Support Tools - Bolstering Your Business

VO BOSS

Join Anne Ganguzza and guest co-host, Lau Lapides, as we share the personal rituals and support systems that keep us at the top of our game. From the mental clarity of Anne's Pilates routine to Lau’s cherished moments with her furry friends, the BOSSES unravel how these treasured practices not only lift spirits, but also propel BOSSES through the most demanding business battles. The BOSSES guide you through the creation of an optimal workspace designed to awaken your most productive self. They also tackle the often-overlooked aspect of sound, from the tranquility of headphones to the creative surge provided by the right playlist. Plus, discover tried-and-true methods for diffusing work stress, to improve your business performance #likeaboss 00:02 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) You know your voice has the power to move, to persuade, to inspire. Imagine taking that power to its fullest potential. With guidance and expert production, I can help elevate your voice to new heights, making every voice script resonate with your audience. Let's empower your voice together, one session at a time. Find out more at anneganguzza.com.

00:29 - Intro (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza.

00:48 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Hey, hey everyone. Welcome to the VO Boss Podcast. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I am here in the Boss Superpower Series with my amazing special guest co-host, Lau Lapides. Oh hey, Annie, hi Lau.

01:01 - Lau Lapides (Host) So good to be here.

01:03 - Anne ganguzza (Host) So good to be here too. I am all set to record another amazing episode with you, and I've got my trusty cup of coffee right here, you got your cup of coffee and I got my trusty big dunks.

01:18 - Lau Lapides (Host) I think that's 32 ounces of water from dunks.

01:21 - Anne ganguzza (Host) Wow, look at that. Do you get your water from dunks?

01:25 - Lau Lapides (Host) Not always, but if I'm going to go and get coffee anyway or something there anyway, I always ask for a large water. Even if they charge you a little, I ask for a large water, my double-fisted coffee.

01:36 - Anne ganguzza (Host) And these are actually my Ultima replenishers, which are electrolytes, which I love so I make sure that I'm drinking. I'm supposed to drink close to 100 ounces a day, and these help me to do so and to make sure that I'm getting all the nutrients that I need so that I can run my business like a boss.

01:54 - Lau Lapides (Host) I love it, I love it.

01:55 - Anne ganguzza (Host) So those are just a couple of my I guess, tools that support me while I am working and keep me energized and going and running my business like a boss. Let's talk about, maybe our tools or our support mechanisms that help us to keep running our businesses like bosses today.

02:15 - Lau Lapides (Host) Oh, that's a great topic. I love that. Just thinking about that makes me all cozy and fluffy inside, because when I think about the rituals, the routines, what I consider to be necessities of the daily run, what keeps me engaged and energized, going from morning till night, what is it that does that? For each individual person, there's so many different support options.

02:43 - Anne ganguzza (Host) We just showed you one. Yeah, and I'll tell you what right now. It was so funny because I happen to be watching Saturday Night Live last night and that tells bosses that we're here on a Sunday. I'm just saying we're here on a Sunday recording some boss episodes, but I happen to be watching Saturday Night Live and there's a whole comedy skit on Pilates, because it makes me think of. I've been getting into Pilates this year and it is something that I do early in the morning before I start my day. Usually I have a 7 o'clock class that goes till 8, and I get myself in the studio by 8.30 and really start running either with students or recording stuff in my studio, doing demo production by 9 at the very latest on a day-to-day basis. So Pilates, or getting my daily exercise in, has now become one of my go-to things. That is something I need to do. I need to feel like I've been able to exercise and get my heart rate up and be invigorated. Mm-hmm.

03:37 - Lau Lapides (Host) I love that, I love that. And if you miss it, if you miss that routine or ritual, how different do you feel, how different is the start of your day? So it's like patterns, you know. We're also talking about the discipline of creating a pattern in your social comfort that you need to really perform. There's all sorts of different things I pull out depending on the season and how I feel, but one of the things you and I discuss is the importance of our fur children. Oh gosh yes.

04:07 Because we're fur mamas and I've got my two Frenchie bulldogs, you've got your beautiful cats and we both love animals so, so much.

04:16 - Anne ganguzza (Host) Oh, my goodness, yes, and that love, that passion, helps to fuel the business as well, right when I need a break, when I'm having a lunch break or something, I make sure that I go and have playtime with the cats or I'm like I need a hug from one of my kitties, and so I'll go seek them out and get a hug and it's funny because animals, I love animals.

04:37 The other thing is that the horse show season has started here by me and for those of you that have not seen my photos on social media, I love, love, love horses and back in the day, Law and I, when we were talking about what we used to do when we were in our younger years, I used to ride horses and show horses. And so for me to live literally a mile away from a showgrounds where they have amazing, top-rated shows every weekend during the season Just makes me so happy.

05:08 - Lau Lapides (Host) It's such a big deal and it really infuses your spirit in a different way that really, I would say even redirects any kind of negative energy that I'm feeling, which we all have for different reasons. You know what's going on in the world, or what's going on in your family, or what's going on in your home, or whatever. It has the power to redirect you onto something very specific, very detailed, that is positive, that is something uplifting for you and something you can take that energy and put it right into your work. And I know you feel the way I feel about the animals. After a while I literally forget they're animals and I treat them as people and I feel like the energy and spirit of people are in the room. It really feels that way.

05:55 - Anne ganguzza (Host) I just live in the house with my cats. They run it pretty much. They let me live there and anybody that has been to my house knows there is a cat condo in just about every room. I think we have five. I think we have five cat condos.

06:10 - Lau Lapides (Host) Those condos are HOAs, aren't they? They're gated communities.

06:14 - Anne ganguzza (Host) They really are, and I'll tell you what the good thing is is that our cats actually use them, so that's a good thing If they never looked at them.

06:19 I would feel really bad and they also have their boxes of toys which they dig out and get new toys. And you know it's funny because Law I don't know if this is the way with your dogs but like, literally I've collected cat toys for the past. I mean I've owned cats ever since I was little and since I moved to, I would say, new Jersey, like in my 20s, I mean I've got like 40 years worth of cat toys that they just keep getting reused by the cats that I acquire.

06:44 - Lau Lapides (Host) It's hard to get rid of them, isn't it? Oh?

06:45 - Anne ganguzza (Host) it is. It's like a favorite stuffed animal. I mean, how can you when the cat plays with it? And of course they have boxes and boxes of toys, but really it's the paper bags that they like.

06:55 - Lau Lapides (Host) And we have those plastic bags. You know those really beautifully designed. So we have one on every floor brimming with stuff and I'm literally praying at times that the dogs rip them apart so I can start throwing them away. Oh my God yeah. Because I won't throw them away unless they need to be thrown away for some reason. Like I'm hoarding dog toys, so I get you right there. I get you right there, and it's like the joy of watching them play with one of those toys while you're working is so fun.

07:23 - Anne ganguzza (Host) Well, you know, as much as I say that we're working on a Sunday, I mean, and we work hard both of us, I mean there's something to be said for just taking that time to kind of reset and refresh and re-engage and have things that we enjoy doing and that we need in order to continue moving forward in our businesses, and that is watching our animals play, watching our fur babies play, or going to a horse show, or something that really takes us out of the work day so that it can really refresh our brains, which I need. I need to have that brain power to run my business as efficiently and as effectively as possible.

08:02 - Lau Lapides (Host) There's a softening there too. There's a softening of a hardness which happens throughout the day, not necessarily becoming jaded or cynical, but becoming expectant of difficult things or expectant of challenges on a daily basis. It softens those blows I always say it keeps me more human. It keeps me more human as they're human. It keeps me more human in the keeps me more human as they're human. It keeps me more human in the situations that I'm dealing with. How about the room itself that you're in the studio, the office, the space you're in, having a support within that space that really allows you to flourish and grow? I know I love having sayings that I believe in so much so when I'm in a meeting I can stare at them and remember what they mean. Remember what they mean. Here's one of my favorite ones that's hanging on my wall in my office and I'm not always in my office, but when I am I remember it says create the things you wish existed. Oh, I like that. That's wonderful.

09:01 And that gives me a little frisson every time I see it.

09:03 - Anne ganguzza (Host) That is wonderful. Well, I think that I might have shown this to you before, but when I open the door of the studio and I don't know if you can see it, but I do have pictures of my fur babies, and over on the other side I have a picture of Jerry and I. And so that is something I can look at, and I plan on getting another one, actually, and hanging it, and so I think that being able to look at those things that just give me joy and some creative inspiration is paramount in the studio and of course I think for me I have to have windows with sunlight.

09:39 I am a big, big sunlight person. For me, and especially when it's the winter months and I get cold and you work and you know we're not moving a lot when we sit, sometimes when we're in the studio, or if I've got the headphones on and I'm doing some editing. I like to be able to get out into the sun and just soak up that vitamin D for a few minutes, when I get a break and that always, always refreshes me.

10:05 - Lau Lapides (Host) Always. I have a porch, annie, that's a screened-in porch. I also have a patio, which I love during the summer months, but the porch during the winter months, when we have some of the harsher, colder weather, has the sun pouring in so I can go out right in the middle of a winter and it's 30 degrees warmer on the porch where I can get that like you get that vitamin D, get that solar energy going to take a nap or refresh me or whatever the case may be. How about this? Sounds really weird, but the CEO of Starbucks was one of the first ones to study this over years and years and that was the shape of the desk. The shape of the table and where you sit in the table affects you socially and it affects the quality of connections you make with others.

10:56 - Anne ganguzza (Host) The shape of the table. So in regards to, I have a standing desk, which I love because if I don't feel like sitting, I can stand at it, but for me, placement-wise, I like to be right in the middle. I also like to also be in a cozy corner with a high back in terms of. If I ever go out to a restaurant, I always feel like I have to sit in a certain place. But tell me more about the shape of the table.

11:20 - Lau Lapides (Host) Oh it's really interesting.

11:22 - Anne ganguzza (Host) In terms of like, if the table is round versus rectangular versus L-shaped versus….

11:28 - Lau Lapides (Host) Yeah, I don't know these days, I don't know if they've kept to this original thinking, but they found through their studies, through Starbucks, that the round table, the circular table, is more connecting in terms of the community that you're sitting in oh that makes sense Than a square table that has edges Right of the community that you're sitting in oh, that makes sense Than a square table that has edges right. I don't always find that, though, because I sit at a lot of square and rectangular tables that I feel really good at.

11:52 - Anne ganguzza (Host) So I don't know. You know that's interesting, but I think, if maybe you're talking about community, yeah, community. It's why it's always nicer to sit at a round table, because it's easier to talk, easier to communicate. Right At a round table, I think, well, a square table because you can have people on equidistant sides, but rectangular, you might have somebody all the way over you can't see people on your side, right, that makes total sense.

12:15 Or they're far away, Right, but in terms of placement on my desk, right, I like to be right in the middle and for me as much as sunlight, right. I was talking about light. I love a lot of light and actually I love a lot of white light in my office area, Like for me, fluorescent lights make me happy and I don't know if that's just me.

12:35 There's a lot of people that don't like fluorescent lights. I like a lot when I'm living and not necessarily working. I like more of a softer yellow light, but for me, for working, I love the white lights and, as a matter of fact, I have LED lights that are white lights that I can actually change the percentage of the lumens, but I like to have very white, bright light in my work area.

12:57 - Lau Lapides (Host) That makes me happy, fascinating, and I like to have, if I can. Of course, for us in New England, weather permitting, I like to have an open door or an open window at all times. Oh, interesting, if I can. I can't always do it, but even in the winter, if it's not horrible out and I have the fireplace on, I have the heat on, I can still have the porch door open, or I can even have a window open to fresh air. There's something about air and wind that the dynamics of that re-energizes me in a certain way.

13:31 - Anne ganguzza (Host) Luckily in California I can do that quite a bit.

13:34 - Lau Lapides (Host) And I like to keep windows open for the cats.

13:36 - Anne ganguzza (Host) It's interesting because when I moved to California, there's a lot of Californians that will just leave their doors open if they're in the house.

13:43 - Lau Lapides (Host) Yeah, I grew up that way too. My neighborhood was that way too, but I don't love bugs and so if a bug happens to fly in.

13:50 - Anne ganguzza (Host) Living in the East Coast, in Mosquito, Aladdin, New Jersey, or humid places where there's a lot of bugs or moths at night. I just no, yeah, of course Cannot have an entryway for bugs to get into the house. Okay.

14:03 - Lau Lapides (Host) I got a good one for you. I got a good one for you, and maybe this is bordering on my OCD, I don't know but I need it neat and organized to a certain degree, where I do the physical cleanup right before I work, and it might be a minute, it might be five minutes, it might be whatever that activity gets me going in the dynamic of doing things.

14:29 - Anne ganguzza (Host) Interesting, so I like to, before you start, have a clean desk. Is that correct? Or one that's not cluttered?

14:36 - Lau Lapides (Host) That's me, I'm not so sure it's about the cleanliness per se. I think it's telling my brain that you're physical, you're active and you're able to accomplish something, even if it's very small and detailed. So cleaning up my papers, neatening my pens and pencils, making sure my monitors are there, making sure my coffee is ready to me, sets a dynamic in the feng shui of my energy that is easier for me to tackle my goals than if everything is all over the place.

15:06 - Anne ganguzza (Host) I have to have a clean sheet of paper because I have my little to-do pad and I still write it down and I know I have lots of lists.

15:11 - Intro (Announcement) Do you have your stickies? I don't have stickies.

15:13 - Anne ganguzza (Host) I don't have stickies but I have like a long to-do pad and that's where I write everything that I need to do, and I do that on the night, like when I'm done with work. I write things to do for the next morning and sometimes, when I sit down, if I do have things that I need to do for the day, I'm writing that down too. But I like to have a fresh, clean sheet of paper.

15:30 - Lau Lapides (Host) That's a generational thing. I do that as well. I think it's our generation. And it's tactile, it's physical. There's a physical thing there you're interacting with, you're writing, you're checking things off. I can barely write anymore.

15:43 - Anne ganguzza (Host) I mean, but you're still doing it, You're not doing it on your computer, right, I'm still doing it. Yeah, I'm still doing it. You're right, I can barely write legibly anymore and I don't even know if they're teaching like— Are they even teaching cursive writing anymore today? They're coming back to it, Annie. They're coming back to it.

16:02 - Lau Lapides (Host) There's something about handwriting.

16:03 - Anne ganguzza (Host) After my mother passed away. There's something so special about seeing her handwriting that brings back so many good memories.

16:10 - Lau Lapides (Host) Oh, I got a tear because it's so—why do we keep the cards, the letters, the notes? Because it's that handwriting for us it really is. You know, I also want to say too and this may seem a little odd, like to go into this, especially when you have other priorities, but I feel like if I can make it through X amount of emails, first thing in my morning number one I'll catch all the time priorities, and then, from the agency perspective, it's like you better catch it, Okay. But beside that, there's a click in me, there's something generated that's very open and very fresh and excited when I can make it through X amount of those and then I can get to the new thing, the next thing, the layered thing, whatever that is. If I have a lot waiting, if I have a lot in the wings that hasn't been done, my brain has a hard time getting into gear fully of what is happening throughout my day.

17:05 - Anne ganguzza (Host) Very interesting. Right, it's interesting You're talking to the girl that has all these unread emails in her mailbox. Some people have to clean their mailbox, right.

17:13 - Lau Lapides (Host) I kind of I guess I have to clean my mailbox because I have to clear my brain in that way so that I can have the appointments or go through the new things or whatever has to happen, and I feel like, even if it's just three or four or 10 or 20, I feel like that's an accomplishment. That's an accomplishment, right? Yeah, absolutely. It may not be the biggest one in our day, but it is one. It is something to celebrate in the day, whatever that means for you, whatever kind of organization that means for you. What about, like do you listen to a TV or music in your day or have that outside entertainment source coming in as you're working?

17:55 - Anne ganguzza (Host) Very rarely do I listen to anything other than my own audio or somebody else's audio during the day, because I need to be focused on it. Every once in a while, though, there is certain music that I can play, and it can only be like ambient music. Right, that can't disrupt my thinking, if I need to focus Like a white noise.

18:16 Well, no, it can be like Sirius XM chill, because chill is very, there's not a ton of dynamics to it and it can just be chill music and so I can listen to that and sometimes I like that. It's therapeutic. But it's very rare that during the day that I listen to anything other than the headphones are on my ears pretty much the whole day, because I'm either working with students or I am recording in the studio or I'm editing audio or I'm editing a demo or whatever that is. I Pretty much have these on and I could put music on, I absolutely could, but I need to make sure that I'm focused on the audio that comes through my ears, which is not always music and not always for enjoyment, but for work-related purposes.

18:59 - Lau Lapides (Host) Gotcha. I have to say I've always loved music.

19:03 - Anne ganguzza (Host) I love music too.

19:03 - Lau Lapides (Host) Well, meaning that I've always had to have music around as I'm functioning throughout the day. And it's funny, my husband is opposite. He never has music on. He almost never has to listen to music. Well, he's a numbers guy, is he not?

19:17 - Anne ganguzza (Host) He's a numbers guy he might need to concentrate on. I'm just thinking that for me it's hard to concentrate with certain types of music. Maybe, maybe.

19:25 - Lau Lapides (Host) Yeah, it just gets in the way of his thought process and his patterning For me. I was a dancer for many years in my younger years and I always had some sort of sound. There was some sort of sound happening that would transport me in a certain way. So I yearn in the day for a transportation of moments where I can daydream or I can concoct a new idea or I can think about something else. Oh, that's lovely. That's an interesting vehicle for me to do it, and I know it is for many people too.

19:55 - Anne ganguzza (Host) Well, when I'm not at my desk, then yes, and I do love music, I mean and music is so important when I'm exercising, for sure.

20:05 I mean, that is so very important that I have music that can help motivate and inspire me while I'm exercising. And it's funny because if I'm doing something like out in my gym, in the garage, which might be like on the pre-core or on the bike, and I'm not following a class and I'm just moving and doing long-term movement, that is where I need to have music. And it's funny because I have lots of playlists that my husband and I, through the years I met my husband he was my spin instructor we've created all these playlists.

20:35 We have hundreds of playlists that are pretty much essentially our favorite music and it's a whole lot of fun. So for that, yes, I do need music to inspire and motivate myself. But then it's funny because when I go to Pilates classes there are some instructors who like music kind of in the background and some of them that find it to be very distracting and really don't want the music on because they want you to concentrate and focus on the muscles of your body and not worry about the music they're playing.

21:03 - Lau Lapides (Host) Do you ever find that you need to step away in the middle of the day and do something completely different? Yes, absolutely Absolutely the day and do something completely different. Yes, absolutely, absolutely. That's a support right there, whether it's exercise or clean, something like do the dishes or make a phone call to a friend that you have to make a contact with, or whatever. Absolutely. I find that's very refreshing. That's a support that I look forward to.

21:26 - Anne ganguzza (Host) I think it's since my transition of working out in the world to working from home and working in my own studio.

21:33 Getting out is one of those things. It's kind of like going out to lunch or running an errand, and I do love the fact that we work for ourselves, that we can schedule those things. In. A lot of times on my off days, when I'm not coaching, I might have a doctor's appointment, or I might have a regular appointment where I go shopping or I pick up stuff at the grocery market and that, to me, is just a nice getting out, breathing the air, going for a walk and getting the mail. That is something that can really help Huge.

22:03 - Lau Lapides (Host) They may sound like small, insignificant tasks, but I really feel like they can not only fulfill my sense of accomplishment, but also recalibrate my whole mind and my body, to relax, to pull out of a situation recalibrate and then come back in more refreshed, more rejuvenated and more balanced right.

22:24 - Anne ganguzza (Host) What can you do? Or what do you do if something at work is frustrating you right Outside of trying to resolve it immediately? What do you do for support?

22:34 - Lau Lapides (Host) Well, of course it depends on what it is. So if I feel like I need outside support of the problem solving, I have my little inner circle that I'll call or email and say hey, I got a situation, what are your thoughts on this? I'd like to get your thoughts and I usually get really quick response of those inner circle of people. It's exhausting because you're going from one session to another, one moment to another, one audition to another, or people are misbehaving, people are misbehaving Any number of things right that you can't really help or do People are misbehaving.

23:04 - Anne ganguzza (Host) I have my circle of friends. You are in that circle a lot and I will like I'll be like texting you.

23:11 - Lau Lapides (Host) I love it. In the middle of the night we'll be like, yeah, let's just talk it out on text, let's just make it happen so that you get to a new place, you get to a new place. I still tend to physically do something because I feel like, kinesthetically, my muscles need to shift out of stress or tension mode into accomplished mode. Even if it's like do the laundry or do the dishes or something simple like that, I do find that helps me a lot. It allows my brain to rest through an activity that I need to do anyway. That's useful anyway, but something that is not taxing.

23:47 - Anne ganguzza (Host) I will say I will. Sometimes. I'll either get off of social media because that might be the source right, or I will go to social media, but it won't be within voiceover. It'll be looking at something in social media that is, other interests of mine Like cooking or something Right, I watch a lot of horse jumping. I watch a lot of cats. Does that surprise you?

24:08 - Intro (Announcement) I watch a lot of cat videos, no, so all those things, it does not. A lot of humor, it does not.

24:19 - Anne ganguzza (Host) A lot of entertainment, music, so that sort of thing. So I will either unplug or plug into the social media. That brings me joy and entertainment versus work stress.

24:25 - Lau Lapides (Host) Exactly To me. They're not only ritualistic disciplines, but they're also support. They're not only ritualistic disciplines, but they're also support. They're comfort and support that we know how to self-medicate in a really positive way. Here's the thing. I don't want to dull out my senses, I don't want to dumb myself down, I don't want to water myself down, so I don't feel it. I just want to give myself a momentary break and then be able to come back to it with a fresh eye and a fresh ear and a fresh thought. I think there's a big difference between the two of like I have to run away from this, I don't want to think about this and I don't ever want to come up against this. Right, you have to be willing to come back.

25:00 - Anne ganguzza (Host) You know it's interesting. I'm trying to think like I've never really tried to run away from things because for me, the sooner I can resolve them, I think the better.

25:10 - Lau Lapides (Host) I feel and for me.

25:12 - Anne ganguzza (Host) I really am trying not to run away from things, and I don't know if that's a personality thing or if that's something I don't know. Bosses what do you think I mean? Being bosses of our own business? Sometimes we can't run away and we have to face issues and try our best to resolve them, and these emotional support mechanisms, or support mechanisms that Law and I have been talking about, may be something that can help us to ease our minds, ease our emotional psyche, so that we can come back better, stronger and resolve them, so that we can move forward in our businesses.

25:48 - Lau Lapides (Host) I love that and it's so interesting how we do this unconsciously until we really recognize. It takes time to recognize. What am I doing, what am I actively doing to either soothe myself, help myself, whatever, and what am I doing? That's not helping, that's counterproductive, right? And really being honest about that, like being aware, having a self-awareness about that yeah, absolutely Even just like writing it down or taping yourself or having someone report back if they're seeing you doing certain activities or doing certain things, I think it's really important to document that and figure out what's working for you as a business.

26:28 - Anne ganguzza (Host) Absolutely so. Yeah, I mean it's been a fun episode. I mean talking about our little emotional support mechanisms and bosses out there, as you said, it may seem like, oh, it seems like just well, this is what we do every day, but in reality, they do a lot to help us to move ourselves forward in our businesses. And so, bosses, what do you do, Right? What do you do to help get yourself through the day? What are your rituals? What things do you need? We'd love to hear from you.

26:55 - Lau Lapides (Host) Absolutely and really claim them, really own them and really be proud of them. You want to make sure that you're able to talk about them and be proud of them and not hide them away.

27:05 - Anne ganguzza (Host) Cool episode Law. Very cool, Very cool. I'm going to give a great big shout out to our sponsor, IPDTL. You too can connect and network like bosses. Find out more at IPDTLcom. Bosses, have an amazing week and let's hear from you guys. We'll see you next week. Bye.

27:23 - Intro (Announcement) See you next time. Bye, join us next week for another edition of VO Boss with your host, anne Ganguza, and take your business to the next level. Sign up for our mailing list at vobosscom and receive exclusive content, industry revolutionizing tips and strategies and new ways to rock your business like a boss. Redistribution, with permission. Coast-to-coast connectivity via IPDTL. Via IPDTL.

27:52 - Anne ganguzza (Host) Hey, hey everyone, welcome to the VO Boss Podcast and the boss. Did I say podcast? I didn't say podcast. Take two, take two.