Micromanage No More: How Trust Builds Stronger Teams

Kristy: Do I have to ask if your phone is silent? Silenced?

Bill: Actually, I forgot my phone at home today.

Kristy: Did you really? How did you even do that?

Bill: I don’t know.

Kristy: How do you listen to music in the car? That would be my first, like, “uh! Don’t have my phone because I can’t hear my music.” What do you… what do you—-what do you—are you riding in silence like a weirdo?

Bill: I ride in silence to the office. An like… I do I ride…

Kristy: Really?

Bill: Yeah. I often times, like, to come to work and not listen to anything.

Kristy: And be alone with your thoughts? How could you possibly tolerate that? That sounds scary!

Bill: You know what’s interesting to me about it, that music—as a thing—that music is nothing more than sound waves,

Kristy: Yeah?

Bill: but sound waves, put in a specific order, causes us to have emotions.

Kristy: Is it music or lyrics for you?

Bill: Both. Like, I mean, yeah, lyrics,

Kristy: Definitely more lyrics for me, but the right music behind it obviously.

Bill: Right, but I mean, like… you’re never going to be melancholy listening to the Beastie Boys.

Kristy: That’s probably true.

Bill: Yeah.

Kristy: Regardless of what the lyrics are.

Bill: Yeah, regardless.

Kristy: That’s why I like songs that are deceptively… like, you think they’re happy songs but the lyrics are super depressing.

Bill: ~Ba baa, this is the sound of settling~

Kristy: Yes!

Bill: Yes.

Kristy: Yes.

Bill: Yeah.

Kristy: Or you, uh, “You Remind Me of Home” is another Ben Gibbard song which is just,

Bill: Ben Gibbard is the…the master of sounding cheery,

Kristy: Mhmm.

Bill: but being dead inside.

Kristy: Mhmm!

Bill: Thanks…

Kristy: That’s why I love it!

Bill: Thanks, Zoey Deschanel.

Kristy: Thanks, Zoey Deschanel!

Bill: I feel like we can, uh, splice this actually into the podcast.

Kristy: Yeah, oh yeah, this is the podcast for sure.

Bill: Yeah, this is the podcast.

Kristy: This is how we’re going to start opening the podcast.

Bill: Yes.

Kristy: It’s just like… chatting.

Bill: Chatting.

Kristy: Welcome, you’ve dropped into the chat!

Bill: You’ve dropped in.

Kristy: We-we were wanting…

Bill: I’m still trying to figure out hat on or hat off for the podcast.

Kristy: I think hat on, because we’re going with a sports vibe today.

Bill: Sports vibe.

Kristy: We realized that we were both, in different ways, wearing sports clothes today, as you can see by my Barbie, uh, is it tennis? I’m tennis clubbing today.

Bill: You’re tennis Barbie.

Kristy: Yeah, I’m tennis Barbie today!

Bill: Your job is tennis.

Kristy: And, uh, which Barbie are you?

Bill: I’m, uh, Geordie Barbie.

Kristy: Okay!

Bill: So, there’s a story behind the shirt.

Kristy: Okay.

Bill: So this is going to give away when we film this…

Kristy: Okay.

Bill: Because we’re filming this in March—17th—I think that’s today’s date.

Kristy: Yep.

Bill: Yep, and then yesterday, being the 16th of the team here, Newcastle United, they won the English football cup. Which is like, the like, it’s a trophy. It’s not like the biggest trophy you can win in English football or soccer.

Kristy: I was going to say, we’re talking soccer?

Bill: We’re talking soccer.

Kristy: We’re saying football, but we’re talking soccer.

Bill: Yes.

Kristy: Okay.

Bill: We’re talking about English football.

Kristy: Okay.

Bill: Um, so, and-and the long story behind it is like the Geordies and Newcastle United, they’re this very long-suffering team. They hadn’t won a trophy since 1969.

Kristy: Wow.

Bill: And, but, they’re like a big—they’re a big Club, they have a lot of followers, um, a lot of people who like barcodes…

Kristy: Um, yeah.

Bill: Yeah.

Kristy: You look more like a ref.

Bill: Yeah. I actually went and saw them play West Ham, um, like four, five years ago.

Kristy: Saw them where?

Bill: In Newcastle.

Kristy: Oh, really?

Bill: Yeah, I went to one of their matches, but the-the, like, the longer story,

Kristy: They’re called matches?

Bill: Yes.

Kristy: I didn’t know that!

Bill: Yes.

Kristy: I’m learning!

Bill: Yes. The longer story behind it is when I was a young man, living in New York, and I had some good friends that were from England, from the north, um, they were from Darlington which is not far from Newcastle.

Kristy: Everything sounds so cute. From Darlington, Newcastle.

Bill: Yes, Newcastle upon Tyne.

Kristy: Oh my word. So adorable.

Bill: So, and the husband was from Newcastle, right, so it was funny during that time there was a World Cup on and I was rooting for England during for the World Cup. You know, David Beckham, you know, it was like the glory years of-of English football and they were in the World Cup and the English and the World Cup are also like perennials like let you down like you think like, “this is their year they’re going to be awesome,” and then they just break your heart.

Kristy: yeah

Bill: And so I was watching the world cup with my English friends, and like we were emailing each other and messaging each other, you know, after each of the matches like, “oh that was awesome” and then you know the heartbreak when they they lost, and you know the World Cup gets over and I like sent my friend an email or messaged him and I was just like, “yeah I says you know what, that was like my first introduction into soccer,”

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: and I was like, “wow I was like I really like soccer and I think, now, I said I have to find a a English team to follow like to be a supporter like I need to become a fan of somebody in the english team.”

Kristy: Because you were seeing them over there, for what reason? Just cuz your friends were or..?

Bill: Yeah, and I was like, the World Cup’s huge anyways, right?

Kristy: Yeah, yeah.

Bill: And-and you know and I have like a lot of affinity to the English, and I have a lot of English friends, and so it was, you know, like it was, like, yeah, I was like, I was going to root for England in the World Cup, you know, as like my team, right? And I-I think I had a David Beckham England Jersey at the time.

Kristy: Hmm!

Bill: Yep, um, so I was getting into it, and I was playing a lot too. Like I was playing a lot of pickup soccer and I was just like I was really enjoying it. And so it was right around the time that the Red Sox owner bought Liverpool,

Kristy: Okay.

Bill: and so there was a lot of, like, more interest getting into soccer here and I remember being like, “Oh I need to support a soccer team in England and have like my team that I can you know pin all my hopes and dreams on, just like they do,” and I sent him a message saying like maybe I’m going to become a Liverpool fan that would be,

Kristy: You sent who the message?

Bill: My friend. My-my-my Geordie friend.

Kristy: The team. I sent the team…

Bill: Yeah, and so I was like, I need to choose a team, and I was like, maybe I’ll become a Liverpool fan. And like a week later, I get a Newcastle United jersey in the mail!

Kristy: wow

Bill: And, uh, and it was funny because he was just like he gave me like all the reasons why I should become a Newcastle fan. And you know and, to me at the time, Newcastle really felt like the Red Sox. Like this team, you know, like up before 2003, 2004 you know where it was like the Red Sox broke your heart every year and you’re like, “this is the year they’re going to win the series,” and then they just, you know, they never won anything, but, you know, they had good teams but they just broke your heart, and so I was like, “you know what, I think Newcastle is really our people,” you know? They’re from the north. They’re-they’re, um, they’re this team of underachievers and, you know? And so I started following Newcastle and, sure enough, they, like, broke my heart for, like, the next, you know, 20 years of following them. And it’s also funny, so, my friends from Newcastle they’ve been over like three or four times, and they always bring me a Newcastle United Jersey anytime they come, so,

Kristy: I need a picture of all your jerseys to put in here.

Bill: I… Let’s, yeah, let me… I’m going to pull them all out and get, like, pictures of all of my new… I even have a Newcastle United jersey with my name on it!

Kristy: Awwwwe!

Bill: Cuz I was over there and I got one made with my name on it, cuz I thought that would be kind of cool, and I almost missed my flight cuz the store was taking so long. Yeah, which another great story, um, but so, anyways, Newcastle won the cup this weekend, um,

Kristy: Very nice.

Bill: So, I had to congratulate all my Geordie friends, and also Dan in our office,

Kristy: I was going to say, what is his team?

Bill: He’s a Liverpool fan.

Kristy: I thought he was Liverpool.

Bill: And they beat Liverpool in the Cup final.

Kristy: Okay, I thought he was Liverpool.

Bill: Yeah, so of course, I had to send Dan a message,

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: Yeah, because,

Kristy: Disappointing for Dan…

Bill: It was disappointing for Dan, but Liverpool has won a lot of trophies, like, they’re that team that…

Kristy: He can take the loss.

Bill: They’re the New York Yankees really of-of, you know, of English soccer, so, you know, we can get a—we can get the crumbs.

Kristy: Yeah, yep, yep.

Bill: So, they-they won. They won a trophy.

Kristy: Very exciting.

Bill: And yep, and you know, I also realize that there might be more of a, like a, I said the Red Sox, but they honestly might be more like the eagles, because their fans are,

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: unhinged like the Philadelphia Eagle fans.

Kristy: Newcastle?

Bill: Newcastle fans. And they share this, um, one weird connection is both of them have had arrests of people punching police horses. They’re fans. And I was like, yeah that’s-that’s a very Philly thing I guess too, so maybe they’re more like the eagles.

Kristy: Yeah, cuz Boston fans are intense, but I don’t think they’re… they’re not like that type of intense.

Bill: I don’t think, anymore. I think the gentrification of Boston has changed that where I think,

Kristy: Yeah…

Bill: 2000 Boston was like that.

Kristy: Mhmm.

Bill: And now it’s just too many people that are… Yeah, they’re just…

Kristy: Boston people are Boston people.

Bill: Boston people are Boston people, but I think they’ve lost a little bit… the–I think Boston’s lost the edge.

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: I think, Philly-Philly’s keeping it—keeping it real.

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: Yeah, so maybe that’s why they’re winning Super Bowls now.

Kristy: I guess. I guess.

Bill: So, yeah, thank you for coming to our sports podcast everyone.

Kristy: It’s-it’s sports… I don’t know how to incorporate Barbie into this, um but… it’s not unlike me to be bringing Barbie into the conversation.

Bill: That is true, I mean, right off camera I can look and see the Ken pillow too.

Kristy: Yeah!

Bill: Yeah.

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: Which I probably should have just, like, been holding to complete the ensemble today, but…

Kristy: Well, you know…

Bill: Um, but I think it’s good—here’s my segue.

Kristy: Segue!

Bill: Ready for the segue?

Kristy: Mhmm.

Bill: I think it’s good to have an interest in sports things in other areas,

Kristy: Okay…

Bill: because it connects you to communities that you’re not connected to.

Kristy: Yeah!

Bill: And the wider world and travel and that said, um, again dating when this is being filmed,

Kristy: Yeah, that’s okay.

Bill: This is my last Monday in the office until… May something?

Kristy: Stressful.

Bill: Yeah, because I am going to be spending a month in the south of France!

Kristy: He’s going abroad.

Bill: Abroad. So, there’s an interesting thing… The Grand Tour. So, most of what comes to people’s mind when they talk about The Grand Tour is like Jeremy Clarkson and driving cars and a bunch of like Old English guys acting silly in automobiles, right?

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: So, it’s interesting, that phrase “The Grand Tour” actually came from like the 1600, 1700s and it was principally about people—usually upper class people—who had the money to do this, um, and especially like British people, and that they would go and they would spend a month or two on the continent. Uh, it was a lot of times Italy,

Kristy: Mhmm.

Bill: Um, but then they would travel through the continent and it was supposed to be this idea that it would expand your horizons.

Kristy: Your camera is recording, right?

Bill: Yeah, it’s recording.

Kristy: Keep going.

Bill: That it would expand your horizons. The Grand Tour was all about like these wealthy aristocat… wealthy Aristocrats traveling abroad and, you know, collecting things and collecting experiences and it was like the original gap year, you know, for-for them to make these lavish trips and you think about it and then that progressed to the American Grand Tour and you think about like very famous writers and artists and about like for instance F Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway and all them.

Kristy: Are you about to compare yourself to all of this?

Bill: Well, no, but yeah. I’m going to be hunched over my typewriter in the south of France.

Kristy: He’s packing his typewriter.

Bill: Yes, my manual typewriter. My wife is going to be like, “what is in that luggage?”

Kristy: It’s in the carry-on, actually.

Bill: It’s in the carry-on.

Kristy: Instead of a tablet in his lap, he’s got a typewriter on the plane. He’s not even sitting with his wife!

Bill: I’m not even sitting with my wife, I’m going to be, like, hunched over the seat typing… Yeah, um, but no, like, that idea of, like, then it became like this American thing similarly because American culture go to Europe and not just be like, “hey we’re here for a week,” but like spending a longer period of time to kind of absorb European culture.

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: So I think coming full circle now to our day, right?

Kristy: Mhmm.

Bill: And I think you see that with a lot of digital nomads. Like it really is their Grand Tour and they’re going to places they’re able to work remote and they’re able to experience things that in a traditional work environment you would not be able to get out and do.

Kristy: Mmm.

Bill: And I think that’s really beautiful. Like we think about Seapoint here, um, you know as far as American based employees we have an employee who is in Columbia, we’ve got an employee in Chile, we’ve got an employee in Argentina, um, we’ve got Rachel who—even though she’s an Irish National—she’s in Italy a lot.

Kristy: Mhmm.

Bill: Um, you know, I think that idea of being able to this type of industry has given us the flexibility to be able to experience some of those things.

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: Um, this for me is the first time, and it’s going to be an interesting experience because it’s a little bit different just being an employee but being the agency owner…

Kristy: Yeah, yeah.

Bill: Um, one of the things I know, cuz I did a little bit of work in Italy a couple years ago, the cadence of work is really interesting.

Kristy: What do you mean by that?

Bill: Well, like in Italy, for instance, you would wake up in the morning and everyone in the states would be asleep until noon, so I would wake up and because I would go–have gone–to bed much earlier my email inbox was just blown up every morning. I’d have like 30 emails to go through, and you know, and people messaging me about stuff at the end of the day. You know, like, “hey how are we doing on this project? Are we on track?” Like project managers pming me about things, and it was a lot, but nobody bothered me and for that for me that’s—I shouldn’t say bothered—but no one needed resources from me.

Kristy: Right.

Bill: And, so, I thought that was really a unique experience because I got up in the morning, I answered all my emails, and then I had a solid like three hours just to work and it was quiet,

Kristy: Yeah…

Bill: and got a bunch of, you know, and I was really able to kind of like meditate on client projects, to think about strategy, and I found it kind of refreshing. And then really around noon is when everybody else was coming online,

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: from our East Coast employees and teams and things and then, you know, until, you know, that would just go until the evening, um, and I would just… I was just checking out around 6, 7(pm), um, but, you know, it was… I enjoyed that type of work. Um, I think just to be—my wife also is working remotely and she’s has to be much more tied to the East Coast time, so going to be doing like a 2(pm) to 8(pm) or 2(pm) to 9(pm), um so I might find myself doing that more. So, it’s going to be interesting, like, working but working afternoon evenings, um, but to have mornings off to, you know, explore. Mornings off more…

Kristy: Lots of going out to breakfast.

Bill: Yeah, and I don’t know if that’s really a-a French thing…

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: Like, so, where we are especially, like, so we’re going to be in the south of France near, uh, city called Perpignan, and I probably mispronounced that for any …

Kristy: Perpignan?

Bill: That’s how we’re saying it, yeah, um, it’s… I have a French sister-in-law and every time I say it she’s like, “what? like what? I don’t understand the words coming out of your mouth!”

Kristy: American man!

Bill: Yes! And then I’m like we’re going to Perpignan and then she, like, has to, like, correct me and she’s like, “no Perpignan.” Like it’s like this NYon

Kristy: It’s actually the same thing.

Bill: Yeah, in my-my ear I’m like, yeah that’s exactly what I said and she’s like, “no, no, no, no, no,” yes, so maybe by the time we’re done, I’ll be able to pronounce it.

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: The other great thing about this is Kristy,

Kristy: Kristy!

Bill: You’re going to be there.

Kristy: I’m coming to France!

Bill: Yes, so we’re going to actually film,

Kristy: We’re going to meet up and film.

Bill: we’re going to meet up and film an episode of the podcast either in the south of France or we might, depending on our timing in Paris… because we’re all going to be traveling to Paris together as a team at the end of the trip. I don’t… I think Paris. It’s going to be pretty booked as far as timing,

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: and-and-and you’ll want to do things.

Kristy: Maybe in Perpignan and then we can keep saying it!

Bill: Perpignan.

Kristy: Saying it wrong.

Bill: We can sit on the beach.

Kristy: Be those Americans that make everyone mad.

Bill: We’ll be like, “we’re-we’re filming here from Perpignan,” and then like people will walk by and’ll be like…

Kristy: I can’t picture the logistics of how we’re going to film

Bill: Uh, we’ll figure it out.

Kristy: We’ll figure it out.

Bill: I think we’re going to use like an Osmos and phones maybe, and then like little portable speakers. It may not be the best audio quality.

Kristy: We apologize now.

Bill: Yes, but since we’re going to film one then,

Kristy: Mhmm.

Bill: and we’re sitting here talking about it right now, what are your biggest trepidations about going to Europe?

Kristy: Oh man, like my personal?

Bill: Yes.

Kristy: What is this word you used? Trepidations?

Bill: Trepidation?

Kristy: Trepidations? Fears can I use that word?

Bill: Yes what, like, what are you… what are you worried about?

Kristy: Um, man, where do I begin, uh, well, there’s a lot of plane crashes in the news, you seen those? Fires! Every time they land there’s a fire!

Bill: Yeah, yes.

Kristy: No, I don’t think that that’s actually a big fear of mine. Um, I’m fine to die in a plane crash. Um, I think actually it’s more of like language barrier is always an issue but like,

Bill: Mhmm.

Kristy: I feel like I’ll figure it out, but sometimes I just worry, like, anytime I have a communication, like, issue with anybody, even just speaking in English, it’s like that is so frustrating to me. So, literally not being able to communicate is a fear of mine.

Bill: And I think that’s going to be interesting where we’re traveling… So, my personal experience is if you’re in a major metropolitan area, like I’ve been a Rome and Madrid and uh Paris, English is pretty prevalent.

Kristy: Mhmm.

Bill: Like, you go to restaurants and, like I found, I was in Florence two years ago, and I felt like I was at Epcot.

Kristy: Okay.

Bill: Like it was so… more Americans there than there was Italian.

Kristy: Kind like Canada? Like

Bill: Yeah, like, kind of similar.

Kristy: Like french canada?

Bill: Right, like, go to Quebec and everyone speaks English,

Kristy: Right.

Bill: And they just look at you like you’re dumb cuz you can only speak english.

Kristy: Like sometimes they have to grab someone else who speaks English,

Bill: A Little Bit.

Kristy: stronger them.

Bill: Yeah, yeah. But what I have experienced is when you get out of those major metropolitan areas, where there’s a lot of tourism and a lot of English being spoken, that’s where it gets dicier and we’ve had some funny experiences. Um, we had an issue with a rental car once where we were driving out of Paris and we were on the border of Germany,

Kristy: Mhmm.

Bill: and something happened with the car and we had to pull into a gas station that was a Hertz rental/gas station and the… lovely ladies but they spoke no English

Kristy: Oh

Bill: and trying to swap out a rental car with people who don’t speak English, was just like a comical experience. And it was funny cuz like they were calling up like the Hertz headquarters in our behalf to explain the situation and they were like yelling at him in French and I was like, “yeah, I don’t know what you’re saying, but yeah keep going!”

Kristy: Get ‘em! You get ‘em!

Bill: “Thank you for, thank you for advocating for us!” You know, side point which was hilarious to me like so typical French, we got done with the issue with the car, they got it sorted out with Hertz the regional and said you know we can we can give you a different car we’ll swap the cars out and get you on your way and they’re like we we’re going to finish the paperwork for you they’re like, but first we must go have a smoke.

Kristy: Oh my word

Bill: They went outside and like took a 10-minute smoke break and I was like,

Kristy: “This stress has capped us off, please hold we need a cigarette.”

Bill: Yes, but I was just like kind of laughing because I was like that feels-that feels very French.

Kristy: This does feel very,

Bill: I’m having a very,

Kristy: full French experience.

Bill: Yeah, I’m having a very authentic experience, so I am worried about where we’re going,

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: in the South, that it may not be as English, um, as other areas.

Kristy: Yeah

Bill: So, couple things that we’re doing, um, is I got translation glasses!

Kristy: Yes!

Bill: Yes. and we actually got two different types of translation glasses.

Kristy: Oh, I didn’t know you had two.

Bill: Well, one of them has not been, uh, shipped yet. I’ve got the, uh, Even Realities G1. You know, I’m not a… not name dropping, this is not a product placement.

Kristy: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Bill: Um, I picked those up a few weeks ago cuz they’re already out and on the market but there’s another company called Halliday,

Kristy: Okay.

Bill: um, that on the CES show it was like one of the big things I’ve highlighted from there… where it’s also glasses that beam it directly into your eye.

Kristy: Mhmm.

Bill: And does an automatic translation so,

Kristy: That sounds scary.

Bill: It does. Um, you know, like, I think it’s probably going to be one of those things that overpromises, and, you know, and I’m going to be like, “oh I’ll be able to listen into French conversations!”

Kristy: And you’re blind in a year?

Bill: or I’m blind in a year. But also I feel like maybe like the latency of it going to be so slow that, you know, someone’s going to be like talking you in French,

Kristy: And you’re just staring at them?

Bill: and it’s just going to be like, it’s going to be like buffering, and it’s going to be like, and I’m just going to be like looking up at the corner of my eye. Yeah. So it may not be as

Kristy: You need to have a sticker on your head that says “please hold I’m translating.”

Bill: Yes, or I feel like I should just have a t-shirt that says “Je suis American, eh stupid. Donk, stupid.”

Kristy: I feel like that’s just kind of, like, they know that already.

Bill: Yes.

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: Here’s also, Pro tip if you’re ever in France, how you can get away with faking in a conversation with a bunch of people just go up and be like, “se va?” and the answer to that question is se va and then and they’ll go, “se va?” and you can just be like, “se va.”

Kristy: Yeah, but like, no, because then they think that I speak French and I don’t.

Bill: Well, they’ll-they’ll figure that out pretty quick.

Kristy: Then what is the point! Give you street cred and lose it immediately

Bill: Yeah, I like the fact that we’re spending less time actually trying to learn French,

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: to find loopholes.

Kristy: Also very American. On par for us.

Bill: On par for us. Use technology to make up for the fact that lazy.

Kristy: I think I-I learned—I did two years of French in high school—and the whole time I was like, “I will never use this, I don’t need to store this in my brain,” and now here we are.

Bill: Here we are.

Kristy: 20 years later just like,

Bill: And we got the double whammy, because we’re also going through Barcelona both of us at different times,

Kristy: Yeah, yeah!

Bill: and so you also have Spanish to… yeah…

Kristy: Also just that there was never any storage space left in this brain,

Bill: Yeah.

Kristy: so,

Bill: I feel like Barcelona though, again major Metropolitan Hub, English is like there are so many tourists in Barcelona to the point where there’s, like, protests against tourism in Barcelona.

Kristy: Yeah. That’s adding a fear.

Bill: Yeah well…

Kristy: So, follow-up fear in traveling in general is navigating, uh, transportation.

Bill: Yeah.

Kristy: Just in general that can be stressful like…

Bill: And we’ll have been there for a month so hopefully,

Kristy: You’ll know how to navigate?

Bill: Yeah, hopefully we’ll have a little bit of understanding of the area and how things work and not make horrible social faux pas.

Kristy: Right.

Bill: Yeah.

Kristy: Yeah, I will let you lead the way and make those mistakes first so…

Bill: Yes, but yeah, it’s going to be a very interesting experience and I do think it’s interesting because it does… I think stepping away from your normal routine of work has a lot of benefits. Again, not just like the digital nomad and The Grand Tour of going to a place and learning from it and-and experiencing different things, I think there’s a lot of value in that, even from a work perspective, in that you get so used to like especially like a lot of our clients are retainer—a lot of our clients is the same work we’re just repeating over and over, month after month, and I don’t mean that in a bad way! It’s just, but, that’s just the nature of it that I think like stepping out of our own personal experiences while we’re doing that work lends the ability to look at it in fresher eyes.

Kristy: Yeah, and anytime you come back from a vacation you always come back like with a new brain and,

Bill: That is true. I’m a terror when I come back from vacation. Like I come back from a-a vacation and I’m like, “we’re blowing everything up! Brand new website! We’re changing how we’re doing this!”

Kristy: I think you just get creative when you come back from-from trips,

Bill: I agree.

Kristy: or Vacations or breaks. Like you just have, like, it resets you personally.

Bill: I-I agree with that so it’ll be interesting to see how this longer period of time… um, you know I’m working-I’m working remotely for full a month.

Kristy: Yeah, so that was my next question, is like, what are your fears, if any, of what that’s going to be like? Challenges of working away from the team, because you’re so… you’re usually here at least three to four days a week in person with the team.

Bill: Yeah, I think that’s the biggest fear is just because, um, accessibility to me,

Kristy: Right yeah

Bill: as the agency owner, as far as I’m very Hands-On,

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: and I know like it depends different agencies have different, some agencies the ownership’s much more you know hands off, but, you know, I’m much more like walk through the office checking in on people um looking over people’s shoulders helping with like like little problems right like people,

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: be like, “oh I don’t understand why this isn’t like this website’s not resolving correctly,” or “what does this mean?” And you know trying to understand those things, um, I worry that people are not going to be like, “oh I’m not going to bother bill with this,” and it’s going to hold up other people’s work.

Kristy: I feel like at this point you’re so like, with the company, so much big picture that you don’t need to micromanage things, but that is also maybe part of what could create a problem is that you might, like… do you feel like you might get so far away from everybody? Because no one needs to come to you, because you’re so big picture now that there’s no need to check in with Bill, so you’re going to have to really be extra tuned in.

Bill: Yeah, and I think that I mean, I think there’s pros and cons of that right

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: Like I think maybe I have a tendency to micromanage projects at times,

Kristy: I don’t think you do, I don’t think you need to.

Bill: but, I don’t think I need to at this point because of what we’ve built, but I think sometimes I-I have trouble like can’t letting go of the technical and letting, like, people concentrate on their technicals.

Kristy: Mmm, mhmm.

Bill: Um, and this will give me the ability to maybe like get a better, like, reset as far as, um, you know, like, being there for the team but not having to, um, be on the day-to-day stuff I mean there’s some projects that I think I am going to be much more tuned in on, you know, just our larger projects.

Kristy: Yeah. Yeah.

Bill: Um, you know, and making sure our clients get the service,

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: that they require, but I think it also gives me the opportunity to, you know, let all of the team members really shine in their respective roles, which I think even in the last year, um, you know, we’ve just seen tremendous growth from the team members and their personal development, um, and that you know that’s we’re trending in that direction anyway.

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: So, maybe this is good for me to personally, like, see, like, look, the office is doing great, everyone’s doing their jobs you like you don’t have to be that, um, involved in all the projects.

Kristy: I think you just won’t, you won’t be able to see, like, you normally do literally with your eyeballs like, oh, like, Anna-lynn and Kristy are working on this thing together, like, they’ve got it under control.

Bill: Right.

Kristy: Like, you’re not just like passing through, like, “oh they’re on that video,” unless we literally are telling you, like, “yeah we’re working on this video right now.”

Bill: Or just knowing like, yeah, the video is getting done.

Kristy: It’s getting taken care of or whatever. So, I think communication in general is just going to have to be a little bit stronger and on that note, bringing back to us something that we used to joke about and laugh about, I think that in DM, like messaging, we’re going to have to bring back like unicorn emojis and like being stronger with the Emojis so that we know like all is good.

Bill: Yes.

Kristy: Because, we’ve joked about this in the past, especially with, like, men and women, Bill’s just like an “okay.” type of texture,

Bill: Yes.

Kristy: and we’re all like, “okay, is he mad? Is this cool? Like can you please send some unicorn emojis so we know that everything is rainbows and okay!”

Bill: You’re really actually happy about this and you’re just not responding out of sprite.

Kristy: Yes!

Bill: Yeah. Can I bring back that I’m empowering women by being that way?

Kristy: Absolutely not!

Bill: Okay, but it was worth trying to slide that in seeing if I had some…

Kristy: That’s another old joke.

Bill: Yeah, it’s an old joke.

Kristy: Listen, I’ve been here eight years now, think about that.

Bill: You and Courtney know where all the bodies are buried.

Kristy: In these walls that we happened to drywall.

Bill: In these walls…

Kristy: Why did we drywall them?

Bill: That’s where the bodies are!

Kristy: Which… Which emojis are we going with?

Bill: I don’t know, I’ll have to work on that. Maybe we should ask our listeners.

Kristy: Yeah, which emojis should we go with to let us know that Bill’s not mad at us?

Bill: Here, let me let me pause for a moment to create a clip that you can use across social but… Hey, viewers on Instagram and Tik Tok. What emojis or expressions would you use to reply to your team members to show them that you’re fully supportive and that you appreciate their work and you’re excited about what they’re doing? Is it just the thumbs up?

Kristy: No!

Bill: No? So, yeah, please leave a comment and tell us what you would do.

Kristy: I’m personally fond of the Santa Emoji because I feel like it’s so, like, what are we using that emoji for? Literally nothing.

Bill: Do you remember the twerking bull?

Kristy: No!

Bill: Okay, so when the Google,

Kristy: Is it gone?

Bill: It… I don’t know if it’s gone, it might be somewhere in the Android phone still. Um, but when I first got like a Google Nexus or the pixel phone, like, at the very early days like in that in between the Nexus and the pixels, like, Google loaded these like little stickers.

Kristy: I don’t have it.

Bill: It was these little stickers, but the way the phone was set up it was super easy to slip and hit the stickers.

Kristy: Oh I remember that! I remember that.

Bill: And like four or five times like people would ask me like a serious question in our internal chat they’d be like, “is it okay to launch this?” or “are you concerned about the length of this article?” and I’d go to respond and instead all I do is, like, hit twerking bull and I’m like, “no!” and it’s, like, the bull’s, like, looking over a shoulder at you and it’s like, “eh? eh?” and I’m just like…

Kristy: Oh, okay.

Bill: I’m creating HR problem.

Kristy: So it wasn’t an emoji, it was like a… it was a sticker, it was like a gif?

Bill: It was a sticker, yeah,

Kristy: Okay, so maybe…

Bill: Who at Google, who at Google was like, “oh man this is going to be your go to!”

Kristy: Um, that was definitely on purpose. That was for sure on purpose. Oh, we need to bring that back. I really hope that still exists somewhere-somewhere in here because we’re bringing that back. Okay, so, twerking bull is an option.

Bill: And then, and, you know, what’s really funny about that is, like, I felt bad cuz I accidentally did it like three times to the team, like, texting somebody on the team and I had somebody else on a very serious text message on a personal matter at the time send me, like, this very serious text message about something and then the next thing they sent me was the twerking bull!

Kristy: They sent it to you?

Bill: They sent it to me, and I realized I wasn’t the only one challenged… Having challenges,

Kristy: Okay.

Bill: with the-with the keyboard

Kristy: Okay, cuz they didn’t do it on purpose?

Bill: No, no, no. It-it was *NAME REDACTED*

Kristy: Oh okay.

Bill: So I don’t think you could imagine *NAME REDACTED*

Kristy: Okay.

Bill: with a twerking bull as being in his repertoire.

Kristy: Oh my word… Oh my word.

Bill: Yes

Kristy: That’s hilarious

Bill: Yeah, that’s one of those Google things, I have no idea like-like, yeah, somebody…

Kristy: That’s awesome

Bill: was, somebody was micro dosing at Google, like, “this would be a good idea right? Let’s make stickers and make it just so small of a keyboard and this button will be right next to like the letter A…”

Kristy: Google, google bring it back. We need it back.

Bill: Yeah. Yeah.

Kristy: Let’s ruin relationships with the bull. Let’s make work very awkward for everybody.

Bill: Very awkward.

Kristy: Inappropriate, really. We’re pro for that.

Bill: Yeah, we are pros for that.

Kristy: Just, it creates-it creates good memories!

Bill: Yeah, so maybe-maybe that will be the emoji. I’ll be in France, I mean it probably is better for Spain honestly.

Kristy: Yeah. Yep, yep.

Bill: More on point with Barcelona, but you know south of France,

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: You know, you might get that me up.

Kristy: Yeah.

Bill: Yeah so,

Kristy: We just have to let the rest of the team know.

Bill: Yes.

Kristy: That, this is the code.

Bill: This is the code.

Kristy: Let’s not forget.

Bill: I can just see Tim doing the Tim eyebrow when it comes through, like…

Kristy: You know what, let’s not tell them. Let’s find out if they watch our podcast.

Bill: Oh yeah!

Kristy: Team, are you watching or not? You didn’t watch? This Feels like your fault.

Bill: Yes. See if my wife listens to my podcast.

Kristy: Yeah, like listen, this is on them!

Bill: Maybe I’ll make her listen to this episode,

Kristy: Mhmm.

Bill: while we’re in car rides in France.

Kristy: You do… you like to do that.

Bill: I do.

Kristy: Good.

Bill: Yes, have we talked about that on the podcast?

Kristy: Yes, we have.

Bill: Yeah, my wife’s like, “we don’t ever talk,” I’m like “shhh you can just listen to my voice,”

Kristy: “You can listen to my voice with Kristy,”

Bill: “Yeah with Kristy!”

Kristy: When was the last time you talked to Kristy?

Bill: Yes, you haven’t seen her in weeks cuz we’re in France.

Kristy: You’ll see her next week, but listen to her now!

Bill: Yes, so yeah, something to look forward to everybody, our French-our French podcast.

Kristy: Watch it be really lame and we’ve been talking it up this whole time.

Bill: Yes.

Kristy: Or watch it just not happen, because

Bill: Because we all got in plane crashes.

Kristy: Or I just get abducted in, uh, Barcelona and I never make it to France.

Bill: Yeah, and Liam Neeson’s on the phone with your abductor like, “I have a particular set of skills…”

Kristy: That will be Tim. Do you think Tim would come and rescue me from a taken situation? Probably not.

Bill: Probably not.

Kristy: He doesn’t have the motivation.

Bill: He does not.

Kristy: Uh, Anna-lynn would.

Bill: Anna-lynn.

Kristy: Deb would, yeah.

Bill: Oh, Annalynn would come down.

Kristy: Yeah. Deb would.

Bill: Dan.

Kristy: Oh! Dan definitely would!

Bill: Yeah.

Kristy: Um, sorry Tim, I just I know you and, like, I know that like,

Bill: Tim’s like, “but I got fishing plans.”

Kristy: He has, yeah, he’s got plans.

Bill: Yeah.

Kristy: Like, he’s tired.

Bill: Yeah.

Kristy: I get it, bum ankle.

Bill: Yeah, exactly. My gouts bothered me, it’s going to prevent me…

Kristy: Tim is a good man, everybody. I’m just kidding

Bill: Let’s see if, let’s see if Tim watches the podcast.

Kristy: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Bill: Alright, and on that note so we’re signing off. We’ll see you or you’ll see me, um, with a French accent next.

Kristy: In France.

Bill: In a beret.

Kristy: Au revoir! Is that what we say?.

Bill: Yeah, and smoking a cigarette.

Kristy: Au revoir?

Bill: Au revoir!

Kristy: Au revoir!

Bill: Au revoir.

Kristy: Bonsoir.

Bill: Bonsoir.