Read the 5-minute summary for this episode and many others at owl.ceo. The OWL (Owner Wisdom Library) turns insights from more than 1,200 Exit Coach Radio interviews into short, practical lessons for business owners on growth, leadership, operations, and exit planning.
With a 10-year radio career overlapping 20 years in business consulting, marketing, and branding, Lisa Caprelli strategically uses content and message branding to grow companies. Known for inspiring business leaders to be innovative, she has helped businesses grow, including Fortune 500 companies. Her media career has included The Business Experience Show, The Free Money Hour, and other programs on stations like 97.1 FM, KFWB, KNX 1070, KFMB, and KABC, as well as real estate finance and motivational books.
Be sure and pick up a copy of her book "Color Your Message" on Amazon!
Exit Coach Bill Black interviews Top Advisors for Tips, Ideas & Precautions for Business Owners who want to grow and protect their company value and plan for a successful Business Sale or Transfer. Listen daily so you can be well-planned!
Curators1
People who have contributed edits to this page.
Oct 2026
Zolid AI
+0/−0
Published
May 8, 2022 Men, if you're ready to reclaim your edge, listen up. I used to be held back by constant bathroom trips with multiple wake-ups during my sleep and looking for restrooms whenever I was out. Then I discovered better man. After just two months, I started experiencing fewer trips to the bathroom, less urge to go, and I even slept through some nights. I feel a noticeable boost to my overall well-being, even sexual stamina. It gives me the Freedom and confidence to live life on my terms. Betterman is clinically tested and trusted by thousands of men over 25 years. Ready to take back control? Go to Bebetternow.com to order your supply today. That's Bebetternow.com. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Use as directed. Individual results may vary. Hi everyone, it's Bill Black, the exit coach from the Exit Coach Radio show. You know, one of the biggest questions. Get on the show is what exactly goes into a business exit plan and when should I start creating mine. Well, I always tell people that the best time to start was 5 years ago, but the next best time is now because you never know when you might need it. So we put together a free report that describes what an exit plan is and what you should know. You can get it free by texting exit plan with no spaces to 44222. That's exit plan to 44222. Again, text exit plan to 44222. Welcome to the Exit Coach Radio show, the show for baby boomer business owners who are looking for cutting edge information as they plan their 3 to 10 year business succession and exit. Every week we interview top professional advisors. Their best tips, strategies, and precautions so you can be well planned. And don't miss our one minute exit coach tip of the day on exitcoachradio.com. And now here's your host, the exit coach Bill Black. Well, hello everyone. Thanks so much for joining us today. It's always a pleasure to have you with us. We bring you great ideas from top advisers, and today is no different. I am pleased to introduce our next guest coming up as Lisa Carelli from Huntington Beach, California, and she is going to talk about uh what color is your message. So let's get right into that. Lisa, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for joining me today. Hi, thank you so much for having me. Well, it's my pleasure. I I I'm looking forward to this because I don't know what color my message is, and I want to find out all about that before we get into that, hey, do us a favor and tell us a little bit about you and your background and how you got into this line of work. Yes, thank you, Bill. Um, so, um, I'm trying to make it quick. Um, I'm originally from Texas, born and raised. I've lived in Southern California for 17 years. Um, I built my life pretty much, uh, working my way up in the different industries and businesses I worked for even as young as, you know, age 17. Um, I always, at a young age, treated each business as if it were my own and started learning every department I could. And one of the areas that I took off with at an early age was technology, understanding computers, then comes the internet and how it works. And marketing and growing businesses. I moved here at age 30. I started my own business and used all the tools I did previous to that in building business, understanding messaging, marketing, and it was a success. It was a mortgage and real estate company and back then we did a lot of radio advertising which to date video, the part of social media is so much cheaper. So, um, people started coming to me, um, after building that business and I had a history of, um, understanding branding and marketing, help wanting help, you know, and, and what, what, what took way to that was the technology and, you know, it's, we are moving at a fast pace even today as we know, there's just so many things that we just can't keep up with as business owners. And so I've kept best practices with myself and my team, and what I found um as we get older and people who have been in business 20, 30+ years, sometimes they're on their second business, their third business, and there's a saying that I often preach that says your success makes you blind to new ways of thinking. So think about that. Your success makes you blind to new ways of thinking. And so what I found is the experienced business owner often will say, I'm actually a business dinosaur. I don't understand all of these things. In around 2009 2010, when social media started becoming prevalent, I, I wrote the book Color Your Message because I find that if you don't explain to someone why they need something, they're not gonna make the change. And so what some of my early talks, uh, Bill, were about how did you change? What made you change? And it had nothing to Do with marketing and so I started realizing that the experienced business people need to understand where they are at and in using the colors I came up with the term color your message. In other words, if I gave you a box of crayons. And I want to only in one hand hold black and white and on the other hand hold all the colors, one being Facebook, one being LinkedIn, a color being social media, uh, your website, YouTube, blogging, all these things that make your business work, you will, then you realize you need all the color in your life, especially in your business life. And if you just hold on to the black and white, the, you know, the Yellow pages of old advertising of even um bulk mailing, you know, which again some businesses it works for, but it's really to open up people's minds to realize that they need to partake in today's technology and innovation to stay ahead of the game. If not, the 25 year old out of college that knows how to use and play with these colors is going to get found on the internet and so. I have a passion for working with experienced business owners because I want their experience to be found. I want to know when I Google some keywords and just say it's, you know, medicine or it's some kind of need I need something for my household or something to better my life that the experienced business owner's going to get found. But if I don't find you and I find the 25-year-old out of college and call him, guess who's going to get the work. Yeah, that makes, that makes perfect sense. So for most people, I, you know, and we talk a lot in a group called Provisors here in Southern California, which is huge, a huge network for professional advisers, and the demographics in that group tend to skew a little older, and I've talked to a lot of those people and they say, You know what I miss? I missed the good old days when it was easy to market, you know, the yellow pages I got. I understood that you just got a bigger ad if you wanted more business. And now we have not only, you know, then, then of course social media came along and it wasn't just one channel you had to worry about, it's multiple. Channels that you have to worry about. So I love your, I love your description of the the crayons and the different colors of those messages, and I think it goes deeper than that, right, to where you have to figure out who you're trying to reach, what platform they're on, and what and how they want to receive your message best, right? Absolutely, you said it perfectly. And I have to say it's really an exciting time when people say, oh, I missed the good old days. Well, I kind of say to that, you know, remember Blockbuster, it was on almost every corner and then Netflix came along, thanks to technology, just started with a small group of people and I often say, what would have happened if Blockbuster would have said, hey, let's see what these guys at Netflix are doing and be part of that game per se. And so who doesn't like that we can watch um streamlined videos today, you know, movies. So we have to stay innovative, we have to grow or we are going to become obsolete, and it's an exciting time that today as a subject matter expert, uh, that you can create training and what's called modules and online information to not only teach one person or 5 or 10 but thousands or even millions of people. So you just have to understand a different way. And if you don't know how to do it, you hire somebody to do it for you. That's why people hire us when they say, well, I don't have time to do social media. I'm like, well, you're not supposed to do it. I'm, I'm not a chiropractor. It's like me saying, I don't have time to, you know, learn how, how to, to get the benefits of a, of a chiropractor. I'm supposed to go to a chiropractor. As an expert, like with what you do, we're supposed to hire you. We're not to take all our time to learn it. So stay the expert in your field, remain innovative and learn how to adapt and hire a right team to help you partake in best practices in 2018 and beyond. And so that's the exciting time. I'll tell you, Bill, in my book Ca your Message, one of the chapters I talk about is video, and I say in there the power of creating video and going on YouTube, I, I'm seeing more. More just where I live, I was in Huntington Beach yesterday and just during the day walking around, I found 22 sets of groups recording video for a YouTube channel. And again, you know, besides hiring the crew, you can do that pretty much for virtually free. Back in the early 2000s in the day when I spent millions of dollars on radio for my businesses and for other people's businesses, um, today you can do a video for. Hundreds of dollars. So it's an exciting time. And if I had a time machine, I could go back into the early 2000s using the power of new social media, video, YouTube, the profits would have been uh gigantic compared to what we had to pay back then. And essentially anyone can start a business today. You need It's a website. You need to understand the tools, so it's an exciting time to be in business. It's an even more exciting time if you are a business experience owner to to really say I need to learn, I need to change, I need to hire someone that can help me because I'm the subject matter expert. And there's nothing, there's experience cannot replace someone who isn't the 25 year old out of college. I'm not saying that they're not better, but it's the same for me. I've been doing this for 24 years now, and I find that I have to also keep learning, otherwise I'm gonna be obsolete. Adapt or die. People have been saying that for years and the blockbuster comment was a great example of that. Um, let's talk about a little bit about from your experience, why do businesses not remain as relevant today as they should be? I think a lot of times many reasons, um, it could be they get stagnant, they get comfortable. It's hard, you know, it's hard to change as people get older. Uh, it's, you know, sometimes, um, I had a question once asked me, and it was like a 60 year old businessman, and he said, well, what, what, why do you think people won't change? And then my answer was, well, I guess, sir, you haven't experienced enough struggle to make you change. If, if, if you have a thriving business and you have the right people in place, obviously your business is gonna stay innovative and thrive year after year. But um, you know, there's psychology to even when your business is doing well, you still have to worry because again with the Blockbuster Netflix example, someone else can always come in, look at Uber. Uber replaced taxis. Somebody had this idea to become innovative and to do something in a bigger, broader way that serves in millions of people. So if someone doesn't want to change, I, I really think that they, they just, it's because they're stagnant, they're comfortable, and if, if what they're doing is working and paying their bills and, and giving them an ultimate exit plan like it's something that you, you thrive on, then, then don't change, but I really find it hard to believe that in almost any industry because I work with all kinds of industries. That you can stay stagnant and succeed. Well, it, that's great advice, you know, and here's here's part of the problem I think for people over age 50, which are a lot of the listeners of this show, Lisa, but all all ages listen to this. But part of the problem is this it's not that that change is afoot, it's the pace of change and it's the the the concern that, you know, I, I don't, I only have so much to spend on market. and advertising and changing my messages up. How do I know what's what's a good technology to use and what's next? I mean, I think that's the key is the the demographics have shifted like Facebook was started for for college students and now it's, it's older, older people on the demographic for Facebook, right? Correct. Right. Uh, you're right, the pace of business has, has changed. And what next is to hire, hire somebody, um, who is an industry expert to teach them first, and that's one of the reasons why I do, I started doing webinars. It's teaching is, is I have a webinar called What Colors Your Message, and I explained everything I'm talking about and, and I, I explained it in the fifth grade level in a way, uh, because I've also become an expert and sometimes when you're an expert, you forget how to dumb it down per se, for lack of better words. Uh, so I find that if you start learning, and, and what I find when people start learning like how to do their own LinkedIn and, and website, if they, if some people want to do their own website, I don't know why they would want to do that. But when they understand, I get it now and I get that all these pieces of my marketing need to have best practices and how if I have a sales team. That we all need to be on the same page. Like there's sales teams that are using antiquated PowerPoints and passing around PDFs instead of using one link that can be instantly changed at the click of a button. And so you think of that time, how much time is that costing that company who's who's who's letting this happen, these old practices which I see all the time, by the way. I've seen it happen in multi-million dollar companies. I've seen it happen in a billion dollar company, so it behooves the owner and the CEOs to hire an expert to go in and really look, take a look at what are the best practices today. Are they, are they efficient and oftentimes they are not. Uh, technology, as I keep saying, is growing at a rapid pace. And I, I really feel that businesses need to invest some time into technology, into best practices. It, it could be what's the cost to them if they're out of business? As a professional, uh, what do you do to keep on top of the trends and changes that are happening? Great question. Well, I, I stay impressed by reading and, and doing and understanding and, and using the tools myself. I, there's, there's, you know, I'll stop and do an Instagram post for myself or a client. Um, I study, I, I mean, it's, it's my life. Um, I also have a young, uh, people that work with me. I have millennials and they're teaching. Me when Instagram changes its algorithm. Lisa, we got to show you this. And rather than me going, oh God, another thing I have to learn, I'm like, OK, how exciting. I need to learn this, or because time is, is, is, is the essence for all of us, I'll say you're going to stay an expert in Google AdWords. I'm gonna stay an expert here in writing and consulting and business development and it's really, it's really uh growing with the team. Uh, there's no way I could possi Myself, I, I rely on my team and I rely on, on people to do what they do best and it's the same for a company. They have a team, they have departments, and they rely on these team leaders to do what they do best. And, and to come together and to, to let different people in your organization lead in the expertise and if you are a small organization or more like a solounne um to really rely on, on, on someone as as your creative partner creative business development or more. a person um and check in with them and and to stay abreast, but I, I constantly just keep up with best practices, go to, um, so yesterday I went to a provisor's IT group meeting and always staying in that, you know, I'd like to say I like speaking geek. So staying uh in touch with that. I, I like, I like being around geeks. I get really excited. OK, well, so, uh, let's talk about uh one other question I have for you, and that is what is one important trait that most successful people have in your experience? Thank you. Um, I think in interviewing hundreds of people, I'm doing a book called Skip a Step right now, and I've, I've had the privilege of interviewing great people, billionaire, um, great, uh, 6 time New York bestselling author, Michael Gerber even, and, um, I often find that their vision. Creating their vision and executing their vision was what made them succeed, made them adapt. The vision again when someone had the idea for Uber, the vision when people have the idea, there's Linda.com, L I N D A.com. She was a professor that had a vision to create videos in the masses to teach people what she was already teaching, and she bought and sold that company to LinkedIn years ago for over a billion dollars. I, I believe at least a billion dollars. So without that vision and, and taking the, the risk on, on what you know how to create, uh, again, so my answer would be, um, having that vision and, and I love doing that with people when they share with me their vision, but they don't know how to get from A to Z. is helping them connect the dots and say no we're going to, I'm going to hold your hand. I'm going to make you accountable. We're going to create what you want to create because there's so many business experts out there that have the creativity and vision and they need an accountability partner. Lisa, we've got about 2 minutes left, and in that time I'd love for you to tell me more about your book. A which is called Color your Message and available on Amazon. Tell us a little bit about the book, what's in it, and who should buy it. Thank you. It's a great book, uh, Color your Message. It's on Kindle and Amazon, and it was, um, I used my marketing practices to also take it to number one, years ago. Um, I since updated it because there's many things that have changed. Um, I talk about, uh, one popular chapter is never went out of messages. I give 27 social media ideas. That you can give out every single day. I talk about the Pew Research and the America's aging pyramid and where we're at today compared to where we used to be and where we're going to go and why it's so important for you as a business owner to convey your message across different aging demographics to get more business. So it's available on Amazon and it's also on Kindle as well, right? Yeah, yeah, if you just type in color your message, it comes right up and um it's an easy read. I often, um, I have many great reviews on there um thankfully, uh, again, my audience was to, to the purpose of this book was for the reader to continue doing what they love to do what they love in their business. And getting the right message out and uh it's, it's really helped a lot of people and uh I, I enjoy, you know, helping people who created business and having that purpose in mind to begin with because that's what one of the main reasons we, we become an entrepreneur and we grow our business is because we had an Yeah we had a problem to solve and again today because technology is moving very fast I I want to make sure that I can reach as many people to continue their message and get found on Google and to continue to reach masses of people and to embrace the change that they're going to need. Listeners, if you'd like to get in touch with Lisa, uh, you can reach her at by email at Lisa@lisacarelli.com. I'll spell that for you. L I S A. C A P R E L L I.com or go to her website, lisacarelli.com and she has another website Artwineexpression.com, that we don't even have time to get into, but it sounds fascinating, Lisa. Thank you so much. I love your energy. I love your message and I think, I think you, you framed it brilliantly today. Thank you so much for joining me, and I hope you'll join me again sometime in the near future. Thank you so much, Bill, great show. I enjoyed being on it. Thank you so much. Thank you for listening to Exit Coach Radio. Some matches are temporary, but your privacy shouldn't be. With line 2, you get a second phone line just for dating. No need to share your personal number until you're ready. You can chat, text, and even block numbers, all while keeping things fun and private. It's perfect for online dating. Blind dates, or just keeping things light. When you're ready to move on, line 2 lets you cut ties without any drama. Dating should be fun and carefree. Line 2 keeps it that way. Ready to date on your terms? Visit line2.com/auudio or download line 2 in the App Store today.
