Suzy Batiz of Poo-Pourri leads a dynamic session on using resonance to power yourself and your business during the Women of Innovation series at Dallas Startup Week.
I had the pleasure of hearing Suzy Batiz, founder of Poo-Pourri, speak today at Dallas Startup Week. During her talk titled “Rich as Sh**!” Suzy shared the philosophy that has guided her toward success and away from the struggles she had in her earlier life. By the age of 38, she had experienced her second bankruptcy and described how she felt, “I was exhausted and depleted. I was essentially not just bankrupt financially. I felt it in my whole body, life and being.”
So, how did she get there? Interestingly, Suzy says that she ended up there by listening to others and thinking that she needed to do what made sense on paper. She didn’t listen to her intuition or develop businesses in which she had a passion. Following this second bankruptcy, she realized that she couldn’t do it anymore. She wasn’t going to live her life struggling, pushing through and making it work simply because she thought she had to. It ultimately took Suzy four years to reset herself and to find a new way forward.
She discovered happiness after realizing that it wasn’t something that you could look for outside of yourself. She got comfortable with listening to her intuition and her body such that when she had the idea for Poo-Pourri, she says that she felt a zing and got goose bumps. You see, aromatherapy was a hobby of hers and something that she was truly passionate about.
Suzy’s ideology centers around the belief that ideas are alive. Passion for the Poo-Pourri idea was something she felt physically, because Suzy believes in alive ideas. She says that because everything is an energetic vibration, ideas are something that are actually alive too. And when you have resonance with an idea like Suzy did with the idea for Poo-Pourri, you can have a physical reaction to it. Suzy says that when you are resonant with an idea, you feel alive and know that you can amplify and build on the idea. Resonant, alive ideas are the ones that won’t leave you alone. They keep coming back to you and growing stronger.
Suzy’s theory of ‘alive ideas’ is actually very applicable to marketing strategy. A powerful, insightful idea is what forms the foundation of a compelling marketing strategy. You can look at data, psychographics, trends etc. to identify the insights. But the best breakthrough ideas that will fundamentally drive growth and revenue for your brand? They are typically the ones that defy conventional wisdom. They are the ones that make everyone think differently about a product, a service or even a category.
In marketing, we typically call it an ‘aha moment.’ When you land on the right string of words to describe what sets a brand apart, you feel it in your bones. The euphoria is contagious. Everyone on the team feels it too and works to bring the idea further to life and to make it even stronger. That’s when you know that you’ve found it – the alive idea that defines a company’s purpose. Suzy has that with Poo-Pourri. Their brand messaging is true to their purpose and is consistent in everything they do from their packaging and signage to their hilarious viral videos.
Poo-Pourri’s consistent branding was present in the restrooms at the Women of Innovation series at Dallas Startup Week.
So, learn to trust your intuition and to think unconventionally if you want to have a breakthrough brand. Use the guiding power of resonance and dissonance to guide your decision-making. As Suzy says, “Your resonance radar will tell you which direction to go. And if you feel like you’re in struggle, then it’s time to move on. But remember, as long as you’re growing, learning and having fun, that’s all that matters.”
