September 16, 2024 • 35 mins
What if you could transform your career and your life by taking a leap of faith? That's exactly what Christina Williams did when she transitioned from corporate marketing to becoming a thriving solopreneur. Join us on the Marketing Happy Hour podcast as Christina, founder of Christina Williams Consulting LLC and Canva with Christina, shares her remarkable journey. You'll learn how she strategically balanced a remote job while meticulously planning her business, waited an entire year before unveiling it, and secured her first clients through bold pitches, including one for an interim PR manager role for her city. Christina’s story is a testament to the power of patience and determination in building a passion-driven business.
Effective collaboration and client selection can make or break a business, and Christina offers invaluable insights on these topics. We discuss the crucial distinctions between planners and doers, emphasizing how recognizing your strengths can foster successful partnerships. Discover the importance of having a trusted PR person for crisis situations and the benefits of being part of a referral network like BNI. Plus, you'll hear about the three follow-up rule in marketing, preferred communication methods, and the frustrations of social media engagement that doesn’t convert into business responses. Finally, get the inside scoop on "Canva with Christina," where Christina offers webinars, one-on-one training, and an informative LinkedIn newsletter to help you master Canva. Don't miss this episode filled with practical advice and inspiring stories for entrepreneurs and business owners alike!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Marketing Happy Hour podcast,
where we stir up the perfectblends of insights, strategies
and trends to quench your thirstfor marketing and business
success.
Join us every week as we pullup a chair pour out the latest
business innovations and mix insome expert advice from industry
leaders.
I am your host, shelbyMcFarlane, ceo of Shelby Company
(00:22):
Incorporated.
It's time to shake things up,stir up some creativity and sip
on success.
Welcome to the Marketing HappyHour podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hey guys, what's up?
It's Shelby here with theMarketing Happy Hour podcast,
and today I'm so excited aboutthis conversation.
Miss Christina Williams.
Hello, how are you today?
Hey, shelby, I'm doing good,thanks.
So me and Christina we metthrough B&I.
Of course, you guys hear metalk about B&I all the time.
(00:51):
You're probably like God, I'mso annoyed.
But you know what.
B&i is great, but we actuallymet through a B&I contact that
we have together, shell.
You guys have heard meinterview her.
She's also in the marketingworld and and Christina work
really well together and theywork on a couple of projects
together.
And then me and Christina, wejust are really good at sending
(01:11):
each other referrals and all ofthat.
But we're going to jumpstraight in.
Let's find out more aboutChristina.
She is the founder of ChristinaWilliams Consulting LLC.
It's a private marketing andpublic relations company based
in Fort Smith, arkansas.
She's also the founder of thebrand new Canva with Christina.
It is a service that empowersprofessionals to confidently
(01:34):
create in Canva via webinars,in-person trainings and so much
more.
So I want to know all about.
How did Christina get into thisworld of entrepreneurship and
what really kind of drew youinto it?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Right.
So I love being a solopreneurand thank you so much for having
me on this podcast to shareabout this and many other things
.
So my entry into thesolopreneur world I was working
in corporate marketing for along time 10 plus years in
corporate marketing and I wasgoing from, you know, one
(02:11):
corporate marketing position toanother and gaining such
valuable experience.
I loved my time working in thecorporate world and the skill
sets that I had.
I was like I did so many things, the skill sets that I had.
I was like I do so many things.
And when I was in corporateworld, it was like, okay, we
want you to focus in on this onething and just be really good
at it.
And it was so hard for me to dothat and I thought, okay, I
(02:35):
love helping people, I want tohelp more people with marketing
communications.
How can I do that but alsoutilize the skill set that I've
built, uh and on in all thesedifferent areas?
And so that's how I enteredinto the, the solopreneurship in
the business that I'm in today.
I uh actually was working aremote job and while I was
(02:58):
working the remote job, I wasfully behind the screen the
whole day, not interacting withanyone, and I was fully behind
the screen the whole day, notinteracting with anyone, and I
was like, okay, I know I want togo do this, I'm just going to
start planning for it.
So did the remote job and thenstarted working towards opening
my own business, my ownmarketing and PR business, and
so, five months later, saidgoodbye to the remote job and
(03:22):
launched Christina WilliamsConsulting.
To the remote job and launchChristina Williams Consulting.
One thing that I did is Iwaited a full year before
announcing to the world that Iwas doing this job, and I did
that strategically because Ijust wanted to make sure this is
something I could sustain andsomething that would be lasting
(03:42):
for me.
And after that full year I hadsuch success.
You know I tell people younever work harder for someone
than yourself.
And you know, as a fellowbusiness owner, you know you've
been in the game a lot longerthan I have.
You know that to be true.
You know I worked so hard on mybusiness and it's come back to
(04:04):
me tenfold the relationships,the clients that I get to work
with and the flexibility that Ihave.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I've never worked harder but I've never had more
fun.
Yeah, and I mean it's like anever ending job.
I mean people think, oh, I'mleaving a nine to five and I'm
going to go work for myself.
I mean, granted, I don't likeworking Fridays.
If I am working a Friday,you're super freaking special.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
But like.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I am still, you know, answering emails.
I'm still answering texts at 10o'clock at night, if I need to,
from clients.
So we're not really liketrading off like the nine to
five so so called whateverworkday, but like also we are
trading it for the love andpassion for what we do, as well
as like having flexibility andI'm like really impressed that
(04:51):
you waited a whole year to tellanybody, or like to really
launch it or quote unquote theyoung people called hard
launching now on social I'm likehard launching my relationship
or whatever that is now.
So like tell us how you marketedyourself.
I'm really interested to knowhow did you get business within
(05:11):
that one year?
You know, in a world full ofsocial media, in a world full of
like, we have to like telleverybody what we're doing, to
like really get our name outthere, and that kind of stuff.
So how did you get those firstfew clients?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
out there and that kind of stuff.
So how did you get those firstfew clients?
So I was really fortunate inthat at the time there was an
opening for a PR managerposition within the city that I
live in and I knew the PRmanager the former manager had
left and they probably neededsomeone there to come in in the
interim.
And so I went and I talked tothe city leaders and I pitched
(05:46):
myself and said you know, thisis something that I feel like
would be a good fit.
Here's what I can offer interms of value for your money.
And I got the job.
And so I became the interim PRmanager for the city and so
right away, I mean I got my LLCin July 2022, left my job in
(06:06):
October 2022, and started makingmoney in November.
I mean it was just that quick ofa turnaround for me, and so I
didn't have a lot of time toplan what my business was or
what it would look like, becauseI was feeling a need like that
for a client was or what itwould look like because I was
(06:27):
feeling a need like that for aclient.
And so, as I was doing that work, it got me.
You know, I was able to say hey, I'm doing this for the city
right now, and through that jobI was being able to be connected
to other people within thecommunity.
And you know, I call my city abig small town where it just
kind of gets around and, oh well, you're out on your own, now I
need help with this or I needhelp with that.
And so that's how it kind ofjust snowballed for me and I'm I
(06:52):
know I'm really fortunate inthat way, uh, because I didn't
have to just go out and just dothe constant hustle, uh and um.
So the referrals just doinggood work, it just doing good
work, it works.
Doing good work and being goodto people and doing the right
thing, it works.
And so you know, I've gottenmost of my business just by
(07:15):
referrals.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
I'm not putting myself really out there, but
just doing good work and peoplenoticing that and telling their
friends and co-workers about itnoticing that and telling their
friends and co-workers about it,and that's such a great
opportunity for people to thinkabout, because you know we're
always out here trying to sellourselves, especially in the
marketing sector.
Gosh, there's so many of us outhere.
You know many of us havemultiple facets of income that
(07:38):
we offer.
Some of us had niched down alot, but you know that's a great
example for anyone that'slistening.
That's like my business is slow.
I'm needing to fill somethinglike go on, indeed, like go on
and see if there's things outthere that they could fill the
part time positions, Like I'llgo and pitch myself to Indeed
(07:59):
people all the time that arehiring for social media managers
because I'm like, okay, well,500 bucks a month, you get me my
entire agency and we're doingthe same thing.
You're not having to pay deskfees, You're not having to pay
payroll, You're not having topay a lot of taxes and it's all
a write-off.
So you're going to spend themoney either way and sometimes
they'll buy it.
Sometimes they won't, because itreally kind of depends on what
(08:21):
they want, but people need toknow like that's just a unique
way of being able to feel voidand to grow your business and to
get that word about there.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
I think that's great absolutely and I I just love
that that.
You said you know, going outand seeking those opportunities,
they're there.
The worst that someone can sayis no, like they can just say no
.
Right, and you know.
But I found, especially as asolopreneur, asking, just asking
, you never know if the answeris going to be yes, and
(08:50):
sometimes it is.
Sometimes the answer is yes, soI always use the phrase, and I
like to use the phrase by chance.
Do you blank?
You know, and sometimes thechances are the answer is going
to be yes.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Yeah, I love that.
So talk about now that you'reout of that position, you're
full time CW.
What exactly like kind ofservices would you offer?
If I'm like, hey, I need helpwith marketing or I have a new
business, Like, what exactly areyou going to offer me as?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
a business, shelby, and anytime anyone asks me, I'm
like I know someone that doesthat and that is Shelby.
What I do love to do is I workwith governments, municipalities
.
I work with school districts,so you know some school
(09:41):
districts that may not havesomeone full time staff.
They can rely on someone likeme to help them write statements
or crisis communications,things like that.
I also build websites.
It really depends on the scaleof the site and what the client
is needing for their website.
(10:05):
I try to be really mindful ofmaking sure that you know if
it's something that I can do orif it's something that the scope
is just so big that maybe Ineed to refer out to someone
else to do that work.
And then I love doing socialmedia audits.
I love looking at people'ssocial media and providing them.
Really, I'm going to pair thatsocial media audit through a PR
lens as well.
And you're saying here's a gameplan for how you can go
(10:27):
approach awareness in yourcommunity, not only just online
but also through publicrelations and doing some kind of
grassroots efforts as well.
And then, of course, writingpress releases and all the
things that come into the PRworld.
So responding to crisiscommunications.
Something goes bad, somethinggoes south.
(10:49):
You need a statement.
Media is hounding you.
I will go on camera for you.
I will give you test andresponse statements to put if a
media person is asking you forsomething.
I will even write press releasefor you and send media
advisories and really help youtry to get the word out about
what you're doing, send mediaadvisories and really help you
try to get the word out aboutwhat you're doing.
(11:10):
So I love doing all of thosethings, especially, you know, pr
to me is you've got to have it.
You've just got to have it, andyou're going to always get in a
situation and businesses dowhere you just you need someone
in your back pocket, someonewho's call up and say, hey, I've
(11:30):
got this going on Bad Googlereviews as well.
People have called me and saidhow do I respond to this?
And I love crafting responsesyeah, and you know I love
crafting responses that I knowmy client is in the right and
this person, whoever they aregoing online and leaving a bad
(11:50):
Google review person, whoeverthey are going online and
leaving a bad Google review, andmy response is give the facts
but put them in their place andhelp them and help, you know,
really, really make my clientlook like the shining star that
they are, because they are andthey're right.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, there's nothing more satisfying to me than
writing a big professional FU ona bad Google review, Like
that's the exact wording.
I tell my clients too.
I'm like I'm going to write youa professional F, you we're not
going to say it.
We're not going to curse, we'regoing to be super professional
but also like, oh girl, I gotyour back, you know, like no
one's going to attack you again.
(12:23):
And I will say, like you know,I've had a few PR people on this
podcast and even kind of whatShell does, the strategy and
everything I attempted PR on acouple of political campaigns
that I have been on and I foundout real fast that it was not my
facet, that was not my niche.
I did not like that.
(12:44):
There's so much differencebetween people that plan and
people that do, and that's whatI've learned in my business is I
am more of like the doer, solike you and shell y'all-
referring to me to like do thework that you guys strategize
for your client and I appreciatethat, and it's something that
has taken me, I mean gosh.
(13:06):
I've been a business owner for12 years now and the first few
years I was like I want to wantto do everything, like I'm going
to be everybody's answer foreverything and, no, you know,
screw every other marketingperson.
And that's not even the truth.
I mean the last five years.
I finally realized, like I haveto work with other people, they
are better at certain thingsthan I am.
I can't do everything and youknow.
(13:26):
So I think it's really cool tobe able to work in that way and,
like you, being a PR person, Igive like all creds to his like
drafting statements and then,like you know, trying to do
something with crisis.
I mean, I had something go bad,like really bad go down with
one of my political clients postelection and I was still
(13:47):
contacted for like PR statementsand I'm like I didn't even know
this was going on.
You know, you need to callsomebody else because I didn't
know this was going on.
I'm just as surprised as youare.
I found out on the news too.
Like I don't know what's goingon, and so definitely, if
someone's interested in PR, Ithink it's always nice just to
(14:08):
have someone there, like youtalked about, in your back
pocket, just in case you neverknow you never know what's going
to go on.
It's so important.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
You'll never know if you find yourself in a situation
where you need you're gettinghounded by the media, whether
it's your business, you know ithappens and sometimes it's good
to know I've got someone I cancall to help me out in the
situation.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Absolutely, and as I was talking about, I mean
collaborations are so importantfor marketing people or business
owners in general.
You know we're referring backand forth.
Of course we use BNI a lot ascollaboration, so tell us how
that's really helped increaseyour referrals, increase your
business and like what you seegoing forward, like you know how
you want to do more of that inyour business.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Right, right.
So I I love collaborating withother marketers.
I think that there's more thanenough business to go around.
Not every, you know, marketingor communication person can do
everything to your point.
You can't do everything, and soit's important for me to one
find the right marketing andcommunications and media people
(15:20):
that I want to work with.
I want to work with people thatare honest, that tell the truth
, that don't try to screw overtheir clients or hold their
class at hostage and have a lotof control over their clients
work and what they're reallytheir clients should own.
And I run into some bad apples.
You know, coming into this,this job, in every profession
(15:43):
there's really good, I feelthere's really bad apples, and
you know I could spend all daytrying to point out.
You know, here are the badapples for the bad apples, but
for me it's.
I'm going to go find thecollaborations, the right people
, the people that are the goodapples, the people that I know
that I would trust to do thiswork, so that when I tell my
clients you should trust them,they know they're in good hands,
(16:06):
because I vetted them and Iknow that they're good people
and I do good, honest work, andso that's what I look for when
I'm looking for collaborationsnot just the quality of the
product they're producing andwhat they're making for the
client, but the quality of theperson.
That's really important to me.
And so, you know, finding peoplelike you, finding people like
(16:28):
shell, finding people here in mytown, there are people here in
my town that we do similar work.
There are people that dowebsites and all sorts of things
.
I will go and meet with them.
There's a guy here that he healso does websites, but he
refers all of his PR clients tome and I have a contract set up
(16:48):
with him.
We both have our marketingbusinesses, but I contracted him
just for PR services for hisclients and he's able to offer
that you know, that service toclients.
So you know, in the future Iwant to keep building like my
Rolodex of of people that Irefer business to and
collaborate with.
(17:09):
As a solar producer, sometimesit feels like you can just get
really tunnel vision and becauseI don't have a, I don't have a
team, so it's like, oh, I'm justdoing this, I'm out here on my
little Island.
That's why I joined BNI,because now I have a referral
and I have people that arebusiness owners and maybe
they're by themselves, maybethey have a team.
(17:31):
You have a team, you know like,yeah, I'm able to learn from
them and then find thoseopportunities to collaborate
(18:07):
no-transcript to people.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
And so I think that one really big thing that you've
learned, even like with usbeing newly connected and stuff
it's like.
Hey, you can choose your client, and so how has that been for
you since the last time we'vetalked and kind of share that
experience?
I've shared it multiple timeson here, so I want to hear you
talk about like sharing yourexperience with that.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
So you know, when I first started, I was saying yes
to everyone and everythingbecause I was just trying to one
do all the things and help allthe people.
But there were a few instanceswhere I got burned because I
said yes to people that I wasnot betting.
I wasn't betting them.
I wasn't betting the quality ofwho they are, not even you know
(18:56):
, putting what their needs werethe actual marketing need to
side.
But it's just someone that Iactually want to work with.
It's just someone that I wantto, you know, do business with.
Do I believe in their missionand what they're trying to go do
?
Do I want my name attached tothis business or this company or
(19:19):
person that I'm working?
with you know, and so for me, Inow, whenever I do a call or
someone's interested in myservices, I love to just get on
a consultation call with them.
That way I can hear from themAre you passionate?
You know what's your passionbehind this, what's your
motivation behind me for needingthese services, and then I can
(19:42):
choose if I want to work withthem or not.
I look for red flags.
Um yeah, when we're on a we'reon, when we're on a consultation
call, I'm looking for thingsthat and I'm letting, really
letting my body kind of tell melike give me that gut feeling or
not on, if this is a good fit,and I will always take a
(20:02):
consultation call because youjust never know who's going to
be on the other side of thescreen or the phone.
But during that conversation, ifI start feeling that gut
feeling of like, hey, this isn'ta good fit, I've not listened
to that in the past and ended uphaving very negative
(20:26):
experiences.
I've had to fire clients before.
I know that that's somethingwe've talked about, and every
time I have a negative kind ofexperience with a client, I
always think that I should havelistened to my gut when he was
telling me this and I justslammed the door on it and did
not pay attention.
And now look at what where I metwith this, you know.
(20:47):
And so, regardless of what youknow the payment is or the money
or the opportunity, um, Ilisten for certain keywords.
I also love to um, especiallyif I'm with them and maybe it's
a business owner and theiremployees.
I love to watch theinteractions between them,
(21:08):
because how they treat theiremployees is how they're going
to treat me, yes, as as a, assomeone that's doing the work
for them, and so I just reallytry to be observant in those
calls and really listen to whatthey're saying, so that I can
determine hey, I'm excited aboutthis project, I want to work
with you, or you know what?
(21:30):
We're probably not a right fittogether, but maybe I can refer
you to someone else that mightmake that be a better fit for
you.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Yeah, I just learned this lesson.
So I always like to sharedifferent stories on my podcast
with people and I will I say Ijust learned this lesson.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
No, I just learned this lesson, so I always like to
share different stories on mypodcast with people and I, well,
I say I just learned thislesson.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
No, I've learned this lesson multiple times.
We all have as entrepreneurs,right, like we all want to be,
like I'm just going to go crawlin a hole and I'm just going to
die today because I'm so dumb,you know, but I was hired by
this company to do their SEO andso, like I was doing all the
backend stuff on their websitebacklinks you know all the nerdy
stuff with.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
SEO.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Well, yeah, all the things.
And so that first meeting, yes,I had all the bad red flags
come out, you know, and I waslike, but God, like this
contract would be so great, youknow.
Because then you're like,depending on where you're at
financially or your sales forthe month, like I was right on
the cusp of like going over mysales goal.
(22:26):
And I'm like absolutely Like,yeah, I'll definitely sign on
with you.
That would sound like a greatidea.
And then I get into it and Idid two months of work.
Well, I was too busy listeningto.
Oh, I want their money and yes,this is great, and okay, of
(22:50):
course I can do this work.
I did fantastic work over thetwo months, but what I didn't
listen to was they hadexpectations that were
unreachable.
I mean, you couldn't, Icouldn't maintain what their
expectations were, and so Iended up getting fired.
First time in 12 years I'veever been fired by clients where
I was like freaking out, I wascrying.
I was like this is the worst dayof my life, which is a little
dramatic.
You know I'm thinking back.
It's a little dramatic, but I'malways used to being in the
moment.
(23:11):
Yeah, in the moment this is notgoing to be like.
I'm always like, oh well, I'mgoing to cut ties for what I did
and the fact I was doing thework right and the fact that
what I did worked for them.
They're just the ones that hadthe expectations that were
(23:31):
unreachable, that, like I mean,no one's going to be able to
obtain them.
And so, again, like you said,on that consultation call like
watch how they're talking to you.
They're you know they had theiremployee on there and the way
they were treating her.
Like I should have beenwatching all this.
I was too busy going okay, Ihave a thousand dollars until my
goal next month If I can getthese contracts, you know, like
(23:53):
I always just check the box.
Exactly, and so I think thoseare really great examples for
people to listen to.
Like you know, we all learn ourlessons the hard way.
Sometimes I've learned itmultiple times, but you know, as
long as we can keep going.
And another part of that on theother side is like you get rid
(24:14):
of a client, or if they get ridof you, whatever.
Yes, feel the feelings in themoment, but like watch the way
your energy shifts the next day.
And let me tell you, I signed onthree clients the next day, you
know, and so it was like theuniverse is like bro, I needed
your energy, I needed your time,I needed your attention, and
you had to get rid of that to beable to focus on these people
that have already referred me toother people, and so it's nice
(24:36):
to like just see that expand andlike listening to ourselves and
letting the universe or God orwhatever people believe in like
be able to use those and makethem positive yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
I always say like uh, you know what's meant to be
will be for me.
So if it's meant, to be for me,then it'll work out and it'll be
for me.
And you know the I had a, I hada prospective client and you
know we did the consultationcall, I wrote the proposal, uh,
but then they, they ghosted meand they kept.
(25:09):
You know I would follow up andI did listen to your podcast
about following up three times.
Yeah, love that, love thatadvice.
Love it.
Yes, you know, and I wouldfollow up and I followed up and
I I it out, you know, for enoughtime.
But after a while I just let itdrop and you know there's no
(25:29):
harm, no, no bad, you knowintention on letting it drop.
I just let it drop and I saidno if it's meant for me, great.
If it's not, you know, great forme, great.
If it's not, you know great.
I've got all these other thingsgoing on.
(25:50):
It's okay, but, um, sometimes,you know, it just fizzles out.
And I saw the person who Iwrote the proposal for.
Oh, you know, christina, we're,we'll get back to you on this.
No, no problem, no problem, noproblem.
You know, I just say all good,no problem, and I just go.
You know, keep chugging along,um, because at the end of the
day, if you're not following upor you can't get back with me,
(26:14):
on something like that, you know, I don't know if that's someone
that I really want to work with, right, um, yes, I want to work
with people that one areexcited to work with me.
But you know I, respect isreally important to me and you
show people respect by givingpeople your time and attention
(26:38):
and your communication and yourresponsiveness and that's to me
how you show people.
You know I respect you and whatyou do and a lot of times you
know people just I get peoplethat people are busy, but when I
have clients, they sayresponsiveness is number one,
(26:58):
they want responsiveness, theywant me to text them back when
they text me, you know, and youthink that's just like something
.
So like duh, you know, like,but people just don't do it,
people don't do it.
So you know I've had to just sayyou know I'm taking a free
follow-up rule and I, um, I, I,I don't follow up.
(27:23):
And if I see them in person, ifthey're a local client, if I
see them in person, if they're alocal client, if I see them in
person or a prospective clientand they say something to me,
you know no problem, you know wecan discuss it at a later point
, but, you know, rarely does itactually come back together.
And it's fine.
I just move on because, likeyou said, if I took that on it
(27:45):
would take brain space thatmaybe I need for other potential
clients.
And that's happened.
I say, all right, see you later.
And then, you know, the nextweek I've got like three
different, three moreconsultations, you know, and
proposals to write.
So I just, I just I guess Ijust have faith that, like you
know, what's meant for me willhappen.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Yeah, and you bring up such a great point about the
three follow-up rule.
Like there are so manymarketing quote unquote geniuses
I use that very loosely on.
TikTok.
You know these people thatGoogle stuff and then they make
TikToks about it.
It's pretty much what they'redoing.
And I ran across this one guyand he's like you know, you need
to follow up eight times beforesomeone actually does business
(28:29):
with you.
Like bro, if someone follows upwith me eight times like I'm
like bye, I mean, you know, andI don't have the energy for that
and that's why I do the threefollow up rule.
Like I have emails pre-writtenfor all three follow ups so I
(28:49):
just copy paste, make it likeyou know to them.
Of course, you know you make itlike unique, but it's a copy
paste situation, so it's takingthe least amount of energy for
me and.
I do the three follow-ups, youknow, and then my boyfriend.
He's a insurance agent.
He's like you need to startcalling these people.
No, that's not my like form ofcommunication.
I prefer email when it comes toproposals, and if that's not
(29:11):
their preferred communication,then we're not going to
communicate well, because that'sthe easiest way for me to track
what I've done, what we've saidfor me and for anyone else
working on that project, and Ithink people kind of get in
their head though, about which Ihave multiple times of like
yeah, you know, I followed upwith these people.
why can't they just respond backto me?
And then the worst thing is Iwould rather run into them in
(29:35):
public than them like some bs onmy social page like do not like
.
Yeah, my daughter, if you havenot emailed me back like period
Period.
Done, I'm done with that Like,do not like a picture of my
daughter that I post, if youhave not emailed me back Right.
Like I can't handle that, Ireally can't.
Like you just told on yourselfyou are alive, you are in the
(29:59):
world and you are on theinternet, Like I know you have
your email Like don't with me.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
And you're not responding and you're not
responding specifically to me.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Yeah.
So I'm going to like take thatlike off of there.
Thank you so much.
Like I you know I get likesuper petty about that Like come
on, bro, like a millennialthing, I don't know, but like do
not like my social and not liketext me, call me or email me
back and I have that.
I'm very conscious about that.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
Follow-up goes both ways.
It can go both ways.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Absolutely.
Let's end this awesomeconversation.
Tell us all about Canva withChristina.
I love this.
You just launched it.
I'm so proud of you.
I know that you can help somany people.
You've helped some of myclients through the workshops.
I wasn't available.
You know more about it than Ido, so tell us all about Canva.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
So I love working in Canva, I love designing in Canva
, and I really found a need andreally people telling me you
know, can you teach me this onCanva, can you teach me that on
Canva?
And I would.
I did a couple, couple classesat my local chamber of commerce
teaching canvas and they bothsold out and I'm like, okay, I
think I'm on to something hereas far as this being something
that people want to be educatedon you.
Anyone can go on youtube,tiktok, instagram, whatever, and
(31:24):
look up Canva tips, canva hacks, canva, whatever, whatever.
But it's that personal, youknow, touch point of someone
actually walking you through andmaking it make sense in your
mind.
Sometimes, when you just watch avideo or a tutorial, it doesn't
make sense in your mind andthen you've got to go figure out
how to apply it.
(31:45):
And having someone like me towalk you through it or to train
you and just make it click,that's what I do, and so I'm
doing webinars, I'm doing one onone Canva training.
I highly recommend people go tomy LinkedIn page, which is Canva
with Christina and I have anewsletter and every month I am
(32:08):
dropping Canva tips, canvatricks, canva tutorials in that
newsletter and when yousubscribe, you'll get a
notification that I posted a newnewsletter and that, uh, that
content is free, it's for you,it's for, it's for people and,
uh, I've been building brandkits for clients in Canva.
(32:28):
Sometimes people just wantsomeone to come in and fix it
all and I do a Canva fix and Ijust come in and I fix their
brand kit and make it lookbeautiful.
I make templates for them andthen they go off into the world
and create amazing designs fortheir business or organization.
So that is Canva with Christina.
It's webinars, it's onlinetraining, it's in-person
(32:50):
training and it can beone-on-one or group training.
So you know some of my schooldistrict clients.
They'll have me come and teachCanva to educators.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
I'll be using.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Canva for educators and teachers.
So I love it.
Canva with Christina it's kindof my new thing, because you
know you had mentioned nichingdown in a way, and this is kind
of that way that I'm able toniche down into something that I
know that I'm good at, butfiguring out how to you know,
(33:23):
for me personally, I'm like,okay, I know I'm good at this
one thing.
Now I'm going to go brandmyself on this one thing and
hopefully, you know, have someof that income.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
you know entrepreneurs we have different
income streams.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
That's one of them.
That's one of them.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
That's so cool.
I love that and I mean it'sgreat to have you as a person I
can collab with too, because,yeah, my team, we use Canva a
lot but, I, don't like to teachpeople because I don't like dumb
questions, like I can answerdumb questions about social all
day long, right, but when itcomes?
Speaker 3 (33:57):
to Canva.
How do?
Speaker 2 (33:58):
you change the font and I'm like bro, I did not have
the patience Like.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
this is why I am not a teacher, you know like.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
I'm more of like a trainer and like I will like
lecture versus like okay, let'slike do this together like
one-on-one and stuff like that.
But okay, christina, this hasbeen amazing you are so
fantastic.
I love having you as a friendand a collaborator and a
referral partner, and maybe oneday.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
You guys we've never met in person, so that's what's
really funny, like one day we'llmeet in person right one day
hopefully soon, hopefully soonerthan later we will make it
happen, because I've got to getuh branding.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Yes, shot yeah oh yes , you do need some pictures.
Yeah, and we both have kidsabout the same age, so I'll
bring Ken up there or somethingand we'll do some fun stuff.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
So we will absolutely Shelby.
Thank you so much for having meon.
I think you're amazing, I thinkwhat you do is amazing and I'm
in your corner and uh, anyway,I'm, I'm just really happy that
we're friends me too.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
All right, guys, I'll catch you next week on the
marketing happy hour podcast.
Bye.
Welcome to the Marketing Happy Hour podcast,
where we stir up the perfectblends of insights, strategies
and trends to quench your thirstfor marketing and business
success.
Join us every week as we pullup a chair pour out the latest
business innovations and mix insome expert advice from industry
leaders.
I am your host, shelbyMcFarlane, ceo of Shelby Company
(00:22):
Incorporated.
It's time to shake things up,stir up some creativity and sip
on success.
Welcome to the Marketing HappyHour podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hey guys, what's up?
It's Shelby here with theMarketing Happy Hour podcast,
and today I'm so excited aboutthis conversation.
Miss Christina Williams.
Hello, how are you today?
Hey, shelby, I'm doing good,thanks.
So me and Christina we metthrough B&I.
Of course, you guys hear metalk about B&I all the time.
(00:51):
You're probably like God, I'mso annoyed.
But you know what.
B&i is great, but we actuallymet through a B&I contact that
we have together, shell.
You guys have heard meinterview her.
She's also in the marketingworld and and Christina work
really well together and theywork on a couple of projects
together.
And then me and Christina, wejust are really good at sending
(01:11):
each other referrals and all ofthat.
But we're going to jumpstraight in.
Let's find out more aboutChristina.
She is the founder of ChristinaWilliams Consulting LLC.
It's a private marketing andpublic relations company based
in Fort Smith, arkansas.
She's also the founder of thebrand new Canva with Christina.
It is a service that empowersprofessionals to confidently
(01:34):
create in Canva via webinars,in-person trainings and so much
more.
So I want to know all about.
How did Christina get into thisworld of entrepreneurship and
what really kind of drew youinto it?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Right.
So I love being a solopreneurand thank you so much for having
me on this podcast to shareabout this and many other things
.
So my entry into thesolopreneur world I was working
in corporate marketing for along time 10 plus years in
corporate marketing and I wasgoing from, you know, one
(02:11):
corporate marketing position toanother and gaining such
valuable experience.
I loved my time working in thecorporate world and the skill
sets that I had.
I was like I did so many things, the skill sets that I had.
I was like I do so many things.
And when I was in corporateworld, it was like, okay, we
want you to focus in on this onething and just be really good
at it.
And it was so hard for me to dothat and I thought, okay, I
(02:35):
love helping people, I want tohelp more people with marketing
communications.
How can I do that but alsoutilize the skill set that I've
built, uh and on in all thesedifferent areas?
And so that's how I enteredinto the, the solopreneurship in
the business that I'm in today.
I uh actually was working aremote job and while I was
(02:58):
working the remote job, I wasfully behind the screen the
whole day, not interacting withanyone, and I was fully behind
the screen the whole day, notinteracting with anyone, and I
was like, okay, I know I want togo do this, I'm just going to
start planning for it.
So did the remote job and thenstarted working towards opening
my own business, my ownmarketing and PR business, and
so, five months later, saidgoodbye to the remote job and
(03:22):
launched Christina WilliamsConsulting.
To the remote job and launchChristina Williams Consulting.
One thing that I did is Iwaited a full year before
announcing to the world that Iwas doing this job, and I did
that strategically because Ijust wanted to make sure this is
something I could sustain andsomething that would be lasting
(03:42):
for me.
And after that full year I hadsuch success.
You know I tell people younever work harder for someone
than yourself.
And you know, as a fellowbusiness owner, you know you've
been in the game a lot longerthan I have.
You know that to be true.
You know I worked so hard on mybusiness and it's come back to
(04:04):
me tenfold the relationships,the clients that I get to work
with and the flexibility that Ihave.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I've never worked harder but I've never had more
fun.
Yeah, and I mean it's like anever ending job.
I mean people think, oh, I'mleaving a nine to five and I'm
going to go work for myself.
I mean, granted, I don't likeworking Fridays.
If I am working a Friday,you're super freaking special.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
But like.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I am still, you know, answering emails.
I'm still answering texts at 10o'clock at night, if I need to,
from clients.
So we're not really liketrading off like the nine to
five so so called whateverworkday, but like also we are
trading it for the love andpassion for what we do, as well
as like having flexibility andI'm like really impressed that
(04:51):
you waited a whole year to tellanybody, or like to really
launch it or quote unquote theyoung people called hard
launching now on social I'm likehard launching my relationship
or whatever that is now.
So like tell us how you marketedyourself.
I'm really interested to knowhow did you get business within
(05:11):
that one year?
You know, in a world full ofsocial media, in a world full of
like, we have to like telleverybody what we're doing, to
like really get our name outthere, and that kind of stuff.
So how did you get those firstfew clients?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
out there and that kind of stuff.
So how did you get those firstfew clients?
So I was really fortunate inthat at the time there was an
opening for a PR managerposition within the city that I
live in and I knew the PRmanager the former manager had
left and they probably neededsomeone there to come in in the
interim.
And so I went and I talked tothe city leaders and I pitched
(05:46):
myself and said you know, thisis something that I feel like
would be a good fit.
Here's what I can offer interms of value for your money.
And I got the job.
And so I became the interim PRmanager for the city and so
right away, I mean I got my LLCin July 2022, left my job in
(06:06):
October 2022, and started makingmoney in November.
I mean it was just that quick ofa turnaround for me, and so I
didn't have a lot of time toplan what my business was or
what it would look like, becauseI was feeling a need like that
for a client was or what itwould look like because I was
(06:27):
feeling a need like that for aclient.
And so, as I was doing that work, it got me.
You know, I was able to say hey, I'm doing this for the city
right now, and through that jobI was being able to be connected
to other people within thecommunity.
And you know, I call my city abig small town where it just
kind of gets around and, oh well, you're out on your own, now I
need help with this or I needhelp with that.
And so that's how it kind ofjust snowballed for me and I'm I
(06:52):
know I'm really fortunate inthat way, uh, because I didn't
have to just go out and just dothe constant hustle, uh and um.
So the referrals just doinggood work, it just doing good
work, it works.
Doing good work and being goodto people and doing the right
thing, it works.
And so you know, I've gottenmost of my business just by
(07:15):
referrals.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
I'm not putting myself really out there, but
just doing good work and peoplenoticing that and telling their
friends and co-workers about itnoticing that and telling their
friends and co-workers about it,and that's such a great
opportunity for people to thinkabout, because you know we're
always out here trying to sellourselves, especially in the
marketing sector.
Gosh, there's so many of us outhere.
You know many of us havemultiple facets of income that
(07:38):
we offer.
Some of us had niched down alot, but you know that's a great
example for anyone that'slistening.
That's like my business is slow.
I'm needing to fill somethinglike go on, indeed, like go on
and see if there's things outthere that they could fill the
part time positions, Like I'llgo and pitch myself to Indeed
(07:59):
people all the time that arehiring for social media managers
because I'm like, okay, well,500 bucks a month, you get me my
entire agency and we're doingthe same thing.
You're not having to pay deskfees, You're not having to pay
payroll, You're not having topay a lot of taxes and it's all
a write-off.
So you're going to spend themoney either way and sometimes
they'll buy it.
Sometimes they won't, because itreally kind of depends on what
(08:21):
they want, but people need toknow like that's just a unique
way of being able to feel voidand to grow your business and to
get that word about there.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
I think that's great absolutely and I I just love
that that.
You said you know, going outand seeking those opportunities,
they're there.
The worst that someone can sayis no, like they can just say no
.
Right, and you know.
But I found, especially as asolopreneur, asking, just asking
, you never know if the answeris going to be yes, and
(08:50):
sometimes it is.
Sometimes the answer is yes, soI always use the phrase, and I
like to use the phrase by chance.
Do you blank?
You know, and sometimes thechances are the answer is going
to be yes.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Yeah, I love that.
So talk about now that you'reout of that position, you're
full time CW.
What exactly like kind ofservices would you offer?
If I'm like, hey, I need helpwith marketing or I have a new
business, Like, what exactly areyou going to offer me as?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
a business, shelby, and anytime anyone asks me, I'm
like I know someone that doesthat and that is Shelby.
What I do love to do is I workwith governments, municipalities
.
I work with school districts,so you know some school
(09:41):
districts that may not havesomeone full time staff.
They can rely on someone likeme to help them write statements
or crisis communications,things like that.
I also build websites.
It really depends on the scaleof the site and what the client
is needing for their website.
(10:05):
I try to be really mindful ofmaking sure that you know if
it's something that I can do orif it's something that the scope
is just so big that maybe Ineed to refer out to someone
else to do that work.
And then I love doing socialmedia audits.
I love looking at people'ssocial media and providing them.
Really, I'm going to pair thatsocial media audit through a PR
lens as well.
And you're saying here's a gameplan for how you can go
(10:27):
approach awareness in yourcommunity, not only just online
but also through publicrelations and doing some kind of
grassroots efforts as well.
And then, of course, writingpress releases and all the
things that come into the PRworld.
So responding to crisiscommunications.
Something goes bad, somethinggoes south.
(10:49):
You need a statement.
Media is hounding you.
I will go on camera for you.
I will give you test andresponse statements to put if a
media person is asking you forsomething.
I will even write press releasefor you and send media
advisories and really help youtry to get the word out about
what you're doing, send mediaadvisories and really help you
try to get the word out aboutwhat you're doing.
(11:10):
So I love doing all of thosethings, especially, you know, pr
to me is you've got to have it.
You've just got to have it, andyou're going to always get in a
situation and businesses dowhere you just you need someone
in your back pocket, someonewho's call up and say, hey, I've
(11:30):
got this going on Bad Googlereviews as well.
People have called me and saidhow do I respond to this?
And I love crafting responsesyeah, and you know I love
crafting responses that I knowmy client is in the right and
this person, whoever they aregoing online and leaving a bad
(11:50):
Google review person, whoeverthey are going online and
leaving a bad Google review, andmy response is give the facts
but put them in their place andhelp them and help, you know,
really, really make my clientlook like the shining star that
they are, because they are andthey're right.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, there's nothing more satisfying to me than
writing a big professional FU ona bad Google review, Like
that's the exact wording.
I tell my clients too.
I'm like I'm going to write youa professional F, you we're not
going to say it.
We're not going to curse, we'regoing to be super professional
but also like, oh girl, I gotyour back, you know, like no
one's going to attack you again.
(12:23):
And I will say, like you know,I've had a few PR people on this
podcast and even kind of whatShell does, the strategy and
everything I attempted PR on acouple of political campaigns
that I have been on and I foundout real fast that it was not my
facet, that was not my niche.
I did not like that.
(12:44):
There's so much differencebetween people that plan and
people that do, and that's whatI've learned in my business is I
am more of like the doer, solike you and shell y'all-
referring to me to like do thework that you guys strategize
for your client and I appreciatethat, and it's something that
has taken me, I mean gosh.
(13:06):
I've been a business owner for12 years now and the first few
years I was like I want to wantto do everything, like I'm going
to be everybody's answer foreverything and, no, you know,
screw every other marketingperson.
And that's not even the truth.
I mean the last five years.
I finally realized, like I haveto work with other people, they
are better at certain thingsthan I am.
I can't do everything and youknow.
(13:26):
So I think it's really cool tobe able to work in that way and,
like you, being a PR person, Igive like all creds to his like
drafting statements and then,like you know, trying to do
something with crisis.
I mean, I had something go bad,like really bad go down with
one of my political clients postelection and I was still
(13:47):
contacted for like PR statementsand I'm like I didn't even know
this was going on.
You know, you need to callsomebody else because I didn't
know this was going on.
I'm just as surprised as youare.
I found out on the news too.
Like I don't know what's goingon, and so definitely, if
someone's interested in PR, Ithink it's always nice just to
(14:08):
have someone there, like youtalked about, in your back
pocket, just in case you neverknow you never know what's going
to go on.
It's so important.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
You'll never know if you find yourself in a situation
where you need you're gettinghounded by the media, whether
it's your business, you know ithappens and sometimes it's good
to know I've got someone I cancall to help me out in the
situation.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Absolutely, and as I was talking about, I mean
collaborations are so importantfor marketing people or business
owners in general.
You know we're referring backand forth.
Of course we use BNI a lot ascollaboration, so tell us how
that's really helped increaseyour referrals, increase your
business and like what you seegoing forward, like you know how
you want to do more of that inyour business.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Right, right.
So I I love collaborating withother marketers.
I think that there's more thanenough business to go around.
Not every, you know, marketingor communication person can do
everything to your point.
You can't do everything, and soit's important for me to one
find the right marketing andcommunications and media people
(15:20):
that I want to work with.
I want to work with people thatare honest, that tell the truth
, that don't try to screw overtheir clients or hold their
class at hostage and have a lotof control over their clients
work and what they're reallytheir clients should own.
And I run into some bad apples.
You know, coming into this,this job, in every profession
(15:43):
there's really good, I feelthere's really bad apples, and
you know I could spend all daytrying to point out.
You know, here are the badapples for the bad apples, but
for me it's.
I'm going to go find thecollaborations, the right people
, the people that are the goodapples, the people that I know
that I would trust to do thiswork, so that when I tell my
clients you should trust them,they know they're in good hands,
(16:06):
because I vetted them and Iknow that they're good people
and I do good, honest work, andso that's what I look for when
I'm looking for collaborationsnot just the quality of the
product they're producing andwhat they're making for the
client, but the quality of theperson.
That's really important to me.
And so, you know, finding peoplelike you, finding people like
(16:28):
shell, finding people here in mytown, there are people here in
my town that we do similar work.
There are people that dowebsites and all sorts of things
.
I will go and meet with them.
There's a guy here that he healso does websites, but he
refers all of his PR clients tome and I have a contract set up
(16:48):
with him.
We both have our marketingbusinesses, but I contracted him
just for PR services for hisclients and he's able to offer
that you know, that service toclients.
So you know, in the future Iwant to keep building like my
Rolodex of of people that Irefer business to and
collaborate with.
(17:09):
As a solar producer, sometimesit feels like you can just get
really tunnel vision and becauseI don't have a, I don't have a
team, so it's like, oh, I'm justdoing this, I'm out here on my
little Island.
That's why I joined BNI,because now I have a referral
and I have people that arebusiness owners and maybe
they're by themselves, maybethey have a team.
(17:31):
You have a team, you know like,yeah, I'm able to learn from
them and then find thoseopportunities to collaborate
(18:07):
no-transcript to people.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
And so I think that one really big thing that you've
learned, even like with usbeing newly connected and stuff
it's like.
Hey, you can choose your client, and so how has that been for
you since the last time we'vetalked and kind of share that
experience?
I've shared it multiple timeson here, so I want to hear you
talk about like sharing yourexperience with that.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
So you know, when I first started, I was saying yes
to everyone and everythingbecause I was just trying to one
do all the things and help allthe people.
But there were a few instanceswhere I got burned because I
said yes to people that I wasnot betting.
I wasn't betting them.
I wasn't betting the quality ofwho they are, not even you know
(18:56):
, putting what their needs werethe actual marketing need to
side.
But it's just someone that Iactually want to work with.
It's just someone that I wantto, you know, do business with.
Do I believe in their missionand what they're trying to go do
?
Do I want my name attached tothis business or this company or
(19:19):
person that I'm working?
with you know, and so for me, Inow, whenever I do a call or
someone's interested in myservices, I love to just get on
a consultation call with them.
That way I can hear from themAre you passionate?
You know what's your passionbehind this, what's your
motivation behind me for needingthese services, and then I can
(19:42):
choose if I want to work withthem or not.
I look for red flags.
Um yeah, when we're on a we'reon, when we're on a consultation
call, I'm looking for thingsthat and I'm letting, really
letting my body kind of tell melike give me that gut feeling or
not on, if this is a good fit,and I will always take a
(20:02):
consultation call because youjust never know who's going to
be on the other side of thescreen or the phone.
But during that conversation, ifI start feeling that gut
feeling of like, hey, this isn'ta good fit, I've not listened
to that in the past and ended uphaving very negative
(20:26):
experiences.
I've had to fire clients before.
I know that that's somethingwe've talked about, and every
time I have a negative kind ofexperience with a client, I
always think that I should havelistened to my gut when he was
telling me this and I justslammed the door on it and did
not pay attention.
And now look at what where I metwith this, you know.
(20:47):
And so, regardless of what youknow the payment is or the money
or the opportunity, um, Ilisten for certain keywords.
I also love to um, especiallyif I'm with them and maybe it's
a business owner and theiremployees.
I love to watch theinteractions between them,
(21:08):
because how they treat theiremployees is how they're going
to treat me, yes, as as a, assomeone that's doing the work
for them, and so I just reallytry to be observant in those
calls and really listen to whatthey're saying, so that I can
determine hey, I'm excited aboutthis project, I want to work
with you, or you know what?
(21:30):
We're probably not a right fittogether, but maybe I can refer
you to someone else that mightmake that be a better fit for
you.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Yeah, I just learned this lesson.
So I always like to sharedifferent stories on my podcast
with people and I will I say Ijust learned this lesson.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
No, I just learned this lesson, so I always like to
share different stories on mypodcast with people and I, well,
I say I just learned thislesson.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
No, I've learned this lesson multiple times.
We all have as entrepreneurs,right, like we all want to be,
like I'm just going to go crawlin a hole and I'm just going to
die today because I'm so dumb,you know, but I was hired by
this company to do their SEO andso, like I was doing all the
backend stuff on their websitebacklinks you know all the nerdy
stuff with.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
SEO.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Well, yeah, all the things.
And so that first meeting, yes,I had all the bad red flags
come out, you know, and I waslike, but God, like this
contract would be so great, youknow.
Because then you're like,depending on where you're at
financially or your sales forthe month, like I was right on
the cusp of like going over mysales goal.
(22:26):
And I'm like absolutely Like,yeah, I'll definitely sign on
with you.
That would sound like a greatidea.
And then I get into it and Idid two months of work.
Well, I was too busy listeningto.
Oh, I want their money and yes,this is great, and okay, of
(22:50):
course I can do this work.
I did fantastic work over thetwo months, but what I didn't
listen to was they hadexpectations that were
unreachable.
I mean, you couldn't, Icouldn't maintain what their
expectations were, and so Iended up getting fired.
First time in 12 years I'veever been fired by clients where
I was like freaking out, I wascrying.
I was like this is the worst dayof my life, which is a little
dramatic.
You know I'm thinking back.
It's a little dramatic, but I'malways used to being in the
moment.
(23:11):
Yeah, in the moment this is notgoing to be like.
I'm always like, oh well, I'mgoing to cut ties for what I did
and the fact I was doing thework right and the fact that
what I did worked for them.
They're just the ones that hadthe expectations that were
(23:31):
unreachable, that, like I mean,no one's going to be able to
obtain them.
And so, again, like you said,on that consultation call like
watch how they're talking to you.
They're you know they had theiremployee on there and the way
they were treating her.
Like I should have beenwatching all this.
I was too busy going okay, Ihave a thousand dollars until my
goal next month If I can getthese contracts, you know, like
(23:53):
I always just check the box.
Exactly, and so I think thoseare really great examples for
people to listen to.
Like you know, we all learn ourlessons the hard way.
Sometimes I've learned itmultiple times, but you know, as
long as we can keep going.
And another part of that on theother side is like you get rid
(24:14):
of a client, or if they get ridof you, whatever.
Yes, feel the feelings in themoment, but like watch the way
your energy shifts the next day.
And let me tell you, I signed onthree clients the next day, you
know, and so it was like theuniverse is like bro, I needed
your energy, I needed your time,I needed your attention, and
you had to get rid of that to beable to focus on these people
that have already referred me toother people, and so it's nice
(24:36):
to like just see that expand andlike listening to ourselves and
letting the universe or God orwhatever people believe in like
be able to use those and makethem positive yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
I always say like uh, you know what's meant to be
will be for me.
So if it's meant, to be for me,then it'll work out and it'll be
for me.
And you know the I had a, I hada prospective client and you
know we did the consultationcall, I wrote the proposal, uh,
but then they, they ghosted meand they kept.
(25:09):
You know I would follow up andI did listen to your podcast
about following up three times.
Yeah, love that, love thatadvice.
Love it.
Yes, you know, and I wouldfollow up and I followed up and
I I it out, you know, for enoughtime.
But after a while I just let itdrop and you know there's no
(25:29):
harm, no, no bad, you knowintention on letting it drop.
I just let it drop and I saidno if it's meant for me, great.
If it's not, you know, great forme, great.
If it's not, you know great.
I've got all these other thingsgoing on.
(25:50):
It's okay, but, um, sometimes,you know, it just fizzles out.
And I saw the person who Iwrote the proposal for.
Oh, you know, christina, we're,we'll get back to you on this.
No, no problem, no problem, noproblem.
You know, I just say all good,no problem, and I just go.
You know, keep chugging along,um, because at the end of the
day, if you're not following upor you can't get back with me,
(26:14):
on something like that, you know, I don't know if that's someone
that I really want to work with, right, um, yes, I want to work
with people that one areexcited to work with me.
But you know I, respect isreally important to me and you
show people respect by givingpeople your time and attention
(26:38):
and your communication and yourresponsiveness and that's to me
how you show people.
You know I respect you and whatyou do and a lot of times you
know people just I get peoplethat people are busy, but when I
have clients, they sayresponsiveness is number one,
(26:58):
they want responsiveness, theywant me to text them back when
they text me, you know, and youthink that's just like something
.
So like duh, you know, like,but people just don't do it,
people don't do it.
So you know I've had to just sayyou know I'm taking a free
follow-up rule and I, um, I, I,I don't follow up.
(27:23):
And if I see them in person, ifthey're a local client, if I
see them in person, if they're alocal client, if I see them in
person or a prospective clientand they say something to me,
you know no problem, you know wecan discuss it at a later point
, but, you know, rarely does itactually come back together.
And it's fine.
I just move on because, likeyou said, if I took that on it
(27:45):
would take brain space thatmaybe I need for other potential
clients.
And that's happened.
I say, all right, see you later.
And then, you know, the nextweek I've got like three
different, three moreconsultations, you know, and
proposals to write.
So I just, I just I guess Ijust have faith that, like you
know, what's meant for me willhappen.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Yeah, and you bring up such a great point about the
three follow-up rule.
Like there are so manymarketing quote unquote geniuses
I use that very loosely on.
TikTok.
You know these people thatGoogle stuff and then they make
TikToks about it.
It's pretty much what they'redoing.
And I ran across this one guyand he's like you know, you need
to follow up eight times beforesomeone actually does business
(28:29):
with you.
Like bro, if someone follows upwith me eight times like I'm
like bye, I mean, you know, andI don't have the energy for that
and that's why I do the threefollow up rule.
Like I have emails pre-writtenfor all three follow ups so I
(28:49):
just copy paste, make it likeyou know to them.
Of course, you know you make itlike unique, but it's a copy
paste situation, so it's takingthe least amount of energy for
me and.
I do the three follow-ups, youknow, and then my boyfriend.
He's a insurance agent.
He's like you need to startcalling these people.
No, that's not my like form ofcommunication.
I prefer email when it comes toproposals, and if that's not
(29:11):
their preferred communication,then we're not going to
communicate well, because that'sthe easiest way for me to track
what I've done, what we've saidfor me and for anyone else
working on that project, and Ithink people kind of get in
their head though, about which Ihave multiple times of like
yeah, you know, I followed upwith these people.
why can't they just respond backto me?
And then the worst thing is Iwould rather run into them in
(29:35):
public than them like some bs onmy social page like do not like
.
Yeah, my daughter, if you havenot emailed me back like period
Period.
Done, I'm done with that Like,do not like a picture of my
daughter that I post, if youhave not emailed me back Right.
Like I can't handle that, Ireally can't.
Like you just told on yourselfyou are alive, you are in the
(29:59):
world and you are on theinternet, Like I know you have
your email Like don't with me.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
And you're not responding and you're not
responding specifically to me.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Yeah.
So I'm going to like take thatlike off of there.
Thank you so much.
Like I you know I get likesuper petty about that Like come
on, bro, like a millennialthing, I don't know, but like do
not like my social and not liketext me, call me or email me
back and I have that.
I'm very conscious about that.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
Follow-up goes both ways.
It can go both ways.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Absolutely.
Let's end this awesomeconversation.
Tell us all about Canva withChristina.
I love this.
You just launched it.
I'm so proud of you.
I know that you can help somany people.
You've helped some of myclients through the workshops.
I wasn't available.
You know more about it than Ido, so tell us all about Canva.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
So I love working in Canva, I love designing in Canva
, and I really found a need andreally people telling me you
know, can you teach me this onCanva, can you teach me that on
Canva?
And I would.
I did a couple, couple classesat my local chamber of commerce
teaching canvas and they bothsold out and I'm like, okay, I
think I'm on to something hereas far as this being something
that people want to be educatedon you.
Anyone can go on youtube,tiktok, instagram, whatever, and
(31:24):
look up Canva tips, canva hacks, canva, whatever, whatever.
But it's that personal, youknow, touch point of someone
actually walking you through andmaking it make sense in your
mind.
Sometimes, when you just watch avideo or a tutorial, it doesn't
make sense in your mind andthen you've got to go figure out
how to apply it.
(31:45):
And having someone like me towalk you through it or to train
you and just make it click,that's what I do, and so I'm
doing webinars, I'm doing one onone Canva training.
I highly recommend people go tomy LinkedIn page, which is Canva
with Christina and I have anewsletter and every month I am
(32:08):
dropping Canva tips, canvatricks, canva tutorials in that
newsletter and when yousubscribe, you'll get a
notification that I posted a newnewsletter and that, uh, that
content is free, it's for you,it's for, it's for people and,
uh, I've been building brandkits for clients in Canva.
(32:28):
Sometimes people just wantsomeone to come in and fix it
all and I do a Canva fix and Ijust come in and I fix their
brand kit and make it lookbeautiful.
I make templates for them andthen they go off into the world
and create amazing designs fortheir business or organization.
So that is Canva with Christina.
It's webinars, it's onlinetraining, it's in-person
(32:50):
training and it can beone-on-one or group training.
So you know some of my schooldistrict clients.
They'll have me come and teachCanva to educators.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
I'll be using.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Canva for educators and teachers.
So I love it.
Canva with Christina it's kindof my new thing, because you
know you had mentioned nichingdown in a way, and this is kind
of that way that I'm able toniche down into something that I
know that I'm good at, butfiguring out how to you know,
(33:23):
for me personally, I'm like,okay, I know I'm good at this
one thing.
Now I'm going to go brandmyself on this one thing and
hopefully, you know, have someof that income.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
you know entrepreneurs we have different
income streams.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
That's one of them.
That's one of them.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
That's so cool.
I love that and I mean it'sgreat to have you as a person I
can collab with too, because,yeah, my team, we use Canva a
lot but, I, don't like to teachpeople because I don't like dumb
questions, like I can answerdumb questions about social all
day long, right, but when itcomes?
Speaker 3 (33:57):
to Canva.
How do?
Speaker 2 (33:58):
you change the font and I'm like bro, I did not have
the patience Like.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
this is why I am not a teacher, you know like.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
I'm more of like a trainer and like I will like
lecture versus like okay, let'slike do this together like
one-on-one and stuff like that.
But okay, christina, this hasbeen amazing you are so
fantastic.
I love having you as a friendand a collaborator and a
referral partner, and maybe oneday.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
You guys we've never met in person, so that's what's
really funny, like one day we'llmeet in person right one day
hopefully soon, hopefully soonerthan later we will make it
happen, because I've got to getuh branding.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Yes, shot yeah oh yes , you do need some pictures.
Yeah, and we both have kidsabout the same age, so I'll
bring Ken up there or somethingand we'll do some fun stuff.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
So we will absolutely Shelby.
Thank you so much for having meon.
I think you're amazing, I thinkwhat you do is amazing and I'm
in your corner and uh, anyway,I'm, I'm just really happy that
we're friends me too.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
All right, guys, I'll catch you next week on the
marketing happy hour podcast.
Bye.
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