Samara Beth | Building a Brand: Evolving, Flexibility, and Knowing Your Audience
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Because you're big on branding, brand identity. What are three components that people need to think about when they're building a brand? Well, you need to know who your audience is. That's key. You kind of have to be part of whatever environment you're in and figure out what's your purpose, what's your why, what's your passion. It might change. You have to be flexible. And then you build that brand based on what you really want to do, genuinely really want to do, and then what the market is paying for.

That's one. I guess the second would be being a chameleon and being able to evolve and change. And the third thing when it comes to brand is you have personal brand and then you have your business brand. So your personal brand is who are you? Welcome to Mick Unplugged, where we ignite potential and fuel purpose. Get ready for raw insights, bold moves and game changing conversations. Buckle up. Here's Mick.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another exciting episode of Make Unplugged. And today's extraordinary guest is a dynamic entrepreneur and creative visionary known for her innovative approach to storytelling and brand building. With a passion for empowering others and a keen eye for details, she's made a significant contribution to the world of media and business. Her work has inspired many to think outside the box and embrace their unique voice.

Please join me in welcoming the creative, the empowering, and the visionary, Ms. Samara Beth. Samara, how are you doing, dear? Thank you. I feel like the crowd goes wild. They're doing it right now. Literally 10,000 people just erupted in clapping just for you. I love it. Oh my gosh. That was an amazing intro. Thank you. Absolutely. I am fantastic. I'm here in sunny, hot Arizona, Scottsdale.

Yeah, this time of the year, like literally if you go to Scottsdale or anywhere in Arizona, in the desert in particular, like you have to do everything by like six o'clock in the morning. Last year I was out in Phoenix and me not really knowing the lay of the land. I'm like, yeah, I think I'm going to go out for a little walk around like 1030 at

At 1035, I was back in the Airbnb. Couldn't take it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's why we have misters at shopping center parking lots. Yeah. It's very unbearable. When I first moved here, it was right before COVID. It was January, December 2019, and then January 2020. But it hit like record highs and nobody was out. There were summers where since I've moved here that it's been 125 degrees Fahrenheit. I moved here from Canada and I was like,

I'm melting. Like you, you can't breathe. You faint, you melt, you're drinking hydration packets every day. So when people come to visit, I literally hand them sunscreen and hydration packets.

I believe it. You have to have it out there. So Samara, I'm honored to have you here. I'm honored that you're blessing us in the audience and the viewers and listeners with your presence today because you're one of the people that I admire the most. And your journey is amazing. But more importantly, the human being that you are.

is what I'm most proud of for you. And so I'd love for the listeners and viewers to just understand your journey from, you know, going from the media industry to becoming this leading entrepreneur and creative visionary that you are. Well, my heart's beating fast. I'm going to cry. You might make me cry. Is this like the Larry King show where everybody cries?

Let's do it. I'm going to call Diana. I'm going to be like, you did not tell me that I'd be balling on McShow. That was not what you said. I appreciate all those kind words. I hope I can live up to all of them. I will say that being in the event industry has been an incredible experience. I've been producing corporate, social and nonprofit events and destination management for 30 years.

I was married to a nuclear submarine officer who went into oil, gas, construction expats. So we moved a lot.

And that required moving businesses, starting businesses over, moving my family, my children. And so it's always a journey and it's always challenging. Even when I felt like I was an introvert and shy among certain communities. Yes. Everybody gives me... No. Yes. No. I know. It's funny because put me in front of kids...

And put me in front of men or, you know, an elderly and I am like all in personality. But you put me in a group of females in my own community and I get so insecure. It's wild. And I think a lot of that is because I have been surrounded by communities that have women

were raised with a great deal of wealth. And I feel like I didn't come from that per se and that adds to that level. And so I have actually been introduced to the life of luxury in the last few years. I didn't even know it was untouchable.

for me. It was an untouchable. We look, we don't touch. We go into a store, we go right to the sale rack. We shop consignment. We get hand-me-downs. That was actually my upbringing. And it just, I think part of that is that I'm a third generation Holocaust survivor. And my mom was born in Munich, Germany after the war. And they came over through Ellis Island. It's a really neat story. All my grandparents were entrepreneurs, all of them.

And I didn't even realize it or think about it until recently when I was in an interview and someone said, where did that come from? Why did you become an entrepreneur?

And I'm like, was it genetic? And I'm like, well, no, not really. And then I'm like, Samara, your father's an attorney and had his own law firm. Your mother started her own business. She did events and conferences for near-death studies. And she did other things. And they did real estate and flipping homes. Her parents didn't speak any English. They only spoke Polish and Yiddish, which is like German. And they...

They only knew numbers and they were really smart. So they had liquor stores and grocery stores and my mom grew up working in those and

And then her brother became one of the top research neurologists for the country. And then my other side, my dad's parents, I don't remember. They passed away when I was young. But my grandpa owned a bar by the Pimlico racetrack in Baltimore. That's where I grew up in Baltimore. And so I'm thinking to myself, oh, yeah, I guess everybody in my family is an entrepreneur.

It's in the blood. It's in the blood. It's in the blood, but why did it take me 40-some years to figure that out is beyond me.

No worries at all. But you got it figured out. And I think you probably knew at a young age anyway, you're probably just fighting it a little bit. You probably know. Yes. I always wanted to be an event planner. My mom produced conferences and I was her OCD type A personality. Like you would open my drawer and my socks were color coordinated by rainbow growing up. Yeah. I think it's a disease. Yeah.

You're the person that I can't get along with. Or actually, I need you as a best friend because I'm colorblind. And so I'm going to have on two pair of socks that I think are the same color and one's going to be like bright green and the other one's going to be light blue. And, you know, that's just how I'm going to roll. Well,

Well, I could give you a lecture about the difference between turquoise, teal and light blue and ocean blue. So we should and I'm solely sidetracking this conversation, but there's only one blue that matters. And that is Carolina blue. And, you know, I have a lot of family and friends that that like another college. But Carolina blue is a trademarked blue just so that the world understands. That's it. It's just that.

So speaking of the Carolinas, I lived in Charleston for a year. Really? I did. It's where my brother lives. I live in South Carolina right now, but not Charleston. Can I come visit just to eat shrimp and grits, please? Thank you. Actually, it's a specialty of mine. Okay, well, I'm coming to visit you. Let's go. Let's go. So Samara, on Mic Unplugged, you know, we like talking to people about

So in the beginning, it's hard to figure out what that is. And interestingly enough, I was originally a psychology major and University of Maryland. And I went through that process. And I had my own stuff like eating disorders and depression things as a kid. I'm an insomniac. I take like five medications to go to sleep at night because I'm

My brain goes crazy. So all those things led me to, I wanted to help people with disabilities and psychology. So I actually volunteered, my co-op in high school was at two, a middle school and a high school, like people up to the age of 21 with severe disabilities.

And that was my co-op, my internship. And then I went into that in college and I was like, oh my gosh, I really want to do this and help people. And I had a learning disability, which is a whole other story. Like crazy stuff that's never happened to anyone. No human being ever on this planet has happened to me. I'm like the 1% for everything, I feel like. Oh,

Oh, that only happens to 1%. Okay, so it's going to happen to me when I have a surgery or anything. So I feel like the 1%. So all these things that have evolved through my life has gotten me to where I am today. But my why has changed throughout my life. So when I was a psychology major and they made me be for extra credit, we had to be on the sofa of a grad student and they were practicing on a student's

That's when I realized, nope, not doing that to anybody ever. That was horrible. I literally marched up to the office and I said, I want to change my major.

And I was like, I'm going to do events. I'm just doing events. I helped my mom at conferences. I planned the ski trips. I did the proms, all the prom decor and all that kind of stuff. This is who I am. I was a balloon artist in college at the big gift shop there that did balloon arts and arches and columns and all that for the universities and all the other stuff. I was like, I want to do events. So I immediately said, okay, well, there's no hospitality event program at University of Maryland back in the 90s.

So I went for public relations in the College of Journalism. And that was perfect because I learned that I do not want to be a reporter. I do not like or trust the news.

And yeah, true story. And I became the top PRSSA, Public Relations Students Society of America student. I won the awards. My name was mentioned a gazillion times at graduation and my parents and everyone was looking at each other saying, who are they talking about? Because I wasn't very smart in my mind. I had a learning disability. I had to take my exams in the Disability Service Center or the teacher's offices my senior year of high school and four years of college.

And people were, my friends and my boyfriend were like, where are you? And there were like 600 people in a room in college.

And they're like, where are you? Why aren't you taking the test here? And I'm like, oh, the teacher let me do it. I had to like come up with stuff because I was so humiliated by it. But my brain organizes in a different manner and it ain't linear. I'm going to tell you that. And all those Scantron tests and all those questions, they all are a linear manner. It's very complicated to explain. But anyway, I knew what I didn't want to do.

For a long time going through all that process. And then I was planning all the events, you know, for the sorority. And then I was philanthropy chair. I was always doing nonprofit work because that's what my mom did. And so I was always doing nonprofit work. I was always chairing events. I was always on a board, a very engaged, very active person.

And that continued on. I did marry someone from the Naval Academy. So that was definitely a change of pace. And we moved a lot. And all the engagement and all the things that I was doing was I need to get out there and I need to meet people. I need to create a village. I need to make friends. I need to be involved. I need to be on the boards. I need to be at everything. I need to, I need to, I need to. And I kept doing it and doing it and doing it.

Of course, when we lived, we were stationed in Hawaii and my son at 13 months old was diagnosed with autism. And that was like a boom. He was born in Florida. We lived in Florida. I had a six week old, eight duffel bags and two cats. And the Navy flew us three flights from Florida to Hawaii. It was 24 hours of nonstop flying.

And we get to Hawaii and we didn't have a home. We were living in the military hotel until we could find a place to live. And we did. And Hawaii was amazing for three years because it's gorgeous.

But while some people's kids were able to have play dates and were able to eat cereal bars at a certain age and were able to do certain things, I had a son projectile vomiting everything he ate for two years with white carpet. Wow. So I went through a lot. We had five people at the house every day training him. We did early intervention in 1994 and 95. All you knew was Rain Man.

I was told that I gave my kid autism because I ate tuna. I swear to you. Like this stuff, it was crazy. And the doctor who first diagnosed him said, we're like, what does that mean? Because we're just like jaw drop. We're like,

autism? What does that even mean? He said, well, let's just say your son will never be a politician. And I'm like, well, that's good because I don't really love him. But no one's going to tell me my son is not going to be a politician. You know what I mean? That's when you're like, I'm going to stand my ground. And so we had second and third opinions and got him into like the top center in Baltimore and all that stuff.

And so we just kept doing it. We just kept, you know, behavioral therapists, occupational therapists, whatever. He was terrified of children, cried all the time. I had to keep throwing him into lion's den. I had to quit my gym memberships because he couldn't be in the daycare because they would keep calling me on the intercom. Please come get your son. And it just was a nightmare, but we got through it. And so everything that I've done,

has led me to where I am. And at one point, I left my career as a corporate event planner in New York City, because I was still working for them as we were moving around, to be a Pampered Chef consultant, which is such a military spouse thing to do. Because... I didn't know this about you, Samara. I thought I knew everything about Samara. Top recruiter, President's Awards. Okay. Okay.

Won all the trips, earned all the trips. I didn't win them, I earned them. Earned all the trips, worked. I started in Florida, moved it to Hawaii, moved it to Texas, ran it for eight, eight and a half years.

very successfully. I had a great team, kept moving my business, starting over, but keeping the clients back where they were. And I traveled and I spoke. They had me. I was honored to be a presenter, to be an instructor, a coach, a teacher in the breakout rooms. I was on the Dallas Convention Center speaking in front of 3000 advanced coaches. I became an advanced director. My pictures are all over these banners. My mom came. She's like, oh my God, you're like larger than life. I'm like,

I know this is crazy. Like it was crazy. And they had big, big plans for me at that company. And I,

But we were moving from northern Houston, Jersey Village, going down to Maryland, different area, because I was falling asleep on the HOV lane while pregnant. So I got my son into this private school and I was driving like an hour each way. And I was so tired, pregnant. And so we ended up moving because also my husband was getting his MBA at the same time. So I felt like a single mom, essentially, because when they're getting their MBA, they're always because he was also working full time. So it was like

I felt like I was like doing everything and I was so far from my community, my village. So I moved further down. So I left, I left my job with the Pampered Chef. It wasn't a job. I owned my own business with them, but I left it to go back into the event industry because I missed it. And I went back into it. And then 2008,

Obviously, we had the bailouts and the economy dropped and everybody was like panicking. And I was working for an amazing DMC corporate event planning company there that's still in business. I'm so blessed that the companies are all still in business that I've ever worked for. Means I didn't like do anything horrible. I'm just kidding. No, they just they're still standing. But we had 2008 and then Hurricane Ike came and just wiped us out in

in Houston. And so I was let go among along with like three other people out of like five. And now it's funny, because one of the people that got let go, she now runs the company, she bought it. So they she came back. So you know, things happen. We've in the event industry, we've been through the ebbs and flows, the camel humps, you know, we've been through a lot. And I have transitioned. So every time I moved, I had to transition with the market that I was currently living in.

You know, people talk about market research. Well, it's also community research. You know, what community do I want to be a part of? Where do I want my son to go to school? Can he be mainstreamed into public school? No. And so that's even like that's the shorter of it, Mick. I mean, so my why to answer that, because I do always go transition back to what you first asked. My why is always changing.

And my why today, as I own my own brand, I had my company Celebrations by Samara for 12 years. It was social events because I didn't want to do the whole bidding wars and all the things you have to do with corporate. So I went back into social, planned bar and bat mitzvahs and weddings and birthday parties and holiday parties and house parties. And then I moved it to Vancouver, British Columbia when we had to move there, lived there for five years and then moved to Arizona right before COVID.

December 2019. And I got divorced after 22 years and started a new brand, Samar Beth and Company. And that's what brings me to where I am today. That's actually the short version. Wow. Appreciate it. Sorry about that. We'll have the long version over a cocktail or something.

Yes. There we go. So a lot that I want to unpack and unplug from what you said. Number one, I love the term was-been. So for everyone out there, Samara has trademarked that term was-been. It's hers. She owns it. It's hers. I do own it. But dealing with change and the frequency of change is what a lot of people, whether you're an entrepreneur, a solopreneur, a business leader, you have to deal with. And the world doesn't talk about.

Right. Like when you watch social media videos, the world is easy. If you do these five things, you'll be a billionaire. Right. And there's only like a handful of billionaires because no one can do those five things. Right. People don't talk about change. And what I'll say is change management. How do you deal with the frequency change?

Of that change. And sometimes, you know, the change is coming. But most times it's like, holy crap, this just happened. And I have to deal with it because I'm also responsible for people putting food at their table. Oh, I have a great example for that one. Let's go. May I tell it? Yes. 9-11. 9-11.

It's hard to paint the picture on this because it's so confusing for people. But 9-11, we lived in Florida, in Amelia Island, but we were based in Kings Bay, Georgia, which is the submarine port. And I was still working for the company in New York City.

So I would fly back and forth and work events. And in this particular period, there's two crews on the submarine. There's the blue and the gold on the one that has the nukes on them. There's two kinds of subs. I know a lot about submarines. It's crazy. So our crew was in and the other crew was in too, but they were transitioning. So I was in New York City working an event with pharmaceutical clients. The clients that we had in New York were Fortune 100, 500 companies. And

And so I worked with all the pharmaceuticals were my clients and, you know, all the big like Coca-Cola's and Visa and MasterCard and all the big ones. So we were doing a like 150 pharmaceutical reps event and I was staying at the Hotel Intercontinental because I didn't live in New York anymore. So I was staying at the Hotel Continental with the clients and I was.

I was there, like when I would come into New York, usually they'd have me there for a couple of weeks because then I would do site tours with clients and we would do company stuff. And I would just meet, do as many meetings as possible while and be in the office. And in that particular time, I was in New York a week before 9-11. And I was, I remember it like it was yesterday. It's unbelievable. But I was at Windows in the World that weekend giving a site tour to my client, which was YPO Twin Cities. And I remember that

The couple that was there for the site tour, he was scared of heights. And we were at Windows in the World, which is the restaurant and venue on the top floor of the Twin Towers, for those who don't know, the World Trade Center. And it's interesting because we talked to like millennials and other generations. They don't even know what that is, right? They just learn about it in school, but they don't really quite understand and grasp it. The magnitude was deep. Deep. And we're going through it regularly.

right now in a different way and it's very close to home to me because I'm a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors so we're at windows in the world on the top floor and we're waiting on the elevator and there's big windows everywhere obviously and the client's scared of heights and my boss and I were like looking at the view out the window like you know checking everything out and he's like she's like come look at this come look at this and he's like I'm scared of heights I'm good

He was standing back and she's like, you're fine up here. Like it was kind of like scared of heights. What are we doing an event at windows in the world for, you know, like kind of like mocking it. Like, why are we even here? You know, it's like, well, I'll just stay back. Whatever. That was Saturday and Saturday and Sunday. I was doing airport meet and greet. Cause that's what we did. It was all white glove high end service. So we were meeting and greeting everybody at the airport. And back then you could go all the way up to the gates.

to greet people. So we had professional, you know, tour guides and all that. They would greet them, put them in the vehicles, the sedans, limousines, mini coaches, whatever, bring them to the hotel. So we had a disaster. It was raining. The weather was so horrible. It was one of my worst airport meet and greets, except for when I had to deal with blizzards. Okay. Everything was going wrong.

And then 9-11 happens and it's a gorgeous, clear day. I don't even think there was a cloud in the sky. I have to go back and look at the photos. We had an event going on at Ellis Island for another client that weekend as well. So our photographers who are like our dear friends from Maryland, they actually photographed my wedding photos.

They were in town because we would bring them in for corporate events. So they're at Ellis Island with the other part of our team working this other event. I don't even know who the client was because it wasn't even mine. It was my colleague, my co-workers.

So I had my pharmaceutical reps. So that day, our buses and our tour guys went and got everybody from Intercontinental, took them to the hospital where they were having meetings and meeting with doctors and having meetings and all kinds of stuff, whatever they were doing. So then I got on the subway and I'm going to my office.

And our office is in Chelsea. So I'm going to the office, I get off the subway and I'm like, such a gorgeous day. I'm so happy. I'm at Hotel Intercontinental, which is gorgeous. I'm going to see Blue Man Group with my client that night, like walking on air. I come out of the train and it's right where the Flatiron building is. And I'm

everyone's just like stopped and like, what's going on? And so people didn't really know, but we saw all the smoke and everything was happening. And it was, and then as I'm looking up, they're all like pointing. And so we look up and as I'm looking up, I'm watching while the second, you don't realize what you're seeing, but the second plane is going into the second tower and

And, but you're not like sure what's happening. So I'm like, what's going on? They're like, I don't know. Something's happening. Like, blah, blah, blah. And so, cause they didn't say it was a terrorist attack yet. It was just too soon. So I'm sprinting to my office. I've, my hair is standing up now. I have goosebumps. I'm sprinting to my office. Like,

crazy fast. And I go up and our office is in the Mason building, which is amazing, highly secured. You can imagine they probably have a cup down there. So it's a Mason building and they all know us. And I'm like, what's going on? And they're like, we're not sure, but we think because they're on the know. I race up there and we've got radios on. We've got like the old

13 inch screen, black and white TV, trying to get the news going because our internet stops working and our cell phones stop working. Like all technology wasn't working because this is where a lot of hubs and a lot of things are happening in that part of town. And so all of our, and everybody's on the phone. Well, when all of New York city is trying to make a phone call, you can imagine it's not, you have no reception. You can't get through anywhere. Um,

So it started to get really bad. And so we're thinking that they're going to fall onto all the rest of the buildings, that they're going to go timber. That's what you're thinking is going to happen. That's common sense. That's what your brain is thinking. And you're watching the smoke and everything that's happening. And we're on the roof of our building and we could see everything from there. And you think-

you know, 23rd Street downtown, like the financial district, it seems like it's so far away, but it's actually not, especially when it's a clear day and you're on the roof. Right.

And we're there and we're holding on to each other. And we don't know what's going to happen. But we think that these buildings are about to timber on all the other buildings. And my coworker lives down there. And it just, we're like, where is everyone? Plus we were just there. We have friends that work there. We have family there. Like we're freaking out. Everyone's freaking out. We're up there and we watch the buildings go down.

And for those who haven't seen that on TV, I'm sure you have in the news on TV, but those buildings were built to go down, to crumble down from top down to bottom floor and not to timber. But nobody really knew if that construction was going to work.

And it did, which was horrible. We lost people. We knew a lot of people who lived there, who worked there, people who had a doctor's appointment that day, people who were running late that day, you know, people who had all these things that happen and they're still alive today and those who were there.

And my family and my husband at the time thought I was there because he knew that I was there for a site tour. So he figured that I was there with the clients doing a walkthrough before the events and didn't know if I was doing meetings there all week. Like nobody knows what I'm doing in my family, right? They just know I'm there. And then Philadelphia, Pentagon. Well, guess what? My husband at the time, he was with all the officers of his submarine at the Pentagon that day. Yeah. Yeah.

So, but no one can communicate. And everyone's freaking out, obviously. And I have 150 pharmaceutical reps at a hospital that needs to be used for triage. We have to get them out of the hospital to Hotel Intercontinental and they're all in suits and high heels, the women.

And our buses are all in New Jersey because buses don't stay in New York City when they're having to wait for a while. There's no parking for that. They go back to New Jersey and they come back when they're needed to spot 30 minutes prior. So what do we have to do? We have to go all the way up north on foot because there are no vehicles there.

available, go all the way up north and walk all of these guests and clients to the Hotel Intercontinental. Not close at all. Obviously, we had buses and we're all hysterical at the same time, but we have to keep calm. The van that was rented for that Ellis Island event

was still in our possession because we hadn't returned it yet. None of us own vehicles in New York City, by the way. My boss doesn't even have a driver's license, right? Except here's the thing. She was on an airplane in D.C. that got landed. She was at a conference and she was speaking at a meeting. And so she wasn't in New York City. Her partner was.

But she was on a plane that got grounded because of what happened. And they were coming for her.

the White House, the Pentagon, whatever they were coming for. So they grounded all the planes. So she's stuck on an airplane for hours, not knowing what's happening in her city. We are all trying to do crisis management while trying not to have a massive breakdown. And we finally were like, let's get the van. We're going to go to the hospital. In fact, we had nextels back then, walkie talkie and cell phone nextels.

So we would go to, you'll have to explain all this to all your younger listeners in the morning. So then we go to the- I don't have visuals. Yes, yes. Nextel equals. So we went, we took the van, my coworker, Kevin and I took the van. We drove it to the hospital where we informed everyone what was going on. People got bits and pieces. They didn't really know. I went to the bathroom and the women were bawling in the bathroom. Oh my God, it was horrible.

The women were bawling. I can't believe I'm crying. I haven't cried about this in years. Like when I say like, I remember like it was yesterday. I remember the smell. I remember the feeling like I, the sulfur smell, the smell. And then you're trying hard not to think about what you're smelling because you don't want to know.

And then we have all these girls in the bathroom crying and they're from New Jersey and New York and everyone's got friends and people they know at the towers and everyone's freaking out. And my coworker was in the shower when it happened because she had class in the morning. She was younger and then she was going to come into work and she was in the shower and she comes out of the shower and you do not want to know what was in her courtyard when she got out of the shower. You don't want to know. And I'm not even going to say it because it's so awful.

And so then we went and got them and thank God my tour guides and trip directors are all were at the hospital with them. And we physically walked blocks and blocks and blocks to the hotel. To this day, I have not seen Blue Mangrove, by the way. Obviously, we didn't make it that night. And, you know, my friends are in the city. My friends are on Broadway. My friends were impacted in so many ways by this. And it changed me.

Because once I was able to get well, what happened was I left Intercontinental. I did not want to stay there. I did not want to be with my clients anymore. Everyone was trying to get out of that hotel and go home. And the bridges and all the tunnels were closed. And I was like, OK, I'm going to go to the plaza, which is where my photographer was staying, who is like a brother to me, even to this day, Jack.

And so I went, stayed at the Plaza Hotel. They got me a room for free. I knew everyone working there anyway because I was always there. And for the first time in the history of the Plaza Hotel, we're at the restaurants and the bars and they announced dinner's on us and they treated everyone to dinner and the staff stayed. They took care of everyone instead of going home. So it was pretty miraculous. But walking...

up those streets because it was I had to walk from the Intercontinental. I couldn't get a taxi. I wasn't going on a subway. That wasn't happening. They didn't know what was going to happen next. And then once the tunnels were open and the bridges, they would do like one by one. Jack lived in Bethesda and my parents lived in Baltimore and he drove me home and he

And he knew my parents because he was my wedding photographer. And he drove me home to Baltimore to their house. And then overnight, my mom and I drove all the way to Florida. We just took turns. I wouldn't even stop at a hotel. We just kept going. And then I got home to...

My husband, his crew, as soon as they could get out of the Pentagon, they went into their van and they drove back to Georgia to the submarine base. And then the submarines and all the ships had to be deployed. Everything was sent out because they didn't know if they were hitting the bases. And obviously, we lived in Pearl Harbor area. We lived in Hawaii. We know what went down that day. So we just didn't want to repeat. So they sent everything out.

That's the short version of that story, Mick. I'm telling you. I'm so sorry. It was so long. No, no, no, no, no. You are totally good. You're totally good. So a couple of things I want to do rapid fire with you, right? Because you're big on branding, brand identity. What are three components that people need to think about when they're building a brand?

Well, you need to know who your audience is. That's key. I do want to let people know because I've had multiple companies and I've moved businesses and stuff. And I said it a little bit earlier. Your audiences are going to change and it changes with the economy. It changes with if it's an election year like right now we're dealing with that and impacts the economy, impacts people holding on to their money. People are scared to spend in certain situations. Holiday parties are not sold out yet, which is unheard of.

So there's a lot of things that happen and you have to evolve, which is why one of my emails is evolve at smartbet.com because you have to evolve. And that's something that I've learned to be is a chameleon. You kind of have to be part of whatever environment you're in and figure out what's your purpose, what's your why, what's your passion. It might change. You have to be flexible.

And then you build that brand based on what you really want to do, genuinely really want to do, and then what the market is paying for. So that's one. I guess the second would be being a chameleon and being able to evolve and change. And the third thing when it comes to brand is you have personal brand and then you have your business brand. So your personal brand is who are you? So who is Samarabath? So Samarabath is...

is extroverted, outgoing, and loves to bring people together, loves to be surrounded by others and entertain and help people build their businesses and help other people make money. My favorite thing to do is to pay my vendors and creative partners. So those things are your why, your purpose. You want to make the world a better place? Well, like a toddler, you

Why? Why? Why? Why? All the way down until you figure it out. I think you mentioned that earlier. That's right. And that's what it is. You're like a toddler. You know, when you say to a kid, I'm sorry, you can't eat that. Why? They're going to say why at two or three. They're going to say why until you get down to it. And before you realize it, your kid has just completely taught you something. Right. Yeah. Because I told you so doesn't work. No. And newsflash. Do you have kids?

I do. Newsflash, right? How old are they? Oh, they're old now. They're 26, 24, 22. Okay, so mine are 20 and 14. They know more than I do. Right. They're smarter than I ever was. Right. But they don't have the street smarts. There you go. I got the streets.

So I, you know, and so that's what I've tried to teach my kids. They're better in math. They're better in science. They have their dad's engineer brain. I'm a writer. I'm a communicator. I'm a people person. So people say that they hire me because of me. They want me. They want to be a part of whatever I'm a part of. So if that's you, then you want to build your brand around that.

If it's not you and they want your services, they want your product, then build it around that. Yeah. But separate out your personal brand from your business because you want – and I'm a 10X certified business coach. There's my water, water bottle. There you go. So as a Grand Cardone 10X certified business coach, whether you agree with him or like him or not, it doesn't even matter. His sales and marketing techniques that we train and coach people on –

is brilliant. And it may not work for everyone exactly the way he does it, but you can tweak it and make it your own, which is what you should be doing with all of your coaches, by the way. And so with that, I enjoy helping others build their brands and their businesses so that they can help save the world because I may not be able to do it on my own. We can do it together.

Yeah. Yeah. I love it. One of the things I love doing, and I want to go rapid fire with you on this one too, is, you know, there are a lot of things that people do that they think they're doing right, but they're actually doing it wrong. And so from Samara Beth, being this certified 10X coach, what are two things that a lot of businesses as it relates to sales and marketing are doing wrong that they think they're doing right?

Okay, so I produce retreats and events, right? Especially one, this has to do with events, not internal events, not corporate internal events. Like, you know, if Coca-Cola is doing an event, they don't need to really test things out. They can kind of just do it, right? So for me, and that kind of goes back to Coca-Cola as the example, actually why I love them. But at that time, it's why I got out of the event business and into Pampered Chef. And I'll have to go back to that because I didn't,

finish that, I guess. But what I do go into a tangents, but I do come back somewhere in the circle. Sorry. It's the brain. It's the ADHD in me. What can I say? So what I say to people that are producing retreats and events, workshops, masterclasses, those kinds of things is to pre-sell it. So come up with a cool name you like, make sure it works with what you're selling and

Have a logo created. Create your branding materials. Use Canva or have a VA do it, whatever. Make sure that your logo is pretty cool because you're going to reuse it a lot. It's going to be on your water bottles and your bags and your whatever. It's going to be everywhere. The invitations, that kind of thing. So make sure you're happy with that. You can always change it later. Don't stress over it. Do a logo for that brand.

brand because you're branding your event. You're branding the event. So the event is not branded as just you. You're branding the event. Okay. It's your summit. It's your whatever. So then you're going to pre-sell it before you put a ton of money down on deposits. Once you get some flow and people are really buying into it, then invest in

in it and start small. Think big. I'm a big thinker. Think big. You want Madison Square Garden? Go for it. Go for it. But let's start off with a hotel with a breakout room. And once you fill it, you can go into a larger space. You can take over the ballroom. You could start with a quarter of ballroom, then do half a ballroom, then do full ballroom. Now, granted, it's based on availability.

So it's not 100%, but stay in touch with the conference sales manager. Stay in touch with someone. Start with a restaurant. Start with a bar. Work your way up. Go into House of Blues. You can start with, I used to do a lot of events there in Houston. Start with House of Blues. You can start in their smaller room and then move into maybe the restaurant and buy that out and then move into the concert hall. Like go somewhere that has multiple size spaces.

so that if you are going into a larger space, it is there and you don't have to move venues. People don't know or care what room it's in. And at least you have the venue. And then once you know that it's people want it, then you can move on from there. And if you're like, oh, my gosh, I can't believe we sold out. We have a thousand people who bought the tickets.

You want to go in somewhere bigger, go for it or wait till the next year. You just created the buzz. You've already created the buzz. Don't feel like you have to be greedy and get it all at one time. No, I tell people this all the time, especially when they're doing events like their first event, whether it's virtual, in-person, hybrid, whatever. If you think you're going to sell a thousand tickets, prepare for 100 people to show up.

Prepare for 100 people because everyone assumes that my ticket is the hottest one and I've got it priced right and everyone's going to attend. But just you know this better than I do because you're in the event space. There's thousands of events every day. You're competing against the world. And yes, you might have a terrific event, but so does a thousand other people.

And so if you're playing for a thousand, a hundred are going to be there. Make you know who else you're competing with? The Kardashians and all the influencers and everyone who takes over social media, who everybody is following. And you're competing with that too, because you're marketing in the same places, even if that's not your audience. Right.

You're still marketing in social media and online and in groups and stuff. And so you're competing with the big names. You're competing with celebrities. You're competing with God help us all reality TV shows. You're competing with all that because you have to think about how many things does one person look at in a day?

You know, so from the time they wake up to the time that they're going to sleep to Candy Crush, how many things are they looking at in a day? And I also want to mention when you're creating a brand, it's really important to think.

Have your personal brand and have a corporate brand because you can grow and scale that brand. You can't grow and scale yourself. So go out there and buy. I bought SamarBeth.com, I SamarBethInCo.com. Like go out there and buy the URLs that have your name tied to it because that's you. That's you as an author, you as a speaker, you as your business owner, you as a venture capitalist or an angel investor or whatever you are.

buy that personal brand, keep it separate, and then have your business as just one element of what you do. Don't let it become you because it will, how are you going to sell it? You know? Ladies and gentlemen, you just got $100,000 advice on that last segment right there. Like I promise you, if you don't listen to anything else, that last segment was genuinely the gold. That was the goods as I like to call it.

Thank you. Well, I can't take full credit since I learned it from all my amazing coaches and I do have a lot of different coaches. You're the last one that said it. So it's you right now. It's mine. I got that in Wasbin, huh? Wasbin. Love it. Love it. Love it. All right. What do you have going on? What's coming up? Oh, thanks for asking. So I have my retreat revenue masterclass, which is also a workshop called Paid to Vacation.

I mean, how many people want to go to Dubai or they want to go climb Mount Kilimanjaro and go to Africa? I know, right? I want to go to Dubai. I don't know if I want to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. How about a safari? How about a safari? How about that? Okay. Okay. With a hot air balloon over that. Giraffes are my spirit animal, by the way. Okay. Probably because I envy giraffes.

For those who are only listening to this, because I don't know if you do video too, but I was looking upward. I'm five feet tall. So, but there's, you might want to go to Atlantis Resort, Paradise Island, you know, have all the kids do what I call the not so lazy river. You might want to go to Hawaii. You might want to go wherever. You might want to go to all 50 states in the US states. You can, you can do it. You're the only person in the way to do it.

Take your skill set. Take what you know, what you love, what your story is, your resilience. My nickname, by the way, is Lil Bamboo, L-I-L slash Bamboo. Coach Ron Tunick called me that. He was a football coach. He's a radio show host. He has his own radio show in California. And he called me that because...

I needed to be very resilient in a time where I hit a massive low. Going through the divorce and everything was horrible, you know, for me. And so I just had to keep picking myself up and picking myself up. And I mean, I was 98 pounds, 94 pounds, whatever. I mean, like I was tiny. And so now I've overcome all that. And so it's now it's like that that thriving process.

time in your life and going through, I'm not the only one. Divorce is huge. Tons of people go through it. Everyone's situation is different. Everyone comes from a different upbringing. Everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody, right? So it's taking those stories, taking the things you've been through. Like I was pregnant with a son, Cameron, who had giant omphalocele. His major organs were all outside of his stomach and its own membrane. Like I had to bury my child. Like

awful, awful situation. And Ava was, you know, a preemie. And, you know, I woke up in a pool of blood in my bed exactly a year after I just delivered Cameron, like you just, but I'm here, I'm still here. And I'm still here to help those who are going through difficult pregnancies or their children with disabilities, or, you know, whatever it is, like people call upon me because I'm

I verbalized it. I didn't internalize it. If you internalize it, it eats you alive. And I went through massive depression. I know what that feels like. I know what being suicidal feels like. I know what it's like to Google best way to kill yourself, but I don't want to kill myself. I don't want to die.

I want to be there to help other people. And I do. And that to me is more important. You know, I love planning birthdays and weddings and mitzvahs and kinshias or whatever it may be. I love the corporate events and that bond with my clients. But I also love people who have like a message that really need to get that message out. They can't really do it on their own, but they know someone like me who knows people all over the world.

And I'm able to say, okay, you're in the spiritual sector. I know mediums. I know hypnotherapists. My mom was a past life regression hypnotherapist. I know people who are sound meditation specialists and people who are amazing with, you know, special yogas. My son with vertigo, like we know physical therapists and specialists that work with vertigo. Like there's people who have all these different specialties that have come in my life in my 48 young years. And I'm able to say, okay, you're in the spiritual sector.

I can bring them together and they can do that event together. And I do all the work. You just send it out. We create all the elements. So that's one thing I do. That's the do it for you, essentially. But the pay to vacation is a retreat revenue masterclass where not only do I teach you how to produce the events,

And the retreats. But I also bring in specialists who are the sales managers at resorts who can teach you about the contracts of attrition and hotel room blocks and the spaces and what space would be best for you and how it works with, you know, you've got your air walls and all the different things that most people don't know about.

You know, what size linen goes on what size table to me? Like, it's so funny. Like, you know, you, you kind of, you know, it, if you're in the industry, but if you're not, you don't. And most photographers not going to know it, but you know, so you just, I bring those people to the table, those experts, lead generation experts, people who do the Canva and the graphic designs, people who can teach you all of these things. Those are special guests.

in my program. And they come in and they teach you that. But not only that, a lot of coaches don't appreciate you marketing or selling to their people. They feel like, okay, well, I worked hard to get these people together. Please don't sell anyone. This is my community. You guys can be friends. That's great. But I don't want you like, you know, they don't like that. Not everyone's like that. But there are coaches like that.

And people who have Facebook groups are like that as well. Not everyone, but there are Facebook groups are like, please don't do this. Or they'll come up with like a day. Please share what you do on Mondays or whatever. And so in my group, I want you to market and network with each other. I want you to find your community and your group. That's the point is not only are you learning how to do it, you're meeting people that are going to become your new best friends or your business partners or people who are going to, you know,

That's right. That's what I love doing. I love bringing people together. So I do it with a course or I do it for you.

And I also am a business coach and I coach mostly on marketing and events. But I also as a 10x certified business coach at Grand Cardone, I'm a licensee, which means I teach all of his PowerPoints, his workbooks, his marketing. I have all of his flyers, his logos, his photos. I'm allowed to use all of that. And then I just pay a commission back to them for being able to use it. And it's fantastic knowledge. I learned from it. So, yeah. Amazing.

Amazing. And you also have a book series coming out. So yeah, so the book series is actually it's through Habitu Warrior, which is amazing. Eric Swanson and John Kovach. I mean, I love them so much. They're like family. And they became publishers during COVID because they used to do in-person events. And as my industry has seen the ups and downs of that and COVID obviously hit us hard.

So no matter how many times I try to get away from the event industry, it pulls me back in because that's your passion. That's your purpose. That's your why, right? It's like you can't you can take the girl out of events, but you can't take events out of the girl. So Habitu Warrior, this three book series, they have multiple, but this three book series is on human empowerment. And I'm talking about the journey of Little Bamboo and being resilient and discovering the new with Little Bamboo and learning.

Maybe I should do a children's book series. Sounds like it. Sounds like it. That's in my bucket list, actually, Mick. I have a bucket list actually, cute. Okay. Oh, that reminds me. I would love to... I have some gifts for your listeners.

Let's go. Okay. So I good, good, good, good. I love gifts too. I love giving gifts. Okay. So a couple of things. One is I have a bucket list planner that I made super cute. Um, it's an e-planner. So I'm able right now because I'm waiting on the market and the demand. I'm not going to print a hundred e-planners if I don't need to, I don't need to have stacks, you know?

So it's an e-planner right now. I will give you the link and you can share it with your listeners and it will automatically, once they put their information in, it automatically emails it to them with a PDF download for free. And then also I'm going to give you a discount code for all of your listeners who want to be part of my group coaching, my paid to vacation course. So any retreat, yep. So I'll send you the link.

And they're going to have the discount code that they can use is the friends and family, all caps, one word. And I'll give that to you. It's usually it's a six week to launching your retreat. So you'll have an event at the end of that probably sooner, include some one on one calls with me. And to be honest, I'm very approachable. So I'm not one of those. Well, you used up your 60 minutes and I'm never going to talk to you again. I'm not like that.

Um, it's usually 1997, but I'm going to give it to your, your listeners for 497, which is crazy, crazy cheap. If you're listening or watching and you don't go do that right now, like don't be my friend anymore. That's an amazing, an amazing, an amazing, an amazing offer.

Samara, I appreciate that. Oh, I love giving and we all learn from each other because they'll become part of our community. And so, you know, who knows? You never know where your next best friend is going to come from or your next spouse, partner, life partner or business partner. So, yeah.

The more people, that's why I'm in so many different coaching groups too. Cause I also teach a course called, oh, I'd love to do this with you. I just taught it to a bunch of teenager, young kids. And they weren't all teens, actually young kids in 20 somethings on a millionaire mentorship zoom. And it was my networking your way to wealth course, which I've been teaching for years. I had a kid's etiquette course that I taught even when I was pregnant and it's wonderful. And I have an entertaining etiquette for adults and,

And I created Networking Your Way to Wealth or Networking with Intention, depending on the audience. And I teach people how to do what I've had to do for the last 40 some years. Amazing. Yeah, lots of good stuff. It brings people together. That's all that matters to me. That's it. The great connector, little...

Little Bambino is what I would call you over there. Little Bamboo over there. So Samara Beth, where can people follow you and find you? I mean, I know if you just Google, she's there, but where do you want people to follow you? Yes. And I did bring a lot of things down during COVID because we were all going to die. So I'm like, why am I paying for...

My company of 12 years went in the red during COVID and I'm like, that's it. I'm done with this industry. I'm never going back into events. I'm so tired of the ups and downs. Look where I am now. So my website is samarabethandco.com and Samara is S-A-M as in Mary, A-R-A. Beth is my middle name, B as in boy, E-R-A.

T-H and then end is written out A-N-D Co. C-O dot com. And guess what, Mick? You're my co. I'm the co? You're part of my co. Let's go. Everyone's my company. Everyone is part of my company in one way or another.

Oh, I thought I was special. You just said everyone. Now, now. Well, you I just can't wait to give you a big bear hug. You're going to meet me and you're going to see I literally like attack people when I meet them for the first time in person. I'm scared. You should be scared. There we go. Ladies and gentlemen, make sure that you are giving Samara Beth a follow.

All the amazing things that she talked about are going to be in the show notes so that we can make sure that we get you followed, that we can give you all the discounts to everything that we have. And I think Samara Beth has one more thing she wants to announce to the world. One more thing. My Facebook account of 15 years, my personal one, was hacked and destroyed.

So I had to start over recently. And so I have a new Facebook and I have new all social media is new because they were all attached to that account and Meta wouldn't fix it. So or detach them. So please, please follow Samara, Beth and Co on Instagram. You can find me on Facebook. What I'll do is I'll give you my digital business card to put in the show notes and has all the links and numbers and my personal email, my cell phone. Your listeners will have direct access to Samara Beth.

Wow. Again, if you don't take advantage of that, don't call me a friend because that is amazing that she doesn't do that often. Ladies and gentlemen, I can promise you. Samar Beth, thank you so much for spending time with us. This has been one of my favorites. You're awesome. You're amazing. Thank you. Thank you. This was awesome. I can't wait to meet you in person. Absolutely. Absolutely. And to the listeners and viewers, remember your because is your superpower. Go unleash it.

Thank you for tuning in to Mic Unplugged. Keep pushing your limits, embracing your purpose, and chasing greatness. Until next time, stay unstoppable.