Episode 49: How to Cut Through Digital Marketing Overwhelm with Dana Snyder
Transcript Episode 49
Stephanie Skryzowski
Welcome to the 100 degrees of entrepreneurship podcast the show for purpose driven entrepreneurs who want to get inspired to step outside of your comfort zone, expand it to your purpose and grow your business in a big way. I’m your host, Stephanie Skryzowski, a globe trotting CFO whose mission is to empower leaders to better understand their numbers, to grow their impact and their income. Let’s dive in!
Hey everybody, welcome back to 100 degrees of entrepreneurship. I’m Stephanie and I’m excited to be here today with my new friend Dana Snyder. Dana is an entrepreneur, a digital strategist and a passionate conscious consumer. She founded Positive Equation in 2017 to help nonprofits raise more funds online through digital marketing.
Based in Atlanta, Dana has worked with Movember, Dress for Success, American Idol, The Global Food Banking Network, the Gary Sinise Foundation and many more on their digital strategies.
Dana frequently speaks on innovative ways for nonprofits to increase their online fundraising efforts. She has been a featured speaker at We Are For Good, Wise Los Angeles, YNPN, Television Academy Foundation, NonprofitWebAdvisor, Sprout Social, Givebutter, Dress for Success, and many more.
Dana graduated with a bachelor’s degree in advertising and public relations from the University of Central Florida. I’m really excited to have her on the podcast today to talk all things digital marketing and strategy. Not only for nonprofits, but also for small businesses and entrepreneurs because nonprofits are entrepreneurial like to their core!
So, we talk all about digital marketing and what that looks like, social media and not only what she does, but also what you can do as an entrepreneur to up your digital marketing game and hint it, it is not being on all the platforms. And actually, when I asked Dana, what her ideal preferred platforms are, it kind of surprised me a little bit. I hope you enjoy this interview and I know you will have some big takeaways for how to improve your digital marketing game.
Hey everybody, welcome back to 100 degrees of entrepreneurship. I am super excited to be here with a new-ish friend of mine, Dana Snyder. Dana, welcome.
Dana Snyder
Hey, hey! Good to be here too!
Stephanie Skryzowski
Awesome. Well tell us a little bit about who you are, what you do.
Dana Snyder
Yeah, so I cannot believe this, but I’m entering my fifth year of owning Positive Equation. I focused on really doing a lot of research and teaching and providing particularly nonprofits, with the most innovative and up to date, social media, digital marketing, tools, platforms, strategies, all encompassing the digital marketing space so that they can really grow and amplify their online voice and raise more funds.
And if you would’ve told me five years ago that I would still be doing this, I probably would have questioned myself. And it’s been such an adventure for those entrepreneurs listening. I think year one and year two can be super trying. But it’s really exciting to be sitting here talking to you in your five.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Yehey! Congrats on your five! That’s amazing! Isn’t there some stat that’s like, most small businesses don’t make it past like, a certain number of years. And I think five is like you’ve definitely crossed that threshold, so you’re good. Were you always in marketing, always in digital marketing? Is this what you’ve thought like is this kind of always been your career path or your dream?
Dana Snyder
So it’s funny is, I graduated from college, this will be like adding my age to things. I graduated from college in 2010. So at that time, social media and the digital space was nothing like what it is now. I mean, if you look back, YouTube was just a couple years old. Instagram was super old school. Nothing in social was really utilized for a business purpose until a few years later.
When I was graduating and going through my degree from UCF, I sent faxes. Sounds so silly, but like, I was an ad PR grad. I literally was learning how to fax a press release. So as soon as I entered employment, and digital was like coming of age, like I was coming of age as it was happening. I’ve always loved social media from the standpoint that you as an individual can have a voice and have the ability to create a movement and change, regardless of if you’re a multi million dollar organization or not, right?
So I’ve always had this interest but it slowly has evolved as honestly the space itself has. My first job was at a nonprofit, doing marketing and development and all the things as it normally does. And then, I moved to New York City and lived the agency life for about five years working in Digital and Web development. I loved it.
And then, decided that I really wanted to take what I had learned and go back to the nonprofit sector. Because my mind was just blown from all the creativity and experiences that we were creating at the agencies. I was like, there’s no reason why I can’t just take all of this and use it for good. That essentially is what created Positive Equation five years ago.
Stephanie Skryzowski
I love that! I feel like the nonprofit space, it has a little bit of a reputation for being kind of old school, sometimes like resistant to change and things like that. And then, we have this digital marketing, which is like this ever evolving beast and there’s new things all the time.
It’s dominated by younger people in general. Do you feel in the work that you do like there’s any kind of push back or resistance to some of these newer things? And this creative stuff that you worked on in the agencies in New York City.
Dana Snyder
Yeah, what’s really interesting, especially, I mean, look what we just lived through slash are living through right now where everything was digital. I mean, I’ve been using Zoom for meetings since I started and working remotely for five years. So those things weren’t a new concept and I was a digital producer on American Idol.
So we were live streaming all the time, like a lot of the things that I had been doing became new to the nonprofit space. I mean, the idea of a virtual event seemed bananas to people, right? Like how is this going to work? fundraising through social media and through creating a campaign page? Like, what is that? Doing social ads, all of that was very new.
But I think it’s like transition now to being the norm. And also just understanding consumer behavior. We as a society, when the nonprofits look at, okay, where is my audience? There’s 2 billion people on social, right? So if you say my audience isn’t there, that’s not true.
My mom can be 70 and she’s all over Facebook. Right? So it’s like, the question that I ask all the time is, do you make a purchase on Amazon? If the answer is yes, then your donor is likely on social media or digital platform, and are going to donate to you online.
So there has been some risk adverse mindset nature, especially when it comes to specifically in your old finance, like moving some of that budget to go towards digital resources, that can be more difficult, but then that’s where everyone is shifting to. I think now it’s not when do we have to do this, it’s how do we do it in the best way possible?
Stephanie Skryzowski
That’s really interesting, like the fact that you brought up the budget. I feel like a lot of people think, well, social media is free, right? Like Instagram, you can just set up a free account on Instagram, Facebook is free.
But you kind of do need a budget. So what goes into a nonprofit? Or I guess even a small business? Like what goes into a digital marketing budget? Like what do you need? What do you have to spend money on?
Dana Snyder
Yeah, there’s a lot of things I think the core buckets are, how are you going to manage these channels? So to make ease of time with batching, and scheduling content, you need a scheduling management platform that also gives you analytics, ideally. So most of those things cost something right on either a monthly or annual basis.
And then you have content creation, right? Are you doing that… are you subscribing to something like Canva that has a monthly or annual cost? Are you hiring a graphic designer? That person has a cost. Ads, are you going to run ads? What is your ad budget? Who’s going to run those ads? Right? So there’s personnel, there’s platform, and there’s content creation.
Say I want to do a Facebook Live, of course, you can do that technically for free. But if you want to have a big production, there’s amazing tools like SlingStudio that allow you to do multi cam, automatic production with this Facebook Live. So then you’re paying for this tool, it ebbs and flows.
But I would say like the main categories are your personnel, the platforms that you utilize, and then if you’re going to have ad spend to build and to amplify.
Stephanie Skryzowski
And it seems like just kind of winging it, and like throwing some posts out on social media without a strategy and budget behind it. Like that’s kind of pointless, right, like you need some direction. I would imagine. So do you help organizations create that strategy?
Dana Snyder
Yes, that’s a lot of the free resources and guides that I put out. And for the first time ever, I’m hosting an in person retreat. It’s gonna be like a two day retreat in Atlanta. Nonprofit content marketing strategy retreat, literally the whole point of the weekend is, it’s two days long. The first day is all about auditing your organization looking back at the previous year to look at your data and what works, just like what you’re saying, right?
You don’t want to be throwing spaghetti on the wall, you want to know strategically what social media content and metrics are going to align with your business goals, so that you’re focusing and you’re putting that spend in the right buckets, and focusing on the right platforms and tools. And then so that’s the whole first day is auditing, goal setting, understanding where we’ve been to where we should be going.
And then day two is literally going to be putting together the 2022 digital marketing plan. So what should your spend be every single month? What does that content look like? Should you be doing live, let’s look at one of your tentpole events that you might have throughout the year giving cycles. What should we be doing during that time frame?
So all of that from like soup to nuts will be drafted. But traditionally, the biggest thing I focus on more so now is the social media advertising space. So how to keep in always on approach to be top of mind when it comes to either from a donor perspective, or I do this in my own business, right.
And I’m obviously a for profit business. So I want to say top of mine in my clients eyes that I am a credible source for information regarding my niche of digital marketing. And so how can you use social media ads to do that?
Stephanie Skryzowski
I love that, oh, my gosh, this event, I’m so excited for you. So I’m assuming this is like as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, this is one potential revenue stream for you. Have you done events before?
Dana Snyder
I’ve been to a bunch.
Stephanie Skryzowski
But never run your own?
Dana Snyder
No. And so I’m bringing in a good friend of mine, Bree, she’s coming in from Oklahoma. She’s a brilliant branding strategist. And so we’re going to be diving into branding. First and foremost, I think that’s the big part of coming up with your content strategy.
And honestly, the biggest thing that I’ve taken away from events is they need to be fun, they need to be educational. But then also, I feel like when you go to conferences, you’re learning so much, and you’re taking so many notes and you’re like, this is great.
But then you’re not being able to implement anything. And so then you leave and you get back into the hustle and bustle of real life. But you haven’t actually concretely have anything.
So this specifically, we’re leaving hours of time, where it’s working time. We’ve taught you everything you need to know. Now Bree and I, and potentially some expert guests that are going to show up or virtually are going to drop in, and we’re going to walk around and we’re going to help you. So that you’re leaving with something tangible.
Stephanie Skryzowski
That’s amazing! I feel like the typical conference, you’re sitting in a hotel ballroom for three days, and you have sessions on this and sessions on that and sessions on this. And you’re learning snippets of different things along the way.
Dana Snyder
Like 1,000 people.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Yeah, you have this notebook of notes, you get on the plane home, the notebook gets filed away, and you go back to work on Monday and you’re like, okay, business as usual. Like, what was the point of that? Like $1000, 5 days, like, I love that. So they are going to walk away with their 2022 digital marketing plan in hand.
Dana Snyder
Yep. And a fully branding exercise. We’re gonna have Mallory Erickson, who I think you know, she’s gonna come in and talk about corporate partnerships, and how to really align those because that goes into part of what I love to do is work on what’s co branded content that you can do with partners, and how you can work out sponsorship deals with that. So it’s gonna be really good. And then you have the fun stuff, right?
Like, we’re gonna do some networking, I’m gonna plan some fun dinners at Pond City Market close by. So it’s gonna be a small group, I really want it to be 15 to 20 people max. So it’s a very customized, very personal with networking, and you get to learn from each other and learn from the experts in the room too.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Oh my gosh, this sounds amazing and it’s also my dream. I was telling you before we started recording that like, I’m dying to like host some sort of in person something. I just…
Dana Snyder
I would be there.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Oh, I love hosting, I love planning travel, I love planning experiences, I love giving gifts. I’m like that would be my dream.
Dana Snyder
Yeah, I’m an Enneagram 7, so through and through I’m the adventurer and I always like planning a new thing.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Yes, I feel like as entrepreneurs, anytime we do something a little bit different or that we haven’t done before, it can feel a little bit scary, a little bit outside your comfort zone. Are you feeling any of that as you’re leading up to this event? Or are you like the Enneagram 7s like no, this is gonna be so fun and awesome.
Dana Snyder
Well, I think what’s interesting is, this all came about, honestly very random. So and maybe other entrepreneurs can attest to this as being a solo entrepreneur that so I normally have a six month mastermind, that I lead for nonprofit leaders. I was supposed to start in January and go through June.
I was prepping that at the beginning or that the end of December and getting people enrolled and all the things. And then, I ended up having a miscarriage. That shut down, like December. The beginning of January and I just needed a break. And so the mastermind did not fit anymore for what I thought would be doable for me and manageable.
So I needed to re-center myself, and what do I want to do? What feels good to me right now, in terms of serving. And what I’ve loved, like through going through this experience is community and the support of others has been amazing.
And so I just pivoted the six month mastermind into this two day retreat. That felt good to be in person with people, to have that sense of community to have something that you show up, and you’re learning and you’re happy to be surrounded by these awesome people, and you leave with something that you’re confident, and you feel empowered to execute.
Like, that felt good and it’s also within a window where you show up, we do it and you leave and you go. And I was like, I think I needed that right now. I think you have to listen to yourself as an entrepreneur. I think, especially if you’re working in a more of a solo capacity is, we might have all these dreams, but it’s like what feels good to me right now. And give yourself the grace to be able to pivot when you need to.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Yeah, that’s beautiful. I’m so sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine how difficult that must have been. But what a beautiful thing that you’re able to listen to yourself and really know what you needed. And what you needed was not a six month commitment to a mastermind and maybe not showing up as your best because you had other stuff going on that you were dealing with.
And so being able to pivot that, and I feel like as entrepreneurs, having that ability and power to do that is like, that’s one of the best things about it. I feel like you know, you don’t have to show up at work on Monday morning at nine o’clock and like, do something you can you can shift and change.
Dana Snyder
Yeah, 100% yeah, I was like that when it all happened, I just stopped answering anything. And I could do that, and I could choose to do that. So yeah, absolutely agree with that!
Stephanie Skryzowski
That’s awesome. Well, that’s super exciting about the event. So we’ll definitely like you can send us all the links and we’ll put them in the show notes so people can check that out. Do you find that a lot of the strategies that you’re using for nonprofits are using the same kind of strategies in your own business as an entrepreneur?
Dana Snyder
100%. So many things are repurposed for different industries. So a great example is I teach this idea of the ideal donor avatar exercise. You do the exact same thing as an entrepreneur with an ideal customer avatar exercise. The questions are all very similar.
The only thing that I add for nonprofits is a section on giving habits. So understanding like how does your ideal donor give? Are they a recurring donor? Do they give to multiple organizations? What would make them leave? You essentially could ask the same thing and client, how many times are they going to purchase your product?
It’s just switching the narrative on the communication. Another example is funnels, right? We call them more funnels in the entrepreneurship world, I call it a donor’s journey in the nonprofit space. So 100% I think the biggest thing that I tell nonprofits all day is you’re a business. You might not be selling a service or a physical product, but your sales quote unquote is donations.
So how are we creating different products like I think recurring giving products and really having a brand around that. And you have a website around that and communication and marketing materials. It’s the same thing. It’s just different, like terminology that you use that reflects better and is more understood in the nonprofit sector. But yeah, 100%!
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Oh my gosh, this is just like so needed. I feel like there’s so much out there for business owners about like building funnels and talking to your ideal clients, but it just doesn’t, you just don’t see that as much in the nonprofit space. And I feel like you’re really a disrupter. Do you feel that way? Do you consider yourself a disrupter?
Dana Snyder
That’s what I hope to be. I do digital audits, for clients that are very comprehensive that look at your whole digital ecosystem, essentially. I did one before the holiday. And I was just looking into their Google Analytics, mobile versus desktop, website views; and business owners, we can do the same thing, and we should. Looking at where’s your traffic coming from, and mobile desktop, how many visitors do you have coming in, and how many sales are happening on either mobile or desktop.
This organization had double the amount of website traffic. But like, only 19%, I think of their revenue was coming in on mobile. So they were missing this huge opportunity. And then we were able to look into like, oh, your like UI UX your user experience on your website on mobile is restricting people from easily being able to access your donation.
It’s like, way down like four or five clicks before you even get to it. And they were mind blown that this one simple step could earn them six figures and potential donor revenue. So I love being able to dive in and take the things that I’ve learned from like the business space and apply them to the nonprofit industry and ask the harder questions.
So yeah, I love the fact of being considered a disrupte r. I would consider that a compliment.
Stephanie Skryzowski
I love it! That’s awesome! Well, it was intended to be. So you’re like in the social media space all day, every day, you know, for your own business working with nonprofits, do you ever get burnt out on social media?
Dana Snyder
So what’s interesting about that is I did this own audit for myself this past year. And I realized what platforms made the most sense for my business. So from a social media standpoint, I have two primary channels that have completely had a 180 switch from last year.
So I focus on LinkedIn and YouTube. It’s where my primary audience is. And I focus a lot on YouTube, because it’s owned by our best friend, Google. So from a search optimization standpoint, if I want to be known as a thought leader, and raise brand awareness for myself, as a digital marketer for nonprofits, that’s a game changer place for me to be. And I want to be a thought leader so for LinkedIn makes sense for me.
So Instagram, is my problem platform. Like if I go on there, I get lost in the scroll. So I don’t actually have an Instagram strategy for myself. I have a YouTube a very thoughtful YouTube and blog strategy for myself this year, and LinkedIn.
So I think it’s doing an analysis of your own personal business, and understanding where do I actually need to be that makes the difference. And then going back to Google Analytics, I realized the people that came from YouTube stayed on my website for like eight minutes.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Wow!
Dana Snyder
Yeah, versus somebody who came from Instagram was like, a minute and a half.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Wow!
Dana Snyder
So yeah, I had way more qualified leads coming from YouTube, that I was like, this is where I should be investing my time. And LinkedIn, versus something that I also get lost in. So like, I would say, I have definitely been lost in the world of social. But now it’s just taking a much more strategic approach to what makes sense.
Stephanie Skryzowski
That is super powerful. I love the YouTube strategy. Because like you said, that connection to Google and how YouTube is like a search engine. And versus just like playing around on Instagram. So that’s very interesting.
Dana Snyder
Yeah, and you also have on YouTube, sorry I’m just gonna say on YouTube, somebody, like you just said, it’s a search platform. So somebody has the intent and the desire already to find something that you’re an expert in.
Right, because you’re searching for versus Instagram or just kind of scrolling and you’ll see like, what comes up? You’re not typically sometimes you’re searching by hashtags. And most of the time if you’re just scrolling, you’re kind of like there for entertainment purposes.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Yeah, that’s so interesting. It’s also kind of calling me out a little bit, which was… I know but I’m like, yeah, I’m maybe spending too much time on Instagram and maybe should do this like slightly more strategically. I have started using LinkedIn a little bit more consistently because I think, you know, we definitely have people there.
But I’ve never done like a full. Well, I shouldn’t say never. I’ve looked it before, like where all of our clients have come from, and it’s like 95% referrals and like, basically 0% Instagram. So I’m like, why am I spending so much time writing captions on Instagram?
Dana Snyder
Yeah, same, yeah. Well, you can do and this is what I’m doing is I am going to invest in ads. So that content will be on Facebook and Instagram. I don’t have to organically post as much. Right now, for example, in anybody’s totally, you can copy this.
I have five pieces of content that are running for $1 a day. So it’s $5 a day total on Facebook, and Instagram. And the five pieces of content are different, like articles that show incredible. I was on the leader for good podcasts, which I know your friends have John and Becky. So I put my link to my podcast episode with them.
I have five different pieces of content and I am targeting my warm audience. So people who have visited my website, who have engaged with me on Facebook and Instagram before, and who are part of my email list. And it’s a reach campaign. So the only point of it is for me to pop up continuously in their feed with these different five pieces of content.
So I’m not posting daily on Facebook or Instagram. But to the people that I care about, they’re still seeing me.
Stephanie Skryzowski
And I imagine you picked out five of like your best or slash most relevant pieces of content.
Dana Snyder
Yeah, right. Yeah, exactly.
Stephanie Skryzowski
That’s amazing! Yeah, so for five bucks a day, you are not having to show up, but you’re still showing up and people are seeing your face.
Dana Snyder
That’s right, in showing up and seeing the content that I want them to see. Right.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Right. Right. Exactly. Oh, I love that! That’s awesome! What are you doing on LinkedIn and are nonprofits using LinkedIn in the same ways that they’re using Facebook and Instagram?
Dana Snyder
So on LinkedIn, was talking about it twofold. One, as an entrepreneur, I focus on LinkedIn. It’s almost in sharing a little bit of personal and professional mix together. Text only works the best for LinkedIn. There was like one post I shared. And it’s also understanding who your audience is.
There’s one post I shared about, my dad was going to donate to a nonprofit and he was all excited because they had a really low percentage in like operations. And I was immediately like you know, how you spend like, how many cents on the dollar for operations stick? And I was like, why is that stat important to you, dad?
Yeah. He was like well said, and I was like, Do you wonder how much it costs for your coffee mug to be created? And like, no. I was like then why do you and I just kind of like started to ask him these questions. And I was like, nonprofit employees should be paid wages, that living wages, because you need great people in order to execute these really important missions.
And if they’re not paid well, then they’re gonna leave, then you have a low retention rate. So I shared this post on LinkedIn of our conversation and it blew up.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Really?
Dana Snyder
Yeah, it garnered so much conversation that like 50,000 views for LinkedIn posts getting 900 and something. Yeah, I got a ton of traffic. So personally, I find a lot of success in personal antidote slash teaching things slash something that your audience can really engage upon.
And then from a nonprofit side, I think there’s so many benefits to LinkedIn. I mean, it depends upon, again, your business goals or what you’re trying to achieve, I think something that nonprofits are missing right now. And I’m actually working with Mallory on something around this is there’s $4-7 billion in employee matching funds that go unused every year.
Every year, and LinkedIn is the best place where people mark where they work. So we can figure out a way to run really strategic ad campaigns, highlighting the fact, knowing who are the companies that have matching programs, and reach those employees, matching them with a mission that’s going to align with the values of the business that they work for.
I think there’s some magic there. LinkedIn can be used a lot of times for just like the direct messages for potential new board members, also reaching out for brand partnerships. So, that’s a big one. I you want to work, I’m just making this up. If you want to find the Director of Marketing at Target, right? LinkedIn is going to be the place to go to try and start that conversation. There’s a lot of different use cases depending upon what you’re looking to achieve.
Stephanie Skryzowski
That’s so interesting because I would not have even I mean, clearly I’m not in marketing or development. So I wasn’t thinking about any of that. I was just like, dude, nonprofits find like donors on LinkedIn. And it sounds like that’s not the primary use case.
But you just listed several that would be amazing for LinkedIn. So I love that. And I think it sounds like overall social media strategy is not about I think we all know this to a degree, right? But it’s not about being on every single platform. It’s about figuring out what your goals are, and then figuring out what platforms are most effective for you.
And then finding that magic place between the two, and I love that you’re like, okay, I’m on YouTube and LinkedIn, and that’s where my focus is. You’re not like, and Facebook and Instagram and Pinterest and all the things.
Dana Snyder
Right. I never say yeah, you have to find out what works for you in your business.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Yeah, it’s so easy to get distracted. I feel like there was a hot second that I was like, I think I need to be on Pinterest. And I’m like, toiling over Canva creating stupid like, things on Pinterest, like, what am I doing? This is not for me.
Dana Snyder
Well I did that, too. And what’s interesting is I got a ton of website traffic from doing that with Pinterest of blogs. But it was horrible. The bounce rate was like 87%. And it was like, okay, yes, the website traffic views were there, but they’re not quality leads. So that’s the other thing you have to look at is get past just like the vanity metrics of something.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Yeah, if they’re not your people, then there’s no point in wasting your time and money with it. Yeah, that’s so smart. I think I need to like rein in my Instagram. Instagram usage. Definitely do. Oh, my God.
Dana Snyder
I mean, I see you, gosh, I mean, Stephanie is gonna be my CFO, everyone. So I think there’s so many things that, oh, man, finance, I think is such an interesting concept, because we all desperately need it. And so you becoming a thought leader I could totally see you doing it depends.
I mean, audio is definitely your jam. So this podcast being a great source of information, and then turning that into a blog content, like I could see honing in on in the blogs, like what audience you’re trying to serve, based upon what you include in that blog content. Could be awesome. I could see LinkedIn working really well, too.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Yeah, I agree with you. It’s more just like, oh, my gosh, the time, the time and the people? Do you ever find like, have you worked with any type of organization that you feel like social media, digital marketing, like doesn’t really work for them?
Dana Snyder
Doesn’t work for them?
Stephani Skryzowski
Or it’s like hard? Like, I know, you said, your audience is there, you just have to figure out where they are and how to talk to them and how to, you know, target them. But if you’re found like, it just doesn’t work?
Dana Snyder
No, I don’t think so. I also encompass digital marketing, also, including your website. So I mean, I think everyone needs a website? No. If you’re very specific about your messaging and your content, and how it applies value to the person you’re looking to work with.
I think it can work. I’m just like trying to wrack my brain. But no, I think in any different world, all the platforms are also so different. Like if you put on your user hat for a second, like where you go for different things.
It’s thinking about that, as your client, like, where are they going? And how am I showing up there to be of benefit to them? And I think that can be any business, whether you’re a pizza restaurant, to a boutique, to a small business owner providing financial services, right?
Or me working in the nonprofit space, every business is so different, that if we really niche down and are providing valuable content, then I think, I think it’s just finding your place like we talked about on the different channels. And no, I think it can work for everybody.
Stephanie Skryzowski
I agree. Awesome! Well, as we are wrapping up, I always like to ask a couple questions that are kind of selfish, because I want to know the answer for myself. So our last two questions. So my first one is what helps you disconnect from work?
Dana Snyder
Oh, my dog. For sure. Oh, my gosh, best decision ever. He’s a Labradoodle, he’s a mini Labradoodle. He’s the best and we got him at the very beginning of COVID. Because COVID Hit that weekend when everything kind of hit the fan was my birthday weekend. And we’re supposed to get married two weeks from then in Mexico.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Oh my gosh, I didn’t know that.
Dana Snyder
Yeah, so that didn’t happen. So I was like, I need an emotional support animal
Stephanie Skryzowski
We’re getting a dog, if we can’t go to Mexico and get married, we’re getting a dog. Love it!
Dana Snyder
He’s amazing because he’ll just like sit in my office and then he’ll just like tuck his head and set it on my leg and he’ll just like look at me and be like, “mom it’s time to go outside.”
Stephanie Skryzowski
Yeah, so I feel like it’s actually physically have to disconnect for work.
Dana Snyder
Physically have to leave and I do my best to leave my phone at the house and go walk with him without a cell phone. Yeah, so that is for sure. My top piece of advice, get an animal.
Stephanie Skryzowski
I love it! I know, I have an animal, I have a 13 year old doggie but he’s getting kind of old. But I do have kids and they kind of count the same thing. So yes. Go be with them, put the phone in another room. That’s a great point about not taking your phone with you on a walk. I need to physically disconnect from my phone more often.
Dana Snyder
Yeah, I don’t need any of those push notifications.
Stephanie Skryzowski
No, I have no notifications anymore, except text messages and that is it. Yeah, I hear you. My second question is, I don’t know if you’re a big reader. But if you are a reader, do you have a good book recommendation for books that you’ve read recently? Could be fiction or nonfiction?
Dana Snyder
Yes, so many. So I know we are on video. You can see there’s like books behind me. So, I alternate between a nonfiction business book and a fiction business.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Me too! That’s what I do too.
Dana Snyder
So if I turn around, I’m gonna go with an oldie but a goodie.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Okay.
Dana Snyder
So Good is the New Cool, it’s bright orange. It’s amazing. This book made me quit my job five years ago.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Wow!
Dana Snyder
So yeah, Bobby and Afdhel are amazing. They’re the authors, co authors. And I ended up reading this book, saw him speak in New York City when I still lived there, quit my job, sent him a tweet that I quit my job because of his book.
And he’s like, excuse me. Who are you? And then we both serendipitously moved to LA in the same week. And he invited me to his book launch party, and we’ve been friends ever since.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Oh, that’s so cool. Look at that, the power of social media, the power tweet.
Dana Snyder
That’s right. That’s right.
Stephanie Skryzowski
I love it! Okay, I’m adding this to my lottery list on Goodreads.
Dana Snyder
This is the inspiration. And like format for the one day that I write a book, how I would write a book, he interviews a ton of amazing people in the purpose, industry brands doing good. And then from all of his interviews creates this process to then implement, which I think is so smart. That’s what he teaches on today.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Oh my gosh, so cool. It’s on my list now. Awesome. Thank you for sharing that.
Dana Snyder
Welcome.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Okay, so where can our listeners find you on YouTube and LinkedIn?
Dana Snyder
That’s right, on YouTube and LinkedIn, so I mean, everything Positive Equation, or Dana Snyder is where they can fine me.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Perfect. Okay, cool. Well, Dana, thank you so much for joining me. I was able to join you on one of your YouTube like live streams a few weeks ago. And now we get to connect here. So it’s great to get to know you more. And yeah, we’ll put all of your links in the show notes. And if you are a nonprofits and want some in depth digital marketing support in Atlanta, next month, what are the dates for your retreat again?
Dana Snyder
It is February 26th and 27th. It’s the Friday and Saturday before the P to P, the peer to peer conference in Atlanta. So times up really well.
Stephanie Skryzowski
Perfect! Oh, that’s awesome. Cool. Well, we will definitely link all of that stuff. Well, thank you so much for being here. It’s great to chat with you.
Dana Snyder
You too. Thanks, Stephanie!
Stephanie Skryzowski
Thanks for listening to the 100 degrees of entrepreneurship podcast. To access our show notes and bonus content, visit 100degreesconsulting.com/podcast. Make sure to snap a screenshot on your phone of this episode and tag me on instagram @stephanie.skry and I’ll be sure to share. Thanks for being here friends, and I’ll see you next time!
Transcript for Episode 49
