Molly Ruland:

Okay. Welcome back to Camp Content, the show where we pitch the tents and light the bonfire on all things marketing, sales and content creation. We’ve got an adventurer today. She’s a tail trailblazer in the marketing wilderness and a beacon. I love these camp, camping analogies. For those, navigating the ever changing, expanding globe of talent and creativity. So, what does all that mean? Cara Bedford is the CEO and founder of Infinite Marketing. She’s not just at the forefront, but she’s redefining the very landscape of marketing.

Molly Ruland:

For over a decade, Kera’s been charting the course in executive marketing roles with tech, excelling in the assembly of leadership and scalable marketing teams that don’t just reach for the stars. They live among them. Boom. With a command center that’s driven exceptional campaigns for businesses of all size, from Brightly startups to the titans of Fortune 500, her strategic acumen is nothing short of revolutionary. This is good stuff, Cara. I hope you I hope you can live up to this. This is great. And if you’re impressed by numbers, Cara’s career is a constellation of them.

Molly Ruland:

Picture this, Leading over 300 professionals, launching Disruption Magazine Canada into a brand with a readership that’s a small city in size, and achieving triple the outputs while Slicing traditional marking costs by more than half. It’s no wonder she’s been a NASA speaker, and her achievements are truly out of this world. So without further ado, Please welcome to the show Cara Bedford. How are you doing?

Cara Bedford:

I’m doing good. How are you?

Molly Ruland:

I’m good.

Cara Bedford:

That was a great intro. Like, Can I can I pay you for that later? That was awesome. Thank you for that.

Molly Ruland:

No problem. No pro I enjoyed putting all that together and learning more about you. So to be able to, you know, show up properly for today.

Cara Bedford:

Awesome. So what are we talking about, Molly? I’m here. What should we chat about?

Molly Ruland:

Well, let let’s let’s get right into it. So I’m super curious. So you’ve been doing this, like, global staffing and growing companies for over 10 years. So let’s let’s kinda get into, What were you doing before that? Like, what was that pivot, that transition like?

Cara Bedford:

Yeah. Absolutely. So for me, you know, I had the dream job. I, was in corporate, you know, corner office, looked had had a great resume and, all the all the accolades that you wanted. I worked in tech, so I was part of a bunch of m and a’s that ended up happening after the other. And I got this Kinda weird notoriety of being adopted into many marketing teams. And when I say adopted, I mean, I’m I’m not sure if they all wanted me. And so I would land in these marketing teams and, find out that they were working with these agencies and, spending all this money on these agencies, and I really started to learn about the agency model and find out that it was quite Flawed.

Cara Bedford:

I was never really happy with, you know, the outputs we got. No one really felt like they were part of our team. It was stretched out, hidden costs. You know, they were resourced in. So a lot of the time, we were resourced in, but then you’re relying on them and then they’re resourced in. And so the transparency there around really having this plug and play, you know, extension of your team never really came to fruition in the entirety of my career. And so for me, I, started to look at a different way to do this. And it was when I, was pointed in the direction of looking at global talent that my entire world changed, And I knew I would never work the same way again.

Cara Bedford:

And so, it’s been, yeah, just about just about a decade, now that we’ve been marketing teams for companies across North America, and really figuring out how we can harness The world’s top genius and top talent. And so really working with that, you know, top 1% of talent in the world in either a fractional model or a scalable model.

Molly Ruland:

I love that because, and I talk about this a lot, especially, you know, I guess technically we’re an agency, but I don’t really think of us As that, you know, we’re more of a production house. But I think about this a lot because I feel like so many of these agency deals are just overinflated. They’re they’re it’s like they’re excited to say no. It’s like they can’t wait to say no to the client because if they say no, then they can say, but we can do it for x amount of dollars. We can add x amount of hours. Right? The bloated timelines, like you said, it’s like, when I was a kid, Sears used to have, like, repair shop. Like, you could take your car to Sears to get worked on. And those mechanics were paid on commission.

Molly Ruland:

And I remember it was, like, a big deal. I don’t know why these are the things that stuck out when I was, 7, but it was. You know? And they killed that because it’s like, of course, the mechanics are gonna inflate your repairs if they’re getting paid on commission. And I feel like so many agencies are the same way, and I’ve witnessed it personally when we’re a vendor working with a client, and they’re working with an agency, and we’re literally Working circles around them, responding to them, saying yes, providing solutions, and the other agencies just saying, No. No. No. Making things difficult. Almost as if by saying no and making things difficult, it makes us look bad.

Molly Ruland:

Like, there’s this weird competitive thing between vendors and agencies. It’s really like a whole thing. And I think it’s all to protect these, like, super inflated Budgets. Because I too have wondered, what are they getting for $25,000 a month exactly?

Cara Bedford:

Yeah. Or you know? And and there are times that the work does need to be like that, and and it does need to be high because you’re building global brands, And you’re building things that take a lot of manpower and brainpower and, you know, just it just takes a lot of resourcing. But at the same point, there’s also, you know, these smaller or mid sized businesses that just need a poster or just need this. And while they need to have strategy and brand guidelines, these are very important. I know I don’t like random acts of marketing. I’ll come in a lot of the time and say, this is really random. There’s no, you know, overview of the strategy. But in parallel, why don’t we build you the strategy and keep the lights on? And I think that’s what makes Infinite really different as we look at it from both Angles and, you know, a lot of, agencies are known for 1 or the other.

Cara Bedford:

They’re either known for their strategy or they’re known for their execution. And at the end of the day, what infinite really does is marry the 2, and it’s based on how we’ve really built this, success criteria model throughout our resourcing and staffing, around how it can actually Have both even as something as little as like I need a banner on LinkedIn, you know? So really looking at that and figuring out how we How we build, build upon what you already have, but enhance it as well.

Molly Ruland:

I agree. So how did you get started with, like, the The the good night, sourcing global talent because it’s gotten a lot easier. Right? Every year it’s easier and easier. But 10 years ago, You are an outlier. You and Tim Farris were probably the only people really, I mean, that’s not that’s not entirely true. But from a, large corporations and bigger businesses, of course, have employees all over the world. But smaller companies, like, this is a completely foreign, pardon the pun, concept to them. You know?

Cara Bedford:

Well and I think it’s also still really foreign. Like, we’ll go in, and we’ll, you know, go to an RFP with a company. And, They phoned me, and they’re like, you I think you answered the RFP wrong. And I’ll be like, why? And they’re like, because of the price. Like, there’s no way that you’re that different in your pricing and your timelines. You know, we we answered an RFP last week, and I looked at the amount of work that they were saying would take a year. And I wrote them back, and I said, here’s my new timeline. I’ll do this in 6 months.

Cara Bedford:

Like Like, I can’t this is not going to take a year. There’s no way this is going to take a year. Like, my team would be bored, and I would feel bad going

Molly Ruland:

1. Right.

Cara Bedford:

I would feel bad. Ethically, I would actually feel bad by saying, sure, let me draw this out for a year, and I’m not really doing any work. So, you know, there’s those types of conversations that I think the education of marketing is actually needing to take place. So I don’t think it’s just How we do it, like global talent versus traditional talent versus employees versus consultants versus whatever. I think what’s happened is, Marketers and not by, you know, any design. I think marketers made their own marketing, penetration and their marketing plans messy. I think we’ve literally messed our own market up because it’s so convoluted right now. And, you know, it’s really hard to navigate.

Cara Bedford:

It’s hard to find the quality talent. It’s hard to find even on those platforms, Right? It’s hard to go and find you post a job and 4,000 resumes come out in about 30 seconds. Right? And how do you know who’s the most qualified? And I think that’s that’s the mystery that infinite’s taking away is we’re saying, hey. Let us do that. Let us hold your hand through this journey. Let us, you know, work with the top 1% of talent in the world and and really look at that and bring that through and bring it in an affordable way. And, you know, we’ve skilled mapped. We’ve got over 600 contractors right now working for us.

Cara Bedford:

It’s growing every day. You know? And like I said, we we work with Fortune 5 hundreds all the way down to a mom and pop shop. And so our our entire Ethos, I think, is around building, an ecosystem of like minded individuals who truly just wanna do good work For good people who wanna do great things. And at the end of the day, you know, when you feel that, that outcome is gonna speak for itself.

Matt Billman:

Yeah. For sure. I can kind of flip that same question you had to her to you, Molly. I mean, looking at us, I’m

Molly Ruland:

we’re we’re I’m not saying we’re fortune 500, But I I wouldn’t call

Matt Billman:

us mom and pops, so we’re kind of somewhere in there, but we’re global.

Molly Ruland:

Right? I’m the only one in

Matt Billman:

the states, so I can kinda push that question back your way and how you took the approach of, building it that way.

Molly Ruland:

You well, you know, I mean, it’s pretty pretty, embarrassing to admit, but I read The 4 Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris, and he was just talking about This global market. And I was like, that makes sense to me. And there’s a platform called online jobs dot ph, you know, and, you know, since this is 4 or 5 years ago now, you know, certain company’s 5 years old. So, but online jobs actually produce, like, 20 videos, Which, you know, in hindsight, I really appreciate about how to, like, best use it. And one of the best things they said was, like, provide a a living wage. Right? Which is very important to me coming from DC and, like, Yep. Poverty and just like the, you know, inequity that exists in the world. And I didn’t wanna be a part of that.

Molly Ruland:

I didn’t wanna be on Upwork like a scavenger. Like, it just I was like, that Can’t be it. And so I love the idea of, like, providing stability and full time income and life changing opportunities for people, But while also being able to stay in, you know, a budget that can work as a company our size to to actually make money without having to charge people $25,000 a month and, everything else. Because I think a lot of these agencies and it’d be really interesting, Carrie, to under to know what you think. I’ve been thinking about this a lot. I’m like, well, why are these agencies having problems, like, delivering, or why are they so quick to say no? And my best guess is that they’re probably Understaffed or having a lot of churn within the company. And so maybe they started off with, like, 10, you know, award winning Badass people, but now a whole bunch of them have left and, like, they keep replacing positions, and so maybe that’s why some of that quality of work has gone down. I don’t know if that’s an accurate Observation.

Molly Ruland:

You would you would probably know more than I do.

Cara Bedford:

But I think, again, with the market becoming saturated, You know, they’ve had to figure out a different way, and I think they’ve made some poor choices. Their different way was, oh, let’s bring on more junior people to do the same work and charge the same thing. And I’m not saying this is for all of them, but I’m saying there’s been a a big majority of them, but they’re also constricted by their local geography. And so, You know, in companies like ours that are looking global, we don’t put a an ad in the paper and say, hey. I’m looking for a content writer. Like, that doesn’t even that That’s just no. That doesn’t even exist in my brain. My brain is like, oh, we need to scale up the team because we’ve taken on more work.

Cara Bedford:

Okay. Let’s build a strategic strategy around resourcing and figure out where I’m gonna go get it based on all of the partnerships that I have in the global talent model. And so now we’re we’re we’re not just posting a job and having it come back to us. Like, we’re physically going out. We’re looking through people. We’re building, their skills as well. You know, everyone at Infinite has skill building and skill mapping, and they’re getting better. And we start to get this really deep seated industry expertise.

Cara Bedford:

Right? Like, when you’re the best at x, You become the best at, like it’s not just digital. You’re, like, the best at backlinking. Right? Like, it starts to get Really skill defined. And I think what has happened in the traditional agency model is truly they just had a bunch of generalists. And these generalists were really kind of okay at everything, and that was okay back, again, back in the day when you There wasn’t as much education. You couldn’t, you know, find things. I mean, with AI, it’s just blowing up everything else, and that’s a whole another topic we can talk about. But, You know, this idea around really specialized marketing and the way that technology has come into marketing, I really truly believe that you have to be a tech company that does marketing, not a marketing company that adopts tech.

Cara Bedford:

And I think that’s a huge difference in a lot of those traditional agencies. They just have not become lean.

Molly Ruland:

Man, that’s, that’s pretty that’s pretty poignant. I like that. You know, I what I like about the global market too is, know, there’s a lot of really smart people in the world, you know, who deserve opportunities. And if they can increase their skill set and become more marketable themselves and create security for themselves, that’s a win win. So talking about AI, right, I get I think about this stuff a lot too. Like Loom, how they just came out with this, like, AI update and stuff. And, know, I gotta say, running a global team, that is amazing. I totally paid the $4 more a month for that because think think about it.

Molly Ruland:

Anybody on my team now I mean, we all communicate very well with one another. But in a pinch, if they didn’t totally understand what I was saying, they could throw that text in one to a translation versus Me just sending a video. Right? So I think this a lot of AI is making things a lot more accessible for a lot of people. People who don’t English as a first language can lean more on AI to, like, correct things for them. Right? Like, say, hey. Make sure this makes sense. You know? But it’s kind of interesting, like, the flip side of, like, you know, whose job is that taking? Maybe those jobs should be taken. I don’t know.

Molly Ruland:

Right? Like, What what’s your take on kinda what’s happening in the AI world in your space?

Cara Bedford:

Yeah. So, I’m really proud that Infinite has had an AI policy since inception. So, for example, you know, we have a client comes to us, and they ask us, how do you use AI? I mean, I’ve got a Twenty point page deck telling you exactly how we use it, and it continuously changes and and morphs with what’s coming down. I mean, You know, the chat GPT agents that just came out last week, and we’re seeing those rollout and how that works. And so, You know, we we were lucky that we could build the business with a lot of those automations and AI and ML and RPA, because it’s not just AI. People kinda bulk it all together, but, really, we’re talking about robotic process automation. We’re talking about machine learning. We’re talking about all of these Other pieces that all scale up into how do we automate I mean, the real goal is, like, how do we automate and make things more effective? Right? Mhmm.

Cara Bedford:

And so I’m really seeing a big, change in how we do a few, a few places. So one is market research. Market research, You know, the idea that we can quickly scale the Internet really quick, building our own props, you know, and really starting to look through that. The other the other piece is, you know, where AI stops and where it starts. You know, there are for larger companies, they have their own internal AI policies, and we have to look at those and how are what we are doing either inhibiting or or prohibiting us from working together. And so I think I’m an abundance mindset person. I’m an exponential, mindset person, so I’m all for the technology. I think it’s going to be, an amazing tool to have in our arsenal and on our toolbox, But there’s still a point where we do need the creative talent to go in and edit and, you know, put the flare in and understand Really, what we’re trying to do because what I I’m starting to see, and I’ve started to see this in the last year, is things are starting to look and sound the same.

Cara Bedford:

And so when the market is zigging, how are you going to zig? And so if everyone is using this tool, like ChatGPT to write all your blogs, Well, they’re all going to look and sound exactly the same.

Molly Ruland:

With entirely too many adjectives. With

Cara Bedford:

yeah. With a lot of flair. So, you know, it’s it’s it’s learning how to use the tool. I think we’re in an education piece. Think we’re in a democratization of the tool right now. I love listening to our clients have these challenges in their boardrooms and them asking if they could have our 20 page AI policy deck as a place to start. But I truly believe that we’re gonna see a lot of changes in the next year with this. We’re gonna see a lot of changes in the next month with this.

Cara Bedford:

And it’s something that Yeah. We need to we need to be on.

Molly Ruland:

I agree. So how long have you had an AI policy deck? Like, Yeah. Since you started the company?

Cara Bedford:

Yeah. So I had an AI policy deck. 18 months ago was the first time we, like, shared it with clients. It was, like, Like, okay. Here you go. This is what it is to work

with us. This is where we use AI. And then where do we charge less because we are using AI, or where does it become we charge the same because the quality and the output’s still the same? And

Cara Bedford:

so Come. We charge the same because the quality and the output’s still the same. And so you have to sort of think through value versus time or time versus value as a company, and those conversations are all things that, you know, with the way that Even this global talent market is that you need to assess in your own business and how you’re going to be doing that. So, you know, we’re pretty transparent with That and how we run our business, but I would say traditional agencies haven’t even started this conversation. We’re We’re years ahead. Right? And so abundance mindset, go and look at what AI is gonna do for marketing. Start to learn and listen. Then, you know, start to think about how you can adopt that into your own practices.

Cara Bedford:

Figure out where you can automate. You know? Look at the tools. Just just go look. Set an afternoon. It’ll be well with time.

Molly Ruland:

It’ll make your brain hurt, but in a really good way. You know? Like, setting up automations, you have to, like, work in reverse and you know? It It takes some real thought, but it’s a it’s good for your brain as an entrepreneur to, like, stress yourself out a little and come up with these things. But, that’s fascinating. I I really love what you said about charging less for the things you’re using AI for, and then how can you enhance. Because, Man, that that’s quotable for sure because it’s so, so important. It’s like, in our business, transcriptions, obviously, Game changer. They went from taking 4 days to taking 4 minutes, right, with, like, endless amounts of data. And for a podcast, that’s Totally fine.

Molly Ruland:

Right? Keyword focus. Let lose a lot of the adjectives. It’s perfect for a podcast. You know? That used to be a big sticking point in our production for our clients. So it’s like, we’ve sped that up, but now we can, like, provide more video clips. Like we can we can redirect that time, something else to provide more value for our clients. And I think a lot of the messaging on the Internet Like, use AI and make money in your sleep. And it’s like, well, hold on.

Molly Ruland:

Right? Like, AI shouldn’t like I mean, I I think it can increase your profit margins in a way, but I don’t think it should be at your client’s expense. Right? So I really like what you said about, like, okay. It’s costing less here. How can we provide more value? Because, you know, these these tools can really enhance things, but they can’t just be leaned on to place, like, the person. So I think there’s a, a lot of that going around. Right? You know what I mean? So

Cara Bedford:

I I think there’s there’s always going to be The villains and the heroes in these stories. And, you know, unfortunately, with the world that we’re in, we’re hearing a lot of the villains. So I think right now, look for the heroes. Look for the ones that are really using this to change the world. And I’m I’m not being facetious. I’m serious about look at the people and the companies that are using this tool to change and impact the world in a positive way. And I think that’s where you wanna start to think about how your adoption can and can be. Like, for me, I’m a mom.

Cara Bedford:

I’m busy. I’ve got a company. I’ve got little ones. Like, I I have A finite of time. And so for me, anything that can make me more effective, from a time perspective is going to be something that I use. And so this gives me time to go and not work, you know, 40, 60, 80 hours a week. I I just I don’t do that. I I’ve never done that since the inception of this business.

Cara Bedford:

I go and volunteer on pancake day. That’s important to me. And so, you know, like, that is that is where I start to see tools like this play a really big Personal gain, piece for yourself. But at the end of the day, you gotta be transparent. Like, I we literally stamp it. We’ll say, This was run through chat g p t for a sentence structure and grammar. This was ran through Bard for looking at the citations. This was, I think what we need to look at in in this, again, very noisy world is finding trust.

Cara Bedford:

Trust is the currency. And who can you trust, and how do you build those relationships? And and at the end of the day, that’s the only thing that’s going to To get you out of this fear mongering is is building communities with people that you trust and, you know, can can be transparent around what they’re doing.

Molly Ruland:

Yeah. You’ve reached wanna oh, sorry.

Matt Billman:

Go ahead, Molly.

Molly Ruland:

Go ahead, Matt. No. You had a question.

I just

Matt Billman:

I just kinda wanted to circle way far back, Here. Back to the, the whole global thing in building teams that way because, you know, something, you know, you’ve been an advocate for is remote and Hybrid work and how that, you know, increases productivity, creativity. And, obviously, if you’re global, you kinda have to be remote and hybrid. So kinda talk about that a little bit, and then I’m curious to hear what you say so we can follow-up with kinda how we see it from our perspective, obviously, being, you know, fully remote and Occasionally hybrid if we have to go to an event on-site or anything?

Cara Bedford:

Yeah. So I think for me, We saw this model work through COVID. Oh, the dreaded c word. I’m so sorry. But everybody everybody saw this model work. We were told that it was going to work. And we made it work, and we made it work real fast. And then all of a sudden, it was Okay.

Cara Bedford:

No. Come back to the office a little bit, but also go you can work remote, and it’s a choice. Okay. Cool. And then it was mandated. Note you’re coming back into the office 3 days a week. In 2 days, you can work remote, and now it’s, like, 1 day remote, 4 days a week. Like, it’s just starting you’re starting to see the companies start to mandate this, You know, come back to work and not just start.

Cara Bedford:

We’ve been seeing this the last year, and I see why. Cities are hurting. Downtowns are hurting. Cores are hurting. Buildings are hurting. Our infrastructure is hurting. Our systems are hurting because we were used to people being out doing things. I and and I 100% Hear and and respect that.

Cara Bedford:

What if we thought about it in a different way? What if we thought about, hey, This way that we work remote is actually empowering a whole new workforce. First off, women that were never able to work because they had to do Child care and could not give 30 to 40 hours a week, now all of a sudden can work. Oh, people who are semi retired and could only give 5 hours a week because they just want something for their brain, but they have all this brain share and knowledge that they can pass on to the next generation, they can work. So why are we Going back in a, like, non inclusive model of work Exactly. For the point of buildings and cities and taxes, I don’t understand that. Why are we not thinking about cities and buildings and taxes in a different way. And so just like we thought about, hey. Let’s get on Zooms and Teams and all of this to keep our businesses running.

Cara Bedford:

Where is that gritty human Thinking gone, because that’s what made, as horrible as COVID was, and I can say this, I lost a parent through COVID, As as horrible as COVID was, what I saw was exponential thinking. What I saw was disruption thinking. What I saw was, hey. We can’t do things in the same way, and let’s let’s look at the status quo. We have this Time to reinvent ourselves. What I’m really sad and witnessing right now is let’s just go back to the way things were. And this is where you’re now seeing this was the stat that came out, last year was 1 in 4 executive women are thinking about leaving the workforce. I was one of them.

Cara Bedford:

Right? I I could not work in the way that I needed to work in in that corporate job anymore. I just could not do it. I could not think about working 80 hours a week, taking care of the home, taking care of my kid, like, figuring that out, schooling him, all of it. Like, Everyone was burnt out, and so now you have a burnt out population, and you’re saying, oh, come. Come back to the office.

Molly Ruland:

commute back in. Let’s get the band back together. Yeah. Like

Cara Bedford:

And you’re wondering why there’s resistance. You’re wondering why platforms like Upwork Grow 15% a quarter in people using the platform for work and talent. You’re wondering why people are leaving the workforce. You’re wondering why women are leaving the force. And I just Matt, I I can’t I just posed the question back. It’s like, why are we not thinking Why? Why are we not undercovering the why and thinking about how do we do this differently?

Matt Billman:

Yeah. It’s interesting because I have I have a friend that, you know, everything works out at DC. So she, you know, she’s been working remote, since everything went down. And, You know? So they what they do is they spend their summers in DC, and she goes in and out of the office. You know? Couple times a week, does a hybrid thing, and her boyfriend works remote from his company up in Boston. And then sorry. They they spend the summers up in Boston, and then the, winter’s down in DC. So all winter, you know, she’s in and out of the office.

Matt Billman:

He’s fully remote, then they go back in the summer, they just do this whole thing, and, you know, she gets a call couple weeks ago being like, hey. Her boss out of the company, a new one coming in, a new one goes, hey. You have to be back by this day Full time, 5 days a week, 40 hours a week, or you’re fired.

Molly Ruland:

So just like,

Matt Billman:

woah. Like so it’s just just just isn’t interesting to me how some people can kind of flip that switch because it’s a tough adjustment when you’re used to it, for a while now. And then just even, like, from my perspective being remote, I feel like I get more done Now because I don’t feel like that whole like, I don’t open my laptop as soon as I walk in the office. I don’t shut it as soon as I leave. Now I’m just kinda like, I see myself working all day because I kinda want to and can, and it’s easier. You know?

Cara Bedford:

That’s the difference, though. That’s the difference. So want to, Want to and working in your joy. So let’s talk about the autonomous worker for a minute. So in this new future of work, it’s about autonomy. It’s about control and choice. It’s about and I’m gonna plug myself. It’s about infinite possibilities.

Cara Bedford:

Right? It’s about the idea that it’s limitless, And you can learn from anyone and diversify your skill set from around the world. And you get to learn about the way that different cultures and different people and different mindsets and backgrounds and education are doing things, and at the end of the day, you become a better human being and professional. So autonomy, the autonomous broker. What’s the underlying value that we look for in in that autonomy? And some people say happiness. I want happiness at work. And I have a psych background, so, that word is really loaded for me. So I turned it around, and I said, what about joy? When I’m working on projects, I feel this innate joy when I can land a brand positioning statement or when I see a brand guide deck and it’s all done and I’m about to present it to the client, like, I’m high. Right? It’s that joy of Creative.

Cara Bedford:

And that’s my joy space. Whereas in other people on my team’s joy space is looking at an analytical deck and dashboard and pulling out all the figures and doing an ABM audit. Whereas in, you know, other people on my team, their joy is actually around Going into, Adobe Suite and figuring out exactly what colors to the 10th of the hex percentage is going to be perfect, And that’s not my joy, and the other one scenario is not my joy. Right? But it doesn’t mean we all can’t coexist together and really build out that, like, autonomous worker joy skill set together. And this is where freelancing consulting has has an issue.

Mhmm.

Cara Bedford:

So here’s the issue, and this is this is where people are saying we need to go back to work. They need to go back to work To be in an office because they feel lonely because we’re alone. We’ve never been alone more than any time other in the world. That that is a a legit quote. The world is moving faster than it ever has before and slower than it ever has again. That’s Amber Mac. So at the end of the day, While we learned about this new technology and remote and working and efficiencies and all of this, we also were never more alone. So instead of saying, hey.

Cara Bedford:

Let’s all get back together in the office to make teams, what we actually need to do is say, hey. I wanna keep you in your autonomous. I wanna keep you as an autonomous worker. You can have the control. You can find the joy. You can do all those things, But I’m gonna build you that ecosystem and support system and mental health system and whatever else system we need to build you for support here in this world on an online world on an online platform so you don’t feel that way. And we’re gonna figure that out psychologically to say, what is it that you need To make sure that you don’t feel lonely and that you feel like Matt just said, where I’m like, I want to work on this stuff. I want to be in in this in this lane, and I I really think we haven’t asked ourselves as a society what I want enough.

Cara Bedford:

You’re not conditioned to. You’re conditioned to get gold star stars. Right? You’re conditioned to have the right answer. You’re conditioned to Go into an interview and prove yourself to them, to the company. But what happens when you start to think for yourself, and you start to say, hey. What actually brings me joy? Hey. What what do I want? And really start to plan that out for yourself and make yourself your own plan that you want to work in or towards and find companies or people that you can team and collaborate with that gets you to that joy spot. Or If you like the word happiness, I’m not taking that away from you.

Cara Bedford:

So, you know, how do we how do we do that? And that takes thinking time, and that takes That takes really knowing yourself and having awareness for yourself, and that’s a luxury. Not everyone can do that.

Molly Ruland:

It’s absolutely it’s a it’s a luxury and a a bit of a privilege in in some sense, really, because a lot of people, aren’t in a position to really think about what they want. Right? They’re just trying to survive every day, so it’s a it’s a whole other thing. But, I couldn’t agree more with that statement. I I talk a lot this about this as well. Like, What do you really want from your life? Like, what is it what is it actually look like? What time do you wake up? Is it hot? Is it cold? Do you lay in bed? Do you work out for, like, what do you actually want on a super granular level then reverse engineer it because I don’t think many people, especially women, have ever even thought about do you want? Like, no. No. Forget your kids. Forget all the things.

Molly Ruland:

Just like, what what do you want? Like, oh, I can’t think about that. Well, why not? Right? So, I I really appreciate that. I think I would like to think that we’ve built a, an environment of autonomy at Heartcast Media, but I definitely didn’t do it with as much Intention and thought as you just described, I’ve just had a lot of really shitty bosses in my life, and I was like, I don’t wanna be that person. And so, you know, Matt is a, Hockey coach for girls, like teenage girls, and travels a lot. And, you know, we I’m totally cool with him doing that, and we work around his schedule. And I cover sessions for him Sometimes, but it’s not uncommon on a Saturday for him to be like me to message him on Slack, you know, with no response required, you know, but And I usually say, even though I don’t need to at this point, hey. You don’t need to respond. I’m just working.

Molly Ruland:

And I’ll be like, I’m just sitting here with a drink working too. I mean, that’s happened to us countless times because it’s Like, he has the freedom to do what he’s enjoying in his day, and so it’s not a big deal on a Saturday if he’s got nothing else to do. Wouldn’t you jump on the computer and knock this stuff out? Right? We like our clients. We wanna see them win. We enjoy the work that we do, and so, you know, I definitely didn’t put as much intention behind it, but that would that was the, that was the goal, and I feel like everybody in the company has that.

Cara Bedford:

But that’s not normal.

Molly Ruland:

Yeah. That’s I mean

Cara Bedford:

boom, Molly. That’s not normal. So To me, I’m like, okay. We need to normalize this, and this is why I do these podcasts. I don’t do them to get a bunch of clients or to To whatever you know, make a lot of money. That’s not what I’m in this for. I’m truly in this, To spread some some awareness around, individuals and individual workers and truly thinking about the way we work. You know, there’s a saying that, I’ve been noodling in my head for the last year, and it’s like, it’s not personal.

Cara Bedford:

It’s work. How many times have you heard that? Right? It’s not personal. It’s business. And I just it is personal.

Molly Ruland:

It is. Everything is personal. Because it’s life.

It’s just life.

Molly Ruland:

And it’s relationships.

Cara Bedford:

But it’s just life. Like Yeah. Literally, it’s a choice. Sure. We’re gonna subcategorize this as work, But it’s a choice. This is a choice of how I choose to spend my time, and I choose to spend it with who and choose to build those relationships and Choose where I’m showing up and where I’m not, and, you know, that’s that that’s personal. So, you know, I I just I really want us to, as a society, come out of this COVID haze, again, the dreaded c word, Thinking about things differently, because if we don’t, then what we just went through was all for naught.

Molly Ruland:

I agree, and, you know, we we were a DC based company. I lived in DC proper for 20 years, and I rode a bike for 7 years, and I spent a lot of time thinking about urban planning and all of that. And I I mean, I’ve you know, why do they want us all back? Why is WeWork about to cripple the economy in more ways than one? Right? Like, there’s so many answers. It Boils down to, deals with the mayor and these huge construction companies and all these giant buildings that went in. Cities are for cars, not for people. They’re not friendly. I mean, when I lived in DC, I lived 3 miles from my office, and it would take fit a $50 Uber ride at rush hour. $50 to go 3 miles.

Molly Ruland:

You know, if cities were built more for pedestrians and for people that live there and weren’t necessarily pandering towards these Corporations and businesses and cities would become livable again, and then we wouldn’t be I think it would be easier, but people can’t even tackle that because there’s too much money Invested in those cities become work hubs, and it’s like the the cat’s already out of the bag. They can’t even figure out how to put it back in. You know? For for 10 years in DC, we used to call it Crane City because you look in the skyline, and we have height restrictions because of the Washington Monument and all that, but you would see Twenty cranes.

Cara Bedford:

Mhmm.

Molly Ruland:

Not building houses, you know? And now all those buildings are empty. They’ve always been empty. Were empty before the the great panini. That’s what I call it. And, they’ve been after since. You know? They’ve been empty since. So, Well, you know, I don’t I don’t wanna take too much of your time, Garrett, but we we could we could talk all day because I I you know, I was gonna ask you because you definitely have talked about making the world a better place, and I can see that that’s, apparent in everything that you’re doing and that you’re talking about and the way that you lead, in your company and how you’re expressing yourself online. So I I appreciate, you know, you taking to hang out with us today and and share this with us for sure.

Cara Bedford:

Oh, thanks, Molly. I was actually really stoked to come on your podcast. I listened to a few of them before, and, It was one of the ones I was really excited about just not only because we’re aligned in in thinking, and I I always appreciate when we can be aligned, but also I love I love discussion and, adversary, so that doesn’t matter either. So but, but I love the fact that you’ve taken this model and made it work for yourself and your own life, and that’s a testament as well in itself. Right? And so I guess my my point of of this is, Yes. People are surviving. Yes. People are burnt out.

Cara Bedford:

Yes. People are tired. But I just even 10 minutes. Just ask yourself. Take 10 minutes and ask yourself, what do you want? And if we all just took 10 minutes and asked ourselves that, You know, the world could be a a way kinder, happier, joyful place.

Molly Ruland:

Amen. You might even end up in the Costa Rica. Yeah, dude. That’s what happened to me. I started thinking about what I really wanted, and I was like, well, it ain’t this. Let me tell you that. And here I am

Cara Bedford:

Hey. Yeah. Why not? I like snow too much, unfortunately. I’m a small bird.

Molly Ruland:

From inside the lodge with a warm drink in my hand. You know what I mean? On vacation. That’s that’s about You know?

Cara Bedford:

We’re hikers and skiers, unfortunately, over in this house. So Hey, man. I’ve gotta run I’ve gotta run to another meeting.

Molly Ruland:

Yes. Well, real quick before you go, tell us, where people can find you if

Cara Bedford:

they wanna connect with you and and and get hip. So to connect with me, I’m very active on LinkedIn. So, Cara Bedford, c a r a b e d f o r d. So, feel free to hit me up on LinkedIn. I’d I’d love to connect with you. But, also, you can find us at infinite marketing dotca.

Molly Ruland:

Amazing. Cara, thank you so much for coming on the show. Thanks for tuning in to Cam Content. I think this was a good one. They’re all pretty good, but this is definitely up there. If you found it valuable, definitely connect with Cara on LinkedIn. Connect with us. Leave us a comment, whatever.

Molly Ruland:

Hope you have a great day. Until next time. Be excellent to each other. Alright. Alright. Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of Camp Content. This is Molly.

Matt Billman:

And this is Matt.

Molly Ruland:

And we are Heartcast Media AKA Camp Content, and We appreciate all of your support. If you found this content valuable, please comment on social media, LinkedIn, wherever you find us, and we’ll make sure to Coming back.

Matt Billman:

And be sure to go on and subscribe and like on your favorite platforms, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, you name it. Leave us that subscription. Leave us that good review.

Molly Ruland:

We’ll love you forever. So until next time. Be excellent to each other, and we’ll see you next week.

Produced by Heartcast Media.