Meet Priscilla and The Global Actor

Racheal: All right, CEOs, we have a very special conversation today. You may remember Elise Arsenault showing up a couple of years ago now on the podcast, when she came to talk to us all about how she has been growing the Great Audiobook Adventure and The Global Actor. And today I have invited her right hand, Priscilla Leonard, to join us, because Priscilla has been attending CEO Retreats now for about a year with Elise, and has had access as her right hand to a lot of the resources inside The CEO Collective.

Racheal: It has been fun to see your face on all of the virtual CEO Retreats, but I wanted to make sure we had an opportunity to share how working together in the 90-Day CEO Operating System has worked for you all in The Global Actor. So welcome.

Elise: Thanks for having us.

Racheal: So Elise, we know you as an amazing actor and an amazing coach for actors and creatives. Can you introduce us to Priscilla and how you all started to work together? When did you find Priscilla, and how was it getting started working together?

Elise: Oh my gosh, I'm so honored that you wanted to have this conversation with us. Thank you, Racheal. So everyone, meet Priscilla Leonard. She's incredible and has been such an awesome force within our business for the past several years now.

How They Started Working Together

Elise: Priscilla, I don't even know our exact start date. I think it's as far back as maybe 2018, 2019, 2017, somewhere in there. Before the Great Audiobook Adventure, I started my career coaching business in like 2016, and I was working with a coach, Dallas Travers, and Priscilla had worked for Dallas before and then had branched out. Priscilla, you can tell your own story of course, but I met Priscilla through Dallas, and Dallas mentioned that Priscilla was doing some freelancing for entrepreneurs, and I needed someone to help.

Elise: At first I had a VA helping with our blog posts and sending newsletters out. I really remember bringing Priscilla in when we got going with our Global Actor Summit, which I think we did in 2018 or 2019, and that was bringing together eighteen speakers from across the acting industry. We had about a thousand attendees for that huge event, so Priscilla was a big force behind making sure all of the moving parts were working.

Elise: Priscilla really specializes in operations. And so as we moved into launching the Great Audiobook Adventure in late 2019, we really needed the help of someone behind the scenes, again making sure everything was connecting well. And once the pandemic hit in 2020, the Great Audiobook Adventure started blowing up.

Elise: Blowing up in a good way. A lot of people found us and went through our program, and we got to this point where we were so busy that it felt like we were always behind on emails by a month or two, because we just had so many people who were excited. We were serving them the best we could. But we needed a bigger container.

Going Full Time After a Hard Hire

Racheal: So Priscilla came on full time. Was it early 2024 or 2023?

Elise: I think 2024. We had done this big huge hiring process where we had a hundred applicants in the fall of 2023, and the person who made it to first place out of that hiring process worked with us for about a week, and then we found out it wasn't a fit.

Racheal: Oh, hark.

Elise: And we were like, "Oh no, this is horrific." So we just said, "Priscilla, what would it take for you to come on full time and work with us?" It's been a game changer since Priscilla's been with us full time for the past two and a half years.

Racheal: Oh my goodness. How does it feel two and a half years in full time now, Priscilla? What has changed since you have been behind the scenes of this business now for a while? What have you seen change, especially since you came on full time?

Seeing the Business From the Inside

Priscilla: It's certainly grown exponentially. I think when Elise started the Great Audiobook Adventure, it was an entirely different format even, almost. So from the very beginnings of when you're just working out what the program's gonna look like, and you're doing that real-time testing with actors and non-actors too, since you don't have to be an actor to be an audiobook narrator. It's definitely been great to see the components and the foundation start to build along the way.

Priscilla: Where now it's a really solid foundation, and it's great to see it go from A to Z for people. It really covers everything, and getting to see it being built in real time over the years has been really nice. And the community was great even in the beginning. Elise has a really great group of people. She's very great at inspiring and motivating actors and people to go after their dreams. So there was already a really good community.

Priscilla: But it's been really wonderful to see how that's continued to sustain itself over the time that we've been growing and building out different programs in addition to it. So it's definitely an interesting behind-the-scenes, bird's-eye view of everything.

From the To-Do List to the Why

Racheal: And I think that's something a lot of people don't get to hear, those behind-the-scenes pieces. I always think it's so interesting because I get to work with the business owner, but being able to connect with some of their team, you always start to see the business owner's vision of what's happening, and the operator behind the scenes saying, "Okay, but this is really what's happening. This is really what needs to be fixed."

Racheal: So when you came on full time, you started hearing about Elise working with us in the Collective, because Elise, you've been with us for years now. Priscilla, what was your experience going from her just coming back with a plan when she was attending the retreat solo, versus her saying, "Priscilla, come to the retreat with me"? What was the before and after of being not so involved in the planning day, and now being there the full day?

Priscilla: I think it makes a really big difference. Before, she would have to explain to me maybe what happened in a six-hour period, and now, being able to participate, I have notes about what we've talked about, I get ideas, and so we actually end up having a real conversation throughout the whole process. So I feel more in the loop and in tune with what her goals are and what she's thinking about for that quarter, and for the whole year.

Priscilla: Whereas before, when it's someone else's goals, you just get to see the finished product, and you get to see the to-do list essentially, and not necessarily all the thought process that goes into it, and the analysis too of the business, which I always find really interesting. I like the research stuff. So it's nice to see not just what we're doing but why we're doing it.

Racheal: I think that's a huge gap for a lot of teams, when the business owner is involved in a process and they come back to their team and they're like, "Okay, this is what we're doing," and the team doesn't have that context.

Coming Home From the Retreat Alone

Racheal: For you, Elise, prior to bringing Priscilla into our live retreats, what was your experience with that? How did it feel for you when you were leaving the retreat and then coming back to her all excited about all these things? What was going on for you?

Elise: It was instant overwhelm. And part of that is because one of the biggest reasons I started working with you, Racheal, is because I knew I wanted to lead a team well, but didn't feel like I knew how. I have a little bit of people pleasing in me. I was recently officially diagnosed with ADHD, so I sometimes find it hard. The people pleaser wants to make sure everybody's happy. So when I'm assigning people things, first of all, that itself is a little uncomfortable for me, to just assign people things and make sure they're happy with what they're doing.

Elise: But I realize that's not my job. My job isn't to make sure everyone's feeling happy all the time. So the whole framework of the 90-day planning process, and your coaching, Racheal, has helped me really get in the driver's seat of managing and leading a team.

Getting Into the Driver's Seat

Elise: What's so cool is, over the progress of me doing the retreats, I just got more and more clarity around what pieces of the business were missing. Our nurture content, for example, really needed an overhaul, so we finally launched the Global Actor podcast in late 2024.

Elise: Now that that's going, like Priscilla was saying, what's really fun now is that all of the foundations are set. We've got multiple attract strategies. We've got so much in place that now we get to be like, "Cool, what would make life easier now?" Now let's play with Facebook ads instead of feeling like we have to do every summit out there or become a sponsor for all these things, whether they're in alignment or not. What are some more in-alignment things we can try now?

Elise: Because what I don't feel anymore that I used to think is that it could all fall apart tomorrow, and that I have to be working so hard every single day, otherwise all the balls are gonna drop. I finally don't feel that way, and I think that started happening in the last couple of years.

Team Goals Inside Asana

Elise: This last planning process for this quarter, I empowered Priscilla, and she was game to really organize the plan and break it down, and I think, Racheal, you really encouraged that at the retreat. Like, make sure this all gets into Asana so Priscilla can make sure how this all gets in there.

Elise: So what's great is now that we have our team goals, every single person on the team has their goals. Priscilla has her goals. Justin has his goals. Natalia has her goals. We did a co-working session as a team last week where we were making sure all of the quarter goals are broken down, and Priscilla set up all the missing pieces, because it's hard for me to follow through on some of those details.

Racheal: And it does become more complicated. At the level you're at now, when you have multiple people behind the scenes on the team, when we first start the whole 90-day planning process, it's really the business owner doing most of the pieces of the plan. You might have somebody that implements some of it. But now you're at the point where everybody's roles are very defined, and you can be like, "Okay, they own the nurture strategy, or this part of the nurture strategy." And I think it's great that you, Priscilla, can help Elise manage all of those moving pieces.

Racheal: I've known Elise for a long time, and like you said, you're a little ADD, and so you used to feel so overwhelmed with all of the "Okay, who's in charge of this and who's doing that?" Priscilla, how is it for you now being able to say to Elise, "No, this goes to that person"?

Priscilla: Great. I feel a little more like being a program coordinator, like I actually am coordinating more, instead of just myself. It feels kind of expansive that now we've got the whole team on board, and instead of being isolated from each other, we all kind of have our own jobs and our own things to work on. But now it feels much more like our team meetings make more sense, and I feel more confident assigning something to someone, even assigning things to Elise and Justin in Asana.

Priscilla: And being like, "Here it is. Here are the dates. You can change whatever you want." But I don't feel like I need to shy away from that as much as I did before. So it feels much more collaborative, which, as time goes by, it's just more, it feels more collaborative overall. So I definitely feel like it's been a good experience for me too.

Racheal: And how many people are on the team now, Elise?

Elise: So Priscilla, Justin, and I are full-time. And then we have Natalia, who's part-time. And then we have a team of three community mentors who help coach. They really help support between calls and in the event area. And the rest of the team is all virtual.

Racheal: I mean, clearly you and Justin are married.

Elise: Yeah, and Priscilla and I have actually still never met in person. I really think we've never met.

Racheal: That's wild. Oh my gosh.

Priscilla: It's the amazing thing of the internet and working virtually. But I feel like we all get along really well.

Racheal: You need to. We really need to make it happen.

Elise: You definitely need to.

Racheal: It makes a big difference when you can start getting people in person. I know that from my own experience working with a virtual team, that there's something magical that happens when you get a little bit more of that time to just connect. So I really hope you do. Maybe, Priscilla, you can go out for the Audies next year or something.

Priscilla: Yes. I left Los Angeles when I started to, yeah.

Racheal: Take her to the party, Elise.

Elise: Yes. It'll be awesome.

Watching Clients Win at the Audies

Racheal: How has it been watching the results from the clients that you have been serving? Because I know this year was a really big year when you went to the Audies, Elise. Share a little bit about that for both of you. I wanna hear how it feels to watch actual clients get the results they're getting.

Elise: It's incredible. I'm getting chills thinking about it. So for folks who are not familiar, most people don't know about these industry awards unless you're deep into audiobook narration fandom, but the audiobook narration industry has an awards show called the Audies, which are like the Oscars of audiobook narration, and this year we had ten graduates of our program nominated. It was incredible, and several of them won, and we did a whole podcast episode where we celebrated them, and we had them all on for mini interviews within the episode.

Elise: It's so incredible. My life has always been performer and educator, coach, teacher, and I come from a family of educators. My family wanted me to be a teacher more than they wanted me to be an actor, and I resisted it for so long, but I'm so grateful that I leaned in and finally said yes. Ten years ago is really when this all started getting going again.

Reclaiming Time for Her Own Artistry

Elise: And what's incredible today is that because of the systems in place, because of Priscilla having such clear ownership over the operations and all of that, today I'm now able to get back into my own growth and my artistry, and that was something I was missing. It didn't feel good when I was seeing my clients have this incredible industry success in their acting, and I was kind of in my comfort zone of supporting them, but in a way I didn't really have enough time to do both well. And now I feel like I can. I've grown in my own artistry this year. And things feel like both is possible.

Racheal: It's been really fun to watch you share the updates about new things you've been auditioning for, and all of those different pieces. So I love that you've actually been able to reclaim time and go do that piece of it too, because I think especially with the type of business you have, it's important for you to keep doing the work and have your finger on the pulse of the industry, what's actually working now.

Elise: And for my own happiness too.

Racheal: Totally. Things change so fast in every industry, especially now. So I love that now that the foundations are there, the systems are there, you can just let Priscilla keep things going while you go off and continue to record amazing books.

Elise: And what's a really beautiful thing that's happening is the reputation of our course is well known throughout the industry now. So now when I'm reaching out, people get to know me sometimes as a coach first, and then they're like, "Oh, by the way, are you interested in narrating this?" Or, "Would you like to come in for this?" So it's been a really fun way to grow in multiple ways.

Elise: And there's nothing like showing up to the Audies and casting directors being like, "Thank you for the work that you're doing. Your course is trusted." And that not only helps the business, but it helps every person who goes through the course have that elevated. It's almost like they're certified in a way for this framework.

Racheal: It definitely gives that little stamp of approval. Like, okay, they went through a process we know is really a good one, and they trust it. So that's huge.

Priscilla on Watching People Grow

Racheal: Priscilla, what about for you? I'd love to hear more about what you think.

Priscilla: Well, I haven't gone to the Audie awards, but I do get to see the full transition of people from just when they started, when they're feeling not tech savvy. Everyone always feels behind a little bit. It's just sort of natural, and they're really learning new skills, and they're having that beginner mindset. That's difficult for people, especially if you're already in your skills and you're an actor. There are some new things that you learn, and that can be uncomfortable for people.

Priscilla: So seeing people start to grow and get more comfortable with it, start to understand their text, start to thrive in their text, start to ask Justin questions that seem very advanced. And then to see them booking jobs. So many people will book things before they even finish. And to see that just even the shift in their energy sometimes makes the difference, and they meet someone that's a publisher, and they get aligned with a project. It's been really great to see how people have grown and their careers have grown, and to feel a part of it.

Priscilla: I have a great respect for actors and artists and storytellers. I've done writing and storytelling before, but definitely not to the level that everyone else does. So it's really been nice to be a part of it and feel like another person helping lift other people up. It's probably the best part, because especially when you're behind the scenes, you don't always get to see a lot of that. So I do try to sit in on as many calls as I can to do support for those, and reach out and cheer people on too in between.

Racheal: I love that.

Advice for the CEO With a Team

Racheal: When it comes to anyone who's growing a team, I would love to have both of you share your thoughts. What would you tell a CEO who is looking at joining The CEO Collective, who's looking to level up the way that they work with their team and their leadership, and get their team on the same page? I would love to hear what you would share with that CEO who's considering joining us.

Elise: What is so cool is the two tiers that you built out last year or the year before, Racheal. The top tier, if you have a team, I highly recommend you do that top tier, because getting to bring your team member along for the ride with you at the retreats is a game changer. It's so worth that investment. And also, Priscilla having had access to the training portal and all of that is so important.

Elise: There's only so much bandwidth. What's the point of having the whole team bandwidth if you're not letting them in on the process that you're learning? It can really break down the overwhelm, I think.

Racheal: I love that. That's exactly why I added that into that tier, because I was seeing that frustration, like you were feeling, of the overwhelm of, "Okay, I have this huge thing, and now I've gotta go to my team and explain what I just came up with." And if it doesn't translate, or it just starts to feel overwhelming, then you don't get the results you're looking for.

Elise: There's a certain part of the retreat I would get to every single time, and it's getting to the Post-it plan. And I'm like, "I got the goals." But it's so much to break down into so many things to break down. So Priscilla's great at that, and making sure we set aside time to do that together.

Racheal: I love that. What about you, Priscilla? What would you say for anybody who's wanting to bring their right hand into this experience?

Priscilla: Well, I can't speak for everyone else, I can only speak for me, but I think that the people on your team are really looking for that opportunity to take a personal investment in what your business is, and what its growth is, and what its mission is, and what your goals are. And the Collective really gives them the opportunity to do that, to be a part of it.

Priscilla: I've worked for many clients, and I've worked full-time and part-time for people, and for my own personal enjoyment of my job, I love learning more about how things are working, and I love feeling more a part of something, rather than, like I had said before, like a collaborator rather than just a participant with a to-do list. And not that Elise has ever made me feel like that. But I think that a lot of people on your team would probably be really receptive and really excited about being involved in more of the planning and building of your business. We admin take a personal investment in our work.

Racheal: I love that. And this kind of all comes back to a lot of the way we design the 90-Day CEO Operating System. So many times the CEOs are very good at being the visionary, the big picture, but they need the people to be the right hand who are really good at the logistics, the operations. And there is sometimes a little bit of mistranslation between the two roles, and they can get kind of stuck if they don't find a way to work together.

Racheal: So I find this framework really becomes a bridge for helping both people understand what the other is doing, and being able to bring their strengths to the table. And that's what I really love hearing about with the two of you. Elise has been able to come up with all these amazing things that they wanna do with the business, and Priscilla, you're able to bring your strengths and say, "Okay, and here's how we can do it, and here's how we break it down, and here's how it actually happens." So you're both able to truly contribute and be collaborative in the way that you're working together. I think that is kind of the goal, is to be able to have a team that you truly feel like understands and gets it, and they're with you.

You Don't Have to Fix Everything Now

Racheal: Well, thank you so much, both of you, for joining me. I look forward to seeing you all in future CEO Retreats. And I can't wait to see what comes next for The Global Actor. What's coming out next that you are working on, Elise and Priscilla?

Elise: That's a good question. We are working on resetting the course over the summer. There are certain trainings we haven't touched in a long time, and certain things that for years we've been like, "Oh, that's still in there? We gotta take that out," or, "We gotta reset this or update it." So some of that's gonna be happening over the summer. We're getting a glow up.

Elise: We might finally update our email address. For anybody who's listening who's like, "I need to do all these things now," just a reminder, you don't necessarily have to do everything right away. Our email has been info@workwithelise.com for ten years, and that is not the company's name. We changed to The Global Actor in like 2017, way before Priscilla even started working with me. But that whole mountain of making that shift to a new email address, we have time to do that now.

Elise: We're also gonna be getting ready for our next in-person retreat happening in the fall in Providence. We did that for the first time last year. And just fun surprises that we don't know what they are yet.

Racheal: I love it. I can't wait to see all these things continue to grow and evolve for you. I can't wait to see you both at more retreats, and I just really appreciate you both taking the time to jump on with me today.

Elise: Thank you so much, Racheal.

Priscilla: Yeah, thank you so much for having us.