230 | Giving Business Legs to Your Passion with Leeatt Rothschild
Our guest this week on the pod is Leeatt Rothschild. Leeatt is the Founder & CEO of Packed With Purpose, a corporate gifting company that creates deep societal impact through the everyday act of gift-giving, from empowering underserved women with job skills to supporting sustainability efforts.
Resources mentioned in this episode are:
Social Entrepreneurship for Profit: Giving Business Legs to Your Passion with Leeatt Rothschild
Note: Transcript by Otter.ai. It’s not perfect, but hopefully this helps those that are hearing impaired or not inclined to listen to podcasts a way to learn and participate.
SPEAKERS
Leeatt Rothschild, Paul Zelizer
Paul Zelizer 00:02
Hi, this is Paul Zelizer, and welcome to another episode of The Awarepreneurs Podcast. This podcast is all about the intersection of three things, conscious business, social impact, then awareness practices. Each episode, I do a deep dive interview with a thought leader in this intersection. Someone who has market tested experience and is already transforming mini lot. Before I introduce today's guest, in our topic, I have one request. If you could go over to Apple podcasts or whatever app you're listening to the show on, hit the subscribe button, do review, it helps tremendously. Today, I'm thrilled to introduce you to Leeatt Rothschild, and our topic is Giving Business Legs to Your Passion. Leeatt is the founder and CEO of Packed with Purpose, a corporate gifting company that creates deep societal impact through the everyday act of gift giving, from empowering underserved women with job skills to supporting sustainability. Leeatt, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me, Paul. Y'all are doing some fabulous work in this time when gifts are on people's minds, it's just an honor to hear how you're doing that differently than much of what we're seeing out there. So thrilled to have you here. Before we get into the actual topic, and the great work you're all doing, were called to wear printers that one of the ways we like to get to know somebody is to ask you about a wellness or resiliency practice that you personally use to resource yourself for this important work.
Leeatt Rothschild 01:31
I would say that one of the practices that I have is, and I tried to be good about doing this always. But when a negative thought enters my mind, or I feel this self doubt encroach on my ability to think clearly, I really try to identify with that thought is wrestle with it or put it down to the side so that I can use my mental energy, my creativity in a positive way. So sometimes that takes just a moment. Other times, it may take a few minutes or longer. But I find that that really helps me focus my my thoughts harness my energy in the right way. So yeah, you had a fascinating journey in your professional career for the Peace Corp and development work working in the corporate space. If somebody wants to just get a little bit a sense of you in your background, before we get into the specifics of what you're doing with PAC, the purpose. Give us a little sense of your history. And how did you get to this excitement about impact gifts in corporate giving? Sure. Well, I like to say that my professional and personal history has been a dance between the world of social impact and business. So a few quick stops along that journey. Many moons ago, I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay. And I worked with farmers on creating alternative sources of income. I took that experience and worked in the area of market research and marketing. I ended up going to business school and got my master's in international studies, went back to the marketing agency world. And then right before I started back with purpose, I actually bridge those two passions together. And I was advising Chief Sustainability officers and marketing executives, helping them identify how to invest their corporate social responsibility dollars, so that they had a financial return on the business, but also societal impact. And this idea that gifting and what happens, you know, especially this time of year, we're recording this in the first week of December, as we hit Record button, gifting and you know, thanking people in business and sharing some expression of appreciation and you matter to us. That's on a lot of people's minds right now. Like how did you decide I'm going to put my pin right there as something to focus attention on both as a business but also because you saw an opportunity to have impact there? Yeah, well, I as I mentioned, I was working at the intersection of really like corporate social responsibility in marketing. And so as I was advising these CSR executives, and marketing executives, that happened to be a typical December in Chicago, and like many offices, our office was riddled with the ubiquitous corporate gift. In back then, and the majority of gifts, you know, it was tins of popcorn, baskets of treats boxes of brownies and cookies. And I just had this moment where I thought, I know that companies are committed to doing good, and they want to demonstrate their social responsibility on their sleeve. And companies are sending gifts to their clients, to their prospects to their employees, but the typical gift is void of any kind of social impact. And so really, that's when I had the lightbulb moment of thinking, Well, what if I could carry it a gift that was comprised of purposeful products and products from social enterprises. And I told their story of impact in the gift. And I was convinced that that would be a more impressive and memorable gift than the typical corporate gift available. And when was this? When did you start pack with purpose? In 2017 2017? So for born, yeah, for going on five years ago? Yep, exactly. I founded the company in 2016, through an Indiegogo campaign, which was really just an effort to put a fire under me to put a stake in the ground and say, Alright, let's do something. And let's test this out.
Paul Zelizer 05:40
So one of the things that's really interesting, and I wanted to ask you about most of our listeners are founders or emerging founders, and most have a product or service of their own. And one of the things with a company like Packed With Purpose is you're selling other people's products, right? So it's a little different here. So one of the things that I thought would be interesting to ask you is, first of all, tell us about that business model? Like, what is it like to be thinking of whose products you're selling? And how do you that from both an impact perspective and a business like just dollars and cents perspective of how you make the choices? There's so many products out there? And it's not like 20 years ago, where impact impact oriented products they were hard to find. Now they're not. So how do you make sense of a complicated marketplace where there's many more options in terms of both great products and people having positive impact? Absolutely. Well, you know, as you first mentioned, when you introduce me, all of the products that are gifts create a social impact. And the way we think about ourselves as almost as a platform, or is a brand that has a megaphone that is proclaiming how incredible our impact partners are. And that's the affectionate term we call our product suppliers. And so our impact partners have an impact across six different types of areas, whether it is women's empowerment, youth development, the environment and sustainability, women in diverse owned businesses, or workforce development. And really, what we're looking for is, first and foremost, the product has to be exceptional. That's everything from the packaging itself. Perhaps that even includes some of the dimension of the impact on the actual product and the packaging, but then also the functionality of the product. So if it's a consumable, it has to taste great if it's a functional product, like a notebook or pen or tumbler, you know, it has to live up to our product testing standards. And then beyond that, the product has to have a real tangible impact. And that is a important criteria that we test out both through desk research conversations with our impact partners, so that we can feel confident about including those products into our gifts. So you mentioned these six areas, let's let's I'm known for being granular sometimes like keys. If this was like a drinking game podcast, which has not been the number of times I mentioned the word granular granularity or getting gritty, people tease me about that sometimes. But I think it speaks to like, I'm really want to get into the details, because I think that's where businesses are either made or lost, right? Like, let's pick a couple of these impact areas that you're really passionate about, like one of them, for instance, is environment and sustainability. What's an example of a product or something that you're really excited to have that packed with purpose of selling that you think is really moving the needle in terms of environmental impact and sustainable impact?
Leeatt Rothschild 08:47
Sure, and there are really so many products that that I could mention, but just a few because I really think that the range of products under any one of those impact areas is what makes packed with purpose unique. So a few examples might include wood Chuck journals, so these are wood bound journals within our pack with purpose gifts. And you know, not only is the wood sustainably sourced, but also for every single product, a tree is planted across the globe. And that's part of the company's commitment to reforestation efforts. Another example might include a product, sun and swell Snacks, where we have a number of their baits in our guests. And they're committed to not only sourcing clean ingredients, but also reducing waste. And one of the things that the founder noticed is with all of these snacks, the amount of waste and packaging was tremendous. And so now they are moving towards compostable packaging. So those are two different types of areas around the sustainability or environment lens. And I feel like that's helpful just to get a taste of our products.
Paul Zelizer 09:54
Nice and let's pick one more area just randomly like they're all important, but let's say women's empowerment. What's an example of a product that you think is having just awesome impact in the realm of women's empowerment?
Leeatt Rothschild 10:06
Absolutely. So a stellar example would be the incredible social enterprise based in Colorado called women's being project. And women's being project is a workforce development program. It's a paid program. For women who have barriers to employment, they may have a prior criminal record, they may have been homeless, they may be survivors of abuse, there could be a whole host of reasons why they're really in need of a second chance. And this is a just a top notch program that brings them in, teaches them professional skills, personal and life skills, and affords them with the opportunities to gain all this job training while getting paid. And we source a number of different products from this social enterprise. And it truly is a delight to partner with them and to include their delicious Confections in our gifts.
Paul Zelizer 10:59
Nice. So one of the things you thought a lot about Leah, and this was before you, actually, you were already thinking about it when you were advising these corporate leaders who are thinking about impact. And that was the work you were doing before you started this company. Help our listeners if I am somebody who is passionate about making the world a better place, and I have some idea of you know, the impact I want to have, but I don't have as much experience as much granular details like, what kind of suggestions would you have for our social entrepreneur founders, about really, both maximizing impact in their businesses, and also measuring impact in their business and communicating and telling that story? Well,
Leeatt Rothschild 11:44
yeah, well, that's a great question. I feel like we could have an entire hour long conversation, right? We
Paul Zelizer 11:49
could be here for three weeks. Just think about that. Right?
Leeatt Rothschild 11:53
Was so let me say, I have so many thoughts. So let me start with, especially for us, as we have grown, there were some initial impact partners that we worked with that we outgrew their ability to meet our demand. And so one of the things that we're committed to doing is, as our volume of orders increases, and again, you know, because we work in the area of corporate gifting, there's a high level of seasonality, you know, yes, there's gifting all year round. But some someone wrote a memo in corporate America that said, if you're going to send a gift, send it around the holidays. And so that obviously can be challenging for smaller social enterprises, or smaller purpose driven companies. And so one of the things that we do is we're committed to working with those impact partners, it might mean that we have to find additional impact partners that can provide products that are similar to that. So for example, we work with a great social enterprise called confections with convictions in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and they provide us with this peppermint bark. Unfortunately, because they are a smaller job training program for individuals that have history. In the in the criminal system, we have to make sure that we have supplemental products so that once we run out of all of their products, we can include other ones in other gifts. And you know, that's something that takes a bit more effort, it would be much easier to have one purveyor that supplied all of this product, but that's something that we're committed to doing. So that's one thing I would say in terms of how you can ensure you're focused on that impact. And it does require some flexibility. And then in terms of the measurement, that in and of itself, there's so there's a big emphasis on the measurement of impact. And I think that as a company, you really need to figure out what is important to you. And so part of that would be making sure that that measurement is accessible to your customer, making sure that that measurement is authentic and true for yourself and for your team, and figuring out how are you going to deploy resources to gather that information? You know, and there's departments at companies that are just focused on impact measurement or is, you know, a real focus on the corporate responsibility divisions within companies? So there's a lot of ways to think about this. I don't think there's any one way but I would say, as a founder or CEO of a company, you really need to figure out what is most important to you, and to, you know, assign the the energy that people and the time to make that happen. Nice.
Paul Zelizer 14:33
And I would say, sitting over here, impact has become really important in the marketplace, especially certain parts of the marketplace. If you're trying to sell anything to the younger end of the age continuum, for instance, people who are under 40 It's really important and companies that aren't able to have a story about impact are really struggling with the younger audience and millennials and Gen Z in particular. Like, if you're not doing something to make the world a better place, we're gonna go take our money elsewhere. So the stakes have gotten really high. It's up there to us.
Leeatt Rothschild 15:08
Absolutely. And I think that, you know, now with, you know, newer generations in the workforce, and Gen Gen X and Gen Z, being ones that are actually making decisions that, you know, obviously Millennials as well, with definitely Gen X and Gen, Gen Z, being at the manager level, where they're the ones that are making decisions on procurement budgets, I would say, it's also important to make sure that that mission or your purpose, or your values, or your give back, however you want to call it is authentic, because if you're just gonna slap something that says, oh, yeah, we also have an impact, but it's not inherent to who you are as a business. Or if it doesn't feel authentic to the buyer, then I think today's buyer is, is very savvy, and they see through that and trying to add a bandaid impact, when it's not true to who you are, is almost worse.
Paul Zelizer 16:02
I like to say, putting green lipstick on a pig does not a sustainability plan. Right. Right. Like, like, you know, people are getting wiser. And we're also seeing a similar thing around Black Lives Matter and how many companies are saying, you know, diversity, equity inclusion are really important to us. And then year after year, after year after year, the numbers don't actually change, like in large tech companies, because it was so bad. Actually had to start doing report. Yeah, those reports year after year after year aren't changing. And you can say, oh, my gosh, we're so committed to dei and then nothing is changing. How important is it really? Right. So yeah, I think impact washing and the shift in the marketplace of how much people are paying attention to these, I think consumers have gotten more sophisticated and understand that impact washing is the thing. And I would really encourage people to be mindful of both where we plant our flag. And I love what you said about being sure it's baked into the DNA and DNA of the company, not an afterthought of like, oh, well, if we do this, we'll sell some more stuff, the potential pushback and blowback of appearing to do something just to make more sales can be really problematic and can really hurt companies and has really hurt companies. And I'm not upset about that. I'm really not I think that's a good thing. I think that's because the marketplace has gotten more educated and understand that not everybody has the same level of commitment to deep positive impact and deep transformation. Some people have just said, Oh, here's a market trend that might help us sell more stuff. And those folks have gotten themselves in trouble. Is that fair to say? Yeah,
Leeatt Rothschild 17:52
I 100% agree. And, you know, the the two immediate thoughts I have is, you know, your question on how should companies think about their impact and measurement? The fact that that's a question, that is something that companies have to think about means that the stakes are higher, and that consumers really care and consumers are looking at that. Right? It might not be in the traditional corporate social responsibility report. But it's even in the marketing material of how does the company portray itself? And how do they talk about their mission or give back, you know, as part of a good contributor to society, and then, you know, a totally different thought. But another way, I think, that this has come to life is just with the rise of employee resource groups. And you can see, for example, you know, a few months ago, LinkedIn made an announcement that they were going to compensate the head of employee resource groups of er, G's, for the energy and the time, their commitment, and really the value that those individuals are bringing to those companies. And I think that is, you know, what a powerful way to showcase that, you know, it's not just a cute affinity group at a company, but that, you know, executive leadership really values and sees the importance of these er, G's and how they're contributing to employee retention, employee satisfaction to productivity, and a way to differentiate that company from any other competitive brand in their their given industry.
Paul Zelizer 19:15
Great example. Yeah. So if you were to pull back the curtain a little bit, we were talking in general, but let's talk a little bit with Packwood purpose, like, Give us an example. Like, how are you all betting? Like, here's a potential company, here's, you know, it's time for us to think about what we're going to do, you know, for my guesses, you're probably not going to add too many products or services for the 2021 holiday season, because we're here, right? But next year, you're thinking about do we go this way or that way, this food product or that one, this, you know, impact company focused on women's empowerment or sustainability or that one? Like, how is that how are those kinds of decisions made at pack with purpose? Yeah,
Leeatt Rothschild 20:00
Yeah, I'll share that in I'll give you a few examples, because I think that examples really help bring this to life. So, you know, the first thing we're we're looking at is what are the types of products that we need? So is it a consumable? Or is it a durable? Is it intended for individual use? Or for you know, a broader group? What are the different price points that we're looking for? So, you know, and now I'm describing when we're discovering and seeking products, we obviously have many, you know, potential products, suppliers that reach out to us. But when we're being proactive, you know, we're looking at all of those things, as let's call it like, the business characteristics for why we would bring a product in, and then we'll reach out to those impact partners or prospective impact partners. And, you know, we we now have a rigorous process with a link to a survey where we're asking a lot of detailed information, everything from, you know, the boring stuff of what are your order minimums or volume maxes that we need to know about? What is the shelf life of your product? What's the lead time, but then a lot of things related to impact in terms of, you know, what kind of company? Are you? Are you certified as a minority owned business or a veteran owned business, or maybe do not have a certification? Because it's costly and has been cost prohibitive to you. But you know, we can verify that you are a diverse own business, or maybe some other aspect. And then, you know, we really dig into the impact. And we want to know, is this something you're just telling us in this in this form? Or is this something that you proclaim out of your own desire, across your website, across your materials? Is it something that you might even measure internally, whether it's, you know, workforce hours of development, or, you know, gallons of clean water produced, or whatever it might be. So we're looking at all of these things to make sure that not only the product meets our standards, but that the impact does as well. So that's just a taste, and then maybe an example or two. So there was a bakery that we were considering working with, and you know, their products were fantastic, the packaging was lovely. And they told us that they employed women who happen to be refugees. And as we dug in a little bit deeper, what we realized was that they had done that in the past, but that as some grant programs had waned, they no longer were really working with refugee women in providing them with job skills. And helping them transition is, you know, citizens in the US. And so, you know, unfortunately, we weren't able to work with that bakery. And that was really something that we uncovered, because we were asking those challenging questions, because we didn't stop with just hearing, you know, the first answer, which is what they thought we wanted to hear.
Paul Zelizer 22:49
Love that example out. And thank you so much for sharing in such a detailed way. Because I think these are the kind of decisions that in this marketplace, where it's not 20 years ago, we're like, We're doing good things with our business. That was enough, it was it really set you apart. And I don't think that's enough anymore. And again, I'm not upset about that. I'm glad we're getting more sophisticated in the impact space. And I really appreciate you sharing just how thorough you're being and how detailed you're being as you're vetting people. So I hope founders who are listening will take that in and think about your specific questions, and be willing to have those hard conversations and not just take it at face value. We care about this topic area, therefore you should buy from us that's less inspiring that it used to be so thank you so much for those granular specifics,
Leeatt Rothschild 23:41
of course, and if I can actually add one more thing, account, please, his impact is messy. So you know, there are some days where I wish our impact was more simple in the buy one give one model right of, oh, you buy a gift, and we will donate a meal to someone because that's the easiest thing to quantify, right, like number of gifts times, whatever number of meals. But for us, the type of impact that is created is dependent on each of the products and what the mission is behind each one of them. And for some of them, it's job training hours for women. For others, it might be a salary job for opportunity youth, for someone else, it is, you know, a meal or clean water or plants, you know, trees planted. So it is so varied, which means that for us, you know, measuring impact, it's not straightforward. And part of what we wrestle with is, you know how much we need to make sure that our vetting process is very stringent. And we proclaim this and share this with the outside world, which means our impact measurement, it is not as clean and that's by design because we are committed to finding the best products that do good and that doesn't always come in a one size fits all. box. And we're okay with that. Because we know that our customer is so excited about the good that we do that they're not expecting, you know, a banner ad on our website saying, we've donated 100,000 meals period. It's more complex, but that's part of why they come to pack with purpose.
Paul Zelizer 25:19
Impact is messy. Thank you for saying thank you. So let's do this. In a moment, I want to come back in here, like what pack with purpose looks like now what's your team look like some things you're working on, etc, etc. But before we do that, just want to take a quick break and hear a word from our sponsor. Do you have a business that's about making the world a better place, and you want it to grow both in terms of helping more people, and in terms of your income? If so, I'd like to talk to you about some research that scientists have told us about what makes for successful human endeavors. Whether you want to get more fit, or quit smoking or grow a business, what scientists tell us, the single biggest predictor of whether humans grow in the direction they want to grow or don't quite make it is what they call social support. That's true, whether we're talking about a 12 step program or business development. With the word printers, we have a community called the AWARE printers community. And whether you need a lawyer who understands our kind of business to help a trademark or new website, somebody to help you with Facebook ads, the external things of growing a business like this, as well as those ups and downs of like, wow, I had a fabulous week and a real high moment, or oh, gosh, I thought I was gonna sign this great new client and it fell through. Those are the things that make or break the human change journey. It's affordable, hundreds of members around the world who are incredibly generous and share and help each other, get the tools we need, the resources we need, and the emotional support of becoming a successful impact founder. You can find out more at aware printers.com forward slash community. And thank you to everybody in the AWARE printers community who sponsors this podcast. So that in the second part of the show, we'd like to joke about putting on our social entrepreneur classes. So let's get a little more granular about what packed with purpose looks like now. So like, how big is your team? And can you give us some idea the size of sales each year with Packwood purpose as we come to the end of 2021? Sure,
Leeatt Rothschild 27:31
so we are just under 20 people, and we are all working remotely, we had been primarily working out of an office. And now it has been a beautiful transition and wonderful to bring on new team members, you know, scattered across the country. And in terms of sales, we we were thrilled to be listed as number 141 Fastest Growing Private Companies in the Inc 5000. This past year, we've seen about a 3,000% increase in revenue. So it's been a very exciting few years. And like you said, more individuals and companies are really doubling down and thinking about impact. And I think that we're seeing that through the dollars that they're earmarking towards either employee onboarding gifts or client thank you gifts. So it's been a real, a real joy, and exciting to build a business of 3,000%
Paul Zelizer 28:24
increase in
Leeatt Rothschild 28:28
over the past three years over the past three
Paul Zelizer 28:30
years. So 3000 Think about that for a second listeners and, and help me unpack belly, I mean, sitting over here, my story would be that, as we've mentioned, people are caring about impact, again, not just a little bit, this keeps moving up and up. And the younger you go in the marketplace, the higher priority is, I would say you all are part of that demographic and part of that trend and you created a company put impact front and center. And that might also probably do a great job and have fabulous products. But the impact part of packed with purpose is a significant contributor to that 3,000% sitting over here, does that resonate at
Leeatt Rothschild 29:14
all? Absolutely. And you know, in what I like to say is, first and foremost, we have to be a great gifting company. So we need to send the right gift to the right person with the right message with the right products to the right place on time. And provided we do all of that, then we get to rejoice and enjoy, you know, the cherry on top, which is that all of our gifts do good. And you know, it's it's a virtuous cycle in terms of giving a gift and the giver feeling wonderful. The recipient feeling like they're part of doing good, and obviously the ripple effect of impact whether it's an individual, their family, a community, the environment, but you know, first and foremost, your product and service has to be you know, as competitive but we're superior to the competition and then You get to enjoy the the impact that could, of course, be part of your differentiation. But, you know, that only gets to kick in, because you're a fantastic product or service.
Paul Zelizer 30:12
I remember Nora. She had, I think it's her last name and city social enterprise. And they do handcrafted olive oil soaps and other traditional wellness products with women who are in camps on the West Bank, and literally can't leave them. There's no employment in the camps, and they don't have papers because of this weird, complicated political situation. So they can't work. They can't leave even though they want to out. So anyway, we're creating these fabulous products, an incredible impact story. And I remember Nora saying how important it is not to fall into what she called pity marketing. Look at these poor folks, like, we first want to have an excellent product or services like incredible blow your socks off awesome things in these cases, these incredible soaps and other products that are world class, just make your skin glow kind of products. And then you have an impact statement, you know, doing this incredible work, in her case with women who are like supporting whole, like generations, multi generational families in a place where like, it's really hard to have a job because of this political situation. That was what contributed to their success. And I will never forget her saying you don't want a pity product, you want an excellent product that also has positive impact. And I hear you saying something very, very similar to that sound about
Leeatt Rothschild 31:44
that. I love the the alliteration there. And it's, you know, it's, it's hard to not cringe hearing that, because Absolutely, you don't want to pity product, because that's not how you want to market yourself. And that you're doing a disservice to the you know, population that you're serving. So that really resonates in maybe an extension of that with a little a little twist is packed with purpose, you know, we really are synonymous with purposeful gifting. And part of being purposeful means that we're also looking at the language we use when we're talking about the communities we serve, or our impact partners. And one of the things that we started to do was, we are no longer using the term minority owned. So I don't know if you've sort of read about this are in tune with just some of the conversations around the the terminology minority owned, it really started through the minority on certification, it is sort of, you know, the insider looking out. But for many of these individuals, you know, being a black owned, or a Hispanic owned business, in a woman owned business, you don't think of yourself as a minority. And so even in creating our new impact area, we are not calling it minority owned businesses. It's a diverse owned and women owned. And that's part of being respectful to the founders and CEOs behind those businesses, those social enterprises or you know, or we refer to them as our impact partners. And I just share that, because it's another way of thinking about how purposeful Are you in? Are you even thinking through the language you're using to market your product or service or your product suppliers. And sometimes you have to use language that isn't the most conventional or isn't what is most mainstream, but it's the right language, and you're part of moving the needle on these conversations.
Paul Zelizer 33:38
Such a great example. Thanks for that, Leah. So when you know, in four years, you've 3,000% growth, you're really finding your legs and becoming known for a specific niche, which is purpose, purposeful gifts. And, like, give us a sense, like, with you don't have to name names, but like, give us a sense, who tends to buy, what are your clients? If our audience is trying to say, Okay, let me understand who's making these purchases? That's leading to 3,000% growth? What can you say about your client?
Leeatt Rothschild 34:15
Sure. So, you know, our clients are anyone from Fortune 500 companies or fortune 1000 companies that everyone has heard of, to, you know, smaller Mom and Pop companies or even nonprofits or foundations. So really any, any large tech companies whose products you're using every single day, whether it's chips in your computer, your computer, you know, software's that are fueling your business, search engine providers, you know, all of those companies are our clients, and then companies you've never heard of right like two person law firms in Arizona or a small credit union in Florida and then terms of who's actually buying. So what we found is that there's probably just a few different areas that companies and organizations use our gifts. They're using our gifts either internally for their own employees. So maybe for employee onboarding, when they want to send a gift to their employees, whether it's, you know, one of our gifts that is curated, or they want to include their own brochures, or personalized messages, or branded swag, to make it feel even more personal, it could be for an employee event, so virtual holiday parties, or virtual meetings, or in person meetings, or even just an employee appreciation or milestone gift, or it might be externally companies that want to send a gift to a prospect and really catch their eyes or attention. You know, before someone follows up with them, client client gifts, whether it is on the anniversary of your contract, whether it's for you know, now the holiday season, it could be as a way to restart a conversation with a client on expansion of services. So all of those ways, as well as other types of events, or to board members or to boards of directors, those are probably the primary ways in which we see our gifts being used.
Paul Zelizer 36:19
Thanks for sharing that with us. So if somebody is listening, and they're interested in this impact, and gifting space, and they're saying this is awesome, and like, packed with purpose has already exists, and it's growing 3,000% and like it's not 20 years ago, where all they had to say is, you know, my business cares about some having positive impact and people but now it's more sophisticate, like is too late to have a business or to start a business that has impact baked in its DNA, do you when a founders listening? Do you think like, if they didn't start five years ago, they're toast?
Leeatt Rothschild 37:00
No, not at all, I would say, there's a lot of companies that exist now that are sort of baking an impact, with a band aid approach. So you know, for anyone who's listening, who is passionate about doing good, and you know, suddenly has this novel idea of how they can do good with, you know, raw ingredients, or how they can do good through new, you know, alternative sources of packaging, or how they can do good, you know, with, I don't know, like carpentry supplies, it could be anything. You know, I think consumers and consumers are individuals, but also the folks that are making decisions, you know, at a corporate level, if it's a b2b product, you know, individuals and companies are really hungry to use their dollars in a smarter way, whether they're creating a corporate social responsibility, or ESG report, or they're just committed to doing good. So I don't think it's late at all, you know, I think that the market is, is opere. It's an opportune time now to bring products to the marketplace. And, you know, it's it's your your nut to crack and your story to tell in a more passionate, authentic way than maybe other competitors that are currently in the marketplace?
Paul Zelizer 38:13
No, I would totally agree, in many ways, because I get asked this, let's say about podcasting. Paul, you know, back five years ago, and you started the web go back 10 years ago, you know, there were hardly any podcasts and and now it's too late. And I think in many ways, it's kind of the perfect time because there's, when if you started the podcast, 10 years ago, there weren't that many people who are familiar with podcasting, right, you started an impact company, 10 years ago, it was less well known, and there were few people. But it's like still, early enough that I think there's an incredible opportunity for somebody who does the work to bake the DNA in a car in a context where there's a lot of impact washing, or people who just haven't gone very deep yet. And if you go deep, I think there's an incredible opportunity. Just like if you have a podcast that has a very clear audience, and you're really delivering a lot of value, there's a lot of people who are still kind of figuring it out, or making noise or doing podcasts that are very, very similar to a whole bunch else out there. You come along, and you're clear, and you know exactly what you want to do. And you do it with excellence, and you do it week after week. You're great guests and provide a lot of value, etc, etc. I think this is a fabulous, it's still early in the impact space, I think there will be a time where if a company is not thinking about impact, they're going to struggle to stay in business. We're not quite there yet. Yeah. But we are seeing a shift in the marketplace. And as you said, leaders who are making decisions are increasingly coming from that demographic, and that's only going to grow and they're looking for alternatives to some of the folks that kind of haven't found their way into this impact economy. So if anybody's listening and say, Is it too late? I say no, now is the perfect time there's enough energy and the dollars are there that people are making Decisions are looking for alternatives in certain spaces where people haven't fully baked it in. But there are leaders who are controlling decisions with budgets of very sizable amounts that are looking for options in a lot of spaces, and we don't yet have good resources for them. If you're one of those folks, you're gonna have a really good ride.
Leeatt Rothschild 40:21
Absolutely, yep. And, you know, can you tell your story in a better way? Can your product or service be superior to what's available in the marketplace? You know, are you accessing your customer in a differentiated manner? Like, there's so many ways to stand out, and it can be one of those are many of those. So I wholeheartedly agree.
Paul Zelizer 40:40
So when you look ahead, for what, you know, coming, obviously, get through the holiday season, have an awesome year, high five and rest, that might be part of what's for sure, yes. If we look a little past like the next month and a half, or I assume those might be some of the things that you're thinking about you and your team. If you look a little past in the next year or two, packed with purpose and building on this incredible momentum, what are some of the things your team is talking about?
Leeatt Rothschild 41:11
Yeah, great question. So you're right, right now we're focused on orders, orders, orders, and making sure we've got all the inventory to get our orders out. But you know, starting in q1 of next year, we'll really be looking at, you know, strategic expansion. So what are additional things we can be including in our gifts or providing as enhancements to the experience for our customers and for their gift recipient? And then, you know, so that's sort of, let's think of that as like outwardly manifesting. And then the other is just improving operational efficiencies. Right? So this podcast isn't, or this conversation isn't about all of the, you know, sort of boring things, the logistics to make the business run, but we are an inventory, heavy business. You know, many of our products are highly perishable, there's a lot of factors that come together that make our business successful. And so making sure that we're focused on all of those things, you know, from systems that connect, those are some of the aspects that we're going to be thinking about, and doubling down on.
Paul Zelizer 42:15
There's a lot of logistics in a business like this. And I'm just honoring you the out of somebody who my sense of you is somebody who is both able to be in the big picture conversations and look at things like impact and storytelling, but also Yeah, like, if you send out a perishable product, and it perishes, that's really not helpful for your goals, right? And to have, like, how many different products does pack with purpose these days? Like, give us some sense of what you're managing?
Leeatt Rothschild 42:47
We have hundreds of different products and right, like, you almost don't even want me to really answer this question. But my high level answer would be we have hundreds of products across our curated gifts, we probably have about 500 or so products across 100 or so curated collections that are available online. But for large enough orders will customize that gift for a client. And so there we might be sourcing, you know, new products or those products, that we have relationships with those impact partners, but it's not part of what we offer for 24/7 purchase online. So there's a lot of things to manage. And you know, that's why I say, you have to have the right products, you know, and have a gift that is sent to the right person at the right time with all the right items with the right gift message with the right branding, etc. Once you do that, then you can relish in the impact. But if we don't do that correctly, it almost doesn't even matter how much impact we will create. Because, you know, no one's going to take pity on us using that word from our earlier point. Because we do good, right, we have to be an exceptional gifting provider. And then we can focus on all the impact.
Paul Zelizer 43:54
Anything you've personally learned about how to manage that, that big picture, like vision and growth and storytelling, and those really gritty like what gets put in a box that gets mailed out and somebody opens it up. And they're thrilled, like any anything you can share about as a founder, making sense of how to be skillful in these very different skill sets of big picture and vision and, you know, holding the people and also that box that gets open from a first time client and they're thrilled and everything's the way it's you want it when they open it up. How has that been for you as a founder and what would you share to our listeners about how to hold that incredible range? Well,
Leeatt Rothschild 44:50
yeah, I think it's tough. I think every day is an exercise in being able to think big and strategically and then you know, managing all the the nuances and The details, especially within inventory, heavy business. You know, I think one thing that I found helpful, especially in speaking with my team is, you know, saying things like, at the end of the day, what really matters, because you can go down rabbit holes on, you know, especially now with COVID. And many of our impact partners, they couldn't be smaller, medium sized businesses. So they're having supply chain issues or delays in receipt. And so it's, you know, what really matters to our client? Can we make this substitution? Should we be, you know, asking them? Can we offer them alternatives? Can you know, can we put a product that's of superior value or double the size, because it will get to the end recipient on time before a client event? You know, those are just some of the things we're thinking about, you know, today on Monday. But obviously, you can take that same thought process and apply it to any given day where you're thinking, big picture, but also like, tactically, what has to happen in order for everyone to be happy. And depending on whose perspective you take, whether it's, you know, a member of our gift Concierge Team, which really holds that client relationship, whether it is that client, whether it's the person from operations, whether it is the team at the warehouse, that's actually building our guests, there's a lot of perspectives to take. And I think, being able to take all those perspectives, you know, go through them quickly and say, Alright, here's the best course of action, or here's my recommendation, do you have a different point of view, I think the closer you can get your team to see those perspectives, and then at least put a stake in the ground so that you can move forward and move past so that you can get to, you know, the next issue or the next important conversation, I found that to be helpful in pushing us forward in the way that we want to be innovative, but also moving quickly responding to our clients, requests, demands and changes in the marketplace.
Paul Zelizer 46:52
I could hang out with you all day, you know, there's so much to talk about. And I know you're super busy, and our listeners are super busy. If there was something you were hoping we would get to in this interview, and let me just back up and say, listeners, there will be links in the show notes to the pack with purpose website and the specific products we mentioned and some of the other resources. If there was something you were hoping we were going to get to, and we haven't gotten to it, or there's something you want to leave our listeners with, as we start to wind down. What would that be?
Leeatt Rothschild 47:23
No, I if I think of my own journey and some of the truths for maybe it's sometimes I think about this, this probably because my Peace Corps days, but I think about it as like a machete through the forest, like sort of bushwhacking through the noise. A few things I would say is do market research, even if it's cheap, or it's fast, and it's scrappy, it'll still get you somewhere. So get some kind of feedback, you know, put together some kind of market research study. You know, for me, even if it was giving a first prototype gift to my friends at my daughter's first birthday party, I could get some feedback on a gift on the packaging on the story. And that was what I needed to just propel me to go forward with our first prototype. The other is just start, it doesn't have to be perfect. So start with whatever it is an email campaign with a video with a new type of, you know, social media posts with bringing on a new product or supplier, it doesn't have to be perfect in order for you to try it out. And chances are, once you try it out, you're going to get so much feedback and insight into how to make it better. And I think maybe the other thing is just listen. So listen to your customers for us. Oftentimes, you know, it does sometimes come in the form of here I have a formal suggestion. Other times it comes in the form of how our customers are talking about packed with purpose in their gift messages or in their email responses to their gift concierge wrap and how they're talking about, you know who we are and why they've liked working with us. And that in turn becomes some of the language we use to market ourselves to the outside world. So that last point on listen I think can be valuable. Whether it is improving your internal operations, improving your marketing, communications, you know, or anything in between.
Paul Zelizer 49:15
Doesn't have to be perfect. And listen to your customers. I love that. Yeah, thank you so much for being on the show today. It's been fabulous having you here.
Leeatt Rothschild 49:24
Excellent. Thank you so much, Paul for inviting me to join you.
Paul Zelizer 49:28
So again, listeners there check the show notes for links to the website. Before we go just want to remind you we love listener suggested topics and guests. That's actually how liat got on the show. Big shout out to Kim Novak Thank you. If you have an idea for a show a topic go to the AWARE printers website. Go to our contact page. We have three criteria. We try to be really transparent. It's right there. You know what we're looking for. We have an idea and say Check, check, check Please send it on in. For now, I just want to say thank you so much for listening. Please take really good care in these chaotic times. And thank you for all the positive impact that you're working for in our world.