Janielle Myers Episode
Summary
On this episode we speak with Janielle Myers who is a global operations and supply chain executive, currently working with Loft Orbital in the outer space. She has been in this industry for a long time, done a lot of cool and interesting things, and shares her story with us. She started her career in automotive, specifically in the motorcycle industry, where she got to travel around the world and gained experience in logistics and supply chain management. After 10 years, she decided it was timeI am a guest on the Supply Chain Buzz show. We discuss what lead me to supply chain, the difference between a job and a career, making smart career decisions, burnout, Loft Orbital, and the pitfalls of being such a high-achieving individual. : Janell says she does not feel the need to constantly be busy and that she sets boundaries to avoid burnout. She feels it is important to involve others and bring them into the fold instead of always trying to do everything on her own. She spends time in warehouses and can tell a lot about a company's health based on their inventory. She believes Psyop is a good baby step towards integrated business planning, but there is still more that can be done. When asked about why she chooses This episode features Janelle Myers, the Vice President of Supply Chain at Loft Orbital, a space infrastructure company. She shares her background in supply chain management and her passion for warehouse operations, along with her thoughts on the future of supply chain. Janelle also talks about her experience using LinkedIn to make connections in her industry. In episode 10 of this podcast, the host and his co-host discuss life in warehouses and the fast-moving consumer goods industry in a sarcastic and humorous manner. Listeners are encouraged to check out the show for some light relief. Another episode will be
Transcription
Ben Hopkins
[00.00.07]
Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in to another episode at the Warehouse Underground podcast, Real Talk or Warehouse DC and FC professionals of all levels around the globe. I'm Ben, the host of the show, and joining me on the show today is Janielle Myers. She's a global operations and supply chain executive, working now, doing some very cool stuff with Loft Orbital in outer space. Very neat. We will talk about that more in the show, but has been in this industry for a long time, done a lot of cool and interesting things. From operations off chief Operations Officer, she has spent some time in warehouse and logistics, leading their materiel planning, working as a consultant, all sorts of things. So I'm very excited about having her on the show to learn more about what she's done, her background. This will be a cool show for people to listen to if they are interested in supply chain space, if they think they want to go into this because there are lots of good lessons learned from Janelle, right? So I will bring her on the stage right now.
Janielle Myers
[00.01.15]
Janielle coming live from across the globe. How are you? Thank you very much for joining the podcast and what's been going on.
Ben Hopkins
[00.01.24]
Thank you so much for having me. Yes, I'm currently in the UAE. Uh, so building, uh, satellites.
Janielle Myers
[00.01.34]
Yeah, yeah, satellites, I see them. I see them behind you. Right. So we talked a little bit about this before the show, but I want to say thank you again. You responded to someone that reached out to you as a complete stranger, which was me. Hey, uh, you're very interesting. I think you're offering a lot of good insights. Would you like to appear on my podcast? And you were not like, I don't even know who you are. Please, please go away type thing. You embrace it. And we started chatting and developed a relationship. So thank you for responding to a complete stranger, like many people do, to, uh, who appear on the podcast, so I appreciate that.
Ben Hopkins
[00.02.09]
Yeah, I'm excited to be here. Uh, it's at least right now pretty obvious when a human being reaches out. And I'm always happy to to talk to other people in the industry.
Janielle Myers
[00.02.23]
Yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah. I'm not a robot. I, I work very hard to not not come off as a as a robot. Everything so. All right. Cool. So we'll we'll we'll get a little bit more about what you're doing right now with orbit, which is very cool. Right. We'll talk about that more in the show. But before we do that though, can you just tell the audience about your story, what's your story and the industry kind of what is your route been like to lead you up to where you are today and all the stops in between?
Ben Hopkins
[00.02.53]
Sure. It's. It's been a journey. Um, I started in automotive, in motorcycles. I sort of stumbled into it. I've always really liked cars. Um, so motorcycles were, uh, just a simple car. Um, and I really grew my professional career in motorcycles, and it gave me the opportunity to travel around the world. And I got to do all the things. Um, after ten years in the motorcycle industry, I decided it was kind of time to move on. It was a good, like, natural choice at the time, and I realized that I had this insane breadth of experience that maybe somebody would want. But I realized the job market really wanted specialization, and I was like, what do I know the most about? And I was like, supply chain. I moved bikes and carts all around the world. So I went and got some supply chain certifications to sort of solidify, like, hey, I know about this one subject matter. Um, and then I went to work for a big supply chain company and ran their warehouse out by the Denver airport for a couple years. Um, got a lot of good logistics experience training there. Um, warehousing. Right. And from there, I went to industrial manufacturing and did that for a hot minute, which was was great for production planning and just material flows. Tack time. Leon, all those great things that got to put into, like, actual processes. Right? Like I was like, oh, I know these things. Let me actually do them now. So that was really exciting. And then right now I'm in aerospace and it's such an exciting industry. Automotive motorcycles was a very exciting industry and supply chain is exciting. But it wasn't as much fun as motorcycles. But aerospace is. It's really fun.
Janielle Myers
[00.04.51]
Yeah, that's, um, that's a big leap, I think, from motorcycle motorcycles to outer outer space. But maybe it's like what people say they're like, well, it is a big leap. But the nuts and bolts of kind of what you do is similar, right? Like it's similar process and supply chain no matter what the output is. I mean, what I mean is that, is that what you're finding with that?
Ben Hopkins
[00.05.15]
Sort of. I mean, it's it's slightly different, right? But in motorcycles the consequences are real. If you had a part that failed, that could kill somebody, that could kill somebody else on the road as well, you know. So you wanted to make sure there's real life consequences here. Right. I mean, there is an aerospace, but there's a lot more checks and balances. And obviously it's regulated way more than automotive. Automotive is highly regulated, but mostly just for OEMs. Aftermarket has next to no regulation. So it's kind of it swings two directions there. But in aerospace it's regulated. It's regulated by multiple countries. It's regulated by the UN. There's lots of testing that has to go involved. So the chance of us launching a satellite and it just flying out of the sky and like killing somebody is very low right. Yeah. The biggest risk that we have for in the aerospace is hey, we we launch a satellite and it doesn't connect or it doesn't work for as long as we want. And so we spent millions of dollars essentially shipping some trash to space. And so there's that monetary thing. Right. Like we don't want to do that. Terrible, terrible for the environment, but just different, different levels of responsibilities.
Janielle Myers
[00.06.37]
I'm very happy to learn that a lot of steps are being taken to stop satellites from falling on my head, like out of out of Earth. So you've given me confidence in that. So I appreciate that. So so let me ask this. I mean, and we kind of mentioned this or you mentioned this and, and I know about this in the in supply chain world distribution world, just this industry, it's very common for people to sort of wear many hats. They do many different things in their career often, but sometimes even when they're in their same job, they wear many different hats. So do you think that that's a good thing? I mean, do you think that people should embrace that and grow into that? Or should people try to stay more stovepipe in their area? Like, what do you think the reality is in, in the, in the supply chain space that the next generation coming up needs to know? I mean, is that a part of it that should be embraced, or do you think that people should kind of push back on that? Is that it is very common, I think, in states like.
Ben Hopkins
[00.07.46]
I would say yes. But so yeah, it's it's easy to get overwhelmed or to get bogged down. Um, but you say yes when you're going to expand, you're going to grow, you're going to learn something that you haven't learned before. So if it's a, you know, people always want to be helpful, right? So you end up saying yes to things that maybe you shouldn't say yes to. But if it's like for me, if somebody came and said, oh, hey, can you like, edit this spreadsheet? I have to realize, like, that's not really the best use of my time, right? And so it's you have to be careful of those things that you say yes to, because you only have so much capacity, and then you don't want to just do everything poorly. Okay. So yeah. So yes. You want to expand like I the most frustrated I've been in my career is when I felt stalled and I didn't have any professional development. So if it is something that you are going to learn, if it's something where you're going to go meet people that you haven't met before, if you can expand your horizon, then it's a yes. And if not, then you have to learn to set those boundaries.
Janielle Myers
[00.08.58]
Yeah, I think that that is fantastic advice. And a lot of times I'll say, you know, if if you take on too many things, usually people feel the urge to do them all, to complete them all, because that's just how a lot of people are wired, particularly in this industry. But what happens, though, like you said, you only have so much bandwidth and you get the the, the final output that you get is just sort of either a watered down version of all of it, like it's there, but they're all just kind of watered down, or you get an excellent version of all of it, and you got watered down like you got burned down, your energy got got burned down. So I think that that's fantastic advice for people because and no one, in my experience, no one's going to look out for you. I mean, you may have a great mentor that looks out for you and everything, but usually people are just happy to hand off as much as you're willing to do and as much as you're willing to take. So I think, I think people really need to look out for that now, that can be that. That can be a reality. I think, of the industry. So I think that's fantastic advice now. Yeah. Let me ask. Let
Ben Hopkins
[00.10.06]
me ask. Oh no sorry.
Janielle Myers
[00.10.07]
No. Go ahead. Sorry I was just
Ben Hopkins
[00.10.09]
going to say bosses love right. The whole mantra is if you have something that needs to be done, give it to the busiest person. And it's. And then it'll get done. And it's like, yes, it will. But also like, do you need somebody else? Or like, can you delegate this to somebody else? Right.
Janielle Myers
[00.10.26]
Yeah. Those are important skills. And they don't teach you those. They don't really always teach you that in college. You know, if you're going through supply chain degree like you don't, there's no there's no lesson on that right there. There's no thing on that. You can really only pick that up from people like you that are mentors, that put it out there, that have the have the scars, for lack of a better term, to prove it and talk about it. Which kind of leads me into my next question and that and, and that's a concept that that does not really get. It does get talked about right. You see this get posted on LinkedIn. But in supply chain world everybody's seen the funny memes, the pictures, hey, I'm in supply chain and logistics and it's the guy. He's at the beach and he's out in the ocean with the water, with his laptop up, and he's still sending emails because he's a supply chain person or she's a supply chain person. Uh, and we've all seen things like that. I think, you know, you know what I'm talking about. But let's talk about burnout, though, right? Because it is burnout. Uh, a myth, right? Like, is it just sort of a funny thing, or is burnout an actual real risk, a real barrier that people need to think about and in their career so that they can build a plan to neutralize it and not and not end up there. What do you think about burnout? Like real thing or it's kind of overhype? No. I, as someone that was forged in the fire of supply chain, I used to sort of be like, oh, yeah, burn out, whatever, until it happened to me. And the tricky thing about burnout is you don't notice it, right? You're the you're the frog and the boiling pot, and then all of a sudden you come up for air and you're like, I don't even know what happened in the last six months or however long it's been. And so it's good to have check ins with yourself. And I put this into place also, boundaries and people are terrible at boundaries. Okay. Like just naturally we are all terrible at it. So there's definitely tips. There's I mean go, go find some some information on how to set boundaries. Um, that's where it starts. Making sure you're looking after yourself. I realize that for myself, when I'm approaching burnout or when I'm really stressed out and I'm not my best self anywhere. Um, I stopped putting on lotion. That's my trick. Interesting.
Ben Hopkins
[00.12.56]
It's kind of weird, but I realized that about myself. So if you've lived through it, that maybe you can look back and try to reflect and think, okay, what am I going to do? But just having those check ins with yourself, um, once a month, once every three months, like, hey, where am I at? How am I feeling? Because it affects our whole lives and we don't live at work, you know? So partners, children, pets, like they're all gonna experience your burnout in a different way, right? Like you, if you're burnt out, you're. Your circle gets it as well. You know, so boundaries. I can't I can't stress that enough. I had a I had a boss once tell me that I was really good at setting boundaries. And my response back to him was, I shouldn't have to be. So if you didn't have to set boundaries, um, maybe. Maybe you're not where you're supposed to be.
Janielle Myers
[00.13.51]
Yeah. And I think it's, uh, I think it's important for people listening to to hear that there is a stigma around it. Right. But it's okay. Right? It's okay to set those boundaries. It's okay to learn the signs and symptoms that your body is sending you, just like it would if you're getting sick. I think I'm getting a fever. I'm starting to get a scratchy throat. Your body's telling you something's wrong. Like I'm fighting something off, and it will do those same things for burnout. Like something's. Something's wrong. The battery is too low for you. It's, uh. It's lotion. I completely blocked
Ben Hopkins
[00.14.28]
it. I don't I don't know why that is. I don't know the dried hands, and it's just. Yeah. Um. Yeah. So I just realized that my personal trigger. Okay. That's my. Yeah, everybody's going to have theirs.
Janielle Myers
[00.14.42]
So I shake hands with you, Janelle. I'm your boss. Oh. Holy crap. Janelle, you need to take some PTO. Like, this is just my hand. It's just. No, no, I'm kidding. But, uh, we joke, but I but it is a real thing, right? It's a real thing for people to be aware of and listen to, to your body and listen to the boundary. And don't run that battery down the zero because then your phone shuts off, right? Or it's just running really glitchy. One of those two things going to happen to you. Well, you know you're going to be glitchy or are you going to shut it? Shut off, shut down. We do that.
Ben Hopkins
[00.15.11]
I like being good at what I do with, like, somebody. Like what? What what do you want to do in your life? And I was like, I want to be the best of whatever I do. Like I'm competitive. I don't necessarily have like this niche that I am drawn towards, but I want to be the best. And so I will burn myself out to just make sure that I am the best at whatever I do. Um, I, I don't want anybody coming to me and being like, hey, you did a poor job over here. So I would, like, work myself crazy. And I had to sort of have this epiphany, if you will. It's not even quite that that, hey, I'm not going to do my best work when I'm working all day. And then I come home and I open my laptop and I continue to work, and then I do the next, you know, maybe I'm ordering groceries because I don't want to take the time to go to the grocery store so I can be on work more. Um, and then I realized, oh, this is silly because I'm much better when I get eight hours of sleep a night. When I'm looking after myself, when I'm, you know, planning out my meals instead of just ordering in DoorDash or whatever, you know, and I'm like, taking care of myself. That's when I produce the best work, and that's what's important to me. So I just had to change my perspective anytime that I've ever had any growth or professional development, it's really just been a change in perspective on something.
Janielle Myers
[00.16.35]
Yep, yep. And if you want to grow and people always want to grow, it's like when people work out like they go to the gym. You cannot grow if you work out 18 hours a day, you know, going to gyms, good, but not at that level. You have to work out and then you rest and you recover and you, you get sleep and good, good meals and everything, and then you come back. That's and your, your mental state and your brain works the same way, I think. But sometimes we don't we don't treat it that same way. So, uh, good, good good discussion. I don't want people to, to know that Ben and Janelle say it's okay to set boundaries. You must set boundaries in your career. You're young and entering. It's a reality, right? Cool. So talk to me about Loft Orbital. It looks awesome. You're doing some very cool stuff. I see the satellites right behind you there. I know the show's not really about Loft Orbital, but you just explain kind of what you're working on with them, the exciting things, because it. You know what we talked about before, it sounds really cool on what you're working on. Some really interesting stuff. So what's up there?
Ben Hopkins
[00.17.34]
Well, I have to start by giving like a huge shout out to loft because it's such an amazing place to work, and I didn't sort of realize it until I started there and, and was working with the people. And for me, the changes, working with people that are going to work to pay the the mortgage and they're just going to a job versus working with people that want to work for a company. It's like night and day. So shout out to loft and their recruiters and everybody else. It's a fantastic place to work. It's also super exciting because we eat satellites into space and we get to see pictures of those. So they mainly do earth imaging. So we get to see these great images that have coming back. And like so we have that tangible thing. Right. And we do are doing great work. So some of the stuff we do is so like the satellites will go and be taking pictures over, over huge sections of the Earth, but we might have an AI on that satellite that's to pick up like a wildfire. So it'll say, oh, hey, there's something that looks like smoke in this picture that shoots it over to a person that looks at it and says, oh yeah, that that is smoke, and we can action it from there. And so there's just there's so much that can be done with this type of information and the governments around the world, but I don't want to get too political. Right. Some of this funding has been pulled back. So but there's plenty of private companies that are still interested in these types of things. So it's very, all very exciting.
Janielle Myers
[00.19.11]
Yeah. And, uh, they have a mission and they have a everybody is kind of on that buy in on that mission and what they're doing exciting about what they do. And it seems like you're probably working a lot of hours there. But is it fair to say that it doesn't really feel as bad, like if, like if you're at a place that you're just getting paid and you're just kind of clocking in and you don't really love it, you're not really into what they do. Those hours feel long. But if you're it seems like if you're at a place like where you are, where you really believe in and everybody buys into it, it doesn't feel the same way. Is that is that true or is that just did I just make that up on the spot? No,
Ben Hopkins
[00.19.49]
no, that's absolutely true. Um, uh, the the long hours aren't necessarily I mean, like, they, they do also support like work life balance. But my main role is to get parts over to the UAE to scale manufacturing. And so I have to get on at different times of the day because I'm working with people all over the world. I'm working with people in France. And so there's just different time zones. Um, but there's also, you know, they make sure that we have fun while we do it. Uh, we have like, massage chairs and ping pong tables. And if you need a break, then you go take a break, right? Like it's nobody. Nobody's sweating you. Nobody's micromanaging you, which is very nice.
Janielle Myers
[00.20.33]
Oh, man. Ah. I hope lots of companies listen to this and hear the massage chair thing. I think everyone would agree. I mean, we we need that. We need more massage chairs. Come on.
Ben Hopkins
[00.20.45]
Yeah. No, we. We have. We definitely have some very cool perks that I haven't experienced at other companies. So
Janielle Myers
[00.20.52]
yeah, yeah, I'm down for that. Right? So cool. Right. So the transition is hard to transition out of massage chair and satellites and outer space to the next part of the show. But but I'll try to do it right. So let me ask you this question because you have had a successful career. You very ambitious, you've had lots of cool stops and you've done lots of good things. And one of the things that people will sometimes find in the industry is that they want to run very fast, they want to run very fast. They want to do a lot of things. They want to take on a lot of initiatives and sometimes what can plague them. A pitfall that people may fall into is that I began to just focus on all of that, and I become this person that is not approachable. I'm very prickly. I'm not approachable because I'm going so fast, so fast, so fast. But what do you think about that? I mean, you know, I know we've talked about running at 100 miles an hour, but do you think that it's also important for people to say, no, I need to I also need to bring people into the fold. It can't just be me and everybody gets on at my speed or else get off. Like, I also need to be cognizant of how I am and how I'm perceived so that I can bring others into it too. And in the end, that that kind of makes it better for me. What what do you think about that general concept? Because I feel like, you know, healthcare and doctors, I've sometimes seen that with an emergency room, but it happens a lot in supply chain too, I think. So what are your thoughts on that general concept and that idea?
Ben Hopkins
[00.22.33]
So I mean, for me, and it's so trite at this point, but it goes back to servant leadership, right. Like everybody says, servant leadership like okay, what is it really. And then there's this sort of fake service leadership. But what you're talking about is, hey, we have to bring up this next, like, other people should be in the room. We have to share our knowledge. Um, you can't do everything by yourself. You do have to give up some of that control sometimes, right? Uh. When you take on too much again it also boundaries. So yeah. So it really depends on where you're at and the company. Maybe you're in senior leadership if you are okay we can't do five. We can't have five goals this year. Okay. It's not going to happen. Pick out two three. Figure out what's going to have the biggest impact. Okay. Let that be our North star okay. Here's where we're here's where we're marching to. I'm not saying goals positions anything can't change but figure out where we're going. And then let's figure out what the priorities are. So sometimes I've worked for companies especially like newer companies, startups. Those priorities change a lot, right? Yeah. Like, hey, we're going to come over here and do this and then next month, oh, Jake, for whatever reason. Um, I've worked for founders that would just off the cuff, go buy commercial properties. And I would have to I would have to go get everything ready into the bank and be talking to you. Right. Like, hey. Yeah. Okay, great. So it's good to go back. I've had bosses. Not even founders. Just go, okay, do this. And then the next week, tell me to do something else with little to no direction, mind you. And then. Oh, do this. And so I'm a super rational, logical person. So I would put all those in a list and I would say, hey, which one of these do you want me to work on? First? Second. Here's how much time I think that this is going to take. And when you come back at them with some data, then they kind of go, oh, actually that's not a priority. Or oh, actually, I don't need that. And then also you can go from there and say, okay, here's the amount of help that I'm going to need. This isn't a one person role, okay? This I can do by myself. This I'll get done in a day, right? So yeah, it's. Back to back. It's a tough. It's
Janielle Myers
[00.24.55]
a tough. Yeah. And I think I think I think where it ends up for me personally is if I do a good job of creating those boundaries for myself, then that means that I have more bandwidth. Right now, I have more bandwidth, I'm more approachable. I have more good energy in that attracts other people. Right. And now I'm bringing other people into the fold, whether it's mentoring or guiding or training or teaching or coaching, you're always sort of doing that, but you're never going to be in a position to do that. If you're rubbing yourself down to the nub, right? Like, I don't, I don't have anything left because I set no boundaries. And then now you're just pushing everybody away. And ultimately, I think in any career, if you really want to go far, you know, that's the old African proverb, right? If you want to go fast, go by yourself. If you want to go far, you need to go together. I think in the supply chain industry, if you want to go far, you need to go together because there's just so many things interconnect and there's so many people that are connected that that, you know, it's like a big web. In order to do that, I think you're right. You know, it all comes back to setting the boundaries so that you reserve as much of your energy as you can in a positive way for everybody else and what you're doing. So I like that. Cool, right? So let me ask this. Do you spend time in warehouses? Plenty of time in warehouses. That's how we originally connected online, because I saw some of your posts about some warehouse stuff. And like I get that right away, I get it exactly what she's talking about. But what's your experience been like in them? Uh, and then because now you're on the other side. So now you're, you're on planning and materials and everything. What do you think about Psyop? Uh, I hesitate to bring that up. So, I mean, how well do you think what's your experience in warehouse, and then how well do you think the full supply chain, uh, operation is being being brought into the fold from the warehouse? The warehouse leaders? Is that something that's going well for them, or do you think that the industry as a whole needs to do a better job of bringing them in?
Ben Hopkins
[00.26.54]
Um, well, for warehouses, I did tell my last director of operations. I said, don't let me die in this del C corner of a warehouse. Um, I, I can tell so much about a company based on their warehouse and their inventory. Like, if I walk in and your inventory is a mess, you have adjustments all over multiple SKUs in a location. Uh, you know, counts are wrong. I know your whole company is a mess. How are your books like it is? Green flag, red flag for me. I can tell immediately what type of company I'm in based on their inventory. The health of the company's inventory is the health of the company. And that's like just an inalienable truth that I have had in my entire career. Um, for me, I think it can be good. I think it's a social construct more than anything. Um, I'm trying to get, you know, supply side, demand side to agree. But I think Psyop is a baby step to integrate a business planning. So what I want to know is what's going to be available when I want a horizon where I can say, here's your capacity. And okay, if we are forecasting that that product line is going to go ham, okay, then what do we need to do? We either need to tell sales you can't sell any more of that, which is not going to go over well. Or we need to say, hey, here's what we need to do to increase capacity. Right? And there's going to be that equilibrium, right, where if sales is only going to sell 5% more, if they're not going to buy a new machine, they're not going to hire a new operator, things are going to go that well, right? They're not going to expand the warehouse space. But if there's that real growth. So I think it's good for those types of conversations. But it's a baby step. You want to get to integrated business planning.
Janielle Myers
[00.28.51]
Yeah, yeah I agree and I think I think a lot of it too can depend on the capabilities that the particular company that you're at in terms of the systems that they use, the software they use, how much historical data they have, how much real time data they have. There's a huge gap there. But I think you're right. At its core, it's just the communication and a social, social construct. And I know sometimes the sales people that I've worked with in past don't really love Psyop because they think, oh, gosh, you know, now I'm going to have to put a forecast out there and I'm going to have to be held accountable to the forecast. And I can't do that because it's the customers and I don't. Right. You get that whole thing. But I think you've got to have something. And in the end, that makes a warehouse manager or distribution manager's life easier, they have more of a fighting chance than if they know what they should be planning for and staffing for and all that. But I think you're right, in my opinion about the inventory, the inventory must be accurate. You must have accurate inventory and facility and programs for that, because your whole supply chain can crumble. If you don't, you over buy or under buy or right off and it just becomes a wreck. So I totally agree with you on the where the the the inventory piece there and the psyop. So and I'm glad I'm glad that you didn't keel over in the corner of a dusty warehouse. Janelle. That's just not you know, that's just not that's not how you want to go out. You know what I mean?
Ben Hopkins
[00.30.14]
Yeah. I think part of the fundamental sort of flaw in Psyop is that it starts with sales, and you want your sales guys to have all the ego, okay. That's who you want in sales. But I feel like they've they've got to come in with their, hey, I'm going to sell all of this. And operations just looks at them and says, sure you are. You know and then we adjust the forecast based on reality. So
Janielle Myers
[00.30.42]
yeah. Yeah. I mean, and there's no, there's there's no perfect psyop. There's no perfect process. Like no company. I've never been or heard of any company that's like, oh yeah, we've got Psyop on lockdown. Like it's not even a it's not even a thing here. No, it's the same place. No matter where you go. It's just, uh, it's just different variations of it. But it doesn't mean that people should just not have it right. Like, give, give the warehouse manager a fighting chance to to to to produce and have some good things in there to happen for the company. So. So let me ask this. So we we both we both post a lot on LinkedIn. I've been posting on LinkedIn for years now, growing the podcast and the brand and everything. And you do too, right? So, you know, you have a lot of good insights and and I appreciate people that that put it out there in the universe, so to speak, that share their knowledge and wisdom and everything. But everybody has different reasons for why they choose to become more visible online, why they post things and tidbits and all that. And and I have my reasons. But what's yours? I mean, what what is it about you that makes you comfortable enough to say, I'm going to put things out here for people to read and see, because it's a it's a little bit unnerving when you start to do that. It's a little bit it can give you some anxiety when you put yourself out there. But what is it behind you? What's your what's your reason why why, why are you doing that today? And I hope people follow you on LinkedIn, by the way, because, uh, there's lots of cool stuff going on there.
Ben Hopkins
[00.32.12]
Yeah. I, um. This has been like a lifelong thing for me. I can't be anything but authentic, and sometimes I'm not for everybody is that I can be a lot sometimes, uh, but it's this is this is a good and bad thing about me. I generally, um, do not care what other people think about me, and. Other people are always like, that's the way to be. Like, that's the way to live your life. Like, who cares what other people think? And it's good and bad. Like, yes, I don't ever go to sleep at night concerned that somebody doesn't like me. Like I'd be concerned if my dog didn't like me, or maybe like my child. But I have a very small group. Um, and so I always used to joke and I'd say, don't join my fan club, like, I don't, I don't care. So that part of it, like, not necessarily nervous about about being forward facing, uh, I got into LinkedIn really, um, because I was in, uh, a not very work situation, and I was looking to change where I was. And I reach out because I'm not. This isn't my subject matter expertise over here. LinkedIn. So I reached out, get a career coach, and they're like, you've got to be posting on LinkedIn at least this many times and all this stuff. And so then I tried to do that. It didn't work out great. I got a different career coach with better advice. Um, so so I was like, oh, I actually know some of these things, right? Like, I'm here, I'm doing the work. What do I feel? And then how do I communicate that to somebody else? Right when I'm like, don't let me die in the dusty corner of the warehouse, like, okay, I don't want to do that. I don't want to be in the warehouse forever. Right? Like I wanted to to get out of it. But I love warehousing and I do warehousing really well, and I can walk into a warehouse, and I feel so at home and so comfortable. And that's when I realized I shouldn't be at the warehouse anymore, because I was so comfortable and I was like, I need to grow. I need to expand what I know. So yeah. So yes, LinkedIn is is an interesting beast. Uh, it's definitely their algorithms and like. Right. Like I they wants to hear about AI and supply chain and I'm like, ah I don't know about that many AI supply chain things. So trying to to get on. But I've made some great, um, connections. I've had great conversations with other people in the industry. I've got to meet people all over the world, um, about supply chain. And I'm always happy to help out, make a connection, make an introduction for anybody I know. And those that's been really rewarding is to be able to take what little sliver of LinkedIn that I've grown and help other people when I can.
Janielle Myers
[00.35.16]
Yeah. I like so you you this career coach, you have told you you should appear on the Warehouse Underground podcast, right? And you told them are they they are a plus. I really like this career coach that you have now. He's probably.
Ben Hopkins
[00.35.28]
Yeah, he's he's great and he's always sending me things. And then I have like my homework. Right. And then sometimes I don't do it and uh I like yeah. Right. It's like make sure you're commenting on other people. Um said people articles. Right. Like of things that, that. It's. But it's always be authentic and I can't be anything but authentic. For better or for worse, for my career.
Janielle Myers
[00.35.54]
Yeah, and some people ask me about that because I the people that know me, I am sort of naturally a bit of an introverted personality. And then when people find that out, they go, well, how can that be? You're all over LinkedIn and you do the podcast and everything. I'm like, yeah, but you know, it's just different. It's hard to explain, but it's a little bit different. But for me, how I've always looked at it is, first of all, if people don't like what you are putting out there, if they don't like your vibe and everything, it doesn't. In the beginning it might bother you. But what I want to tell people is that person is not. They're not your audience, right? Like, they're not the person that you are meant to kind of vibe with anyway. So it's just never going to work, right? When you find your crowd, when you find your people, it will be easy, right? They will appreciate what you're putting out there and the vibe is there and the wavelength, and don't worry about it. Right. So just like take that as an immediate signal from your body. This is not my audience. This is not my person. So I'm moving on. Right. That's not that's not a big deal, right? Not everyone's going to like what you make, right? Just like food, restaurants, movies, the whole bit. Because I feel like there's many, many, many people that I've encountered that have so much incredible just they're so interesting, right? They're so interesting and they have so much good stuff to share that so many people could benefit from. And they just don't. And I feel like that's a little bit of a missed opportunity for humanity, right? Like, yeah. What about discussion here? But that's how I feel about that. So those people listen and just put it out there. Send it out there. It'll be okay. Just keep going. We'll appreciate
Ben Hopkins
[00.37.32]
the universe. Yeah,
Janielle Myers
[00.37.35]
absolutely. Right. Cool. Right. So, like, I'm talking way too much on my, uh, on each other. You're magnetic. Cool. All right, so, you know where where can people find out more about you? And and like I said, I hope they reach out to you on LinkedIn and follow you because that's that. But, I mean, is that okay? I mean, can people do like I did and message you directly on LinkedIn? Is that is that cool? And you know, what sort of things are you working on in 2026 and maybe beyond?
Ben Hopkins
[00.38.07]
Yeah, absolutely. Um, if you send me some bot response, I will waste your token, though. That's one of my favorite things to do is like that. Yeah, I should I should name and shame some of these because they are terrible. But any real people, people that are interested in supply chain automotive motorcycles. Uh, yeah. Uh, I get along with most people, so absolutely reach out. LinkedIn is is where my professional persona lives for the time being. So that's where I'm at. Uh, for 26, I, I've been trying to get, um, we're going to have one of these satellites. It should be launching in October And I am a rational, logical. I don't like emotion. Uh. Emotional decisions. Like, I'm very, uh, I like I like things that I get to make a spreadsheet for, and I don't have to make emotional decisions. But when this satellite goes off, I'm going to be just a blubbering wreck. It's just so exciting. So I'm just gonna be over here crying in the corner of the warehouse. Happy tears that, um, that satellite that I've worked so hard on is going into space. And then we're launching, um, I think six more next year or so, but we're working on those now, so that's what I'm doing. Just trying to get satellites built. I do, yeah, I don't do the building. I just get the parts and give them to the people that know what they're doing to building.
Janielle Myers
[00.39.38]
Yeah, but but it's all part of the team, though. It's it's all part of the team. I mean, I mean, you're working on that, so that is awesome. Uh, that is really cool stuff. I hope that you really get to see that come to fruition. I'm sure. It's just amazing to see that what you've worked so hard on actually happen. And I love that. And I'm sure there will be. I'm sure you won't be the only one that's that's shedding some tears there. And that's just that. That's that's great. That's life. I I'm jealous. I'm jealous of you. That you get to have that moment. That's really neat.
Ben Hopkins
[00.40.10]
Yeah. Uh, we watched, um, we had a watch party at work for Artemis, and we were sitting around. Oh, I don't want to get emotional. Yeah, lots of people in the room. Oh, gosh, I'm gonna do it. They were like, oh, I worked on that. Yeah, I'm working with these people that built a rocket that's going into space. Like.
Janielle Myers
[00.40.30]
Yeah. Very cool. No, I know, I know, I know, I know because you, your your heart is there, right? Like your soul is there. My work everything. Like I I'll everybody put their heart in it. Yeah. It's machinery and everything and but it's, it's it's people. Right. It's humans that that went into that and work and everything. So I like that. I
Ben Hopkins
[00.40.50]
appreciate something to do with space. I don't understand what it is, but space is like very emotional for humans. Yeah. That's human.
Janielle Myers
[00.40.58]
Yeah. Good. Well, that's a good thing. It means it means you're alive. Janelle means you're connected and a real person, and you really care about things. And the more people that are like that, the better off we're going to be. Uh, great. Great guests. I appreciate it again. And come back. Come back anytime. And and, you know, let me know how things go with with that satellite. Maybe we come on to another show. You know, a little, little recap of the satellite launch.
Ben Hopkins
[00.41.22]
Yeah, I'd love to. I'll take some selfies of me.
Janielle Myers
[00.41.25]
Yeah.
Ben Hopkins
[00.41.26]
Yes. Are we crying?
Janielle Myers
[00.41.29]
Yes. This. This is ugly cry. But trust me, I'm happy. It doesn't look like in the picture. I am very happy. Extremely happy.
Ben Hopkins
[00.41.35]
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, it's just there's so much that goes into it and so much like human innovation. And anyway, I don't want to. Yeah. Carry on for ages about it.
Janielle Myers
[00.41.45]
No, but you could, you could. Right. You could. Right. Well I appreciate it. Again. Thank you very much for your time. Good luck to you the rest of the year. Uh, don't be a stranger. And, uh, and, uh, I will see you around on the LinkedIn streets, as they say.
Ben Hopkins
[00.41.59]
Yes, yes. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me.
Janielle Myers
[00.42.02]
You got it. Bye bye. All right guys, that concludes this episode. Janelle Myers fantastic guest. Right. Just very down to earth, very authentic. Uh, don't be a stranger. Reach out to her on LinkedIn, learn more about supply chain, more and more about what they're doing at Loft Orbital. Very, very, very cool stuff. Right. So thank you again, Janelle. As the Warehouse Underground goes, please sign up for the community. Over 300 people have signed up for the community. It's free. Come on in. There we have message boards and live events and networking. All sorts of cool things going on inside the community at the warehouse underground.com. And please check out the Tiger Team show. We released episode number ten two weeks ago last week. Uh, it is the show with my co-host Jordan about life in warehouses and FCS in DCS, but with a sarcastic, witty, humorous flavor. And please check that show out. I think you guys will like it for some lighthearted relief. So as this podcast goes, I will see everyone next week for another episode. Thanks for listening. Bye bye.
