Jennifer: 0:02

Welcome to the Starter Girlz podcast, the show dedicated to the Starter Girl. She's an achiever, she's a creator, she's a magic maker, she's a dreamer and she is doing all the things. I'm your host, jennifer Loehding, and welcome to this episode. All right, welcome to another episode of the Starter Girlz podcast. I'm Jennifer Loading. I'm so excited about my guest today. She is amazing. She's an entrepreneur, she's a TEDx speaker, a podcast host, an investor and, of all things fun, a sports enthusiast, so I'm so excited to get her on the show. Amy Siegfried, welcome to the show, the Starter Girlz. We are so thrilled to have you here today.

Amy: 0:44

Thank you for having me.

Jennifer: 0:45

I'm excited to be here with you.

Jennifer: 0:47

Yeah, this is going to be so much fun. So I know you and I have chatted a little bit off camera and so we're super excited. I do want to say to our guests you know, make sure you guys head on over to Behind the Dreamers where you can hear her story and learn a little bit about what she's doing, how she got there, kind of the insights behind all of that. We know, on Starter Girls, our mission is to deliver content to our entrepreneurs, our female leaders, achievers, creators, and give them stuff that we know is going to help them be better out into the world and in their professions and all those things, and so I know Amy's going to bring some stuff to us. Amy, so, real quick, tell us a little bit so our audience knows in case they're just hearing this episode for the first time a little bit about what it is that you do.

Amy: 1:29

So I wear a multitude of hats. Primarily, I am the co-founder of a company called Last Nights Game and we cover the world of sports for those who want to talk about sports but really don't have any idea of what's going on in the field. Travis Kelsey and Taylor Swift are a perfect example of the way we love to cover sports a little pop culture that you understand with the side of sports. And so we have a podcast and an email pop excuse me, an email newsletter. We just changed that out. We have an email newsletter that goes out once a week and we cover it short and sweet.

Amy: 1:56

That is our whole goal that you have enough on your plate, a little dose of something, to make sports just another tool in your tool belt of success. So that would be hat number one. Hat number two I am an adjunct professor. Hat number three I am the vice chair and coming board chair for Irish Angels, which is one of the country's largest angel investing groups. And then hat number four, five and six mom, wife, sister, all the other things that we all deal with that we never get a badge for.

Jennifer: 2:29

Yeah, I love this. And you know, amy, when we talk about like starter girls and I don't know if I shared with you kind of the story about how this came about, I don't want to get into all of that, but what I will tell you is, like, when I think of like a starter girl, I think of the female doing all the things, like wearing all the hats, right, like the mom, the entrepreneur, the leader, the community server, all of those things. You're doing it and I love that. I think, as entrepreneurs, you know, a lot of us are kind of serial I don't know how you want to say serial entrepreneur, serial leaders, whatever it is You're doers.

Jennifer: 2:59

Yeah, we have our hands dabbling in many, many things, and I think that's what makes it so great about what we do, and that's what I love about this show is that we can find you know these gals and, like you, that can come on here and shed light on how are you doing all these things. And so I know one of the things that you talked about is really how to support this up and coming generation, and you and I were talking a little bit before this about how you know like the landscape is so very different from when we sort of entered into the even the entrepreneur space, and then now where we are. And so let's dive into that a little bit. Tell us a little bit about where you are on that, what you're learning from all of this.

Amy: 3:35

Well, it's really interesting. So as I've gone through my career, I realized that women don't have mentors like men do. Right, we're not. I don't tend to see people asking for help. I don't tend to see hey Jennifer, can we sit down and meet once a month? There are some prescribed programs that I've been a part of. Forward women is one of them. They're based out of Dallas. That was a great program and but I've never really seen this, this mentorship for women, and I realized that I've never had a mentor.

Amy: 4:03

I had some really terrible female bosses, as most women will tell you they have had, because, coming up through my career, it was very much. I got here, I work to get here, so you're going to have to work to get here too, as opposed to having women help you up and really give you that perspective of I hate the word balance, but balancing work in life and all of those perspectives and what could you do? Where could you go? Because so much it's still, even though that's the way it exists now. If you can't see it, you can't be it, and so having those mentors and having those people to pick you up and give you some perspective to me is so important, and I look at the pressures that I see my students. I teach at the collegiate level, you know, just because of the side hustle why not? And I see the pressures that are on these students and best represented by my father-in-law, is an amazing human. He's a phenomenal businessman, but he always comes with me with all these questions and he says to me why is this generation feeling so stressed? Why are we talking so much about mental health, like all these things? What's different that they're encountering? That? I didn't and I said well, what did you do at 18?, when you're in college, what'd you do? Went to class, went to parties, hung out with my friends. I said, ok, that's great, these kids go do that. But they're also seeing their peers excel at internships or do great things.

Amy: 5:27

Everything's happening on social media, as we all know. I'm not immune to this. Social media makes everything harder. It makes things more convoluted. It makes you feel like you're behind and, like I said, I'm not immune to this. There are people I have to unfollow because they make me feel bad about myself, and that's totally on me. It's not their thing, that's on me.

Amy: 5:47

But I just realized that there's so many opportunities for us to be able to share perspective, to share our experience, to share whatever that is, to provide that leg up, to provide that hand and that cheerleading, that support that is needed to realize that you're going to do this. You have something phenomenal to offer. I don't care if you're 22. I don't care if you're 62. I don't care if you're 12.

Amy: 6:13

Talk to people that you want to learn from, and so for me, it just was that kind of that continual thought pattern that I had. And then I saw, as I've come along through my career, whether that's helping someone with their wedding registry. Or babysitter the other day said, can you help me with my wedding registry? Of course I can. I probably know what you need more than you do. And so for me, it's those things where it's being available, and being that honest, true feedback and that honest, true person to get the perspective I think is to me is so important, and I hope that those that I work with also feel that way, whether that's from a business perspective or from a personal life perspective. It's a very long-winded answer, but no, it's good.

Jennifer: 6:53

Well, and you touched on it, I was writing things down as you were talking, because interesting. Yes, this mentor thing. This is something that I noticed too Well, having been in Mary Kay as long as I was. I always had mentors, and so I started my journey in that in my late 20s, and so I've basically had mentors. All the way up to my late 40s I've had them, and so I never really understood the value of that until I recognized how many people really didn't have them and the difference it made in my life, because the way I put it is that they gave me the ability to believe in myself when I didn't have that ability, like they were able to encourage me along when I didn't have the faith in myself and couldn't see that I could do the things that I wanted to do. And so now, in hindsight, I look at that and think that was very valuable tool. It's probably more valuable than anything that I learned in that time frame, and that is one of the things I've noticed is that, yes, even in the entrepreneurial space, a lot of people don't have those mentors and they really don't understand the value of that.

Jennifer: 7:54

And then you also touched upon this social media, which I think too, because this question I brought up. I actually had this conversation with my son the other day because my kids are 27. I've got one about to be 23 and then 19. So they're in that generation where they have been brought up on the social media, all of that stuff. And I asked my son one day I'm like why is it that you guys are so much more stressed, or seem to be, than we were? And you raise a valid point about this whole social media thing? Because when we were younger we would go home on Friday after school and we would go hang out with our friends but we didn't know anything had happened unless we were there or we showed up on Monday. We didn't know and we would get back on Monday and what we would hear about all the things that happened over the weekend.

Amy: 8:37

But there was no, all the things we didn't get invited to do Exactly.

Jennifer: 8:40

There was no get on social media and we realized, oh, so-and-so didn't invite us to this, or so-and-so is doing this or this person. You're right, we did not have all that in our faces day in, day out, just basically smothering us. And, like you, there are times like I hate to always say that I, like I'm friend, I don't typically like to like move anybody unless they're just really like driving me crazy. But I will be honest with you and I will say this there are days I just shut it down, like I just I mean, it'll go for a while where I'd get onto Facebook for two seconds and I just scrolled the top two posts. I'm like, I'm done, like I'm going no further.

Amy: 9:17

I'm not in a good place, and I think that's really interesting. And one thing I guess I'll bring up too actually, it kind of led to your first one. I think being an entrepreneur is something that is challenging. The social media makes it very challenging, right? We see these people like Mark Zuckerberg. We'll call it All my students talk about I want to be Mark Zuckerberg. Well, that's great. But there's one Mark Zuckerberg and he also has not made it In his mind. He's still fighting for that top space. So I always remind them that, while we think they've made it, they're still fighting. Right, facebook is still turning into meta, which is just turning into this and that, and they're all doing these things.

Amy: 9:50

But one thing I would say, too, is one thing I did for myself, I should say from an entrepreneurship perspective. I work with by myself. Mostly I work with my brother, but he works full time elsewhere, and so it's really just myself and half of his brain, which is a beautiful half, which is perfect. But I realized that I was trying to do all this stuff and trying to make this Mark Zuckerberg goal for myself, but I didn't have the know-how right. Like I know what I know. I've had a good career. I've worked in corporate and all kinds of random places. I have an MBA, but there are just things I don't know. And so I ended up hiring a coach because I realized I looked at all my male friends and all the guys that I know that are really successful. They've all had a coach. And what's wrong with me hiring a coach? And I really kind of I really went back and forth on that, Like, do I need this? Do I need someone to help me get to the next step? I'm not kidding you. In the first 30 minutes my mind was blown. I was like you've taken all these things I've been wanting to do and laid them out in front of me and said this is your five steps you need to take. That's it when, instead of paralyzing myself in this purgatory, if you will, I want to do this, but I don't know how.

Amy: 11:07

And so I think that goes back to invest in others, but also invest in yourself and realize you can be that coach to someone else on a non-paying basis. I mean, being a mentor, is that right, giving that confidence, saying hey, from my perspective, all you have to do, jennifer, to start a podcast is X, y and Z. Look up this resource. Here you go, and so I think that we look at it and we all say, okay, well, we're so far in our careers. Mark Zuckerberg's made it. Mark Zuckerberg probably still has a coach, and so I think that that is that from that perspective, to say that we don't have to do it all. We don't necessarily need to do it all, we can't do it all. My family sometimes we have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner. Lots of times it's a leftovers because I only have time to cook once a week, and that just is what it is, and we're all willing to give and take where we can.

Amy: 11:59

And so, as you look at this, whether you're starting your business or whatever that might be, you really focus on what you can do and what your skill set is, and that's what I really loved about this coach I have is it's like oh no, no, I work on your positives. I don't sit here and say why don't you have this much revenue? Why aren't you selling more of this? He's like let's come back to that, cause you're really good at these things. Why are we honing it on this?

Amy: 12:21

Stuff that you're doing is not really your cup of tea, and so a strength-based approach, and so I encourage everyone who's listening to really highlight what you're good at and, as we grow and as we evolve and grow our businesses, find someone to supplement the stuff that you're not as good at, cause we're all not good at something and it's not necessarily that we're not good at it. It's just it's a lot more work for us. Maybe you're it's taxes, maybe it's PR, whatever that might be. Find your areas of your strength-based and work on those. And so it's all that to say, like I think that there's such an opportunity to continue growing, to continue evolving, continuing learning and then passing that learning down.

Jennifer: 13:03

Yeah, you've touched upon a lot of really good things here, because we're coming back to this whole, you know, having the mentor, which is what you're doing, and I think I'm glad that you did get a coach. I'm super thrilled to hear that, and you're right that sometimes we don't recognize that. Again, going back to what I said earlier, we don't realize the value of that until we actually have them right.

Jennifer: 13:23

Like I've I, I hired a coach. It's funny because I'm a coach and coaches have coaches too, right, like we all have them, right. Well, I hired this mentor, I guess two years in November, and I paid quite a bit to hire him. But it was a really neat thing because I was trying to build out this program and, ironically enough, like I was right in the beginning stages of building this program and somehow he landed like crossed my path right when I was getting ready to build this out. And I'm so thankful that that he did, because I put a pause on that program that I was building. And during the two years that I worked with him, it was like this was the final piece I needed to help me build and shift my program, because I went from doing a basically a mediocre program to a high ticket course is what I created. So I basically evolved it, changed it. It's like it's a beast, you know, and I'm thankful for that the fact that that that mentor showed up at the right time, or coach, at whatever you want to call him, and so I do think there's huge value in that. And, again, you don't really recognize it until you go through it and you see.

Jennifer: 14:25

But you also touched upon something a minute ago about the strengths and also the they helping you kind of figure out what you need to do with these ideas, because I think a lot of times you know we have all these ideas we want to do and sometimes we just don't really know where to start. We don't know like I was telling we were talking about my health offline when do you start, like what's the first step? And sometimes just having another person in your corner that can say let's maybe start here is all you need to get you on the right path to moving to the next step, and so I think that's huge. And then helping you really hone in on what are your strengths and where are you thriving, because we all know that, yes, you do so much better when you're working in your, your zone of flow, or you know I call it flow. It's at that place where you just like your sport stock, you know, like whatever you're excited about it, right?

Amy: 15:11

Yeah, exactly. Well, I was going to say exactly Kudos to you for listening to what this coach had to say about a program that you probably felt good about. And so I think that, from a startup, from an entrepreneurial perspective I do a lot of coaching of businesses that are starting up is you have to be willing to listen but also shut it out in a sense. Right, you need to be willing to listen to feedback, and some of it's not going to feel real good, but we always say feedback is a gift. You have to cut out some of the noise that you don't think you can do a lot with, but really listen to some of that stuff that makes you a little uncomfortable, because that probably is going to push you through that threshold, to make that mediocre to high ticket, as you said, and so kudos to you for being able to step back and say I'm going to process this for a little bit and see what I can do with it.

Jennifer: 15:59

Yeah, Thank you. No, and you're right, and feedback is hard sometimes, right.

Jennifer: 16:03

Like I do think that's part of the journey of us being in this space is that, yes, we have to be willing to.

Jennifer: 16:11

I always go back to, like, I think of Jordan Peterson I don't know how he exactly said this, but he said sometimes when you get so laser focused, focused on your path, which we talk about putting blinders on right and being committed, but sometimes when you get so focused on something that you're not willing to look at anything around you, like you miss opportunities, you miss things that are coming in that may actually evolve you in a better direction.

Jennifer: 16:34

And I really think about this, you know, because at this time that I was doing this, I was in the process of hiring somebody to help me build this out. And I think, goodness, you know, amy, had I gone through and not that I didn't appreciate this person or the work that they would have done, but had I done this, would I've really been satisfied with what I had created? Because here I was going to get somebody to help me build this, and this one I actually built it out myself. I did it all from ground up. And so you know, I think you do sometimes you have to be willing to open up and listen to the things around you but also know when something doesn't align with what you're trying to create and be able to shut that out too. And I think having a coach sometimes or a mentor can help you sort of figure out and kind of wade through that and see what needs to say and what needs to go.

Amy: 17:23

Yeah, and I would say that, even from a corporate, whether you work in the corporate world or you're an entrepreneur that coach that person to just be that litmus for you. I mean, I have some folks who, just like I had a girl the other day who was like I'm negotiating my salary, can you for a new job, can you just help me figure out what I need to do? Fairly, let's talk through it. So we went through the numbers and sort of combed through it what do you feel comfortable with? What did you make before? And I mean really just having someone who has, like I said just once again, a different perspective that helps you just run some numbers by someone, and I think that's so important to just have that person that's in your corner.

Jennifer: 18:01

Yeah, that's good, that's good, I like that. I do want to ask you really quick because so, let's say, somebody, maybe we have, you know, this young person that's actually maybe right now looking for a mentor what's, what's, what's the way that these guys can like maybe go and find these, because they may be in this same place where they go. Where do I start, like, where do I look for mentors? Or do I find these people, you know.

Amy: 18:23

I would say ask it sounds strange, and I was talking to my class about this one day is Everyone has something to provide, everyone has something to give, right? So if I'm really intrigued by what Jennifer is working on, but I'm like terrified that she's just too smart for me and not in my wheelhouse Ask like, ask right. I think that's what it comes down to. Most people are willing to take a 15 minute phone call or to go for coffee or something. There's always that opportunity where you say what I had a mentor, that we would just go to a foundation that I'm on the board for. She would just invite her to go to that with me and that was like that was our time to connect, that was our opportunity to introduce her to people. So it's if you see someone, maybe it's at a chamber event United Way has across the country. They have a lot of young people like programs for young entrepreneurs, young start our young people in their career. Sorry, it's like an old woman saying young people, sorry, I can't help it, but people starting their career, they have those programs. Take advantage of them. I know so many cities have different programs like that for different people in different parts of their career. Jump into those. But also don't be afraid to. If you're going to the chamber under under 30, under 40 events, don't be afraid to go to a big luncheon where it's everybody from the city that you can really dive into and tap into people. Don't be afraid to say that I read this about you, I've heard this about you. I just really want to pick your brain, or I have this really interesting. I want to be like you when I grow up. I mean, all those things are options that can be had and can be said, and I find that myself, even I'm still looking up to people who are in their careers and are coming into whole different roles and I just and the answer. So what my husband always says, the answers always know, unless you ask. So that's good. Maybe they say no. Or I have one, that lady that I connect with maybe twice a year, and she said I can't right now, but let's talk at the end of October, and I was okay, no problem. And so don't be afraid to ask. Also, don't be afraid. If you get a, call me in three months, that's okay too. Or I can't meet for coffee, let's have a phone call. All those things are important, but come prepared with maybe the questions you have. I don't think anyone is ever afraid to answer questions. People love to talk about themselves too, so there's always that. But really come prepared and say this is really what I'm intrigued. I've seen that you've done this in your career. I'd like to do that too.

Amy: 20:53

How did you get there? How did you do that? What was the hardest thing you did? What would you do differently? Do I need to go back to school? Do I I don't know need to go to clown school? I don't know.

Amy: 21:03

Whatever it might be, what are those things that you've done that really have impacted you? And don't be afraid to ask those questions. And don't be afraid to ask that in small talk, in the very beginning. If you meet Jennifer at an outing, you say I really want to start a podcast. How'd you do it? That's a great small talk, because Jennifer's gonna share those little nuggets and you may get four minutes of time, but you're gonna get these nuggets. And so don't be afraid to ask, ask, ask, ask. And that's the best thing I can say is you have something to offer. Because guess what, if someone asked me that I Learn more from my students than I feel like they probably learn from me Because I'm always listening.

Amy: 21:39

I'm listening to what products they're engaged with, why they're engaged with them, what challenges they're facing. All those things now go to help me navigate and define my strategy and learn what I'm doing for when working with people their age. So just remember that there's something for everyone, and the CEO, who is 70, 65, 55 you know more about tick-tock than they do. Just those kinds of things are simple things to just think about. Remember. You know more than you think you do and you have more value than you probably think you do as well.

Jennifer: 22:11

This was good. Thank you, amy. Yeah, no, and I agree with I love that. Just ask part. I think that's great and you're right, I you know I do a lot of networking here. In fact, I was at an event last week and there were Two young and I'm talking. One of them was 24, I don't know how, the other how old, the other one these were entrepreneurs. One of the guys fact, he called me. I've got a return his call. He started his businesses 19, started a cleaning company and Now here, I think he's 23 or 24 now and he's had this company. So, yeah, it's really neat to see these young people and I've actually interviewed a few young people that have started businesses on Between the shows at different times, interviewed them and it's really fun to get their perspective. But yeah, it makes you wonder. I mean, they have to be asking questions because I agree with you that you know the only way You're going to learn is really by having these conversations.

Jennifer: 23:02

I know you know so much of what I've learned over. I tell people. You know my my entrepreneurial journey is spanned from all the way from 1999 until now. I've learned a lot of things, but I will tell you the greatest growth that I've had has been in the last, like the years that I've been doing my Podcast, because I have talked to so many incredible people on the show, but also through networking and I have learned so many things by just asking questions you know from these people like what do they do?

Jennifer: 23:28

How'd they get in there? What do they have to overcome to do it? You know, and there's universal things. You learn a lot of things are universal, but sometimes just hearing it from a different person, the perspective they take on it and how they share it, can come across very differently Than, say, somebody else. So absolutely, I'm with you and asking questions. Be curious, it's great.

Amy: 23:47

Be like a child, be curious and ask why. Try to understand.

Jennifer: 23:52

Yeah, I love it. Well, I mean, this has been great and thank you. I think the big emphasis here is really on, you know, finding a mentor and finding a coach and asking questions and networking. I think there's a lot here, but I really think the big message is about finding that support system that you need, which I think is huge.

Jennifer: 24:06

It's no instrumental into our success. So, let's say, somebody listening to this wants to get in touch with you. Maybe they want to learn a little bit more about what you've got going on over there, reach out to you and follow up. How do we want to, or where do we want to send them as the question?

Amy: 24:19

Well, multiple places, so our website is last nights game comm. I'm Instagram. I am the person who goes through all the DMs. You can always find me there. But also emails Amy at last nights game comm.

Jennifer: 24:31

Awesome, this has been fun. I'm so excited about what you're doing and I want to tell you thank you so much for coming on here and sharing your wisdom with us and all your greatness. It's been fun.

Jennifer: 24:41

Thank you very much appreciate it Awesome and to our audience, of course. If you enjoy the show, head on over to Apple, give us a review over there. Hit that subscribe button on the YouTube so we can just keep sharing all this amazing content with you. And in the meantime, you guys, take care, be safe, be kind of one another. We will see you next time.