Building Your Brand with Asher Agency President Kara Kelley

Brad: 00:00:00

Welcome to Student of the Game podcast where we help you master the fundamentals, fall in love with practice, and win at the game of life. I'm your host, Brad Noll. Welcome to the classroom. Welcome back to another episode of Student of the Game. I'm with my friend Kara Kelly.

Welcome to the episode.

Kara: 00:00:19

Oh, Brad, thank you so much for having me. It's an honor.

Brad: 00:00:22

, and in Greater Fort Wayne's: 2023

But before we get into that, one of the things that we talk a lot about in business and especially small businesses, brand, like what's your brand? And I think there's a lot of listeners today.

There's somebody who's maybe selling T shirts, there's somebody who's a barber, there's realtors that listen to this. There's business owners that listen to this. Why don't we just get started?

What do you think a brand is and how do you help other people build their brand?

Kara: 00:01:01

Yeah, it's, it's simpler than you might think. It could be overwhelming. Where do you start? You know, how, how do you build it?

But a brand is really fundamentally knowing who you are, who you represent and who you're talking to. You know, you will have different conversations with different audiences depending on where their interest lies.

So you need to understand who you are and what your, your perspective is, your, your voice and just where you're coming from so you can be authentically yourself. It also is consistency.

That's the, probably the most important thing in branding is that everything looks consistently, you know, unified, that you are following your.

I know we say brand standards, but it's just making sure that your, that your colors are consistent, that your fonts are consistent, that everything that your brand touches, wherever it intersects, if it's with a sponsorship, if it's, you know, just even on social media, that there's consistency because that consistency will then build trust. And so that's just some basics of branding. It's really knowing who you are and sticking to it.

Brad: 00:02:17

Well, I love it.

One of the things that we talk about a lot with our team, at least in real estate, because we run a relationship based business and most people listening here, I think they, they try to emulate that style of a small business. We say that our brand is the emotional connection we have with our clients. What our clients think of us is actually our brand.

It's not what we want our brand to be like. Here's our color palette and we're gonna use this because we believe this is our brand, but it's the emotional connection.

So we gave the listeners a pretty good hook. Right now we're gonna be talking about branding, but let's actually talk about you a little bit. So go back.

So you started with Asher in: 2007

Kara: 00:02:52

I did, Yes, I did.

Brad: 00:02:54

What was your first job like, making coffee for people or what?

Kara: 00:02:56

Well, so interestingly enough, my first job, this is, let's see, I had already lived in the Bay Area and done PR and marketing there. I spent about a year with another ad agency here in Fort Wayne.

I came in as an account executive and was then promoted to vice president and up the ranks. And here I am an owner of the business today. So yeah, definitely climbed the. Climb the ranks, I guess, if you.

Brad: 00:03:21

Will tell us about. Well, hey, that's okay. And that's what makes it beautiful, right? It's like that's the path you were supposed to be on.

Talk about Asher being a women owned business.

Kara: 00:03:31

Could not be more proud of that in the advertising space. Less than 1% of agencies are owned by women. You know, you mentioned earlier that emotional connection.

I think as female leaders we have that intuitive instinct. And can we just, we can make that connection, I think a little bit faster, if you will. And we just, I mean, we're getting after it.

We've owned the business three years. I've been at ASH or about 20 years. But under new ownership, we just have such a hunger to just be the very best that we can be.

We, we always have as an agency, but even more so now. I'm just incredibly proud of that minority, you know, ownership wbe both at the state level and federal.

Brad: 00:04:15

Congratulations. You guys have a lot to be proud of. And we have a project right now we're working on with you guys.

We're going to talk about at the end of the show a little bit. We're super excited to roll that out this week and you've been instrumental in that.

So thank you for not only guiding this project, but the relationship that we have. It gives me confidence, gives our team confidence and it's been a joy to work with you guys.

Kara: 00:04:36

Same.

Brad: 00:04:38

Okay, so before we get into mastering the fundamentals of building a brand, when I think of brand and we talk about emotional connections, I almost think like there's two different types of brands that we're building. One that our clients or our customers see to attract new Business or to continue with the business we have. And then internally. Right.

Like, as a leader, like Carrie, you have a brand. Like, when Kara's running meeting, it's like, who is Kara to her team? You know, you want to expound on that a little bit.

Like, are there two brands at play here when it comes to your leadership style? Maybe who you are as a person, almost like an individual brand and a corporate brand.

Kara: 00:05:15

Sure. I think, interestingly enough, I think my branding would be pretty. It would play to both worlds. I think it's pretty consistent who I am.

I also think that I hope that that leadership style then translates out to the team, meaning, you know, integrity, transparency, that. That hunger and that grit to do the very best that work that we can.

But I think it's that that Midwest work ethic that I always like to lead by kindness.

And kindness doesn't have to necessarily mean that you're being nice, but that you're being honest and that you are being kindness can be very direct, too, and just, you know, you have to help not only coach, you know, your teammates, but also your clients and guide them in the best path forward. So I think that's my leadership style. I also try and be a really good listener.

What I think, which I think is really important in the advertising space as well, we need to, you know, when you're building your brand, you need to be able to listen to your customers, in our case, listen to our clients and really hear them, not just make assumptions and think that you know where they want to go. You need to help them get there the best way that they can.

Brad: 00:06:35

One of my favorite quotes is Maya Angelou quote says, people forget what you said. They'll forget what you did and never forget how you made them feel. And that.

That signs up in our office, my guy, Cooper Middleton, we were doing a client event a couple weeks ago, and he went around with our camera and was trying to create some content. He was asking us on the spot. He's like, you know, if you had a superpower, what would it be?

And, you know, first thing came to mind is, like, I would want to make everybody that I come in contact with feel like a million bucks. Like, I just want them to. Like, I want them to win. And you embody that, and I think that's what you're saying.

And so the other kind of personal brand that is going around our team is I tell people I like to afflict those that are comfortable and comfort those that are afflicted. So if you're afflicted, I'm the first one to give you a hug.

And if you're getting a little too comfortable, I'm going to be the first one to invoke a little pain in you, to get you going, get off your butt and get back to work. But let's get to the fundamentals of branding. What are the fundamentals? Do you believe that that would go along with branding?

Kara: 00:07:31

Gosh, I feel like I already touched on them.

Brad: 00:07:33

You said consistency, which I'm going to come back to that because I think that that's huge. Anything else?

Kara: 00:07:39

And again, just knowing who you are, what your core values are, what you want, both internally for your brand and externally for your clients, knowing who you are, I think is at the heart of it and where you want to be. Branding can also be aspirational, too.

And so having that eye on the North Star of where you want to, I believe you can achieve anything you set your mind to. And so I think that can be part of your branding as well.

Let's take, I don't know, automotive industry, when you think about, I don't know, Lexus, Versa, Pinto, and those are old brands, I know, but you want to strive to be the Lexus and the best that you can be. It's the quality of service that you provide around that as you strive towards that premier branding.

Brad: 00:08:31

Another fundamental that I'm thinking of, and you talk about it a little bit, is clarity, right? So, like, I love communication. I'm a sucker for great communication.

I love kind of peeling back the layers of what good and bad communication look like. You know, I love just trying things out. And this weekend I was, I was trying a few things out and my daughter called me on it.

She goes, dad, that post you made was confusing. Like, what am I supposed to do with that? And I think, would clarity be in there too?

Like, because it's so easy to confuse the message that you're trying to get across.

Kara: 00:09:03

Absolutely. You have to boil it down. And yes, clarity is key.

Especially we can all kind of get caught up in the verbiage and the language about what we're trying to convey.

And if it's not simple and consistent once again, then, yeah, your target audience or your customers, whoever you're trying to speak to, they could miss it.

Brad: 00:09:24

Talk about, as we stick with the fundamentals here for a little bit, I think consistency also will go into falling in love with practice. You have to fall in love with that consistency.

But before we get to the practice of it and everything that you do behind the scenes, talk a Little bit about the balance between branding when it comes to storytelling and analytics. Like, there's branding that works and branding that doesn't work.

Are there any analytics or any type of data metrics that you look for when branding to see if something sticks or not?

Kara: 00:09:53

Yeah, so it depends on what the, you know, vehicle is, you know, what you're utilizing.

But you can look at website analytics, you can look at social media engagement, you can look at, you know, sales reports, if there's a particular product that you're featuring to see if things are, you know, responding, if there's response out in the marketplace. Another thing that we look at is creative testing. So we'll test different headlines to test different creative concepts.

We have one client, a wellness client, where we'll test whether it performs better to have actual people in the images and engaging or whether it's just more clean, beautiful photography. So there's a wide variety of analytics that you can look at. Branding can be sentimental too. And so just doing some.

If it's social listening, but understanding what people are saying about you and if it's breaking through and their embracing it. So there's a lot of data points and some of it can just be also just that anecdotal listening. And how are people responding?

What are they saying online about you?

Brad: 00:11:02

So I'm hearing a couple of things as we get into what is the behind the scenes like? But as you're running Azure Agency, what does that look like day to day?

Like, what are things that you do as a leader that you just absolutely love doing? Maybe something that's like you just put a beautiful product out there or you just finished up a project for a client or.

But there's all these behind the scene scenes, things that you're doing. What are those things that you love that nobody even knows that you do every single day?

Kara: 00:11:29

Yeah. Gosh, now that's a long list. I could go.

Brad: 00:11:33

Keep going.

Kara: 00:11:33

Oh, I could go down that tangent.

Brad: 00:11:36

For a while, but I think that's why. Let me interrupt you.

But I think that's why we say fall in love with practice, because I don't know if I would fall in love with what you're about to tell me. And I don't know if the listener would fall in love with what I do every single day, but I think there's an appreciation for it. Right.

And so as a leader, I can appreciate the things that you love about what it is that you do. So what are those things that you love that nobody sees?

Kara: 00:11:58

That nobody sees?

So at Azure, we're a full service agency so we have teams of specialists, whether it's our creative development, our media buying, our website development. And so they are just their absolute pros and their respective practice. Sometimes we can get a little siloed.

So one of my favorite things that we do at Asher is bring people together. We never want to get complacent, we always want to be ideating.

So we'll do breakfast brainstorms once a month where we'll think about a client and what else could we do for them, what are their blind spots, what are they not seeing, you know, and we just want to be forward thinking and always providing more, going above and beyond.

But we also, in regards to bringing this team together and all these different specialist, we have what we affectionately call a shout out channel where, you know, the web team might be working on a project that maybe some of, I don't know, the creative team or the media team might not see. But we give each other shout outs to share all the good work that we're doing around the agency.

We have a lot of clients, we have about a hundred and even more, you know, projects moving through and so celebrating those wins, celebrating launches of things going to market or so we like to give each other shout outs and shout outs to our clients and just celebrating and yeah, just we have, as I mentioned, we have these respective departments and then each department has a manager and we all as managers huddle up once a week and get together, you know, any pain points, any problems we're looking to solve, any great ideas that are bubbling up some. So that communication with the different teams and bringing everybody together I think is maybe the underlying theme here.

Brad: 00:13:50

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If you know someone moving out of your area, there's a great chance we can connect them to somebody we know like and trust. Remember, relationships win. Now back to the show as you increase your responsibility.

You kind of mentioned that, you know, you got to be president, you got to be owner and it just happened overnight. Well, of course it did just happen overnight, but you earned that.

What is something that you can speak to those people that maybe are, they don't have a team yet, but they're getting ready to blow up, their business is getting ready to explode, they're going to need to hire some people. What are some things that you've maybe had to unlearn as you moved away from employee to owner?

Whether that's maybe how you manage your time or, you know, meetings that you take or meetings that you don't take. Maybe things you say no to. But what are some things that you maybe had to unlearn? Moving. Moving from that seat.

Kara: 00:15:15

Yeah, I think I was and still am a perfectionist. And so really learning to trust the team and empower your team and, you know, if anybody has a stumble, you can fix it and we'll move on.

But people have to learn and be trusted and empowered and order for, you know, you to grow as an individual within your company, you had to, you have to trust the people around you. I think is what I had to unlearn is that they got it, man, hands off the wheel. They, they, they've got it.

And you know, my team, that's another thing. I, I always like to surround myself and I, I know it's pretty maybe basic, but with people smarter than me, my team is exceptional.

And I mean, they don't, they don't need me getting in the way. They're really, they're so smart. And yeah, I want to be surrounded by people smarter and better than I am.

Brad: 00:16:06

Well, just from being in meetings with you, I can tell you that your calm presence, you know, brings confidence. And it's, it's almost, it's almost conflicting. Right, because you're a perfectionist, but you're calm.

Are there times you want to jump in and fix something or solve something or how does that work?

Kara: 00:16:23

Yes, there are. And I feel like when I do that, I just mess it up. So I've got to say, stay out of the way.

Yeah, there are constantly times, but what I want to do is again, just kind of teach and coach and hey, this is maybe what I would do or how I would handle it or what I would look at. I mean, that's how, how I learned everything that I did was having those mentors and coaches and people who trusted me.

So you have to pass that torch.

Brad: 00:16:50

One of the things in leadership we talk about, I mean, I got, I had a front row seat, you know, to college basketball and the locker room is Kind of where I learned everything about business. And, you know, there's something to be said about the coaching staff. I mean, there's a lot of great assistant coaches.

And everybody wants to be the head coach, right? Everybody wants to be the head coach. And during a basketball game, if you think about this logically, you only scoot over one more seat.

Like, there's one more chair difference between an assistant coach and a head coach. But the pressure that comes with that one move, the pressure that comes with, you know, moving one seat over is real. I just.

I just think you're extremely calm. I think you're gracious, and I think you're a phenomenal leader. So I'm not. Not here to give you all the flowers right now, but. But I am.

That's what I'm gonna do is my podcast, and I'm gonna give you the flowers. So for leaders that are listening today, what is a pra.

One practical way to maybe build a strong team culture, like people that are starting off with teams. I mean, you have a. How many employees you guys have?

Kara: 00:17:40

40.

Brad: 00:17:41

Okay, so you didn't start off with 40, did you?

Kara: 00:17:44

No, no. Everybody starts small, and you just keep growing. And so how do you build a strong team culture?

I don't want to repeat myself, but you have to listen. You can't know it all. And I think building a strong team culture isn't telling people what to do, but rowing alongside them.

And so, yeah, it comes back to that trust and that empowerment, and they might think of something that you haven't thought of. So be open to it.

Brad: 00:18:14

That is so good.

The listeners of this podcast are going to get a treat, because not only is your episode the one following you, I was with my good friend Keon Henderson, pastor of the Lighthouse Church in Houston, Texas. Texas. And I asked him the same question, and he just kept saying listening. And I think there's a theme here, right?

And I'm learning more than anybody right now. And if you're listening, I hope you understand one of the key concepts to being successful is to listen.

One of the things that Keon said, and you'll hear this next week, is he's never learned anything by talking.

You learn when you listen, and when you're here to pick up clues and learn about how to serve people, you know, at a high level, you know, it does come to listening. So the fact that you're repeating yourself tells me you're a very confident leader and you know how to lead as you listen. Right? You listen first.

Okay, so we talked about the fundamentals. Right. We talked about what do you do to fall in love every single day with the work that you do? Love some of your. Your practical advice.

And then winning at the game of life.

Too often, I think we're in this hustle culture, this grind culture where, you know, if you're not working 80 hours a week, if you're not, you know, working through the weekends, you're not successful. Sleep is for suckers. You know, you hear all over the place. But there's a. There's a balance to that. So winning at the game of life.

What does winning at the game of life look like for Cara Kelly?

Kara: 00:19:29

Yeah, it is 100% that work life balance.

And carving out time for myself, if I'm burning the candle at both ends, I won't be my best version for my loved ones, for my staff, for anybody around me. So you have to protect that. And weirdly enough, I feel like Covid taught a lot of us or reminded us about that. I mean, I was on planes every week.

I was. There was no fresh produce in our refrigerator because I was constantly traveling and just grinding.

And it forced us all, as a world to slow down and realize that the most important things are right in front of us, the people that we love. You know, the environment. I love being outside. I love my hot yoga. You know, I schedule it, and that's protected time and space for me.

It's good for me, mentally, physically. So, yeah, just making that time with. With the people that I love and doing the things that I love. We're all better.

Everybody, you know, around us is better if we can do that.

Brad: 00:20:32

And priorities that totally agree. So you leaders out there that are listening, you don't make time. You don't find time. You schedule it, and you make it a priority.

You make it an appointment in your calendar.

So I know for me, when I go to the driving range, if I'm at the driving range for 30 minutes to an hour, go shower, come back to the office, the rest of my day is fantastic. It's just that little boost of something, and I think that that balance is good. You're very well known in the community.

You're very influential in the community. But what are some. What are some activities that you like to do in the community? What are you a part of?

Kara: 00:21:05

Yeah, I love the Embassy Theater. I'm grateful to have sat on their board for six years. Community Harvest Food Bank. It's so important to our community.

I'm currently sitting on the Amani Family Services board, so helping People get acclimated in our community giving back, you know, we. If we don't give back, the community, you know, it just. It doesn't thrive, it doesn't flourish as much. So, you know, I'm passionate about the arts.

I'm passionate about giving back. Yeah. Bishop Lewis High School. I sit on that board as well. So, yeah, it's as much as I.

As much as it's important to me to carve out time for myself, it's just as important to give back to this awesome community that we have. We have so many great leaders and so many great causes and initiatives and makes it a beautiful place to live. So I want to be a part of it.

Brad: 00:21:56

That's fantastic. Do you have, you know, I think of like, you know, what TV shows are out there about, you know, ad agencies or whatever, but do you have like a.

A favorite campaign you've worked on over the years? Like, do you have. Is it like, you know, can you have a favorite or how does that work? Yeah, you have memorable one, right?

Kara: 00:22:13

Yeah, you definitely can. And I'll go back to one that I. The reason why this one is my favorite is because I work so, so very, very hard on it years.

Subway Restaurants was client for 30 years, and we developed this campaign. It was right on kind of that front edge of sustainability and the importance of that and supporting local farmers.

So we worked with local farmers that farmed produce for Subway and went to the corporate Subway and said, hey, we have this campaign idea. And it ended up airing in multiple states where they actually harvested and grew produce for the brand.

And it was just, it was a lot of legal red tape. But knowing that we were able to support farmers in Georgia, farmers in Florida, you know, that was a campaign I was really proud of.

Brad: 00:23:03

That's awesome. Is there a. I'm putting you on the spot here a little bit.

You didn't know I was going to ask this question, but is there a marketing buzzword that you'd like to retire? Like, Is there. Is there something that people say all the time? You're like, yeah, that's not. That's not a real thing.

Kara: 00:23:15

Great question. Because marketing, I mean, I abuse things like circle back or things like that. But marketing.

Brad: 00:23:25

Like viral, is it was viral overused or.

Kara: 00:23:29

Yeah, I mean, everyone think everyone wants to go viral, right?

Brad: 00:23:32

Sure.

Kara: 00:23:34

Gosh. An overview. I'd have to think on that.

Brad, I can tell you what we're all really, you know, what we're all hungry to learn right now, and that's just AI and how that's making our processes more efficient and how we can just really harness those tools. So that probably feels overused right now around our four walls because we're all talking about it, but I don't know. That's a good question.

Brad: 00:24:00

Anything you want to share? I know I just got a great email from you this morning about. You were speaking down in Indianapolis and I read your emails. I appreciate it if you.

You need to get on Kara Kelly's email list. By the way, anything you want to share about AI, Because I think everybody's talking about it and not many people know the direction it's going.

Kara: 00:24:17

Yeah, the direction it's going, I do think still is yet to be determined.

The thing about AI is just being careful in how you use it and understanding that once any data or information is uploaded, it then becomes it's there for everybody. So you have to make sure that you utilize it in a protective state space. And it's just, it's a tool.

I think the most important thing about AI right now from a creative perspective is that it needs a human touch. It needs the human. You can't just have an AI tool at the wheel, driving the car.

You need to have a human perspective to help guide it and everything will be smarter and stronger humans. We know our businesses better than any robot.

So that human interaction is the probably most critically important part right now with AI, you can't just let it, you know, run wild and think it's going.

Brad: 00:25:09

To solve all the problems when it comes to business. Who inspires you right now? Like, who are you reading? Who do you listen to? Who do you follow? Like, who's somebody that our listeners should go chase?

Kara: 00:25:18

Yeah. I mean, yeah. Patrick Lens Coney. I definitely, you know, like his books and what he has to share. I.

Right now I'm leaning on a lot of other marketing leaders and I'm in CEO peer groups of other marketing executives around the country. I've joined, you know, little marketing channels, if you will, and groups and learn from each other. This world's changing pretty quick.

So I love to consume my, you know, printed books and things like that, but it's more of just the online engagement with other leaders and sure. Having people to bounce ideas off of.

Brad: 00:25:55

Just keep and sharpening your saw. I love it.

Kara: 00:25:57

Yeah.

Brad: 00:25:58

All right, let's tell the listeners a little bit about the project we worked on together. Is that all right?

Kara: 00:26:01

Yes.

Brad: 00:26:02

Okay. So when this episode goes out, you will have seen that we've listed the crown jewel in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

So Noel Team Real Estate has created a marketing arm called Knoll Reserve. And Ash, your agency, helped us develop the logo, the branding for Noel Reserve as we launch our luxury division.

And our flagship listing to just go live recently is the Hamilton. And this is a project that we were super excited to work on with you guys.

We'll talk about some of the things that we did, but the Hamilton is a 30,000 square foot home in Fort Wayne, Indiana, priced at $6.75 million on 40 acres. And it is amazing. And do you remember when we walked through the very first time as we were putting this plan together?

Kara: 00:26:52

I mean, my jaw was dropped. It's absolutely stunning. It's. I think I said to you it felt almost like the Biltmore estate in this beautiful little Midwest community.

It's remarkable.

Brad: 00:27:05

I'm going to say something that's absolutely reckless here, but I'm going to say is so impressive, but it's so livable.

Kara: 00:27:13

Yes.

Brad: 00:27:14

Like, I feel like I could move my family in there. Like, this is the reckless part of what I'm about to say. I feel like I could move my family in there and we would be like, yeah, this is pretty cool.

It wouldn't be like, oh my gosh, where's everybody at? But it's 30,000 square feet. It's a little over 29,000 square feet.

Kara: 00:27:29

It was comfortable. It felt cozy. You're right. In this, you know, grand way. It felt very inviting.

Brad: 00:27:38

Like I almost. I was like, kara, will you and Mike have us over for dinner tomorrow? You know, like at your new house?

Kara: 00:27:43

Oh, my God, yeah. Right.

Brad: 00:27:46

But, yeah, so we walked through it and one of the things in luxury real estate that most people do is they name the property. And so we went through this naming process and Kara and her team came up with the Hamilton. Naming the property was a really big deal.

So we named the Hamilton. We came up with proposal for the estate.

We went through the process of coming up with landing page, creating forms where people could reach out to us. What was that process like for your team, knowing that you guys do real estate work but have never really.

Nobody's ever taken on a listing before, like, one single property.

Kara: 00:28:17

Yeah, no, it was, it was so incredibly exciting for our crew and to think just, you know, it's a grandiose property. It deserved grandiose thinking. And to develop this elevated. Yeah. Brand for it and for the Knoll Reserve, I mean, it just, it is, in my opinion.

I know my team helped design it, but so classy. It's so. It's rich and yet Approachable. So our team just had an absolute blast putting it together.

Even just like, you know, in that initial submission, the gold treatments on the printed brochure, I mean, things that were just really elevated. Yeah, it's. It has been, it's been a joy and a privilege.

Brad: 00:29:03

Well, I shout out to Ashley Miller, she's done a great job as your account executive. Love working with Ashley. And I'll give you guys a plug. I mean, here's the reality.

As a small business owner, one of the things is, I'll never challenge anybody with this, but you know your business better than anybody else. I mean, you said that, you know, versus AI. You know your business better than anybody else.

But the industry or the advice that we were seeking is so much more in depth than what we could come up with on our own. Like, we came up with our own name, we come up with our own logos, and we're like, okay, no. And you steered us in the right direction.

Like, do not go this direction because it's going away from what you've built for over 20 years. And you helped us see where we need to be.

And I think that's the point of hiring a professional, is hiring somebody who can not take the emotion into that next phase. We have professional photographers. Obviously, we've got all these videos that we're rolling out.

So we worked with our home photo, we worked with Asher Agency, and we created this blue blueprint for how luxury real estate should be handled. And it's a curated experience, it's elevated, it's something that is exciting to roll to market, and you guys have done a phenomenal job.

So I just want to say thank you for that when you're listening to this on Friday, as this goes out, the listing will have just gone Live for $6.75 million. And can't thank you guys enough for the work you did. Kara.

Kara: 00:30:23

Oh, thank you so much, Brad. It has just been, it's been a blast. And I can't wait you to see. See, I can't wait to see this piece go on the market.

Brad: 00:30:31

Well, one of the things that we did as a team is we knew that taking on this listing required us to do something we've never done before and to create a luxury brand. I mean, right now it's over 30% of our total business.

And so we knew we needed to dedicate some time and energy to making sure that we could serve and exceed people's expectations that were in this demographic. If you're a first time buyer, we want to exceed your Expectations as a first time buyer.

If you're a luxury client, we want to exceed your expectations as a luxury client. I know, Carrie, you want to do that with Azure Agency.

Whether you're a corporate brand or a small mom and pop like us, that's just trying to grow and, you know, put one foot in front of the other and build for the next generation. You guys do a great job with that. So I appreciate it.

Kara: 00:31:09

Thank you so much.

Brad: 00:31:10

Well, on this, on this episode, on this podcast on Student of the Game, one of our core beliefs is that relationships win. You know, Kara, I thank you for being, being able to help you and your family through some real estate transactions.

We go back a long ways and, and we have a relationship. And so it was obvious that we were going to choose you guys to, to help with this project. But we believe relationships win.

In the game of life, relationships win. I, I teach my kids that, you know, if you want to have a successful life, build relationships. The kids say send them their flowers, right?

And that's like their accolades and their appreciation. So before we close here, who is somebody you want to send some flowers to that has helped you get to where you are today?

Kara: 00:31:48

Yeah, I mean, there are so many people that I could offer arrangements to give them those bouquets, but I think the biggest floral arrangement would go to Mr. Tom Borney. Tom was one of the founders of Ashur and believed in me and, you know, saw how I led a department within the agency.

. So he named me president in: 2016

And yeah, he, he's been, I talk to him almost every day still. I mean, he, he helps advise and counsel me and he's just, he's wise beyond, beyond anybody I know in this industry.

I joke, you know, I'm, I'm Catholic, you know, you got the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Well, I got my dad, my husband Mike, and Tom Borney. I mean, he is, he is just, he's so important to me and has helped me get where I am today.

Brad: 00:32:51

Well, knowing you like I do, Kara, I'm sure you are equally as much of a gift to him as he is to you. So that's awesome. Tom Borney, congratulations. All the flowers, all the flowers are going out to you today.

Kara: 00:33:03

That's right.

Brad: 00:33:04

Kara, thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate you being a guest Ash your agency. How can people find you if they want to hire you?

If they're listening to this and they're like, you know, I've been so conn. Confused about branding, I want to hire somebody. How do they get a hold of you?

Kara: 00:33:14

Yeah, asheragency.com or you can email me karakay and that's K A R a kagency dot com. The thing is, you might not know where you need to start, you know, and we can help talk you through what those priorities would be.

So, Brad, thank you so much.

It's been really, truly just awesome to work with your team, both on the personal transactions of real estate and then how helping you launch no reserve in the Hamilton. I'm so excited for you guys. Really proud of you.

Brad: 00:33:41

Thank you very much. Thank you. I couldn't do without you guys. Really appreciate it. I'm gonna give you the flowers today. Asher Agency. If. If you're.

If you're struggling with branding, if you want to know how to grow your small business, get a hold of Ash Agency. You'll be glad you did.

Kara: 00:33:55

Thanks.

Brad: 00:33:58

Thanks for listening to student of the game podcast. Whatever game you are playing, I'm cheering for you. See you in the next class.