We’re hosting a weekly Instagram Live series called “When I Grow Up”. The goal is to have casual conversations with other entrepreneurs around those big dreams, and what we’re all doing to actively pursue them.

Annika Robbins of Whitsett & Laurel

Full time employee DubsadoPart-time entrepreneur @actionplanhq

Her genius is in systems and processes to cultivate design thinking, creative brainstorming, + sprint work.

She talks through easy steps to organize a project, and a few key tools you can start using ASAP!

Annika Robbins 0:36
How are you?

Stephanie Tusler 0:39
I’m good. This is so much fun. Are you in the middle of your workday right now?

Annika Robbins 0:42
I am. I’m on my lunch break.

Stephanie Tusler 0:44
Oh my gosh, this is great. Okay, well keep it concise and exciting. I’m actually just pulling up my notes quick. So I’m excited to dive in. Do you want to just give us a little bit of your title? What you’re working on right now.

Annika Robbins 1:00
Yeah, absolutely. So during the week I work at dubsado. Dubsado is a business management tool for creative entrepreneurs. You use dubsado don’t you?

Stephanie Tusler 1:12
I do. I’m actually in it right now. Multitasking.

Annika Robbins 1:17
Yeah, definitely. Yeah. So that’s what I do during the week. I’m on the Education team. So I’m helping with a lot of resources, trying to get users up to speed on how to use everything inside the platform, set it up just for their business. And then on weekends, I’m just about to relaunch my business Whitsett & Laurel as a side hustle. Where I will still be working with small business owners, but I’ll focus on kind of a broader strategy with systems and process.

Stephanie Tusler 1:49
Which is guys it’s amazing, if you go to her site. She gave me some like really expensive content for free and it like the things that she could do to organize the back end of your business, it’s insane. And it makes sense so much that you work at dubsado. Because obviously, this is your genius.

Annika Robbins 2:07
Yeah, it’s been a really, it’s been a really good fit. I’m so grateful

Stephanie Tusler 2:11
For real well, so, you know, my, my series question, it’s all about what, when I grow up. those big dreams that we’ve all had, and I’m gonna keep tailoring and kind of figuring this out as I go, but I’m just loving having conversations with other awesome entrepreneurs and just kind of dive into those big dreams and what we’re all doing to achieve them and also if it’s hard and what, what those obstacles are, because I learn so much from hearing other people’s processes and journeys. I don’t know about you. It’s like so much fun.

Annika Robbins 2:44
Yeah, definitely.

Stephanie Tusler 2:46
Oh, so just a weird being live by I did it this way, because we could jump on a zoom and then I edit and we make it all beautiful, but it’s more fun when it’s just like, hey, everyone’s on their lunch break, or they’re procrastinating something, come hang out with us. And we can talk about all things startup, entrepreneur, career anything.

Annika Robbins 3:07
Yeah, I like it.

Stephanie Tusler 3:08
So did you have a What do you want to like? Oh, when I grew up dream when you were little?

Annika Robbins 3:13
Yes, I’m sure I had plenty. But the first one that I can remember as I wanted to be an author, I had it in my head that I would be the youngest published author I ever looked up like what that actually would have been at the time. I probably moved on to something else. But yeah, that was the first the first tangible thing that I wanted to shoot for

Stephanie Tusler 3:36
That is so cool. Did you take steps in that direction? like did you start doing classes or I don’t know how young you were. But journaling?

Annika Robbins 3:46
Yeah, it’s definitely like elementary school. So I remember starting a project and recruiting my friend to illustrate it. I think it was about magic jelly beans. Something like that.

I don’t know that I wrote anything after that, too. So.

Stephanie Tusler 4:04
So I’m thinking about this, as I’m talking to all of you guys about when I grew up dreams, did anybody in your life tell you that you were good at blank? So you should be blank? Like, did anyone say hey, you’re a great writer, you would be so good at this. Like, was that ever a nurture thing?

Annika Robbins 4:23
You know, I think it probably came from a school project, we probably had homework where we had to write something. And there was one assignment where there were a couple extra pages at the back where your classmates would go and like give you feedback. And I think I probably just went with that. I was like, wow, I got some compliments here. I think this is it for me. I’m going to go with it.

Stephanie Tusler 4:45
That’s so cool.

Annika Robbins 4:47
With also some self awareness at the time that it was a comfortable like medium to communicate. I could express myself through writing and not necessarily like answering or talking in front of a class or speaking to someone one on one, but I could go away and figure out what I wanted to say. And be, you know, be like very nitpicky and a perfectionist in that way too. I’m sure that all appealed.

Stephanie Tusler 5:13
That’s so cool. Okay, this is a side note and we’re not going in order of what I’m thinking of running through but have you ever taken the enneagram test?

Annika Robbins 5:22
Yes. Could you guess my enneagram?

Stephanie Tusler 5:25
I’m kind of wondering as you’re talking but I can’t, I don’t know. I can’t pinpoint you. You’re like one of the there’s like three in my mind that you would be. What are you?

Annika Robbins 5:35
Oh, interesting. I’ve kind of bounced around as well. But right now I feel really comfortable saying I’m a one with a nine wing.

Stephanie Tusler 5:45
Cool my husbands a nine. So for those of you watching, the enneagram is basically it like a Myers Briggs personality test that is very actionable, and it helps you kind of understand where you may lean in strengths and weaknesses and I don’t know if I’m summarizing this correct but where are you leaning in strengths and weaknesses and then how you can better relate to those around you. So if you know where they kind of are, their personality type is, you can work better with a co worker or relate to your friends or family. It’s really interesting if you want to dive into that kind of stuff, obviously Annika and I are so in. I’m a three I just found out.

Annika Robbins 6:26
Really? Recently?

Stephanie Tusler 6:26
Yeah, I had originally taken it like early last year. And I came out as a two and I just everything I read I was like yeah, totally, but not really like it was kind of there but not really. So a friend who’s like super into it said I’m pretty positive you’re a three and she was explaining stuff and I’m like, Yes, yes, yes. yes, yes. With a wing four. So what that means is, I lean towards like the romantic creative side. Um, but the the three is called the achiever and what was yours called? The one is called a perfectionist?

Annika Robbins 7:02
Correct. Perfectionist is also known as the reformer

Stephanie Tusler 7:05
Reformer. Yes. Okay, cool.

Annika Robbins 7:07
When I first found out about enneagram, and I read through all the nicknames, perfectionist, just like really I had an aversion to as like, I do not want to be a one.

Yeah, that can help you kind of pinpoint what is really the right fit. Yeah, so I have such a strong reaction to it at first. And it’s like, it’s because it’s true. I’m really a perfectionist. But reformer also is a good fit for me too, because I always have a draft mentality. Like I like to do a rough draft and then tweak it and pick at it and come back to it. And just work in layers that way to find maybe even comes back to being an author to having the chance to revise, revise, revise, and not just like one shot to give a speech.

Stephanie Tusler 7:57
Yeah. And also it makes so much for what area you’ve decided to create a company and then all the companies you’ve worked with, in regards to like your, who you are and your strengths. Not that it’s a box that we all fit into. But it’s it’s very interesting to kind of see somebody else tell you about yourself, and it makes so much sense. That’s how I would explain the enneagram.

Annika Robbins 8:18
Yeah, I agree. It’s been really, really helpful for me.

Stephanie Tusler 8:22
So what is your current? When I grew up dream, like for your job or your career, your new company, I’m thinking that’s where you’ll lean or your life, whatever. What is that? And then how are you getting there? Or if you are there, what did you take to get there? Because I want this to be helpful for people. whether they’ve been doing the same thing for 25 years, or they’re young, fresh out of college thinking about different avenues. So if we can talk through our things, maybe a spark moment can happen to other people watching.

Annika Robbins 8:55
Yeah, I love that. I am definitely not there yet. It is So my whole career has been a journey. Mm hmm. Um, I think right now, it definitely involves something with innovation and problem solving, also fitting nicely into what we were also already chatting about. Yeah, um, the idea of taking like a big challenge, and kind of analyzing it, unpacking it, making it bite size, translating it into different smaller ideas that are easier to understand or move around.

All of that really appeals to me right now. And it’s been a great fit at dubsado as well. Being on the Education team trying to figure out how best to communicate to users who don’t have a ton of time to learn a new platform, right? And of course, it’s important you want to get it right. Um, but but but not everybody can stop and invest 10 hours, 20 hours, not So trying to unpack this. And we’ve talked about this a lot on my team too. It’s kind of a web like system or topic. And trying to figure out how to explain that in a linear way or at the right level that makes sense to someone as well. As an ongoing challenge.

I think it always will be as the platform continues to grow and develop. So that’s I so so I’ve been looking more into different like strategies and ways to attack something like that. Yeah. And what I love about it so much is it feels really future proofed. And that’s a buzzword that stood out to me a few years ago, when I was in a totally different job. I was actually working at one of the movie studios.

Stephanie Tusler 10:46
I think we met at that time, right? Yes that’s how we met.

Annika Robbins 10:50
Uh huh. It was just right after that. I was in a department that worked on physical packaging for DVDs, which is an industry that is not going to be around forever. Crazy, right?

Yeah, so definitely that idea at the time of what is future proof? What is a future proof career? What are the skills and like ingredients of it that you can take from place to place growing along the way, though there’s definitely something to this mentality of this problem solving kind of mentality that I think applies and all kinds of different industries and situations. Yeah, that’s the thread I’m following.

Stephanie Tusler 11:30
That is so layered. And if anyone can figure it out, it’s you. So then, how does Whitsett and Laurel play into this kind of thread that you’re on?

Annika Robbins 11:41
Yeah. So I’ll be doing Whitsett and Laurel work on weekends. So what I’m developing is a workshop or an intensive that uses a couple different exercises that come from this innovation world. Some from design sprints, and some From IDEO, and some friends, this is going to be one of my resources for later.

Stephanie Tusler 12:04
Okay, getting an inside look everybody.

Annika Robbins 12:08
Exactly, yeah, there are lots of different people and institutions who are thinking about this as well. So for Whitsett and Laurel I had been trying to figure out how to harness those, and a really quick express way, so that business owners can come up with a strategy for the systems and process that makes sense for them. Have your action plan and know how to move forward.

Stephanie Tusler 12:31
Um, hold allergies. I never have had allergies in my life, guys, I’m for sure just crying over here. It’s just so beautiful. I’m like so this will be like my, the the photo for the live just to get people to put post, it’s like emotional. So ignore that, I’m not crying everybody.

So as you’re working through this web, as you’re building these workshops, what are you finding? Like, are you having any aha moments of (this is on the spot), but of I don’t know, there’s a jumbled mess of things that you’re trying to collaborate into one linear line like you talked about with dubsado. And then also your side hustle that you’re building the workshops.

Have you found some easy ways to break apart a massive task into like bite sized pieces, because I think everybody no matter who you are, has issues with that at one point or another. Like you suddenly get something down, and then you’re totally under the weeds again.

Annika Robbins 13:38
Yeah, well, and that’s built right into being an entrepreneur. Yeah, it’s meant to be really fast and easy to pivot. You have to, even just with you know, reels coming out on Instagram recently, like here we go.

Stephanie Tusler 13:53
I’m testing some like corny ones on my personal Instagram just to kind of mess with it. And it’s all of my son. He’s one years old and and so it’s all just like, oh, he got a haircut and I have no idea what I’m doing. But I figured I could test it with my, the people that actually like me and then throw it up here when I’m ready to like, go live.

Annika Robbins 14:13
I’m ready for it.

Um, yeah, so absolutely, there is a universal kind of framework that can apply in lots of different situations, which is the great news. And it’s, it’s come in handy a couple of times at work to with a couple things we’re working on internally, one big thing and how do you digest it really.

So I would say I’m blocking out time upfront to think about it specifically is super helpful. It also makes it easier for you to set some boundaries. Like, this is the period and this is the length of time that I’ve done a research and then I’m going to commit to it. Move forward. That’s huge to not be just, you know, going with the wind.

And one exercise that I love so much as part of that is it’s just about like brain dumping all of your questions. You kind of like you think about it, you set a goal. And then you set a five minute timer and you try to write out as many questions as you can think of about that goal or statement. Yeah. But you’re meant to not edit it, you’re going for volume. So it’s just totally unfiltered. You put it all down, like the timer goes off so much faster than you would imagine.

And then when you go through, and especially if you’re doing this as part of a group, like it gives you this really cool insight into the way that other people think and these other like corners, but it comes it all comes to the front really quickly. Instead of discovering it and running into a lot of these things over the next couple of weeks. You have so much more of an overview before you even start and you’re taking that into consideration as you make the best game plan that you can make that day.

Stephanie Tusler 16:05
Yeah, that’s amazing. So do you do this in a team setting?

Annika Robbins 16:08
I have. Yeah.

Stephanie Tusler 16:10
Here’s my handy dandy timer. Like, have you guys seen these? I don’t know where I got it from something on Amazon. But it’s got 5, 15, 30 and 60 minutes. So depending on how in depth of a client you are, you either get a five minute brainstorm haha! But I kind of time batch my day in the same way. Yeah. But I’ve never done it with other people on it like that. It’s genius. Hey, we have this major project, five minutes brainstorm. I used to do that in design all the time. That’s so cool. It just like a, what do we call it, a mind map? We throw everything out there and then organize.

Annika Robbins 16:46
Yeah, yeah. And it’s been such a lovely experience every time and I was not a fan of group projects. Probably because they were unstructured. But this brings a lot of really intelligent structure to allow for the best ideas to come forward and the individual way that people think to, it’s been it’s really come together nicely every time I’ve had the opportunity.

Stephanie Tusler 17:10
That is so cool. I’m loving this so much. Um, so we know what you’re working on. What are some other? This is the like three to five tools, thoughts, ideas, it doesn’t have to do specifically to your role and your career and what you’re working on. But are you Is there anything interesting we should all kind of look at? Last week it was lunch club, that networking community if you’ve heard of it?

Annika Robbins 17:34
I had not heard of it. So I’m looking into it now. Yeah, it sounds really great.

Stephanie Tusler 17:37
And then OHLAY but I’m like, this is the kind of stuff we all need, because we can’t hang out with each other in person as much as we used to. And all of the networking circles are now digital, and it’s hard to find time if your work days is packed as yours. So what do you have for us? Give us some good stuff.

Annika Robbins 17:52
Well, so I just like I showed before I’m loving this book. I’m only halfway through it.

Stephanie Tusler 17:58
What is it called?

Annika Robbins 18:00
It’s called the workshop playbook. Love this. And it’s written by the owner of a company called AJ and smart. So they develop a lot of these brainstorming exercises, there’s one called the lightning decision jam

Stephanie Tusler 18:14
Ooh, that’s what we all need.

Annika Robbins 18:17
That can be really helpful, it goes on as a one on one problem solving tool, or if it’s just yourself, I mean, or if you’re working with a group, and you really quickly just want to like come to a decision and direction. That’s really helpful exercise. I also have been enjoying this podcast. It’s called Overtime. And hosted by Meg Lewis. Have you heard of it?

Stephanie Tusler 18:40
No, I actually have not. How have I not? What is it about?

Annika Robbins 18:44
Yeah, it’s about design. So she does a podcast. I think it’s every week and she’ll pick a couple of things going on in the design world and just share her thoughts on it. She’s a designer as well. So she also gives insight into her own career and something that she was sharing recently is, whenever she like kind of picks a direction of something she’d like to do, but she’s not getting paid to do it yet, she figures out a way to demonstrate that she does have that skill. And it’s always with the goal of eventually having it be an additional revenue stream.

But she talks about that a lot, which is interesting, too. And she’s just, she’s quirky and funny and succinct at the same time. I’m really yeah, I’m really enjoying that podcast.

Stephanie Tusler 19:29
Okay, that is amazing. I’m excited. It’s so funny. I just had a call where that was the thing they were having, they wanted to go on an avenue and put a ton of effort towards it, but they didn’t have anything to show for it. So yeah, showcase the, demonstrate that you can do it, get a test client on. That’s awesome. I’ll be your test client for Whitsett and Laurel, come organize my systems.

Annika Robbins 19:55
I would love that!

Stephanie Tusler 19:55
For real I like that. I just love getting to know about other people’s expertise and spreading that, to everybody.

Annika Robbins 20:07
Yeah, that’s really what we’re all in the business of.

Stephanie Tusler 20:10
Yeah for real. Um, cool. Anything else? That’s interesting that you’re finding to help the year of 2020?

Annika Robbins 20:20
Yes. One more is. It’s an app actually. It’s a brainstorming tool. It’s called Miro. It comes with a lot of Mind Mapping templates. And I haven’t gotten into this yet but I plan to, it looks like it also has video conferencing and a timer. So you can do other collaboration exercises while you’re working in that tool.

Stephanie Tusler 20:50
That’s amazing. Yeah, I love this so much. Annika, this has been so much fun. Look 12:21 pm! I’m like, let’s have some five minute convo’s, super casual, and once you dive in, it’s hard to stop. It’s just so good.

Annika Robbins 21:05
Yeah. Thank you so much. This has been really great, it’s my first live.

Stephanie Tusler 21:09
I know it’s kind of weird, right? Yeah, yeah, it’s fun. They get easier and it’s it keeps it casual. I mean, I’ve been crying this whole time. So that’s fun. But I’m excited. Let’s have you back on when Whitsett and Laurel is launched and we can dive into some of that.

Annika Robbins 21:25
Yeah, I would love that.

Stephanie Tusler 21:27
Okay, thank you is great connecting. Thank you.

Annika Robbins 21:30
Take care. Bye