- It's once again time to get gutsy with Liz Hall
and her expert guests on the Gutsy Bay podcast.
- Today's guest is Heather Cox, a business executive seminar
director, public speaker and marketer.
She's president of Certify.
My company Heather works
with both diverse businesses and corporations.
She assists with all aspects of certifications, helps
to increase their visibility in supplier markets,
and connects certified businesses with corporations eager
to do business with them.
Well, Heather, thank you. Thank you, thank you.
First, I would like to personally thank you.
I went through Certify my company to get my business ease,
natural Health certified as a woman owned, minority owned,
and disability owned business.
And I would not have been able
to do it without your company
helping me through the process.
- That was our pleasure. It's a lot, right?
It's a lot when you're trying to run a business also.
- Oh my God. So much.
I honestly wouldn't have been able to get
through it without your company, so thank you.
Could you tell our listeners a bit about your backstory
and what motivated you to start certify my company?
- Sure. So, um, it wasn't really a,
like a bought out plan, , it was kind of one of those things
that just happened.
Um, you know, my, as my kids like to say,
I'm from the 19 hundreds
and so, uh, there wasn't really a degree in diversity or,
or, you know, entrepreneurship at the time.
And I know now there is, which is very cool,
but there wasn't back in the day Mm-Hmm. .
And so what really what happened is I'd always done sales,
operations, business stuff since I, you know,
joined the adult working world, which I would be happy
to turn in my resignation for at some point in time
as adulting nonsense.
But I was trying to figure out,
and I was, you know, I'd gotten married, pregnant
with baby number one and really trying to figure out
what being a working mom looked like.
I didn't know, I mean, I grew up
with my mom working part-time, whatever,
but I just knew, I knew I had to work.
I didn't know what that was going to look like.
And so I, you know, I'm so shy, Liz, as you know,
but I was asking a lot of people, a lot of women, a lot
of questions and just saying, what is it like
to be a working mom full-time part-time executive business
owner, whatever the contract
or whatever their position was, I wanted to know about it.
And I fell in love with the entrepreneurs.
There was just something about them that I was just like,
oh my goodness, they're amazing.
And the one and the entrepreneurs that I met
that were selling business to business,
I just thought they had this like effervescence
or this passion about them
that it didn't see necessarily with other people.
Mm-Hmm. . And so I was just like, okay,
there is something in that that, that water,
they're drinking there, I wanna know what it is.
So I just kept talking to them
and at some point a few of them were like, oh,
my client wants me to get this
certification and I can't get it done.
And I'm like, uh, I'm sorry. What can't you do?
You run a business, you run a family,
you can't do an application.
I was like, I just didn't understand
the, what the issue was.
And so I went home and my husband's an attorney,
so I'm like googling, I'm looking online, like asking like,
you know, trying to find this certification information.
And I said, Hey Han, what's a, uh,
what's the certificate of incorporation?
And he said, well, in some states.
And I was like, ah, in some states, well
that means it's not in all states.
So if you're a business owner, and this is even
before I really could comprehend the bandwidth constraints
of being a business owner, if you're looking for
that certificate of incorporation
and your state doesn't have one, well,
now you're definitely frustrated, right?
So when you do, you put it to the side,
like, I'll get to it when I get to it.
And six weeks, six months, six years later
for some they're still not certified.
Mm-Hmm. So, uh, I said, oh, I can do that for you.
I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
Um, and, but then this one told
that one and that one told that one.
And then someone said, oh, can you do minority also?
And then a couple years later, can you do LGBT?
And then a couple, and it just kind
of organically snowballed into a lot
of just different demographics reaching out to us.
And they're like, oh, have, and it was just me at the time.
Like, I mean, I had a co-founder,
but she's not involved in the day to day, but it's just me.
And I was like, yeah, I can do it.
Still working another full-time job, of course, you know,
having babies, what do we, what women do, whatever.
And so, um,
and then, then a few years later, um, a corporation
or someone introduced me as the expert,
the certification expert.
And I happened to have just read an article about this guy
who's an expert in whatever he was an expert in.
And they said, how did you become an expert in that?
And he said, I started calling myself an expert .
So I was like, well,
if this dude could just call himself one
and someone else is calling me that , I'm definitely the .
I'm definitely gonna the, the expert now. Right?
And so, and then a few years later, um, corporations kind
of got on board and understood
that it was really a huge advantage
for their supplier development programs to offer this as a,
as a service to their suppliers.
And 15 years later, here we are
- Well, I can testify.
You are an expert
and you are kind of a unicorn as
that you are an entrepreneur as well, . Yes.
- Yes, exactly. - So you're not only an entrepreneur,
but you could also do the paperwork that a lot
of entrepreneurs, uh, at do not like at all.
Like, I'm one of them. It's
- Not an entrepreneurial skill.
It's not, and you know what happens, it's like,
are good at what you're good at, right?
Yes. And thank God, because your pro your product's amazing.
I'm waiting for the book to come out.
Like can have it on a daily basis,
but like, that's what you're good at.
You are not gonna sit down. And when you started your
company, I'm sure you signed your documents,
but did you read them?
If you read them, I would think you're weird, honestly.
Like if people are like, oh, I review my bylaws every year,
I'm like, oh, okay.
Serial killer . It just seems weird to me.
So, so they're, it's just not what they do.
They're good at what they're good at.
So that's why I am a huge advocate of outsourcing,
which you're not good at
because I need to spend my very,
very valuable time on the things that I need
to spend my very valuable time on.
- Yeah. Yeah. You're absolutely correct.
So can you, speaking of, can you tell us about your services
and your comp, what your company offers
and the challenges they help businesses overcome?
'cause I could personally share from my
side, but I wanna hear from
- You, your experience.
Yeah. So I mean, your side is just as powerful, if not more,
because you're actually someone who utilizes the service
and understands those bandwidth constraints.
So our core service offering is facilitating
diversity certifications.
We, I always say, you know, we're champions
and cheerleaders, we're underestimated entrepreneurs
and through our certification
and educational programs, prepare them
for bigger and better contracts.
And so what that means is, in order to get to that ability
to find those contracts that have that access
to these opportunities, that's what the certification does.
But again, if you, if it's gonna take you 25 hours to do it,
what else could you accomplish in that 25, 28, 40 hours
that some people have told me, depending on the complexity
of your corporate company, of your corporate structure.
Mm-Hmm. . And so, um, we facilitate take
that project off our client's desk
so they can focus on their, what they're good at.
And we take that. So, you know, it does, I do have
to get some information from them
because I don't have your tax returns without you.
I don't have your passport without you.
But, uh, you know, if you don't have a resume,
because a lot of entrepreneurs are like a resume,
I'm running my own business for 20 years.
We can write that for you, right? Things like that.
If you haven't done meeting minutes, we have waivers,
we have letters of explanation, we have templates galore.
We're not attorneys. We don't pretend to be,
but we have templates galore for people
who just don't have that documentation.
Um, we wanna review everything
because there's a lot of times a lot of templated documents
that you get from, you know, a biz filings
or a legal zoom, which are all great
organizations, even your attorneys.
And I tell people all the time, I don't care if you spend $6
or $600 an hour on your attorney, it's the same document,
same templates that they're using.
And more often than not,
those templates do not render you eligible
for diversity certification.
Depending on, again, if you're a solo owner,
you could probably probably be okay,
but if you have a partner in any way, shape,
or form, that's not the same demographic
as you, it could cause problems.
Mm-Hmm. . And so we, you know, so we make sure
that all your i's and dot and t's are crossed
and that you really are getting also the
right certification for you.
Because if you remember that first conversation we had,
I said, tell me about your business, what your goals are
for the certification and who you sell to.
Because if you had said, oh, I sell, you know,
I sell tech services to companies in Illinois,
I'm not gonna tell you necessarily to get one certification,
I might tell you to get a different certification simply
because that's gonna give you the most bang for your buck.
- Mm-Hmm, . Yeah.
And these corporations make getting certified through their,
through their system very complicated. And
- The certified organizations. Yeah.
- Yeah, exactly. Yes, yes.
It's beyond, I'm like, how do you know how to navigate
through it if you don't have an expert
that can walk you through it?
It's crazy. I mean, even even going through your company,
it takes like a year to get certified, or
- Well, it shouldn't, it, I mean, it could take not, not
to play the blame game list,
but it could be that you didn't give
us what we needed in time.
But usually what I tell people is , that's true.
- I'm, - I'm just saying we have people get certified,
- It takes months.
It, it could take. Yeah.
- Well, from the time you submit your application,
you are looking at 90 to 120 days.
Yes. And if you're in the state of New York, for example,
it could be three years because they're so slow.
But yeah, it really depends on
what's a certified organization.
Most of the private sector are between 90
and 120 days to get certified.
But that's once you get all your docs together.
So usually what I tell people is we do the documentation
meeting, which is our step one, right?
And I always say, put about an hour on your calendar within
five business days of that documentation meeting just
to knock out the documents we need.
Now, if you haven't done your taxes in four years,
well you got, you got some stuff to make up for which some,
which we've had people do that.
I didn't say not you, you had that part done.
But let's say for example, something comes up
or you're changing structure, whatever it is,
if it takes you two months to get us those 10,
12 documents we need, then, uh,
then it's gonna elongate the process.
- Right. Right. That makes sense.
So can you share the benefits of these certifications?
- Oh, I would love to. Okay.
So first of all, I wanna just re-emphasize
or emphasize that it is a tool.
It is not a magic wand.
It's not, if you certify it, they will come.
You million dollar contracts are not raining from the sky.
You're like, oh, its not happening. Okay.
So you really have to know how to use it.
And so, um, so to answer your question,
and then I'll kind of continue
that thought, answer your question.
The benefits are like, I could go on and on and on.
Kind of my top my top, like my top list, right?
So first of all, every, most people understand the business
development benefits, meaning you have access
to these large corporations, you have access
to the other diverse business owners.
So that's one of things you and I talked about, right?
So not only are, can you sell to the CVSs, the Walmarts,
the targets of the world to get your product
through on their shelves.
Mm-Hmm. But you can also sell
to the me like I buy your product, right?
And a lot of other people do as well,
because you can sell to both of them, both
of those demo both channels, the wom,
the other business owners, as well as the corporations.
Mm-Hmm. . So that's the business development part
that most people kind of understand.
Now, the other parts, the company development,
leadership development, that's the part
that most people don't really get and they forget about.
And so what do I mean by that? So you can get scholarships
to executive MBA programs like Tuck or Kellogg School
or UCLA, which means you have a scholarship to cover
that whole tuition.
All you have to pay for is the trip to get yourself there.
Mm-Hmm. . Okay. That's a company
development, a leadership development.
There's also mentorship programs.
So for example, I took part in the
Toyota mentorship program.
My mentor was the CIO of Toyota North America.
So for someone like me who sells to the Fortune 1000,
that was an invaluable opportunity to say, okay, Holly.
And I remember saying, Holly, help me out here.
The corporations are like, wow, Heather, you're amazing.
I mean, we're not gonna buy from you, but you're incredible.
And I was like, okay, I, there's a gap between
what I'm saying and what I need to be saying.
And I didn't know what it was.
I don't speak corporate, I don't speak c-suite.
And so she helped me create a video that I can send
with my proposals that speak exactly to what they need,
what they needed to hear, to understand what we do
and why what our services are, are so valuable
to them in their supply chain.
Mm. So that's, that's one of the other ones, right?
Is like, that was free to me.
Do you know how much a consultant like
that would cost out in like the quote unquote real world?
Right? There's also, um, pitch opportunities
to get your name out, to get
your name and your company out there.
There's also, oh, you just won one.
Didn't you just win one or you take part in
- One?
I did just participate with the, uh, business enterprise,
the women business at the West Coast.
Um, I made it to the second round.
I did not make it to the third round. Uh,
- That's all right. I did the same thing. Yeah.
- But I was very honored
to have made it to the second round.
And that was my very first time pitching
and having that experience
and pitching to a panel of corporations,
- Right?
Yes. So even if you didn't get to the final round,
because I had the same experience,
your name is now in their ears.
They just heard you talk about your company uninterrupted.
Right. And they're listening to you. I had the same thing.
I did the WeBank National Pitch Competition, like the,
the year before covid.
So 19, 2019.
And I remember, I remember this
because it was like, the first round was like
180 people or something.
And the next round was 20,
and the final round was four mm-Hmm. .
So I made it to the second round. It was like the US top 20.
But I remember in that first round, of course, I wanted
to see what everybody else was doing.
Yeah. And so I'm in the audience watching,
and there was a row behind me of corporate representatives
and a row in front of me of other wbe.
And I just remember hearing like as people were pitching,
the corporations were like, oh my
goodness, I never even knew she existed.
We should talk to her afterwards.
Which they wouldn't have even known about her necessarily
because she wasn't on their radar.
But now they've heard her pitch about it.
And then a couple times, the women in front
of me were like, oh, you know what?
That RFP that we couldn't do last year,
they would've been a perfect partner for us on that.
So now they can connect.
So even if you did it quote unquote win, you won
because your name got
out there in front of all those people.
So for me, that second round was in front of the luncheon
for the national conference that was what,
1800 people now on top of it,
that heard our service offering
on top of the corporate panel.
So really is an amazing opportunity
to take part in those, in those options.
There's awards and there's, you know, it's just a lot
of great face-to-face opportunities, which can bring.
So for another example is that last year
or this year also, one of my goals is
to be at more industry events.
Okay. So for example, let's say that's a,
let's say it's a food expo, the big food expo.
And there's a lot of entrepreneurs at Food Expo,
and a lot of times entrepreneurs just by nature are diverse.
There's a reason that there's a lot
of diversity within entrepreneurship.
So I really wanted to be, wanna be these conferences
where there's a lot of entrepreneurs who want
to be in these big box retail, for example,
or whatever it is.
And this is a, a path that they can take.
And I, so I wanna be at these conferences, either paneling
or speaking, presenting to the educational part.
Mm-Hmm. But I can't always get there myself.
It's as cool as I think Heather Cox
and Certify my company is it's not resonate quite the same
way as like a Target or a CVS does.
So I will reach out to those colleagues
that I've built a relationship with over these 15 years
and say, Hey, this is my goal.
Can you help me? Mm-Hmm. .
And they, they have, I got on a stage, right?
Because recently,
because I was like, Hey, this is what I wanna do.
And he said, yes, this is a great solution for them,
but if you send in your just
speaker proposal, they're not gonna get it.
They don't necessarily understand why
it's gonna benefit their people.
But if you have a conversation, which I can get you to have
that conversation, you can't sell for me,
but it can get me to the conversation,
which I couldn't even get myself.
- Right. Wow. And
- The list just goes on and on
and on of benefits, you know, there's no downside.
It's only what you do with it.
And you know, I found that
after all these years, the one thing
that I was hearing is people are like, Ugh,
I didn't get anything outta my certification.
And I was thinking, how is that possible?
I've seen so much, even if you didn't make one sale in a
year, all the other benefits are so worth it, in my opinion.
Right.
- It's all about what you put into it no matter what
with any kind of business, any kind of service.
Correct. Any kind of certification.
So for example, me being a part of WeBank, being certified,
uh, as a women business owned company through you.
Right. That helped me through that.
Um, I, that's the one that I put a lot of my energy in. Yes.
And I have developed so many relationships with,
relationships with, you know, it doesn't have to be
with the corporations just yet,
but with just other women business owners
that are ordering from me that I am.
Well, you know, now we're, you know,
women supporting women of helping out Yes.
Businesses grow. Right. And, and also, yes, you're right.
I got to be, uh, to do my pitch in front of all
of these corporations
and now they know about travel, ease my product.
And because of that, they're like, oh, Weston Hotel is here.
They weren't at the panel,
but we want to introduce you, you love.
So I got a one-on-one meeting
with the Weston Hotels
because of that. And I was like, yeah, yeah.
- Can you imagine if they were sold in lobbies
of all the Marriotts and Weins and High?
Oh my goodness. That'd be amazing. That's
- The goal. That's the goal.
- That's the goal. I love that. I love that. Yes.
I totally can see that. That's amazing. I love it.
- Well, because that was in my pitch.
And so they heard that in my pitch, we're like, oh,
well we have to make that happen for me.
- And it registered with them. Exactly.
So that's what I'm saying, like, there's so many benefits
and people just dunno how to use it.
So we actually created a program called Diversity
Masterminds, which teaches you how
to leverage your certification, how to use your local to get
to your national, how to differentiate yourself.
'cause I will say one thing that I find a lot
of diverse business owners have a problem
with is explaining why they are worth 5 cents more than
anyone else who says they do what they do, right?
Yeah. People will be like, oh, I met someone else
who says they do, who you know, who does what you do.
And they're like, half your price.
I'm like, okay, well they're currently not doing
what we're doing then If they're half our price, A that's,
that's, that's step one, right?
Let's compare Or apples
and apples and not apples and oranges.
But how, why are you,
and sometimes it's really just
really is a couple pennies more
or less, or a couple dollars.
Like why are you worth that more?
Can you, can you enunciate that?
Can you explain that to your potential clients,
why you're more so, we teach them how to do
that in Diversity Mastermind
and talk about their capabilities, all the tools you need
to leverage this powerful tool.
- Yeah, no, it's so true. So, so true.
And I also find it fascinating
or not fast interesting that even these companies
that get certified
and they're like, oh, it hasn't really worked for me.
And I'm like, well, you are not putting in the energy
and just because you get certified,
you're instantly thinking you're gonna go
and get some huge, you know, contract with the corporation.
It doesn't work that way. It's like you have
to build these relationships long term, even
with these corporations unless, yeah, and let's be honest,
and this is us putting in your, you know, the hard work
and your, your relationship building unless you get a broker
and you're paying, you know, hundreds of thousands
of dollars to get you in.
So this is the way to go in with, without
all that money upfront.
So I just wanna,
- It's like a gym membership, right?
People sign up on January 1st
and they're like, I, I'm gonna get in shape.
And then on March 31st they quit
and they're like, I didn't get in shape.
I'm like, well, did you go to the gym
or did you just sign the contract?
Because I mean, they say abs are made in the kitchen,
but you gotta, you know,
you still gotta go to the gym, right?
You still gotta do some stuff, right?
You gotta, and also, it's not just gonna the gym, right?
It's did you change your food?
Did you get, like, so you have to know how
to strategically use your certification.
Yeah. Because it's not really, it's one size fits all,
but what you do with, it's not, it's like a hammer, right?
A hammer has a lot of uses, so it's not,
you're not never gonna say like, is a hammer a useful tool?
We know it is. Mm-Hmm .
But am I using it to crack a walnut open?
Am I using it to nail in a hammer or take
or a nail in the wall?
Or take out a nail on a wall?
The use of it's gonna be slightly different.
- Yeah. I think that's where one of my,
from my past careers, um, I understood the
benefits of being certified early on
and getting my certifications from the very beginning.
So, uh, not a lot of entrepreneurs know that upfront.
And that was something that I knew
- Not a lot know about the certification,
which is always shocking to me. . Yes,
- Exactly.
It's so true. So, uh, I'm sure you have a ton
of success stories, but can you share
common client success story with us
please, - ?
Sure. I would love to. I mean,
we talked about your successes as well.
You just told us some great pitch stories, success stories,
which I love that.
I love that story. And,
and how West it was like, wait a minute,
we can see the value already.
Right? That's just, that's just phenomenal.
I love that story. So one of my favorites was actually, um,
her name is Jackie Ferrari
and she owned a company called American Fashion Network.
And she, for decades, she's, you know,
when you go into like a big box retail
and they have their own brand Mm-Hmm.
that they make, that she would make that those clothes for
that like the big box retail, the brand, and then Covid hit.
And so she lost a ton of contracts
because they just weren't buying clothes anymore.
Right. People weren't going out
because people weren't gonna retail stores.
And so she pivoted as we did Covid,
that Magical Covid work.
And she started doing PPE products, right.
Which a lot of people did as well.
Personal Protection
Equipment, I think is what it stands for.
Yeah. And so she, um, got a contract
with Charter Communications
and they said, oh,
you're a woman owned business, you should get certified.
And she's like, nobody cares.
And they're like, well we do
and we actually care so much we're gonna give you this
resource to help you get this, the certification.
So we, um, worked on her certification
and we got her WeBank disability and, and WOSB.
So, you know, it was that 90 day waiting period,
120 day waiting period.
So during that time, she's home, she'd just gotten married,
not too, not too much sooner than that.
And she's watching War Dogs, I,
if youve ever seen the movie, but it's about these two kind
of young guys who ended up selling arms to the government.
Right. Um, I actually saw a follow up to them,
like one's still doing great business
and one's like been in jail here, like
like went off, like went a bad way.
Like they went totally different path.
But anyways, so she's saying she like looks at her husband
and you know, she's like gonna take my WOSB,
which is the federal government government's women owned
small business certification.
I'm gonna take that certification, I'm gonna
sell arms to the government.
And she's cracking herself up, right?
She thinks she's somebody and her husband's like,
okay honey, whatever.
And then so she goes to work the next day
and she mentions it to um, her COO
and like, wait a minute, maybe not arms,
but we sell textiles, we can make uni,
maybe there's like a federal contract for uniforms
or whatever, like go online.
Sure enough, $5 million contracts for practice, uniforms
for thes, for a certification sheet.
Didn't even wanna get .
- Wow. - Yeah. That's like one of my favorites.
So to this day I'm like, martinis are on you forever ,
because she didn't want that certification.
You know, another really great one that actually happened
during Covid as well was there's a vodka
company that's a woman-owned company.
And she went into one of her local big retailers
and she said, uh, the vodka shelves are empty.
And I don't know if you remember if you had kids home
during Covid, but I had was homeschooling five children
from like three to 10 or whatever
and working from time and everything else.
So vodka was a staple in our house at that time.
So she was like, you cannot be without vodka
during this time right now.
People need this. So she called this diversity manager
who she had met at a conference
and built a relationship with them
and she said, I can get you on yourself by tomorrow.
She did. And they got a contract because she saved his butt.
Right. She saved him from not, they were,
they were not able to do it.
And so she was able to get her product out the shelves .
- That is amazing. I have to say though,
did she have a relationship with them?
- Yes. I'm saying she'd already made
that relationship ahead of time.
But that's what I'm saying. Yeah. You always want your
certification before you, you need it.
'cause once you need it, it might be too late.
If she had been like pushing off that certification
for years when she called me, it would've been like, oh,
remember how I've been asking you for three years
to do this one little thing?
Right. And you haven't done it yet.
Are we really in a relationship
or are we just a transaction to you?
- Yeah. Yeah. Wow. - 'cause she made the relationship.
- Yeah, exactly. Those are a huge su success stories.
I know. wild.
- It's just funny. Like the Jackie one just cracks me up
every time because she was like, nobody cares,
I'm not gonna get anything out of it.
I'm only doing it to this one customer.
And now like her whole business is like exploded.
It's so funny. Oh,
- And I'm sure she has leaned in so hard.
Oh, her certifications now .
- Absolutely. She's leaning all the way in , right?
- Yeah. So do - You think that the people, your friends
that listen to your podcast know the different
demographics of certification?
- That's a great question. No, please share.
- I was just thinking have you've been throwing out all
these terms and demographics?
Yeah. Yeah. So there's five main demographics that,
that are, that get certified.
So there's women which we've been talking a lot about.
There's ethnic minorities, which we kind of touched on
because you were, you're certified the National Minority
Supply Development Council as a minority owned business.
Mm-Hmm. . Then there is the disability owned,
but I'm gonna come back to that one
'cause I want use the most explanation.
Um, then there's LGBT owned businesses.
Um, there's veteran and services able veteran owned
businesses, um, which we both,
I know do a lot of support of.
And then the last one is that disability owned business
enterprise, which most people think it means you can't see
here or walk when in actuality it's anything
that the a DA defines as a disability,
which is everything from thyroid conditions, sleep apnea,
a DH, adhd, anxiety, depression, autoimmune disorder,
blood disorder, skin disorders, addiction recovery,
cancer recovery,
severe allergies, anything you have to manage.
So if you have such a severe allergy to let's say like
mushrooms, because I knew someone who did this,
and you have to carry an EpiPen
because if god forbid there's a mushroom in the
vicinity that is a disability.
Mm-Hmm. . Because if you don't have that EpiPen
and you're at a conference, that is not good
for business development if you are being rushed off in an
ambulance to go to the hospital .
Right. And so anything you, or if you have sleep apnea
and you don't sleep with your CPAP machine for a day
or two, you are not functioning properly enough
to run your business run
and you can actually spiral very easily.
And so that is what the disability owned business is.
- Yeah. I'm actually certified
as a disability owned business because I have severe asthma
and I have to have my inhaler
and I also have an EpiPen, uh, as well. So, yeah.
- Right. And so imagine if you like went somewhere
and you didn't have your asthma, your inhaler with you,
that could be very problematic
to you running your business Right.
To you doing all things you have to do.
And so it's not just owned by the way,
I also wanna make that one clarification.
It's owned operation operated and controlled, right?
Mm-Hmm. . So it has to be 51%
or more owned by whatever demographic you're certifying.
Next is operation. Does that demographic
run the company on a day-to-Day basis?
And do they have the highest ranking title?
Now people are always like, yeah, I do.
And then I look at their documents and they don't,
because again, back to that $6
or $600 an hour attorney, right?
Mm-Hmm. , same Template. Template.
I'm gonna, we'll do a little quiz here.
Maybe you know this because you're an LC
so it's not in your whatever,
but you know, in a corporation,
what is the highest ranking title in the majority
of templated bylaws?
- 51%. - No, the, the title,
the highest ranking title in a company.
- Is it not CEO or founder? It
- Is not .
See, it's president.
So let's say like I, let's say like I have a company
and I own 60% and my husband owns 40%.
Right? And we turn in these template
and I'm CEO and he's president.
And our bylaws are the
president's the highest ranking title.
We're getting denied, certification
- Denied.
Oh my god. I never knew that.
- Yeah. So those are the type of things that we check for.
So, so that's the operation
and control is for those same governing documents, you know,
bylaws if you're a corporation and, um, operating agreement
or membership agreement if you're an LLC, um,
who has ultimate control
of the company voting and whatnot. Okay. So
- I need to change everything to President now.
- Well, well no, because you're an LLC, so it's different.
Yeah. Oh, okay. We would've told you about it.
We would've told you if you were not title.
And I took, I'm like, if you wanna be
Queen, who did I just talk to?
I talked to a Cuban guy yesterday.
I said, if you wanna be King Cuban in charge,
you can be King Cuban in charge.
Just make sure your documents call you King Cuban in charge
the highest ranking title .
- Got it. Got it. Okay. That makes sense. Wow.
Okay. So what, uh, what's in, uh,
your short term long term goals for, for your company?
- So short term goals are
where you're adding some service offerings such
as the ESG certifications, like EcoVadis
and, and um, B Corp.
We're adding that to our service
offerings, which is very exciting.
We're the pro getting ours as well
because, you know, it's the shoemakers children.
And then more long term.
And also I guess kind of midterm would be, again, more
of those in-person industry events.
So if anybody out there knows
of an in person entrepreneur heavy, uh, industry event
that you think would be benefit from this
expertise, please let me know. .
Um, and then long term also, you know,
we're looking at becoming more of a outsourced clearinghouse
for these organizations
because, you know, some of these organizations
that facilitate certification take a really long time
unnecessarily, and they don't always know
how to read the documents.
Like, I can't say how many, especially the government ones.
Yeah. States not to name anybody in particular,
but some need more help than others.
And so that's a real, that's a good, we are our,
there's no one better situated than us to
be that clearing house.
- Yeah. Well you, you travel a lot.
You attend a lot of conferences.
- I do. , I don't, I know I'm not,
I'm a-List Preferred again this year. .
So .
- So, because you go to, well share a few of 'em, you go
to the We Rebate conferences, you go
to the veteran conferences. Veteran
- In business, right?
- Veteran in business, yeah.
- I go to, I sometimes go to nmsdc this year.
The scheduling didn't work out, fell my chair, um, .
But, um, I went to, I went
to U-S-H-C-C for the first time this year.
United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
And then I do kind of like, I just, one, I just, um,
was at last week, well the U-S-H-C-C, the beginning
of the week and then the middle of the week was, um,
the California Public Utilities Clearing House has some, uh,
events for the suppliers.
And so I went to that event.
So I do try to stay West Coast as much as possible just
because, you know, you lose so much time.
But I do try to go to the national conferences.
And that's also something that we work with our clients on,
is how to strategize.
'cause not everybody wants to be traveling.
I think the reason I've been married 17 years
and don't kill my children is because
or yell at them quite as much as I would is
because I travel so much and I miss them when I'm away.
But , if I was home more,
that husband may not still be around. So
- Hilarious.
- So, uh, so you have to know what you wanna go to,
but I also am kind of in this new
phase of New Faces, new places.
Mm-Hmm. , Ron Vincent, who's always kind of,
I've always kind of looked up to him, said that to me.
And I'm like, I'm using that New Faces new places.
So U-S-H-C-C was a new face, new place for me this year.
I went to, um, utopia this year, which is a new face,
new place, uh, just to kind of, you know,
because there's, we Banks
and the Disability Inns are my two big
conferences that I attend.
Those conferences are both exceptionally well run.
Um, the We Bank, I'm,
I'm very involved in both organizations.
I was one of the stars last year,
so I had like a full-size lifetime banner there, which was
so fun that you have full-size life-sized banner
of yourself in the hallway.
- I mean, that was, that was amazing. I saw that banner.
I took a photo of that banner and sent it to you. And
- I know I liked the, of Rebecca
kissing it too, like, by the
way, - .
It was so cute. So cute.
Shout out to Rebecca Aguigui Gardner, who is the president
of Veterans in Business.
She is amazing. She's the one that Yes. And she
- Connected us.
- Yeah. She was the one who introduced us.
And uh, she's actually one of my, um,
closest and dearest friends. And
- She, and it's a fantastic veterans organization.
Like I, I see so much success from those veterans as well.
And so just being, and
that's one of the ones I go to as well.
Mm-Hmm. . Um, so like,
but like for example, um, I used to go
to the Diversity Alliance for Science for years.
I took a year off of that one. I might go back.
, I kind of have to evaluate every year.
It really is our marketing budget is those conferences.
'cause that's my bus best business development.
I I really, uh, you know, being in front of the corporations
who hire us is really the best way
to continually show them and add value.
And like, there's people who were not working with us
and now this year they're like, oh, hey,
my leadership really wants to be billion dollar round table.
And we heard this is one of your specialties.
I'm like, you are right. Let's do it.
And so just showing up year after year,
because they have to like know and trust you.
They have to know you're gonna be
around next year if they're gonna invest in you .
- Yeah, no, it's so true. It's so important.
So a personal question.
So, because you know of my, all my certifications,
how would you, how should I strategically
work my business?
Or for example, I want to make the connections with the,
with the airports.
I see es at the airports at Hudson News.
How would I angle that?
- Well, first we probably have
to get you airports like A-C-D-D-B-E certified.
Um, which is, I know, I know it's another, I know,
I know there's an airport concessions,
disadvantaged business enterprise certification
that we would want probably wanna get for you.
And then you have to, there's,
there is actually airport conferences
that you would go to, right?
I mean we, Vegas, we have a connection to
how we make introductions for you over there.
Um, you just have to kind of know. And then
they all talk to each other.
And that's really what it comes down
to is they all talk to each other.
And so, you know, sometimes people will say, oh,
I don't wanna talk to that supplier diversity manager.
I wanna talk to the decision maker.
And I'm like, I'm, I'm gonna give you a pro tip here. Okay.
So they may not be your decision maker,
but you know what decision they can make to get you into
that person or to keep you out.
So yeah. Yeah. You might wanna remember
your place here, right?
Because they wanna see you succeed,
but they also know, they know their
companies better than you do.
Right? Of course. So let them work the system for you.
So, and they all talk to each other.
You know, I'm, I, they will guarantee you,
like if David from the airport in Vegas goes to a,
the airport conference and he's like, like, oh my God,
this is such a cool product, blah, blah, blah.
And once Hudson gets it, et cetera, et cetera, you know,
the inner workers of the airports I am not an expert at,
but there are people who are.
But you know, that airport concession is disadvantaged
business enterprise certification would be very helpful
for you to do, to start those conversations.
- That's amazing. 'cause I had no clue.
So now I have to add that to my list
- And yeah.
So who's your, if like, if Kristen, your, I,
I think it's Kristen was your person.
Just reach out to Kristen and Oh, it's Maria. Oh, Maria.
So we let Maria know. I just, I need my A CDB.
- Okay. - Four concessions and I'll, I'll teams her also
- E So what's the abbreviation for again?
- Airport concession. Mm-Hmm.
Disadvantaged Business Enterprise.
- Amazing. I mean all of these, uh, abbreviations
- Acronyms.
Oh my goodness, I know acronym.
- It's, it's a whole other woman nutty.
- You could literal just throw out letters.
It probably would mean
something. - .
So many acronyms.
- Yeah, it's true.
- Well, Heather, it's been such an honor having you
on the Gutsy Babe.
How can people find out more about Certify My Company
to see if their services are right for your company and how
- So?
Um, so I would go to certify my company.com.
Now keep in mind the website is currently being updated
currently, so keep checking back
because by Q1 we should have a beautiful new website
and a little updated logo as well, a little brand refresh.
Um, so it's certify my company.com all spelled out.
Um, we are on all the socials.
Um, I mean we we're on X, but, but no, the Facebooks
and the Instagrams and the LinkedIns,
it's at Certify Myco is our handle.
And, uh, yeah, I would say follow us
because we do post opportunities, we post, we love to tag
as it's gonna dust tag as businesses that we, that, and,
and you know, I I will even often say like,
this is not a sponsored post.
I'm just giving a shout out to another woman owned business.
Because quite frankly, when I see sponsored posts, I'm like,
Hmm, I don't believe it , I just don't believe it.
Like, I wanna see like real life people
who are saying like, I just love this product.
Like, I'm not getting anything out of it.
I just want you to know that this, I'm not gatekeeping.
This is a great product, right?
And you know, I love your product.
So I'm waiting for the bulk. I'm waiting for the bulk .
Um, so yeah, so at sort of at my co I'm at all the socials
and there's opportunities that are on there, et cetera,
et cetera, conferences that are coming up
that we post them as well.
Um, and that's the best way to find this.
- Well, and I also recommend your company to every
business I come across.
So, and I share that that's
- The best, that's the best way for us to get it, you know,
is to is the our happy customers. Yeah.
- And I was literally just by speaking
with my girlfriend this morning, who's coming up with a, um,
alternative pancake mix.
And I told her when she's ready, uh, she has
to go to certify my company.
- Absolutely. Thank you. Absolutely.
- So I do share your company, um, contacts constantly
because it does make a difference.
I am a firm believer and testament to that.
And I have experienced the opportunities
and I know there are so many more opportunities to come
as I've recently attended this.
Um, it's called Speakers in Institute
and their famous quote is The best is yet to come.
- I love that. Actually,
you know what, it's really interesting.
You know how, who Sally Hogshead is, she's very big,
I think, in that organization.
And she always says different is better than better.
And it's, you know, it's kind of a similar concept
because this is one of the, one of the differentiators
that you can make of yourself is
that you're not only amazing at what you do.
I always tell, I say people, when you go to your,
the corporations that you wanna do business with,
or even another di other business owner Mm-Hmm. ,
you have to tell them, you know, who you are, what you do,
how you're gonna rock their world.
So you should know what's going on with it.
And then, oh, by the way, I'm also diversity certified.
It's an immediate differentiator.
- 100%. 100%.
So I always like to tell people it's like, yes, you have
to produce and, you know, top a quality, top a quality.
But let's say they're exactly the two
businesses operating the exact same thing, being able
to produce the top a quality,
but yours is certified and the other one isn't.
They're gonna choose you. That's certified.
- What is tip the scales in your favor?
Is that all else being equal?
It tips the scales in your favor.
- Yes. That's, that's how I share it with people, right?
So they get it and understand.
So hopefully, if any, everyone,
all the gutsy babes out there listening,
let's hope this was helpful
and contact Heather Cox with Certify My Company.
Well, that's it for this episode of The Gutsy Babe.
Don't forget to hit the subscribe button until next time
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