Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 The word disruption is used a lot in business, and it really refers to when someone takes a business cycle and it reinvents it. And today we're lucky enough to hear from Micah Stan Bau, she's the c e o and founder of t m I and accountability, both industries. She disrupted markets that were longstanding traditional business cycles into something new and innovative. You're really gonna enjoy listening to her. All right, Michael, let's get down to it. You are one of the only people, and I think the only firm that has really created a SaaS business model, and for our listeners, that's software as a service in the PR space. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, tell me how you came up with that idea.
Speaker 2 00:01:03 So, in the pandemic, I realized that not every person needed to have a PR firm on retainer every month. They really just needed a one-off opportunity, and they, they should just kinda get what they paid for. So there is no PR firm. We are the first, um, that has launched a software. It's a membership, monthly subscription based software where you can pick between three levels depending on how much you want us to pitch you, you know, once a week, once a month, and we build this for you and you pay for what you get. If we don't get you media, you don't pay.
Speaker 0 00:01:41 Yeah. I really liked how you made your business model so simple. Yeah. Um, so you just were used the word membership, not subscription. Um, is there a distinction for you?
Speaker 2 00:01:51 No. I mean, it is a subscription based model, but I feel like my clients refer to it as a membership more often. And so I'm getting used to that because they feel like they're a part of the t m I community, but on a sliding scale. And it, it, it, it works out because so many people are now experts in the pandemic, right? Like, yeah, stay at home. Moms are experts in e-learning. They never would've had that title. Um, people need to be a part of the conversations in the media. And for me, that's so important. As a former journalist, I wish I had access to different people. And this two, two-sided platform, one gives experts the opportunity to be a part of these conversations in the media. And on the other side, it gives the media access to new experts for free.
Speaker 0 00:02:43 Well, okay. So I, I think the membership thing that's clear, and I actually think there's like a prestige to it and people feel, you know, special to be part of T m I. Um, what I still wondered about is during the pandemic, everybody became experts. You're right. And I think there's a feeling in social media today that why would you have a PR firm? Because you can have access to anybody anywhere, anytime, for sure. We can find it online. Yep. So what do you say to that, to, you know, mid-sized firms? I mean, big firms, I understand there's just so much media content, but a mid-size firm is thinking about that investment. How do they wrap their head around that? I
Speaker 2 00:03:19 Honestly don't think most people need a PR firm. And my PR people will probably be so mad at me for saying that, but it's true. You can go and get access in somebody, you can dmm them on Twitter. You can tag them to get their attention. I think what's really important and why pitched is so successful is because we set you up. So you have a former Emmy award-winning journalist. You have a former news producer writing and gathering all of your content and streamlining it so that we can present it to the media in a way that they don't know how to do. Most peoples don't have that skill. Yep. So we're bringing our skills to just set you up and then you can go and do your own thing.
Speaker 0 00:04:02 So there's actually a model where if you're inclined, you can get all of your press written and massaged by the experts, and then you can go and try to tackle all the people you wanna be in. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:04:13 Interesting. So, pitched the actual website, we build the website for people and it has their contact information, their social media. It doesn't even come back to us unless they want us to handle it. Some clients in the beginning are like, help us out a little bit. But once we get acclimated, like we'll handle it, handle it ourselves. So, um, yeah, the, the pitch page that we, that we build people share and it looks like they have this, you know, big PR firm behind them, which we do, but only when they want us to be prevalent. So
Speaker 0 00:04:43 You've blown up an entire industry. 'cause the model was basically you hire a PR industry, you pay 'em a big fat retainer, and then you hope that the junior assigned to your account is gonna work on it. And
Speaker 2 00:04:53 That's the other difference that we do. We don't have any junior people. A lot of PR firms hire kids outta college. And my cousin was one of them. She went to school for pr and I was like, what did they teach you? <laugh>? You know, um, you know, I'm a former journalist. I'm bringing 10 years to the industry. Every single person that I hire has either worked or works in a newsroom. There is abso, like we have interns that are support staff, but they have zero interaction with a client. And that is be for so many reasons, um, a lot of, we are constantly having to, you know, react to clients that are trying to hire us and say like, well, I just hired that firm and I paid them a bunch of money and they didn't get me anything. And I'm like, I know. Well, um, that's because I hired kids outta college that have no contacts and they have no resources, and they don't know how to pick up the phone and, and pitch something. So we don't ha we've never had that.
Speaker 0 00:05:48 Y you've blown up a business model that's kind of a, a, an old school model. Um, what do people say about this pitched in, in the, you know, in the industry
Speaker 2 00:05:58 That it's refreshing. They're grateful. We have a woman who lives in Englewood, who is a former cop. She just retired. She left early. She would've, she would never be able to afford us. Um, she pays $250 a month and she has been on every single news station in this city, as well as every newspaper cranes, you know, w g and she's gonna be on Fox tomorrow. Um, it's because she has a really great story and she just had no outlet to tell it. Hmm. And a friend of hers said, knew me and made the introduction, and she was like, I just don't know how it's gonna work. And I was like, trust me. And she, and she pays, she actually has us handle all of the media that she gets. She just isn't good with that. So she does pay more than two 50 a month, but it's less than a thousand a month. And she's getting a couple hits a month and she's selling her C B D products.
Speaker 0 00:06:56 We're gonna segue to that in a minute, but, um, okay. So when you're, I, I would imagine your customers are happy because they're able to pay for what they're getting. Um, but what is the industry, the, the, the titans of the PR industry must absolutely hate that she came up with this model.
Speaker 2 00:07:11 So the media loves it. So I've met with every single news director, general manager, managing editor over the past year and said, Hey, we're building this platform for you guys to be able to access and have new experts. Um, I'm still doing that. But they love it because now they, they're not calling the same people for the same, you know, for the same quotes. The, the PR industry doesn't love it, but they, they're also being forced to dial down their, their asks because companies just don't have the same advertising dollars that they used to. The spend is different. The media rooms are shrinking. We all have to be realistic. And look, I, I've, my business model was we don't have offices. We have no overhead. My overhead is our platforms where we, you know, aggregate contacts from and my staff, that's it. So I can pay them more.
Speaker 2 00:08:08 I don't have to worry about keeping lights on copiers, paper, you know, and so we can keep the monthly retainer pretty low. We've always been able to do that. I started five years ago and I've never raised the prices on nonprofits. It's a big deal to me. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> to always be able to offer them really good PR at an affordable rate. We get them great coverage. And some of my bigger clients, I tell them like, well, you're subsidizing some of the, some of the nonprofits. And they, you know, they kind of chuckle, but it's true. Yeah. And the people that can pay for it should have it. The people that can't, should figure out a way how they can. And I think that I have definitely done that.
Speaker 0 00:08:48 Well, I know that's a big part of your life and the give back. So that's really incredible that you kind of put those two together. What's it take to be good in your business though? Is it a good story or good connections?
Speaker 2 00:09:00 I think you have to be, you have to be a good storyteller. So I tell all of our clients, you we're gonna do a discovery meeting, we're gonna ask you a bunch of questions, we're gonna come back to the table and huddle, and we are going to DeSales pitch your story. 'cause every client, it's a sales pitch. Yeah. And the media doesn't wanna hear that. So we take it and, you know, the t m i, you know, kind of breaks down the facts and what people need to know and the memorable parts of the story. And then we put together the pitch where it's not a sales pitch. It's like, actually you need to tell your clients or your, um, listeners or your viewers or your readers about these people because this is a really great story. And, um, so that's what we do. And I think that's why you have to hire someone that's worked in a newsroom and who has been telling stories for, for years. Because if you hire some kid outta college, they have, they're gonna write a general press release, which is antiquated and no one's looking at those.
Speaker 0 00:09:57 Yeah. I mean, you're right. The, the actual work of what has to get done isn't that hard. Like any of our businesses, what's hard about it is selling something where you don't sound salesy. Yeah. And that I found, um, you know, because you have such great writers and you are a storyteller, uh, by trade, I think really is one of your secret sauces. Yeah. So if all that wasn't enough, you had to go and start another company. Yeah. So I wanna tell us a little bit about your new cooperative, uh, in the C B D and cannabis space.
Speaker 2 00:10:26 Yeah. So we just launched at nican here in Chicago, which is the industry's largest conference. I was a speaker on how to get earned media around cannabis because it's obviously not federally regulated and every state has its own rules. And so we spoke about, um, trying to get media for these cannabis companies here in Illinois and in Chicago. And it was really interesting just the feedback. And, and same thing I told 'em, you can't be a sales pitch because like, it's pot, right? <laugh>. So you, you, like, you have to approach this, you know, in a much different light. And you're also working with people in newsrooms that have this mental stigma against it. Right. And, and the reason that we started accountability is because it's, we're truly going to be the go-to source for education. We are not touching any product. We are going to build the set of standards for the industry so that when people do have questions and they want to, you know, transfer from, okay, maybe I'm not afraid of it, maybe I need it, what do I need to know? So that's what we're building. And it's a, it's based on a cooperative advertising platform. So similar to Sunkist Got Milk, um, or, you know, two huge successful ones. And basically the members of the cooperative fund it by a percentage of their advertising and marketing dollars. We go and spend 70, 80 cents on the dollar and keep the rest for operating. And we, we listen to the members, they tell us like, Hey, we really need to educate people on, you know, C B D, you can't get high from C B D or, or medical marijuana.
Speaker 0 00:12:10 So Micah, you have, uh, effectively pivoted. Um, you've got one business that's reinvented an entire, you know, traditional business of P pr and now you've gotten into a very new world. It's not new product, but C B D is, uh, relatively new to Yeah. What we know about it and how people are educated. Um, how did you, uh, kind of get that, make that leap, and how do you make time to start another business?
Speaker 2 00:12:38 So you make time to do anything you wanna do? Right. I mean, you and I have had that conversation before. Um, I choose to work out every day. I choose to be out in the sun a little bit every day. I choose to do a whatever, you know, kind of makes me tick because I know I need to take care of myself. And one thing is I wanna be really successful and I want to stop working at some point <laugh>. So I'm on my hustle game. But, um, a friend of mine, James Makowski, reached out to me and said, you know, we were talking about the cannabis industry and he has, he's on some dispensary teams and we were talking about the educational platform and advertising, and he wanted my opinion on what I thought the media looked like, and, you know, educating people. And so we've created this.
Speaker 2 00:13:26 I've never created anything with anybody before. I've always owned my own companies and started them myself. So it's been really exciting. We hired an executive director who is super knowledgeable in the industry. We're all bringing our expertise. Jim is a serial entrepreneur, Lisa is, you know, a cannabis expert. And I bring the media. So we all are just kind of sticking to our lane. And that's my role. Um, I'm overseeing all the pr, all the advertising, all the marketing social website. Um, we, like I said, we just launched. We have a huge, we, we did a million dollar raise starting in November that we're about ready to close. The second phase will be a $5 million raise. And we're looking to be funded by, um, academic
Speaker 0 00:14:13 Institutions.
Speaker 2 00:14:14 Institutions because we are truly, it's all about education. You know, no one's giving us their product. Like that's not what we're about. We want to, we have a, you know, scientific medical data analytics or analysts that are part of our advisors, and they are helping us make sure that we are putting our seal of approval on products that are safe. And people don't have to worry. And, and they can come to accountability.com and, and kind of figure it out. Why I got involved is because I broke my shoulder. I'm sure a couple years ago I was in a car accident and I remember, you know, I, I don't even take Advil. So I was so scared when I saw that moment when the doctor was like, here's all these painkillers to take. Yeah. And I was like, oh wait, this is like how it starts.
Speaker 2 00:15:01 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And I absolutely did not want that. And so I called a friend of mine who I knew was into, you know, little Eastern medicine alternative medicine, and I was like, what are my options? Like, I'm not taking these pills. He's like, C, B, D. I was like, what, what, what is that? Because, you know, you hear it. I thought, I thought it was a drug. Yeah. And I grew up with the so say no to drugs. I was an athlete. Um, my parents were like, you're a loser if you do drugs. So I just never even thought I would ever take it. I I didn't need to learn about it. 'cause I was never gonna do it. Yeah. And I, for three months was on C B D, topical sav, and then like a tincture in my water, in my coffee. And the pain was completely managed and I was never high. You know, you don't, you, you don't get high. You can function. It's a pain reliever. And, um, and so it's been, it's been really interesting to kind of help and, you know, like my dad is having some issues and I'm like, try C, b, D. You know, so what
Speaker 0 00:16:03 Are you, uh, you know, you've got this company, you're gonna educate. I understand the model. What does success look like?
Speaker 2 00:16:11 So right now, our, our goal is to, you know, in 10 years, turn into an I P O and, and be done, you know, and, and, and kind of manage it from afar. But I feel like we have a lot of work to do. There's a lot of the fact that it's state by state. There's the, the, the national regulation is not there. So once that happens, which I do feel is coming probably in the next 12 months, things will fall into place. I do think that there's going to be, um, the industry is going to be a huge m and a option. I mean, I think the big guys are gonna kinda scoop up the little guys, which is not what they wanted. I think it's really important for the diversity and inclusion. Um, you know, there's, there's a lot of people that have suffered, right. And people that have been imprisoned for marijuana. So it's very, it's an unfair situation for people that are black and brown that have suffered differently from a white person using medical marijuana mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so there, there's a lot of kind of like soothing and education that needs to happen, and everyone just needs to like, get on the same page and start fresh.
Speaker 0 00:17:22 Great. So, you know, um, as you look over this next couple of 24 months, where's your time split between T m I and accountability?
Speaker 2 00:17:31 Um, so we, we've done a bunch of hiring. So my time has been pretty, pretty, probably 60% of accountability since November. Um, but now we, we just hired two people. And I, I'm definitely swinging back to T M I T M i's busy. Time is definitely a summer and fall. Um, winter things just slow down in general for, for us. But, um, so I had the ability to do that. And I have an amazing staff. I mean, I haven't had turnover at t m i in the last person like three years. I mean, it's all the same people. And I think it's a testament to just like we, we take on good clients, we do good work. It's really simple. There's like, I'm not a micromanager. If like, you, like when I hire you, you get one, like, that's your warning. Like, don't waste my time, do your work and don't make me come after you.
Speaker 0 00:18:29 Are the staff 10 90 nines or are they actual employees?
Speaker 2 00:18:32 10 99. Okay. So there's no, I'm the only employee.
Speaker 0 00:18:35 Okay. So they're, they're, um, in a sense a little bit harder to direct because they're, they're not your employee. Yeah. They're, yeah. You know, accountable to,
Speaker 2 00:18:42 And I definitely don't. Yeah. And I don't like, I don't want a staff, you know, I, I want, I love the fact that people can work at two in the morning and they can work from France and they can, you know, like I love that for me. And so I wanna give that to them. Um, I have had staff that at, with other companies and positions I've been in, and it's just, it's like ring around the Rosie. It's like, it's the same, it's the same problem with the same people all the time. And like, I just this way I'm like, okay, I warned you, you're done <laugh>.
Speaker 0 00:19:13 You actually think it is part of your culture is to, um, have that separation, uh, in a way, you know, where their, their own boss. And that's part of what gets
Speaker 2 00:19:23 100%. And, and in a creative industry, I feel like when and when they need to get together, they're like, they'll tell me like, we need to do a regroup. Like, let's all get together. Great. We'll do it. But for the most part, you know, they have their own lives. They have kids that are sick. They have, you know, they have an a lot going on. And when they can just like, hide away in, in another room and get creative and write and, and do what they need to do, they're so much happier.
Speaker 0 00:19:50 Now, the most surprising thing you said in all this was that you would, um, you, you're working this hard and hustling this hard to retire.
Speaker 2 00:19:58 Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:20:00 I do not talk to that many entrepreneurs that have that as, as the end game. Tell me about that.
Speaker 2 00:20:05 You know, I feel like, um, this is my fourth company and I've worked really hard. I work a lot. There's definitely a lot of, a lot of balance. And I, I do have a ton of personal time, but I think it's important to have like a, like an end game. 'cause otherwise you're just constantly going and going and going and going and going. And I think that life for me is not gonna be about working. I think, I think when, if people were to talk about me, you know, when I retire, it's gonna be, she did a really good job. She was, you know, balls to the wall and now she's living her life. And it's not that I won't like be a part of things or be on boards, but like, there's gonna be like, I, there is definitely gonna be a separation for sure.
Speaker 0 00:20:55 All right. So we're gonna wait 10 years and see your, your, we'll see fourth company go, i p o. And then, um, and then you retire. Um, it's okay. You'll come back to work. <laugh>. I, I, I, I think the, uh, I'll think the addiction of the entrepreneur is pretty strong. And, uh, you know,
Speaker 2 00:21:10 My, my skillset, I'm really good at identifying a void and filling the void and building that company. I, my ability to scale is not there. I, I don't have that side so much. So I can get it to a certain point, and then I need to have someone like take it over the hump. And that's when I will, I'll give it to somebody else.
Speaker 0 00:21:31 That is so smart. So many people don't recognize either the part they're good at or the part that they don't like. Yeah. And they, they build their businesses and then they're miserable. Yeah. And I think the unique part about what you've done is, you know, at least from the outside, you travel all you want. You're busy all the time. You do all the things you want. Yes. It's obvious. You work hard, you're so successful. But I love the idea that you've built your life, uh, into something that is balanced for you. Yeah. And yet you've got all these thriving businesses. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:21:58 And, but I, I have, I have learned to draw boundaries. I have learned to say no, I have learned to not hear the noise. Um, because I know what I'm doing is really good. Like, I'm great. I have a great team. We, we take on good clients. We say no to some clients, right? Like, it's not a good fit. We, it's not like a money grab. It's truly about having the right clients balance with our staff. And, um, and it's just, it's been really fun. But I definitely had to, in the beginning I was like, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Sure. And then you can't make everybody happy no matter what, who you are. And it just gotta the point where I was like, okay. Like I don't, I can't have that, you know? We'll make someone else happy. <laugh>.
Speaker 0 00:22:44 Yeah. No, I always learned that you're not really a business until you start saying no to clients. Yeah. And you know, I call it paying the light bulbs. Um, when you start a business, you're paying the light bill. So you're saying yes to everything and every opportunity, but all you're trying to do is pay the light bulb. You're not even doing your best work. Really. Yeah. Yeah. Because you don't know who you are, what you stand for, what the business is about. Yeah. You've come to the place where you know who's a good client, what's a good fit, what's a good story? And you can leave the stories that aren't right for t m i to somebody else that, that's, uh, that's a really good place to grow and sustain from. This is my favorite part of the Lady Boss podcast. We hit our interviewees with some rapid fire questions to end their segment, and hopefully you'll use them to elevate your business. First one, Micah, what's your favorite employee retention tool?
Speaker 2 00:23:39 Work from home.
Speaker 0 00:23:41 Good. Next, what would you recommend is your favorite business book?
Speaker 2 00:23:48 Who Moved? My Cheese? Oh,
Speaker 0 00:23:50 Classic. Okay. Um, of all the mentors you've had your favorite one, what was the best advice they gave you?
Speaker 2 00:24:00 Dominic de Frisco. He, he always said, don't let your your star burn out.
Speaker 0 00:24:11 Hmm. Genius. Hence the weekly vacations. Okay. <laugh> good. Dominic, good advice. What would Micah's superpower be?
Speaker 2 00:24:23 I can see through BSS and I don't, and I kind of call it out. And I think it's, people respect you more for that
Speaker 0 00:24:34 In your business. You have to do that. That's critical. <laugh>. All right. And if you're giving advice to our listeners about how to really grow their business faster and maximize their opportunity, what would you say it would be?
Speaker 2 00:24:47 So, one thing I learned early on is everyone would say, Hey, can I pick your brain? Can we meet for coffee? Can we meet for a happy hour? I just have a couple questions. And I always said yes for like the first two years. And then I was like, what am I doing? So I no longer when I would see people out at events when they said, oh, you know, we need to get together. And I would just be like, do we, I don't know if we need to. What? Like what do you need? You know? 'cause I don't, I'm okay. Like I can just catch up with you here and be fine. And I think valuing your time and, and meeting with people that are really gonna make a difference because your time is precious. Their time should be precious too. But like, stop all the BS and like, we should be friends and we should connect and do all these things when it's just, it's a part of like this networking, you know, kind of mentality where people feel like they have to say that, but they don't mean it. They don't, they don't wanna reach out. They feel like, oh, we should get together. It's like, don't say it to me. It's okay. I'm okay to just connect with you right here and support you any way I can. But, um, don't go and do all those things unless you feel like you really need to or want to.
Speaker 0 00:25:54 So combination of laser focus and saying no.
Speaker 2 00:25:57 Yes, yes.
Speaker 0 00:25:59 Awesome. You've been a real treat. I am so excited. I think we'll see you in retirement and then outta retirement in a very short order because the world needs more of your great ideas and launching more cool businesses. I love
Speaker 2 00:26:11 It. Maybe, I don't know. We'll, we'll do, we'll circle back in 10 years <laugh> and see what happens.
Speaker 0 00:26:18 Thanks for being on the show, Micah.
