice Porter: 00:37:14

adventure and opening your mind. And, you know, I guess how I as

Janice Porter: 00:37:22

most entrepreneurs, probably feel like they have a growth

Janice Porter: 00:37:25

mindset. You're always learning and experimenting, and that's

Janice Porter: 00:37:31

all driven by curiosity, and like I said, asking people open

Janice Porter: 00:37:35

ended questions I am Gen genuinely curious about like,

Janice Porter: 00:37:40

what they do, how they do it, where they came from. So for me,

Janice Porter: 00:37:45

being curious, and you know, having genuine curiosity, like

Janice Porter: 00:37:52

nothing bad will come of that, like it will only lead to good

Janice Porter: 00:37:56

things in your life.

Janice Porter: 00:37:57

And do you have one thing right now that you're

Janice Porter: 00:37:59

very curious about? Well, you said you carried about

Janice Porter: 00:38:01

Paige Arnof-Fenn: everything, absolutely everything. I mean,

Janice Porter: 00:38:05

I'm a big sports fan. I'm I live in Boston. My husband and I are

Janice Porter: 00:38:09

season ticket holders for the Celtics. I'm curious why they're

Janice Porter: 00:38:13

so hot and cold this season, like they won the championship

Janice Porter: 00:38:17

last year. They should be more motivated and qualified this

Janice Porter: 00:38:21

year than ever.

Janice Porter: 00:38:23

And they Yes, and they're doing the Toronto

Janice Porter: 00:38:25

Raptors beat them last time they played. No,

Janice Porter: 00:38:27

Paige Arnof-Fenn: it's they've lost some really winnable games.

Janice Porter: 00:38:30

So, you know, I'm curious about that. I'm curious about the

Janice Porter: 00:38:35

climate and all the crazy things that have already happened this

Janice Porter: 00:38:38

year. You know, I grew up in New Orleans. New Orleans has had

Janice Porter: 00:38:42

more snow than we've had here in Boston. I mean, you know, I have

Janice Porter: 00:38:47

cousins in Houston, Texas and Pensacola, Florida. They've had

Janice Porter: 00:38:51

more snow than we've had here in Boston. That should not happen.

Janice Porter: 00:38:55

No, it's very strange, for sure. Yeah. I mean, I'm curious about,

Janice Porter: 00:39:00

you know, so much that's going on in Washington, and most of

Janice Porter: 00:39:03

that drives me crazy. And I think I try and not get too

Janice Porter: 00:39:07

curious there, because I don't want to drive myself nuts

Janice Porter: 00:39:10

Exactly, yeah, you have to, yeah, I'm curious about a ton of

Janice Porter: 00:39:13

things. I hope I never get Alzheimer's, because I feel like

Janice Porter: 00:39:17

my synapses are always firing. I

Janice Porter: 00:39:20

hear you. This is wonderful. So lastly, where can

Janice Porter: 00:39:23

my audience find you?

Janice Porter: 00:39:25

Paige Arnof-Fenn: Well, thank you. My Website, mavens and

Janice Porter: 00:39:28

mobiles.com, and LinkedIn, that you are way better at than me,

Janice Porter: 00:39:34

but you can find me on LinkedIn page, on often, and you know, if

Janice Porter: 00:39:38

all else fails, because my company has an ampersand. My

Janice Porter: 00:39:42

last name has a hyphen. One of my clients always says she

Janice Porter: 00:39:46

Googles page and mavens because that's all she can remember, and

Janice Porter: 00:39:50

then I pop right up because of search engine authorization.

Janice Porter: 00:39:55

With a name like mine, you really do find me if you Google

Janice Porter: 00:39:58

me,

Janice Porter: 00:39:59

that's. Wonderful. Thank you so much.

Janice Porter: 00:40:01

This was delightful, and I appreciate the time you spent

Janice Porter: 00:40:05

with us and your wisdom. And to my audience, thank you so much

Janice Porter: 00:40:09

again for being here, and remember to stay connected and

Janice Porter: 00:40:13

be remembered.

Janice Porter: 00:40:15

Paige Arnof-Fenn: Thank you. Janice, this was great. You're

Janice Porter: 00:40:17

welcome.