WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.799 --> 00:00:04.260 Big news. I've retired from services. 2 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:08.080 Yeah. I no longer have a social media management agency. And in 3 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:11.679 this episode, I'm gonna talk through, that 4 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:15.125 change, how I came to that decision, how I continued to 5 00:00:15.125 --> 00:00:18.965 market my business through it all, and what's next 6 00:00:18.965 --> 00:00:22.805 for me. I'm gonna also share some lessons learned so that you 7 00:00:22.805 --> 00:00:26.244 can get some insights. But my hope is well, if you're anything like me, you 8 00:00:26.244 --> 00:00:29.919 just like being nosy. And, also, I hope that it inspires 9 00:00:29.980 --> 00:00:33.579 and encourages those of you who are also marketing your business as you're 10 00:00:33.579 --> 00:00:37.040 pivoting as well. So let's get into the episode. 11 00:00:37.340 --> 00:00:40.320 This is the mindful marketing podcast episode 321. 12 00:00:41.205 --> 00:00:44.805 I'm on a mission to help you connect more, scroll less, and grow 13 00:00:44.805 --> 00:00:48.645 together. This episode is brought to you by Sked Social. If you 14 00:00:48.645 --> 00:00:52.405 wanna give your brand a little glow up with Sked Social, it plays 15 00:00:52.405 --> 00:00:56.250 nice with tools like Canva and your branding stays on point 16 00:00:56.250 --> 00:00:59.550 across all of your multiple social media platforms. 17 00:00:59.930 --> 00:01:03.770 Plus, Sked Social totally understands that switching from one tech tool to 18 00:01:03.770 --> 00:01:07.530 another can be kind of a nightmare. So they're letting you just 19 00:01:07.530 --> 00:01:11.105 jump in now and pay later when your current contract is 20 00:01:11.105 --> 00:01:14.945 up. No strings, just vibes. Terms apply. Click the link 21 00:01:14.945 --> 00:01:18.485 in the show notes for details. Alright. So let's talk about 22 00:01:18.545 --> 00:01:22.085 marketing through a pivot. And I'm gonna talk through my pivot because 23 00:01:22.870 --> 00:01:25.750 I tried to put a date on it and I think the date that I 24 00:01:25.750 --> 00:01:29.350 knew that I needed to pivot was when the retreat happened last year, the 25 00:01:29.350 --> 00:01:32.710 Savvy Social Retreat. That was in November last 26 00:01:32.710 --> 00:01:36.550 year. But really this all started the second I 27 00:01:36.550 --> 00:01:39.925 got pregnant. And I was talking to one of my mentees about this in the 28 00:01:39.925 --> 00:01:43.685 mentorship program. And she was like, Andre, I feel like you need to do a 29 00:01:43.685 --> 00:01:47.365 lessons learned episode or a things I was wrong about when it 30 00:01:47.365 --> 00:01:51.100 comes to babies episode because there were a lot of things that 31 00:01:51.100 --> 00:01:54.780 I assumed would happen when I had a kid, that 32 00:01:54.780 --> 00:01:58.460 went differently. And then especially my second kid totally rocked my 33 00:01:58.460 --> 00:02:01.820 world, changed my life. Like, my first kid, I got 34 00:02:01.820 --> 00:02:05.475 pregnant in, 2021. I had her in 35 00:02:05.635 --> 00:02:09.395 2022. So really, ever since I got pregnant with her in 2021, I've 36 00:02:09.395 --> 00:02:13.075 been on this pivoting journey. The second that I 37 00:02:13.075 --> 00:02:16.755 knew I was pregnant, my morning sickness, which lasted all 38 00:02:16.755 --> 00:02:20.535 day, knocked me out. Like, I thought I would have time. 39 00:02:20.640 --> 00:02:24.180 Right? My husband and I tried to get pregnant intentionally for 40 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:28.160 probably about 9 months before she was born. And 41 00:02:28.160 --> 00:02:31.860 I figured the whole time in the back of my mind is, like, you know, 42 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:35.760 when I get pregnant, then it'll be like a 9 month runway before things change 43 00:02:35.760 --> 00:02:39.595 in my business. No. The second I got pregnant, my exhaustion 44 00:02:40.295 --> 00:02:43.655 went up, my energy went way down, and I was 45 00:02:43.655 --> 00:02:47.495 nauseous all day. So I had to change the level of input in my 46 00:02:47.495 --> 00:02:50.235 business. Okay. So thing number 1. 47 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:55.040 Baby 1 came along. She's great. She was actually a very easy baby. 48 00:02:55.040 --> 00:02:57.920 Looking back, I'm like, oh, I just had it easy. I was like, what is 49 00:02:57.920 --> 00:03:01.680 everyone complaining about? She didn't really sleep through the night, but she 50 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:04.660 would just wake up. I'd feed her a bottle. She'd go right back to sleep. 51 00:03:05.075 --> 00:03:08.595 Very, like, stoic baby. She did laugh a lot too, 52 00:03:08.595 --> 00:03:12.355 but she didn't really cry. Even when she went and got shots 53 00:03:12.355 --> 00:03:16.035 at the doctor kinda thing, the doctor would be like, oh, she's not really crying. 54 00:03:16.035 --> 00:03:19.095 She'd do a little like, and then be over it in a second. 55 00:03:19.580 --> 00:03:23.260 That was her. Right? So, my husband and 56 00:03:23.260 --> 00:03:26.700 I, around 15 months, which is a magical age, by the 57 00:03:26.700 --> 00:03:30.459 way, around 15 months, especially if you have a girl. 15 months, we were 58 00:03:30.459 --> 00:03:34.220 like, we should try again. The second we had that thought, I 59 00:03:34.220 --> 00:03:37.795 was pregnant again, with baby 2. 60 00:03:37.795 --> 00:03:41.395 So 15 months into having baby 1, pregnant again with 61 00:03:41.395 --> 00:03:44.695 baby 2. For context too, 2022, 62 00:03:45.315 --> 00:03:49.155 the year that I had my oldest daughter, was my best year 63 00:03:49.155 --> 00:03:52.970 in business ever. Ever. Like, I'm talking we 64 00:03:52.970 --> 00:03:56.510 almost had $900,000 of revenue that year. Okay? So, 65 00:03:57.290 --> 00:04:00.330 I was living large. I was like, this is great. I can run an agency. 66 00:04:00.330 --> 00:04:04.010 I can run the Savvy Social School. I can run-in mentorship. I'm speaking. 67 00:04:04.010 --> 00:04:07.685 I'm doing the podcast. I'm doing YouTube videos. It's all fine. And I was doing 68 00:04:07.685 --> 00:04:11.204 all of that on 20 hours a week. We had about 20 ish clients in 69 00:04:11.204 --> 00:04:14.985 the agency. I had about 10 team members. Okay? Life was great. 70 00:04:16.165 --> 00:04:19.925 Then as soon as I got pregnant with my second kid, 71 00:04:19.925 --> 00:04:23.540 same thing happened. I was expecting it to take some time, you know, 72 00:04:23.540 --> 00:04:26.919 because it took some time with the first one. Plus, I had a retreat 73 00:04:27.300 --> 00:04:30.740 that winter that I've been planning for a year over a 74 00:04:30.740 --> 00:04:34.580 year. But I got pregnant, on purpose, but it was 75 00:04:34.580 --> 00:04:37.885 like it happened 3 seconds after we thought about it. And, 76 00:04:38.125 --> 00:04:41.825 second baby, same thing. Morning sickness, just all day. Nauseous, 77 00:04:42.045 --> 00:04:45.805 all day. Energy levels, completely depleted. So again, I had to adjust 78 00:04:45.805 --> 00:04:49.485 my schedule, my input to be able to manage 79 00:04:49.485 --> 00:04:53.039 that. Okay. So I'm giving all this context to lead up 80 00:04:53.039 --> 00:04:56.180 to the decision of pivoting in my business 81 00:04:56.879 --> 00:05:00.400 because it wasn't from a place of inspiration. And I think 82 00:05:00.400 --> 00:05:04.099 that marketers like myself, we try to play the glossy 83 00:05:04.159 --> 00:05:07.685 picture of, oh, I woke up one day and I was inspired 84 00:05:08.384 --> 00:05:12.224 to change my business. And that can happen to some people. But I 85 00:05:12.224 --> 00:05:16.064 think most of us make changes because we have to. Like, 86 00:05:16.064 --> 00:05:19.905 we literally have to in our business. And I had to in this instance, though 87 00:05:19.905 --> 00:05:23.500 I became inspired through the process. Okay. So the first 88 00:05:23.880 --> 00:05:27.319 thing that caused me to wanna pivot is my 89 00:05:27.319 --> 00:05:30.840 babies. I love them, but my second baby is was very 90 00:05:30.840 --> 00:05:34.680 challenging for me. She was, I'm gonna say it, kind of 91 00:05:34.680 --> 00:05:38.384 colicky the first like 2 months. She's definitely 92 00:05:38.444 --> 00:05:42.125 mellowed out now. She's 5 months old. Mellowed out now, 93 00:05:42.125 --> 00:05:45.645 but she's a needier baby. So she needs lots of 94 00:05:45.645 --> 00:05:49.004 attention. She wants lots of hugs. She wants lots of 95 00:05:49.004 --> 00:05:52.629 cuddles, especially from mama, which is cute 96 00:05:52.629 --> 00:05:56.330 and, frustrating at the same time. And 97 00:05:56.389 --> 00:05:59.909 on top of all that, I now have a very vivacious 2 year old who 98 00:05:59.909 --> 00:06:03.590 is nothing like she was a baby. Like, baby years easy, she's 99 00:06:03.590 --> 00:06:07.205 making up for it as a toddler. Literally, the other day, she took 100 00:06:07.205 --> 00:06:10.485 paper towels out of my hand, threw them on the floor, then turned and smiled 101 00:06:10.485 --> 00:06:13.044 to me and said, pick it up, mommy. And I was like, am I being 102 00:06:13.044 --> 00:06:16.805 bullied? But I can't help her cute little 103 00:06:16.805 --> 00:06:20.450 face. Okay. So babies totally changed the way 104 00:06:20.450 --> 00:06:24.210 that I do business. The second thing that shifted my perspective on a 105 00:06:24.210 --> 00:06:27.970 lot of things was the retreat. Being in the room with 106 00:06:27.970 --> 00:06:31.805 some really smart freaking business owners, we're all talking. We're 107 00:06:31.805 --> 00:06:35.645 all masterminding about our business. And the idea for me that kept coming up 108 00:06:35.645 --> 00:06:39.245 is that I have found my enough spot. I 109 00:06:39.245 --> 00:06:42.065 could very clearly see what a large agency 110 00:06:43.190 --> 00:06:46.870 would look like. You know, double the client list, get more team 111 00:06:46.870 --> 00:06:50.710 members, be really aggressive with marketing, do a speaking circuit. I could see 112 00:06:50.710 --> 00:06:53.850 that vision for myself. And at the same time, 113 00:06:54.070 --> 00:06:57.750 my life perspective, my personal values have 114 00:06:57.750 --> 00:07:01.205 shifted because of my family. I suddenly didn't 115 00:07:01.265 --> 00:07:04.545 want to do those things, even though I could see the future and I could 116 00:07:04.545 --> 00:07:08.245 see that I could do them. It would come at the sacrifice of my family, 117 00:07:08.385 --> 00:07:12.180 and I didn't wanna do that. Plus, I was in 118 00:07:12.180 --> 00:07:16.020 the very early stages of growing our family. And as much 119 00:07:16.020 --> 00:07:19.220 as even if I wanted to do that, my capacity at the that time, I 120 00:07:19.220 --> 00:07:22.280 couldn't do it. In January of 2024, 121 00:07:23.460 --> 00:07:27.165 I decided to close the Savvy Social School to new members. And I 122 00:07:27.165 --> 00:07:30.925 released that episode here on the podcast. You can scroll back and take a listen 123 00:07:30.925 --> 00:07:34.685 to it. I released, the episode I I 124 00:07:34.685 --> 00:07:38.044 released the update to my members and then a couple months later released it on 125 00:07:38.044 --> 00:07:41.699 the podcast. And the idea was that I didn't have enough time to focus on 126 00:07:41.699 --> 00:07:45.539 marketing that product, so I was just gonna focus on delivering 127 00:07:45.539 --> 00:07:49.300 it. For any of you who have a membership, you know that most of 128 00:07:49.300 --> 00:07:52.995 the work is in delivering the product. Right? So I quietly 129 00:07:53.055 --> 00:07:56.755 retired. I shifted some of our programming to be more asynchronous 130 00:07:57.375 --> 00:08:00.735 to fit my lifestyle, k, and to fit my growing 131 00:08:00.735 --> 00:08:03.315 family. In April of 2024, 132 00:08:04.450 --> 00:08:08.290 I celebrated 10 years in business and I rebranded this podcast. So it 133 00:08:08.290 --> 00:08:12.130 went from being the Savvy Social podcast to the Mindful Marketing podcast. And 134 00:08:12.130 --> 00:08:15.810 a lot of this came from the conversations I was having at the Savvy Social 135 00:08:15.810 --> 00:08:19.455 Retreat. It felt to me at the time, and it still 136 00:08:19.455 --> 00:08:23.135 does to this day, it felt like a significant shift in 137 00:08:23.135 --> 00:08:26.915 my perspective on this business by renaming it. 138 00:08:27.135 --> 00:08:29.875 And I'm very happy with that decision. 139 00:08:30.770 --> 00:08:34.470 And it, to me, signifies the future of where this business is going. 140 00:08:35.410 --> 00:08:39.169 My people have identified themselves as a group 141 00:08:39.169 --> 00:08:43.010 that's not hustle all the time. That's not go go push push push all 142 00:08:43.010 --> 00:08:46.515 the time. That's not wake up at 6 AM, go to bed at 3 AM, 143 00:08:46.515 --> 00:08:50.035 and survive off 3 hours of sleep. Like, we have kids, we have families, we 144 00:08:50.035 --> 00:08:53.495 have responsibilities, we have we we're seeking a cozier 145 00:08:53.555 --> 00:08:57.235 lifestyle. One of the people I was talking to is, like, she doesn't have 146 00:08:57.235 --> 00:09:01.030 kids or even a family, But she's gardening, like she 147 00:09:01.030 --> 00:09:03.430 wants to do her thing for a couple hours a day and then spend the 148 00:09:03.430 --> 00:09:07.210 rest of time in her garden. And like, those are my people, right? It's like, 149 00:09:08.150 --> 00:09:11.750 cozy business is a buzzword that's going around, living the soft 150 00:09:11.750 --> 00:09:15.584 life. All of those things, those are my people. And that's 151 00:09:15.584 --> 00:09:19.125 really how I teach marketing anyways. I'm just labeling it. Okay? 152 00:09:19.825 --> 00:09:23.505 Following April, 10 years in business, rebranded the 153 00:09:23.505 --> 00:09:27.105 podcast. June July were my lowest profitable months 154 00:09:27.105 --> 00:09:30.850 ever. Negative profit, 1 month. 155 00:09:31.550 --> 00:09:35.390 So no profit at all. For those of you listening, negatives. I've, 156 00:09:35.790 --> 00:09:38.350 I was gonna say never. I think there was one other time where I had 157 00:09:38.350 --> 00:09:41.825 negative profit in my business. But that was 2018. 158 00:09:42.365 --> 00:09:46.045 So and I yeah. 2018, I can't remember if it was actually negative or felt 159 00:09:46.045 --> 00:09:49.485 negative at the time. But, it was another low point in the 160 00:09:49.485 --> 00:09:53.149 business. And June, July this year, lowest profit ever. 161 00:09:53.610 --> 00:09:55.930 Okay. Then in July, I got hit with a big tax bill. And for the 162 00:09:55.930 --> 00:09:58.410 first time in my business, I had to use my line of credit. Okay, I'm 163 00:09:58.410 --> 00:10:02.250 saying all of this to set the framework for the pivot. Because I 164 00:10:02.250 --> 00:10:04.589 do think that marketers, 165 00:10:06.165 --> 00:10:09.765 business owners, personal brands who are selling the thing, they're always 166 00:10:09.765 --> 00:10:13.525 painting it like this beautiful thing. Right? Oh, I changed 167 00:10:13.525 --> 00:10:17.125 my entire business because I woke up and felt inspired, or I just 168 00:10:17.125 --> 00:10:20.640 decided that this is what I wanted to do. And y'all, there are a lot 169 00:10:20.640 --> 00:10:24.400 of things outside of business that caused this shift, 170 00:10:24.400 --> 00:10:28.080 so I wanna set those up. Throughout all of this, I was 171 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:31.840 getting a lot of support, a ton of support 172 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:35.375 from the amazing Becky Mollenkamp, who is my accountability 173 00:10:35.595 --> 00:10:39.355 coach, and she works inside of my programs as well. And so having 174 00:10:39.355 --> 00:10:41.935 that sounding board really helped me, 175 00:10:43.195 --> 00:10:46.495 see that this wasn't like a I woke up kind of decision. 176 00:10:47.035 --> 00:10:50.710 I knew It's so funny because I do these private 177 00:10:50.710 --> 00:10:54.550 podcasts for my mentees in the mentorship program. I talked about selling my 178 00:10:54.550 --> 00:10:58.310 agency a year ago. Somebody asked me what my 10 year goal was, and 179 00:10:58.310 --> 00:11:00.790 I sat down, I journaled about it, I thought about it, and I said, you 180 00:11:00.790 --> 00:11:03.430 know what, I think it'd be great to, like, build up the agency to be 181 00:11:03.430 --> 00:11:07.225 able to sell it. And so I was consciously, unconsciously working 182 00:11:07.225 --> 00:11:10.904 towards that goal. I even signed up for a bunch of mailing lists 183 00:11:10.904 --> 00:11:14.425 that notify you when other agencies are for sale just to see, 184 00:11:14.425 --> 00:11:18.210 like, who's selling their agencies, how much does it cost. Like, 185 00:11:18.370 --> 00:11:21.650 it's so wild to me that I that was the idea that I had, and 186 00:11:21.650 --> 00:11:25.170 it basically came true. But June, 187 00:11:25.170 --> 00:11:29.010 July, terrible months. I knew as soon as those months hit 188 00:11:29.010 --> 00:11:32.630 that I had to make a big choice. Because my second baby 189 00:11:33.185 --> 00:11:36.945 and having a toddler is a very different experience from my first. Energy 190 00:11:36.945 --> 00:11:40.645 levels, not the same. Also, the market shifted. 191 00:11:40.865 --> 00:11:44.625 And so when people talk about reasons that they pivot, sometimes they 192 00:11:44.625 --> 00:11:48.470 don't mention the market shifts. And as a social media agency, 193 00:11:48.529 --> 00:11:51.589 especially those of you in social media agencies, listen up. 194 00:11:52.290 --> 00:11:55.890 The market is changing for the services that we offer. We 195 00:11:55.890 --> 00:11:59.410 are contending with AI. As much as you don't 196 00:11:59.410 --> 00:12:02.975 wanna think that AI is a competitor, it is. Okay? 197 00:12:03.275 --> 00:12:06.955 Is it a great competitor? No. But the idea that it could 198 00:12:06.955 --> 00:12:10.635 be great is what's causing people to cut back on their marketing budgets and 199 00:12:10.635 --> 00:12:14.235 to use AI even more than they ever have in the past. 200 00:12:14.235 --> 00:12:17.769 Right? So that's a huge, huge competition. 201 00:12:18.389 --> 00:12:22.170 The second thing is that marketing budgets are tightening. We're in economic 202 00:12:22.310 --> 00:12:25.990 downturn. The bubble from the pandemic with, like, things like PPC 203 00:12:25.990 --> 00:12:29.815 loans are starting to burst. Right? So businesses don't have as much 204 00:12:29.815 --> 00:12:33.575 cash. They're tightening their purse strings. They're pulling back on their 205 00:12:33.575 --> 00:12:37.335 marketing budgets. That affects agencies. It affects us differently. It 206 00:12:37.335 --> 00:12:41.095 doesn't mean that people aren't hiring agencies. It means different people are hiring 207 00:12:41.095 --> 00:12:44.070 agencies. And this is something that I talk a lot about with my mentees in 208 00:12:44.150 --> 00:12:47.830 the mixture program. The same customers you were serving 4 years 209 00:12:47.830 --> 00:12:51.270 ago may not be the same customers that you're gonna serve today. K. 210 00:12:51.270 --> 00:12:55.110 Strategies may be the same. Your selling process may be the same. All that may 211 00:12:55.110 --> 00:12:58.070 be the same, but the who's gonna be buying from you may be different. K. 212 00:12:58.070 --> 00:12:59.610 So you have to shift with the market. 213 00:13:01.625 --> 00:13:05.385 Okay. So those are the reasons that I pivoted. I talked about how I didn't 214 00:13:05.385 --> 00:13:08.905 wake up inspired. Like, life happened. Personal shifts were 215 00:13:08.905 --> 00:13:12.665 happening, with my values, my family, how 216 00:13:12.665 --> 00:13:13.485 I viewed this whole business as, like, a mindful marketing, company and not a social 217 00:13:13.785 --> 00:13:17.529 media, a mindful marketing, company and not a 218 00:13:17.529 --> 00:13:21.209 social media first company. Market 219 00:13:21.209 --> 00:13:24.510 shifts happening, economic downturns, the rise of AI, 220 00:13:25.529 --> 00:13:29.085 and then also new opportunities. So here's the other side of 221 00:13:29.085 --> 00:13:32.545 pivot that I actually think is really positive, is that 222 00:13:33.085 --> 00:13:36.765 while June July were some of my lowest profit months, I 223 00:13:36.765 --> 00:13:40.525 had some of my best opportunities come through June July. I hosted my 224 00:13:40.525 --> 00:13:44.100 first, digital summit, virtual summit. And it 225 00:13:44.100 --> 00:13:47.860 was literally the best thing ever because I was like, oh, oh, I can 226 00:13:47.860 --> 00:13:51.540 just do this. I was able to leverage my tenures in business, all of my 227 00:13:51.540 --> 00:13:55.335 connections. I was able to book sponsors. This wasn't even 228 00:13:55.335 --> 00:13:59.095 something that I considered before, and I had the idea. I 229 00:13:59.095 --> 00:14:01.815 executed the idea. I did it. And then I was like, I could definitely do 230 00:14:01.815 --> 00:14:05.275 this again and do it in a way that's, more 231 00:14:05.975 --> 00:14:09.670 budget friendly as well. K. So that's a new opportunity 232 00:14:09.670 --> 00:14:13.110 that arose. In July, I booked 3 paid speaking 233 00:14:13.110 --> 00:14:16.790 gigs for later this year. What they weren't on my radar. 234 00:14:16.790 --> 00:14:19.850 People just reached out to me. I wasn't pitching. I wasn't doing anything. 235 00:14:20.470 --> 00:14:24.305 Just my personal network. And then also leading into the Instagram 236 00:14:24.305 --> 00:14:27.605 boot camp. We had an amazing Instagram boot camp this year. 237 00:14:28.464 --> 00:14:32.005 And I just all of those things combined, I was like, oh, 238 00:14:32.225 --> 00:14:35.685 this is where I should be spending my time. So 239 00:14:36.279 --> 00:14:39.800 I made the decision to off board my 240 00:14:39.800 --> 00:14:43.560 clients. Now, in the process of all of this, I am 241 00:14:43.560 --> 00:14:47.240 still marketing my business. And I think as 242 00:14:47.240 --> 00:14:50.839 business owners, sometimes when we write the story, when we 243 00:14:50.839 --> 00:14:54.654 rewrite the story, it feels like, oh, we had 244 00:14:54.654 --> 00:14:58.035 this decision, we made this shift, and then we started marketing differently. 245 00:14:58.415 --> 00:15:01.795 But what is happening is I'm actually slowly shifting my marketing 246 00:15:02.334 --> 00:15:05.910 really over the past 9 months. Ever 247 00:15:05.910 --> 00:15:08.490 since the retreat in November of 2023, 248 00:15:09.830 --> 00:15:13.350 I have been changing my marketing slowly without even 249 00:15:13.350 --> 00:15:17.030 really realizing it. And I do think that as you're 250 00:15:17.030 --> 00:15:20.654 going through a pivot, especially as a personal brand, as soon 251 00:15:20.654 --> 00:15:24.355 as you start implementing things on the back end, it'll start reflecting 252 00:15:24.415 --> 00:15:28.095 and showing up in the front end of your business. And so as 253 00:15:28.095 --> 00:15:31.774 new opportunities come in, as your personal value shift, 254 00:15:31.774 --> 00:15:35.375 as the market shifts, you're naturally gonna start shifting your marketing as 255 00:15:35.375 --> 00:15:38.920 well. Now there are some challenges with 256 00:15:39.060 --> 00:15:42.820 marketing through a pivot. I'm going to talk about emotional 257 00:15:42.820 --> 00:15:46.420 first and then practical second. The emotional side to 258 00:15:46.420 --> 00:15:50.105 me was the hardest part. I've been doing this 259 00:15:50.105 --> 00:15:53.865 for 10 years. 10 years, I have been 260 00:15:53.865 --> 00:15:57.405 a social media manager. It is a big part of my identity 261 00:15:57.625 --> 00:16:01.385 to offer social media services. And I know technically 262 00:16:01.385 --> 00:16:04.890 speaking, you're not supposed to wrap up your identity with the work that you do, 263 00:16:04.890 --> 00:16:08.590 but mine is. It's very entangled in what I do. Okay? 264 00:16:09.450 --> 00:16:13.290 I am embedded with social media marketing, and I 265 00:16:13.290 --> 00:16:16.750 have been doing social media services for 10 266 00:16:16.890 --> 00:16:20.665 years. So it took me ever since the retreat, and 267 00:16:20.665 --> 00:16:23.885 Becky has notes on this because we've been talking about it for months. 268 00:16:24.745 --> 00:16:28.584 It took me months to come to terms with the fact that it was time 269 00:16:28.584 --> 00:16:32.265 to retire from services. I could tell that it 270 00:16:32.265 --> 00:16:36.000 was time to retire. And the analogy that really helped 271 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:39.680 me through this emotionally was thinking about sports. I'm a football girlie. 272 00:16:39.680 --> 00:16:43.520 Okay? Like, I'm not a football girlie in the sense that I 273 00:16:43.520 --> 00:16:46.500 am, committed to any particular team. 274 00:16:47.505 --> 00:16:51.265 Right now, I'm a Bills fan. I grew up a Falcons fan, also a 275 00:16:51.265 --> 00:16:54.945 Dolphins fan. I'm from Miami, lived in Atlanta. I now live in Fort 276 00:16:54.945 --> 00:16:58.625 Erie, which is near Buffalo, New York. So by proximity, I just cheer for that 277 00:16:58.625 --> 00:17:02.005 team. I've also been Patriots fan over the years, 278 00:17:02.199 --> 00:17:05.880 mostly out of spite, because everyone around me was not a 279 00:17:05.880 --> 00:17:08.839 patriots fan, and then they kept winning. And I was like, well, I'm just gonna 280 00:17:08.839 --> 00:17:12.119 go for the winning team. And then I also was a Saints fan for a 281 00:17:12.119 --> 00:17:15.160 long time, though I can't really tell you why I was a Saints fan, but 282 00:17:15.160 --> 00:17:18.675 I love the Saints. Okay. Anyways, Tom Brady 283 00:17:19.375 --> 00:17:23.135 is a quarterback. Right? And like, at the end of 284 00:17:23.135 --> 00:17:25.474 his career, he decided to retire. 285 00:17:26.655 --> 00:17:30.495 And it was celebrated. You've done a lot. You've won. 286 00:17:30.495 --> 00:17:34.179 You did the thing. Now you can retire. The beautiful thing about that 287 00:17:34.179 --> 00:17:37.779 is he retired and then he came back. And so that 288 00:17:37.779 --> 00:17:41.539 concept of, like, I'm an athlete. I am retiring from the sport, 289 00:17:41.539 --> 00:17:45.380 and I can always come back. That was the thing that helped me say 290 00:17:45.380 --> 00:17:49.005 goodbye to it. K? It's goodbye for now. It could be 291 00:17:49.005 --> 00:17:52.445 goodbye forever, but also there the door could be open for the 292 00:17:52.445 --> 00:17:56.205 future. And so I was able to, like, really accept 293 00:17:56.205 --> 00:17:59.970 that that was part of this process. So 294 00:17:59.970 --> 00:18:03.809 I'm retired from owning an agency. I also found the 295 00:18:03.809 --> 00:18:07.650 emotions of balancing my babies and my work to be 296 00:18:07.650 --> 00:18:09.990 and continues to be very difficult. 297 00:18:12.085 --> 00:18:15.925 I work from home. My husband and I switch off with the baby. My 298 00:18:15.925 --> 00:18:19.765 toddler's in daycare. So daycare drop off, it is 299 00:18:19.765 --> 00:18:23.365 emotional. But my my toddler loves daycare, and 300 00:18:23.365 --> 00:18:26.960 so it makes it a lot easier. The baby is 301 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:30.720 home, and my husband and I, we pass her back and forth, 302 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:34.560 basically, outside of our work hours. But I can hear her, and 303 00:18:34.560 --> 00:18:37.680 she's a mama's girl. I remember she wants to be held by mama. So like, 304 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:41.255 for the 1st 2, 3 months, she would just cry 305 00:18:41.715 --> 00:18:44.355 during the time where I was like, oh, I'm just gonna sit at my desk 306 00:18:44.355 --> 00:18:48.115 and record the podcast. And then I could hear her crying in the 307 00:18:48.115 --> 00:18:51.955 background, and it gutted me. I was like, oh my gosh. So there's so many 308 00:18:51.955 --> 00:18:55.650 days where I was supposed to be working, and I 309 00:18:55.650 --> 00:18:59.010 was just going and holding the baby. And I'm grateful that I could make that 310 00:18:59.010 --> 00:19:02.770 decision. And also, I found it very they're like, the mom guilt 311 00:19:02.770 --> 00:19:06.585 was through the charts. Not something I experienced with my first kid at all. 312 00:19:06.904 --> 00:19:10.265 There are some practical challenges of marketing through a pivot as 313 00:19:10.265 --> 00:19:13.945 well. I have been known as a social media manager or agency owner for 314 00:19:13.945 --> 00:19:17.625 10 years. It's the longest job I've ever had. And I still get 315 00:19:17.625 --> 00:19:21.410 tagged in posts all the time. I just got tagged in one last week. Someone 316 00:19:21.410 --> 00:19:24.930 said they were looking for a social media manager. And I had to politely say 317 00:19:24.930 --> 00:19:28.550 I'm not accepting clients right now because I'm not out yet as a retired 318 00:19:28.610 --> 00:19:32.290 agency owner. Right? Like, I'm still, you know, off 319 00:19:32.290 --> 00:19:35.725 boarding my clients out of respect my clients and my team. I haven't really announced 320 00:19:35.725 --> 00:19:39.485 anything yet. And so there is this period of time where it 321 00:19:39.485 --> 00:19:42.945 feels a little bit like you have to be quiet about it. 322 00:19:43.725 --> 00:19:47.245 And I do feel like this is maybe how, like, people who are 323 00:19:47.245 --> 00:19:50.860 separated or divorced feel where, like, people just 324 00:19:50.860 --> 00:19:54.620 assume you're still together and you're not, you have to either make the decision 325 00:19:54.620 --> 00:19:58.380 to tell them or pretend like it's still happening. That's those 326 00:19:58.380 --> 00:20:01.820 are the thoughts that I had. Like, I went to a networking event in 327 00:20:01.820 --> 00:20:05.665 July, after I just right after 328 00:20:05.665 --> 00:20:09.345 I told my team that we're closing down the agency. By September, we 329 00:20:09.345 --> 00:20:12.865 will, you know, be no longer working together. It was like a very emotional 330 00:20:12.865 --> 00:20:16.625 moment. And then I went to this networking event and people 331 00:20:16.625 --> 00:20:20.210 were like, oh, how's the business? How's your team? And I was like, 332 00:20:20.210 --> 00:20:23.429 it's great. I love your shoes. Like, quickly changing the subject. 333 00:20:23.570 --> 00:20:27.270 Right? Because it it's uncomfortable. It's uncomfortable. 334 00:20:28.050 --> 00:20:31.730 But I was able to continue marketing my business because of 335 00:20:31.730 --> 00:20:35.575 my personal brand, which I'll talk about in a minute. And 336 00:20:35.575 --> 00:20:38.635 also, I found that 337 00:20:40.375 --> 00:20:44.135 I was able to like, the challenge of being 338 00:20:44.135 --> 00:20:47.940 a personal brand also meant that I felt that dissonance a 339 00:20:47.940 --> 00:20:51.400 lot of times of, am I saying the right thing? K? 340 00:20:51.700 --> 00:20:55.140 I also find that marketing as a marketer adds another level of stress because a 341 00:20:55.140 --> 00:20:58.440 lot of people look to marketers for examples of what's possible. 342 00:20:58.660 --> 00:21:02.445 Marketers are held to a higher standard than other business owners because we're 343 00:21:02.445 --> 00:21:06.285 marketers, so we should know what we're doing more. And so I 344 00:21:06.285 --> 00:21:09.985 dealt with all of that practicalness of that as well as going through the pivot. 345 00:21:10.205 --> 00:21:14.040 Alright. So here's how I did it, marketing through a pivot. 346 00:21:14.600 --> 00:21:18.360 First thing, reflective marketing. I mirror what's 347 00:21:18.360 --> 00:21:21.740 happening in my business, and I strongly 348 00:21:22.120 --> 00:21:25.340 believe that businesses should take this approach, 349 00:21:25.880 --> 00:21:29.434 mirroring what's going on in your business. And I'm not talking 350 00:21:29.434 --> 00:21:32.815 about, you know, showing anything you feel uncomfortable 351 00:21:32.955 --> 00:21:36.335 with, but sharing the wins, answering the questions, 352 00:21:36.475 --> 00:21:40.220 sharing the values of what's happening in your business. This saved me. 353 00:21:40.440 --> 00:21:44.200 Because instead of focusing in on, you know, posting 354 00:21:44.200 --> 00:21:47.960 whatever I'm feeling that day, I would simply create 355 00:21:47.960 --> 00:21:51.100 content around the questions I was being asked. So here's an example. 356 00:21:51.725 --> 00:21:55.565 Someone asked me about link in bio. Is the link in bio 357 00:21:55.565 --> 00:21:59.325 on its way out? Does that sound familiar? Oh, right. That was the last 358 00:21:59.325 --> 00:22:03.165 episode I recorded. So even though I'm going through 359 00:22:03.165 --> 00:22:06.960 this whole pivot and I'm not sure what to talk about on social media, instead 360 00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:10.100 of freaking out about it, which is my first instinct, 361 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:14.480 I, really focused in on answering questions that people are 362 00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:18.000 asking me, reflecting the things that are happening in my business. The questions that people 363 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:21.540 are happening, asking, the the general, 364 00:22:22.534 --> 00:22:26.294 state of social media. So you'll notice for those of you paying attention, 365 00:22:26.294 --> 00:22:29.835 you'll notice over the past 6 plus months on my podcast, 366 00:22:30.534 --> 00:22:34.054 a lot of the podcast episodes come from what's 367 00:22:34.054 --> 00:22:37.760 happening on social media right now. Someone asked me, you know, is 368 00:22:37.760 --> 00:22:41.520 threads worth it? That's a podcast episode. Things like that. 369 00:22:41.840 --> 00:22:45.520 So reflective marketing helped save my butt as we're 370 00:22:45.520 --> 00:22:48.900 going through this. Second thing that really, 371 00:22:49.405 --> 00:22:53.105 I encourage people to always have, especially through pivots, 372 00:22:53.165 --> 00:22:57.005 is personal brands. I leaned very heavily on 373 00:22:57.005 --> 00:23:00.525 my personal brand as I was marketing through a pivot. And I think 374 00:23:00.525 --> 00:23:04.159 businesses that don't have personal brands will actually find it much more 375 00:23:04.159 --> 00:23:07.700 challenging to pivot their business model, and their business 376 00:23:07.840 --> 00:23:11.360 without a personal brand. I think ConvertKit is going through this right 377 00:23:11.360 --> 00:23:15.039 now. So y'all know ConvertKit, the email marketing tool, love 378 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:18.775 them. They're rebranding their name from ConvertKit to Kit, and 379 00:23:18.775 --> 00:23:22.295 they're adding in a bunch of features and doing some other things. But this is 380 00:23:22.295 --> 00:23:25.815 the second time they tried to rebrand. The first time, they just 381 00:23:25.815 --> 00:23:29.355 changed their name and got backlash, 382 00:23:29.655 --> 00:23:33.250 rightfully so. The name choice, if I remember 383 00:23:33.250 --> 00:23:37.090 correctly, was insensitive. It was like a cultural word that they had no 384 00:23:37.090 --> 00:23:40.610 business using. So they rebranded their name then had to 385 00:23:40.610 --> 00:23:44.450 rebrand back because they're an entity, not a personal brand. And 386 00:23:44.450 --> 00:23:48.255 it'd be very challenging because there isn't a personal relationship. 387 00:23:48.635 --> 00:23:52.155 Right? I think someone like Snoop 388 00:23:52.155 --> 00:23:55.995 Dogg I feel so weird saying it so, like, in 389 00:23:55.995 --> 00:23:59.755 such an educated way. Snoop Dogg is doing a fantastic job 390 00:23:59.755 --> 00:24:03.140 with his personal brand. I mean, who could have told 391 00:24:03.140 --> 00:24:06.980 me, 20 years ago that Snoop Dogg would be 392 00:24:06.980 --> 00:24:10.679 at the Olympics as a commentator? Right? Like, 393 00:24:11.140 --> 00:24:14.900 we're all rooting for him, cheering for him as a personal brand. The stuff 394 00:24:14.900 --> 00:24:18.565 that he does, we watch, we admire as a personal brand. And I 395 00:24:18.565 --> 00:24:21.925 think that when you are going through changes in your business, in your life like 396 00:24:21.925 --> 00:24:25.685 this as a personal brand, we connect as humans with other humans 397 00:24:25.685 --> 00:24:29.385 in a very different way than we connect with, like, abstract entities. 398 00:24:29.659 --> 00:24:32.880 And so I think that can really help as you're going through a pivot. Alright. 399 00:24:33.980 --> 00:24:37.419 Next thing. If you're going through a pivot, lean on the 400 00:24:37.419 --> 00:24:40.320 credit that you've built up in your business. 401 00:24:41.340 --> 00:24:45.045 I have a lot of financial credit in my business, meaning that I've I 402 00:24:45.045 --> 00:24:48.005 had some savings that I could lean on and I had to lean on as 403 00:24:48.005 --> 00:24:51.385 I was having babies. I had a lot of emotional 404 00:24:52.325 --> 00:24:56.085 credit that I put into the business, 10 years of building 405 00:24:56.085 --> 00:24:59.765 this. And I've also had a lot of karma from this. You know, 406 00:24:59.765 --> 00:25:03.540 I've I've built a lot of relationships. I've given a 407 00:25:03.540 --> 00:25:07.300 ton to my community. And so I think that my 10 408 00:25:07.300 --> 00:25:10.820 years of my investment into the business allowed me to be able to 409 00:25:10.820 --> 00:25:14.580 coast when I needed to, which was basically this past year. K? 410 00:25:14.580 --> 00:25:18.375 So I think that that speaks for a lot. That speaks 411 00:25:18.375 --> 00:25:21.515 for a lot. So it's not something that we can predict, 412 00:25:22.615 --> 00:25:26.455 but I do think that expecting the unexpected and being 413 00:25:26.455 --> 00:25:30.150 flexible is a skill that we can learn. Next thing, I 414 00:25:30.150 --> 00:25:33.830 leaned into my values. And so one of the things I recommend as 415 00:25:33.830 --> 00:25:37.590 business owners, if you do not have company values, write them 416 00:25:37.590 --> 00:25:40.950 down. Write them down. Study them, live 417 00:25:40.950 --> 00:25:44.550 them, breathe them. So for example, one of my values is positive 418 00:25:44.550 --> 00:25:48.295 communication. Positive communication to me means 419 00:25:48.295 --> 00:25:52.075 that I may over communicate a little bit. I send a lot of emails. 420 00:25:52.135 --> 00:25:55.815 I record videos. I tag people when I think, hey, I 421 00:25:55.815 --> 00:25:59.200 hope, you know, I hope they don't miss this. And I just 422 00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:02.960 assume that it's all very helpful until someone tells me 423 00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:06.720 otherwise. And so far, that hasn't happened. In fact, someone actually 424 00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:09.680 told me the other day that I need to send a few more reminders. And 425 00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:13.360 I'm like, yeah, I'm here for I can send more reminders. Okay? And 426 00:26:13.360 --> 00:26:17.055 so being able to lean into my values really helped 427 00:26:17.055 --> 00:26:20.755 me in this entire process. Being able to communicate 428 00:26:20.815 --> 00:26:24.575 with my community and in, my memberships and go, hey, I 429 00:26:24.575 --> 00:26:28.335 just had a baby, so my responses are gonna be a little 430 00:26:28.335 --> 00:26:32.030 bit slower than normal. That is a value of mine to be able to communicate 431 00:26:32.030 --> 00:26:35.410 in that way. I also have a value of fierce 432 00:26:35.470 --> 00:26:39.310 integrity. So when I'm making a change to the program, I make a video 433 00:26:39.310 --> 00:26:43.125 of now announcement about it. There will be a change. If that you're not okay 434 00:26:43.125 --> 00:26:46.645 with this, we will refund you. We will be happy to support you transitioning 435 00:26:46.645 --> 00:26:50.025 into another program if that's a better fit. Like, I 436 00:26:50.725 --> 00:26:54.165 stand by my values, and I think that's one of the things that helps me 437 00:26:54.165 --> 00:26:57.940 be able to pivot through times like this and still be able to, you know, 438 00:26:57.940 --> 00:27:01.780 put food on the the counter for my family. Alright. So flexibility is a 439 00:27:01.780 --> 00:27:05.620 learned skill. Expect the unexpected. Investing in my personal brand has saved 440 00:27:05.620 --> 00:27:09.365 me. I don't think faceless brands can do this. And lastly, community 441 00:27:09.425 --> 00:27:13.265 is everything. And not just my own community too. I do believe my 442 00:27:13.265 --> 00:27:17.025 own community has been amazing through this entire process, especially those of 443 00:27:17.025 --> 00:27:20.865 you where I took away a lot of the live sessions beginning of this year, 444 00:27:20.865 --> 00:27:24.690 turned them into asynchronous sessions. For about 6, 445 00:27:24.690 --> 00:27:28.450 7 months there, we had mostly asynchronous sessions. And now we're back 446 00:27:28.450 --> 00:27:31.910 to live sessions. Honestly, live sessions just work better for 447 00:27:32.050 --> 00:27:35.730 my personality and for helping my community. But to 448 00:27:35.730 --> 00:27:39.525 go through that with everybody and for them to be able to trust 449 00:27:39.525 --> 00:27:43.365 me and testing this out, to me is a testament of how strong my 450 00:27:43.365 --> 00:27:47.145 community is, but also being a part of so many other amazing 451 00:27:47.205 --> 00:27:50.025 communities. I was in a community 452 00:27:50.645 --> 00:27:54.290 with, Becky again, Becky Mollenkamp. She connected me 453 00:27:54.290 --> 00:27:57.970 with someone who was in her community. We got on a coffee chat, we started 454 00:27:57.970 --> 00:28:01.730 talking, and then this person joined my community as well. And 455 00:28:01.730 --> 00:28:05.570 to me, that is such a beautiful thing to see because of the 456 00:28:05.570 --> 00:28:09.325 power of connection. Another thing that I just love 457 00:28:09.625 --> 00:28:12.525 about this community is connecting people to each other. 458 00:28:13.305 --> 00:28:17.065 At the retreat, Nikki McKnight and Meg Casebolt just happened 459 00:28:17.065 --> 00:28:20.909 to sit next to each other. And then they started 460 00:28:20.909 --> 00:28:24.669 talking about romance novels, and they realized they had a lot in common. And 461 00:28:24.669 --> 00:28:28.429 now they're hosting a podcast together. It it is one of my 462 00:28:28.429 --> 00:28:31.649 favorite podcasts too. Like, I'm 463 00:28:31.789 --> 00:28:35.445 so thrilled that I was able to make that connection. 464 00:28:35.745 --> 00:28:39.585 And so being a part of other communities, having a community 465 00:28:39.585 --> 00:28:43.285 is everything to me, and I think that really supports, 466 00:28:43.665 --> 00:28:47.280 marketing through a pivot. So am I feeling a lot of feelings 467 00:28:47.280 --> 00:28:50.960 about this? Yeah. I mean, I'm happy that I took the time to make 468 00:28:50.960 --> 00:28:54.800 this decision. I'm proud of the work that I've done over the past, 10 469 00:28:54.800 --> 00:28:58.480 years. I'm excited for the future and I'm grieving the 470 00:28:58.480 --> 00:29:02.095 closure of my agency. Thankfully, I was 471 00:29:02.095 --> 00:29:05.855 able to work out some deals and, I'm gonna say the 472 00:29:05.855 --> 00:29:09.695 word sell my clients, but that doesn't that doesn't feel quite right. 473 00:29:09.695 --> 00:29:13.395 It's not quite what happened here. But for the sake of simplicity, 474 00:29:13.535 --> 00:29:17.330 I'll say this. 2 of my team members were able 475 00:29:17.330 --> 00:29:20.690 to continue working with my, clients. We worked out a 476 00:29:20.690 --> 00:29:24.450 deal. And so the continuation of service is happening for a lot of my 477 00:29:24.450 --> 00:29:28.105 clients, which I am beyond grateful 478 00:29:28.105 --> 00:29:31.865 for. They're they're going to go to a good place. They're gonna be 479 00:29:31.865 --> 00:29:35.705 well taken care of, which made the decision feel a lot 480 00:29:35.705 --> 00:29:39.145 better as well. But there is a grieving period, and I'm still 481 00:29:39.145 --> 00:29:42.525 grieving, the loss of that part of my business. 482 00:29:43.240 --> 00:29:46.220 You know, I may pull a Tom Brady and come back in the future, but 483 00:29:46.679 --> 00:29:49.980 for now, no services like that for me. 484 00:29:50.600 --> 00:29:54.059 So, Andrea, what's next? Well, 485 00:29:54.440 --> 00:29:57.260 I am focused on finding my people. 486 00:29:58.005 --> 00:30:01.765 People who want, I've been seeing a lot about cozy businesses lately, 487 00:30:01.765 --> 00:30:04.905 and I'm so attracted to that business model. 488 00:30:06.805 --> 00:30:10.025 Cozy businesses, small businesses. 489 00:30:10.645 --> 00:30:14.320 Maggie Patterson just rebranded her podcast about 490 00:30:14.320 --> 00:30:17.860 staying solo. Very attracted to that right now 491 00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:22.080 as someone who, you know, I'm remaining flexible to be 492 00:30:22.080 --> 00:30:25.840 able to be a mom and live my life and also build 493 00:30:25.840 --> 00:30:29.654 a business. But a lot of that right now means I can't sit at my 494 00:30:29.654 --> 00:30:33.335 desk for, you know, dedicated hours of a day. I kinda have to slot work 495 00:30:33.335 --> 00:30:36.235 in around baby nap schedules and daycare drop offs. 496 00:30:36.934 --> 00:30:40.475 So those people, if that resonates with you, you're my people. 497 00:30:40.695 --> 00:30:44.450 Thoughtful marketers as well. I am 498 00:30:45.150 --> 00:30:48.750 not a fan of hustling and 499 00:30:48.750 --> 00:30:52.590 and grinding until you die. I am 500 00:30:52.590 --> 00:30:56.270 a fan of doing things because they 501 00:30:56.270 --> 00:30:58.929 feel really good. I'm a fan of 502 00:31:00.005 --> 00:31:03.764 being of service. I'm a fan of, I'm 503 00:31:03.764 --> 00:31:07.304 not a fan of, like, fake timers 504 00:31:07.605 --> 00:31:11.284 and sales pages and that that sort of thing. And, like, I've tried all of 505 00:31:11.284 --> 00:31:15.030 that over the years and it never sat right with me. You know, one thing 506 00:31:15.270 --> 00:31:17.990 I didn't have this in my notes. But one thing that really stands out to 507 00:31:17.990 --> 00:31:21.750 me is there is a person who I found through Facebook 508 00:31:21.750 --> 00:31:25.430 group. I remember this so distinctly because I was on a 509 00:31:25.430 --> 00:31:28.725 webinar that this person was hosting supposedly 510 00:31:29.425 --> 00:31:33.105 in the chat commenting, commenting away, thinking that it was 511 00:31:33.105 --> 00:31:36.465 live and my question just wasn't getting answered. Join the 512 00:31:36.465 --> 00:31:40.005 program, paid way too much. Join the program, 513 00:31:40.065 --> 00:31:43.670 turns out this person teaches fake webinars 514 00:31:44.530 --> 00:31:47.890 and like taught the strategy of the fake webinar and how they set it all 515 00:31:47.890 --> 00:31:51.570 up. And I felt bamboozled. Bamboozled. And I was like, 516 00:31:51.570 --> 00:31:55.065 oh, no. I don't ever wanna do this. 517 00:31:55.225 --> 00:31:58.985 And it's moments like those where I go, man, I don't wanna 518 00:31:58.985 --> 00:32:02.345 be that kind of person and I'm still trying to figure out, like, where my 519 00:32:02.345 --> 00:32:06.184 boundaries are. For example, in my funnels, in one of my 520 00:32:06.184 --> 00:32:09.465 fun in a couple of my funnels, I do have limited time offers and I 521 00:32:09.465 --> 00:32:12.980 do use timers for those. Like timers in the emails, 522 00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:17.280 timers on the sales page. And I don't think there's 523 00:32:17.280 --> 00:32:20.800 anything wrong with that. As long as it's 524 00:32:20.800 --> 00:32:24.420 truly a limited time offer, I just want it to be for 1st customers 525 00:32:24.560 --> 00:32:28.315 only. Right? I don't feel I don't feel bad about that. But 526 00:32:28.315 --> 00:32:32.155 I do feel bad about lying about certain things like fake 527 00:32:32.155 --> 00:32:35.755 webinars. That doesn't sit right with me. So I'm I'm trying to find the 528 00:32:35.755 --> 00:32:39.455 space between, you know, how do we market our business 529 00:32:40.460 --> 00:32:44.000 in a way that's thoughtful and mindful and still 530 00:32:44.220 --> 00:32:47.820 uses human psychology in like a very 531 00:32:47.820 --> 00:32:51.440 positive way. Right? Encouraging action because we all need a little bit of encouragement 532 00:32:51.820 --> 00:32:55.415 and it just works. And, like, I'm never mad at, like, a limited time 533 00:32:55.415 --> 00:32:58.535 discount or a sale or, like, a Black Friday deal. I'm here for it. I 534 00:32:58.535 --> 00:33:01.915 love it. And so, yeah, it's finding that balance. Anyways, 535 00:33:02.775 --> 00:33:06.420 tactically, Savvy Social School is on. I know I kind of 536 00:33:06.420 --> 00:33:09.780 pulled back a little bit this year, but honestly, it's my favorite thing to 537 00:33:09.780 --> 00:33:13.620 do. And I was looking back through specifically for the Instagram boot camp, I 538 00:33:13.620 --> 00:33:17.380 was looking back through my notes from last year. And, in 539 00:33:17.380 --> 00:33:20.360 my boot camp debrief, I wrote down that 540 00:33:21.125 --> 00:33:24.825 the thing that excites me the most is live teaching. 541 00:33:25.764 --> 00:33:29.384 Live teaching. I love to get on a call, 542 00:33:30.164 --> 00:33:33.900 teach, have someone ask a question, answer their very specific question about 543 00:33:33.900 --> 00:33:37.600 their specific scenario, and have them have that, like, light bulb moment. 544 00:33:37.740 --> 00:33:41.180 I live for those moments. And so we've redone our 545 00:33:41.180 --> 00:33:44.620 schedule. The Tabby Social School is now open and 546 00:33:44.620 --> 00:33:48.085 available for people to join us. It'll be 547 00:33:48.085 --> 00:33:51.045 permanently open in now. I'm not gonna close it down again. At least I don't 548 00:33:51.045 --> 00:33:54.645 have plans to. And that's my main thing. That's my main thing. Join the Savvy 549 00:33:54.645 --> 00:33:58.105 Social School. I also have my mentorship program, which is like 550 00:33:58.245 --> 00:34:02.040 Savvy Social Pro. It is the level up for 551 00:34:02.040 --> 00:34:05.880 those of you who are professionals, your marketers, your social media managers, and 552 00:34:05.880 --> 00:34:09.480 it's a business coaching program. And so that is also my 553 00:34:09.480 --> 00:34:13.239 favorite thing. My members in there is a smaller group of very 554 00:34:13.239 --> 00:34:16.895 dedicated to building agencies. And, yes, I don't have an 555 00:34:16.895 --> 00:34:20.494 agency, but I am no longer a player on the team. I am a 556 00:34:20.494 --> 00:34:23.695 coach. And so I get to sit in the coach seat, which is like a 557 00:34:23.695 --> 00:34:27.455 different view. Right? Bird's eye view of what's going on in your business. 558 00:34:27.455 --> 00:34:30.675 And I get to take my 10 years of agency experience 559 00:34:31.489 --> 00:34:34.849 and coach and support and strategize with my mentees 560 00:34:34.849 --> 00:34:38.609 there. I will be hosting another retreat. I am in the very early 561 00:34:38.609 --> 00:34:42.449 stages of planning that. Stay tuned for 2025. As well as I 562 00:34:42.449 --> 00:34:46.210 have some other events planned. I love the virtual treat. I'm thinking about a 563 00:34:46.210 --> 00:34:49.864 one day event. I can't say much more other than 564 00:34:49.864 --> 00:34:53.545 that. And then I'll continue, teaching and speaking as well. I've 565 00:34:53.545 --> 00:34:57.225 got 2 in person events this fall. I've got a couple 566 00:34:57.225 --> 00:35:00.825 of, virtual events as well that I'm teaching as well. I 567 00:35:00.825 --> 00:35:04.279 just love them. Love them. So that's what's next for me. 568 00:35:05.220 --> 00:35:09.000 What will change in my marketing is that I'm no longer marketing my services. 569 00:35:09.299 --> 00:35:12.519 That page is hidden on my websites, not available. 570 00:35:13.299 --> 00:35:16.935 And I am now sending out referrals 571 00:35:16.935 --> 00:35:20.775 to social media managers that I know instead. So if you 572 00:35:20.775 --> 00:35:23.915 are going through a pivot, if you're thinking about going through a pivot, 573 00:35:24.455 --> 00:35:28.215 if you wanna like be prepared for a pivot in 574 00:35:28.215 --> 00:35:32.020 case that comes your way, I want you to be able to take 575 00:35:32.020 --> 00:35:35.859 this episode as inspiration for what's possible and get you 576 00:35:35.859 --> 00:35:39.319 a coach or a mentor. Like, find an anchor in all of this process. 577 00:35:39.859 --> 00:35:43.460 Being able to work with Becky Mollenkamp has been amazing. I know I've mentioned her 578 00:35:43.460 --> 00:35:47.255 a couple times now. I am a fan. Like, I am fangirling. She's been 579 00:35:47.255 --> 00:35:50.694 on podcast a couple of times. I just have found that entire 580 00:35:50.694 --> 00:35:54.295 process to be very helpful. And then lastly, I'll leave you with 581 00:35:54.295 --> 00:35:57.835 this. Don't get too caught up in what other people think or say, 582 00:35:58.934 --> 00:36:02.660 especially on social media. Social media is a lie. There's so 583 00:36:02.660 --> 00:36:05.960 many people out here pretending that they know what they're talking about and they don't. 584 00:36:06.420 --> 00:36:09.480 So if you need to do what's best for you, do that. 585 00:36:10.579 --> 00:36:14.195 As a former people pleaser, I I feel like I'm 586 00:36:14.195 --> 00:36:17.955 entering into the era of my life where I just don't care as 587 00:36:17.955 --> 00:36:20.935 much, and I can't wait until, like, I really don't give enough. 588 00:36:21.955 --> 00:36:25.655 Waiting, waiting. I will get there. I still care 589 00:36:25.795 --> 00:36:29.460 a lot about what people think, which I think is helpful, but also it 590 00:36:29.460 --> 00:36:33.300 held me back for a long time. And so my advice 591 00:36:33.300 --> 00:36:37.140 to you is you can do whatever you wanna do. You can do whatever you 592 00:36:37.140 --> 00:36:40.820 wanna do. And as long as you understand the consequences, both good and bad of 593 00:36:40.820 --> 00:36:44.665 that, do it. Go for it. Anyways, that's the episode for today. I 594 00:36:44.665 --> 00:36:48.425 know it's a little bit different, but thank you for tuning in. Coming up next, 595 00:36:48.425 --> 00:36:51.945 so I'm gonna be talking about rage baiting next week. This is 596 00:36:51.945 --> 00:36:55.785 another requested topic. Someone asked me what it is, and I was like, oh, this 597 00:36:55.785 --> 00:36:59.378 could be a podcast episode. So I'll talk about it, why it 598 00:36:59.378 --> 00:37:02.995 works, why I don't like it, and help you come to your 599 00:37:02.995 --> 00:37:06.612 own conclusion if you want to do it in your social media. 600 00:37:06.612 --> 00:37:10.229 In the meantime, make sure you, rate us on Apple Podcasts, 601 00:37:10.229 --> 00:37:14.025 on Spotify, helps keep us in the top 100 marketing podcasts. Leave a 602 00:37:14.025 --> 00:37:17.464 review of the podcast as well. Someone left a review and said they didn't like 603 00:37:17.464 --> 00:37:19.625 the sound of my voice. And I was like, you didn't have to say that. 604 00:37:19.625 --> 00:37:23.065 You could have just unsubscribed. So let's go ahead and bury that 605 00:37:23.065 --> 00:37:26.910 review please with some positive ones. And that's 606 00:37:26.910 --> 00:37:30.290 all, that's all for today's episode. I will see you next time.