August 30, 2024 • 34 mins
In this episode of the Mom Owned and Operated podcast, Rita Suzanne and Dalena Bradley discuss raising a family, running a business and remembering yourself.
Dalena Bradley is an executive job interview coach and career marketing specialist. For 16 years, she has had her own practice helping hundreds of professionals excel in interviews and win job offers through 1:1 coaching, robust workshops, and as a subject matter expert for publications and podcasts.
Formerly, she was a consultant with two global outplacement firms, an executive recruiter, and a corporate communications professional for Hyatt Hotels, Nestlé Beverage Company, and a leading commercial insurance brokerage firm.
Dalena is a Certified Interview Coach (CIC), and a member of Career Directors International and the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches. She has a B.A. in Communications from the University of Portland and lives in Portland with her husband and two dogs.
You can connect with Dalena on her website and LinkedIn.
Send a text message! Email, if you want a reply though. ;)
P.S. You can find more interviews at momownedandoperated.com and learn about working with Rita at ritasuzanne.com/apply/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rita Suzanne (00:01):
Hi, this is Mom Owned and Operated.
I am Rita, suzanne, and today Ihave my guest, delina, with me.
Delina, I'm so excited to haveyou on today.
Please tell everyone all aboutyou, your business and your
family.
Dalena Bradley (00:15):
I'm a job interview coach and a career
marketing specialist, servingprimarily senior level
professionals and executives,and so what I do is I help
people get the jobs they wantfaster with high touch custom
(00:39):
interview prep and careermarketing support, and I have
had.
I've been in this business forabout 16 years.
In prior lives, I was incorporate communications for
large organizations and I was anexecutive recruiter.
At one point I decided to putthat those two backgrounds
(01:01):
together to form my business in2008.
And really for the last sevenyears, I've been focused on the
interview prep.
I live in Portland, oregon,with my husband and I have a
couple of dogs, and I do havetwo kids as well Notice, I
(01:23):
mentioned the dogs first.
And I do have two kids as wellNotice, I mentioned the dogs
first.
But anyway, I have two kids,they are adults.
At this, a really great park,I'm out in the park with the
(01:45):
dogs, I'm on or near the waterand hanging out with friends and
, you know, binging fun showsand podcasts.
I'm a huge podcast fanatic too,so yeah.
Rita Suzanne (02:04):
I'm happy to be here.
Yes, thanks for having me.
Well, thanks for being on.
So let's jump right into it andlet's talk about what is your
most successful service, productor offer.
That is kind of a game changerfor you and your business my
business is based on one-on-onecoaching and I have different
(02:28):
packages.
Dalena Bradley (02:30):
I would say that the so the service is is very
specific and it's and Ispecialize in this area, so it's
what I have found that's reallybeen successful for me is
bundling the services so thatthey give kind of a nice start
(02:53):
to finish product for thedifferent clients I work with at
varying levels, and so bundlingversus one-off sessions, and so
I have an express packagethat's a couple of sessions.
I have a success package that'sa larger number of sessions and
(03:14):
more time, and then I have apremium package.
That has been a lot moresuccessful for me than just
trying to do one-off sessionsand it also helps me really
build a relationship with myclient and see their selling
points and help them think ofthings that they may not have
(03:36):
thought of before, that they canbuild into their narrative when
they are getting ready to dotheir interviews.
Rita Suzanne (03:43):
Right, because a one-off is really going to be
hard for you to figure it out.
So what is your biggest sourceof revenue right now?
Dalena Bradley (03:52):
Right, and so I'm assuming you mean revenue
streams where the clients arecoming from.
And the two biggest aredefinitely because I've been in
business for so long and I'vegot a nice long list of happy
clients.
I get a lot of referralbusiness from those people and
(04:14):
repeat business from peoplebecause over the course of their
career they remember me andthey come back to me.
So that's really great to getto work with beloved clients
again and again.
I know you can relate to that.
And then another great,probably one of the biggest
revenue streams for me has beencollaborations with other career
(04:37):
professionals.
So I have built over the yearsfantastic relationships with
people who do something that isadjacent to what I do but not
exactly what I do, and so wehave complimentary skill sets
and we can refer clients to oneanother and actually sometimes
(04:59):
even people who do exactly whatI do but maybe they handle a
different type of client.
Rita Suzanne (05:08):
And I do Right, like a different degree.
Dalena Bradley (05:13):
Yeah, maybe maybe they work specifically
with college students and theyhave an executive approach them
and they can't help them, sothey'll send them to me.
So that's really great.
And you know what, rita, I mean.
Once in a while I need to go onvacation and take days off and
(05:34):
people come to me and I won't beable to help them because of my
schedule.
So it's really nice to havethose people in my network that
I can refer people to them aswell.
So the collaborations have beenwonderful and people who are
maybe their resume writers andall they want to do is write a
resume but they don't dointerview prep, and so they they
(05:58):
will send people to me.
So that's been huge in mybusiness.
Rita Suzanne (06:04):
I remember when I first went back to corporate and
my then mother-in-law sat medown and she said okay, we're
going to do a mock interviewwith me, and it was so helpful
because I hadn't interviewedprobably I don't know four or
five years, and so havingsomeone to actually put you
(06:26):
through an interview who's incorporate is definitely super
helpful and get you prepared.
So I think that that'swonderful.
Okay, so let's talk a littlebit about marketing.
What is one marketing tactic orchannel that you are using that
you want to recommend?
Dalena Bradley (06:50):
Yes, so I may start to sound like a broken
record.
The collaborativecollaborations is it's old
school, Rita, but the I am fullyonline, I am fully remote, a
fully remote online business,and I market appropriately.
(07:10):
I am on LinkedIn, I'm visibleon LinkedIn.
That is definitely somethingthat is a must, and I actually
do get a lot of business fromLinkedIn.
So that's important, stayingvisible.
But those things Just good,solid relationships that I have
(07:33):
built have been the bestmarketing, because it allows me
to sort of distribute the effortthat way.
(08:14):
I have tried.
I've done speaking engagements,I've done webinars and I have
collaborated on webinars, socialmedia and all that.
But what I have found is that Iprefer to narrow the number of
platforms and in my case, reallyit's LinkedIn where my people
are hanging out.
I could probably branch outmore, but I would say staying
narrow.
And then also I think that thenature of my business being so
specialized is helpful too interms of marketing, because
people get that and it's narrowand I can connect the dots
easily for people and they andtheir minds can connect the dots
(08:35):
what it is I could do for them.
So those would be my primary ifit's the collaborative
relationships that are workingwell, staying visible on a
platform where you know yourpeople are, and then focusing
more narrowly so that people canunderstand I talk, I talk with
(09:00):
my clients about this all thetime when you are going into an
interview or or even on yourresume.
I'm not, I don't do resumes,but you have to.
You have to really spell it outfor people.
You have to say this is this,is here's your pain point, here
is how I'm the prescription forthat Right, and that's what I do
(09:23):
in my own marketing, and it'sso much easier because what I do
is so specialized.
Rita Suzanne (09:30):
Right, I think, and so, because you're so well
versed at building relationshipsand maintaining them, do you
have any tips or pointers forpeople who maybe are a little
bit more introverted and don't,and maybe shy and don't want to
maybe build relationships ornetwork?
(09:51):
I think that a lot of peopleare nervous about networking.
Dalena Bradley (09:56):
It's.
It is very daunting for eventhe extroverts of the world and
I teach my people networking.
I also do some job searchstrategy coaching with some of
my clients and a big piece ofthat I always say put 65 to 70%
(10:17):
of your job search energy intonetworking and building
relationships.
Same goes for my business.
But to answer your questionabout introverts, always come
from a place of curiosity, andthe nice thing about networking
is you can just ask questions.
(10:39):
You don't have to be on thespot talking yourself trying to
have the right answer towhatever.
If you're reaching out tosomebody that you want to talk
to, either in a that could bepotentially a business partner
or a referral source or a funnelsome kind that you want to
(10:59):
explore with somebody, then youcan reach out.
And I suggest reaching outmaybe you know, on email first
or something, and we don't haveto get into the super nitty
gritty on that.
But, um, you know, just make itconversational, make it
personal.
Hey, I really admire what it isyou're doing and I would love
(11:26):
to learn more.
Do you have 20 minutes and andand making it so that it's a
really finite amount of time andsticking to that and just just
coming from a place of curiosityhow did, how did you get your
start?
Why do you do what you do?
And then, eventually, would youever be interested in a
(11:47):
collaboration?
I mean, unless the person onthe other side of that is
completely I don't know a robotor something, then they're
eventually going to ask aboutyou a question or two and things
will flow more naturally.
So to the introverts of theworld just ask questions, have a
(12:14):
few questions they don't haveto be a long list and eventually
it'll swing back to you andprobably in a more natural way.
Whether it is an in-personsetting or an in-person group
setting or if it's moreone-on-one, whether it's
somebody you're approaching as apotential partner or whether
(12:36):
it's somebody that you just wantto, you just want to connect
with because they seem like whatthey're doing is really
interesting to you.
Rita Suzanne (12:46):
Yeah, I have been saying lately, just because of
the way our market has kind ofswitched, that it is important
to do in-person networking andonline and social networking.
Online is, you know, like yourSEO, your Google, my Business
and your website.
All those things need of haveto work together because the way
(13:16):
that our market isoversaturated, which we spoke
about earlier, I think that it'simportant to have those
relationships, nurture them andkind of work together.
And what I encourage my clientsand people to do is, if you do
go to a networking event is tofollow up.
(13:36):
Don't just take somebody'sbusiness card and have it
sitting on your desk or like, dosomething with it to invite
them to a call and at least getthem into my emails so that they
can kind of get in the system.
(13:59):
And then, if they don't followup with the scheduling a call,
then I get a reminder to myemail address that says hey, you
need to reach out to them, andthen I'll reach out to them on
social or something else adifferent way, so that it's a
different approach versus itcoming automated from my email,
you know.
Dalena Bradley (14:18):
Yes, yeah, I always, if I meet somebody in a
group setting, I will alwaysinvite them to connect on
LinkedIn, and I mean, mostpeople are on LinkedIn, and so
that's a good starting pointoften.
(14:39):
But, I feel like people don'tfollow up, right?
Yeah, I mean, sometimes it canbe a one way street and you know
what.
It's okay, you just move on.
There are more people, thereare millions and millions of
people in the world, so it's.
That is a tough one.
As a business owner, it took mea while to develop a thicker
(15:01):
skin.
If people would, maybe they'dexpress interest in my services
or something and and I wouldfollow up, and then they'd ghost
me or just would fall silent,and that that took a little bit
of getting used to.
And and now I have fullycompartmentalized and
(15:22):
depersonalized.
If somebody isn't getting backto me, whether it's been at a
networking event or whether it'ssomebody who reached out to me
I mean, they were the ones whoreached out to me in the first
place.
Often, and you know, I justhave to think that people's
priorities change, or they gotbusy or what have you, and
(15:45):
they're not trying to be mean.
Rita Suzanne (15:49):
Well, no, I mean like you, if you only connect
with them on LinkedIn, right,then that doesn't really prompt
them to schedule a call,typically, right.
So that's why I'm like puttingthem into an email sequence or
something, because if I justconnect with them on LinkedIn,
(16:10):
then I'm not probably going toeven remember to follow up with
them.
Dalena Bradley (16:15):
Yeah, yeah, and you know what, often for me and
this is what I share with myclients too if they have their
email contact information ontheir LinkedIn profile, if
that's the route I've gone tofollow up then that's always a
preferred way to connect withsomebody, because they have
(16:38):
their eye on their email a lotmore closely than they do in
some social media platform.
I say that maybe that's not thecase actually, but certainly
for LinkedIn, the daily activeusers are.
There's a lot lower percentageof daily active users on
LinkedIn than on many otherplatforms.
Rita Suzanne (17:00):
Right.
So let's talk a little bitabout any marketing mistakes or
mishaps that you may have made,that you have learned the
lessons from.
Dalena Bradley (17:15):
Yeah, I would say, early on in my business and
and this probably is not goingto be to surprise you but early
on in my business I was tryingto do all of the things and the,
the speaking engagements andthe uh, you know social media
(17:37):
and everything, um, and andmultiple platforms on social
media and all that, and it'sjust not sustainable, right?
If you, when you're, when youhave, when you're raising a
family and when you are justtrying to be a person in the
(17:59):
world who has multiple aspectsof their life, you know it's
just not sustainable.
So I would say that would havebeen a mistake, a marketing
mistake.
And then I have had a couple, afew instances where I put money
(18:19):
into ads, especially Facebookads.
That's a hard code to crack and, unless you have good guidance,
my advice to anyone listeningto this is to, if you haven't
dipped your toe into the worldof Facebook ads and you want to
go that route or some otherplatform, get help.
(18:43):
And you want to go that routeor some other platform, get help
.
Just invest in getting help andgetting some direction.
But I would say I've I've nothad the best traction in
Facebook ads.
The other thing that I wouldsay is I there?
(19:18):
It's all about the numbers.
So I had a decent size emaillist, but in the hundreds, and
so when you go to have yourwebinar, you invite those people
to come to your webinar andthen hopefully, they'll want to
eventually buy your onlinecourse.
And I just realized that Ireally needed to have a much
(19:42):
bigger distribution list, emaillist on the front end, even
though you hear from a lot ofonline marketing gurus that, oh,
you don't have to have a biglist to be successful in
marketing your online products,and the reality is that you are
(20:06):
going to naturally be moresuccessful if you have a bigger
audience from on the front end.
So I would say that would havebeen a mistake.
I should have spent more timebuilding my distribution list
through, you know, via freebiesand online giveaways before I
(20:27):
did the did the webinars, but itwas successful.
The webinars themselves weresuccessful in terms of building
my list on that other end ofthat, but that's those are a
couple of things that come tomind.
It's a lot of trial and error.
Rita Suzanne (20:45):
Right, but you got sales on your course and you,
you know and you learned, youknow feedback from your course
and everything too, so that'sreally good.
Okay, let's talk about how doyou define success in your
business.
Is it purely financial or arethere other factors that
(21:05):
contribute to your definition atsuccess?
Dalena Bradley (21:10):
The.
What I've realized over theyears is that I am way more
money motivated than I everthought.
I really do attach my successas a business owner mentally to
the amount of money I'm making,more than I would care to admit.
(21:32):
That said, in the hardest days,because it is not easy running
your own business, because youcan't just do what it is you do,
you have to run the operationsand all that, but.
But what I tell people is Iwould still never go back to
(21:55):
working for someone else becauseflexibility and autonomy trumps
everything.
So I would say, yes, financialsuccess for me is huge, but the
flexibility and the autonomy torun my business on my own terms
(22:18):
and my own schedule is a very,very close second.
Rita Suzanne (22:25):
It's probably right across the line, but Right
, I find that most momsdefinitely are seeking time and
financial freedom, like equallyright.
Like we want, we want both.
We want, first of all, we wantit all.
Yeah, we want it all, which isfine, Okay, so what is one tool,
(22:50):
app or software that you'reusing that is maybe helping you
become more or be more efficientin your business and or life?
Dalena Bradley (22:57):
This is a really basic one.
I wish that I had this reallycool sexy app that I could talk
about.
That's amazing and I do in theclient process P aspect.
But the one true time saverthat I don't know has saved me,
(23:21):
I'm sure, countless hours is agood old calendar app.
I use Calendly and I don't knowwhat I would do without that.
Rita Suzanne (23:30):
It's like my right arm because you just I realize
it's a, it's a real basic thingand but I love it and but I love
it, but you'd be surprised athow many people don't
necessarily use it, because Ialso do some in-person workshops
(23:51):
and speaking here in my areaand some people have reached out
to me and they're, you know,want to schedule time with me.
And then I'm like, oh, okay,like send me your calendar, or I
can send you mine.
And then they're like, well,okay, like send me your calendar
, or I can send you mine.
And then they're like, well,can you just send me yours
Because I don't have one.
A lot of people don't use acalendaring app like we do, so I
(24:15):
think they're definitelymissing out by not using some
type of calendaring system.
Dalena Bradley (24:20):
Yeah, and it was .
I didn't.
I was resistant to it earlieron because I felt like, oh it's,
I'm going to lose the autonomyover when I schedule and you
just have to train yourself toreally block the time on your
main calendar.
Whether you use Google calendar, outlook or whatever, you have
(24:42):
to be really disciplined aboutmaking sure, even if you just
want a planning day or somethinglike that, you have to block
that stuff and then it'll showyou as unavailable on the app.
And so that's the main thing isjust training yourself.
But it is because of the one onone coaching that I do and that
(25:02):
it is because of the one-on-onecoaching that I do and that it
is so appointment intensive.
It's really key to me.
And you know, another thing iswell, you said the one thing,
but I will say having and thisis another really basic thing is
just having a password managerthat you don't have to
(25:24):
continually enter your passwordall the time.
I mean I would love to know foran average person I mean not
saying I'm not, but who's who'sconstantly keying in their
passwords all day long at theend of a year, how much time
they spent doing that.
(25:45):
So I really love having thatpassword manager and being able
to mix up the passwords, andit's I must have.
Rita Suzanne (25:56):
And for your security, it is better that you
mix them up.
I think that's what happens is,a lot of people are using the
same password for every singlething that they're using, or
they have a spreadsheet with alltheir different passwords.
So, again, that's time, laborintensive and also not secure.
So using something like you andI use, which is LastPass, is
(26:19):
really smart and there's alsoone, one password, I think is
what it's called as analternative.
But LastPass is what we use andthat's a great product.
Yeah, it's a great productBecause you have shared your
passwords with me before, whichis also a secure way of you know
sharing your passwords withyour clients.
Dalena Bradley (26:41):
So yeah, or your VA, or or your business or
whoever your collaborators.
Yes, yeah, it's a great.
It's it's great.
I mean, the two things that Imentioned are so so basic, but
save so much time.
Rita Suzanne (26:58):
Yeah, I agree.
Okay, so what are you currentlylistening to or reading right
now?
It doesn't have to be businessrelated, but it could be.
Dalena Bradley (27:09):
Well, I mentioned earlier that I am a
podcast fiend and I so I'malways listening to podcasts.
It's kind of interestingbecause, depending on the day of
the week and the time of theday, my mood changes about what
I want to listen to.
Are you like that?
Yes, yeah, yeah, definitelyyeah, but one of the ones that I
(27:34):
would listen to on a weekday inthe morning maybe because I'm
more in the work mindset is iscalled Rethinking by Adam Grant,
and he for people who arelistening that don't know he is
a renowned social organizationalpsychologist and he's a
(27:58):
professor at the Wharton Schoolof Business at Penn and he is
great he.
What he helps me do is stayconnected to the pain points of
people who are working inbusiness or corporate America
(28:20):
teams and executives, and it'sbeyond that.
Sometimes he'll go, he'llinterview celebrities.
Sometimes he interviewed alinguist last week and he was
talking about Gen Z slang andstuff like that, and anyway,
it's a great lesson for anyonewho is interested in the
(28:41):
business world and how companiesoperate better with people who
are working together in ahealthy way.
And he's got all kinds of veryinteresting episodes and good
books too that he's written.
I'm happy to check it out.
Rita Suzanne (29:00):
Yeah, you definitely have to check it out.
So, as far as self-care, whatare you doing for you?
Dalena Bradley (29:09):
Mm, hmm, did you ?
You cut out just for a second,did you say self care?
Rita Suzanne (29:13):
Yes, I said as far as self care goes.
What are you doing just for you?
Dalena Bradley (29:17):
Uh huh.
First thing, I'm, I'm, I rollPractically after I've rolled
out of bed.
I go through this whole.
I'm a big yoga person and I'vebeen doing it for many years,
and so whether I'm, if I'm notin the studio, I am at home
(29:39):
doing a series.
So that is non-negotiable forme.
I do that, and then I get outwith those two dogs that I
mentioned earlier and I amhiking around, walking around
that I mentioned earlier and Iam hiking around, walking around
, that I schedule around thatbecause if I don't, I notice
(29:59):
myself, my energy level isn'tthere, my mental um ability to
do what it is I do and stay withmy clients and stay engaged
with my clients isn't as sharpand attuned if I'm not
exercising.
So that is a really big one forme, and I am doing that most
(30:20):
days of the week.
The other thing that I wouldsay that I do for self-care and
this is more as a, it's a moreholistic thing.
That is, uh, the reason I did.
It has to do with my businesstoo, which is I have a four day
(30:41):
work week.
I I am the boss and I get todecide, and so I do not schedule
clients on Fridays for uh, and,and maybe those Fridays I use
for content batching or someadministrative thing that I have
(31:02):
not had time for, or there'ssome technical things problem I
need to sort out.
That's wasn't an emergency, youknow, I'll get to it or I'll do
my website updates, rita, thosekinds of things I'll do on a
Friday, or maybe I won't doanything at all and I always
(31:25):
just know that that day isprotected and it's not on my
calendar as available ever, andit's kind of non-negotiable for
me.
It's really I stick to it andit's really hard because
sometimes in my business peoplehave very urgent.
(31:46):
You know I've got an interviewon Monday and they called me on
Thursday night or Thursdayafternoon and, um, you know
that's what the online course isfor, as as another alternative,
right For the another waypeople can work with me.
So those are the two thingsthat I would say.
One is much more personal andthe other is business, but uh,
(32:10):
spills into personal as well.
Rita Suzanne (32:13):
Love it.
Okay, so where are you?
I know you're on LinkedIn andthen tell everybody how to
connect with you.
So on LinkedIn and your websiteanywhere else, yeah so I am.
Dalena Bradley (32:26):
I am definitely primarily on LinkedIn LinkedIn,
delina Bradley, and then I havemy website is delinabradleycom.
I have a Facebook company page,delina Bradley Career Marketing
Services that you'll seeinformation there as well.
(32:46):
Those are the primary ways tofind me, and then you know know,
people can always just reachout to me on email delena at
delena bradleycom as we weretalking earlier.
Uh, a very direct way of doingthat.
So, yeah, well, thank you somuch for being a guest.
It's been my pleasure.
Yeah, thank you so much forhaving me, rita.
Hi, this is Mom Owned and Operated.
I am Rita, suzanne, and today Ihave my guest, delina, with me.
Delina, I'm so excited to haveyou on today.
Please tell everyone all aboutyou, your business and your
family.
Dalena Bradley (00:15):
I'm a job interview coach and a career
marketing specialist, servingprimarily senior level
professionals and executives,and so what I do is I help
people get the jobs they wantfaster with high touch custom
(00:39):
interview prep and careermarketing support, and I have
had.
I've been in this business forabout 16 years.
In prior lives, I was incorporate communications for
large organizations and I was anexecutive recruiter.
At one point I decided to putthat those two backgrounds
(01:01):
together to form my business in2008.
And really for the last sevenyears, I've been focused on the
interview prep.
I live in Portland, oregon,with my husband and I have a
couple of dogs, and I do havetwo kids as well Notice, I
(01:23):
mentioned the dogs first.
And I do have two kids as wellNotice, I mentioned the dogs
first.
But anyway, I have two kids,they are adults.
At this, a really great park,I'm out in the park with the
(01:45):
dogs, I'm on or near the waterand hanging out with friends and
, you know, binging fun showsand podcasts.
I'm a huge podcast fanatic too,so yeah.
Rita Suzanne (02:04):
I'm happy to be here.
Yes, thanks for having me.
Well, thanks for being on.
So let's jump right into it andlet's talk about what is your
most successful service, productor offer.
That is kind of a game changerfor you and your business my
business is based on one-on-onecoaching and I have different
(02:28):
packages.
Dalena Bradley (02:30):
I would say that the so the service is is very
specific and it's and Ispecialize in this area, so it's
what I have found that's reallybeen successful for me is
bundling the services so thatthey give kind of a nice start
(02:53):
to finish product for thedifferent clients I work with at
varying levels, and so bundlingversus one-off sessions, and so
I have an express packagethat's a couple of sessions.
I have a success package that'sa larger number of sessions and
(03:14):
more time, and then I have apremium package.
That has been a lot moresuccessful for me than just
trying to do one-off sessionsand it also helps me really
build a relationship with myclient and see their selling
points and help them think ofthings that they may not have
(03:36):
thought of before, that they canbuild into their narrative when
they are getting ready to dotheir interviews.
Rita Suzanne (03:43):
Right, because a one-off is really going to be
hard for you to figure it out.
So what is your biggest sourceof revenue right now?
Dalena Bradley (03:52):
Right, and so I'm assuming you mean revenue
streams where the clients arecoming from.
And the two biggest aredefinitely because I've been in
business for so long and I'vegot a nice long list of happy
clients.
I get a lot of referralbusiness from those people and
(04:14):
repeat business from peoplebecause over the course of their
career they remember me andthey come back to me.
So that's really great to getto work with beloved clients
again and again.
I know you can relate to that.
And then another great,probably one of the biggest
revenue streams for me has beencollaborations with other career
(04:37):
professionals.
So I have built over the yearsfantastic relationships with
people who do something that isadjacent to what I do but not
exactly what I do, and so wehave complimentary skill sets
and we can refer clients to oneanother and actually sometimes
(04:59):
even people who do exactly whatI do but maybe they handle a
different type of client.
Rita Suzanne (05:08):
And I do Right, like a different degree.
Dalena Bradley (05:13):
Yeah, maybe maybe they work specifically
with college students and theyhave an executive approach them
and they can't help them, sothey'll send them to me.
So that's really great.
And you know what, rita, I mean.
Once in a while I need to go onvacation and take days off and
(05:34):
people come to me and I won't beable to help them because of my
schedule.
So it's really nice to havethose people in my network that
I can refer people to them aswell.
So the collaborations have beenwonderful and people who are
maybe their resume writers andall they want to do is write a
resume but they don't dointerview prep, and so they they
(05:58):
will send people to me.
So that's been huge in mybusiness.
Rita Suzanne (06:04):
I remember when I first went back to corporate and
my then mother-in-law sat medown and she said okay, we're
going to do a mock interviewwith me, and it was so helpful
because I hadn't interviewedprobably I don't know four or
five years, and so havingsomeone to actually put you
(06:26):
through an interview who's incorporate is definitely super
helpful and get you prepared.
So I think that that'swonderful.
Okay, so let's talk a littlebit about marketing.
What is one marketing tactic orchannel that you are using that
you want to recommend?
Dalena Bradley (06:50):
Yes, so I may start to sound like a broken
record.
The collaborativecollaborations is it's old
school, Rita, but the I am fullyonline, I am fully remote, a
fully remote online business,and I market appropriately.
(07:10):
I am on LinkedIn, I'm visibleon LinkedIn.
That is definitely somethingthat is a must, and I actually
do get a lot of business fromLinkedIn.
So that's important, stayingvisible.
But those things Just good,solid relationships that I have
(07:33):
built have been the bestmarketing, because it allows me
to sort of distribute the effortthat way.
(08:14):
I have tried.
I've done speaking engagements,I've done webinars and I have
collaborated on webinars, socialmedia and all that.
But what I have found is that Iprefer to narrow the number of
platforms and in my case, reallyit's LinkedIn where my people
are hanging out.
I could probably branch outmore, but I would say staying
narrow.
And then also I think that thenature of my business being so
specialized is helpful too interms of marketing, because
people get that and it's narrowand I can connect the dots
easily for people and they andtheir minds can connect the dots
(08:35):
what it is I could do for them.
So those would be my primary ifit's the collaborative
relationships that are workingwell, staying visible on a
platform where you know yourpeople are, and then focusing
more narrowly so that people canunderstand I talk, I talk with
(09:00):
my clients about this all thetime when you are going into an
interview or or even on yourresume.
I'm not, I don't do resumes,but you have to.
You have to really spell it outfor people.
You have to say this is this,is here's your pain point, here
is how I'm the prescription forthat Right, and that's what I do
(09:23):
in my own marketing, and it'sso much easier because what I do
is so specialized.
Rita Suzanne (09:30):
Right, I think, and so, because you're so well
versed at building relationshipsand maintaining them, do you
have any tips or pointers forpeople who maybe are a little
bit more introverted and don't,and maybe shy and don't want to
maybe build relationships ornetwork?
(09:51):
I think that a lot of peopleare nervous about networking.
Dalena Bradley (09:56):
It's.
It is very daunting for eventhe extroverts of the world and
I teach my people networking.
I also do some job searchstrategy coaching with some of
my clients and a big piece ofthat I always say put 65 to 70%
(10:17):
of your job search energy intonetworking and building
relationships.
Same goes for my business.
But to answer your questionabout introverts, always come
from a place of curiosity, andthe nice thing about networking
is you can just ask questions.
(10:39):
You don't have to be on thespot talking yourself trying to
have the right answer towhatever.
If you're reaching out tosomebody that you want to talk
to, either in a that could bepotentially a business partner
or a referral source or a funnelsome kind that you want to
(10:59):
explore with somebody, then youcan reach out.
And I suggest reaching outmaybe you know, on email first
or something, and we don't haveto get into the super nitty
gritty on that.
But, um, you know, just make itconversational, make it
personal.
Hey, I really admire what it isyou're doing and I would love
(11:26):
to learn more.
Do you have 20 minutes and andand making it so that it's a
really finite amount of time andsticking to that and just just
coming from a place of curiosityhow did, how did you get your
start?
Why do you do what you do?
And then, eventually, would youever be interested in a
(11:47):
collaboration?
I mean, unless the person onthe other side of that is
completely I don't know a robotor something, then they're
eventually going to ask aboutyou a question or two and things
will flow more naturally.
So to the introverts of theworld just ask questions, have a
(12:14):
few questions they don't haveto be a long list and eventually
it'll swing back to you andprobably in a more natural way.
Whether it is an in-personsetting or an in-person group
setting or if it's moreone-on-one, whether it's
somebody you're approaching as apotential partner or whether
(12:36):
it's somebody that you just wantto, you just want to connect
with because they seem like whatthey're doing is really
interesting to you.
Rita Suzanne (12:46):
Yeah, I have been saying lately, just because of
the way our market has kind ofswitched, that it is important
to do in-person networking andonline and social networking.
Online is, you know, like yourSEO, your Google, my Business
and your website.
All those things need of haveto work together because the way
(13:16):
that our market isoversaturated, which we spoke
about earlier, I think that it'simportant to have those
relationships, nurture them andkind of work together.
And what I encourage my clientsand people to do is, if you do
go to a networking event is tofollow up.
(13:36):
Don't just take somebody'sbusiness card and have it
sitting on your desk or like, dosomething with it to invite
them to a call and at least getthem into my emails so that they
can kind of get in the system.
(13:59):
And then, if they don't followup with the scheduling a call,
then I get a reminder to myemail address that says hey, you
need to reach out to them, andthen I'll reach out to them on
social or something else adifferent way, so that it's a
different approach versus itcoming automated from my email,
you know.
Dalena Bradley (14:18):
Yes, yeah, I always, if I meet somebody in a
group setting, I will alwaysinvite them to connect on
LinkedIn, and I mean, mostpeople are on LinkedIn, and so
that's a good starting pointoften.
(14:39):
But, I feel like people don'tfollow up, right?
Yeah, I mean, sometimes it canbe a one way street and you know
what.
It's okay, you just move on.
There are more people, thereare millions and millions of
people in the world, so it's.
That is a tough one.
As a business owner, it took mea while to develop a thicker
(15:01):
skin.
If people would, maybe they'dexpress interest in my services
or something and and I wouldfollow up, and then they'd ghost
me or just would fall silent,and that that took a little bit
of getting used to.
And and now I have fullycompartmentalized and
(15:22):
depersonalized.
If somebody isn't getting backto me, whether it's been at a
networking event or whether it'ssomebody who reached out to me
I mean, they were the ones whoreached out to me in the first
place.
Often, and you know, I justhave to think that people's
priorities change, or they gotbusy or what have you, and
(15:45):
they're not trying to be mean.
Rita Suzanne (15:49):
Well, no, I mean like you, if you only connect
with them on LinkedIn, right,then that doesn't really prompt
them to schedule a call,typically, right.
So that's why I'm like puttingthem into an email sequence or
something, because if I justconnect with them on LinkedIn,
(16:10):
then I'm not probably going toeven remember to follow up with
them.
Dalena Bradley (16:15):
Yeah, yeah, and you know what, often for me and
this is what I share with myclients too if they have their
email contact information ontheir LinkedIn profile, if
that's the route I've gone tofollow up then that's always a
preferred way to connect withsomebody, because they have
(16:38):
their eye on their email a lotmore closely than they do in
some social media platform.
I say that maybe that's not thecase actually, but certainly
for LinkedIn, the daily activeusers are.
There's a lot lower percentageof daily active users on
LinkedIn than on many otherplatforms.
Rita Suzanne (17:00):
Right.
So let's talk a little bitabout any marketing mistakes or
mishaps that you may have made,that you have learned the
lessons from.
Dalena Bradley (17:15):
Yeah, I would say, early on in my business and
and this probably is not goingto be to surprise you but early
on in my business I was tryingto do all of the things and the,
the speaking engagements andthe uh, you know social media
(17:37):
and everything, um, and andmultiple platforms on social
media and all that, and it'sjust not sustainable, right?
If you, when you're, when youhave, when you're raising a
family and when you are justtrying to be a person in the
(17:59):
world who has multiple aspectsof their life, you know it's
just not sustainable.
So I would say that would havebeen a mistake, a marketing
mistake.
And then I have had a couple, afew instances where I put money
(18:19):
into ads, especially Facebookads.
That's a hard code to crack and, unless you have good guidance,
my advice to anyone listeningto this is to, if you haven't
dipped your toe into the worldof Facebook ads and you want to
go that route or some otherplatform, get help.
(18:43):
And you want to go that routeor some other platform, get help
.
Just invest in getting help andgetting some direction.
But I would say I've I've nothad the best traction in
Facebook ads.
The other thing that I wouldsay is I there?
(19:18):
It's all about the numbers.
So I had a decent size emaillist, but in the hundreds, and
so when you go to have yourwebinar, you invite those people
to come to your webinar andthen hopefully, they'll want to
eventually buy your onlinecourse.
And I just realized that Ireally needed to have a much
(19:42):
bigger distribution list, emaillist on the front end, even
though you hear from a lot ofonline marketing gurus that, oh,
you don't have to have a biglist to be successful in
marketing your online products,and the reality is that you are
(20:06):
going to naturally be moresuccessful if you have a bigger
audience from on the front end.
So I would say that would havebeen a mistake.
I should have spent more timebuilding my distribution list
through, you know, via freebiesand online giveaways before I
(20:27):
did the did the webinars, but itwas successful.
The webinars themselves weresuccessful in terms of building
my list on that other end ofthat, but that's those are a
couple of things that come tomind.
It's a lot of trial and error.
Rita Suzanne (20:45):
Right, but you got sales on your course and you,
you know and you learned, youknow feedback from your course
and everything too, so that'sreally good.
Okay, let's talk about how doyou define success in your
business.
Is it purely financial or arethere other factors that
(21:05):
contribute to your definition atsuccess?
Dalena Bradley (21:10):
The.
What I've realized over theyears is that I am way more
money motivated than I everthought.
I really do attach my successas a business owner mentally to
the amount of money I'm making,more than I would care to admit.
(21:32):
That said, in the hardest days,because it is not easy running
your own business, because youcan't just do what it is you do,
you have to run the operationsand all that, but.
But what I tell people is Iwould still never go back to
(21:55):
working for someone else becauseflexibility and autonomy trumps
everything.
So I would say, yes, financialsuccess for me is huge, but the
flexibility and the autonomy torun my business on my own terms
(22:18):
and my own schedule is a very,very close second.
Rita Suzanne (22:25):
It's probably right across the line, but Right
, I find that most momsdefinitely are seeking time and
financial freedom, like equallyright.
Like we want, we want both.
We want, first of all, we wantit all.
Yeah, we want it all, which isfine, Okay, so what is one tool,
(22:50):
app or software that you'reusing that is maybe helping you
become more or be more efficientin your business and or life?
Dalena Bradley (22:57):
This is a really basic one.
I wish that I had this reallycool sexy app that I could talk
about.
That's amazing and I do in theclient process P aspect.
But the one true time saverthat I don't know has saved me,
(23:21):
I'm sure, countless hours is agood old calendar app.
I use Calendly and I don't knowwhat I would do without that.
Rita Suzanne (23:30):
It's like my right arm because you just I realize
it's a, it's a real basic thingand but I love it and but I love
it, but you'd be surprised athow many people don't
necessarily use it, because Ialso do some in-person workshops
(23:51):
and speaking here in my areaand some people have reached out
to me and they're, you know,want to schedule time with me.
And then I'm like, oh, okay,like send me your calendar, or I
can send you mine.
And then they're like, well,okay, like send me your calendar
, or I can send you mine.
And then they're like, well,can you just send me yours
Because I don't have one.
A lot of people don't use acalendaring app like we do, so I
(24:15):
think they're definitelymissing out by not using some
type of calendaring system.
Dalena Bradley (24:20):
Yeah, and it was .
I didn't.
I was resistant to it earlieron because I felt like, oh it's,
I'm going to lose the autonomyover when I schedule and you
just have to train yourself toreally block the time on your
main calendar.
Whether you use Google calendar, outlook or whatever, you have
(24:42):
to be really disciplined aboutmaking sure, even if you just
want a planning day or somethinglike that, you have to block
that stuff and then it'll showyou as unavailable on the app.
And so that's the main thing isjust training yourself.
But it is because of the one onone coaching that I do and that
(25:02):
it is because of the one-on-onecoaching that I do and that it
is so appointment intensive.
It's really key to me.
And you know, another thing iswell, you said the one thing,
but I will say having and thisis another really basic thing is
just having a password managerthat you don't have to
(25:24):
continually enter your passwordall the time.
I mean I would love to know foran average person I mean not
saying I'm not, but who's who'sconstantly keying in their
passwords all day long at theend of a year, how much time
they spent doing that.
(25:45):
So I really love having thatpassword manager and being able
to mix up the passwords, andit's I must have.
Rita Suzanne (25:56):
And for your security, it is better that you
mix them up.
I think that's what happens is,a lot of people are using the
same password for every singlething that they're using, or
they have a spreadsheet with alltheir different passwords.
So, again, that's time, laborintensive and also not secure.
So using something like you andI use, which is LastPass, is
(26:19):
really smart and there's alsoone, one password, I think is
what it's called as analternative.
But LastPass is what we use andthat's a great product.
Yeah, it's a great productBecause you have shared your
passwords with me before, whichis also a secure way of you know
sharing your passwords withyour clients.
Dalena Bradley (26:41):
So yeah, or your VA, or or your business or
whoever your collaborators.
Yes, yeah, it's a great.
It's it's great.
I mean, the two things that Imentioned are so so basic, but
save so much time.
Rita Suzanne (26:58):
Yeah, I agree.
Okay, so what are you currentlylistening to or reading right
now?
It doesn't have to be businessrelated, but it could be.
Dalena Bradley (27:09):
Well, I mentioned earlier that I am a
podcast fiend and I so I'malways listening to podcasts.
It's kind of interestingbecause, depending on the day of
the week and the time of theday, my mood changes about what
I want to listen to.
Are you like that?
Yes, yeah, yeah, definitelyyeah, but one of the ones that I
(27:34):
would listen to on a weekday inthe morning maybe because I'm
more in the work mindset is iscalled Rethinking by Adam Grant,
and he for people who arelistening that don't know he is
a renowned social organizationalpsychologist and he's a
(27:58):
professor at the Wharton Schoolof Business at Penn and he is
great he.
What he helps me do is stayconnected to the pain points of
people who are working inbusiness or corporate America
(28:20):
teams and executives, and it'sbeyond that.
Sometimes he'll go, he'llinterview celebrities.
Sometimes he interviewed alinguist last week and he was
talking about Gen Z slang andstuff like that, and anyway,
it's a great lesson for anyonewho is interested in the
(28:41):
business world and how companiesoperate better with people who
are working together in ahealthy way.
And he's got all kinds of veryinteresting episodes and good
books too that he's written.
I'm happy to check it out.
Rita Suzanne (29:00):
Yeah, you definitely have to check it out.
So, as far as self-care, whatare you doing for you?
Dalena Bradley (29:09):
Mm, hmm, did you ?
You cut out just for a second,did you say self care?
Rita Suzanne (29:13):
Yes, I said as far as self care goes.
What are you doing just for you?
Dalena Bradley (29:17):
Uh huh.
First thing, I'm, I'm, I rollPractically after I've rolled
out of bed.
I go through this whole.
I'm a big yoga person and I'vebeen doing it for many years,
and so whether I'm, if I'm notin the studio, I am at home
(29:39):
doing a series.
So that is non-negotiable forme.
I do that, and then I get outwith those two dogs that I
mentioned earlier and I amhiking around, walking around
that I mentioned earlier and Iam hiking around, walking around
, that I schedule around thatbecause if I don't, I notice
(29:59):
myself, my energy level isn'tthere, my mental um ability to
do what it is I do and stay withmy clients and stay engaged
with my clients isn't as sharpand attuned if I'm not
exercising.
So that is a really big one forme, and I am doing that most
(30:20):
days of the week.
The other thing that I wouldsay that I do for self-care and
this is more as a, it's a moreholistic thing.
That is, uh, the reason I did.
It has to do with my businesstoo, which is I have a four day
(30:41):
work week.
I I am the boss and I get todecide, and so I do not schedule
clients on Fridays for uh, and,and maybe those Fridays I use
for content batching or someadministrative thing that I have
(31:02):
not had time for, or there'ssome technical things problem I
need to sort out.
That's wasn't an emergency, youknow, I'll get to it or I'll do
my website updates, rita, thosekinds of things I'll do on a
Friday, or maybe I won't doanything at all and I always
(31:25):
just know that that day isprotected and it's not on my
calendar as available ever, andit's kind of non-negotiable for
me.
It's really I stick to it andit's really hard because
sometimes in my business peoplehave very urgent.
(31:46):
You know I've got an interviewon Monday and they called me on
Thursday night or Thursdayafternoon and, um, you know
that's what the online course isfor, as as another alternative,
right For the another waypeople can work with me.
So those are the two thingsthat I would say.
One is much more personal andthe other is business, but uh,
(32:10):
spills into personal as well.
Rita Suzanne (32:13):
Love it.
Okay, so where are you?
I know you're on LinkedIn andthen tell everybody how to
connect with you.
So on LinkedIn and your websiteanywhere else, yeah so I am.
Dalena Bradley (32:26):
I am definitely primarily on LinkedIn LinkedIn,
delina Bradley, and then I havemy website is delinabradleycom.
I have a Facebook company page,delina Bradley Career Marketing
Services that you'll seeinformation there as well.
(32:46):
Those are the primary ways tofind me, and then you know know,
people can always just reachout to me on email delena at
delena bradleycom as we weretalking earlier.
Uh, a very direct way of doingthat.
So, yeah, well, thank you somuch for being a guest.
It's been my pleasure.
Yeah, thank you so much forhaving me, rita.
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