DW177: Stand Out in Your Business Like Route 66 with Diane Rolston

Diane Rolston: 00:00:00

If you're wanting to stand out in your business, or if you feeling like, man, I need to reinvent myself to be able to catch up to the competition, then maybe my recent road trip through Route 66 will give you some inspiration.

Unknown: 00:00:20

You're listening to the Dynamic Women podcast. Each week, you'll be inspired by our global community of women. They'll share with you tools and stories to help you be dynamic in every area of life. Here's your host, award-winning coach and the CEO and founder of Dynamic Women, Diane Rolston.

Diane Rolston: 00:00:49

Hello lovely dynamic women and welcome to the Dynamic Women podcast. I am Diane Rolston, your host. And today, I'm going to share with you a bunch of lessons that I learned in how to stand out in your business just like Route 66.

Diane Rolston: 00:01:04

So let me give you a little bit of background first. So my family and I flew in yesterday to Vegas, and we rented a car. And we right away started to drive towards Route 66. So when we woke up this morning, we were able to head off to Arizona, and we started at Kingman. And the goal was to go along the old Route 66 that was used to be decades ago used to be the place with 10,000 cars a day going through. And then it really was was going to be come ghost towns when the new highway was being put through. And so some changes were made, and it didn't lose its life. And I'll get into that a little bit later. But I really wanted to take my kids, my husband through this and I wanted to go to on our way to the Grand Canyon. And I didn't think I would do a podcast about this. But I'm seeing so many cool things that I'm always looking at it from the lens of business, and how can I learn from this. And as much as I had have been having so much fun, and you're gonna see some photos, eventually. But I just I was seeing all these really cool things happening. And I thought, and I've got to share these, I've got to share these insights. And these really cool things that these businesses that these regular people are doing. So I'm sitting in the Holiday Inn at to say in which is about 15 minutes from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. If you look it up on Google, you'll be able to see kind of a little bit where I am. And I've had to send my husband and my kids to the hot tub and the pool so that I can get a little bit of quiet in the hotel room to bring you this episode.

Diane Rolston: 00:02:53

And so I gave you a little bit of backstory on how I'm here I gave you a little bit of backstory on Route 66. I'm going to share a little bit more of the history. And then I'm going to share with you what I've seen is like three really kind of big things that are happening with about two to four to kind of data points underneath each, underneath each one that are really going to help you to kind of see things for your business in different way. Because what happened to Route 66 could very well be happening to your business. So something else something else shiny and new has come forward. Another type of business that's more efficient, some technology that is just blowing past what your business is currently doing. You could be in that space. And that's exactly what happened to route 66.

Diane Rolston: 00:03:39

So I picked up this flyer from it used to be an old barber shop. It's Angel and Vilma's Original Route 66 Gift Shop. So I'm just going to read a couple paragraphs just to give you a little bit of backstory. So for 50 years Route 66 was the main thoroughfare through Northern Arizona and brought much commerce to the said town of Seligman. But on September 22 1978, about one year before I was born, the newly constructed Interstate 40 bypassed Seligman, and I'm saying that wrong and replace the section of Route 66 that had brought the traffic of thousands of cars through town on a daily basis. So you can just imagine all of those restaurants, convenience stores, gas stations, gift shops, attractions, their livelihood shut down in a day, like could you imagine things like Blockbuster Jumbo video, the different places that did VHS and then all of a sudden it's all digital and it's so quickly that we can get bypassed just like this literal bypass road. Going to read the next paragraph, the livelihood of the businesses in Seligman. Seligman, there we go. So Seligman disappeared in one day all the travelers who had one stop to eat, get fuel and stay the night we're now quickly driving by just two miles south just two miles. For 10 long years, the residents learn to live on very little businesses closed down, people move buildings were abandoned. Isn't that crazy, super crazy. And then Angel Delgadillo, a barber and proprietor of the town, he, I'm just going to summarize this, he didn't want this to happen. He didn't want his town to die. Just like maybe you've had times in your business where you're like, I don't want this part of my business to die, or I don't want this technology in my business to die. I don't want this competition to get ahead of me because of like something new, or something more efficient air or whatever it may be. It might just be a shiny object, it might not even be as good as what you were offering. So he kind of long story short, he pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed and kept writing letters and raising money. And he some of the ways he raised money was he sold souvenirs about Route 66. And eventually, it became a historic route. So the state of Arizona christened it. Isn't that amazing? A historic Route 66. So now, rather than a place that people just went through, on their way to somewhere else, Las Vegas, or wherever, wherever Utah wherever they were going. Instead, it now became a really cool touristy place. So it completely shifted. And that was from the route that I did, from Kingman, to Seligman. And we did all we did that today. And then it actually continued on into California and all these other places as well, based on the route the work of this Angel guy, the barber.

Diane Rolston: 00:06:39

So I'm gonna go through now the three things that I'm seeing that really could help someone in a business, who, like I said before, is worried about being bypassed by someone else, by technology, efficiency, whatever it may be, or who are feeling like there's so much competition, they're not standing out anymore, or maybe one of their products isn't kind of at that diff, that higher level that they want it to be or a service, whatever it may be, and just a way to own your business in some way or another. You might be like, Oh, business is good, Diane. Okay, well, we'll just take a look at these ideas and see, could you add any of them to your business?

Diane Rolston: 00:06:39

So let's start off with the first one. So as I explained about what happened with Route 66, it went from just a, you know, through fare from one place to another, and it turned into a landmark, a destination place. And so maybe it is time in your business for reinvention, reinvention, maybe, maybe you need something new to draw people in, right. So what I was noticing is in this reinvention, it wasn't just like, we've got great burgers, or we've got great souvenirs. It then became the look what we have on the outside. And so there was one place it has Giganticus Headicus, just Google it. It's this big green head makes no sense to me why it was there. I haven't had time to even research the history of it. All I know is I chatted with the guy inside probably the owner who said his friend made it about it was 10 or 20 years ago, and it is drawing people into shop, right? It catches their attention. And based on the new technology, it's an Instagram moment, I'm going to share mine with you where I was picking the nose of this big head because that is exactly what my son did before he ran off to go to the bathroom. So how are you catching the attention of people that are driving by, walking by, scrolling by. The way they're doing this on Route 66 is colorful signs, old signs old cars, right? This is the area that really inspired the Disney movie Cars. Angel that I was talking about before, I was I just was told today that he actually sat in his little barber shop and he was interviewed by I think was the writer of Cars and for three days and that's where Cars and Radiator Springs and the whole thing was born. So other things that they have to catch attention are there's dinosaurs in the Grand Canyon Caverns, and I don't mean like the actual Grand Canyon, they just call it Grand Canyon Caverns. And things are interactive. Like in Kingman, they have a drive thru sign. So if you can imagine what it looks like that Route 66 sign they have a massive sign that you can drive through, have your car sit there, get out take some photos, there's also a train that you can get up and inside of and take a photo. So just if you're thinking of things like if you have booths at markets, if you have a storefront, what are you doing to draw people in to have people be interested and be like, Oh, what is what is it that you're doing here? Right? That's what I was thinking about this big green head. I'm like, Well, what's happening here This place looks interesting that I need to stop by there's also old cars I'm really really cool cars had to go check them out. So what are you doing in a physical space with people in person to draw them in, Next, ask yourself or ask your team with my website. What am I doing to draw people in to catch their attention to keep them on my website longer than seven seconds. And the last thing is when they're scrolling by on social media, what are you doing to capture their attention, to have them stop, there might be some reinvention that needs to happen for you, as a person, maybe for you and your business. It's funny, like I just started to, I just stopped blow drying my hair, I don't really have to it just gets it gets big and fuzzy, not curly, frizzy, but I have a bit of a wave to it. And I just thought, you know what, I just don't have much time these days that I'm just going to put a bit of mousse and scrunch it up and call it a day, I've had so much feedback, positive feedback. And that small change of my hair could be a little bit of a reinvention. Because it's drawing more attention and having people stop.

Diane Rolston: 00:10:59

The next piece is they have the Route 66 passport. So if you can imagine, like a little guidebook that if you went somewhere else, and they were like, Oh yeah, if you're doing this drive, here are the 10 cool places to stop. Well, they've done that. But they also added in the ability to get a cool stamp at each location. Right. So now we've gamified this almost, there's no prize at the end except your own glory, I guess. And so my kids have been having so much fun kind of going through and getting these different stamps. So I want you to think about, is there something in your business that you could do to gamify it something that you could do to connect one piece to the next piece? Because I'll tell you, we've been following this or we follow this today, like where's the next one? Where's the next one, and we stopped to places we probably would have just driven by. But because the stamp was there, that interactive piece of it and the milestones. So I'm kind of seeing a lot of different things here connection of one piece to another gamifying it, milestones that there's this like link or path between things, because these are all separate businesses, right? They're not all run by the same person where in your business, you have all products that are connected to you and services that are connected to you. But is there a way that you could connect with other businesses and do something similar, and then it gives you purpose to complete it. So it's got me thinking about with my client journey and all the services that I offer all the programs and such, do I have my own little passport thing where I can kind of mark off how far people have gotten and send them like something in the mail that says how far they've gotten like that updated journey. It might not be the stamps, but it could be something else. So I really liked this idea of this passport. And what's even more clever is I had to pay for it, right? I paid like $1.75 for it, which I was like, Oh, that's so cheap. But how many times you go to a visitor center and you get like the map, marking off the places to go or a little guidebook for free. So now they're making money off of this as well, which I just thought was genius. And there are so many other sections. So there is the western section, we were doing the central section, then there's the eastern section, which we won't be doing right now. And then there were little pages at the back for like any other stamps you got and for you to go and redeem it. So when you complete it. So this is I guess it's fully gamified now I'm just noticing this passport redemption coupon. So when you get seven stamps, you're entitled to a special certificate, certificate made of paper, right? But how cool that that's like that prize at the end. And you it gives like the different places that you can get it from. And you can also mail it in, which I think is wonderful. And you know what's really funny? Listen to how they do it, you have to send in the passport redemption survey, which asks you your demographics. So there's your there's another bonus for doing something like this. And I know I did a kind of a similar passport idea at the book launch for Dynamic You because I wanted it to be an exponential event. And it ended up being that because they had to go to the different booths that were there and do something that was connecting them with being more dynamic and one of the nine pillars. So that was a really cool experience.

Diane Rolston: 00:14:32

So the third thing that I want to talk about is having some charm, humor, and wackiness. It kind of blew me away like how quirky all of these places are. But the thing is, like people are it's almost like they're playing this up. We've got some people that work in these different places that are like historians, who are sharing in this is the history and this happened and this happened. And like when I was at Angel and Vilma's at the barber shop today, or the Original Route 66 Gift Shop, it was so amazing. The woman who was there sharing all the different pieces and encouraging us, hey, go sit in the barber seat because there's a big cardboard cutout of Angel and it looked like he's cutting your hair. So my son sat in the chair, it was so great. And then at another place, there were all like people stuck dollar bills or different denominations actually, there's a whole wall of just money stuck with people's names on it and all so many just things stuck on the wall. It was just so busy license plates everywhere. And as we were there, you know, he was chatting with us. And he was a real ambassador. He said, Well, I just live a few minutes down the road. And he was sharing with us a little bit about oh, yeah, you're from Canada. And I see a lot of Canadians love driving this route. And, and then he said, why don't you guys all sit up at the diner there. And I'll take your picture. So they're really encouraging these type of connections, the experience that's there. And so that charm, that humor, that wackiness is there, but also that ambassadors ship. So I want you to think of like, how are you showing up? Are you just showing up as like someone in their business? Or are you really embodying what you're wanting for your business?

Diane Rolston: 00:16:25

Let me give you another example. There's a place called Snowcap, Snowcap Diner. I think it was and it's actually run, or started by Angel as well. And it's Delgadillo's Snowcap Diner or something like that it was and they do like burgers and fries, and like all fry all fried foods. I'll tell you though, their shakes are amazing, shakes are amazing. So anyway, so we go there. And the place is like yeah, one of those like holes in the wall sort of place, you have to sit outside. But the whole place had so much character. Even the back, it was like the bathroom was an outhouse. But it was all like done up inside, like almost like you were in some Pee Wee's Playhouse. It was so wacky. There was a TV, fake TV that was playing music and all these funny signs. But let me go up to order, the woman as we're going to order, she pulls out a mustard bottle and shoots my kids with this mustard bottle. And they all jumped back. And it was one of those fake gag mustard bottles. And so we all have a good laugh. Oh, and the other thing is to get in, two doorknobs. And I'm sorry, if you go and then like you don't have the same experience because you didn't realize but I go to open the doorknob on the right because I'm right handed. And so that made more sense. But that actually wasn't the doorknob. That was another doorknob on the left. So it was quite funny. We had a giggle and even funnier when I went to leave and I did the exact same thing then. So that was like two gags already. And then after we order the shake, she pulls out and she goes straw, and I went to grab it and she had like a little handful of actual straw rather than a straw you would drink from. So again, we all had a giggle. And so this is that charm, that humor, that wackiness. So it makes me think of my business. Like, where can I just take it up a notch, right? She could have just shown up and been like, Okay, what do you want to eat? Okay, here's your food. Thank you. Bye. But where? Where? Could you? How could you show up differently in your business as someone more charming, humorous, wacky, like an ambassador, a historian, all of these people had different ways of being, but so endearing. And I just so much enjoyed my interactions with these people. It has me now right telling you about it. So maybe it wasn't the best nuggets and fries for my kids. Maybe they weren't the best souvenir shops. But I'll tell you, they left a mark on me.

Diane Rolston: 00:19:02

And you have to think how many times in your life? Have you bought something that's not as good as something else? Because you like the person or you continue to shop or buy somewhere? Because you just you will love what they stand for? Or do you continue to go to a certain hotel, or a certain coffee shop because of their reward system? Like gamifying, the passport, it's so interesting how a few hours on Route 66 caused all of this in my head. And I also feel blessed that I'm able to have a podcast and like that, it pushes me to be looking for the inspiration. So I'm curious for you of these three, and of the little bits I've said underneath each one, which ones may be new for you or which one are you going to implement? Has one of them made you think? Oh yeah, maybe I could do that because I want you to think about what would Route 66 be, and all the small towns, what would they be if they didn't do these things. They'd be like certain companies out there that didn't evolve, that didn't change. And I know you care about your business, and you love your business, or at least you want it to succeed, and that you can sell it, or pass on the legacy to family, or just like enjoy life while you're doing it. So I hope that you take at least one little piece of this and look differently at your business, and possibly your life.

Diane Rolston: 00:20:34

Okay, as we wrap up here, because I know that my husband and the kids are going to want to come back out to the room to go to bed, because we're preparing to go to the Grand Canyon very early in the morning. And so I asked you now, who needs to hear this message? Who are the friends you have? It is a quick share over to them. And if this one in particular has you sound like oh, I want to share something, put some comments below. Or even better write us a great review. Why not? And then when you do, here's me gamifying this a little bit once you do take a screenshot of it and send it with your mailing address to team@dianerolston.com and we will send you a little something special in the mail. If you haven't yet, hit subscribe. And until next time, stay dynamic. Bye.