Friday Fails: rachel doyle explores failure
Dusty Weis:
Greetings innovators and welcome to Back of the Napkin where we explore big journeys in the world of small business with the personalities who make it happen. Welcome back to another one of these bonus segments that we like to call Friday Fails. I'm Dusty Weis along with Stephanie Davis. Steph, I think I've told you before that failure has kind of been a recurring theme of how I learn and process information, for better or worse. But the more that we talk to other entrepreneurs, the more that I'm learning that most small business owners have had a similar experience.
Stephanie Davis:
Absolutely. A few weeks ago, we talked to Rachel Doyle. She is the CEO and founder of GlamourGals, a nonprofit that focuses on reducing elder isolation. She founded her company when she was 17 years old, and that means she had to learn a lot more lessons the hard way than most small business owners.
Rachel Doyle:
I think the feeling is still visceral today of thinking back to that moment where it didn't really go how I hoped it would. The great thing is that that negative definitely became a positive I'm thinking back now, like almost 20 years where, when I first started GlamourGals and we had just gotten our 501C3 status. For anyone who's not familiar with non-profits, that means you can accept tax-deductible donations. That's really an incentive aside from people are drawn to your mission or they like what you're doing or they connect on an emotional level with what you're doing, but you can receive donations.
Rachel Doyle:
At the time, I was in college and still learning about the right way to do things. It's called experience, I guess you would say. I had been on a pitch panel talking about GlamourGals, and the panel was really impressed. One of the people on the panel ended up mailing a check to me. I opened up the check. I think it was $500. At the time I was like, "Wow, this is a lot of money." I immediately went, I have no idea, I'm like, "I have to write him a thank you note." But I don't know the right way to say thank you and I don't want to mess up.
Rachel Doyle:
There's certain information like the name of the donor or the organization's address. You have to write "no goods or services were exchanged." That is like a legal term that if somebody wants to use it on their taxes, that has to be in there. If that line is forgotten, the date, something happens, the amount, so I definitely sat on it a little too long where I was definitely thinking about it a lot, but I never got to writing the note. Just any old note, just say thank you and email something. I just remember it occupying a lot of my time, but just never happening, to the point where person wrote me a curt email or straight forward email saying, "You really should thank people when you get a donation." I got it and my heart just sank because I had been thinking about it and I wanted to do it so well and I wanted to do it right and there was legal implications in a nonprofit thank you letter that is so important to hit that in the quest, I guess, for perfection, I totally missed the mark.
Dusty Weis:
It sounds like you really just had sort of a case of analysis paralysis where you almost-
Stephanie Davis:
Thank you for the diagnosis. This is profound.
Dusty Weis:
You get into just like a spiral of, "Oh, I want to do this thing right and I'm worked up about that, and then I have anxiety about doing things so I procrastinate doing the thing. Then, that gives me anxiety about doing the thing and onward down into the abyss."
Rachel Doyle:
Yeah. It seems small now kind of talking about it, but it compounded a whole bunch of things that then informed, I think, how I do business in general. One of them is definitely response time with my team emails are within the day. There's no reason why you can't just respond to someone. You might not have the answers, but quick response time. People have complimented me over the years. Maybe it's unexpected in non-profits to have response times, especially for thank you notes. I try to do it within 24 hours now, no matter the size of the donation. It's the relationships that you build in any organization. That relationship was pretty much broken. I mean, the person was nice to me after, but they never really gave, so it's so important that the way you conduct yourself and the small things, the day to day things, that was really important.
Rachel Doyle:
I even took it a step further and said, "You know what? Saying thank you is generally a great practice and not enough people do it across the board." It doesn't matter if it's for a donation. I went on to the last 17 years, put into our leadership training for our volunteers. There's a thank you note writing workshop. It's not just a speaker talking about it. We actually pause and distribute pieces of paper and people write thank yous for the sponsors from that day or the speakers from that day and just show them you have to put it into practice. It's not just talking about it.
Rachel Doyle:
This is one moment of feeling so rejected from this one person over a $500 donation, but it spurred a whole line of programming that I do with volunteers. Now even my interns, they have a mentor call with our extended network of professionals. They immediately send a thank you email or a handwritten note, and that sort of become a signature to the point where even when employees leave or over the holidays, I get handwritten notes from people. Or they write me notes two years later being like, "You really taught me the importance of writing a thank you note." How meaningful that is to people.
Dusty Weis:
In that moment of having your nose sort of slapped by someone that just wanted to do right by your organization and give to a worthy cause, how did you go about trying to approach repairing that relationship after you got that sort of snarky email?
Rachel Doyle:
I think I didn't push it in a way of thinking, okay, this person definitely exposed a vulnerability or a weak spot in my business. I think I had to check myself and say I have a lot to learn and I'm clearly not going to learn it if I don't keep trying. But there are some universal things as someone who is a leader you need to know and you better read up on it. I think for me personally, I made sure that I'm always open to learning and being responsive in that. With the person, I think I chalked it up as I was friendly, I apologized, I wrote the thank you note immediately. I think that day I just put anything. I Googled and made sure whatever language needed to be in there, but it kind of cut it off where it's first impressions are a big deal to people. If you're not prepared or if you don't have it, a lot of times there is no second chance.
Dusty Weis:
I've learned similar lessons. In fact, the VP at the last full-time job that I ever had before I became an entrepreneur was very big on note writing and stressed it and preached it and all that, and it's something that I've adopted. Maybe we lose sight of this sometimes doing the podcast here, but as a small business owner, Stephanie, Shore Payroll are one of my clients. After we put out our first season and did a big launch, I actually made a point of sending you a little care package in the mail that included a handwritten note. When you got that package, what was your response besides this guy is a huge nerd?
Stephanie Davis:
No, I loved it. In fact, I was looking, I have your card right on my desk.
Dusty Weis:
Stop.
Stephanie Davis:
Your business card. But I swear it's over on my filing cabinet. I saved the thank you card and it is just nice. For me, my mom was so strict about thank you cards when we were growing up. After every birthday, she'd get mad if, Rachel, to your point, it was not soon enough. She would be like, "You need to get these out. People came to your party. They sent you a card. You need to thank them." I do think it's so important so now I'm big on the cards and I'm like, "You need to thank." Because it's just nice. Even if it wasn't a big thing, I still think it's important to say thank you.
Stephanie Davis:
Yeah, Dusty, great job. I saved it. It did not go in the trash and your business card is here and we're good.
Rachel Doyle:
I think it also makes you stand out. I think that the idea of so many people don't do it, they might just send an email, and the fact that, in a sea of mediocrity, the idea of making yourself stand out and doing something a little extra special with that handwritten note, I think, speaks to the way you run your business in all different ways. You probably go the extra mile to make something that much better.
Dusty Weis:
It's a small thing. But ultimately, I think it means a lot and it has that personal touch. I don't believe you Steph that you still have it.
Stephanie Davis:
Do you want me to get up and check right now if I wasn't plugged in?
Dusty Weis:
Oh, no.
Stephanie Davis:
I think I know exactly where it could be.
Dusty Weis:
Oh, I don't even remember what I wrote.
Stephanie Davis:
It was something I'm going to check now.
Dusty Weis:
Oh, this is going to be super embarrassing.
Rachel Doyle:
Hey, that's cool.
Dusty Weis:
This is going to be really embarrassing, though.
Stephanie Davis:
It's not. Stand by. I need to unplug.
Rachel Doyle:
See, I think that's awesome. I definitely, I have them taped up, notes that I've gotten from people because I feel like you put them out when you're having a bad day. You look at that note and somebody says, "How great you are." And you're like, "Oh, that's all I needed."
Dusty Weis:
Oh, she does have it. Oh, my lord.
Rachel Doyle:
See, look at that.
Stephanie Davis:
I'm a hoarder.
Dusty Weis:
Can I tell you what's the worst?
Stephanie Davis:
It was exactly where I said it was going to be.
Dusty Weis:
Can I tell you one of the worst things about being a bald guy is that my blush is twice as big as anybody else's blush? What does it say? What does it say?
Rachel Doyle:
You can't even tell.
Stephanie Davis:
You want me to read it word for word?
Dusty Weis:
Yeah, let's hear it. Lets' hear it.
Stephanie Davis:
All right. "Hi, Steph. In any other year-"
Dusty Weis:
Strong open.
Stephanie Davis:
I'm like, I got to put a dramatic spin on this. All right. "In any other year, we'd be able to properly toast your podcast launch. But since this is the year of virtual substitutes that aren't nearly as fun, well, it'll have to do. Thanks for being an awesome co-host and project lead. I am having a blast. Cheers to launch day. Dusty."
Stephanie Davis:
So nice. That's so nice. Really, even reading it again. I'm like, we really we're in this together. It's been a journey, but it's been good and yeah, we've sat a hundred times. I wish we could be toasting over happy hour to the launch and you just had to get creative. We did a little virtual launch, a little Zoom with a beverage.
Dusty Weis:
A little tiny bottle of champagne.
Stephanie Davis:
You make it work.
Dusty Weis:
Well, I guess our podcast listeners can now say that they've officially heard a blush, but I think that there are a lot of great tips and a lot of wisdom in what Rachel has shared with us here today. Rachel Doyle, the founder and CEO of GlamourGals, thank you for joining us on Back of the Napkin.
Rachel Doyle:
Thanks for having me.
Stephanie Davis:
I think that Rachel's fail is super relatable. Dusty, I'm really glad that we could share with everyone how good you are at writing thank you notes. You should start a thank you note segment, similar to what Jimmy Fallon does on one of your podcasts.
Dusty Weis:
You know, Steph, based on how excruciating it was for me to hear one of my thank you notes read back to me, I'm probably going to take a hard pass on that one. But you're sweet to say so. However, Rachel's story, I think, is a great reminder that even in the era of email, it helps to keep a book of stamps in your desk drawer as well.
Dusty Weis:
If you want to hear Rachel's full podcast episode, check it out in the podcast feed and be sure to check in with us again soon. We're going to have more full episodes and more Friday Fails coming out on a regular basis.
Stephanie Davis:
Please make sure that you're subscribed in your favorite podcast app. If you enjoyed the show, leave us a five-star rating or even a review. We would love to hear from you about any ideas that you have for small business owners who we should be featuring on this show.
Dusty Weis:
Back of the Napkin is brought to you by Shore Payroll where small business is their business from easy online payroll to 401k support and award-winning customer, Shore Payroll has been serving the payroll and business needs of small businesses for more than 20 years. Learn more at shorepayroll.com and get two months free as a new customer.
Stephanie Davis:
Here on Back of the Napkin, I am the executive producer and co-producers are Carrie Straits and Dave Pappa. Our production partners are Podcamp Media.
Dusty Weis:
Where we provide branded podcast production services for businesses. Our editor and producer is Larry Kilgore, the third. Thanks for tuning in to Back in the Napkin. I'm Dusty Weis.
Stephanie Davis:
And I'm Stephanie Davis.
