Tips for setting achievable professional goals in 2024

Speaker A: Hi, I'm Jill Fetcher.

Speaker B: And I'm Maggie Humphrey.

Speaker A: And you're listening to the Agency Scoop,

Speaker B: where we're talking about business from an

Speaker A: agency point of view and our point of view with some laughs along the way.

Speaker B: Don't forget to subscribe and tune in every month for the latest scoop.

Speaker A: Welcome to this episode of the Agency Scoop. How you do, Maggie?

Speaker B: I'm doing good. I'm in the holiday spirit. I'm. I was driving by Michael's and they have great Christmas decorations, if you didn't know. And everything's like 60% off right now. So I ran in there to grab, like, a few last minute things to make a centerpiece. And I, for some reason, love wooden Christmas trees. I feel like everybody fixates on, like, a decor item for the holiday season. So I'm walking by and I see these two little wooden Christmas trees sitting on a shelf and there are 60% off. And I said, yep, need those. So I grab them and I grab my little centerpiece that I needed and I go up to the register and I put my items down and the, uh, girl checking me out picks up the one of the Christmas, uh, trees and goes to scan the bottom on the price tag. She. She jumps and goes, oh, did you see the sticker that's on the bottom of this? I was like, what are you talking about? And she, like, flashes it at me and I see, like a yellow sticker, but I couldn't read what it says. And she, like, looks at it and then peels the sticker off. And I was like, what did it say? And she goes, it says something very inappropriate. And I was like, I'm sorry. And essentially the sticker said something along the lines of this Christmas tree could be used for something inappropriate.

Speaker A: Oh, no.

Speaker B: And I, like, was like, what? I was like, I swear that wasn't me. I did not put that sticker on this wedding Christmas tree. I would never do such a thing. I love winning Christmas trees. And we both, like, look at each other and then just start uncomfortably laughing. Was like, you know what's weird, more weird than the sticker is that there's a person out there with the roll of these stickers just going around and putting them on random holiday merchandise.

Speaker A: And did they have them printed?

Speaker B: That's what I'm saying. Like, did you get these custom printed? Did you order these online from somewhere?

Speaker A: Sticker mule.com. we'll contact those guys. We're going to get to the bottom of it.

Speaker B: Yeah, we need to figure this out.

Speaker A: I think that People are out of control now with bumper stickers that they have no filter or boundaries. There are so many bumper stickers as you drive around the road. It may be because I'm getting older and so you just feel curmudgeony about these things. But I don't remember when I was a kid riding around in my parents car and seeing swear words stickers everywhere. There are a lot of swear words, a lot of like swear words with the president, swear words with, you know, different topics, and a lot of political statements which I get probably kids don't get it, but a lot of very, very aggressive bumper stickers and car decals these days. And I just think every year it's getting worse and worse and I don't

Speaker B: know, can we just be nicer?

Speaker A: Honestly, can we?

Speaker B: When this episode releases, it will be January. And we've just come out of that season. Everybody in that shopping mindset looking for deals. I found some really interesting insights. Kind um, of a peek into consumer shopping trends. With inflation on a rise, obviously people's shopping trends are changing and I think it' important to take note of that. And very interesting, especially coming from a marketer myself. But I found some interesting stats, including nearly 9 out of 10 consumers expect inflation to have an impact on their spending. So who's that 1 out of 10

Speaker A: who said 1 out of 10 that doesn't think inflation is going to.

Speaker B: Jeff Bezos. Yeah, and that's actually up 40% from last year. So people going into this past holiday season already knew things are going to look different this year. They're already planning for some. They're already planning out their shopping habits for the year. Maybe they're looking for specific deals. Maybe they're scaling back on gift giving. I know with my husband's family, we aren't doing gifts anymore. We've agreed. You know what, this is getting out of hand again. We're making a change to gift giving and we spend our money on a trip together every year. It doesn't matter when the trip happens. We just book one. And instead of buying unnecessary things for each other, that's what we put our money towards. So curious to how many other people are doing that. But with that, um, we also are still. We also are still struggling with a lot of supply chain issues coming out of 2020, believe it or not, um,

Speaker A: just four short years later.

Speaker B: Yeah, right. So with that, it's actually led to, um, more Americans purchasing gift cards, which I feel like gift cards is like an easy, like you said, you buy them for your teachers. Whatever. But it's expected that 55% of all Americans will purchase at least one gift card this year.

Speaker A: Mhm. Which it's interesting the so combining those two things together, the gift card purchase and inflation. So when I go to give teacher gifts last year, the last several years, I go to Target or Tops, our supermarket around here somewhere that has a ton of different kinds of gift cards. And I like to buy the three or four packs of ten dollar Starbucks cards. So you get three ten dollars Starbucks cards. You know, it's thirty dollars. It's not like you get anything off, but it's. I just get a few of those packs and then I use those to give out to teachers, bus drivers, whoever. This year when I went, the minimum of all of these gift cards was 15.

Speaker B: No way. Yes.

Speaker A: So in these packs they had 15 gift cards and they had three 15 gift cards. Where in the past I could pick from Starbucks, Tim Hortons, McDonald's, few other things. And they would have those like multiple packs instead of getting the ones that you could put any denomination on. But even those, a lot of them it says 15 to 500 on um, the thing. So the minimum you can get is 15 on these gift cards. Um, if you buy them at a big box store like that, I'm sure if I went to Starbucks I could get several $10 gift cards.

Speaker B: You're taking advantage of the convenience factor though. Yes.

Speaker A: And that is. And it's another stop. And the person working would then have to like scan each one, give you an activate, you know, for each one. And so if I'm going to buy 10 of them, I'd um, ra. Just buy those packs.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And go for it. But I did notice that this year the minimum was 15 on a lot of those things. So inflation, it's plus gift.

Speaker B: It's crazy. Even like the Black Friday sales this year I feel like weren't great. Like I saw a TikTok where someone was showing like the pricing of an item and it had like the Black Friday price tag on it and they took it off. And the regular price was the exact same. Yeah. And they went around to like every item in Target and did that and it was the same price. Consumers will continue holiday shopping into January, which makes a lot of sense. It says 32% of consumers plan to shop the week after Christmas and 45% of consumers plan to shop in January to take advantage of those post holiday sales.

Speaker A: Yeah. It'll be interesting to see throughout this month how these sales pop up and what kinds of sales they Are if they're the same types of items, if there's other items that are more on sale in the first quarter than are in sale in the fourth quarter. Um, because I'm not really sure about seasonality and trends in that way, but I could see that happening. I used to work for a company that we would have our holiday party in January because everyone's November. December was so busy that it was really hard to find days or nights that everyone could do it and their spouses could do it and they didn't have something else going on. And so we used to have our holiday party in the middle of January and nobody has anything going on. But I could see this being like, I would love to say to my in laws, let's do Christmas in the middle of January and then buy them a gift on, uh, discount after the holiday.

Speaker B: Yeah, that's smart. We should start doing that.

Speaker A: Let's just start pushing all these parties back. Make it really stretch it out next year. Remind me.

Speaker B: I agree. Instead of. It's just. But then it's funny how the holiday season is continues to just expand. Because growing up, I mean, there's always those people who are like, oh, it's November, it's Christmas. But I feel like when I was growing up, November was really Thanksgiving, all of November. And then once Thanksgiving happened, it was Christmas. And there's people that still think that way. But I feel like with the box stores now and like online stores, everything's Christmas as soon as November comes around. And now we're bleeding into January, sometimes even earlier. Yeah, this is gonna be Christmas all year round in like 20 years. Yeah.

Speaker A: Hey, Maggie, let's give our listeners a peek behind the curtain.

Speaker B: You mean like a look into what we're actually doing?

Speaker A: Yeah, let's do it.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker A: So one of the things that has happened in the last month or so, um, we had a new client come on board and we realized in going through some things with them, some campaigns with them, that they were not willing to give us access to a lot of things or give us the tools that we need to do our job. And so we discontinued working with them. We're not doing work with them anymore. But we a learning that came from that was that, uh, a lot of times, even though we're talking about things up front in the proposal stage, we really need to be more adamant and more clear in outlining the requirements, not just the nice to have. So when we talk about we're going to need your input and approvals, obviously that comes with the Territory. But we need to be more clear in black and white about we need access to your Google Analytics, we need access to the data, we need access to all of your ad platforms. Whatever we need, we need to be really outspoken, spoken about and very adamant that we need those before beginning. Because what we learned was there, there are always going to be people, sometimes lawyers, regulatory compliance, people that don't want to give you access to their data as a third party vendor. And, and I get that, and that might be their culture and that's fine. But then we can't do our jobs without the right data.

Speaker B: Uh, we can't be successful if we don't have the tools.

Speaker A: Exactly. So if we can't influence, if we need something, if we need access to something to influence our job and our decision making, we need that. And so we need to be clear upfront about that. And that was a, uh, good learning. It was a little frustrating, but we, you know, it was a month and we're out of it and we're, we're moving on to the next. Yes. So, but even, even things like brand, brand guidelines or other things like, like words you can't say, that's something that we've been talking about a lot lately with our clients where we're writing copy and then they, they gave us input for it and they go to review it and they're like, oh, we never say this word and we can never say this word and also never say this phrase and do that. And a lot of times we ask for the things like give us guidance, give us your brand guidelines, give us these requirements. But now we are specifically asking what can we not say? What are your like, negative requirements? Right. Um, sometimes that's just as important.

Speaker B: And then for our wins, um, a few, few good things. It's the giving season. So I know that we've been involved in a lot of donations this year, which we usually do every year, but it's been good to see everyone come together and, and putting things towards a good cause, which I know you're very involved in.

Speaker A: Yeah, uh, it was a lot of fun. We, we collected donations for, we didn't adopt a family here in Buffalo. And they gave us the ages and sizes and um, wish lists of the children in the family. And we were able to purchase a lot of items for them and everyone. Some people pooled their money together and bought a bigger item. Some people just brought in things and so it was really nice that we were able to, able to do that. And that's a lot of Fun. And even just seeing the cubicle where we had the things, it was like, oh, when you bring in your donations, place them here, and to see that pile grow throughout the month before they collected them, it's just nice to see everybody participating and to feel good that we're doing some good.

Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Um, and then on the business side, we continue to have a lot of year in review client meetings, which I feel like are all going very, very well. Um, they are a lot of work though, putting those slide decks together. They're extensive. Especially if you have a client that their scope touches all different areas, including marketing, development, data. It's extensive. So something that our team developed was really just streamlining that process and creating a new template that's just a very basic template. But any of the marketing team can go in and dupe it and essentially switch out the copy and the content, maybe even the colors to kind of align with the client's brand, our brand, whatever. But it just really saves us a lot of time. Yeah.

Speaker A: And a lot of good conversations come out of those meetings. So I'm really happy that we've been doing that with a lot of our clients and making sure that we're aligned on. Here are the successes from last year, Here are the goals for next year. Here are some things that we're focused on. What else can we be doing for you? Oh, by the way, did we mention we have this great design team or data team if we're not working with that? Uh, you know, so it's a really great time to not only reflect, but look forward and see what else that they can be using our team for. And now it's the moment you've all been waiting for.

Speaker B: It's time to get into the main scoop.

Speaker A: New year, new goals.

Speaker B: That's right.

Speaker A: Or same goals. Yeah, higher goals.

Speaker B: Higher goals, Whatever we got. Yeah. So today we really want to talk about really all things goals. We wanted to start by breaking down, kind of developing goals for you and your clients really focused on their business. I've had clients who are maybe more unfamiliar in the territory of setting marketing goals. So my role is kind of helping them reach that point, uh, really marrying our processes together. But then we also have clients that come to us with, with strict goals. So it's how, how handling that works. And then after that, we want to talk a little bit about kind of setting up goals for ourselves in the new year, whether that be career or even personal. So we have some fun information on that as well. But to kick things off as we Said we're having a lot of conversations right now around wrapping up the year with our clients and really just getting aligned on what targets they're aiming for in the next year. And with that comes setting those marketing goals. So really those, those marketing goals should align um, with that client's overall company business objectives. And you want to make sure you're establishing kind of like a top down hierarchy of goals to ensure that the marketing plan is in sync with that business strategy. So it really starts with kind of establishing a realistic and quantifiable goal up front and it kind of sets you up for success or like I like to refer to it as the North Star in the new year. So I kind of have some best practices with goal setting and it kind of seems pretty straightforward. But I think sometimes clients and even myself as like an account lead or whatever could over complicate it a little bit and kind of think, think too much into it. And sometimes it just helps to take a step back and regroup and bring it all back to smart goals. I love smart goals. I use it a lot. And again, smart goal stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound. And I think if you're someone who's maybe staring at a blank document and you need to start outlining your goals for next year, start with that and just start jotting things down. And I feel like it just, it kind of starts to build that foundation and from there it really sets you up to develop something more specific. Some other ones that I found, um, that I know some folks have used that are helpful to them are clear goals. So that's a little bit different than smart goals. It's collaborative, limited, emotional, appreciable and refinable.

Speaker A: That just feels a little too, it's a lot wishy washy.

Speaker B: It is. I think I, I'm more of a smart girl goals. Girl, girl. Oh, that's hard to say. Smart, Smart goals gal. There you go. And then this one I thought was really interesting too. It's the okrs. So that stands for objective. So you want to identify three to five objectives that are qualitative, time bound and actionable. So it's kind of like uh, a step further than smart goals. So it's like maybe start with smart goals and then kind of transition to the OKRs. And then you want to identify your key results which is quantify each objective and set three to five results that are based upon measurable outcomes. So just some ways to take a step back and start from square one. And if you're struggling in that area. I think kind of starting with the basics can be helpful.

Speaker A: Yeah, One of the. I always think about smart goals. When I'm thinking about anybody's goals, I, I tend to do this myself. And so I always try to check myself and saying, okay, my goal is to grow more in this or to have more business or to whatever that is. And then I'm constantly like, jill, that's not specific. You need to be specific and measurable. And so those two, the S and the M I, M think are the hardest part sometimes for people to set for themselves. Not just to attain, but just to, to get there. Like, oh, we want to grow our Instagram following. Well, what do we want to grow it to and how are we going to measure it? Okay, well, right now is it 300 people and um, I want it to be 500 people or is it 5,000 and I want it to be 5 million. What is the number and what makes sense? But instead of just saying I want to grow it, I mean, you could grow it by one person and achieve your goal. So being specific is really important. And that is, I think, where people struggle the most is that specificity. Did you like that?

Speaker B: Yeah, specificity. Yeah.

Speaker A: I can't say it again.

Speaker B: A lot of hard words today. Yeah, that's the, I feel like the hardest part because, uh, of course everybody wants to do better. That's, uh, the end goal. Of course we want to grow, but really m being able to one, measure those goals and then two, I think being able to line it up. So how can we continue to improve in the future? Not just next year. How about in five years? So again, setting yourself up for success, I find it's better to ask yourself specific questions like you were just saying bringing it back to, is this a business driven goal? How is it going to contribute to the business? Um, is it, can it be improved over the years? Like I said, not. I mean, yes, we're setting goals for next year, but is it something that we can grow upon in future years?

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Um, is it actionable? Is it possible? Is it realistic? Right. And then finally how we're measuring success, I think that's probably also one of the most important pieces. You need to be able to measure that, identify what your KPIs are for that goal and check in on those throughout the year. Whether that be, you know, a weekly report, a monthly report, a quarterly report, whatever. Um, but being able to measure and pace yourself to your goal. So by the end of the year, you know, where you're at, you know what it's looking like, and if it's going to be realistic for the next year, maybe you overshot your goal, and at the end of next year you're like, you know what, this was a little bit too steep. We're still in a good place. Let's rein it in. Maybe set something a little bit more realistic next year. Right.

Speaker A: I think having some bands of success is important too. So knowing, you know, in the, in the example that I gave, say you want to grow your Instagram following by a thousand people, and you are that thousand people is your benchmark, but you're doing different things to grow it and you're doing different initiatives that. But if you get to the end of the time period, say the end of the quarter and you're at 800, is it that's good enough to continue down the path that you're going, or is that enough to consider it a failure and say, we're not going to do this anymore. And so knowing what those things are too, because we're so big on testing and iterating and optimizing, that you need to know, if you don't hit your goal, what is that margin band? Right. If your goal is to have a $200 cost per acquisition or cost per account, acquisition cost, you know, to $200 per customer, and you hit $199 or you hit $201, is that enough to say that you're close enough to your goal to continue doing what you're doing and continue optimizing, or is that a failure? So knowing kind of where that, that gray area is around your goals as well, and where you can adjust and what you're measuring and, you know, knowing how to adjust.

Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. And I think too, um, as a marketing agency, we are partners with our clients. We want them to succeed. So defining those goals for us is really important. And even sometimes with my own clients, they might not know specifically how they want to define their marketing goals, but if they at least let me know what their business goals are, I can kind of take up the slack there and I can work on fleshing out those goals for them. But as long as they kind of are able to formulate those specific business goals, I can take it into the direction of my area of expertise and set those goals more specifically for myself, run those by them, make sure they're aligned and we're ready to hit the ground running in January.

Speaker A: M. And knowing what's realistic.

Speaker B: Exactly. Exactly. That's part of it, too. That's a really good point, because I think sometimes, especially if clients are, uh, not as familiar with the digital marketing space, they might come to you with something that seems a little outrageous. Like, I've had a client come to me, and their business was, it's demand gen, but not demand gen enough, where they were shooting for like 50 leads a month. And I'm like, that's just very unrealistic, especially for the budget you have. So they came to me with that marketing goal, and I said, you know what? That's not really realistic with the amount of spend you have. Let's take a step back. And I helped formulate that number for them, and they were able to align with me on that, and we were good. But again, that's kind of the role we sometimes play.

Speaker A: We have to give the data so that they can make better decisions.

Speaker B: Exactly.

Speaker A: Even in goal setting.

Speaker B: That's right. That's right. And that can open up a conversation for a bigger budget too, if that's really what they want. Maybe they're just kind of ignorant in that space of how much money it would take to get there. And then if you kind of explain that to them and show them what it looks like, maybe that then opens up a conversation for increasing budget, which is awesome. More money to play with. So it's great.

Speaker A: Love it. Love it. You know, I'm a money gal.

Speaker B: That's right. Yeah. That's kind of the business side of things. But I also wanted to talk about kind of some goals for ourselves as business women, but also maybe in our personal lives, because that can bleed into that as well. And you kind of opened me up to this, which I love. But you tell me a little bit about Rob Patch.

Speaker A: Okay, so I get new. I get a million newsletters, and two that I really like, that I did not realize are related until recently are by Rob Hatch and Chris Brogan. They're both like leadership coaches, and they both send out great information, great content. So if you want to look at, um, either of their E newsletters, they send them maybe once or twice a week, and they're just short reads, but they're always impactful. It always just makes me take a step back and think, yes, am I doing this? Am I focused on growth? Am I doing, you know, doing the right thing? Am I communicating strong? You know, all of these different things, and they're both really great. And then I just realized recently that they are friends and they know each other and they work together and. And they do an exercise called My Three Words and they've been doing it for several years where they host a webinar where they help people focus on what are the three words that you're going to focus on for the, uh, for the next year. So, for example, Chris's words for 2023 were master, pleasure, and gather. And so everything that he was doing, he was trying to relate it back to those three words to see, am I, you know, focusing my life and all of my initiatives in this way. So from a master perspective, trying to master things that he's working on, not just become a jack of all trades, but really master a few things, um, from pleasure, making sure he's seeking out, like, the happiness and things and finding peace in the little things and all that and kind of slowing down, um, and then gather. I think that had to do with his network and gathering more, um, community and people around it. And so I just thought that was really powerful. And they've been doing this for several years where every year they pick out new ones. And then every once in a while throughout the year, their newsletters will refer to them and say, I kind of lost sight of this word and now I'm bringing it back. And I know a lot of people who will pick one word for the year, or theme, or this is my goal for the year. This is my New Year's resolution. Those types of things. And I love the idea of three. I love the number three. I love everything in threes. I just think it's powerful and there's just something to it. And so I love the picking three words.

Speaker B: Yeah. I also like the idea of it because it's like kind of in your subconscious a little bit.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: You're almost like, manifesting it for the year. Like as you're doing something, your intention has subconsciously has those words in the back of your head.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: So it's a cool concept and a quote that I actually found. You passed this news article to me that I really liked was, I can't always control the outcome of each year. However, I can control how I show up, act and respond. Therefore, I choose words that will facilitate those efforts. I think that just sums it up so nicely.

Speaker A: Do you want to talk about three words that you chose? Yeah. And we can have there. Um, I have a. You had gave me a few links to places where you can look for ideas for these types of words of the year. And so we can put those in the show notes as well, um, to find those. But I also pulled a few from. From list. So I'm excited To hear what you've list.

Speaker B: There's a lot of great words on there.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: Yes. My first word for 2024 is create. So essentially harnessing your imagination to bring new ideas and projects into existence. So I'm a creator. I. I love art. I love creating anything. It's just something I thrive in and it's something that I'm actually very passionate about. So whenever I find myself in a state where I'm lacking creativity, I really feel like something's missing. And that happened a few times to me in 2023, where I just kind of was in like a lull. Like I. The day to day I was just feeling very mundane. I was just really missing something. So I want to make sure in 2024 that I am putting that top of mind and making sure I'm finding something I want to be passionate about. Whether that's writing about something, whether that's doing something art related. I love to draw. I love to paint. Or maybe it's rearranging a room in my house, Maybe it's doing something in the office. It could be anything. But as long as I'm keeping that top of mind, because that's something that really helps fill my cup. Yes. So that's my first one.

Speaker A: I love it.

Speaker B: My second one is foster. So invest time in developing skills, encouraging growth, and nurturing talents or ideas until they reach their potential. So I love to learn. I love to really try new things. So kind of part of that word is dedicated to learning something new and trying something new and then fostering the skills that I also, um, are important to me and continuing to grow in that area and kind of like get closer to that master word that, that Rob used. Mastering a skill.

Speaker A: I love it.

Speaker B: Um, and then the last one is bliss. So seeking joy and contentment. Making time this year to find what makes you truly happy. So just enjoying the little things because I feel like sometimes the day to day it's stressful. It goes by so fast, we don't have time to stop and breathe. Just making sure I'm doing that for myself.

Speaker A: As I was going through the list, I kept jotting down things that spoke to me. And then I realized I had three kind of themes going. So mine were a few wrapped up into each one. So these are my three words. So the first one is mindfulness, which came from not only mindfulness, but I also wrote down acceptance and be. So embracing just existing and being a part of the moment and trying to live in the now and like the importance of just being Present. And that is something that is sometimes really hard as a, as a working parent and you're constantly busy and doing things and to just not sit there and scroll on your phone, but to be there watching the kids show with the kids, playing, playing a game, doing those kinds of things. Um, just being mindful and present. And so that is something that I want to be better at in 2024. Um, my second one was focus. And this also came out of, um, declutter was one and direction. So channeling my energy and my attention on specific goals and clarity, clarifying my priorities and just decluttering not only stuff, but just what I'm doing. Um, and this kind of leads into my third one. So I guess they are kind of all connected. But my focus is going to be on less. So I say every year that my New Year's resolution is to say no to more things. And so I really want to embrace more simplicity and setting boundaries and saying no to the time commitments that I, I don't need to, um, activities that I constantly volunteer for things that I should not, I don't have time to do. Um, and so I want to give myself the permission to do more with less. You know, have a more present day, but by doing less. And so those are really mine. Mine are mindfulness, focus and less.

Speaker B: Those are great words. I love them. I think keeping in check your personal life also benefits your professional life. If our personal lives are in balance and we have time for the things that we enjoy and we feel fulfilled there, we're going to perform better at work, we're going to show up better for our clients and our team. So I feel like these goals go hand in hand with that.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: Now it's time for everyone's favorite segment

Speaker A: and all of you know one. Um, don't be that Girl. Do you have a story for us?

Speaker B: Of course.

Speaker A: On Don't Be that Girl.

Speaker B: Yeah, it's time for Don't Be that Girl holiday party edition.

Speaker A: Now that all of our listeners have gotten through the holiday season and have probably attended holiday parties of their own, are you going to talk about a work related holiday party?

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: Awesome.

Speaker B: Yeah, there's always one girl at that party. You know, Um, I will say I was scouring Reddit to find a good story for this and there's a lot of very inappropriate, um, office holiday stories on Reddit and they are funny, but I really had to. It was hard to find one that I could share on the podcast. I'll say that. Um, okay, so this Reddit story Is called Swimming with the Sharks. It was edited slightly to make it work appropriate. Um, but it was brought to us by Reddit user, not von Bratt. We had our holiday party on a barge whose top floor was rented out to a different company. One of the female partygoers from the party had way too much to drink before the meal was even served. Between dinner and dessert, she stumbled down the flights of stairs. The next thing you know, I heard her screaming, fine, then I'll just go. And jumped overboard into the waters we all knew were shark infested. Her date knowing there was no way she could survive even how drunk she was, not even considering the sharks emptied out his pockets and jumped in after her. They had to stop the barge, call the police and end the trip for the rest of us. No idea what happened to the jumpers. And I didn't get any dessert, but at least I have a good story to tell.

Speaker A: That is crazy. And it wasn't even this person's company. It was a different company in the same venue. Mhm. Wow. We need to move somewhere warmer so we can have a barge party.

Speaker B: That'd be so fun. No men overboard though. Or women. No, not going overboard.

Speaker A: Our holiday party was in the upstairs at a bar, at a brewery. And nobody fell down the stairs.

Speaker B: No one fell down the stairs.

Speaker A: Everyone behaved themselves.

Speaker B: But I feel like there's always one employee that Dr. That gets over served at every holiday party and just, just don't be that girl.

Speaker A: Right? Don't be that girl. Especially at the party. Maybe at the after party.

Speaker B: After party's fine.

Speaker A: You leave and go for drinks after the party with a few other people. I will say, um, after our holiday party this year we went for just one more with a few of the other associates here. And I was not that girl. I didn't jump into shark infested waters. But the next day I definitely felt it. Said I didn't need to go for that one more.

Speaker B: Yeah, you always feel the next day, that's for sure. I was good. I had a long drive home, so yeah, I was drinking waters all night.

Speaker A: Oh man.

Speaker B: No shark infested waters for me.

Speaker A: Oh my gosh. That's crazy.

Speaker B: Well, if you have a good story, send it into us. Yes, um, we'd love to share your don't be that girl stories. They don't have to be about jumping over a ship. Can be about anything work related. That's a good story. You want to share? We'll keep it anonymous too. Yes, but we'd love to hear from you.

Speaker A: And that's it for this month's episode of the Agency Scoop. Thank you so much for tuning in, and we'll see you next time.

Speaker B: See ya. Thanks for listening to the Agency Scoop.

Speaker A: The Agency Scoop is produced by Cypress North, a digital agency in Buffalo, New York. Our producer is Greg Finn. Our editor is Eric Barnes. Our graphics are by Sami Hansen.

Speaker B: Don't forget to subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, and anywhere you get your podcasts.

Speaker A: You can also follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn to share your thoughts about the episode and give us ideas for future topics.

Speaker B: We'll see you next time.