January 31, 2023 • 47 mins
Monica Hollins, founder of OTBC (Outside The Box Consulting, LLC) has decades of experience building super-successful communities. From health clubs to master-planned communities, she has crafted impactful strategies to increase inclusion, engagement, connection...loyalty. These attributes are key during a normal business year, but post-pandemic, they are mission-critical.
Tune in and learn ways to grow not just an audience, but a community clamoring for your brand and your mission.
Connect with Monica at her website.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Erin Geiger (00:03):
Welcome to the Small Business Big mindset
podcast, where we dive intotactical strategies to grow your
business and make an impact onthis world. A huge part of
success is keeping your mindsetand vision on track. So this is
a major part of our process. Andthis podcast. Let's do this
(00:26):
welcome to the Small BusinessBig mindset podcast. This week
we have Monica Hollins, founderof OTB, see, LLC, aka outside
the box consulting Monica,welcome to the show.
Unknown (00:40):
Thank you. So happy to be here. Aaron. Thank you.
Erin Geiger (00:43):
So super excited to have you. So let's jump right
in. Can you give us a little bitabout you your background and
how you got started?
Unknown (00:52):
Yes, I'd love to Aaron, I just want to say thank you
again, for having me here, I'mreally excited to be able to
share more about my business.
And you know, what I offer, andhow I really got started in the
world of consulting. So, youknow, I been, you know, in the
(01:16):
business of community buildingfor about 20 plus years. And it
really started in back, prettymuch out of college. When I was
starting when I was working inlike events were the city of
Tempe. And then the what waskind of funny is I, I really
(01:42):
wanted to be a sports marketer.
And I worked in Game Daypromotions. And I thought for
sure, that's what I wanted todo. But I ended up getting on
this crazy path, that throughthat I ended up working for a
(02:04):
private health club. And when Iworked for the private health
club, I ended up getting aposition as a program director.
And I'll never forget what myfirst boss and my, my GM had
said to me, when I startedworking for him. And he said to
me, he said, you know, that hisname is Rick. And he said to me,
(02:26):
he says, I want you to buildcommunity within community. I
also want you to be outside youroffice more than you're inside
your office, which, you know, 23of us, like, how in the world is
that going to happen? So much todo, right? I mean, I, you know,
when he three year old me waslike, great. I don't want to sit
(02:47):
behind a desk, but then thelogical mean was like, how am I
going to get everything done.
But I didn't realize, you know,how his words would end up
shaping my career, you know, Ilooked at it at that point as
being a very specific, you know,order, so to speak, and goal for
that position. However, youknow, what he was sharing with
(03:13):
me, it was really about creatingnext social wellbeing. And, you
know, which is, you know, reallydeveloping and sustaining
meaningful relationships withothers, you know, about, you
know, how allowing ones to feelvalued and authentic and
providing a sense ofconnectedness and belonging, and
(03:33):
that's what builds community.
And that is what he wanted me todo. Right? He knew that, you
know, he had this amazingprivate health club that
everyone wanted to be a part of,but if he just had that large
health club, and that peoplewere just coming there just to
take a class, span class andleaving, or just coming, you
(03:55):
know, to get on the treadmilland workout and leaving, there
was no sense of place to keepthem there. Right. And so his
task to me as the programdirector is, I want you to
create a community within acommunity. And so my job was to
create all these differentprograms that would keep people
(04:15):
connected. And so I startedcreating these communities from
hiking clubs to, you know,having from hiking to running
to, you know, even like fencingprograms, and our my basketball
leagues were really intense andimpressive, though. They were
(04:36):
already that way when I started,right, and my job was just to
continue to nourish them, andhelp them to flourish. But that
was the magic of this healthclub, right is that not only did
we have all these differentclubs, but we also had events
that also brought peopletogether. That were free that
(04:59):
gave People have an opportunityto get to know each other that
made them. So when they saw eachother in the club, that they
would be like, Hey, how are you.
And now, instead of them passingeach other by or just waiting
for them to get off thattreadmill, right and staring at
them awkwardly, now they'rehaving a conversation with them.
And it really created thismagical place where now people
(05:24):
aren't just part of this healthclub, they're part of this
greater community. And so thatreally, kind of got me. I didn't
realize it at the time, but itreally got me excited for
building community as such ayoung age. And then from there,
(05:45):
you know, I was able to take anopportunity to be a lifestyle
director at a communityassociation, and you spent, you
know, the last 15 years, youknow, going from there to
community manager, and thenbeing with a developer for six
(06:05):
years as director of vitalservices, and I really got to
jump in and do so much fromoverseeing all their programming
and lifestyle for their nationalprojects, to also helping them
look at their amenities, and howshould we be building their
(06:26):
communities and their amenities?
And you know, what should begoing in them? And, you know,
what, what do you resonance wantto be able to connect? So, you
know, it's, that's just, Iguess, a quick nutshell, but
really, the foundation, I wouldhave to give it to my first
career that I never would havethought would have would have
(06:50):
been that catalyst.
Erin Geiger (06:52):
That's so interesting. And I love this
topic, because so many of ourlisteners are, you know,
entrepreneurs, some do it fulltime, some do it on the side,
but everybody wants to buildsome sort of a community or
customer loyalty, you know, tohave them keep coming back. And
(07:13):
it's, it's tough, you know, it'snot an easy thing to do. You
don't just wake up one morning,and it's like, I'm gonna build a
community today, there's a lotthat goes into it. So you
decided to so we'll get intothat, but you decided to go out
on your own. So tell us a littlebit about that, and how you
started your own consultingfirm?
Unknown (07:34):
Yes, so that was really kind of I guess, I could say it.
It was God, I if I just put itbluntly, um, you know, for me, I
(07:56):
was thinking about it for quitesome time here and there, you
know, kind of I toyed with it, Iguess I wasn't really thinking
about it. I kind of toyed withthe idea. But then I would
chickened out, to be quitehonest. And but I had a lot of
people who believed in me, andwho could see my skill set, that
(08:17):
would tell me that I should doit. Right, they would say, Oh,
my goodness, like you really areneeded in this sector. And if
more people had you, you know,if more developers had someone
like you, you know, our, ourindustry, it'd be so much
better. So different. Um, but,you know, hearing it and doing
(08:40):
it are two different things.
And, you know, I got to thepoint where, you know, my
contract had ended with my lastclient, who I just loved and
adored. And it was time for meto kind of make a decision,
like, which way do I go, youknow, do I continue down the
path I was in? Or do I, youknow, go down this new road of
(09:01):
opening up my own business. AndI was in the middle of doing
this prayer journal and bookcalled draw the circle. And it
was kind of OnPoint in thetiming is amazing. But I
remember opening it up. And thequestion in a journal is, what
(09:22):
do you want? I kind of laughed,and I was like, That's a great
question. If only I knew, right.
Um, and so I kind of I closedthe book, and I was like, I need
to think about that, because Idon't know what I want, you
know, because I've beeninterviewing, and nothing had
really felt good to me. Youknow, like, people asked me,
(09:44):
What do you want to do? And I'mlike, I would say, Well, you
know, there's so many differentthings I can do, you know, but I
couldn't really tell peopleexactly what I wanted to do,
because I felt like I justcouldn't pinpoint because
there's so many differentthings. I Could do based on my,
you know, my background. Andlittle by little I it was like,
(10:07):
I was hearing this whisper,almost like, you need to start
your own business. And then Iwas talking to a past colleague
of mine, and she was getting meset up with one of her with her
her boss at the time. And she'slike, Yeah, I think he wants to
talk to you about a contract.
And I was like, You know what?
That's it, like, I'm gonna doit. Like, I'm gonna open my own
(10:29):
business. I'm gonna start it.
And she's like, I've beentelling you, you need to do it,
you know. And so at that moment,I went, I wrote it down in my
journal, and that not so then Iwent for a walk. And this is the
craziest thing. I went for awalk, I come back and my past
client, one of my past,colleagues I worked with, with
(10:50):
the client contacted me, andshe's like, Hey, I have someone
who was looking for a lifestyleconsultant. Can you help her?
Are you kidding me? I haven'ttold anyone yet. This is nuts,
you know, and then my formerclient, boss, so to speak, she
then contacted me as well, shedidn't realize the other person
(11:13):
had contacted me, and asked methe same question. And I was
like, Alright, um, this is whatI'm supposed to be doing. And so
that actually really launched meinto this. This, like, I'm
starting my own business. And soI, you know, said yes, that's
great. They connected me withthe the lady who needed the
(11:34):
lifestyle consultant, she'slike, great, I need a proposal
and two hours. Oh, okay. I'mlike, I didn't have a logo. I
didn't have an LLC, yet. Ididn't have a proposal, I had
nothing at the time. You know, Ihad thought about names. But
(11:55):
honestly, at that moment, theykind of like, were gone. And I
remember seeing outside the box,earlier in the day, and I
remember it sticking out to meas really connecting with me,
because so much of what I do, isreally outside the box. You
know, I'm I know, it's such acliche, but that's just, if
someone tells me No, or it can'tbe done, I am looking for other
(12:21):
ways for it to be done. Right.
And so I, I was like, well,outside the box. That's, that's
it. And so I created my ownlogo, I did all that. And then I
sent the proposal over about twoand a half hours later. And, you
(12:42):
know, and then got my LLC, LLCregistered. And then, you know,
got my largest client, you know,a couple days later. And from
that point on, it just reallystuck and then realized that,
you know, once I registered myLLC, that outside the box was
taken. And so my official nameis ot BC. Ca, I'll see. But,
(13:05):
yeah, so that that was myjourney, and it just happened so
fast. It was, it was reallycrazy.
Erin Geiger (13:12):
That's incredible.
I know, well, you know, you saidearlier, you know, like, you
know, people say that somethingcan't be done, then that's my
motivation. I do it. And I thinkthat's the spirit of being an
entrepreneur. And the fact that,you know, when you were starting
to see it was thinking moreseriously about it is when
things start to fall into place.
Yes. Like my mom always says,You, you start out getting a few
(13:35):
nudges. And if you don't act onit, then the nudges get
stronger, or you don't act onit, you know, and then you start
feeling like these big pushes inlife to get you in the right
direction. So very, very cool.
So, building community, so Iknow that you're mostly in you
know, it's like lifestyle andamenities for it's for Master
Plan communities, right, is thatmore of your focus,
Unknown (13:59):
Master Plan and multifamily, okay, so,
Erin Geiger (14:03):
you know, I think though, even you know, if you
can share with us like the, theinsights you've learned about
building a strong community, youcan definitely do it using that
as, as an example, since that'syour area of expertise. And I
think people can draw the line,they can connect the dots, you
know, to their industries. So,yeah, so if you wouldn't mind
(14:25):
giving us some tips or insightsaround building community,
excuse me, then that would bereally incredible.
Unknown (14:31):
Definitely, I think, you know, I need to know, who's,
you know, in your community,like, I always say that it's
important to look at the dataand the, you know, the
demographic right. So, what isthe size of your community?
Where is it geographically, youknow, is it in the urban or
suburban setting, you know, youknow, what is your who is your
(14:55):
target audience? I always say,you know, especially when it
comes Your real estate, what isyour price point? HOA dues, etc.
So as I break it down so thatother people can use it as you
need to know who, who yourclient is correct. And so
(15:16):
because you can't get them tobuy in if you don't know who
they are, you also need to knowwho you are, what is your brand?
And how do you connect to your,your community and your
community is your, yourclientele. Right? And, and so
when I'm when I'm looking atbuilding a community, and I'm
(15:40):
looking at that socialwellbeing, and how do we get
people connected? I want to getthem involved, I want to get
them to have a stake, I don'twant them to be able to come and
go without having any connectionwith me, or when I say with me
(16:01):
with with, with the community,right or with the with the
multifamily community. So what Imean by that is, if I'm creating
a masterplan community, forexample, I am looking for an
opportunity for us to createevents and programming that will
(16:29):
hit each demographic that'sthere. Right and so take that
for if you are doing a lipstick,right, if someone's selling a
lipstick, they're looking forthe same thing, right, they
don't want to sell one shade oflipstick. Because once you to
lipstick is not going to appealto the broader market. Right?
(16:51):
That helps for sales. And ithelps for people feeling like
they belong there. So when I amwhen I appealing to, and
building community, I wantpeople to feel like they belong.
And I want them not only to feelit, but I want them to know that
they belong there. And so by mecreating amenities that speak to
(17:11):
them. So there's two differentthings that I help developers
with, I help them with creatingthe amenities, and planning out
their amenities. And I also helpthem you know, build the
lifestyle and programming andthat lifestyle and programming
can bounce off of the amenitiesthat they create. So if we're
talking about just theamenities, you know, one is you
(17:34):
can draw a lot about what'scurrently being done today. And
what what the trends aren'tright? What are people looking
for. So there's a lot ofinformation out there, what
people looking for, you know,people are really looking into
health and wellness, especiallypost COVID, you know, people are
wanting to be more outdoors andindoors or in, they want to
(17:56):
bring, if they are indoors, theywant the outdoors in. And they
also want they also want theability to have, you know, co
working spaces as well, right,because so many people are now
working from home. So there arejust a few things. The other
(18:16):
thing that, you know, when itcomes to healthy living, they,
you know, neighborhoods arereally important. People want to
be able to go hiking and cyclingwithout having to go too far.
So, you know, knowing thataspect. And you know, you can
create your your community. Andif you're creating that kind of
community, right? Then you know,who you're going to be marketing
(18:42):
to, right? And then and who yourdemographics are going to be.
And then through that, then youstart building that type of
community and those programsbased around that.
Erin Geiger (18:55):
No, I like that.
And it's like, no, you're right.
And it's the same. It's the samefor every business, like people
need to know, you know, thetarget audience need to know how
to speak to them, so that itresonates and they it's a clear
message that they want to takeaction on. And so the amenities
and the events, yeah, it getsthem involved, and it makes them
(19:18):
feel like they're a part ofsomething right. They feel
included, which I think goes along way.
Unknown (19:23):
Exactly. And and you know, my biggest thing too is
that I really try to instillwhen I when I give feedback, you
know, to my clients is don'tbuild a amenity for one single
purpose. You really want tobuild an amenity that has that
(19:44):
nine to nine factor right from9am to 9pm. Because you don't
want to have a melody that's notgoing to be utilized and
activated because no one wantsto walk into an area that no
one's using. Right? Becausepeople like the energy I mean,
think about when you go downtownZilker Park in Austin, how you
(20:06):
kind of feed off the energy whenyou see people walking around
there? Right? If no one waswalking around there, you'd be
like, Okay, I guess this isn't
Erin Geiger (20:18):
that great.
Unknown (20:19):
Exactly right. But if but with the activation with
people utilizing the space, itmakes you want to use it as
well. Yeah. So you have to bethinking of, you know, not just
to put us amenity and just tosay that you have an amenity to
make sure it's intentional, andthat it lines up with who you're
(20:41):
targeting.
Erin Geiger (20:43):
100% Yeah, both ways. Well, yeah. And I think,
you know, some listeners willhave online businesses, but I
think this, this works as well,right, because you can have
online events or amenities, youknow, that will attract your
target audience. And so, youknow, so people like do online,
like virtual conferences, ordefinitely lunch and learns, or
(21:08):
all that kinds of in there,they're even, you know, tangible
things that you can like mailout, okay, everyone who's, you
know, registered for thisconference is going to get XYZ
package in the mail that we'reall going to use during this
conference, you know, to kind ofyou unite people. Yes, and of
course, groups are, you know,kind of an old school way, you
know, online groups and thatsort of thing. So, how do you
(21:30):
whether it's in person, orvirtual, just give us ways of
like, how do you get theactivation going? Because you're
right, if you hop into an eventonline or off, and no one's
there, you're like, bye. So it'slike, how do you get people to
go and to participate?
Unknown (21:45):
So it's really, like I said, it's really the by and so
one of the things that I, Ireally believe in is, you know,
getting the the data, right, andone of the ways you get the data
is by asking your, yourclientele, what do they want to
see? What what do they want?
What are they interested in?
That's one thing that I did withmy past client is we put out a
(22:09):
survey, you know, to all of ourhomeowners when they moved in,
you know, what kind of eventsdid they want to see what kind
of programs do they want to see.
And that really allowed us from,from the get go to understand,
you know, we have that, youknow, the market research at the
very beginning, right, that toldus what might be coming. But
then we have the data that tellsus who's actually there. And
(22:32):
from that, then we can say,okay, there's a lot of people
who actually, you know, want tolearn how to quilt, or there's a
lot of people who want to takekarate, right, now we have an
understanding of who ouraudience is, and how we can
create that programming aroundthem. And even then, now, you
(22:55):
know, this worked for online, aswell. And sometimes even better,
because you with online, there'sa lot more data, I think that
you have with being able to havepeople's emails and different
things like that, without thembeing so hesitant about giving
them their you know about givingemails, so you have a way to
(23:17):
communicate to them. So you'reable to show them that, you
know, if they're looking for,you know, a class on podcasting,
for example, that you canpresent that to them in a way
that really caters to exactlywhat they're looking at, based
(23:39):
on the survey results thatyou're getting. And you can
really market to them, you know,today, there's so much there's,
through Constant Contact, andMailChimp, there's so many great
ways to really fine tune your,your data where you can actually
pinpoint exactly what kind ofinformation they want, and then
(24:02):
just target that audience. Andso you can create those groups,
and what whether it's online, orit's not online, and really
target them. And just, you know,engage them on whether it's
whether I'm just emailing thehiking club, or whether I am
just emailing my online chessclub, whatever it may be, right?
(24:25):
I can I have ways to just targeta certain audience to engage
them, instead of sending out amass blast, where they may not
see it, I can make it a lot morepersonalized. And so I think
what is really important here isthat you have to understand what
your clients want. And the onlyway you're going to do that is
(24:48):
to ask, and I think a lot ofpeople feel like they should
just know but I want to be askedYou know, I don't, I would
rather you ask me than justcontinue to throw spaghetti at
the wall. And then I getfrustrated, and now I'm gone.
And I'm going somewhere elselooking for what I want,
Erin Geiger (25:11):
right? And do you feel like you have to encourage
or incentivize people to fillout these surveys? Or is it
enough just to tell them thebenefits of like, why you're
doing the survey? And whatthey're gonna get out of? It?
Unknown (25:27):
That's a great question. And it depends, right?
It depends on who they are,there are people who are going
to move into a lifestyleoriented community that they
understand, and they want tofill it out, right, they get the
purpose of it, and they wanttheir voice heard. And then
there's another demographicthat, you know, they don't want
(25:49):
to fill that information out,because they don't want you to,
they don't know how you're goingto use that data. And they're
kind of, you know, hesitant togive you that information. So,
it is one of those things thatyou have to, you have to know
your audience and you have to bewilling to try different ways in
(26:15):
finding out. But what I havenoticed is that not only can you
get that the word out, but ifyou get other participants. So
if I get residents out to sharethe message and to recruit
people, that's a great way forthem to get involved. Right? If
I get community members, andsame thing for online, if
(26:37):
there's online community membersthat are speaking about, it's
just like if with anything,right? Like if your friend says,
Hey, we should go to thisrestaurant, that personal
recommendation is so much moreis so much more relevant and
more such a strongerrecommendation, then if I'm the
(26:58):
one that is running it, and Itell you to be a part of it,
Erin Geiger (27:02):
ya know? Yes, hearing from your peers is so
much more powerful, right, thanhearing from someone that might
be promoting a certain productor service. So I do want to hear
about I know that you mentionedsurveys and the like, I do want
to hear about another tool orprocess that's changed her
(27:22):
business for the better. Butbefore we move on, is there
anything else you kind of wantto highlight on building a
community?
Unknown (27:30):
I just the one thing that I think is really important
is we just know that, you know,post COVID That it's it's vital
for the success of communities.
And it is one of those thingsthat if if we aren't doing it in
a we're we're gonna get leftbehind. And it's it is also
(27:54):
something that is not only formultifamily, and masterplan
communities, but it'severywhere, that it's so vital
for for us to be buildingcommunities, whether it is where
you work, where you, you know,your family, your friends, even,
(28:16):
you know, even where you, youknow, go to, you know, stay at a
resort, right? It's, it's soimportant that we build
community, because we all needto feel that sense of belonging,
you know, we have to feel thatwe belong somewhere. Because if
(28:36):
that's when we don't feel likewe belong. That's when we do
things that are drastic, that'swhen we, we disconnect. And
that's when you know, peoplequit their jobs, that's when,
you know, we just see adifferent side of our society
(28:58):
that we don't want. Yep. And Iwould say that, you know, the
one thing I I just want to addreal quick, Aaron is, you know,
I did a training for alifestyle, a management team.
And the one thing I asked them,I said, you know, tell me, the
first thing I asked him is whatTell me one thing you love about
(29:21):
your job? And I had, I wentaround the table and the two
things that came across was, Ilove the team that I work with.
And I love my my residents thatI work with. Yeah, those two?
Yeah, those two things are whatbring what bring them back each
and every day. Because if theydon't have that, then they don't
(29:45):
have a place to belong. And Ithink that's something for
employers to understand is thatyou need to make sure that your
people have a sense of belongingthat they feel like they belong,
belong where they are, thatthey're just not, they're just
doing a job day in and day out.
(30:07):
But they're connected to thegreater art of the company, and
that they're there for aspecific reason and not just to
make money for the bottom line.
Erin Geiger (30:19):
Yeah, that's crucial. And I visited it. So in
Austin, there's a communitycalled Community First, and it's
like a, you probably heard ofit, but it's it's a
neighborhood. It's so great,right? So for listeners not not
aware, there is it's calledCommunity First, it's in the
eastern part of Austin. And it'san incredible organization that
(30:40):
basically they, they offer longterm home to those that have
been chronically homeless. Andit's just amazing. And so
there's these, they're theseawesome little tiny homes, and
it's like a, it really is anentire community. And they have
like jobs, you know, that theycan do, like the residents can
(31:02):
get involved in or events andthat sort of thing. So I toured
it, I volunteered, it's great.
And the one of the things thatthey told us was the number one
reason why folks are homeless,like some people might assume,
you know, oh, drug use, or whathave you. They're like, No, it's
a devastating loss of supportand community, you know, and so,
(31:22):
it's that important. So as youwere speaking, I was like, yes,
you know, it's that importantthat people feel included and
involved in something and havethat sense of community. And I'm
going to spoil your next answer,too, because I did just tie so
beautifully into this is, isthe, the tool of their process.
And you did mention to me thatyou've recently started going to
(31:44):
a we work instead of workingfrom home all that time. So I
think that ties in so great withcommunity. So talk a little bit
about that.
Unknown (31:54):
Yeah, you know, exactly. And that's one thing
that I realized that I needed,that I needed that community,
from my, from my work life, youknow, I have a great home
office, but I needed to be out.
And having that sense ofcommunity with others, you know,
I talk about it all the time,and I'm working on building it
for, you know, developers andcommunities, but I, too need
(32:16):
that sense of community on adaily basis. And that's what I'm
able to get from we work andI've just been really enjoying
my time, you know, coming inand, and seeing the team here,
and it just, it brightens my dayto be able to come in here and,
and see everyone else, you know,plugging along and doing
(32:39):
everything that they enjoy doingas well.
Erin Geiger (32:43):
Now, it's a huge part of it. And you had also
mentioned that staying activealso online can be part of it,
too. Right. So you're active onLinkedIn.
Unknown (32:51):
Yeah, and I would say that is so important to be
active on LinkedIn. And I wouldalso say that it is not just
important just for from a socialstandpoint, but also from a
business standpoint, you know,I, you know, as building a
business, it's hard, it's not,you know, I really believe when
(33:14):
you think of building abusiness, you know, it's going
to be hard, but I don't thinkpeople really understand to the
depths, how hard it's going tobe. And, you know, LinkedIn has
really helped me from aconnection standpoint, and
really connect with people andbe able to get opportunities and
(33:38):
connections with people that Iprobably wouldn't have had had I
not been on LinkedIn. And it'sbeen great to have conversations
with people and also learn somuch about, you know, current
current trends and industrytopics that are happening.
Erin Geiger (34:00):
Yeah, and so this dovetails nicely into the next
thing I wanted to ask of you,which is, you know, for others
wanting to go out on their own,some listeners are just starting
out some listeners are, youknow, much further into their
entrepreneurial journey, butwhat kind of insights or key
learnings do you have to sharewith those who want to go out on
their own?
Unknown (34:21):
Yeah, you know, it's, it is like I said, it is
something that is great, butit's also very difficult. But
it's also rewarding. So it's,you know, kind of like a double
edged sword in the fact that youknow, you have, you want, you
(34:41):
know, you feel like you you havemaybe a sense of freedom, but at
the same time, you don't reallyin a sense that you know,
everything that you didn't haveto do before you're you're now
doing you're now you're amarketer, you're now you're
account, you know, your, yourall of that stuff, at least
(35:04):
until you start getting whereyou can start hiring out for all
that. But the biggest thing Iwould say at the very beginning
is just to learn, you know,research, if others have the
same business concept, you know,what their pricing structures
are, you know, what theirstrengths and weaknesses are?
And, you know, if, if there areother companies that offer what
(35:28):
you do, what makes your companydifferent. So it's not like, you
can't do it, but what makes yourcompany different.
The other thing is, you know,your team is more than a name,
I, you know,I really wish that I had thought
of this a little earlier. Butlike I had said earlier, I have
(35:49):
like, two hours to really thinkof my name. But you know, you're
gonna name is more than a name.
So, you know, really think aboutyour name, and how's it going to
be used in when it comes tolike, your URL? Right? Not only
is it take, you know, is italready, you know, being used
(36:11):
from LC standpoint, but what isit when it comes to your URL?
Right? Is it too long? Is itgoing to be something that
people are going to go overreally don't have to continue to
type this? Is this somethingthat you want to put on your
marketing? Right? Like, ifyou're having mugs, or, you
(36:33):
know, cups, or koozies made? Isit something that you want? And
will look good on yourmarketing? I think the next and
then also think about, you know,your brand as a whole, what is
that? What do you want that tolook and feel like an emit, you
know, I, I chose green becausegreen is a color that has always
(36:57):
been, it's one of my favoritecolors. And I it makes it
alludes happiness to me, andheart. And so that's why I chose
that. And, but you have toreally understand, you know, why
you're choosing the colors andchoose something that speaks to
(37:17):
you. I would say the next thingthat's important is your
network. And making sure thatyou're that you know who your
network is, number one, youknow, I was very fortunate to
know of Aaron, I'm going to giveyou a little shout out here
Aaron. Aaron, was in a networkof mine. And so we know why when
(37:45):
I was, you know, kind ofdesigning my, my website, I was
able to have her do somecopywriting on it. And I am when
designing my website, I have areally talented past colleague,
Dylan Reid, who is justphenomenal, that created my
(38:06):
website. And, you know, he's,you know, fantastic. And I can
rely on him. And so, you know,it's really like, who do you
know, that can really help youkind of hash things out and, and
think things through. And soknow who your network is in the
beginning. And then also back towhat we were talking about
(38:29):
before with LinkedIn, expandyour network. And that has been
something that's been like, thebiggest advantage to me is I
have put myself out there timeand time and time again, going
to industry events. And evenwhen it's like, oh my gosh, can
I afford this? I'm like, Yes, Ican. I have to, you know, like,
(38:53):
when you're just gettingstarted, right? And it always
pays off. If you can bet on yourself, then you know, you're in
the right business. If you can'tbet on yourself, then you need
to rethink what you're doing.
Yeah. And then don't give up. Iwill tell you, there were so
many times that I wanted to giveup. And just because it's like,
I don't know if I can continueto do this. This is crazy, you
(39:17):
know, but when I persevered, Irealized that once I got over
that obstacle, things got somuch easier. Right? And I think
that's what a busy running yourown business will do to you. It
really wants to test you to seehow dedicated you are to it. And
(39:37):
so, you know, I just, you know,had my year anniversary with my
business and I can't tell youhow happy to have that year
because it really taught me alot. And then the last thing I
would say is you know make sureyou have some starter Your funds
(39:59):
because you just don't know, youknow, what it's going to look
like down the road. Right. Andtypically, you know, you don't
get paid, you know, depends onhow you start it like, I will
say that I would encourage youto get paid upfront, and that's
how you should arrange yourcontracts. But some, you know,
(40:19):
depending on the type ofbusiness you are in some clients
may only pay at the end of 30days, and then they don't pay at
the end of 30 days. And thenwhat happens, right, so you need
to make sure that you have thestarter funds to, to not only be
able to pay your bills, but tomarket yourself to get yourself
(40:40):
into the, you know, the, thenetworking events that you need
to be at, and to let people knowthat you're there. Because if
they don't know you're there,then you're not going to get the
business that you need to makeyour your company a success.
Yeah,
Erin Geiger (41:01):
no, that's huge.
Thank you for those tips.
Because I think some people andit's fine, like get an idea and
then you jump right in. But it'sgood to have this as prep work
done before. So you have more ofa solid sustainable business
right from from the very start.
And I'm glad that you mentionedgetting paid up front, that is
what I recommend. We had a gueston actually her podcast episode
went live today and NicoleWallander. She runs a
(41:23):
copywriting service as well. Andshe also was just like, get paid
up, right? You know, it's so ifyou can, if that's the kind of
industry that you're in, when100% recommend that and so you
are handling a lot. So whatwhat's part of your routine that
helps you, you know, with yourbusiness, and personal success
(41:43):
helps you keep shooting for thestars, but also grounds you as
well.
Unknown (41:50):
You know, I, before I even like get out of bed, I
start my day with a prayer. Andthen I, you know, I think about
after I finished that I thinkabout you know, my, my day, and
then you know, I will go for my,my run. And you know, listen to
(42:13):
my motivational music to kind ofget me going, I just I need that
keep me centered. And then I,you know, I'll come back, and I
make sure that I have my list ofto dues for the day. I'm a
visual person. So I like writingit all down, I like checking it
(42:34):
off. And then, you know, I, youknow, shower up, and then I go
to my go to work. And that'swhere I just kind of hammer out
everything. You know, and I amthere until I can get as much as
I can accomplished. So but yeah,you know, I, for me, I have to
(42:54):
start my day with my prayer, mydevotional, you know, and then
my workout. My workout is not asconsistent as my prayer. Lately
anyways, but it is somethingthat it's really important for
me. It's something that when Iwhen I do all those things, I am
(43:22):
guaranteed a good day no matterwhat happens.
Erin Geiger (43:25):
Yeah, no, that's great. So you start your day
with intention, which I think alot of us do not do we just kind
of jump in, right, we wake up,our feet hit the floor, and then
it's like, go time, you know,it's like getting kids to school
or getting that workout inquickly. Not even, you know,
you're just kind of like arobot. So I love that part of
it. As you look forward, whatare the goals and vision? Like
(43:46):
what do you what do you envisionfor your business as you because
your congratulations on thefirst one year, you know, and so
what's next for you?
Unknown (43:55):
You know, I'm, I'm really excited about this year,
I have had so many greatconversations with prospects and
future clients that, you know,I'm really excited what this
year is going to bring in isbringing, you know, my goal this
year is really to be able tobring on a couple staff members.
(44:15):
That is a goal of mine. And thereason I want to be able to do
that is not only because it'd begreat to have, you know, the
staff members to be able to, youknow, bounce ideas off of, but
also just because I feel like byhaving my staff members, not
(44:37):
only will we be able to grow,but we'd be able to just assist
the clients in a bigger way. ButI'm excited. I mean, there's so
many opportunities that arecoming. And so yeah, I'm i I'm
excited for 2023 I mean, it wasfunny, I was talking to someone
(44:57):
at the end of December City HallNormally in December, I'm like
dreading the beginning ofJanuary because I'm, like, just
so drained. And, you know, like,I just can't even think about
it. But I was so excited forJanuary, because of all the
opportunities and working withthese clients. And so yeah, I'm
(45:22):
really excited about workingwith the clients and really
offering them what they'relooking for, you know, building
community, and helping them withboth their amenities and helping
them with their lifestyle and
Erin Geiger (45:36):
programming. Yeah, and especially in that post
COVID world, what you mean,everybody needs what you're
doing, you know, as far as like,creating a community being more
involved. So I'm excited foryou, I think this is gonna be
big year. Where can people findyou online? If they want to work
with you or connect?
Unknown (45:55):
Well, thank you, they can go to consulting outside the
box.com. And they can find methere.
Erin Geiger (46:02):
Awesome. We'll include that link in the show
notes. And we always end theepisode with this question,
which is, if you can only listento one music artists for the
rest of your life, who would itbe?
Unknown (46:16):
Hmm, that's a great question. I would have to say
oh, that's a tough one. I wouldhave to say
probably, Fred Hammond. He's agospel singer. And he just gets
(46:39):
me excited. There's one songthat I just love his and it
just, it just gets me pumped upand it gets me really excited.
So there's so many greatsingers, but if I hadn't put
one, I would say him because hecan do both ballad you know,
slow and fast. So
Erin Geiger (46:59):
yeah, very cool.
I'm always think our listenersare always looking for things to
get them motivated andenergized. That is perfect.
Thank you, Monica, for takingthe time. I had so much fun
chatting with you on this reallyimportant topic.
Unknown (47:14):
Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.
Erin Geiger (47:18):
Thanks for tuning in to the Small Business Big
mindset podcast. To keep the fungoing. Check out our Facebook
group start and scale an onlinebusiness For even more free
trainings and resources fromfellow entrepreneurs. If you
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subscribe. Join our email listfor weekly updates. And if
you've enjoyed this podcastepisode, check us out on your
favorite podcast platform tofollow us and give us a review.
(47:40):
As always be authentic bringinginsane amount of value and keep
crushing it
Welcome to the Small Business Big mindset
podcast, where we dive intotactical strategies to grow your
business and make an impact onthis world. A huge part of
success is keeping your mindsetand vision on track. So this is
a major part of our process. Andthis podcast. Let's do this
(00:26):
welcome to the Small BusinessBig mindset podcast. This week
we have Monica Hollins, founderof OTB, see, LLC, aka outside
the box consulting Monica,welcome to the show.
Unknown (00:40):
Thank you. So happy to be here. Aaron. Thank you.
Erin Geiger (00:43):
So super excited to have you. So let's jump right
in. Can you give us a little bitabout you your background and
how you got started?
Unknown (00:52):
Yes, I'd love to Aaron, I just want to say thank you
again, for having me here, I'mreally excited to be able to
share more about my business.
And you know, what I offer, andhow I really got started in the
world of consulting. So, youknow, I been, you know, in the
(01:16):
business of community buildingfor about 20 plus years. And it
really started in back, prettymuch out of college. When I was
starting when I was working inlike events were the city of
Tempe. And then the what waskind of funny is I, I really
(01:42):
wanted to be a sports marketer.
And I worked in Game Daypromotions. And I thought for
sure, that's what I wanted todo. But I ended up getting on
this crazy path, that throughthat I ended up working for a
(02:04):
private health club. And when Iworked for the private health
club, I ended up getting aposition as a program director.
And I'll never forget what myfirst boss and my, my GM had
said to me, when I startedworking for him. And he said to
me, he said, you know, that hisname is Rick. And he said to me,
(02:26):
he says, I want you to buildcommunity within community. I
also want you to be outside youroffice more than you're inside
your office, which, you know, 23of us, like, how in the world is
that going to happen? So much todo, right? I mean, I, you know,
when he three year old me waslike, great. I don't want to sit
(02:47):
behind a desk, but then thelogical mean was like, how am I
going to get everything done.
But I didn't realize, you know,how his words would end up
shaping my career, you know, Ilooked at it at that point as
being a very specific, you know,order, so to speak, and goal for
that position. However, youknow, what he was sharing with
(03:13):
me, it was really about creatingnext social wellbeing. And, you
know, which is, you know, reallydeveloping and sustaining
meaningful relationships withothers, you know, about, you
know, how allowing ones to feelvalued and authentic and
providing a sense ofconnectedness and belonging, and
(03:33):
that's what builds community.
And that is what he wanted me todo. Right? He knew that, you
know, he had this amazingprivate health club that
everyone wanted to be a part of,but if he just had that large
health club, and that peoplewere just coming there just to
take a class, span class andleaving, or just coming, you
(03:55):
know, to get on the treadmilland workout and leaving, there
was no sense of place to keepthem there. Right. And so his
task to me as the programdirector is, I want you to
create a community within acommunity. And so my job was to
create all these differentprograms that would keep people
(04:15):
connected. And so I startedcreating these communities from
hiking clubs to, you know,having from hiking to running
to, you know, even like fencingprograms, and our my basketball
leagues were really intense andimpressive, though. They were
(04:36):
already that way when I started,right, and my job was just to
continue to nourish them, andhelp them to flourish. But that
was the magic of this healthclub, right is that not only did
we have all these differentclubs, but we also had events
that also brought peopletogether. That were free that
(04:59):
gave People have an opportunityto get to know each other that
made them. So when they saw eachother in the club, that they
would be like, Hey, how are you.
And now, instead of them passingeach other by or just waiting
for them to get off thattreadmill, right and staring at
them awkwardly, now they'rehaving a conversation with them.
And it really created thismagical place where now people
(05:24):
aren't just part of this healthclub, they're part of this
greater community. And so thatreally, kind of got me. I didn't
realize it at the time, but itreally got me excited for
building community as such ayoung age. And then from there,
(05:45):
you know, I was able to take anopportunity to be a lifestyle
director at a communityassociation, and you spent, you
know, the last 15 years, youknow, going from there to
community manager, and thenbeing with a developer for six
(06:05):
years as director of vitalservices, and I really got to
jump in and do so much fromoverseeing all their programming
and lifestyle for their nationalprojects, to also helping them
look at their amenities, and howshould we be building their
(06:26):
communities and their amenities?
And you know, what should begoing in them? And, you know,
what, what do you resonance wantto be able to connect? So, you
know, it's, that's just, Iguess, a quick nutshell, but
really, the foundation, I wouldhave to give it to my first
career that I never would havethought would have would have
(06:50):
been that catalyst.
Erin Geiger (06:52):
That's so interesting. And I love this
topic, because so many of ourlisteners are, you know,
entrepreneurs, some do it fulltime, some do it on the side,
but everybody wants to buildsome sort of a community or
customer loyalty, you know, tohave them keep coming back. And
(07:13):
it's, it's tough, you know, it'snot an easy thing to do. You
don't just wake up one morning,and it's like, I'm gonna build a
community today, there's a lotthat goes into it. So you
decided to so we'll get intothat, but you decided to go out
on your own. So tell us a littlebit about that, and how you
started your own consultingfirm?
Unknown (07:34):
Yes, so that was really kind of I guess, I could say it.
It was God, I if I just put itbluntly, um, you know, for me, I
(07:56):
was thinking about it for quitesome time here and there, you
know, kind of I toyed with it, Iguess I wasn't really thinking
about it. I kind of toyed withthe idea. But then I would
chickened out, to be quitehonest. And but I had a lot of
people who believed in me, andwho could see my skill set, that
(08:17):
would tell me that I should doit. Right, they would say, Oh,
my goodness, like you really areneeded in this sector. And if
more people had you, you know,if more developers had someone
like you, you know, our, ourindustry, it'd be so much
better. So different. Um, but,you know, hearing it and doing
(08:40):
it are two different things.
And, you know, I got to thepoint where, you know, my
contract had ended with my lastclient, who I just loved and
adored. And it was time for meto kind of make a decision,
like, which way do I go, youknow, do I continue down the
path I was in? Or do I, youknow, go down this new road of
(09:01):
opening up my own business. AndI was in the middle of doing
this prayer journal and bookcalled draw the circle. And it
was kind of OnPoint in thetiming is amazing. But I
remember opening it up. And thequestion in a journal is, what
(09:22):
do you want? I kind of laughed,and I was like, That's a great
question. If only I knew, right.
Um, and so I kind of I closedthe book, and I was like, I need
to think about that, because Idon't know what I want, you
know, because I've beeninterviewing, and nothing had
really felt good to me. Youknow, like, people asked me,
(09:44):
What do you want to do? And I'mlike, I would say, Well, you
know, there's so many differentthings I can do, you know, but I
couldn't really tell peopleexactly what I wanted to do,
because I felt like I justcouldn't pinpoint because
there's so many differentthings. I Could do based on my,
you know, my background. Andlittle by little I it was like,
(10:07):
I was hearing this whisper,almost like, you need to start
your own business. And then Iwas talking to a past colleague
of mine, and she was getting meset up with one of her with her
her boss at the time. And she'slike, Yeah, I think he wants to
talk to you about a contract.
And I was like, You know what?
That's it, like, I'm gonna doit. Like, I'm gonna open my own
(10:29):
business. I'm gonna start it.
And she's like, I've beentelling you, you need to do it,
you know. And so at that moment,I went, I wrote it down in my
journal, and that not so then Iwent for a walk. And this is the
craziest thing. I went for awalk, I come back and my past
client, one of my past,colleagues I worked with, with
(10:50):
the client contacted me, andshe's like, Hey, I have someone
who was looking for a lifestyleconsultant. Can you help her?
Are you kidding me? I haven'ttold anyone yet. This is nuts,
you know, and then my formerclient, boss, so to speak, she
then contacted me as well, shedidn't realize the other person
(11:13):
had contacted me, and asked methe same question. And I was
like, Alright, um, this is whatI'm supposed to be doing. And so
that actually really launched meinto this. This, like, I'm
starting my own business. And soI, you know, said yes, that's
great. They connected me withthe the lady who needed the
(11:34):
lifestyle consultant, she'slike, great, I need a proposal
and two hours. Oh, okay. I'mlike, I didn't have a logo. I
didn't have an LLC, yet. Ididn't have a proposal, I had
nothing at the time. You know, Ihad thought about names. But
(11:55):
honestly, at that moment, theykind of like, were gone. And I
remember seeing outside the box,earlier in the day, and I
remember it sticking out to meas really connecting with me,
because so much of what I do, isreally outside the box. You
know, I'm I know, it's such acliche, but that's just, if
someone tells me No, or it can'tbe done, I am looking for other
(12:21):
ways for it to be done. Right.
And so I, I was like, well,outside the box. That's, that's
it. And so I created my ownlogo, I did all that. And then I
sent the proposal over about twoand a half hours later. And, you
(12:42):
know, and then got my LLC, LLCregistered. And then, you know,
got my largest client, you know,a couple days later. And from
that point on, it just reallystuck and then realized that,
you know, once I registered myLLC, that outside the box was
taken. And so my official nameis ot BC. Ca, I'll see. But,
(13:05):
yeah, so that that was myjourney, and it just happened so
fast. It was, it was reallycrazy.
Erin Geiger (13:12):
That's incredible.
I know, well, you know, you saidearlier, you know, like, you
know, people say that somethingcan't be done, then that's my
motivation. I do it. And I thinkthat's the spirit of being an
entrepreneur. And the fact that,you know, when you were starting
to see it was thinking moreseriously about it is when
things start to fall into place.
Yes. Like my mom always says,You, you start out getting a few
(13:35):
nudges. And if you don't act onit, then the nudges get
stronger, or you don't act onit, you know, and then you start
feeling like these big pushes inlife to get you in the right
direction. So very, very cool.
So, building community, so Iknow that you're mostly in you
know, it's like lifestyle andamenities for it's for Master
Plan communities, right, is thatmore of your focus,
Unknown (13:59):
Master Plan and multifamily, okay, so,
Erin Geiger (14:03):
you know, I think though, even you know, if you
can share with us like the, theinsights you've learned about
building a strong community, youcan definitely do it using that
as, as an example, since that'syour area of expertise. And I
think people can draw the line,they can connect the dots, you
know, to their industries. So,yeah, so if you wouldn't mind
(14:25):
giving us some tips or insightsaround building community,
excuse me, then that would bereally incredible.
Unknown (14:31):
Definitely, I think, you know, I need to know, who's,
you know, in your community,like, I always say that it's
important to look at the dataand the, you know, the
demographic right. So, what isthe size of your community?
Where is it geographically, youknow, is it in the urban or
suburban setting, you know, youknow, what is your who is your
(14:55):
target audience? I always say,you know, especially when it
comes Your real estate, what isyour price point? HOA dues, etc.
So as I break it down so thatother people can use it as you
need to know who, who yourclient is correct. And so
(15:16):
because you can't get them tobuy in if you don't know who
they are, you also need to knowwho you are, what is your brand?
And how do you connect to your,your community and your
community is your, yourclientele. Right? And, and so
when I'm when I'm looking atbuilding a community, and I'm
(15:40):
looking at that socialwellbeing, and how do we get
people connected? I want to getthem involved, I want to get
them to have a stake, I don'twant them to be able to come and
go without having any connectionwith me, or when I say with me
(16:01):
with with, with the community,right or with the with the
multifamily community. So what Imean by that is, if I'm creating
a masterplan community, forexample, I am looking for an
opportunity for us to createevents and programming that will
(16:29):
hit each demographic that'sthere. Right and so take that
for if you are doing a lipstick,right, if someone's selling a
lipstick, they're looking forthe same thing, right, they
don't want to sell one shade oflipstick. Because once you to
lipstick is not going to appealto the broader market. Right?
(16:51):
That helps for sales. And ithelps for people feeling like
they belong there. So when I amwhen I appealing to, and
building community, I wantpeople to feel like they belong.
And I want them not only to feelit, but I want them to know that
they belong there. And so by mecreating amenities that speak to
(17:11):
them. So there's two differentthings that I help developers
with, I help them with creatingthe amenities, and planning out
their amenities. And I also helpthem you know, build the
lifestyle and programming andthat lifestyle and programming
can bounce off of the amenitiesthat they create. So if we're
talking about just theamenities, you know, one is you
(17:34):
can draw a lot about what'scurrently being done today. And
what what the trends aren'tright? What are people looking
for. So there's a lot ofinformation out there, what
people looking for, you know,people are really looking into
health and wellness, especiallypost COVID, you know, people are
wanting to be more outdoors andindoors or in, they want to
(17:56):
bring, if they are indoors, theywant the outdoors in. And they
also want they also want theability to have, you know, co
working spaces as well, right,because so many people are now
working from home. So there arejust a few things. The other
(18:16):
thing that, you know, when itcomes to healthy living, they,
you know, neighborhoods arereally important. People want to
be able to go hiking and cyclingwithout having to go too far.
So, you know, knowing thataspect. And you know, you can
create your your community. Andif you're creating that kind of
community, right? Then you know,who you're going to be marketing
(18:42):
to, right? And then and who yourdemographics are going to be.
And then through that, then youstart building that type of
community and those programsbased around that.
Erin Geiger (18:55):
No, I like that.
And it's like, no, you're right.
And it's the same. It's the samefor every business, like people
need to know, you know, thetarget audience need to know how
to speak to them, so that itresonates and they it's a clear
message that they want to takeaction on. And so the amenities
and the events, yeah, it getsthem involved, and it makes them
(19:18):
feel like they're a part ofsomething right. They feel
included, which I think goes along way.
Unknown (19:23):
Exactly. And and you know, my biggest thing too is
that I really try to instillwhen I when I give feedback, you
know, to my clients is don'tbuild a amenity for one single
purpose. You really want tobuild an amenity that has that
(19:44):
nine to nine factor right from9am to 9pm. Because you don't
want to have a melody that's notgoing to be utilized and
activated because no one wantsto walk into an area that no
one's using. Right? Becausepeople like the energy I mean,
think about when you go downtownZilker Park in Austin, how you
(20:06):
kind of feed off the energy whenyou see people walking around
there? Right? If no one waswalking around there, you'd be
like, Okay, I guess this isn't
Erin Geiger (20:18):
that great.
Unknown (20:19):
Exactly right. But if but with the activation with
people utilizing the space, itmakes you want to use it as
well. Yeah. So you have to bethinking of, you know, not just
to put us amenity and just tosay that you have an amenity to
make sure it's intentional, andthat it lines up with who you're
(20:41):
targeting.
Erin Geiger (20:43):
100% Yeah, both ways. Well, yeah. And I think,
you know, some listeners willhave online businesses, but I
think this, this works as well,right, because you can have
online events or amenities, youknow, that will attract your
target audience. And so, youknow, so people like do online,
like virtual conferences, ordefinitely lunch and learns, or
(21:08):
all that kinds of in there,they're even, you know, tangible
things that you can like mailout, okay, everyone who's, you
know, registered for thisconference is going to get XYZ
package in the mail that we'reall going to use during this
conference, you know, to kind ofyou unite people. Yes, and of
course, groups are, you know,kind of an old school way, you
know, online groups and thatsort of thing. So, how do you
(21:30):
whether it's in person, orvirtual, just give us ways of
like, how do you get theactivation going? Because you're
right, if you hop into an eventonline or off, and no one's
there, you're like, bye. So it'slike, how do you get people to
go and to participate?
Unknown (21:45):
So it's really, like I said, it's really the by and so
one of the things that I, Ireally believe in is, you know,
getting the the data, right, andone of the ways you get the data
is by asking your, yourclientele, what do they want to
see? What what do they want?
What are they interested in?
That's one thing that I did withmy past client is we put out a
(22:09):
survey, you know, to all of ourhomeowners when they moved in,
you know, what kind of eventsdid they want to see what kind
of programs do they want to see.
And that really allowed us from,from the get go to understand,
you know, we have that, youknow, the market research at the
very beginning, right, that toldus what might be coming. But
then we have the data that tellsus who's actually there. And
(22:32):
from that, then we can say,okay, there's a lot of people
who actually, you know, want tolearn how to quilt, or there's a
lot of people who want to takekarate, right, now we have an
understanding of who ouraudience is, and how we can
create that programming aroundthem. And even then, now, you
(22:55):
know, this worked for online, aswell. And sometimes even better,
because you with online, there'sa lot more data, I think that
you have with being able to havepeople's emails and different
things like that, without thembeing so hesitant about giving
them their you know about givingemails, so you have a way to
(23:17):
communicate to them. So you'reable to show them that, you
know, if they're looking for,you know, a class on podcasting,
for example, that you canpresent that to them in a way
that really caters to exactlywhat they're looking at, based
(23:39):
on the survey results thatyou're getting. And you can
really market to them, you know,today, there's so much there's,
through Constant Contact, andMailChimp, there's so many great
ways to really fine tune your,your data where you can actually
pinpoint exactly what kind ofinformation they want, and then
(24:02):
just target that audience. Andso you can create those groups,
and what whether it's online, orit's not online, and really
target them. And just, you know,engage them on whether it's
whether I'm just emailing thehiking club, or whether I am
just emailing my online chessclub, whatever it may be, right?
(24:25):
I can I have ways to just targeta certain audience to engage
them, instead of sending out amass blast, where they may not
see it, I can make it a lot morepersonalized. And so I think
what is really important here isthat you have to understand what
your clients want. And the onlyway you're going to do that is
(24:48):
to ask, and I think a lot ofpeople feel like they should
just know but I want to be askedYou know, I don't, I would
rather you ask me than justcontinue to throw spaghetti at
the wall. And then I getfrustrated, and now I'm gone.
And I'm going somewhere elselooking for what I want,
Erin Geiger (25:11):
right? And do you feel like you have to encourage
or incentivize people to fillout these surveys? Or is it
enough just to tell them thebenefits of like, why you're
doing the survey? And whatthey're gonna get out of? It?
Unknown (25:27):
That's a great question. And it depends, right?
It depends on who they are,there are people who are going
to move into a lifestyleoriented community that they
understand, and they want tofill it out, right, they get the
purpose of it, and they wanttheir voice heard. And then
there's another demographicthat, you know, they don't want
(25:49):
to fill that information out,because they don't want you to,
they don't know how you're goingto use that data. And they're
kind of, you know, hesitant togive you that information. So,
it is one of those things thatyou have to, you have to know
your audience and you have to bewilling to try different ways in
(26:15):
finding out. But what I havenoticed is that not only can you
get that the word out, but ifyou get other participants. So
if I get residents out to sharethe message and to recruit
people, that's a great way forthem to get involved. Right? If
I get community members, andsame thing for online, if
(26:37):
there's online community membersthat are speaking about, it's
just like if with anything,right? Like if your friend says,
Hey, we should go to thisrestaurant, that personal
recommendation is so much moreis so much more relevant and
more such a strongerrecommendation, then if I'm the
(26:58):
one that is running it, and Itell you to be a part of it,
Erin Geiger (27:02):
ya know? Yes, hearing from your peers is so
much more powerful, right, thanhearing from someone that might
be promoting a certain productor service. So I do want to hear
about I know that you mentionedsurveys and the like, I do want
to hear about another tool orprocess that's changed her
(27:22):
business for the better. Butbefore we move on, is there
anything else you kind of wantto highlight on building a
community?
Unknown (27:30):
I just the one thing that I think is really important
is we just know that, you know,post COVID That it's it's vital
for the success of communities.
And it is one of those thingsthat if if we aren't doing it in
a we're we're gonna get leftbehind. And it's it is also
(27:54):
something that is not only formultifamily, and masterplan
communities, but it'severywhere, that it's so vital
for for us to be buildingcommunities, whether it is where
you work, where you, you know,your family, your friends, even,
(28:16):
you know, even where you, youknow, go to, you know, stay at a
resort, right? It's, it's soimportant that we build
community, because we all needto feel that sense of belonging,
you know, we have to feel thatwe belong somewhere. Because if
(28:36):
that's when we don't feel likewe belong. That's when we do
things that are drastic, that'swhen we, we disconnect. And
that's when you know, peoplequit their jobs, that's when,
you know, we just see adifferent side of our society
(28:58):
that we don't want. Yep. And Iwould say that, you know, the
one thing I I just want to addreal quick, Aaron is, you know,
I did a training for alifestyle, a management team.
And the one thing I asked them,I said, you know, tell me, the
first thing I asked him is whatTell me one thing you love about
(29:21):
your job? And I had, I wentaround the table and the two
things that came across was, Ilove the team that I work with.
And I love my my residents thatI work with. Yeah, those two?
Yeah, those two things are whatbring what bring them back each
and every day. Because if theydon't have that, then they don't
(29:45):
have a place to belong. And Ithink that's something for
employers to understand is thatyou need to make sure that your
people have a sense of belongingthat they feel like they belong,
belong where they are, thatthey're just not, they're just
doing a job day in and day out.
(30:07):
But they're connected to thegreater art of the company, and
that they're there for aspecific reason and not just to
make money for the bottom line.
Erin Geiger (30:19):
Yeah, that's crucial. And I visited it. So in
Austin, there's a communitycalled Community First, and it's
like a, you probably heard ofit, but it's it's a
neighborhood. It's so great,right? So for listeners not not
aware, there is it's calledCommunity First, it's in the
eastern part of Austin. And it'san incredible organization that
(30:40):
basically they, they offer longterm home to those that have
been chronically homeless. Andit's just amazing. And so
there's these, they're theseawesome little tiny homes, and
it's like a, it really is anentire community. And they have
like jobs, you know, that theycan do, like the residents can
(31:02):
get involved in or events andthat sort of thing. So I toured
it, I volunteered, it's great.
And the one of the things thatthey told us was the number one
reason why folks are homeless,like some people might assume,
you know, oh, drug use, or whathave you. They're like, No, it's
a devastating loss of supportand community, you know, and so,
(31:22):
it's that important. So as youwere speaking, I was like, yes,
you know, it's that importantthat people feel included and
involved in something and havethat sense of community. And I'm
going to spoil your next answer,too, because I did just tie so
beautifully into this is, isthe, the tool of their process.
And you did mention to me thatyou've recently started going to
(31:44):
a we work instead of workingfrom home all that time. So I
think that ties in so great withcommunity. So talk a little bit
about that.
Unknown (31:54):
Yeah, you know, exactly. And that's one thing
that I realized that I needed,that I needed that community,
from my, from my work life, youknow, I have a great home
office, but I needed to be out.
And having that sense ofcommunity with others, you know,
I talk about it all the time,and I'm working on building it
for, you know, developers andcommunities, but I, too need
(32:16):
that sense of community on adaily basis. And that's what I'm
able to get from we work andI've just been really enjoying
my time, you know, coming inand, and seeing the team here,
and it just, it brightens my dayto be able to come in here and,
and see everyone else, you know,plugging along and doing
(32:39):
everything that they enjoy doingas well.
Erin Geiger (32:43):
Now, it's a huge part of it. And you had also
mentioned that staying activealso online can be part of it,
too. Right. So you're active onLinkedIn.
Unknown (32:51):
Yeah, and I would say that is so important to be
active on LinkedIn. And I wouldalso say that it is not just
important just for from a socialstandpoint, but also from a
business standpoint, you know,I, you know, as building a
business, it's hard, it's not,you know, I really believe when
(33:14):
you think of building abusiness, you know, it's going
to be hard, but I don't thinkpeople really understand to the
depths, how hard it's going tobe. And, you know, LinkedIn has
really helped me from aconnection standpoint, and
really connect with people andbe able to get opportunities and
(33:38):
connections with people that Iprobably wouldn't have had had I
not been on LinkedIn. And it'sbeen great to have conversations
with people and also learn somuch about, you know, current
current trends and industrytopics that are happening.
Erin Geiger (34:00):
Yeah, and so this dovetails nicely into the next
thing I wanted to ask of you,which is, you know, for others
wanting to go out on their own,some listeners are just starting
out some listeners are, youknow, much further into their
entrepreneurial journey, butwhat kind of insights or key
learnings do you have to sharewith those who want to go out on
their own?
Unknown (34:21):
Yeah, you know, it's, it is like I said, it is
something that is great, butit's also very difficult. But
it's also rewarding. So it's,you know, kind of like a double
edged sword in the fact that youknow, you have, you want, you
(34:41):
know, you feel like you you havemaybe a sense of freedom, but at
the same time, you don't reallyin a sense that you know,
everything that you didn't haveto do before you're you're now
doing you're now you're amarketer, you're now you're
account, you know, your, yourall of that stuff, at least
(35:04):
until you start getting whereyou can start hiring out for all
that. But the biggest thing Iwould say at the very beginning
is just to learn, you know,research, if others have the
same business concept, you know,what their pricing structures
are, you know, what theirstrengths and weaknesses are?
And, you know, if, if there areother companies that offer what
(35:28):
you do, what makes your companydifferent. So it's not like, you
can't do it, but what makes yourcompany different.
The other thing is, you know,your team is more than a name,
I, you know,I really wish that I had thought
of this a little earlier. Butlike I had said earlier, I have
(35:49):
like, two hours to really thinkof my name. But you know, you're
gonna name is more than a name.
So, you know, really think aboutyour name, and how's it going to
be used in when it comes tolike, your URL? Right? Not only
is it take, you know, is italready, you know, being used
(36:11):
from LC standpoint, but what isit when it comes to your URL?
Right? Is it too long? Is itgoing to be something that
people are going to go overreally don't have to continue to
type this? Is this somethingthat you want to put on your
marketing? Right? Like, ifyou're having mugs, or, you
(36:33):
know, cups, or koozies made? Isit something that you want? And
will look good on yourmarketing? I think the next and
then also think about, you know,your brand as a whole, what is
that? What do you want that tolook and feel like an emit, you
know, I, I chose green becausegreen is a color that has always
(36:57):
been, it's one of my favoritecolors. And I it makes it
alludes happiness to me, andheart. And so that's why I chose
that. And, but you have toreally understand, you know, why
you're choosing the colors andchoose something that speaks to
(37:17):
you. I would say the next thingthat's important is your
network. And making sure thatyou're that you know who your
network is, number one, youknow, I was very fortunate to
know of Aaron, I'm going to giveyou a little shout out here
Aaron. Aaron, was in a networkof mine. And so we know why when
(37:45):
I was, you know, kind ofdesigning my, my website, I was
able to have her do somecopywriting on it. And I am when
designing my website, I have areally talented past colleague,
Dylan Reid, who is justphenomenal, that created my
(38:06):
website. And, you know, he's,you know, fantastic. And I can
rely on him. And so, you know,it's really like, who do you
know, that can really help youkind of hash things out and, and
think things through. And soknow who your network is in the
beginning. And then also back towhat we were talking about
(38:29):
before with LinkedIn, expandyour network. And that has been
something that's been like, thebiggest advantage to me is I
have put myself out there timeand time and time again, going
to industry events. And evenwhen it's like, oh my gosh, can
I afford this? I'm like, Yes, Ican. I have to, you know, like,
(38:53):
when you're just gettingstarted, right? And it always
pays off. If you can bet on yourself, then you know, you're in
the right business. If you can'tbet on yourself, then you need
to rethink what you're doing.
Yeah. And then don't give up. Iwill tell you, there were so
many times that I wanted to giveup. And just because it's like,
I don't know if I can continueto do this. This is crazy, you
(39:17):
know, but when I persevered, Irealized that once I got over
that obstacle, things got somuch easier. Right? And I think
that's what a busy running yourown business will do to you. It
really wants to test you to seehow dedicated you are to it. And
(39:37):
so, you know, I just, you know,had my year anniversary with my
business and I can't tell youhow happy to have that year
because it really taught me alot. And then the last thing I
would say is you know make sureyou have some starter Your funds
(39:59):
because you just don't know, youknow, what it's going to look
like down the road. Right. Andtypically, you know, you don't
get paid, you know, depends onhow you start it like, I will
say that I would encourage youto get paid upfront, and that's
how you should arrange yourcontracts. But some, you know,
(40:19):
depending on the type ofbusiness you are in some clients
may only pay at the end of 30days, and then they don't pay at
the end of 30 days. And thenwhat happens, right, so you need
to make sure that you have thestarter funds to, to not only be
able to pay your bills, but tomarket yourself to get yourself
(40:40):
into the, you know, the, thenetworking events that you need
to be at, and to let people knowthat you're there. Because if
they don't know you're there,then you're not going to get the
business that you need to makeyour your company a success.
Yeah,
Erin Geiger (41:01):
no, that's huge.
Thank you for those tips.
Because I think some people andit's fine, like get an idea and
then you jump right in. But it'sgood to have this as prep work
done before. So you have more ofa solid sustainable business
right from from the very start.
And I'm glad that you mentionedgetting paid up front, that is
what I recommend. We had a gueston actually her podcast episode
went live today and NicoleWallander. She runs a
(41:23):
copywriting service as well. Andshe also was just like, get paid
up, right? You know, it's so ifyou can, if that's the kind of
industry that you're in, when100% recommend that and so you
are handling a lot. So whatwhat's part of your routine that
helps you, you know, with yourbusiness, and personal success
(41:43):
helps you keep shooting for thestars, but also grounds you as
well.
Unknown (41:50):
You know, I, before I even like get out of bed, I
start my day with a prayer. Andthen I, you know, I think about
after I finished that I thinkabout you know, my, my day, and
then you know, I will go for my,my run. And you know, listen to
(42:13):
my motivational music to kind ofget me going, I just I need that
keep me centered. And then I,you know, I'll come back, and I
make sure that I have my list ofto dues for the day. I'm a
visual person. So I like writingit all down, I like checking it
(42:34):
off. And then, you know, I, youknow, shower up, and then I go
to my go to work. And that'swhere I just kind of hammer out
everything. You know, and I amthere until I can get as much as
I can accomplished. So but yeah,you know, I, for me, I have to
(42:54):
start my day with my prayer, mydevotional, you know, and then
my workout. My workout is not asconsistent as my prayer. Lately
anyways, but it is somethingthat it's really important for
me. It's something that when Iwhen I do all those things, I am
(43:22):
guaranteed a good day no matterwhat happens.
Erin Geiger (43:25):
Yeah, no, that's great. So you start your day
with intention, which I think alot of us do not do we just kind
of jump in, right, we wake up,our feet hit the floor, and then
it's like, go time, you know,it's like getting kids to school
or getting that workout inquickly. Not even, you know,
you're just kind of like arobot. So I love that part of
it. As you look forward, whatare the goals and vision? Like
(43:46):
what do you what do you envisionfor your business as you because
your congratulations on thefirst one year, you know, and so
what's next for you?
Unknown (43:55):
You know, I'm, I'm really excited about this year,
I have had so many greatconversations with prospects and
future clients that, you know,I'm really excited what this
year is going to bring in isbringing, you know, my goal this
year is really to be able tobring on a couple staff members.
(44:15):
That is a goal of mine. And thereason I want to be able to do
that is not only because it'd begreat to have, you know, the
staff members to be able to, youknow, bounce ideas off of, but
also just because I feel like byhaving my staff members, not
(44:37):
only will we be able to grow,but we'd be able to just assist
the clients in a bigger way. ButI'm excited. I mean, there's so
many opportunities that arecoming. And so yeah, I'm i I'm
excited for 2023 I mean, it wasfunny, I was talking to someone
(44:57):
at the end of December City HallNormally in December, I'm like
dreading the beginning ofJanuary because I'm, like, just
so drained. And, you know, like,I just can't even think about
it. But I was so excited forJanuary, because of all the
opportunities and working withthese clients. And so yeah, I'm
(45:22):
really excited about workingwith the clients and really
offering them what they'relooking for, you know, building
community, and helping them withboth their amenities and helping
them with their lifestyle and
Erin Geiger (45:36):
programming. Yeah, and especially in that post
COVID world, what you mean,everybody needs what you're
doing, you know, as far as like,creating a community being more
involved. So I'm excited foryou, I think this is gonna be
big year. Where can people findyou online? If they want to work
with you or connect?
Unknown (45:55):
Well, thank you, they can go to consulting outside the
box.com. And they can find methere.
Erin Geiger (46:02):
Awesome. We'll include that link in the show
notes. And we always end theepisode with this question,
which is, if you can only listento one music artists for the
rest of your life, who would itbe?
Unknown (46:16):
Hmm, that's a great question. I would have to say
oh, that's a tough one. I wouldhave to say
probably, Fred Hammond. He's agospel singer. And he just gets
(46:39):
me excited. There's one songthat I just love his and it
just, it just gets me pumped upand it gets me really excited.
So there's so many greatsingers, but if I hadn't put
one, I would say him because hecan do both ballad you know,
slow and fast. So
Erin Geiger (46:59):
yeah, very cool.
I'm always think our listenersare always looking for things to
get them motivated andenergized. That is perfect.
Thank you, Monica, for takingthe time. I had so much fun
chatting with you on this reallyimportant topic.
Unknown (47:14):
Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.
Erin Geiger (47:18):
Thanks for tuning in to the Small Business Big
mindset podcast. To keep the fungoing. Check out our Facebook
group start and scale an onlinebusiness For even more free
trainings and resources fromfellow entrepreneurs. If you
haven't already, head on over tomuscle creative.com and click
subscribe. Join our email listfor weekly updates. And if
you've enjoyed this podcastepisode, check us out on your
favorite podcast platform tofollow us and give us a review.
(47:40):
As always be authentic bringinginsane amount of value and keep
crushing it
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