The Art of Compliment Currency

Welcome back to Proof It’s Possible! In this episode, we’re diving into the powerful—and often underestimated—impact of compliments in both life and business. Jamie and Dayle explore how something as simple as a kind word can create meaningful change, build stronger relationships, and boost confidence in ourselves and others. Tune in to discover:

• How compliments can strengthen personal and professional connections.
• The psychological benefits of receiving (and giving) genuine praise.
• Why kindness is a secret superpower in business and relationship-building.
• How to create a ripple effect of positivity in your daily interactions.
• Simple ways to give compliments that feel authentic and impactful.
• A challenge to start complimenting more—and see what shifts.

What’s one compliment you’ve received that stuck with you—and how can you pass that positivity on today? We’d love to hear!  DM us on Instagram @dayle_sheehan_designs & @jamiedfrancis! See you next time!

This episode is sponsored by our Ultimate Girls Trip! Be sure to go to www.proofitspossible.com for more info.

For More Information:
• Proof It's Possible Website
• The Ultimate Girls Trip Instagram

Dayle:
• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Website
• Interior Design

Jamie:
• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Website

Transcript

Jamie (00:00)
Hi guys, it's Proof It's Possible and we are back today chatting all things compliments. Very important.

Dayle Sheehan (00:09)
Compliments are important, I love it.

The reason we're talking about compliments is because you don't know how much, how far it goes with somebody else to give them a compliment. like, I don't know. I don't even know where to begin on compliments. mean, I'm vain. So I love a compliment and I love giving a compliment because I love when people take pride in their appearance or their, do amazing things in their business. Like I feel like the more

Jamie (00:27)
Mm-hmm.

Dayle Sheehan (00:43)
positive things we say, the better off the world is. So let's dig into it a little bit.

Jamie (00:47)
Mm-hmm.

So I was at ball last night, like my daughter's ball and a lady that I know, but I'm not like super close with cause our kids haven't played on the same team for a couple of years. And anyways, we were catching up and she was like, ⁓ I just wanted to tell you that I absolutely love your podcast. And she's like, it's like the 20 minutes of inspiration I need every week. And I just like get on my yoga mat and I listen and it gives me the like, you know, encouragement to keep running my business. And you know, it's just like that.

that little snippet of inspiration that I need each week. And I was like, wow, that's a really nice thing to share. She could have kept that in. She could have not told me that. She could have, you know, just kept it as her own little story about like what she does and part of her routine. But she decided to share it with me. And I was like, that's so interesting because for me, compliments do a couple of things. A, I immediately felt closer to her. Like I was like, ⁓ we're like good friends. You know, like it's crazy how like,

Dayle Sheehan (01:29)
Absolutely.

Mm-hmm.

Mmm. Yeah, it's delicious.

Jamie (01:49)
Psychologically, a compliment actually changes something about you. Number two, I immediately wanted to go buy her product that she sells. So she sells the most incredible sauces. And I was like, yeah, you know what? I should be going to the grocery store and getting one of her salad dressings. Cause her salad dressings are honestly, I'm not even joking, one of the only store bought salad dressings I will put into my body. And I know that sounds...

Dayle Sheehan (01:54)
for sure.

Absolutely.

They are delicious.

Jamie (02:18)
so sloppy and ridiculous,

but it's the truth. Like I don't like store-bought salad dressings, but hers is like next level. You put it on some rice. You can put it on like a Buddha bowl. You can put it on a salad. You can put it in a stir fry. It's like so good. It's sesame. It's nutty. It's delicious. It's, my God, it's so good. It's called umami, if anybody is like curious about her business. Go buy it. Umami. So it's about like U-M-A-M-I, I think. Anyways, local to the Kelowna area, but like a good Canadian business that...

Dayle Sheehan (02:31)
Mm-hmm.

buy it. It's so good. So good.

Hmm.

Jamie (02:47)
If you haven't

tried it, it's available in tons of grocery stores in this area. I don't know about the rest of Canada, but I'm just saying it made me immediately want to support her. She just told me that she loves my podcast, listens every week. I immediately was like, I need to reciprocate. I need to go buy her salad dressing. It was a good reminder that her business exists. Cause like, I already know I like her product. I already know that I wanted to buy her salad dressing. I just forgot about it for a second. So it's just, you know, like her bringing that to me.

Dayle Sheehan (02:56)
Yes.

I'm sorry.

Jamie (03:15)
reminded me that her business exists. And I was like, oh, this is such like interesting psychology to take to like business, like the law of reciprocity. Like as soon as she paid me a compliment, I wanted to pay her a compliment. wanted to, as soon as she told me she supported my business or my podcast, I wanted to go support her business. she doesn't have a podcast, but you know what I'm saying? Like it's amazing how we immediately.

Dayle Sheehan (03:36)
Absolutely.

I Want it

yeah, I want to support the person but I also want to be their friend I want to learn more about them your you know what it does for me It tells me that we are in some kind of alignment with each other like we're each other's type Because she like like our podcast is quite personal to us So somebody likes and listens to our podcast We're like well they have the same interests because they wouldn't listen if they didn't like what we talked about so to me like

Jamie (03:46)
Totally.

Yes. Yes.

Dayle Sheehan (04:08)
particularly with that compliment, it tells me a lot about the person's personality and like just my ego or whatever it is. like, I love you. You're amazing. I knew I liked you the first time, but now I know for sure, you know, like that's what it does is it absolutely like connects you to the person in a different

Jamie (04:18)
Nice.

Totally.

Dayle Sheehan (04:31)
Yeah. And well, and it's funny because with compliments, will, the bolder my fashion choices are, the more wild my shoes are or my earrings are or my whatever it might be. Darren will say to me like, ⁓ where'd you get those shoes? because you can tell it's so out of his comfort zone for me to be wearing these metallic shoes or like, you know, mom comfort zone because she's like a tomboy and it's something very feminine. She's like,

Jamie (04:49)
you

Hmm.

Dayle Sheehan (05:00)
my God, that dress looks like, you know, very frilly. Cause she doesn't like frilly, you know, it's not her thing. So whatever is out of that person's comfort zone. And those are the things that when I go into public, if you follow me on Instagram, you'll know about my cowboy boot collection. And like my cowboy boots are like metallic gold, metallic pink. ⁓ They're bright colors. There's just tons of choices and they're always quite bold. And so whenever I wear them,

Jamie (05:04)
I'm sorry? Yeah?

Dayle Sheehan (05:28)
doesn't matter which pair, but specifically the gold ones. People will stop me at a concert at an event, no matter where I'm wearing them. like 20 people will stop me to say, I love your boots. I love your boots. Where'd you get your boots? And it's so funny because like I could take Darren's comments of what he's uncomfortable with. Because like he doesn't want to wear metallic boots. Fair enough. ⁓ And what he thinks is wild and crazy.

If I had listened to him and not wore the boots, because I was like, these don't, he thinks these are ugly or he thinks these are too crazy. I would not have gotten to like start up five conversations with women in lineups for the bathroom, for the food, for the drinks.

Jamie (06:15)
But

had no one complimented you on those boots, you might still be believing that they're ugly.

Dayle Sheehan (06:22)
Exactly, exactly. So like the point of it is, and like I say to Darren all the time, I'm like, he and now he even knows he's like, ⁓ these are going to be the ones that everybody stops you about. Like instead of saying to me, ⁓ instead of saying to me, ⁓ those are kind of wild and crazy at the house. Before we leave, he says, he'll say to me like, you're gonna get 25 compliments on those tonight. And I'm like, well, now we were all reframing how we look at my crazy fashion choices. And

The other thing I said to him, I'm like, literally, the more you think it's too much, the more everybody else likes it. So you know what you aren't? My fashion guru. And he knows that. He wears black t-shirts and jeans. So we're not dressing the same. He doesn't even want me to dress.

Jamie (07:01)
100 %

But isn't that true in business too? Like if somebody thinks your food is disgusting and you're a restaurant owner, well, they're not your person.

Dayle Sheehan (07:09)
Yes! Yes!

Exactly. Well, that's just it. Like some people like different ethnic types of food and some people like Italian food and some, you know, I'm not a huge Italian food lover. So whenever I go to an Italian restaurant, I don't not like it, but I don't think that was the best meal I ever had. It doesn't mean that the Italian restaurant wasn't absolutely incredible, but I'm not a huge Italian food lover. It's just not my thing. I don't really like pasta. So unless the Italian restaurant can come up with a salad I love or

a chicken dish that I love, I'm probably not gonna rave about it. But I'm not their ideal client. You want somebody that loves pasta if you're a pasta restaurant.

Jamie (07:56)
Yeah, well, and I started thinking long and hard about this last night about how she complimented me and how psychologically something inside of me shifted and how you can take this lesson and put it towards business. And I'm thinking of other times in my life when people that have mastered that relationship capital thing. And a good example for me is my husband, Ray, every time we go to a restaurant, if he likes his meal, which is almost every time.

He always says on the way out compliments to the chef like he'll tell the hostess compliments to the chef or like He'll leave sometimes if it's like an open kitchen. He'll go find the chef and see like compliments to the chef And you know what it does? Everybody i'm telling you there isn't a soul on this planet that's not like oh he's the nicest guy ever because Even the hostess at the you know small little moment pop Soup and sandwich shop is like oh he's a great guy. I love him

Dayle Sheehan (08:31)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, that was incredible. Yeah.

Totally. Absolutely.

and he becomes a regular, becomes somebody they remember his order that he becomes somebody they like bake fresh buns for, even when they weren't going to have fresh buns, but they know he likes them and they comes in on Tuesdays. Like, it's amazing how the world starts wrapping around you when you become your ideal client.

Jamie (09:11)
And the kids just

read this about him that when they go to Starbucks, like he drives them to school and sometimes they stop at Starbucks. And the kids were laughing because they're like, he doesn't even place an order. They say, would you like the regular? Or would you like, you know? And they couldn't believe that. That was the first time in their life that they had ever witnessed such a thing. And I'm like, it's because he has built this relationship capital where he probably goes in every...

Dayle Sheehan (09:27)
Yeah. Yeah, totally.

Mm-hmm.

Jamie (09:39)
couple of days and says nice things, how's your summer, how's your weekend, you guys made a great cup of coffee today, I don't know what gets said. Whatever it is, it's this like, what it does to people psychologically and how magnetic that is. So, like there's a magnetism to kindness and compliments and.

Dayle Sheehan (09:44)
Mm-hmm.

Whatever. Yeah, you're nothing.

Absolutely. Mm-hmm. ⁓

Jamie (10:04)
And I'm not just saying this to like use it to your advantage, actually mean it when you say it, but like how many times have you thought something but never shared it? Like I can tell you a million times I've been walking down the street and been like, cute dress, love that. I, you know, I had a great meal. Whatever your example is, I love that girl's business. I love her marketing. I love those branch, the brand shoot she did. I think it all the time, but do I always vocalize it to that person? Not always.

Dayle Sheehan (10:12)
I'll be with you.

Not always.

Yeah, it's hit and miss. Absolutely.

Jamie (10:30)
But I'm like, that's a missed opportunity, even if it gets me nothing, just to tell

that person. Because you could be the girl thinking your cowboy boots are ugly. If no one tells you, then they're nice.

Dayle Sheehan (10:40)
100 % and then put them away forever.

Put them away forever because you're like they they just my husband said it and then nobody else said nice things. And I was on the fence on them because they were a little wild and crazy already. And that's how we all feel about our businesses. You know, like part of part of this whole thing, we had a nice hiatus over summer and get took four weeks off and like, it felt good not to have to podcast it felt like we had no homework to do we didn't have something looming. And then

Jamie (10:47)
Exactly!

Well, we didn't have a, yeah.

Dayle Sheehan (11:09)
And like, I brought it up to you that I was like, do you think our podcast is like, cause we're always auditing our businesses and saying like, where are we getting ROI? Where are we? ⁓ what's working? What's not working? Yeah. Where do we make money? Where do we drain money? What's, you know, all the things. So we're constantly looking at that. And it's like, do, does our podcast pay us enough? Does our podcast, you know, is it worth it for our time and all the things that go into it? Blah, blah, blah.

Jamie (11:18)
What's working, what's not working? Yeah.

Dayle Sheehan (11:38)
And so I wanted to revisit this conversation before we ended up ⁓ recording our pod, like continue recording after summer. And it was like, you said, well, no, this lady said to me just in the last few days that this is what she thinks of our podcast. And the minute we both heard it, we're like, okay, well then we got to keep going. Because truthfully, we always get good feedback from our podcast.

Jamie (12:03)
Totally.

Dayle Sheehan (12:08)
but we hadn't put out a podcast in four weeks. So nobody's talking to us about our podcast. We're not doing our podcast. We're out of practice. We're out of, you know, sync with it. And it just felt like, okay, that's the sign from the universe that we needed that she gave us. So thank you by the way. And the other thing that I, she gets a whole podcast now. The other thing that I think about a compliment,

Jamie (12:23)
Yeah, thank you. And I hope she's listening and feeling like, they mentioned me at the broadcast.

Dayle Sheehan (12:37)
that instead of going through the world what it does is it reminds us to stop going through the world to be like ⁓ I hope I don't look that Frazzled today. I hope you know this doesn't happen that bad that bad thought here bad thought there if you start looking for reasons to give someone a compliment You will start seeing positive parts of the world your life other people everything you know like I

Jamie (12:57)
Mm-hmm.

Dayle Sheehan (13:07)
There was somebody recently that he is the kind of person that he accepts people with open arms. Every single person that comes into his path, he accepts with open arms. And he kind of has this open standing at like a pub. And he says, come see me on Thursday nights. I'm always at this pub. And it's just a networking event that this man does every single week. And he doesn't care who shows up because he likes everybody that shows up.

for the reasons that they are likable. Yes, some of the people are quirky, some of the people are always late, some of the people, you know, are cranky, whatever they might be, but everybody has good qualities and he's happy to see the good in those people, every person that shows up. And I think to myself, every time I've ever spent time with him, I'm like, you have such a diverse, interesting group of people and you bring out the best in people because you are open.

Jamie (13:44)
Okay.

Dayle Sheehan (14:05)
to seeing the best in them versus seeing the things that other people might find just too annoying to put up with that person or too weird to put up with that person. And like, I always just think what a great quality that doesn't come naturally to most people. Cause like the minute we have like any kind of resistance towards somebody, whether they don't feel like our type of person, whether they have a different political view, like whatever it might look like, it just feels like, ⁓ yeah, that person's not right for me.

Jamie (14:18)
Totally.

Dayle Sheehan (14:34)
And you can move away from them, never learn another thing about them, but they might have a whole other side to them that deserves the compliment, deserves to be, you know, celebrated or really them to be really enjoyable to you because of, know, so it's a reframe.

Jamie (14:51)
Yeah. I also think it's like

we've been such so like programmed as a society to really make it known when we're unhappy. But what about when we're happy? Like, you know, people get onto their social media and are like, my God, the guy that was speeding behind me today at the, you know, in the school zone, what a loser. Like that's literally my Facebook feed or you go on Yelp and

Dayle Sheehan (15:02)
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Yes.

Jamie (15:19)
It is very hard to find something that has positive reviews because everyone is really hell bent on getting in that negative review. They had a bad experience. They are mad. They want you to know that you should also never stay at this hotel because it is horrible. But like, what about the, what about the times where you had like an amazing experience? Does anyone make time to go celebrate that? Does anyone say like, wow, the service at ABC company is just absolutely exceptional.

Dayle Sheehan (15:29)
the way.

Yeah, for sure.

for sure.

Mm-hmm.

Jamie (15:48)
I think for me, it was just like this really great reminder that compliments are contagious. So there's that. So like, if you get a compliment, you immediately want to compliment somebody else. like more kindness in the world is a good thing, not a bad thing. just like start the chain reaction by complimenting somebody today and rewiring our brains to see the good and not just to see the bad.

Dayle Sheehan (15:51)
Yeah.

So do I.

Absolutely.

Jamie (16:16)
And how can we take those lessons and help grow our businesses and help grow our network and help grow our happiness and help grow, you know, help our kids also see the like good and stuff. And, you know, all of these things are just like, yes, great business lessons and so much value there, but also in our personal lives, like how, how could this change your personal life if you literally just gave one compliment to that?

Dayle Sheehan (16:25)
Mm-hmm.

Absolutely.

Oh, I think people's lives will immediately change. And like, we'd love to hear from you this week. If you go out and like make a deal with yourself that you're going to give one compliment a day for the first week, we see you next Thursday. That would be amazing. And then we want to hear from you on how did it change your day? How did your vibes get higher? Because the thing is, is if you're the person walking through the world, smiling, saying hello, saying I love your earrings.

Jamie (17:10)
Okay.

Dayle Sheehan (17:13)
saying thank you for this great cup of coffee, it's the best one I've ever had, whatever it looks like. ⁓ Believe me, you're going to get so much good flooding back that maybe isn't even attached to this, maybe is attached to this, but is just like when you're vibrating at a higher, you know, vibe kind of thing.

And we want to hear all your stories because we know that this one is going to be like almost an immediate chain of events for you.

Jamie (17:46)
Yep, can't wait to hear all about it. Bye guys.

Dayle Sheehan (17:49)
Have a great day. See you guys next week.