Winning Growth Strategies in Today’s Economy With Lisa Lickert

Lisa Lickert is the Owner of EMI Network, an advertising firm that provides content and creative services to empower clients to grow their brands and reach their target audiences. She has successfully led its transition from print to digital marketing, expanded its service offerings, and partnered with major brands like Forbes and USA Today. With over 20 years of experience, Lisa previously managed a $150 million division before acquiring and transforming EMI Network. In addition, she also founded Unique Growth LLC, a financial services firm empowering women and businesses, and volunteers with organizations like Dress for Success and YWCA.

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Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Hear:

  • [02:17] How losing her mom shaped Lisa Lickert’s entrepreneurial spirit
  • [06:30] Lessons from managing a $150 million business division
  • [07:36] Challenges of leaving corporate life and acquiring a business
  • [11:35] Transitioning EMI Network from print to digital marketing with strategic partnerships
  • [13:36] How Lisa faced fears and uncertainty during major business transformations
  • [17:47] Lisa recounts the hostile takeover attempt by the previous owner
  • [19:51] Balancing business leadership while raising a special needs child
  • [22:14] Key growth strategies for small businesses in today’s digital landscape
  • [27:01] Why Lisa launched Unique Growth LLC
  • [31:53] Upcoming financial literacy program to help employees and individuals

In this episode…

Many business owners struggle with scaling their companies while navigating industry changes and unexpected challenges. Whether it’s transitioning from traditional to digital marketing or handling unforeseen obstacles like hostile takeovers, the growth journey can be overwhelming. So, what does it take to transition a conventional business into the digital age while navigating personal and professional challenges?

Lisa Lickert, a passionate servant leader, shares her experience of acquiring and transforming the EMI Network, highlighting the importance of adaptability and strategic partnerships in overcoming challenges. She emphasizes that taking risks and stepping outside comfort zones are key to achieving growth, noting that “you’re never ready; you just have to figure it out.” Lisa’s insights include building strong relationships, leveraging partnerships for digital expansion, and focusing on marketing strategies that align with business goals to maximize impact.

Tune in to this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast as John Corcoran interviews Lisa Lickert, Owner of EMI Network, about navigating business transformations and personal challenges. They discuss how Lisa transitioned EMI Network from print to digital marketing, the challenges she faced in acquiring and growing the company, how she balances business leadership with family life, and growth strategies that work in today’s dynamic business environment.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Special Mention(s):

Quotable Moments:

  • “I learned that you’re never ready, and everything can be an opportunity if you let it.”
  • “Everything you do matters. You focus on your problems; you only have problems. You focus on your opportunities; you only have opportunities.”
  • “I strive for that every single day. Some days are easier than others, obviously.”
  • “We didn’t have much, but we definitely had, you know, everything you do matters.”
  • “It’s hard being married to me. If I married myself, I would have divorced years ago.”

Action Steps:

  1. Embrace opportunities and challenges: Lisa Lickert highlighted the importance of viewing challenges as opportunities. This mindset shift can lead to innovation and growth, enabling leaders to navigate uncertainties with patience and confidence.
  2. Develop a strategic network: Lisa’s journey involved extensive networking, which was pivotal in finding business opportunities and partners. Building a diverse network can provide access to valuable resources, insights, and support, especially during transitional periods.
  3. Focus on simplification: Simplifying complex offerings and focusing on a clear, concise message can enhance communication effectiveness and client engagement. This approach helps cut through market clutter and ensures that the audience remains focused on the core message.
  4. Leverage strategic partnerships: By collaborating with established partners like Forbes, Lisa successfully transitioned her company to digital. Strategic partnerships can provide access to new capabilities and markets, helping businesses adapt and grow in evolving landscapes.
  5. Prioritize financial literacy and planning: Inspired by her financial services venture, Lisa emphasized the importance of financial education. Understanding financial health can prepare individuals and businesses for emergencies and long-term planning, ensuring stability and growth.

Sponsor: Rise25

At Rise25, we’re committed to helping you connect with your Dream 100 referral partners, clients, and strategic partners through our done-for-you podcast solution.

We’re a professional podcast production agency that makes creating a podcast effortless. Since 2009, our proven system has helped thousands of B2B businesses build strong relationships with referral partners, clients, and audiences without doing the hard work.

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When you use our proven system, all you need is an idea and a voice. We handle the strategy, production, and distribution – you just need to show up and talk.

The Rise25 podcasting solution is designed to help you build a profitable podcast. This requires a specific strategy, and we’ve got that down pat. We focus on making sure you have a direct path to ROI, which is the most important component. Plus, our podcast production company takes any heavy lifting of production and distribution off your plate.

We make distribution easy

We’ll distribute each episode across more than 11 unique channels, including iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. We’ll also create a copy for each episode and promote your show across social media.

Cofounders Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran credit podcasting as being the best thing they have ever done for their businesses. Podcasting connected them with the founders/CEOs of P90xAtariEinstein BagelsMattelRx BarsYPO, EO, Lending Tree, Freshdesk,  and many more.

The relationships you form through podcasting run deep. Jeremy and John became business partners through podcasting. They have even gone on family vacations and attended weddings of guests who have been on the podcast.

Podcast production has a lot of moving parts and is a big commitment on our end; we only want to work with people who are committed to their business and to cultivating amazing relationships.

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Contact us now at [email protected] or book a call at rise25.com/bookcall.

Rise25 Cofounders, Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran, have been podcasting and advising about podcasting since 2008.

Episode Transcript

John Corcoran: 00:00

All right. Today we’re talking about growth strategies that are working today. So if you’re looking for growth strategies in your business, especially B2B, listen up. This is gonna be really helpful for you. My guest today is Lisa Lickert. I’ll tell you more about her in a second, so stay tuned.

Intro: 00:15

Welcome to the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, where we feature top entrepreneurs, business leaders, and thought leaders and ask them how they built key relationships to get where they are today. Now let’s get started with the show.

John Corcoran: 00:32

Alright. Welcome, everyone. John Corcoran here. You know, if you’ve listened before that we each week feature smart CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs from all kinds of companies. We’ve had Netflix and Grubhub, Redfin, Gusto Kinkos, lots of great episodes. Check out the archives and you can listen to those. And of course, before we get into this, this episode was brought to you by our company, Rise25, where we help B2B businesses get client referrals and strategic partnerships with done-for-you podcasts and content marketing. And you can learn more about us in our new podcast, Copilot platform at Rise25.com or by emailing our team in [email protected].

All right. And our guest here today is Lisa Lickert. She is the owner of EMI Network. For about 20 plus years, she’s built a career focused on helping small businesses to grow and thrive. And that’s where we’re going to talk about some different growth strategies that are working today. She’s also put a lot of time and effort into various different organizations, such as Dress for Success, Rotary. We’re just talking about a second a second ago, YWCA and others, and she’s based out of Cincinnati, Ohio. And Lisa, happy to have you here today. And we were talking about backgrounds and upbringings, and I’ve had plenty of guests on this show who say that they’re out hustling, selling gum in the hallways and get busted by the vice principal, that other people not that different from me who say that, you know, I discovered entrepreneurship kind of later in life. And that was you.

You said you were grown and you were raised in kind of a traditional Home. And sadly, your mom passed away at a young age. And so you kind of had to step up and be the woman of the house. So tell me a little bit about what that was like for you losing your mom and having to step up at a young age.

Lisa Lickert: 02:17

Well, you know, I definitely lost my mom at a young age. However, she was given 13 years to live after thinking that she was going to pass in six months. So I had the most amazing childhood with the mother that lived everyday like it was her last. So I think that that is really what gives me my ability to see the possibilities and the opportunities versus focusing on all of the problems. So I think in many ways she powered my entrepreneurial spirit. But I was raised in a very traditional household where you serve your husband and you take care of your home.

And I was very thankful for that. You know, tradition and kind of grounded in all of that. So when she passed, I, I believe I was able to really kind of mourn her passing in a very different way by paying homage to who she was in our family and taking that roll over, and had amazing women in my life at a very young age, really kind of influencing me. So but I did know deep down that it wasn’t my future, that wasn’t something that I would be doing full time for the rest of my life. I just couldn’t figure out exactly what the next step would be. I kind of fell into things as I grew up, like many of us do, trying new things, and I knew I was going to be in charge of something. I just didn’t know what small island that would be, and I had to figure that out one day.

John Corcoran: 03:40

So what was that like? You mentioned that your mom left, lived everyday like it was her last. Was it like ice cream for dinner, or was it like if you said if you said, you know, I wish we could go down to, you know, to the park right now. She’s like, good, let’s go do it right now. Was it like putting on plays in the living room? I mean, what what? Literally what was it like?

Lisa Lickert: 04:03

You know, every single thing was on steroids. So it really was like that. I thought everybody loved it that way. We didn’t have money. We hardly have any money. But it was just the experiences, you know? It was, you know, in the evening, if we were bored, we’d jump in the car and go down to, you know, the doughnut shop that made doughnuts for the second shifters, and we would have warm donuts and chocolate milk. Worst thing to do in your life at night as a kid? Right. But, you know, I remember this to this day.

I can remember the pajamas that I still had on as we did something that crazy. You know, last day of school, a mother running out into the middle of the yard to say, you know, where’s my second grader? I can’t find my second grader. And having this because I was going into third grade next year. Right? So, you know, just having these experiences. Always the homeroom mom, always, you know, the team mom on any kind of sporting event and just really making everything fun. Every birthday was just an incredible experience. And we didn’t have money. So it wasn’t the gifts and it wasn’t all of that.

It was just the feels and, you know, just making sure everything was special. And, we didn’t really have bad days in our house. Of course, we had fights and we’re grumpy. And, you know, you know, we’re human. But we really didn’t have bad days in our house. I don’t remember pointing back to saying, you know, these things were just awful times and stressful times. But we didn’t have much. But we definitely had, you know, at everything you do matters. The Butterfly Effect, which is a book behind me. The butterfly I love is not because of that whole fanciful, you know, whimsical or feminine thing, but it’s it’s everything you do that matters. She taught me that very clearly as I was growing up.

John Corcoran: 05:48

Sounds like she lived the way that we should all live our lives. Really? You know, to embrace every day like it could be our last. I love that.

Lisa Lickert: 05:57

I strive for that every single day. Some days are easier than others, obviously.

John Corcoran: 06:02

Yeah. So you actually go into the corporate world and you end up running a $150 million division of a larger company, which is amazing. And the fact that you walked away from that to go and acquire another company is also amazing. But what did you learn from running a company of that size that you eventually took to your acquisition of a different company.

Lisa Lickert: 06:30

That you’re never ready, you just have to figure it out? I think that what happens is people, you know, believe that they have to have exactly this in order to do this. And so maybe they’re held back in life because they didn’t check all of the boxes until they took that next step. And, maybe it’s a risky thing. Right. But I learned that you’re never ready and everything can be an opportunity if you let it. Even a challenge or a problem. So when you do look at things like that, Everything is Figureoutable, right? And so it just doesn’t it just just have patience. Everything is Figureoutable and you’re never ready.

John Corcoran: 07:14

And did you get an itch to acquire another company where you get growing tired of the corporate world? Why? You know why shake things up? I mean, it seemed to me like, you know, that there are plenty of people in the corporate world that would die to be able to run a division that large. So to walk away from that is substantial.

Lisa Lickert: 07:36

Yeah. So I mean, like in the corporate world, you know, different things happen. It can be very transactional. And so I was performing, I thought at the top of my game I was exceeding expectations with growth rates I was at or better than industry standards. I was recognized across the US for some of the performance standards that I had accomplished within the organization.

I was on the speaker’s track talking, you know, across the US, those kinds of things. And, you know, we were purchased by a private equity firm. And so it you know, we were looked at like a spreadsheet. And so at that point in time, it became very clear. And then, you know, certain layers start to happen within the organization. And so here I’m running a business giving myself as running the business as if it’s my own, but having no control. And so when you give so much of yourself for something, for somebody else, it can be very challenging. And so, you know, I kind of found myself in a situation where I knew exactly what I didn’t want to do, which is work for somebody else anymore. I wanted to make sure that if I was putting in all of this work, effort, passion, you know, giving so much of myself to something, I wanted that something to be mine. Yeah. And so that’s kind of where that came from.

John Corcoran: 08:56

Did it take a long time to find the right company to acquire?

Lisa Lickert: 09:01

You know, it did not. Which was shocking. It was really a four month adventure. So once I made the decision that that’s what I was going to do, then I went on a mission and I could. John, I had so many coffees with people. Right. So I was drinking coffee all the time. I’d have a coffee, talk to somebody, and I talk to someone. Who else do I need to talk to? And they would give me six people.

Then I talked to those people. I’d be like, who else do I need to talk to? They would give me six people. And so it was such an amazing opportunity to get to know so many people, so many new entrepreneurs. What is there, you know, what were their stories? And then through all of that networking, I got connected to business opportunities. And so I was very fortunate because I didn’t acquire a company in four months. That just doesn’t happen in this world, right? But I did find the opportunity that I pursued in that. Hold on.

John Corcoran: 09:56

There we go. Okay. Sorry about that. So you acquire it. I was 30 years old, I believe, at the time.

And what was the company? It was an agency. What was the company focused on then? And what changes did you make after you acquired it?

Lisa Lickert: 10:11

So EMI Network is a pioneer in content marketing. So Editorial Marketing Incorporated was the original name of the business. And so pioneer in that long form advertising native advertising. And so when I came into the business, we were very heavy in the print world. We were doing great things about, you know, telling.

John Corcoran: 10:32

Stories about and this is about the 2011 time frame.