On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Anika Jackson who wears many hats with enviable finesse. Currently, Anika is professor, a VP of operations for Full Capacity Marketing, a full-service agency dedicated to uplifting workforce development and educational institutions. Today, Anika will share with us her insights about growth, drawing from her multi-faceted experiences and achievements. KEY TAKEAWAYS          Everything changes every day with digital. AI has been around for 20 years, but only last year its popularity rose for everyone to understand what the technology is & start utilising it for marketing or efficiencies in our systems & processes. We have to keep on top of everything. My students range from 20s-60s & they want to learn how to manage everything that’s happening. Podcasting is the only omni-channel marketing that we have nowadays; you have video content, audio content, you can create blog posts, thought-leadership pieces, hundreds of pieces of content for social media. There are so many ways to utilise each episode. Not only that, it’s business development, every time I’m on a podcast or have a guest on my podcast not only do I learn something new from them but that’s another person I can now call on in my network. I’ve leaned into learning more about a lot of different things so I can better advise people on how to make the best use of their dollars. Especially for small businesses, it’s not easy to get financing unless you have someone already backing you – most small businesses don’t. We at the Intuit Small Business Council are going to speak to Congress in a couple of weeks about AI & small businesses & making sure they have access to tools – digital equity. A lot of people don’t want to use their own voice, but in this day & time everybody wants to know who are you? I’m buying into you as a person & a founder. Yes, you have the product that’s going to solve something, but I want to know about the person, the authenticity factor. You have to believe in the person & that their solution is really going to solve your problem. Don’t think about it as ‘you’, think about it as you’ve got something people need to hear because what you have to offer & the solution you’re providing is going to help revolutionise things, help with access to something, or change somebody’s life that’s really important to them at this time. Take the ego out of it.   BEST MOMENTS ‘Who are you & what are you doing here? That needs to infuse everything that you do. It helps people decide if they take a job, can work with you, if you’re aligned with them. ’‘I’m learning as much as I’m teaching.’‘This is a world where you have to think omni-channel, you have to be integrated, & you can’t be siloed, you have to work together, that’s the world we live in.’‘Reserve all of the names across the socials but don’t scatter your attention, really be focussed and niche down.’ ABOUT THE GUEST Anika is a mother, community volunteer, philanthropist, marketing and communications professional, podcast host, and graduate adjunct professor at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. As a marketer, she has done it all including experiential marketing/ event production, launch marketing, public relations, digital, and influencer throughout her multiple decade career. LinkedIn ABOUT THE HOST Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers & accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influe