Tech Talk: Laura Johns on Balancing Career Growth and Entrepreneurship in Technology Marketing

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Ever been close to giving up your 9 to 5 but can't quite fathom how to turn your side hustle into a main gig? You're not alone. Today's episode is a genuine heart-to-heart conversation with Laura Johns, the founder and CEO of the Business Growers. The company serves technology companies who need modern marketing. From cyber security firms to fintech startups, Laura and her team understand what it takes to build efficient niche-specific marketing strategies and implement them with precision.

Laura's journey to the head of a thriving tech-focused marketing company is not just motivational but also a guide for aspiring entrepreneurs. In a candid chat, Laura shares her passion for empowering her employees to pursue their side hustles, her belief in work-life balance, and the importance of having the right team.

We also delve into the nitty-gritty of operating a successful business with insights on the value of a VP of operations, the challenges of setting boundaries within a company, and the art of hiring and maximizing time. Drawing on the wisdom from Dan Martell's book, "Buy Back Your Time," Laura talks about the process of calculating your buyback rate and deciding when to hire or bring a service in-house. Our cohost, Kyle Stevie, shares his perspective on how some employees' contribution transcends profits and significantly increases a company's value.

We round off this dynamic conversation with an in-depth look at the power of side hustles and extend an open invitation to join the Side Hustle City Facebook group for motivation and idea-sharing. So, whether you're a budding entrepreneur, an employee itching to jump into the world of entrepreneurship, or just someone fascinated by tech and business stories, this conversation is worth a listen.

More About Laura

For 18 years, Laura managed marketing efforts for companies ranging from tech startups to global, multi-billion dollar businesses. She spent nearly half her career serving as a corporate marketing executive in the telecommunications industry before starting The Business Growers. Her career focus is developing marketing strategies for technology companies that lead to tangible success. Today, The Business Growers serves over 50 clients in 23 states.

Laura has been honored as “Top 50 under 40” and “Top 50 Leading Women in Business” in her home state of Mississippi. Today, she is a member of the Leadership Mississippi program, an honor bestowed on a select by the Mississippi Economic Council. Laura graduated cum laude from Mississippi College and earned a Master of Arts degree from the University of Alabama. She is the co-founder and host of The Home and The Hustle podcast for working moms and The Know, Grow and Scale videocast and podcast for entrepreneurs.

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I'm joined by Kyle Stevie, myco-host.
Let's get started, all right.

(00:31):
Welcome back everybody to theSide Hustle City podcast Today's
special guest, laura Johns.
She is the founder and CEO ofthe business growers.
Laura, welcome to the show.

Laura (00:42):
Thank you for having me.
I'm so excited to be here.

Adam (00:45):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm pumped and, ariana Suarez,
you're with us as well.

Laura (00:50):
She's yeah, she's hanging out with me her first week on
the job, so she's getting tolearn and hang out.

Adam (00:55):
So look at this.
Well, I mean no better way thanto listen, you know, be a part
of a podcast where she explainsthe whole business to us.
So that's awesome.

Laura (01:03):
I can't wait to hear what she has to say it's going to be
great.

Adam (01:08):
So you've been doing this it looks like for 18 years.
We talked a little bit beforethe show started here about you
know your experience and some ofthe education that you had and
you know the schools that youwent to.
Now just talk about, like Imean, what got you into wanting
to be a business owner inMississippi.

Laura (01:29):
Yes, that's a great question.
Well, I mean, I'm sure that youthis might, may or may not,
resonate with you.
I don't know that anybody'sborn.
You know thinking, you know youhear six and seven year olds I
have a seven year old and athree year old now, so I'm going
to kind of speak thinking aboutthem.
But you know they want to bedoctors or lawyers or teachers

(01:49):
or scientists, or, you know,astronauts, but no one ever
thinks I want to be the CEO of,I want to be an entrepreneur, I
want to, I want to grind all thetime.

Adam (01:59):
That's just, I want to work 80 hours a week.

Laura (02:02):
Right, right.
But really, you know, I wouldsay I'm one of those that was
definitely an accidentalentrepreneur, although looking
back, I do see, you know,seasons and pieces of my life
that makes it, you know, lookingback, make it very obvious now
why this was a fit for me.
I have always had a side hustleand I think it's funny that

(02:24):
almost every girl that you knowwoman that works for me also has
multiple jobs.
So that's, you know, kind ofthe culture that that I guess
put off.
But that's definitely somethingI've always done, even from,
you know, starting.
You know I worked at a snow biz, a snow cone stand, and, and
junior high and always babysat,so I always did more than one

(02:46):
thing.
And then, growing up, I alwaysworked in college.
You know I had parents thatwere kind enough to pay for my
education but you know, anyextra money outside of my
tuition was something that wasmy responsibility.
So I always, you know I don'tknow that I've ever had one job,
I've always had multiple jobs.
And then you know, I've alwaysI've never been one that if

(03:07):
there was something that Iwanted that I wouldn't just
figure out a way to work to getit.
So that's really, you know,that's my whole life story.
And then when I, when you bringa husband and a family into the
mix, you start to realize thethings that really are important
to you.
And it wasn't that I couldn'thave made it at work at an eight

(03:29):
to five for someone else, butyou know, you pull up to an
office enough when you'reworking for someone else when
you realize, hey, I have havehave a skill that I think that
it's proven based on myexperience, that people need and
I know that I could do this andalso not have to ask permission

(03:50):
to cut out for the schoolprogram or to pick up my son.
And so knowing that really iswhat drove me.
And I do also feel like onceyou, once you know that, once it
kind of settles into your soul,then you really can't go to
work very much longer before youimplode.

Adam (04:07):
Oh, my God, and I've talked to enough people on this
podcast.
They all, they all say I couldnever go back Like at this point
, like the freedom is toointoxicating.
Yep.
It's.
It's crazy that there arepeople out there and we take it
for granted, I think, sometimes,because I can just schedule a
lunch meeting with somebody todo some networking, we can grab
a coffee, you know, that's easy,that's nothing.

(04:31):
Sure, yeah, let's do it nextThursday or whatever, right?
But there are people wholiterally don't have the time to
get away to network.
And I think that's the hardestpart about having you said eight
to five job.
You know, for some people, ifyou're on salary, it could be,
you know, seven to seven orwhatever, but you're literally
an indentured servant to thesepeople and you can't get out and

(04:54):
it's terrible.
And I love what you said aboutencouraging your own employees
and people that are working foryou to have a side hustle,
because you I mean, I don't own,you, like I'm not, you know do
what you've got to do Right,allow them the freedom to be

(05:14):
able to do what you did.
I mean it's awesome that you dothat.

Laura (05:18):
Yeah, and I think that is .
I really should attribute thatmindset to the previous bosses
that I've had.
So I was never I never feltimprisoned or I never felt stuck
.
I always had an element offreedom, just because I've
always worked for reallyunderstanding and great people.
But I do think like that,paired with I know that what I
do is something that couldbenefit a number of businesses

(05:42):
versus just the one that I'm in,and once I had that conviction
I knew that it was certainlysomething that I needed to do
elsewhere and with othercompanies.
But my team is based on theirperformance and the way that
they work is based on a numberof different key performance

(06:03):
indicators and things like that.
But it's relevant to whatthey're doing in my business and
I really we talk a lot aboutour core values, which trust,
balance, growth, a lot of thesethings that really I couldn't
say, hey, balance, growth, trustare huge core values for us and
this is what we mean, and thenhave any sort of negative

(06:27):
comment about them having alittle picking up, a little side
hustle.
I've got one team member.
She gets excessive with theside hustle.
She's got a spray tan business.
She's got a photographybusiness.
She's got pretty much.
Every time she comes up with anidea, I encourage her to do it,
but I do that also with thattrust core value.
You say, okay, with trust comesaccountability and I am gonna

(06:50):
keep you accountable to do yourjob while you're working for me.
So there's a balance there, Ithink.

Adam (06:55):
Oh yeah, my cousin, she started a daycare app.
She sold it.
The guy who bought it from herdidn't really do anything with
it, sold it back to her prettymuch gave it back to her.
She sold it again the next day.
Then she started a mobiletanning business.
So, like your employee with themobile tan, like they drive to

(07:16):
your house and they'll tan youat your house and stuff, and
yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah, we did the logo for herand everything.
It's just like she keepsstarting businesses and I'm like
go ahead.
And we've actually got one ofour previous episodes.
We have a women's businessaccelerator here in Covington,
kentucky.
It's called Aviatra and shegraduated from it.
We have a woman that rentsironness coworking space.

(07:39):
In the basement of it is acommercial kitchen.
Well, the woman who rents fromme she also graduated from their
program.
She just hit a million dollarsin business, a million dollars
in revenue, which the peoplefrom Aviatra told me only 3% of
women owned businesses ever getto a million in revenue, believe
it or not.

Laura (07:59):
Interesting.
She said a lot of times it'slifestyle businesses.

Adam (08:02):
Right, it's because they're doing the lifestyle
businesses.
But trying to encourage womento think bigger, to get into
more technology type businesses,I mean, look at you, you're
doing stuff that you rarely hear.
Hey, you ask a girl hey, do youwant to get into telecom, do

(08:25):
you want to get into IT cloudservices?
They're not thinking like thatand it's like sign me up, sign
me up for this SaaS marketingbusiness that I want to create.
What got you down that path?

Laura (08:38):
Yes, that's a great question.
So when I was in college thisis also a bit of an
unconventional entry into anindustry, but when I was in
college they'd be sat for afamily who the husband and the
family was the CEO of a very upand coming tech company for

(09:00):
utilities.
It was a company that put acellular embedded module inside
an electric meter so that ameter reader never had to come
to your house.
It was all done through so manytimes.
Sure, so I worked.
So after I graduated college Iwent to work for that company.
They needed that.
No marketing really to speak of.
It was very new.
I think I was the 30th employeemaybe.

(09:21):
And then fast forward eightyears later.
The company grew and sold for$100 million to a bigger
technology company and I got tobe a part of my first
acquisition and seeing how thatworked and it was just a really
cool experience for me.
And then, I think, when he soldthe company, we were over 100

(09:43):
employees.
So to go from being the 30themployee to the over 100
employees then went to work forthe company that bought us for
several years and that was acool experience Because it was
an $8 billion global companythat I was one of 60 to 80
marketing team members and so Igot to see, I was able to

(10:04):
experience what it was like tobe on that side of the business.
So really just taking a step insomething as insignificant as a
babysitting job got me intotechnology.
And then I started makingconnections.
Once you're in the industry for10 years, you start making

(10:24):
connections and through I was ona business trip.
This is how it always happens,but was on a business trip for
my current job, found out that afriend of mine from church was
in San Francisco at the sametime.
I was in San Francisco, we haddinner and started talking about
his telecommunications business.
That was a locally ownedbusiness.
I'd just gotten married and wasreally not sure that I wanted

(10:46):
to be making quick trips toSingapore like I was.
No, I had to up and go toFrance last minute and a couple
other things.
So I loved travel, but I knewthat this next phase of my life
was probably not going toinclude a whole lot of global
last minute travel.
So he, pretty much there atdinner, said offered me a job

(11:10):
and that put me in another typeof technology, but a very
similar managed servicesprovider, fiber and net provider
technology position.
So it was through thatparticular job.
That second career move for mewhere I really saw his company
was about 25 employees.
It was founder led and ownedvery tight knit, but really they

(11:33):
didn't have a budget for a fullmarketing team like me as the
CMO.
I was their budget, theirmarketing budget pretty much,
but we needed some reallyspecialty marketing and use a
digital marker.
You know this.
So you still need your SEOexpert and you still need your
graphic designer, and typicallythat's not one person, it's
fractional marketing.

Adam (11:54):
And that's what we on my website.
That's what we promoteourselves.
As is offsite team.
This does fractional marketingand you have fractional CFOs.
I think that's probably themost fractional position to have
, because CMOs are really,really expensive and fractional
marketing is no different where,yeah, you have so many teams.
I mean, do you want?
And the funny thing is, theseguys do not know how to staff a

(12:18):
marketing department, like theywouldn't know the skills that
you need to staff a fullyfunctioning marketing department
.
They need to outsource that tosomebody who actually does.

Laura (12:28):
Yeah, yeah.
So what I saw were thatagencies, or you know, agencies
that I had as CMO at a techcompany I was experiencing
working with a lot of agenciesthat really were providing
getting more like vendors, likethey were giving me a website
and then I was done and I reallyfelt like no one was partnering

(12:51):
with me and I was all they hadfrom a marketing standpoint and
he was expecting me to deliver.
So a lot of pressure on thosemarketing leaders and so, yeah,
so we, specifically for foundersand tech companies, that
particularly was a need that Isaw, that I knew I could deliver
on.

Adam (13:08):
So when what I love about this story too, and what I I
think if people are listeningright now and they're involved
in any kind of business, youknow they're working in nine,
eight to five, eight to eight toeight.
Whatever in the world you'reinvolved in, what you did was
you didn't come out of collegethinking, hey look, I'm going to
start a business doing this andserving these types of

(13:28):
customers.
You adapted to what you weregiven.
Right, you were in thisposition.
You worked for a company.
You saw and it's funny becausewe lead parallel lives, I think
because I also worked for an adagency where I was like a
marketing guy, designer, and wesold the business.
So I saw someone who was anentrepreneur, who was my boss.

(13:48):
Yeah, I saw him sell a business, see that success and then off
I go with this entrepreneur,everybody that worked for him
ended up becoming a freelanceror an entrepreneur of some sort.
And you know, you just don'tknow where your life's going to
take you, but you roll with thepunches as an entrepreneur and
that's what you did Right, and Idid it right around COVID with

(14:12):
a newborn.
Which I yeah, I haven't hadthat in practice.
Yeah, that's a whole new setup.

Laura (14:17):
Yeah, Entrepreneurship was Gary with a newborn was Gary
.

Adam (14:19):
Motherhood plus entrepreneurship, yeah, tough.

Laura (14:22):
And COVID.
So I had COVID.
Yeah, gosh man, I just went big.
You know, I went big all at onetime, so, but it worked out.

Adam (14:30):
Sounds like.
It sounds like.
So talk a little bit about thecompany now.
You know how does it operate.
How is it structured?
You know it sounds like youguys are.
I mean, you got 50 clients, 23states that's huge.
Maybe even more by now sinceyou wrote this bio.
But tell me a little bit abouthow you structured it, because
we all have to be a little bitdifferent as marketers and we
all have a specific pitch to theniche we serve.

Laura (14:53):
Yep.
So we're a bit different.
Our, you know, the typicalagency.
Like I said, we don't work, Idon't do any one-time projects,
so there's no one-time exchangeof any.
You know, you ask for a website, I deliver it and my hands are
clean, but none of that.
And again, that goes back tojust my personal conviction of
what I learned as the CMO at atech company when I really

(15:15):
needed a partner and I didn'tfeel like I was ever really
getting that.
So I work in and you know we're.
We have, obviously, like, wehave the SEO expert, we have the
graphic expert, we have the webdevelopment expert, we have all
of these team members thatessentially a tech company would
need.
And then we have your accountmanager and, depending on the

(15:37):
level of support you need, wehave our junior, you know JV
team and then our, our seniorteam, you know kind of
fractional CMO or senior clientsuccess manager.
So, depending on your level ofneed, you would have somebody
you know hands on all the time,based on the level of support,
and that person really becomesyour in-house, you know
marketing account manager, teammember, project manager, etc.

(15:58):
And and we're really structured.
You know, when I first startedI will say, I took an employee
with me that I planned to hireat my other company and
midstream, which was, it was ablast by the CEO of the company.
He's a very good person, like Isaid, and so she was my first
employee, grace.
She's still with me today andyou know those first, you know,

(16:22):
couple of months, I was takingwhatever I could get.
I didn't specialize in anything, I was just thinking whatever
we can do to make sure we makeends meet.
And that carried on for aboutsix months until I stopped and
looked at the numbers andrealized, okay, what, what do I
enjoy doing, what makes me themost money and where do I feel

(16:46):
like we're making the mostimpact?
And I took all of those threeconsiderations and looked at my
P&L and, from there, made thedecision to pivot into
technology.
And that's again where I reallyfelt like we were making, you
know, big impact.
We're also making money and andreally having a lot of fun,
because I saw these lightbulbsgo off in these minds of CEOs
who had been saying what theydid in one really complicated

(17:09):
manner for a decade and we wereable to simplify it and really
get that message right for them.
So so all of that to say youknow how are we structured?
I am, of course, leading andright now, thanks to Ariana, who
has joined our team recently,we've grown into a little over
two years to 15 women.

(17:30):
I've managed to have hiredwomen only up until this point
and I can't say that that's liketotally strategic, but now, at
this point, it's like you know,I'm sure no man is what it is
now.

Adam (17:41):
Yeah, yeah, hey, I'm.
Most of the places I workedwith were full of women and I
was like one of the only guysthere, so, yeah, and it was all
marketing stuff too.
So I think women are justattracted to marketing.
There's something about it,something communal about it,
something that you know womenare just good with people, I
think, and just naturallyunderstand how to sell and how

(18:02):
to talk to people, especiallywhen it comes to project
management and client service.
Yeah, relationship, yeah,there's not a lot of guys that
are.
I don't know good salespeople,but not necessarily.
You never see them in theclient service roles, really.

Laura (18:17):
Right, well, and you know it's interesting.
I'm glad that you said that,because and I wasn't going to
say that, but I will say thatspecifically in technology, I
feel like you know that industryexcuse me, that industry is
really, you know, desperate forconnectors, like we need.
Technology is not always thatsimple and we need people who

(18:39):
can communicate, who can connect.

Adam (18:41):
Yes.

Laura (18:42):
And who can take, you know, high, maybe potentially
very complex technology conceptsand make them simple for the
buyer, and I really do believethat women have a unique way of
doing that and that has provento be part of our success so far
.
So again, we have those seniorlevel account managers.
Obviously, we have ourproduction team that includes

(19:03):
our specialist and all thesedifferent services.
We have Vicki, who is our VP ofops and she's kind of running
the show.
That was one need that I knewthat I needed really quickly
because I'm not good with thedetails, and so we have.
Really I feel like now thatwe've hit just past the two year
mark that was June 1st was thetwo year mark I really feel like
we are getting in a groovewhere I'm getting out of the day

(19:27):
to day, which is better foreverybody the business and the
client.
We're on the business, not inthe business, really working on
the business, which I, honestly,if you had asked me two years
ago, I would have said that'snot possible, and it just in a
short time frame which seemslike kind of long but also short
, it really is possible.
So it's working now, which isexciting.

Adam (19:47):
Well, you need levels of people before anyone can get to
you, because and that's with alot of things I mean you, your
regular employees, don'tnecessarily need direct access
to you.
They need to go through anoperations person or whatever.
Otherwise people.
I mean it just it makes the Idon't know there's something
about it.
I mean, my wife deals with ittoo.
She's got a spa and you know,sometimes it gets really really

(20:10):
hard when employees wantsomething and they feel like
they have a friendship with youand they can just go directly to
you and it just gets reallyuncomfortable for you and then
other employees kind of it's nota good thing.
So you really do need levels.
You need to get to that point.
But you know what people aregoing to ask, especially women
owned businesses that you knowmight be smaller, one or two
people.

(20:30):
How do you get to 15 people?
You know, how do you take itfrom this freelance kind of
thing to, because people aregoing to say why don't I have
the money for an employee?
I can't, but you can't freeyourself.
You can't free yourself to workon the business, not in the
business, until you can putthese people in place.
But how do you get to the pointwhere you can actually afford

(20:51):
these people.
Do you go out and get abusiness loan?
Do you, you know, raise somemoney from friends and family,
like what do you do, and thenhow do you have the confidence
to do it?
It?

Laura (21:01):
Yeah, I did not at first have the confidence to do it and
now I'm just like hiring peopleleft and right and hoping that
you know we have the money to.

Adam (21:10):
And they do their job yeah .

Laura (21:12):
Yeah, I will say now, looking back, I have read a book
since.
That really put it very plainly.
So I'll tell you about the bookhere in just a second.
But I knew so I had actuallyhad a little side hustle before
where I was.
I knew that the intent of thebusiness was so that I could not
have to drive as much for myjob.

(21:34):
So I actually went part-timebefore I started this business
with my previous employer when Ihad my first son, just because
I needed.
I was in a car for like 17 to20 hours a week and had a
newborn and with my first sonand just knew that wasn't right.
So I actually started abusiness at the time just to
make up the other half of myincome and I went part-time with
my previous employer.

(21:54):
So that job was just my wholepoint of owning that LLC was to
make half of my salary to paythe bills.
So, I had no interest inmanaging anyone.
I had no interest in growingthe business.
I had no interest in it beinganything other than a financial

(22:14):
resource for me to have myfamily and support my family.
So then, fast forward tostarting this business.
When I started this business, Irealized really quickly this is
something I want to grow.
So when I started I made thesacrifice.
Thankfully, I've beenprofitable since my second month
of business, so I've not had toborrow anything or ask for
anything.
I will say a line of credit hasbeen very helpful and just with

(22:37):
cash flow early on yes, cashflow can be a problem.
Yes, but in terms of actuallyhaving to make any financial
alone or anything like that,have not had to do that.
But I will say I've read a bookcalled Buy Back your Time by
Dan Martel I believe is the name, and Arana and I are reading it
together again now.
But he actually creates what hecalls your buyback rate.

(23:00):
So it's a great book forentrepreneurs.
It has totally changed my lifeand it tells you, it gives you
some things to calculate andtells you here's how you create
your buyback rate so that youknow how to get rid of some of
these things that you know youshouldn't be doing.
He puts the different types oftasks that you do, like what
lights you up but doesn't makeyou money, what doesn't make you

(23:20):
any money.
So you have these fourquadrants and then you're able
to actually say, okay,everything in this quadrant I
need to use my buyback rate,whatever that dollar amount is
and it's not your hourly rate,it's something different, it's
actually a calculation.
But once you calculate that,you know, hey, can I hire
somebody for this amount to dothese things in this box today?
And if the answer is that rateis reasonable for that type of

(23:44):
role, then go do it every time.
Don't worry about anything else.
Don't worry about anything else?

Adam (23:49):
Oh wow, that's some good insight.
Yeah, so it looks like KyleStevie just joined us on the
call here.
He was on the phone with someinsurance people, I guess, and
here he is, kyle, you there?

Kyle (24:02):
Yeah, but no, I was with Mark Willis.
He was one of our guests, Idon't know how long ago.

Adam (24:09):
Yeah, I remember that, yeah, yeah.
So sometimes we get guests,laura, that are awesome, and
we're like, hey, wait a minute,why don't I use them for this
thing, whatever it is, orrecommend people for things, or
whatever we end up doing.
But yeah, so okay, kyle, youwere doing that Awesome.

Kyle (24:28):
Yeah, setting that up, so then I can work with Monica as
well.

Adam (24:33):
Nice, okay.
Well, laura essentially does alot of what I do.
She's focused more on aparticular industry, more IT
technology type of industries,even tech startups and stuff
like that.
So we're chatting about how toget over the hump of, or the
fear, I guess, of hiringemployees, and then how do you

(24:54):
know you've got enough moneycoming in to be able to hire
that employee?
And also, laura, some of theseemployees they don't make you
money necessarily, they're justthere to make sure that your
clients don't get upset with youbecause you're not writing them
back or getting with them ontime.
I mean these client servicepeople, they're kind of an
expense and I mean that can be areally expensive expense.

Laura (25:16):
Yeah, it can be, and the way that I look at it, though,
is and now my VP of Ops, we havea new it's not an unspoken,
it's a spoken role is that Ican't take all new clients
without her approval, because myproblem is that I'll try to
manage them and.
I'll know that that is not whatwe need to do.

(25:37):
We've been, we've found thatthat's not the best route to
take.
But I have the tendency to feellike you know, if I know that,
I will say they don't all makeyou money, but they do when you
look at should I be doing it orshould someone else be doing it.
If you know the answer is notme, then that certainly makes

(25:58):
the hiring decision a lot easierand, again, like you, kind of
start to know.
You know I'm doing a vendorassessment right now and looking
at my vendors that I'm usingfor things, some of the services
that I'm offering, and I'mthinking, you know, could we
bring this in house?
Could this be something thatneeds to be a person that's
sitting with us every day versus, you know, versus a partner
that we're using to offer theservice?

(26:19):
So those are types of thingsthat you can also kind of figure
out as you go that can helpsave you money in the long run.

Kyle (26:26):
I just I kind of I don't know I kind of agree, disagree
with that outlook that theydon't make you money because I
don't know if you have a gooddefensive basketball player and
they might not score eightpoints a game, but they're going
to keep the, they're going tomake the leading score from the
other team.

(26:46):
Play below, like eight or ninepoints below their per game
average.

Laura (26:51):
Then they're actually, they actually are.

Kyle (26:53):
They're increasing your value.
So you may not see the revenue,but the value of your company
goes up.
You may help you penetrateaccounts with customers that you
didn't, that you you werehaving a hard time with, but
they like talking to this persona little bit more.
They like talking to you andyou just have to go more with
the operations role with them.

Laura (27:10):
Right, and, kyle, that's exactly what I meant by if it
means me doing it or some hiringsomebody else to do it.
And you know, I know what Iknow now better than I did when
I started the business, whatthings I'm best at, and so if
there is a hole that needs to bemet and I'm trying to fill it
with someone who's not equippedfor that role, then that's

(27:31):
costing me money.
And that's really when I readthe book by back your time I was
just mentioning this, kyle,just a minute ago to Adam.
I read a book called by backyour time and it gives you a
calculation to to figure outyour by back rate as a CEO or
entrepreneur and with that rate,you kind of figure out like
here are all the things thatreally I'm not good at and don't
need to be doing, and it givesyou, you know, a very tangible

(27:54):
way to know how to offload that,because the CEO's feel like we
should be doing things if thereare holes that need to be filled
.
But truthfully, it can cost youmoney if you're doing it and
you're not great at that or notequipped to do it.
Details are becoming less andless something that I need to be
involved in, and I'm learningthat that it's gonna cost me if
I continue to do that.

Adam (28:13):
So so, laura, if you were to write a book, what would the
book?
What would the book be about?
Like, you've got this you knowwe just talked about, you know
this book that you like and youfound helpful.
But if you could write a bookand help someone with their
business or maybe it doesn'teven relate to business, maybe
it's you know something else butwhat would you write that book

(28:36):
about?

Laura (28:37):
You know, I really think it would be, you know, not to
get too into female empowerment,but that has definitely.
You know, I have, definitelyI've always had male bosses,
let's start with that Always hadmen as bosses and they have

(28:58):
always been exceptional to me,with the exception of one.
I have one that shushed me in ameeting and that was not enough
for me.
Yeah, but that's a differentpodcast.
We'll do that one later.
But I have always, I have neverfelt limited, starting with my
dad.
My dad was at a judge and anattorney.
I didn't go the legal route butI have never felt limited by

(29:24):
really there has never been atime where I felt like I
couldn't do something if Ididn't like I mentioned earlier,
if I didn't just put my mind toit and figure out how to, you
know, get the resources and doit.
So I think that, especially inthe South now I'm in Mississippi
, where a lot of women tend toget married early, earlier than

(29:47):
maybe, say, in New York City orsomething, Sure.
well, they wait until they're50, so Right, right, but
honestly, I tell people this allthe time.
I married at 31, but had I metmy husband that I married to now
, when I was 21, I would havemarried him then.
He's 100% the right fit for me.
So the fact that I married himlate was not necessarily

(30:08):
intentional.
That's just when he happened tocome along.
That's right bye.
But I will say that part ofwhat my vision is at the
business growers is to make surethat every woman that works for
me doesn't feel like they needsomething else or someone else
to fulfill their passion andtheir dream.
And so that would probably be.

(30:30):
You know there are truly.
You know.
You have everything within youto accomplish what you want to
accomplish, and that's it wouldbe something along those lines.
I don't know what it is, butyou know something along those
lines.
And you know, I changed my owntires, I hung my own curtains, I
plunged my own toilets, I cutmy own grass.
You know I did a lot of thatbefore I got married.
So I feel very passionatelyabout you know and my husband

(30:55):
would say I'm hardheaded, butyou know, I feel very
passionately about knowing thatthere are truly no limits if you
, if you set your mind to it.
So that may be a little cliche,but that's true.
I mean, it is very.
There is no other woman that'sleading a tech focused marketing
agency in the state ofMississippi.
I can tell you that so that youknow that that means something
to me.

Adam (31:14):
That's right.
That's right and I think you'redoing a major service for not
just you know the city you're in, but even the state.
I mean you're winning awards,you know 50 under 40, you know
that kind of stuff, and you knowto be in Mississippi to be a
female, to hire, the vastmajority of your staff being

(31:35):
female the fact that you'refocused on technology in a state
that nobody is, you know,mississippi is not top of mind
for most people when it comes totechnology Right In tech hub,
exactly In startups.

Laura (31:45):
We do have a whole thing going on, right.

Adam (31:47):
Yeah.

Laura (31:47):
Yeah.

Adam (31:48):
And I'm actually working with Kentucky right now to try
to make Northern Kentucky theside hustle hub, because, you
know, nobody thinks the NorthernKentucky is the startup hub.
But you know what?
There's a lot of people herewho are very industrious.
They can, you know, they comeup with things.
They're they're good with theirhands, they, you know, and
start at.
You know, side hustles don'thave to be technology based.
So you know, we're trying tokind of position Northern
Kentucky as the side hustle hub.

(32:09):
But the fact you're doing allof this is a major benefit to
not just the economy down there,but it's an inspiration for
people that this may not be thethe thing that they would go
into, you know, but it's aninspiration for people and I
definitely I mean, if you wereto write that book, I think, as
a person from a state that is inthat situation, being a female

(32:34):
bringing other females into thatbusiness I mean that's a unique
story that should probably betold.

Laura (32:42):
Yeah, well, maybe I need to write a book, maybe that's
not, it's not that hard.

Kyle (32:47):
Kyle just wrote his book.

Laura (32:49):
Yeah, it took him two years I thought you were about
to say it's not that hard tohave a tech focused marketing
company in Mississippi.
Oh no, it hasn't been easy.

Adam (32:58):
Kyle's crazy.
He's not stupid, Just say thatoffline.

Laura (33:04):
Kyle yeah.

Kyle (33:05):
Yeah, look, I'm just gonna add, I'm just gonna guess.
So let's move on.
Kyle wrote a book.

Adam (33:13):
It just took him two years .

Kyle (33:15):
Kyle what's the?

Laura (33:15):
name of your book.

Kyle (33:17):
Digital Melting.

Laura (33:18):
Okay, I'm looking at it About tokenization of real-world
assets.

Kyle (33:23):
Real estate assets like just taking private interests
and different equity interestsand whatever syndication or
private reader whatever andbeing able to trade it on the
secondary markets, with the SECsaying it's compliant and you're
okay, it's a page turner,you're gonna read it and you're

(33:43):
gonna not be able to put it down.
So carve out about an hour anda half of your time, I guess.

Laura (33:48):
I can't wait.

Kyle (33:50):
Exactly, my wife bought the first book, first copy, and
I don't think she's made it pastpage like six.

Laura (34:00):
Oh well, it's probably for a specific reader, is what
it sounds like.

Kyle (34:04):
Oh yeah, slightly in niche markets.

Adam (34:06):
Yes, If you're into crypto , then you would probably be
interested in this book, andKyle has a law degree too, so
there's like some legal stuff inthere and everything else, but
you grew up with a father thatwas a lawyer, right, so maybe
it's something that you justwrap your head around right away
or whatever, but yeah, I'mtrying to do a better job of

(34:30):
keeping one book in front of meat all times.

Laura (34:33):
I will say I have a little problem like sitting down
to watch a full TV show.
My husband tells me I've neverclosed a cabinet door fully.
So I'm that person.
I don't know that.
I've never been diagnosed withADHD, but I may have it.
I'm always moving on to thenext thing.
So I'm not really good at yoga.
I'm not really good at sittingdown for long periods of time.

(34:54):
So the audio book trend hasreally changed my life.
So I do try to do it a bitbetter at that.

Kyle (35:00):
Same with me.

Laura (35:01):
While I'm doing something else.
That really is a game changerfor me.

Adam (35:05):
That's right.
Well, I ask everybody have youever done your Myers-Briggs?

Laura (35:09):
You know, a long time ago .
I have a client who called GoodJob.
That is a software thatbasically you take this
assessment, similar to that, andthey actually, through their
technology, get all of theircurrent employees to take the
test and the assessment.

(35:31):
And then every this is not apromotion for them, but I'm
coming full circle Just givethem a say yeah, yeah, yeah, and
then you tell their team whoyou're front runners like top
dogs are, and then anybody whoapplies for the job where you've
got a top dog, you want theirassessment to look similar to
the top dog assessment oh smart.
And it's very yeah, it's a verycool software.

(35:53):
So the last few years we'vebeen using their technology and
also Strengths Finder, but Ican't tell you what Myers-Briggs
, what that is.

Adam (36:02):
Well, there's a few of them that are entrepreneur based
, and the fact that you can'tsit down and pay attention and
stuff leads me to believe you're.
You're one of those main typesand, yeah, you got all these
ideas and it's hard to stayfocused on one thing and you're
constantly bombarded with newideas that you want to try, but
it's like the shiny objectsyndrome.

Laura (36:22):
Yes, yeah, I got that.
I do complete things.
I just sometimes it takes me alittle time to do it.
So now I have a team to help meexecute on the ideas, which is
the best of both worlds.

Adam (36:33):
You've got to have a team.

Kyle (36:33):
You're in that I call it.
You're like an oh shit worker,or it's kind of like, oh shit, I
gotta get this done and thenall of a sudden you can sit down
and get everything finished.
So that's kind of like how.
It's like not quite aprocrastinator because you don't
wait till the last minute, lastminute, but you're like, oh
shit, it's getting close.

Laura (36:53):
I'm prepared, you know, and I just like I'm telling you,
arianna, I'm really glad you'resitting on this podcast because
this woman in four days shestarted on Monday as my
assistant Kyle.
She has color coordinated andemoji.
It looks so good and she'sgetting into my click up.
She's asking me things like youknow, how you know, do you like

(37:16):
, are you a visual person?
She's trying to get my taskkind of organized to where I can
like enjoy them.
When I look at them I'm likethat's a, that's amazing.

Kyle (37:24):
Yeah, I would have that person on my life for about
month and a half and then theywould get so sick of rearranging
the color coding.
I feel like you're just notpaying me enough.

Laura (37:37):
She's the boss.
I tell her she color codes itand I'll follow her rules.
So I'm good.

Adam (37:41):
Well, that's good.
That's good that you guys gotthat kind of level of trust.
You know it's it's hard forpeople, I think, to hand over
their lives to an assistant andor somebody who can actually
help you in that way.
But once you have it, it's hardto realize that you had a life
before that and you used to dothat.

Laura (38:00):
Yeah, I think the tipping point for me, you know, again,
I have a seven-year-old and athree-year-old, so the tipping
point for me over these last fewmonths has been the, the level
of late hours and and againreading that book and seeing,
okay, there are a lot of thingsthat I'm doing every day during
the day that really could behanded off to someone.

(38:21):
I'm the person that's justgonna, that's I'm just gonna do
it myself kind of person andthat's not healthy again for the
business.
So you know, my goal iseventually for her to recognize
what those things are and passthem off for me.
So I don't even get, they don'teven get in front of me.

Kyle (38:34):
Yeah right yeah, I'll throw this, I'll throw this out
there just for you, for you andfor young parents in the same
boat.
You don't and everybody saysthis, but you don't get it back
like.
I'm in the middle of like kindof like a midlife crisis myself.
So my boys are 22 and mydaughter's 13 and we I'm 43, so

(38:58):
the boys were young or early, sowe weren't quite as prepared
financially as we wanted to be,obviously, but the feeling you
get in the pit of your stomach,like I should be, this could all
go away tomorrow.
I should be working, I shouldbe taking care of I got
something I gotta take care of.
I can go.
I'll take them out tomorrow forice cream, or we'll go to the

(39:19):
park tomorrow or whatever.
I'm just telling you because Idid this myself and he sounds
like you have your prioritiesfar better than I ever dreamt,
ever did yeah is that for peoplelistening?
is that tomorrow it turns intolike 10 years later and they
don't want to be around you 10years later?
They then you gotta wait tillthe mid 20s when they're like,
oh, he's not so stupid, right?

(39:41):
Take advantage, take advantageof that.

Laura (39:43):
All that assignment, that work or whatever it's going to
be there in the morning, justwake up a little bit earlier
yeah, and I saw, I saw somethinglike right as a time that I was
reading this book, kyle and andI actually went to a conference
in June of this year and satdown at a table with a bunch of
CEOs of agencies that all ofthem had assistance and I was
like, what am I doing?

(40:04):
You know, it was a really Iopen her for me just hearing one
of these CEOs saying I justwent on a week long trip with my
family this summer and I put myphone in a locker and didn't
pick it up the whole that'sunheard of unfathomable all my
birthday, 40th birthday trip toMexico.
My friends took pictures of melast December working every
morning while they were at thepool.

(40:25):
Yeah, like, like, that's notokay.
And I, you know, I'm startingto have like some of those
things.
And I saw something the otherday that said, the only person
that are going to, the onlypeople that are going to
remember that you worked late atnight, or your kids, and that
was really opening for mebecause they, you know, I see my
three year old, he'll play,work sometimes and it kind of,
you know, I've got to be, I'vegot to think about how I want

(40:47):
him to perceive or even work,and what that looks like for mom
and what that looks like fordad.
So so that's a very real thankyou for saying that.
It's very real thing that I'm,you know, currently in the
middle of and trying to figureout.
It's why Ariana's here washwash she is part of our team now
is to really help me, kind oflike that, so that I don't look

(41:08):
back and have any regrets ormiss anything well, god bless
you, ariana, for taking on this,this project, and growing with
this company, and it's gonna.

Adam (41:19):
It's gonna help you, laura , obviously it's gonna.
It's gonna help the businessand it's gonna end up trickling
down to all the employees too,because they don't have a
stressed out CEO running around,you know yeah, and I'm not.

Laura (41:32):
I don't like myself when I am stressed out, so I'm glad
to have some relief and andreally be, you know, the leader
and visionary that I want to be.

Adam (41:38):
So I'm excited well, what's next for you guys?
What's, what's the what's thenext thing?
Where do you want to take thisand are you, do you want to stay
in this niche of these, theclients you want to go to?

Laura (41:48):
I mean, I'll list them out here b2b telecom, sass it,
cloud service industries yeah sothat is really again my passion
and, honestly, because I havebeen head down in cloud work for
the last two years, I have notreally started selling, which is
amazing.
When you said that that thatstatistic about three percent of

(42:10):
women on businesses don't hit amillion, we hit a million 13
months in annual recurringrevenues.
So that right there is makes meexcited because I know that
we're doing something that ismeaningful.
But we've done that without megoing to sell or without me
actually putting much effortinto going to find that ideal
client.
So now that I feel like everyclient has a home and I'm not

(42:34):
technically over owning any ofthe client relationships right
now or the primary owner of them, I'm going to find our ideal
clients and start growing thebusiness intentionally and and
selling to the right folks andmaking sure I'm getting in front
of the right folks.
I'm really excited about that.

Adam (42:49):
Yeah, well, what are the services you're offering?
Like, so you said you don't doone off projects, so somebody
comes in and says I need awebsite.
You're like sorry, unless youwant to do this, yes we're not
going to take you on as a client.
What are those?

Laura (43:00):
Yeah, but A, b and C option, depending on how fast
you want to grow, kind ofstarting at the website and SEO
package and then going intosocial media management if
you're interested in that, andwe go all the way up to digital
ads.
We do over the top ads connectto TV, google, the whole nine
yards.
But really the foundational andwe also do.
Included in that foundationalpackage is your branding

(43:20):
messaging.
We have a certified story brandguide that helps us with our
messaging and making sure thatour clients brand messages is
dead on.
So that's all included in thatvery first foundational package
and then, if you're reallylooking to grow and scale, kind
of have the foundation laid.
That's where you kind of stepinto package number three.
But we have just three packagesthat if we're a fit or you're

(43:41):
somewhere in between, you got topick one.
So that actually was a tacticthat I and a strategy that I
have implemented, because I havetrouble saying yes, like most
CEOs do, and then I'm realizingthat my yeses sometimes impact
my team negatively becausenobody really knows where that
client fits and what they'resupposed to be doing.
And so this way having an A, band C allows us to really

(44:01):
streamline the work that we'redoing.

Adam (44:02):
You can create processes and then, now that you've got
processes, you've gotreoccurring revenue.
That makes your businesssellable.
It's no longer a lifestylebusiness, and I think that's
what a lot of people maybelisten to the podcast have to
understand is you don't want tobe working in a lifestyle
business.
I mean, you're leaving acompany, right, and you think,
oh, I'm my own boss.
Well, now you're essentially aslave to your business.

(44:23):
At some point you probably wantto sell that business off so
that you can then retire at 50and go do whatever you want in
Mexico.
Yeah, start out.
Yeah, this is the problem, thisis what we're doing is just one
problem with us.

Laura (44:38):
This is the problem with us?
Yeah, we got these problems.

Adam (44:42):
This has been awesome, laura.
I really appreciate it.
Ariana, god bless you.
Thank you for helping Laura outand allowing her to grow and
get her sanity back, because itcan be tough.
It can be tough and hopefullyyou stick around as long as
possible and start your ownbusinesses too.
You never know, that's right, Itold her.

Laura (45:02):
The only thing I don't like about her is that I don't
think she's going to be myassistant for very long.
She's very talented, so I thinkshe's probably going to move on
for me.
We've got plenty of room forher here at the business growers
, so hopefully she'll stickaround, but she's got lots of
opportunity ahead.

Adam (45:18):
I love it.
I love it.
Laura, tell us how people canreach out to you.

Laura (45:21):
Yeah, look for us at the business growers.
We're everywhere, linkedin thebiz growers, I think.
Business growers on Instagram.
We're on Twitter, but I hateTwitter and you can look me up,
laura P Johns, I'm on Instagramas well, but mostly just look
for us on the business growersand you'll see a lot of traction

(45:42):
and all the new people thatwe're hiring.
We like to post about our newhires so you'll see who we've
got on board.

Adam (45:48):
I love it.
I love it.
Well, it's good to see peoplethat are in kind of the same
industry here, that are that arerocking it out and doing what
they're supposed to do andgrowing businesses, and I wish
you all the luck in the futureand, ariana, good luck with
everything you do and thanks forbeing on the podcast.

Laura (46:03):
Laura.
Thank you, Adam.

Adam (46:04):
All right.
Thanks for joining us on thisweek's episode of Side Hustle
City.
Well, you've heard from ourguests.
Now let's hear from you.
Join our community on Facebook,Side Hustle City.
It's a group where people shareideas, share their
inspirational stories andmotivate each other to be
successful and turn their sidehustle into their main hustle.
We'll see you there and we'llsee you next week on the show.

(46:27):
Thank you.