Ep. 80: Amanda Brinkman Pursue Your Passion

[00:00:00] Mall of America. It's home to world-class shopping, great dining, and amazing attractions and events. And these are our stories presented by Bloomington, Minnesota Travel and Tourism. Welcome to So Much More. I am Jill Renslow, your host for today's podcast, joined by my friend and colleague, Dan Jasper. Hi, Dan. Hey, Jill. How are you? I'm good. It is January. And cold. It is cold outside. It's freezing. It's here in Minnesota. It's winter. It's January.

[00:00:27] But everybody's talking about New Year's resolutions. They're talking about their intentions. They're talking about how am I going to be a better version of myself in the new year. And so we are really excited to welcome our guest today, Amanda Brinkman. She's the CEO, Chief Creative Officer at Sunshine Studios. And we're so excited because she really talks about the purpose pursuit and going to teach us today how to dive into that and finding

[00:00:52] our purpose, how to live with more intention, and even find our hidden superpowers. So we are very excited to find our superpowers, let me tell you. But please welcome Amanda Brinkman to the show. Amanda Brinkman Thank you for having me. This is such a lovely space. I know. We're very excited. I love it. All this natural light. Beth Dombkowski Yes. You have to kind of stay warm though. It's a little chilly in here today. So we're so excited to hear your story. You have been an inspiration to me as a female business leader and really have put your mark on this marketplace, our community, and truly across

[00:01:22] the country. You've done amazing things from working corporate world, small business, your own TV show, your own company now as an entrepreneur. Tell us about your journey. Amanda Brinkman Well, first of all, I like that intro. I want to take you everywhere with me. That was really, really nice. I love that. Well, I grew up here in Minnesota and I continue to live here by choice, which in January we usually question that by choice part of it. But I started out in the

[00:01:47] creative side of the world, ad agencies over in London and then back here at McCann, Minneapolis and then Fallon. And then I moved over to the corporate side into marketing roles at United Health Group and General Mills, Allianz. And then most recently I was at a company called Deluxe. Now, Dan, you're too young to know what a checkbook is. Dan McAnne Oh, I still use them. Trust me. Amanda Brinkman But Deluxe invented the checkbook back in 1915. So when I joined the company,

[00:02:13] they were about to celebrate their centennial, 100 years in business, which is a notable milestone for any business. And so worked to create kind of something very notable for them in that 100th anniversary in order to celebrate not only the legacy of the past 100 years, but really a nod towards the future and where Deluxe was headed, which is where the television show comes in and then the rest is history. I love it. The television show, I mean, that's really where you built a lot of awareness about

[00:02:41] leading with purpose and doing good. And so talk a little bit about the small business revolution, because I think it was really innovative for our brand. And partnering Deluxe with the initiative of what you did was very eye-catching. It turned a lot of heads of what was possible from a brand perspective. So talk a little bit about that. Well, you know, the decline of checks had been predicted for about 25 years before I joined the company. And Deluxe had started to diversify. It was much more than just a check company. It had

[00:03:09] started to do things in the fintech space. And specifically, it was doing a lot to serve small businesses. So not only helping small businesses move their money as they had for 100 years, but also help them with things like marketing, how to grow their business, websites, logos, promo and apparel. But the problem was, is that people didn't either know the name Deluxe, or if they did know the name Deluxe, they associated it with checks. And so for us, we really had to use our anniversary as an opportunity to talk about our future and not just,

[00:03:36] you know, create some sort of documentary and legacy of our past. And so I'm a big believer that companies can do well by doing good. And I thought this is a perfect opportunity to prove this thesis. Doing well by Deluxe standards would be raising our brand awareness with small businesses. But on our way to achieving those business results, what could we do that would be good for small businesses? And that's where the Small Business Revolution as a concept was born out of,

[00:04:03] is kind of that ethos. What could we do that would be good for small businesses? And the number one thing small businesses need is for us not to just say we love them, but to put our money where our mouth is and go out and support them. And so the idea was what would happen if we could, instead of, again, creating a piece about ourselves, a deck about ourselves, could we turn the cameras around and go across the country during our 100th year and share the stories of 100 small businesses,

[00:04:29] all with the hopes to create a movement to really help people understand the importance and the important role that small businesses play in our communities, in our neighborhoods, certainly in our country and in our economy. And could we film those almost doc style, cinematic, you know, in order to have the way in which we were capturing these stories be part of the message to show them in, you know, as the heroes we believe that they are. And so that was the idea was it was really

[00:04:56] actually a brand solve. It was how do we get the name Deluxe associated more with small businesses and get in front of that audience. And so we did it by celebrating them and by leading with kind of that movement and authenticity first. So yeah, it was called the Small Business Revolution. And then it turned into a TV show. So. And as you did that show, what was the one story that stuck with you that really hit home? Yeah. So after we did the year of telling the 100 stories, the way it actually

[00:05:23] turned into a TV show is we found that we were going across the country capturing these 100 stories that we rolled out throughout our 100th year. We found that nowhere are small businesses more under siege than in our small towns. It's hard to be an entrepreneur no matter what the size of market you're in. But in our small towns, you have like these major, you know, thoroughfares being rerouted around the historic downtowns. You've got national chains moving in on the edge of town, pushing out our

[00:05:49] mom and pop shops. So we said, what if we continued with this really authentic, beautiful storytelling, but took it a step further and actually also helped the businesses not just share their stories in order to inspire people to support them. But let's also go in and help them with the things that small businesses struggle with. It's also what we were doing as a business at Deluxe. And so it became a small business makeover show. And each season, we revitalized a different small town's main street

[00:06:16] through its small businesses. And so I would say to your original question, my one of my favorite stories was actually from season one. It was in Wabash, Indiana. And it was a woman named Lisa Downs. And she was a paralegal. She always wanted to go into the bridal industry. She always was just attracted to that. She always wanted to do that. But of course, growing up, everybody told her she wouldn't make a living in retail like that. And so she should become a lawyer or a paralegal.

[00:06:40] And so she did do that. She was a good girl and listened. But it always called her back. And so she, in her 40s, left the paralegal field and decided to open a bridal shop. But this was in Wabash, Indiana, which is a town of 8,000 people. It's a pretty small addressable market in terms of how many people are shopping for bridal dresses at any given time. And so we helped her think through a number of different ways, certainly to market her business. But one of the things we asked her was,

[00:07:10] why are you carrying so much debt on your books? I mean, there's a huge amount. And you guys know in the retail space, there's different purchase minimums based on who you're working with. And we found out after digging that she had the same purchase minimums as like a David's bridal. Does that even make... No, it doesn't make sense. So we, of course, not being in the bridal industry or retail that intimately, just ask the question,

[00:07:36] like, well, could you call them and ask them for it to be different? And she said, I guess. And so she did. And they said, well, that's an interesting, you know, that's interesting that you've brought this up. And they said, well, think about it. And she decided she'd have more power in that if she could get other small rural bridal shops to agree. And so she created this coalition of bridal shops across the country who were not competitors of hers, but that they could start sharing things

[00:08:06] like this. They weren't trying to share purchase power, though that could have been a strategy. They were just trying to share a voice. They were trying to, you know, advocate for things within the industry, as well as share different marketing things that they had done or recommendations with each other. And so she was successful. They changed the purchase minimums for bridal shops based on revenue instead of just the fact that you're a bridal shop. And I think about the ripple effect

[00:08:32] of that moment of bravery that she had, that she made that call and that she advocated for not just herself, but for all of the other bridal shop owners that are coming behind her. So that's one of my favorites. So, I mean, the show ran for six seasons. We worked with dozens and dozens of businesses. So it's always hard to pick just a favorite story, but that one stood out to me as just a moment of just great advocacy, I think. I love that story. And thank you for sharing with us. I think

[00:08:57] sometimes you have to pull back the layers to really understand what's the underlining component or issue or something that you need to solve in order to make, you know, to be able to move forward. And I think, you know, that brings me to the fact that you've been really brave and advantageous in your career and always looking for what's next. And I think you have a very interesting story of how you've discovered this next step in your journey in finding Sunshine Studios and being able to have

[00:09:24] a different voice at the table as a business leader and really opened yourself up to the nation as far as as a public speaker and very motivational, inspirational. And we'd love for you to share that story of how you transcended on where you're at today. Yeah, it was a hard, it was a hard decision and an interesting journey. I think many people can relate. You spend your career thinking that you're going after a particular thing. And so I had spent

[00:09:51] my entire career really on that kind of chief marketing officer, chief brand officer, which is what I was at Deluxe track. And, you know, when I took the job at Deluxe, I thought this will be kind of a stepping stone to larger brands. After this one, I'll go and continue to be a chief marketing or chief brand officer at a bigger brand and I'll continue down this path. Everything I had done in my whole career had been around that, you know, any group I was involved in, any sort of networking, everything. But halfway through, I realized I just fell in love with the

[00:10:19] brand storytelling. I mean, in this particular case, instead of creating the show that interrupted what small businesses wanted to be, instead of creating an ad that interrupted the show that small businesses wanted to be watching, we had created the actual show they wanted to spend time with. And it was not only for sure accomplishing all these incredible brand messaging goals, but it was truly inspiring them, educating them. It was creating such value. And I think that just felt right to me and I wanted

[00:10:48] to do more of that. And so I felt called to that. I was not only doing it in my role at Deluxe, doing the Small Business Revolution, but I knew that my next would be somehow related to that. But I've kind of fought it for a while because I thought, I can't do that. I've spent my whole career on this path. I cannot take a right-hand turn now. This will all be for naught. But at some point, I just decided life is short and you need to go and pursue what is truly calling

[00:11:15] to you. And I actually started to see it differently. I started to see it as all of these other pieces of my journey had led me to this right-hand turn. I decided that I wanted to go and start my own studio focused on long-form branded entertainment like this, help other companies do what the Small Business Revolution did for Deluxe. And that's what we do at Sunshine Studios. And it's been very rewarding. But I will say that that was a part of the journey that was hard, was just making the

[00:11:42] turn, you know, making that right-hand turn. And I think a lot of people struggle with that. Like, they can't possibly abandon this path that they've been on. It's scary. It's frightening, right? To take that risk. But that's what your bridal shop owner did. I'm not meant for the legal world. I want to do what I love. I want to do something else. And I think that's a really good lesson. So how do you advise brands on how to find their purpose? How do they take that right turn in making sure that they're leading with doing good?

[00:12:10] Yeah. I think it has to be as heavy as if your business wasn't in business, what would the world be missing? And it can't just be you're another company that produces the same widgets. Is it the way you provide the widgets? Is it the way you provide the service around the widgets? Is it the way you first engineered the widgets because you have such incredible insight to the, you know, the ground level needs of your customer? Like, what is it that

[00:12:40] you are bringing that no one else is? And then I think the other piece is really spending time helping every person on your team see their role in that overall purpose. Because I think it's really easy for those of us in the communications, marketing, branding space to feel good about it because we're close to the heart of it. We're close to the expression of our brand. And so, of course, we feel the soft side of things. But how does that manifest for someone in accounting or in

[00:13:08] operations or in fulfillment, in sourcing? You know, how do they see their skills and how they're using them as a part of the overall purpose of that company? So, I think first and foremost, you have to figure out, you know, why do we exist? And then be doing things that are actionable against that and demonstrating that brand, not just purpose, but brand action. And then I think you have to really help each individual employee and each individual team member see purpose in their work.

[00:13:38] And does that also hold true for individuals? Is it the same concept of how do individuals define their purpose? Yeah. Well, I think I actually, so I've been on this kind of- Secret. I kind of know the answer to this, but go ahead. Well, okay. So, I have, one of the reasons I left Deluxe was to start Sunshine Studios, but also to pursue my speaking full-time. I feel great purpose in speaking and words of affirmation

[00:14:08] is my love language. And I feel like speaking allows me to do that at scale in many ways. And my newest keynote is called The Purpose Pursuit. And it's all about how we pursue purpose in our work and our lives. But the way that talk came to be was I really, after leaving Deluxe, though I was so planful about the exit, I was so planful about starting my own business and logistically and financially, everything was in place. But the thing that I had not prepared myself for was how much of your identity

[00:14:39] is in your job or is in your title or is in your perception of what people think of those things. And I really went into a bit of an identity recalibration. Like, who am I without it? I feel like I had left my mojo with the show and with that project. And so, I did a big deep dive into, you know, what is purpose and how do we find it? And so, I read all the books. I listened to all

[00:15:05] the podcasts. I went on the yoga retreats to the desert. I interviewed hundreds of leaders and kind of came and arrived at this conclusion, which I have in the talk. But this is the answer to it. I do this, though, by the way. Roundabout. And then I'll get back to the question. Okay. So, back to the question is, I actually think the way you find your purpose is by taking the pressure off

[00:15:28] of the very word purpose. I think we have made the word purpose too big. I think we've given it a big capital P. And we talk about purpose as this thing that you're going to find. So, you even use finding like a verb. Like, you are going to find it one day. Like, you need to take action in order to find it. Which implies that you do not yet have it. And what I have found in my own journey,

[00:15:54] and again, in doing all this research, I think that purpose is much more about thin slicing your life. I think it should have a lowercase p. And it is much more about how you move moment to moment interaction to interaction. And your purpose is not this thing that you're going to find, but your purpose is who you are. Yes. And if we see our purpose that way, then you can see purpose immediately. It isn't the thing you're

[00:16:24] going to find if you leave this job or if you build that you're in Patagonia or if you join a nonprofit. Like, your purpose is how you talk to the next person you encounter. Yep. How you talk to yourself. You know, how you talk to your kids. How you write that email. Like, there is purpose in all of that. And so, that's how I think you find your purpose. You stop looking for it. You already have it. So, if I can take a quote directly from your website as I was looking online with this.

[00:16:52] So, purpose isn't a destination we someday reach. It's woven into the small, powerful moments that make up our lives right now. And I love that. And I wanted to write that down because I'm like, that's right. I mean, it makes so much sense. And I think I love the opportunity of the fact that people can connect with you, you can, you know, with your speaking engagements. And you've now developed your own event around the purpose pursuit. And you hosted your first event last September.

[00:17:19] You're looking to host it again this coming September from what I hear. So, I'm super excited. I was traveling when you hosted it last September. So, I'm going to mark my calendar. But talk a little bit about that. I mean, that's a bold move to be able to circle your network around and support you in launching this because you had great attendance, you had great support, great reviews. So, talk a little bit about that. Thank you. Yeah, I'm excited to be able to do it again. So, I have been giving this talk for about

[00:17:44] a year. I give it either going to companies and share it in corporate environments or at conferences. But I wanted to create my own space where anyone could come. You know, both of those are either you work for the company or you're attending the conference. This was open to the public. And I think there was something, Dan and I were talking about it earlier, like there's something magical about even just who ended up in the room. I very much felt like if you were meant to be there, you were there. You know what I mean? You were meant to be there. I will be there. I was there. I promise.

[00:18:11] I think it was just there. Yeah, there was something really, I think, magical about the day. I felt great energy. It was good. Good chemistry. Yeah. A good aura. Yeah. And so, I think the biggest thing that came out of that was that people wanted more. And I think previous versions of me would have told you exactly how I was going to build that out as a plan. And this version of me is, I'm just going to keep letting it speak to me. And as of right now, it's saying, let's do it one more, you know, let's do it another time. Maybe it'll evolve into

[00:18:40] retreats or longer conference. I don't know. But Or it could be hosted at Mall of America, maybe. I would love that. Oh, that's an interesting, that is actually pretty interesting. We should talk about that. Okay. I like it. I like it. Now I'm already trying to think about that. But I think it's really about just kind of holding space for this. And I think that there is something about like, I just, with my talk, I just want to help people feel better. I just want people to see that life

[00:19:09] is so much about our perspective and how we choose to see things. And I like that after, at the end of this talk, I think, well, you were, you could tell me better than I, but I hope that people just see it as like, it just takes some weight off of it. Like, oh. As an attendee, I will tell you. And it was a big crowd. It was an awesome crowd. I got there early. I was the first one in the lobby waiting because that's who I am. And I'm afraid of finding parking,

[00:19:35] right? Because of my age group and made it down there. And for me, and I kind of sense this from the group, everyone was excited, but also what exactly is this, right? We're excited to hear, we love Amanda. And at the end of it, how I felt was like you're saying with a weight lifted off, if I felt more grounded and it felt a little scary going in like, ooh, my purpose, what is this?

[00:19:59] And when I left, it was like, I've got this, right? I have a better feeling of who I am, even just during that time together. So, and I think I reflected the rest of the audience as well. It was amazing. I loved it. Thank you. And I will go back. Thank you. That means so much. That means so much. That is fantastic. So we also mentioned superpowers. So Dan and I are very anxious to learn about this because we want to find our hidden superpower. So how do you navigate that with people?

[00:20:29] Well, one of the ways that I think one can feel like they are living in their purpose on a day-to-day basis is by seeing how your superpowers are just that. My purpose on this planet is to do it this way, the way in which I'm designed. And so that's what I mean by superpowers. So it's not necessarily like invisibility or the ability to fly, though those would be the top two I would pick. That'd be awesome. You know, that'd be pretty great. But it's much more like, are you someone who can hear about a

[00:20:58] big project and instantly think to yourself, okay, these are the 10 steps we need in order to get to that goal line? That's a superpower. Not everybody sees projects that way. They just are overwhelmed by the magnitude of what was just suggested. Are you someone who can truly listen when someone else is speaking? Not be thinking about what you're going to say in response or think about something else, but truly be hearing and seeing them because that means so much to people and that's a superpower.

[00:21:27] So the way I tell people to figure out their superpower, there's a couple of steps. One is it's hard because you don't realize it's a superpower. You think everybody thinks that way. So it's a little bit of like something that is not known to you. So the first thing you can do is ask your, if you have a partner in life, if you have children, if you have close colleagues, you can ask them what their superpowers are and they will, they can tell you almost instantly like, oh, you're always good

[00:21:54] at this or you always do that. And then your first reaction will be to say, that's not a superpower. Like that, I meant a real superpower. Like tell me an actual superpower, but then staff and think about what they said and hear it that way. So that's one of the best ways to find it is to ask someone else. A little scary to ask your family members because who knows what they're going to come up with. But no, I mean, we actually did an exercise similar to this in trying to expose what your

[00:22:22] unique characteristics or abilities are. So it seems very similar where we literally had a sheet of paper. Let's say there was eight people in the room. So it had eight blanks and you literally just passed it to the person. Your name was on the top. You pass it around the room and it's like, just write one word or a short phrase that this, that the individual at the top of the page that they represent or that they're, they have special abilities in or that they really differentiate themselves within the team. So by the time it went around the room, you got it back. You had eight

[00:22:50] different characteristics or things that people thought about you that you, that you brought special to the organization. And it really was something that everybody wants to hang on to. Cause you know, when you're having a bad day, those are the kinds of things you want to look at. They're like, this is what my team looks to me for that I can really elevate the organization or the team or the community with. And so it was a really fun exercise and something very easy that people can do. But I think whether you have that conversation or you're writing it down on paper, those are great boosts that people should have independently to be able to take on. But also

[00:23:18] it's just, it really helps you define who you are and what you can bring to the table. I love that. I'm going to, I have a place to use that. I think that's a really great way to actually get it done on paper. The other thing is to, if you're just doing it yourself, is to think about something that you consider to be a weakness, like something you wish that you were better at, and then take it one or two steps back. And there is probably your superpower.

[00:23:47] Many of our weaknesses are the things that we don't like about ourselves are oftentimes our strengths just overdone. So one might say that they are too gullible, like they, they, or they, they think that they let people walk all over them or take advantage of them. Two steps back from that is that you're trusting, which is fantastic that you, you know, are, want to believe the best in people that you want to be available, that you're helpful. So, so sometimes you can actually see it

[00:24:17] by seeing something you wish was different and then don't wish those things away. Create boundaries for yourself so they stay in that two places back so that people, so it isn't to a place of, of maybe something that's a liability. But, but think about those things as you don't actually want to change yourself. You shouldn't want to change those things unless you're doing something that is hurting other people. You're designed that way on purpose and there's great power to that. And so I think when I

[00:24:44] talk about superpowers, it's really just about a perspective as to who you are, knowing that to not only be true, but to see value in it. And to have the courage to embrace that and to own it. Celebrate it. And celebrate it. You're so cool. Absolutely. Yes. I'm sorry. What was that? You are so cool. Yes. I heard that one. Sorry. Typically he likes to be called brilliant, but we're going to go out and cool right now. It is great. But I think everybody should have that exercise because I think it's really important that people get that pat on the back and like

[00:25:14] really show how they're different and how they bring value to relationships and organizations and communities. So I love that. I would love the opportunity for you to share other things that are coming up. I believe you have a masterclass that's coming up. People could potentially register for. Yes. Yeah. It'll be coming out probably in May, April, May. It'll be available through my website. So it's basically the purpose pursuit. It'll be a full length recording of the talk, but then it'll be broken into about 10 modules that break down these different exercises you can do

[00:25:43] to see purpose in your life. They'll each be about 10 minutes, but we'll just dive into each of them a little bit deeper, very snackable. And then they each have a couple of exercises like what we're talking about. Like how do you identify your superpowers or how do you understand ripple effect? And it just gives people an opportunity to sit with each of these lessons in a little bit more time. Cause I don't know about you, Dan, but I got a lot of feedback afterwards. People said, I loved what you were saying, but I wanted to pause you. I did too.

[00:26:13] Um, also, you know, when I'm out speaking in corporate environments, it's an asset or an item that can be used as a team and team building and working on it together and creating conversations around it and be able to see each other's superpowers and things like that. So yeah. So that'll be coming out this spring. I love it. And where can people find you and follow you? Um, so my website is Amanda K Brinkman. The K is important. Amanda K Brinkman. And my social

[00:26:39] handle is the same. So I'm very active on Instagram and LinkedIn are probably my two favorite platforms, but I also have a public page on Facebook. So Amanda K Brinkman. Fantastic. Thank you so much for joining us today. And I think this is an episode that our friends and followers are going to want to share with their friends, their colleagues, their family, because what a great way to kick off the year, but to dive a little deeper into your individual purpose and how you can make a meaningful impact and lead with doing good. So thank you so

[00:27:08] much for sharing all your fabulous insights. And that is going to do it for this episode of So Much More. Be sure to follow Amanda on all of her channels. I'm a huge follower of LinkedIn with her and just appreciate all of her insights and check out this masterclass, check out the event coming up in September with the Purpose Pursuit. So many wonderful things. So happy new year to everyone. And we'll see you next time on So Much More. Thanks for listening to So Much More, a Mall of America podcast. Subscribe wherever you find

[00:27:38] your favorite podcasts. This show is presented by Bloomington, Minnesota Travel and Tourism.