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Meeting Zoe And Many Lives

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Okay, hello everyone. Super excited to have Zoe here today. Um, and I do have a question for you. So you've done a lot. Um, you've been a gamer, you've started um inevitable, you've what was that last one? Oh, you've been on reality TV shows, which is insane. So I just wanted to ask, what do you think your favorite of all of those have been?

SPEAKER_00 0:21

My favorite, so yeah, I'm I'm 31 years old and I've lived a lot of different lives. Yeah. So I I think my favorite is actually, hmm, maybe you can throw it for a loop. Maybe the Twitch streamer. I used for my my full-time gaming was such a just a random like leap of faith that was very scary. And it brought me to where I am today. But it was really scary because I was going from a comfortable job that was What were you doing before that? I was working at, do you know the company called Ghost?

SPEAKER_01 0:59

No.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Ghost Energy. Wait, yeah. Yeah, I was working there for uh like almost two years, and it was before they even launched, or or I started working for them before they even launched energy drinks. It was just supplements at first. Oh, what were you doing there? I was I got hired as part-time customer support, and it actually I didn't want to do it at first. Um, and I'm really glad that I did. I I felt like I was taking a couple steps back because I prior to that was working, I was managing GNC's, the supplement stores, and I met the founders of Ghost while I worked there. And I just uh I was leaving GNC and I'm like, okay, fine. I customer support doesn't seem like something I like really want to do, but like maybe I'll just give it a chance. And it was Ghost was so small at the time, and I was employee

From Ghost Energy To Twitch

SPEAKER_00 1:55

number eight there, and I saw a brand grow from like so small to so big. They just sold their huge now. It's huge.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Like I see them in I literally every day go to a gas station and I see it though every morning. I'm like, maybe I should maybe I should switch up my usual order. I never do, but yeah, it's the it's everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

And I was part of the first, like I tried the very first can of Gross Energy with them and helped them fix all of those all kinds of challenges launching that. And I got into gaming. Well, I've always been a little bit of like a like a closet nerd. Like I love Pokemon. I didn't when I was in like high school and college, I was too cool for games. But I like if I picked them back up. Yeah, like I if if I was not trying to be too cool, I probably like would have like loved to still be playing games from like when I was little. But I love Pokemon, I just think it's so fun and cute. And just gaming is fun, and you like get to hang out with people. And I Ghost actually launched a a gaming product. And the reason why I got back into gaming was I was helping them build their community for gaming. And so we would game at work and we built a Twitch at work, and then I was like, Well, I'm learning how to do this anyways. I might as well like make my own. And we would all like game after work, and then I bought I build built a following just like after work and just doing it for fun, just doing it for fun. Did you like build a big following? Um, I mean, it's I like I built a big enough following to like pay my bills with gaming. Yeah. So then I just left Ghost and I gamed and it was really cool. It was scary though. Wait, what games were you playing? Guess.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Um wait, if the how long ago was it? Like, okay, you're 31. You used to do that when you were like 20, probably. That was like 10 years ago. Twenty I was 20, I was 24.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Was it like Fortnite? I played a little bit of Fortnite. It wasn't my main game though.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Wait, is it like something related to like Pokemon kind of? I'm not big into gaming. It was, I played mostly Call of Duty, which is like so doesn't seem right for me. Oh wait, okay, okay, wait, that makes sense. Call of Duty, yeah. Is that like okay, wait, is that like a shoot? That's like one of the shooters. That's one of the shooters. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

Oh, the only games I know are like GTA and Fortnite. GTA is very trendy right now. The new ones coming up. Are you gonna play it? Maybe. I had the other my other favorite thing, so I played Call of Duty mostly, but then I had um a Grand Theft Auto server, which is like you you make your own like land basically. And it was really funny because I you you like skit. You you like skits, yeah. Um, but you all have like your own character in it. And so I had like my whole Twitch community, whoever wanted to come, I they had to like interview, and I made it like this funny thing with the community where like they had to interview live. So they'd come onto my stream, kind of like a podcast, and they would tell me who they want their character to be, why they like why they deserve to be in in I called it agave land, um, and like what they would be doing. And I would, if they didn't take it seriously, I would be like, You're no, you're not. You got it's like a you can interview again, but next, you know. It's like Dungeons and Dragons, but online. Exactly. So sick. And then we had it, I like have never laughed so hard at like just the skit behind Grand Theft Auto, and it was so fun.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Oh, wait, yeah, that sounds great. Did you stream that stuff too?

SPEAKER_00 5:30

Yeah, that uh it wasn't as consistent. Anytime like a new game came out, everyone would want to play it, and then we would play it for a little bit and be like, let's go back to Call of Duty. It was fun though.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

Wait, yeah, that's sick. Okay, wait. Um, moving on, huge reality TV too. How did you get how did you even get into that? Was it did you think the gaming was related to that, or did you just like find it happened?

SPEAKER_00 5:51

Yeah, I kind of skipped over that part. So basically, I was into fitness and then, or and I still am, but like fitness and health and better for you. Oh, well, you had a degree in nutrition, right? I was going to school for dietetics and I actually didn't finish. But I because I wanted to focus on ghost and it was so fun, and I was like, I'll just take a break. And if I want to go back, I can always go back. I never went back because I built my business and everything. Yeah. But along the way, I so I was into fitness and I had like a fitness Instagram, and I was Fitzoe. Throwback. I was Fitzoe. And but then I started posting about gaming too while I was at Ghost. So I this reality TV show called Frogger, it's based on an 80s

Building A Streaming Community

SPEAKER_00 6:45

uh game that you literally do you know, do you know this? Wait, I don't think so. I feel like maybe it's not not my generation or yours. No, no, no. It's yeah, but before my generation too. So it's very old. But basically, the whole game is literally a frog that's trying to like cross the street and like move through obstacles. Wait, actually, no, I think I played that when I was a kid. Maybe, yeah, yeah. So they made a like wipeout type version of it. So like a huge uh obstacle course. Oh, like people doing that. Yeah, I was the frog. Oh, me and others were the frog, and that was the reality TV show. And someone just like messaged me on Instagram and said, We are casting for this show. They didn't tell us like too much about it. Um, and I thought it was a scam. And but then I was like, let me just like see. And so I started going to these virtual interviews and phone calls and stuff, and then I kind of like forgot about it. And then I got a phone call, and they're like, We uh you made it, and it's uh starting in uh four weeks, maybe five weeks. This was while you were like game. Yeah, well, I was I was actually still at Ghost. Oh and they said it's it's going in or it's starting in five five weeks, it's being filmed in Australia. Um, we just need you to sign your final documents and then we'll get your like itinerary ready. And I was like, wait, I forgot that I even applied to this. And is this real? And it was, and so I just quit my job. I quit ghosting. I went on the because at that time I was making enough. Um you could just wait for a while. Yeah, so I was like, I don't know. Like I asked the founders, I was like, what would you do in my situation? And one of the founders was like, I've always wanted to be on the circle. Like if I got an opportunity, I would go. And so I just talked to him and I said, I guess I'll just try this.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

How long did you say the TV show was?

SPEAKER_00 8:46

It uh I ended up staying in Australia for five weeks. Yeah, to film it. And but I really was only filming for like three days or four days of that. Okay. Uh the rest of it we kind of had our own like time, but we had to like wait for like you competed and then you waited, and then you like competed again, and then you waited, and then like, yeah, it took five weeks, and then I came back home and I just streamed in full-time gaming.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

And then you and then how'd you move on from just this? Why'd you decide to stop streaming in the first place?

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Uh so then I was streaming, streaming, streaming, having so much fun, being like, why would I do anything else? I'm literally playing games all day. Uh, but somebody reached out to me, and this life is like really all about like you meet people, and if you're open to just, I don't know, if you're a kind person and you make like a lasting impact on someone, they'll remember you and think of you. And a lot of my life has just been like shaped by that. Yeah. And so I, while I was gaming, somebody who I used to work with at Ghost reached out to me and said, There's this position at this new company that I'm working at, and I think you'd be perfect for it. Um, it the company's called Chomps. Oh, wait, the little sticks. The meat sticks. We were just talking about yeah, I just saw them in the uh, and I was like, I'm playing games, like I don't want to be a meat stick girl, like you know. Um, but he kept saying, like, just give it a chance, like just go through the interview process. Like it's a really great company to work for.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

Were they new at that point?

SPEAKER_00 10:27

I didn't know what chomps were, but some of my friends were like, that's such a cool brand. Like my favorite influencers would eat them all the time. But I so I I don't know, I was, but it was smaller. Um, it was much smaller. And then going through the interview process, I remembered kind of the things that I missed about working for Ghosts, about like working towards like building a brand that people know and working with a team in real life and working towards like number goals. Because everything that I was doing in gaming was like, it was so fun to game, but it was a little bit unlike the only things that you could work towards is getting better at a game or like getting more followers. Yeah. And it's kind of repetitive and it's so fun, but I don't think I could do it forever. Like working for a brand, you are challenged in so many different ways. So I decided to go and work for Chomps, and then I'm really glad that I did because it brought me to where I am today.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

So then how did you go from Chomps to today?

SPEAKER_00 11:39

So while I was at Chomps, I got uh an award called the CX operator of the year. So a lot of my job was shaped by that decision I made to do customer support part-time. Because I learned uh when in in the back end of a brand, uh everything breaks all the time. And like there's things, I don't know, you've probably had you situations with brands where like something didn't go right.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Yeah, and at my job, oh my gosh, it's insane how many things like you we literally have like two people on it at all times. They're like, fix this, fix that. And it's like it wouldn't, you wouldn't think it'd be something like that.

SPEAKER_00 12:15

Yeah, but then you learn so much through the fixing, right? And I love to problem solve.

Reality TV Leap To Australia

SPEAKER_00 12:20

And so I actually loved being like, okay, there's all of these different things that can go wrong. And there's so much to learn to figure out how to fix them, and then not only just like fix them temporarily, but like how do you avoid that happening again in the future? And you I learned that you had to work with um the operations and the fulfillment and the marketing team and finance and uh the web team. Everything was really fun to learn. And so I was able to learn all of that from just starting in customer support and working my like learning all those different things. And so at Chomps, I I just well at Ghost and Chomps, I just got like really obsessed with mastering my craft, even if it was just customer support. Like you did that you did customer support at Chomps too. Uh so it was starting, so customer experience is like the next position after customer support if you want it. And it really means it encompasses customer support, it's a huge part of it, but it really means the entire experience. Like as a whole, yeah. So, like someone shopping on a site or in a in a store, and what happens in the checkout, and then then they receive the item, the unboxing of the item, and the what happens after that, like the emails that you get, the loyalty programs, like is it a subscription? Yeah. So it's like everything that a customer can touch, that's like the whole experience, but it's always led by like the foundation of customer support because that's kind of where you get the insights or the first initial insights. And so it ended up being so much bigger. And then I also led retention at um chomps, and that was like a happy accident, too.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Which retention is just keeping the customers there?

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Yep. So that will encompass like emails and SMS, like text messages, and also like owning the loyalty program. So like when you get like points for stuff.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Does a brand, does a brand like that who just like sells things in grocery stores have that stuff?

SPEAKER_00 14:26

Yeah, online. Uh almost like all brands do. It just uh it it it blew my mind learning about it because I thought the same thing. I'm like, yeah, are they selling to-catch up?

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Why would you, you know? Are they selling more to like the grocery stores rather than the customers specifically? Or is it like they're selling to customers?

SPEAKER_00 14:45

There's both. It's really crazy. Um, one of the biggest projects that I did for retention at at Chomps was I improved their subscription program. So it's the re like receiving monthly or whatever bi-monthly shipments. Um, and there's all different kinds of strategies that you can do to increase subscriptions, make people try or have people try different flavors, make sure that they're like actually eating it, you know, and we did all kinds of like community challenges. So that's kind of like the retention is how do you uh make sure people come back and come back more often and stay loyal to the brand? So, yeah, that's what I learned. And when I was there, I received an award um in e-commerce for customer experience operator of the year in 2022. And after I received that, uh, it was a virtual webinar type thing. And I was so confused. I showed up to this like virtual webinar. Like they told me I was nominated, and they said that there was like this voting thing going on, and it was like on LinkedIn, and show up at this webinar on this day. And I showed up in like this little like like I was like, okay, I'll watch this webinar and I guess I'll see if I won. I don't know. I didn't know what was going on. I was so oblivious. Like, I'm just like doing my little job selling meat sticks, you know? And then they're like, they I won. And they're like, Zoe, come on, we're gonna like welcome you to the virtual stage. And I'm like, oh my God, I'm in like, I don't have makeup on. I've my hair is so greasy and I'm wearing a tank top. And like, I'm I don't even know if I had pants on. Like I was so confused, and then I accepted this award, and I'm like, I'm so sorry. Like, and it was so it was in front of like all the big people. That's the crazy

Why She Left Full-Time Streaming

SPEAKER_00 16:45

thing is there were like people that I know still to this day were like watching, and they were like bit uh, they had like business influencers present the awards, and I still know them to this day. And now like thinking back, I'm like, I that's how I showed up in front of these people. Like I had no idea. I was oblivious to like that there these people even existed.

SPEAKER_01 17:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

Um, and so yeah, I won that award. And after that, people started reaching out to me and um asking for help if with their businesses. Okay. Yeah. And then the person who presented me the award, um, his name is Ron Shaw. He's a friend of mine now, and he had a supplement business and uh that does really well. And he asked me for help, and everyone was always like, We're so happy to like pay you. And I'm I just was I was confused. I'd like, no, it's fun. Like, that's fine. Well, if I have time, I'll just help you. So I would help people for free. And uh Ron, he asked me for some help. And so I showed him some things, and I spent like an hour with him, and he tweeted and said the tweet said something like, I just spent an hour with Zoe Khan and went through my CX process, and now I want to tear everything down and rebuild it. And like something like she's incredible. And that tweet kind of went like semi-viral in like the business Twitter X space. And I just got flooded with DMs of asking for help. And it kind of grew from there. I people started to send me money for my help because I wouldn't, I just like didn't even know what to charge. I was like, I promise I'll just help you.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

Is there like a standard for this?

SPEAKER_00 18:32

I didn't know. I know now, but I I just didn't. Well, I had imposter syndrome too, because I didn't realize why me of like some random 20-year-old girl. And I'm like just selling meat sticks. I don't I didn't know how much that I knew. Like so it really helped me get over my imposter syndrome because all these founders were coming to me asking for help. And I would look at their processes and be like, wow, I like can help you. And like we like, and so then they would start to like Venmo me or PayPal me some money, and I couldn't believe it, it was like $200. And like, you meant to send me 20, right? Like, there's no way like that hour was worth $200. I just am confused. And so it just built from there, and it helped me establish my rates because it showed me what people thought my time was worth. Yeah. Without me being like, I think my time's worth this, which is fine to do in a business, but I wasn't kind of like in the right mind space or I didn't believe in myself. So it was really cool to for people to be like, your time is worth this much money. And I like am happy to give you this.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

And who knows if they were even giving you enough because they probably didn't know either.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Yeah. It and so uh that's how my business I just started to get more and more um requests. And I loved my job at Chomps, so I wasn't ready to leave. But I didn't know, I actually started to try to send people other places for help because they were coming to me. I didn't have time, but then they would come back to me and be like, that wasn't a good recommendation.

Mastering Customer Experience And Retention

SPEAKER_00 20:10

And I'm like, oh shit. Uh I didn't really know. Like, I just thought they said that they're good at it, but they wanted my help. And so then I hired someone who I used to work with at Ghost, and I told her, I'm not ready to move on from Trumps, but I have all of this inbound work, and I trust you. I trained you, like I know you're good at what you do. Like, can we do you want to a job? Like, you can work for the agency. So the agency got like you kind of decided to create it, name it.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

When how but um why did you decide to name it inevitable, actually? Well, for the first like year and a half, there was no name.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

There were I didn't have a website. Yeah, it was just it was just like Zoe Con's team. Like there was no name to it. I just was I don't, I just I didn't even like think about naming it. Yeah, but then somebody told me asked me to send me their or send them my website, and I was like, I don't have one of those. Like don't I just like get on Google calls and like we talk about things? I don't have a website to send you. And so then I started thinking I should probably make a website, and then I didn't want to call it like Zoe Con. I wanted it to be bigger than me, um and also not rely on just like me. Uh and we talked through, I think I had like four employees at the time. And so we were all like, what should we call us ourselves? Um, and we decided on inevitable because we we fix all of the problems that we know can happen so that you can prepare for the inevitable. Because you always know something's gonna go wrong, it's inevitable. And the best thing you can do is prepare for that in the best ways that you can.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

What I love that I just think it's like such a missed opportunity. You could have called it like. Con and Co. I just like I don't I don't know why that's low.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

I I don't want it to be uh so too. Yeah even though I have a public like following and stuff, I I don't know. I I also kind of want to like one day be like behind the scenes. Yeah, that's valid. Yeah. So that's kind of the story of the agency.

SPEAKER_01 22:23

And now it's how did you like scale it from like the two people to the what is it now? 15?

SPEAKER_00 22:29

I have currently I have 30 employees. Yeah. There, yeah, 30 employees. And I actually I peeked at like 110 employees. It depends on like what the clients need, but I had some clients that needed a lot of lot of help. Um, and a lot of times what we'll do is we'll fix things up and then kind of hand it off to them. And so it it ebbs and flows for like team size. But yeah, right now I have 30 people and uh I actually never intentionally did much marketing, or I was doing marketing, but I didn't know I was doing marketing. Like I was just doing I was just like now when I look back, I'm like, oh, I was doing everything that people try to do intentionally, but I was just having fun, like sharing my story and like talking to people. Like a lot of it was networking and sharing tips and tricks online, but genuinely I was sharing tips and tricks that I I would post because I wanted to help. And I I would find something out and I'd be like, oh, people need to know about this so that they can use this tactic. And so I would post it on LinkedIn. And then I had an idea to start a podcast about like uh the mistakes that you learn in in business. And I genuinely, the reason that started was I was going to these networking things where you'd meet different um people in business. And I thought it was so boring to just say, like, where are you, what do you do? And like, where are you from? And then it's like awkward. And so I started asking people, what's the biggest mistake you've made at your work? And are I think I was saying, like, what's the biggest oopsie you made at work? And people would be like, Oh, like I didn't even tell you my name yet, but um, and it was such a good icebreaker, and people's stories were so funny, and so I thought that it would be a good podcast. And I should, yeah, I had no intention of it making money or it bringing in clients. I just was doing it for fun, and like that brought in clients, and so I would need to scale the team. And I just always have focused on giving more than you take and sharing what you know with the world with no intentions of receiving anything back, and it just kind of like worked out. And you did end up receiving stuff back anyway, so yeah, what goes around comes around. Yeah, and it was very like it was everything was kind of a happy accident, and uh yeah, now I know what got me here, and so I can be more intentional about it, but I kind of like I kind of wish I didn't know because it was fun to like not know that it was working when it was working.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Wait, it've kind of been like all over the place.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

So many businesses.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

Wait, okay, I'm curious. What are some of like the biggest businesses you've worked with doing this? If I can ask.

SPEAKER_00 25:26

Yeah. Um I've actually probably the biggest business that I uh Scott's, it's it's so boring sounding, but Scott's Lawn Care. Okay. You know, they have like seeds and stuff, grass and shit.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

I mean, lit I mean, it can probably make a good amount of money if they like multi-billion dollar.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

I didn't realize how large they were. They're a multi-billion dollar company that because they own like all these little other companies with I don't know, but it that was like the biggest one. But um I have worked with like Portland Leather Goods, is a uh um, do you know? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

There's probably just like Wallace and stuff, or is it like bigger than that? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:11

They and they have they actually just opened up a store in Gilbert, um like a retail store in Gilbert. Um there I've worked with a bunch of different food brands. Um Cove Soda, which is like a a new new I feel like I've heard of that. Yeah, yeah. That's we work with them now. Okay. We worked with like over 50 brands now, um directly. But yeah, Scott's Lawn Care is probably the biggest.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

Are you guys based out of Arizona right now?

SPEAKER_00 26:40

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

Okay. Wait, yeah, that's insane. Because I didn't, there's not that many. Well, there's obviously probably a lot of businesses here, but it doesn't really seem like there are.

SPEAKER_00 26:50

No, well, actually a lot of our work is remote. Um so most of our, actually all of our, all but one of our current clients is not in Arizona. Um, because everything, it's the world we live in, everything can be done remotely.

unknown 27:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:05

Nowadays. That's insane.

SPEAKER_00 27:07

Yeah, but there's there's some brands here. Um, and we it's just not as many. Like when I I used to live in San Diego, there's so many brands in like San Diego, LA, New York. Um wait, yeah, I feel like they're all in like the big places.

SPEAKER_01 27:22

Um, wait, you guys did like a trip to the Philippines or something, didn't you?

SPEAKER_00 27:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

In 2024.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

We did one in

The Award That Sparked Inevitable

SPEAKER_00 27:30

2024 and 2025.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

And a lot of our team is based in the Philippines that handles.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

Yeah, that's what I read. How does that even work? Just all remote?

SPEAKER_00 27:39

Yeah, they're all remote. And uh we try our best to visit them once a year. And I'd like to visit them more. It's just a it's a long plane ride and like it's a big investment. Yeah. But uh when we go, we visit our team and we do outreach programs um and do volunteering programs with communities um around them. And it's a really, really like wholesome, beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_01 28:05

That's amazing. Um, okay, so what is something that you'd say you could tell other young people interested in starting their own business? What's like a just a big piece of advice you have for them? The biggest thing is you can't be afraid to take the leap.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

Yeah. It is so comforting to have stability in your in your work, but if you don't take a leap, you'll just stay where you're at. You'll just stay comfortable. Yeah, you'll stay comfortable. And maybe you'll find something else that's uh uh still a little scary to like change your career path. But it won't if you don't take leaps to pursue things that you're passionate about, you just can't move that much quicker or like you can't really like pursue your dreams because you're scared of what might what you like of failing. And my biggest thing is that if you if you take a leap, you could and it doesn't work out, you can always go back to what you were doing or similar things. And so for me, now that I've made taken a bunch of leaps and they were so scary, like it it was entirely scary to do to make all of the shifts that I made. And still I face real like I'm scared to make changes, and I just have built the muscle of like now I know if it doesn't work out. Well, one, it a lot of times it does work out, it's always worked out. And but two, uh, if it doesn't work out, I have like so many lives and so many skills that I can go back to literally any of those if I wanted to.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

Yeah. What do you think is one of the best ways to like figure out what you're passionate about? Because you've you've definitely found like a niche. It's not very common to people for people to want to go into marketing kind of how you have.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

Try things that you don't don't even know that you like. Yeah. Because I didn't think I really was I I kind of would say yes to anything that wouldn't be a detriment to my life. Or like if I was even slightly interested in it, then I would love to try it because I don't know if I maybe I like it. And if I don't like it, I don't have to do it. And so I said yes to so many things that like I didn't really want to be in customer support. I didn't want to be a gamer. Um, but I tried it and realized that I love it. And it wasn't something I like wrote down in my on my vision board of like, yeah, this is where I want to be one day, but it shaped my business and brought me to where I am.

SPEAKER_01 30:40

What do you think it's like owning such a large business so young? Is it was it like surprising to you?

SPEAKER_00 30:47

I still feel like I'm living in a dream. Like when I so I I hmm, I was 20, I think I was 26 years old when I made my first million dollars in revenue. And I didn't believe that I did. I thought like some of the numbers were messed up. Like I because I was still working at Chomps and my employees were like, why are you still working at Chomps? Like we've like we make plenty of money that you can like pay yourself more than you make at Chomps, but I wasn't ready to, I was still learning at Chomps. Like I love to be challenged, and if I'm still being challenged and I'm still learning new things, then I'm I think that what I'm doing is very valuable. Uh and it just didn't feel like real. And I think that one of the things is that I just never was focused on the money. Uh, I was just focused on helping people and doing like things that I loved. And it just it feels like fake. I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 31:54

It's it just doesn't feel real. Yeah. What do you think are some challenges you faced being a woman in business? So many.

SPEAKER_00 32:01

A lot of times actually, I didn't realize I was facing the challenges until I looked back. And unfortunately, so we can never let like being a woman in business hold us back from anything. We are so capable of anything a man can do. Uh and a lot of times I actually just kept my head down and didn't think about whether or not I was like like woman or not. Uh and I think it it drove me and it got me to like a certain place. But I remember people would ask me, like, how do you show up in a room full of men and are so confident? And then I would like look around and I'm like, you're right, there are like I am the only woman in this room. That's crazy. But I was just so focused on mastering my craft. And like I knew once I got over the imposter syndrome, I knew I was freaking good at my job. And I knew that I had I could provide value and I could help so many people. So to me, it didn't matter that like I was the only woman. And I'm glad that I looked at it that way because it if I didn't, it would

Scaling A Remote Agency With Heart

SPEAKER_00 33:20

be really intimidating to show up to these speaking events in these rooms just really full of men. Um so just like being confident was really important. But then I started to realize that I actually even still recently, unfortunately, there we men are do dominate the business world and like a lot of the money that's going around and everything. It's there's becoming more and more strong women in the in business, but I recently have faced challenges where people don't pay their invoices and they break their contracts, they steal my employees, they do horrible things. And I'm talking to like my guy friends in business, and I'm like, what is like, how do you how do you prevent this? And my one of my friends, he said, Zoe, I like hate to say this, but you're a you're a nice, pretty woman, and the some men won't respect you and they'll just walk over you. And when I looked back at some of the like really horrible things that have happened to me, I I never let them, I never let them bring me down. Like I've always come out stronger on the other end. And I understand that the more success that you have, the bigger target you have on your back. And if you're a woman, at least in this day and age, the bigger the target is. And you can, you just need to like learn from some of these things and do what you can. But I've had like founders tell me I've only been able to get where I am because I'm a pretty woman.

SPEAKER_01 35:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:10

And I, and I'm like, oh, you think I'm pretty? No compliment. I'm sorry. Thank you. Um, but there are some just it is hard because it is much as I'm like, oh, I it's we're so strong and we can be as big as like we as men and all of these things, it's just like ingrained still in humans to treat men and women differently. And it is challenging sometimes. I will I I have faced a lot of those like horrible things that if I was a man, some of like probably 75% of that stuff wouldn't have happened.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

Because they wouldn't even think from the start that they'd be able to like get away with that. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 35:54

Yeah.

unknown 35:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:55

That's awful.

SPEAKER_00 35:56

Yeah. But uh and but I don't want it to scare anyone from doing because we need to do if if we want to be successful business women, we need more of us and like to show the world that like you can't just walk all over us. It's not okay. Uh, but we also need to follow through on like doing the things, showing people that you can't walk over us and stay standing up for ourselves and speaking up and not letting it just like make us like revert back to the kitchen. Like I know it's like a horrible joke, but like it scares some of these things, scare women so much that they give up. And so you really, really like as a strong female business owner, like we have to do our part to continue to uplift others and support other women and just like yeah, support each other so that we can do more of this

Leaps Of Faith And Finding Passion

SPEAKER_00 36:55

as women.

SPEAKER_01 36:55

Do you think it has helped you in any way?

SPEAKER_00 36:58

Hmm. Women have this like maternal care that men like they will have, but not in the sense that women do. Yeah. And my whole business is around taking care of consumers. And so there's things that like we bring as women that are like maternal and like loving and caring. And we uh we a lot of times care more about what we're doing every day rather than like and how it's making people feel and how it's affecting others. And a lot of men in business, uh it's easier for them to like overlook some of those things. And I'm I'm not trying to like hate on men or anything. Like I love men, but uh if we just have a different way, we're wired differently, and having that balance is really healthy because uh we can learn from each other where the like if men are wired more to be like um numbers focused and quantitative and money focused and like profit focused, like we can learn those things that maybe we're less focused on so that we can make more money and uh get farther ahead. But I think that there's just some things that are ingrained in women that we can we can exemplify and use to our advantage because like I think that women can build and like manage teams way like more make it more community, yeah, and just like loving and caring uh and less transactional. And so there's there are like a ton of things that women can do and just also helping other women and like believing in other women. Again, not saying that men can't, but like if we it's just cool to be able to like most of my employees are women, and I don't I'm not super intentional about like oh man versus woman, but

Women In Business And Standing Firm

SPEAKER_00 39:05

in my in my role, we need a lot of just like care and maternal feeling. So it is a it's definitely good for the business.

SPEAKER_01 39:13

Yeah, 100%. So for a young person relentlessly following their dreams, what is your best piece of advice?

SPEAKER_00 39:21

My best advice for someone relentlessly following their dreams is don't give up and don't let people bring you down. Because people will bring you down, they or they'll try to bring you down, they'll talk about you to your to their friends, they'll make fun of you, they might screenshot what you're doing and send it in a group chat, but none of it matters, and a lot of it is driven by jealousy, and you really can't let that stop you. It's I think it's one of the things that stops a lot of people from growing. Um, is just fear of being judged. Yeah, fear of being judged, which is such a real feeling. But we if if you let that stop you, you'll never see what you're really capable of. And you just have to believe in yourself and just cut out all the noise and just keep going.

SPEAKER_01 40:17

Yeah, that's a great message. Okay, so thank you so much for being on and sharing everything you've shared with us. Is there any social media or anything you'd like to plug just for the viewers who are listening in?

SPEAKER_00 40:28

Yes, thank you for having me. This was so great. You're a great host, and I'm excited to listen to the podcast more and see the other strong women on it. My uh, you can find me on LinkedIn and Twitter and Instagram. I all most of my

Where To Find Zoe Online

SPEAKER_00 40:45

my uh handles are Zoe Con, Z-O-E-K-A-H-N. And if you're interested in looking at our business and just kind of understanding like what's what is it, what is inevitable really, uh, you can check out our website, inevitableagency.co.co. And that kind of shows you where I'm at today from like all the experience I talked about on the show.

SPEAKER_01 41:08

Thank you so much for tuning in to Relentlessly That Girl. See you next time.