Episode 252 with Tyneshia Dise: Harnessing the Power of Networking and Branding

Networking can open up unexpected opportunities for both personal and business growth, and is my own favorite marketing tactic. So I am excited to introduce my guest on this episode of the Ready Yet?! Podcast, Tyneshia Dice, founder of the Innovative Design Group, who has a passion for building brand strategies and WordPress websites. Tyneshia shares her journey from a corporate sales background to entrepreneurship, revealing her methods in effective networking and the importance of genuine relationships.

Join us as we delve into the process of building a business through connections, the challenges of transitioning from a corporate job to entrepreneurship, and the critical elements of a successful marketing strategy. Tyneshia emphasizes the importance of ongoing learning, resilience, and believing in one's offer as key components to long-term business success.

GUEST RESOURCES

Tyneshia Dise is a digital marketing professional who has 20 years of experience in sales and marketing. As the founder of The Innovative Design Group, she has built a team of creative experts specializing in web design and content creation.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyneshia-d-3a855a15b

https://theinnovativedesigngroup.com

https://www.facebook.com/TheInnovativeDesignGroupCle

https://www.instagram.com/innovativedesign_cle

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Transcript

Episode 252 with Tynesha Dise: Harnessing the Power of Networking and Branding

Transcribed by Descript

Erin Marcus: All right. Hello. Hello. And welcome to this episode of the ready yet podcast. My guest today, Tanisha Dice. I'm excited because We met so randomly and I don't think people understand how amazing that is. You are one of many very cool people that I have gotten to meet because I love meeting other human beings and it's good for business and it's good for the soul and it's good for knowing we're not out there alone.

Erin Marcus: So before we get into that and all the other cool things, why don't you tell everybody a little bit who you are and what it is that you do? 

Tyneshia Dise: Absolutely. Again, my name is Tynesha Dice, and I am the owner founder of the Innovative Design Group. We are located in Cleveland, Ohio, and we build, or rather, work on brand strategies, build WordPress websites, additionally work with Google Ads to get traffic to your business to get you seen and heard online.

Erin Marcus: Perfect. I think people miss one of those parts. They think that if they just build their website, that's all they have to do, right? Build it and they will come. I just, if it's pretty enough, people will find it, right? 

Tyneshia Dise: There's more work after. There's 

Erin Marcus: more work. But I want to jump into this idea of networking with you because I think it was just, Lee, I can't remember if I reached out to you or you reached out to me, but because I, it's something that I do.

Erin Marcus: I do searches for industries of people I know would be good. networking partners for me. And here you are. And it's if you just approach meeting other humans with a wide open possibility, it's amazing what can happen. 

Tyneshia Dise: Absolutely. And I believe that I posted and you may have commented on the post.

Tyneshia Dise: And then of course, I looked at your profile. And I said, Wow, she's pretty cool too. And then we struck up a conversation. We did a coffee chat. And then again, the conversation just grew from there organically. We discussed some of our challenges as entrepreneurs, goals, and things like that. But that's how the relationship started.

Erin Marcus: And I think, and I can tell you, now here's a mistake I made with my podcast, and I can tell the difference in the episodes, and it wasn't horrible, but I think when you go into any of these tools that were meant for networking, and instead all you care about is prospecting, you're missing some big opportunities.

Tyneshia Dise: I agree with that. So the way I approach it is almost as if I'm meeting someone in person. Yes. And what you do or what we'll see is someone will just hop in the DM and they're like, Hey, how you doing? Pitch if this works, message me and they'll And 

Erin Marcus: I'm dying to know. I don't know if I, I'm a little, I got a big mouth.

Erin Marcus: And I have no filter. So there, every now and then I get It's something, bug up my butt and I'll start to respond to people going, does this work? Who's teaching this? Does this work? Cause I'm dying, no one ever answers me. 

Tyneshia Dise: It's really funny. It, for me, it doesn't work because I prefer striking up a conversation, having something in common, and value.

Tyneshia Dise: Also to, again, it's like a friend or networking, something where there's a foundation that you can build a true relationship long term, not just for the minute, or I'm taking this off my list, really not superficial, but something grounded, something real. 

Erin Marcus: Okay, so I have a question for you. I know mine, and I know this is out of left field, so don't feel bad if you can't come up with the perfect one.

Erin Marcus: What is something that has happened for you? Almost, because of network, because of another person, that you just approached with wide open no expectations. 

Tyneshia Dise: That's a really good question. This is something, honestly, I would have to marinate on, but something I approached and 

Erin Marcus: Like it was just a networking thing.

Erin Marcus: Okay, here we chatted and now you're on a podcast. I know for me, I, how was it? I was introdu Oh, I, Back when all we could do was zoom networking for a hot minute, I met a woman in Salt Lake City, Utah. I'm outside of Chicago. I said we made googly eyes over a crowded zoom room at each other and you just know energy, right?

Erin Marcus: And so I'm like, Hey, do you want to have zoom coffee? And she ended up being on my podcast. She got me a speaking gig. That turned into five clients, one of whom is with me like years later. 

Tyneshia Dise: That's pretty good. That's pretty good. Let me think if I can top that. I have something very similar. It was a friend that I met and it was during the pandemic where we were all confined to Zoom.

Tyneshia Dise: And we got to travel internationally. You know what I mean? We did get to travel internationally and I met a friend. And she, She's in England and she said, Hey, you know who you really need to meet? She named the person, I connected with her and last year I was able to go to one of her masterminds and she does masterminds all over the world and this particular mastermind was in Montreal and I still keep in touch with the facilitator and we actually chatted on last week and there are plans for us to continue working together and she has made referrals so that's a good thing.

Erin Marcus: It's phenomenal, and that's why, going back to this idea that if you only use networking or the networking tools as prospecting, it's so short sighted. 

Tyneshia Dise: Agreed. 

Erin Marcus: If all I tried to do is pitch, Amber was her name, if all I tried to do is pitch to Amber, nothing would have come with it because she wasn't even remotely my ideal client, and if I didn't reach out to her because she wasn't someone I could prospect, it Look at what I would have missed out on.

Tyneshia Dise: And I think Michael Jordan said this. You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't get. 

Erin Marcus: Stop being so short sighted. So I'm curious, going into business a little bit why do you do what you do? Not to esoterically, but what made you So attracted to branding and your niche of what it is that your business does.

Tyneshia Dise: My background is in sales B2B also B2C. And I remember working for a large corporation and I actually was listening to another one of your podcasts and you were chatting about how a lot of corporate employees transition to entrepreneurs because. They're not satisfied. And frankly, my story is similar. I was not fulfilled.

Tyneshia Dise: And sometimes, we would have downtime. And I began to think of a way and strategize. Little did I know at the time, there's got to be something better. What can I do? And slowly I put a plan into place and I started doing, and this sounds silly, but I did it for two reasons. One, to gain income. Two, to start networking.

Tyneshia Dise: So I did direct sales, just extra income in my pocket. And then I, from there, got the entrepreneurial bug. And I started doing some blog writing, and I'm creative. I started doing some social media. A friend from a networking group had a digital marketing agency. And I just, you started using my creativity.

Tyneshia Dise: And from there, since I am a lifelong learner, I'm partially self taught as well as technically trained, but I started to teach myself web design. So I specialize in WordPress. I do some Kajabi as well, but I started to teach myself the tools necessary and organically. Again, there's that word. Born, I guess.

Erin Marcus: And I love that, like I wanna say, it doesn't have to be that hard. It could be that, I wanna say easy as if this was easy. It's not easy at all. This is not easy. But what you did that I love was you did a thing. You got feedback about that thing. Is this a thing I like? Is this a thing I don't like? Is this a thing I'm good at?

Erin Marcus: Is this a thing there's a market for? And then you took that information and added the next piece of information to it. And I think people get really stuck in this all or nothing thinking that if I don't have the perfect ultimate vision of what it's gonna be, then I just won't do anything. And that's not how it works.

Erin Marcus: Your version is how it works. 

Tyneshia Dise: Thank you. It was, like I said, thought out. And to your point, there were some sleepless nights. And do I want to leave the comfort of my nine to five, I'm responsible for my own benefits, I need to maintain the income monthly, you know what I mean to meet my bills and health insurance and all the things.

Tyneshia Dise: So I really Thought about it deeply and I took the leap because I am worth it. 

Erin Marcus: You're worth it. And the other thing that I think we've all seen now, I say this being on the other side of it. So who knows how I'd feel in the moment if I'd actually do the thing. But I think one of the things the last 12 months, 18 months have shown us, that job wasn't any more secure than anything else.

Tyneshia Dise: Absolutely not. No, none of them 

Erin Marcus: are. 

Tyneshia Dise: No. And as an employee, you are replaceable. Easily replaceable. 

Erin Marcus: If it's not obvious, they haven't made it obvious. Not only that, but not only irreplaceable, like it doesn't, so my business has had shifts and sometimes I catch them fast and sometimes it takes a hot minute.

Erin Marcus: But at the end of the day, I can do what I need to do and figure out what I need to do to make it work. And when you just have a job, it's almost like 

Tyneshia Dise: There's no creativity. There's no critical thinking, and it becomes robotic and monotonous. 

Erin Marcus: And if they make a shift, you're out of luck. There's nothing you can do to right market if they decide, sorry, we're removing your entire division.

Tyneshia Dise: Exactly. Exactly. 

Erin Marcus: Yeah. So what do you love most about what you're doing? 

Tyneshia Dise: I would say it's twofold. One, the critical thinking and the strategy and creativity from Day one, I always, I was the kid with crayons, I had paints, always just being creative, literally drawing on walls. I 

Erin Marcus: am not. So the reason why you're seeing the fancy artwork around me is because I love meeting all you creatives.

Erin Marcus: To me, that's like magic. It's like, how do you have this visual in your mind? Like I can do business strategy all day long, but to take an image in your mind and then go make a sculpture and a painting and a, yeah, I don't know how that works. So I surround myself with it. 

Tyneshia Dise: Started early with me.

Tyneshia Dise: Very early. 

Erin Marcus: Nice. Let's lessen people. This is a brutal question. Let's shorten people's learning curves. If you, if, yeah, if we were to say just don't do what I did and you'll be ahead of the game. What's some things that haven't worked? Some things that haven't worked, 

Tyneshia Dise: following bad advice, making 

Erin Marcus: So let's unpack that for a second.

Erin Marcus: Did you know it was bad advice? 

Tyneshia Dise: I had a slight gut feeling. 

Erin Marcus: That's the one, right? We don't listen to our instincts. 

Tyneshia Dise: So I would say, as we just said, following bad advice and just relating to starting out where your business should go, defining your audience, if you are 100 percent behind your offer, it's one thing when you're working with, as we do a lot of coaches, and if someone is selling you an offer, they believe you should sell.

Tyneshia Dise: And you say, okay, or do it half heartedly, then it's not going to do well. 

Erin Marcus: Your 

Tyneshia Dise: soul, your heart, your passion, everything has to be behind it. 

Erin Marcus: I think that's so true in the entrepreneur world more than if you have a job, right? There is no separation in these types of businesses between myself and my business.

Erin Marcus: If I'm not, if I don't believe in what I'm doing, and I absolutely agree with you, it's why I think scripts don't work, it's why I think just do this one thing marketing tactics don't work, because if that doesn't align with your strengths and your self worth and your goals, it just doesn't work. 

Tyneshia Dise: I agree with that 100%.

Tyneshia Dise: And it's interesting that you brought that up because in terms of your entire marketing strategy, we take a pillar approach. So and I use the sandwich analogy. For example, are you first off networking, which we've discussed? Are you Showing up on social media consistently with the right messaging.

Tyneshia Dise: Is your website aligned with that next? Are you doing paid advertising and additionally taking another step? Are you doing speaking engagements? How are you showing up online to be visible, to be heard and to be seen? 

Erin Marcus: And I think that's one of the. Challenges like you have to be willing to be seen.

Erin Marcus: You have to be willing to be visible and people underestimate how much effort at the top of that pipeline it takes for people to move through self selecting all the way to a sales conversation. 

Tyneshia Dise: Absolutely. And the thing is, you don't get to pick and choose. You can't skip a step. It's literally A, B, C, D.

Tyneshia Dise: See you in the miss or made an oversight to maintain client relationships, build client relationships and extend client relationships. And you always have to have in the back of your mind, I've got to be 10 steps ahead while you're in the moment. 

Erin Marcus: There's a lot of the visual I always get I don't know if they had it whenever you watched as a kid, but some show that I used to watch as a kid, one of their one of the things they always had was the guy with the sticks and the plates on the top and they was keeping them spinning and keeping them spinning and running from plate to plate and just hoping that none of them that was I think it 

Tyneshia Dise: was a bit but

Tyneshia Dise: And yes, that was one of my favorite cartoons, 

Erin Marcus: right? And so that's how the business owner feels. The other thing that you said without saying that I. I'm totally on board with is it's other people. It's other people, right? People are buying from people. And especially in the small business world, you're not buying blind brands.

Erin Marcus: Like people buy from people and we all need other people to grow our businesses, whether they're helping us grow or buying from us or teaching us. And if you're trying to build your business. Never talking to other humans, and I see that. I see the people who think that they can the phrase that had, I haven't heard it for a while, but the one that was setting me off forever was the people who were teaching set it and forget it.

Tyneshia Dise: Yeah, that's not right. Unfortunately. Also, too, again to your point of being human centric. When designing and planning strategy, I'm not designing for the platform. I'm thinking about the individuals who will be the ideal audience if I'm using market jargon. And that makes a difference. Additionally, it reminds me of a conversation.

Tyneshia Dise: I was chatting with someone the other day and we were chatting, of what they wanted to do to grow their business. And my first question was what are you doing now? We're doing this. We're doing this. We tried this. And I said, tell me more about your marketing strategy. And then, I started talking and it even became as plain as an email list because granted, you're nurturing those leads and mind you, they've been in business for some time, but to your point, it's the mindset and being flexible.

Tyneshia Dise: And that's where a lot of individuals can get stuck, if you will. Finally, I'm trying to think of exactly how I said it, and then, oh, I remember. This person cut me off and said, I don't want to hear anything about networking or anything, just tell me about the Google Ads. Just tell me what they're going to do or could do.

Tyneshia Dise: You've missed a step and this will put a bandaid on it, but long term, you're going to keep going back. It's like a circle almost, and you know how you go right back to where you started? Alright, good luck with that. 

Erin Marcus: Because The one thing that I've been taught, and I don't, I'm a big fan of advertising as a strategy because you'll never get a better ROI on money than advertising your own business, right?

Erin Marcus: But, I don't really use it in my business right now. Because it's not the right fit for what I'm doing right now. Not because it's bad, right? And so many times we're watching people try to solve business strategy problems with marketing tactics. 

Tyneshia Dise: Exactly. Without enough research or data. 

Erin Marcus: With the data.

Erin Marcus: Oh my god, the data. Adver All advertising does. is shine a spotlight on whatever you've got going on. So if you've got a hot mess, because you haven't vetted your offer, because you haven't talked to enough humans to find out what the pain points really are, because you've been creating your business in a bubble, then you're just spending money and shining a spotlight on the fact that eh, it doesn't quite land.

Tyneshia Dise: Exactly. Said. Said. 

Erin Marcus: You can use that for your next, I don't know how to place Google Ads, so you can use that for your approach, right? Because it doesn't work for me. It doesn't work for me. So what are you most proud of in this entire crazy journey? 

Tyneshia Dise: Longevity, and as I said, I don't stop learning, and you may get kicked, you may stay down for a day or two, but you get back up, dust yourself off, keep 

Erin Marcus: moving.

Erin Marcus: The right resilience, the absolute resilience. I love it. I love it. So if people want to continue this conversation with you, learn more about how you can help them learn more about you network, because clearly you know how to do that. What is the best way for them to find you, 

Tyneshia Dise: you can visit my website, there is a contact form there, feel free to one send me an email or fill out the form.

Tyneshia Dise: And we can get the conversation started, or even via LinkedIn, connect with me under what is it just my name tiny should die so you'll find it. And that's how I can be reached. Awesome. Gimme your website for the folks who aren't clicking on a link. Absolutely. It is www.theinnovativedesigngroup.com, 

Erin Marcus: the innovative design group.com.

Erin Marcus: Good name, good job. Awesome. Thank you for hanging out with me today and sharing your insights. I love it. I love hearing these journeys and subject matter experts that help everybody else along the way, so thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me.