[Fully Managed] Janet Carlson from 1.11 Group Ep. 94

Intro: Welcome to Fully Managed

Daniella (D): Hello everybody. Welcome to the Fully Managed Podcast. This is the podcast where we discuss marketing and business tips to help assist you guys in your business journeys. I’m your host, Daniella, and I’m Penji’s partnership coordinator. I’m joined here today with a very special guest, Janet Carlson from 1.11 Group.

Janet Carlson (JC): Hi Daniella. How are you? Nice to be here.

D: It’s so good to have you. I kind of messed up the intro there with my grammar, but that’s all right. We’re off to a good start. How are you doing today?

JC: Great. It’s not snowing—although it’s supposed to snow later. But we live in New England, so I can’t complain. You have to kind of deal with it.

D: I’ve actually never seen heavy snowfall in my life. I lived in Dallas for a bit as a kid and saw some light snow, but that’s it.

JC: That’s called a hard freeze, honey.

D: That was the most I’ve seen. Then a couple years later, they got snowstorms, but I wasn’t there anymore.

JC: You need to get out.

D: I do! I’ve always wanted to, but I’m not good with the cold. I’m from El Salvador, so it’s always hot here.

JC: You might like a little of our weather next month.

About Janet and the Journey to 1.11 Group

D: Janet, just to get the ball rolling, can you tell us a little about yourself, what you do, and what 1.11 Group is all about?

JC: Sure. I’ll give you the short version. I’m one of five siblings in a military family—we moved a lot growing up. I got really good at making friends fast and even learned to box because of all the new schools. I was the tallest sibling, so I always got shoved to the front of those little kid fights. Eventually, I took up formal boxing for 10 years in NYC and was invited to the Golden Gloves, but I declined since I was already running a company.

I studied medicine and planned to be a doctor. I even applied to med school but decided to take a year off and ended up working at Pfizer. Talking to doctors made me realize I didn’t want to pursue medicine anymore. I’m an ideator—it’s my jam—but that wasn’t appreciated much in pharma. They even created a Bright Ideas Committee just to give me a mug and shut me up.

So, I moved into medical advertising. I worked at a Madison Avenue agency, then joined the Medical News Network as one of the 11 execs—only woman on the team. After that, I started my own company, like everyone else from that team. We focused on healthcare professionals and were the first digital agency in that space. We built the first website and email programs for pharmaceutical companies. Now we’ve developed Vox Plan—a new way to do brand planning in pharma.

Winding Paths and Family Influences

D: Your story is so interesting! You already answered my question about why you moved from medicine to pharma. It sounds like it came from a mix of passion and practicality.

JC: I worked in a hospital and senior living center in Indiana and got certified to pass meds and do wound care. I thought those would help with med school. Turns out, they helped more with motherhood! Wound care and pharma skills are handy when you’ve got three kids.

D: Totally. I’m also from a family of five, and my mom became an expert just dealing with all the illnesses we had.

JC: Three people in my family have rare diseases. My mom has homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia—her cholesterol was off the charts. She had heart attacks at 30 and was part of studies at the University of Missouri. Two of my siblings inherited it. One of my brothers didn’t develop secondary sex characteristics, and I realized during a genetics class that he had Klinefelter’s Syndrome. I diagnosed him at 18. He’s an amazing person, and it’s shaped who we are—but it doesn’t define us.

From Passion to Purpose

D: Health experiences really shape who we are. I think it’s beautiful that you found a career that still lets you contribute to healthcare even if it’s not as a doctor.

JC: My parents still bring up med school sometimes, but I wrote a manifesto and told them to stop. Your path has to be yours. No one on their deathbed says, “I wish I went to work more.” Follow your purpose.

D: That’s really inspiring. And you’ve clearly helped the industry in a meaningful way. You’re still part of the ecosystem.

JC: Yes. I recently got contacted by a doctor at the World Health Organization focused on breastfeeding advocacy. We hit it off, and we’re now working on getting those messages out. It’s amazing how we’re all connected. She found me on LinkedIn.

Rethinking Healthcare Advertising

D: I think people overlook how critical advertising is in healthcare. Agencies like yours help make that complex information digestible.

JC: Exactly. There’s disease awareness, drug awareness, device awareness. And getting physicians to recognize the right patients for treatments. But pharma ads often lack humanity or humor. A lot of great creative gets killed in the regulatory process. I want to bring back levity and realness.

D: Yeah, those old depression and anxiety commercials were really heavy. As a kid, they scared me.

JC: We worked on weight loss drugs, but I walked out of a meeting where one caused explosive diarrhea. I couldn’t make “shitting your pants” sexy. Some of the messaging bordered on disordered eating logic. Thank goodness things have progressed.

Being a Sherpa: The Brand Philosophy

D: Let’s talk about the term Sherpa. It shows up a lot in your branding. What does it represent?

JC: Our own messaging took a while to figure out. We scrapped a lot of sexy ideas. Eventually, we realized—we’re guides. A Sherpa helps people get from where they are to where they want to go. Some clients want help building strategy, others want full execution. We can do both. We created the Brand Map to lay out that journey, and we’ve worked with over 50 clients on it this past year.

Solving a Common Problem: No Plan

D: For business owners, especially those outside of marketing, planning is hard. Your Brand Map makes it easier.

JC: Only 30% of small businesses have a plan. Many don’t write well or don’t know where to start. Our Brand Map has 46 questions. You answer by voice—no writing. We’ve optimized it and even used it ourselves. In two hours, we had our business and marketing plans done.

Integrating AI Tools

D: You also offer AI tools like Vox Plan and Brand Map. You’ve really embraced this wave.

JC: Confession—my dad worked for the Department of Defense and was ahead of his time. He built a computer in our house. In the early ‘90s, he told me to get on the web. So I pitched websites to pharma companies back when they didn’t even know what the internet was.

Two years ago, my dad said I needed to integrate AI. So we did. It’s not replacing us—it’s enhancing us. Like Iron Man’s suit. AI helps us create and deliver faster. Clients love it. We’ve started licensing our tools too. It’s about using AI to empower—not eliminate—humans.

Final Thoughts

D: Janet, you’ve said so many inspiring things. Before we wrap, is there anything you’d like to plug?

JC: We specialize in healthcare. If you don’t have a plan—call us. If you want to DIY, we’ll give you the tools. If you want help, we’ll do it for you. Our job is to empower small and medium businesses to get their products and services out into the world.

D: I’ll add all the links in the episode description so listeners can find you easily. Thank you so much for being here today.

JC: Thank you! It was great fun.

D: And thank you everyone for listening to the Fully Managed Podcast, brought to you by Penji. Check out the show notes to learn more about today’s guest and head over to Penji.co to learn more about Penji’s Human First creative subscription service. And if you’re still listening, it would mean the world to us if you shared this podcast with a friend—and, of course, subscribed.