September 4, 2023 • 38 mins
In this Episode, Our very own Valerie Rocio delves into the nitty gritty inner workings of what running a business really looks like. Spoiler alert: not like its shown on instagram. We cover so much ground from how to get it started legitimately, how to find clients, and so much more. Hope you love it!
Follow us on social: https://www.instagram.com/shaniahdip/ https://www.instagram.com/valerierocio/ https://www.instagram.com/hotgirlscry_/
Follow us on social: https://www.instagram.com/shaniahdip/ https://www.instagram.com/valerierocio/ https://www.instagram.com/hotgirlscry_/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This week, a hot new bombshellenters the villa. I'm Shanya. I'm
a content creator and a manic moneyspender. I'm Valerie. I'm a serial
entrepreneur and recovering perfectionists. We're hereto bring you life in wellness, tips,
tricks and hacks from experts and ourpersonal experiences. This is the Hawk
(00:20):
Girls Cry Podcast. Welcome back toanother episode of Hawk Girls. Christ Welcome
(00:41):
back you guys. We're excited fortoday's episode because it's one of my favorite
topics. Yes, And I feellike whenever we were planning episodes and stuff,
I was like, hello, wehave a business mogul at our fingertips.
Let's interview about Yeah, And itwas actually one of the topics that
(01:02):
I was like fine not talking aboutbecause I didn't want to like hijack the
podcast and make it all about businessbecause it's something I can talk about day
in and day out. But thenwhen we've been doing our q and as
and stuff, I've been getting alot of questions and y'all have been interested,
so let's talk about it. Yeah. I think it's something that seems
(01:23):
so daunting for people, is startinga business, because it's a huge mountain
to climb, and I think peoplesee that and get very overwhelmed. So
it's really interesting when you see peoplewho have done it and succeeded at it
and all of those things. Butbefore we get into all of that,
wait a minute, hold on,are we forgetting hold the phone? What
(01:48):
do we be grateful for? I'dbe grateful for I just thought of it
and now I feel like I lostit. I'm grateful that the weather is
below one hundred degrees in Dallas,Texas this week. Cold friend. We
have a cold friend, and itis now ninety seven and it was like
one hundred and seven last week.So I will take it, and I
(02:10):
am grateful for that. I onlyhalf died on the walkover inside here,
not full die, not a fulldie. So it's a win. Yes,
No, that is. It isnice. Like I've been enjoying it
too, and I've been able togo for walks and I've been needing some
movement and some outdoor and some sunshineand some fresh air. Yeah. I'm
(02:30):
very very ready for fall, likehave never been more ready. What are
you grateful for, Valerie, Well, just to be soppy, I'm grateful
for you. I've had a veryrough month. I'd say August has been
hard with work and life and businessand just my schedule. And you're always
(02:52):
so understanding and like you just getwhere I'm coming from and you know how
I'm feeling, and you just alwaysknow how to make me feel better.
And you sent me flowers last week, and it's just you're always there for
me and you know exactly what Ineed. And I was like crying last
week in my car because she justlike fully, like it's one thing to
(03:14):
have a friend to be there foryou, to like hear you when you're
going through it, but like toreally feel like they get it. It's
just something different. And I'm justvery blessed to have a friend like you,
not me tearing up so literally,Oh stop it. I love you
so much, you know I loveyou? Oh god, no, I
can't talk. Thanks the lot,No, thank you. I love you
(03:38):
so much. I always here foryou, forever and ever forever. Okay,
stop crying. Cry literally the firsttear shot on the podcast, and
we had a whole episode about ourfriendship and this is like how I cry.
Of course. Okay, So thetopic of today's podcast is how to
(04:00):
start a business? All the businessthings. Yeah, all the everything business
feet Valerie Rosso because if you guysdon't know, Valerie is an entrepreneur.
She has three companies, right,two wish two and a halfish depends on
how you want to count them.Okay, you have your social media marketing
business, which was your first baby, and then you have your picnics twist
(04:26):
your third baby. If you're countingphotography as your second baby. Yeah,
so I have the marketing agency,and then under the marketing agency, I
have like another branch, which islike the lifestyle photography studio, So like
in the eyes of the government,that's like a DBA. So like I
treat it like a second business,and it's just kind of like a second
(04:49):
branch of the first business. Thisis why I say like two and a
half okay, but I mean Iwould I just consider them to be two
businesses. But like, it justreally diffic on how you want to look
at it. But I just sayit as two businesses. In my eyes,
you have like five, honestly,that's what it seems like. But
(05:10):
Okay, starting from the beginning,I know that you were working full time
when I first met you at afirm for marketing. It was a PR
firm. Yeah, And what madeyou want to get into social media marketing
specifically when you decided to start yourbusiness. Yeah, I mean I was
at a PR firm here in Dallasand I was working as a social media
(05:32):
manager there. So that was beforesocial media is what it is today,
So it was still up and coming. This was obviously now like I don't
even know, like seven eight yearsago, so it was definitely a thing,
but it just wasn't as prevalent inbusinesses and it was still like we
were dipping our toes in it.It was like Okay, how do we
leverage this? And at the PRfirm, we were using it for our
(05:57):
clients and so that was part ofmy job was like Okay, how are
we using this thing? And Iwas doing it for probably fifty clients and
they were all like doctors and lawyers, and I was basically the strategist of
Okay, how are we going toput them on social media? And like
how are we going to use thisto build their brands? And I just
really liked the creative control and likethe creative strategy process, but I didn't
(06:24):
really like the types of clients wewere working with and I didn't really like
the management that I was under,and I just got to a point in
that business where I knew I didn'thave a lot of room to grow,
and I just knew I could doit differently if I had total control,
And like, maybe that was justa point for me where like I just
(06:44):
wanted control. But I was like, you know, I could do this
for businesses that I like more andthen I'm more passionate about and do it
for less businesses because at the timeI was just really creatively burned out doing
it for so many people, andI was just like, I could do
this for for clients and be reallyinvolved and intentional with my time and energy
and creativity and do it for moremoney and less work and just be doing
(07:11):
this for myself instead of a companythat doesn't really value me or my time.
So you just quit whole turkey,and you didn't kind of have a
side hustle or anything. You wentstraight into starting your business, feed on
the ground, have to make moneydoing this. So I actually was really
fortunate because while I was at thePR Agency, I started networking and attending
(07:34):
like networking events and conferences and speeches, and that's where I started to meet
a lot of women who that's whenI really started to figure out like,
Okay, I really am passionate aboutwomen entrepreneurs and I love working with women.
And there's so many women in Dallaswho are doing cool things and they
don't have the marketing support to gettheir businesses off the ground. So that's
(07:55):
what really inspired me, like,Okay, I can do what I love
to do while supporting the woman whowere doing what they love to do.
And in doing that and in attendingthose events, I was able to find
I met a woman who was areally successful entrepreneur and I just really connected
with her, and so she endedup mentoring me. So she actually helped
me understand like the basics of abusiness. So she actually talked me through
(08:16):
like what do you want to do, and she inspired me to start the
business and to start it as aside hustle and basically asked me like,
well, what's your end goal?And I was like, you know,
to work for myself. But Isaw that as like in the future when
I'm like a real adult, whenI'm married and have a house and kids.
And she was like, well whythen, And I was like yeah,
(08:37):
why then, Like why is thatmy timeline. So then I started
taking action and like working and likenetworking and building client hell while I was
still at my corporate job. Andthen I got to a tipping point where
my corporate job was really pushing thelimit with like how they were taking advantage
of me and my time. AndI just got to a point one day,
probably five months after starting my business. I think I started, like
(09:01):
legally started my business in May,and the plan was to quit my job
as of next May, and becauseI was in the process of planning my
wedding, so I wanted to likebe responsible about it, and so in
May I legally started my business andI was like, I'm just gonna save
money, built some clientele, makeconnections. I think as of September was
(09:22):
when I was like, you know, I'm doing a lot of work on
the side. I basically was workingnine to five and then working for my
business and building connections, doing allthese side projects from five to eleven every
day and all weekend. And Ijust got to a point where I was
like, I'm just going to doit for myself, Like I'm gonna,
you know, bettle myself. Iknow I can do this. I know
(09:43):
I'm willing to do whatever it takes, So I just quit. It's like
that sink or swim mentality. Yeah, like if that's the only option,
like you're gonna make it work.Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of all
in at that point. Yeah,And I think that's when you probably made
a lot of growth and really gotthe this rolling. Yeah. And I
knew, like, if I'm spendingfive to eleven every day working on all
these other projects, imagine what Ican accomplish if I have my night all
(10:07):
these hours. Then I'm about togain. And I also knew that,
like I'm the kind of person thatif I have to bartend to make rent,
I will. You're a hustler,and you knew that if even if
it was a little rocky, therewas other avenues that you were willing to
go down, yeah, to makeit work in the long run. Yeah,
So I knew that that was justwhat was going to happen. So
I just up and quit. Ilove that because I think even for me,
(10:31):
I get really scared to start businesses. And that's one thing I admire
about you is you're very action focusedand you will take the action so quickly,
and it's just immediate. But Ifeel like a lot of people are
like me, where they want todo something, but it's kind of like
holding them back. So what doyou think. I don't know if it's
(10:54):
just inherent in you. And thisisn't even one of the questions I wrote
down, but I'm just thinking ofit. I didn't prepare for this.
I didn't prep on this one,y'all. What do you think is kind
of the difference between not starting andjust starting and getting it going. Is
it just you just have to likerip the band aid off and just go
for it, or do you thinkit's just one of those things that it
(11:16):
gets easier as you just start todo little things and little things. Yeah,
I mean I think I think thatthere's two ways to approach it,
And like I think it just dependson the type of person you are,
because like I think there's just likewhat what do you have to lose?
You know, Like obviously I wasin a situation where I didn't have a
mortgage, I didn't have kids.I you know, no one was going
(11:39):
to starve. You know, worstcase scenario, I could go bartend,
I could uber I had options,and you know, I'm in a position
of privilege where I could do thosethings, you know, but that doesn't
look the same for everybody. Likeif you have kids, defeat and you
know mortgage should pay, like thatmight look different. You probably can't take,
you know, that same risk necessarily. But I do think a lot
(12:01):
of people do let their ego getin a way where they aren't willing to
go and bar attend if they haveto, or to go and do a
part time job if they have toto make ends me while they're trying to
work towards something they want to worktowards. Yeah, And I think that
can be really hard for some peopleto swallow. And I think that's just
the side of a hustle that peoplearen't willing to accept sometimes. Yeah,
(12:24):
you have to ask yourself, areyou, like really really willing to go
to the worst possible outcome with thisbusiness? Yeah. I think that's what's
scary sometimes, Yeah, because thissuccess isn't guaranteed and it's really really hard
work. And so I think weoften see success stories, and at the
end of the day, success storiesare sharing the success, you know,
(12:46):
And so I think like when yousee it, you're like, oh,
well, that looked great, Butit's really hard, and I think,
you know, I don't, andI try to be really transparent with like
how far I've come and what I'veaccomplish. But at the end of the
day, like I am still reallyfortunate and how I've gotten here, and
like it has been really hard still, but I am still coming from a
(13:07):
place of privilege and I'm still veryfortunate, but I still have worked really
hard. But there's still so manyhurdles you have to overcome, and like
a lot of people have to,you know, you have to be willing
to work really really hard to getthere. And I think just a lot
of people like and there's no shamein that, Like there's no shame in
like not wanting to do that.But I think like a lot of people
(13:28):
don't tell you either, yea,how hard that is. It's hard and
it's long, and it takes alot of time. It is so long,
so long. I feel like whatyou said, like you see the
success and you always see the finishline, and we see these influencers who
create businesses and they have this massiveaudience, so it seems like it's just
(13:50):
overnight. Yeah, it seems overnightbecause you saw it overnight. Yeah,
exactly, and you nobody shares.A lot of people don't share what goes
on Fina scenes and the low partsof the journey and stuff like that.
Like a lot of people talk aboutalex Earl and how she was like an
overnight success on TikTok, but likeeven her, like she was posting on
TikTok daily for like five years beforeshe took off, and like maybe there
(14:11):
wasn't like hardship or like struggle inthat journey, but like it wasn't overnight,
Like it was consistency for five yearsbefore she became something bigger. And
it's like it's most people aren't technicallyovernight. A lot of people would have
quit during that, yeah, fiveyears and just through in the towel.
(14:33):
And I remember I was watching aYouTube or one time talk about how to
grow your YouTube, and she waslike, if you've been doing this for
a year or two and you're notseeing growth, then maybe it just need
to come to terms with the factthat it's not for you. And I
can see truth in that, butI think that's kind of wrong because you
just never know. At one pointyou can be twenty doing YouTube and not
(14:56):
take off. On YouTube till you'reforty and you find your groove and you
find your niche, and you know, everybody's journey looks different, so you
can't say there's this you need toquit here. Yeah. Yeah, it's
not easy, and like if itwere easy, then like everyone would do
it, and it's just it's noteasy. Well, what are the things
that are kind of behind the scenesthat you don't really see, The business
(15:20):
stuff, the legal stuff that youneed to have in place and need to
be aware of when you're starting abusiness. There's so much literally nobody ever
teaches you. Yeah that you justhave to know, yeah, and you
just have to learn it. Andit is amazing how far we get in
life without knowing this stuff, evenwith taxes, I'm I'm amazed, and
(15:41):
investing and all of that stuff.So that's one part of starting a business.
And I've started a business, butit was kind of I don't even
know if it was legal. Idon't even know, Like I honestly don't
even know. But I know youhave to have an LLC and you need
like a low and yell. Yourbusiness needs to be registered in some way.
(16:03):
And I think that's the part thata lot of peopill skip, Like
they almost don't register it until theyIt's like they don't want to register their
business until they know that they're goingto stick with it. And I'm like
I get it, but I'm alsolike, don't start the business unless you're
going to stick with it. Yeah, are you committing? Are you not?
Yeah? And so a lot ofpeople will just kind of start it,
(16:23):
and like, I get it.Sometimes things will start as a hobby
and then they become something like Iget it, but yeah, you need
to register your business either as likea DBA or like an LLC or an
s corp or something like. Itneeds to be legally registered with the state
that you're in. And that's reallyimportant. And like my mom has been
a massage therapist for like fifteen years. It's like her main job, not
(16:45):
even fifteen years, like my wholelife, and she just registered her business
and I'm like like, how didyou do this for that long? And
so it's just like that's that's forone, really important and like that's something
that like no one ever taught us. And I have like a bone to
pick with this school system because likeI went to school for journalism and you
can go to school for something inlike a specialization like journalism or graphic design
(17:07):
or anything, and they only teachus enough to go and do the job
for someone else. Yeah, theydon't teach you how to go and do
it as a freelancer or how tostart your own graphic design firm. Like
unless you go to school for businessor for both, they don't teach you
that stuff. And that's so messedup to me because they don't teach you
(17:27):
how to protect yourself as an individualin that craft. And I've just there's
so much that we miss out on. Yeah, for sure, I definitely
think it should be a pillar,and at this point especially, it should
be a pillar in anybody's education forany niche that you're going into, because
you could do that yourself, especiallywhile in college. Like the most most
(17:48):
of my team members start out withme while they're in college and they're freelancing.
That's something important for them to knowwhile they're in college so they could
build their portfolio to make money.They need to know how to provide their
own contract, how to file theirown taxes while they're in college trying to
make money to pay their way throughcollege and make money safely while they're working
(18:10):
their way to get good jobs,you know. So, Yeah, one
of the big things is registering yourbusiness and also being able to understand contracts,
understanding, you know, how toprotect the work that you're producing,
how to protect yourself, you know, to get paid all of those things.
You don't necessarily need a lawyer,but if you know that you don't
understand those things, it is worthinvesting in a lawyer. And you know
(18:33):
they're not cheap. You get whatyou pay for. But it is something
that I think is worth investing in. So for me, it took a
couple good burns for me to learnthat I just needed to fight the bullet
and pay a thousand dollars to geta really good lawyer to write my contracts.
But it's worth it. In theend. I've been using those contracts
and stay one and modify them overthe years. Yeah. I remember when
(18:56):
you we were first in our friendshipand you are just talking about out your
contracts and your lawyer and all thisstuff, and you're mentioning that a lot
of photographers that you worked with,it didn't make people sign contracts and stuff
like that, and it wouldn't reallyburn them. I still have friends,
Like I have a friend who's beena photographer for like eight years and she's
like, oh, I never usecontracts. And I'm like, well,
what do you do And she's like, oh, just tell people the price
(19:17):
and then I give them their photos. And I'm like, has anybody just
not paid you or anything? She'slike, no, not really, And
I'm like, well, you're reallyfortunate. But I think the bigger you
get and the bigger prices are andthe bigger projects you get, like the
more that's at stake, And like, if you're not a registered business,
they can come a client can comefor you personally and your personal assets so
that they can come for your home, your car, like if they can
(19:41):
sue you. And then if youdon't have a contract, they don't have
to pay you and sah can pieceout. Yeah, so there's so many
things at stake if you don't haveall these things lined up, and like,
yes, it's tedious, and trustme, it's the least favorite part
of my job. Yea, LikeI hate do it so much and I've
had to do some of which inthe past month because we've just made a
(20:03):
huge transition with the state and allthis shit that I've had to do in
the past month. But it's worthit to protect you and your business and
your money. Like it matters somuch to get registered, to have good
contracts. And the other thing that'sreally important too that I didn't do in
the first year was bookkeeping. Itis so important to have your book keeping
(20:26):
in order. I am good withnumbers, I'm good with math, I'm
good at sales, I'm good atmaking money. I'm also very good at
spending money. And in the firstyear of my business, I thought I
was kind of keeping track of likewhere the money was coming from, where
it was going taxes. I thoughtI kind of had it under wraps,
and I was still solow, soI wasn't really paying a whole lot of
team members yet. But after thefirst year, I started hiring and having
(20:48):
to pay people out and things likethat. But then the first year of
filing for taxes came around for mybusiness, which is also very important,
Like make sure you follow your taxesbecause I'll come and bite you in the
butt fast by real fast, Joe, don't play. You know, you
gotta take care of that ship.And that's something that like you have to
(21:10):
get in order. But after myfirst year, I dug myself such a
hole by doing I thought I wastaking care of them, but I did
it so incorrectly that like we're justnow in year five digging ourselves out of
that hole as a business. Yeah, And so after year one, I
was just very aware, like,clearly I don't know what I'm doing here.
(21:30):
I also hate doing it. Ialso don't want to take the time
to learn the ins and outs ofdoing this, So I hired an accountant.
So just be self aware and like, if you hate writing contracts and
like you hate but peeping, likehire the people to do that. And
if you don't have the money todo that, charge more so you can
pay someone to do those things,but also know enough to understand what's going
on so that you also don't getscrewed in those areas, Like you need
(21:52):
to learn the foundations of those things, because those are all doesn't matter what
kind of business you're in, thosewill always play a part, like contracts
will always play a part. Moneywill always play a part in your business
some way somehow. So you haveto just accept that and then just learn
it a little bit and then investin the experts who will help you in
those areas. Yeah, and Ifeel like it's very important to just start
(22:17):
off doing that. You get intothe rhythm and that's just how it always
is, and you create those habitswithin your business. So if you can
start off registering your business, givingpeople the contracts, and just having a
team that can support you and thingsthat you're not good at, I feel
like you're going to set yourself upfor a little bit more. Yeah,
(22:37):
that's fassined that way. Like no, your strengths and your weaknesses. So
like I would say, day one, if you know you're starting a business,
register your business and then you canstart a business bank account. Always
keep your business money separate from yourpersonal and you can't start a business bank
account without an ei N. Youcan't get an ei N without having your
business registered. So again, registeryour freaking business and then you can also
get your contracts in line with yourbusiness name, not your personal name.
(23:02):
You know, get an account andif you need one, or you can
do your book keeping yourself. Butknow your strengths and weaknesses and just keep
your ship in order from day one. That way, you're not backtracking,
you're not having to clean up likeprevious messes. Just start from day one
in a clean slate, like treatyour business like it's its own person,
Like it's not an extension of you. It's like it's its own thing with
(23:22):
its own like make accounts, itsown mess, like, don't let it
be like part of you and yourmess. I love this so much,
and I love everything you're saying becauseI've never heard anyone say the things that
you just said. And you seeall of these people who have businesses online,
and you just never hear about whathow to operate it from the back
(23:45):
end and what it actually looks liketo set it all up legitimately and organize,
because I think really quickly it canget overwhelming and just seem all too
much whenever it's messy and disorganized andback taxes, and yeah, it can
get scary real quick. Yeah noit can, and even from day one
(24:07):
it is scary. But if youcan do it in the organized, legitimate
way from day one, it iseasier than backtracking and having to clean it
up after the fact. I lovethat. Okay, so switching gears a
little bit. When you first started, how did that look like for you
getting clients? I know you mentionedyou would go out and network, But
how is that different from how youcurrently that are not that go get clients?
(24:33):
Basically, Yeah, day one,I was networking a lot. And
this is obviously pre pandemics, Solike I was going to conferences, I
was going to happy hours, Iwas just meeting people, introducing myself.
And day one it was like theera of like boss babes. Like we
us, it really was like primeboss Babe era, and we all like
quit our jobs at the same time. Like I can't even tell you how
(24:56):
many of us are celebrating our fiveyear anniversaries right now, because we all
just up and quit and started likea revolution. And I basically would just
introduce myself, and like, Ido think it's really important that like,
even if you're not a people person, if you're starting a business, you
have to put yourself out there.You have to just you know, you
have to tell people what you're doing. You know, the businesses won't come
(25:19):
to you, the clients won't cometo you. You have to just say
like hey, like I don't thinkit to be salesy about it. I
think just be like, hey,like I started a business, Like is
there anything like I could do foryou? Like, is there do you
know anyone who could use what I'mdoing? And that's what I did.
I put myself out there, soI would do it at events, and
in the beginning, because I hada job that you know, paid my
(25:40):
bills, I was willing to doa lot more free stuff. So I
would be like, hey, like, I'm starting this new business. I'm
offering social media photo or a video. You know, I see that you're
having an event coming up? CanI shoot your event in exchange for exposure?
Like? Can you post my photosand tag me? And that's how
I would start building clienteles. Sothen I would do that for brands that
were aligned with me and like whoI wanted to work. So I worked
(26:00):
with a lot of women owned brands, salons, bakeries, and at the
time, I really wanted to workwith woman owned, Latina owned, van
owned companies, and so I wasjust reaching out to these companies or meeting
them at events. And then whenI was at these events, one of
the perks of what I do isthat you know, if you're the person
with the camera, people know you'rea photographer, and so people would see
(26:22):
me and be like, oh,you do photography, Like can I get
your card, and so that helpeda lot. And then another perk of
what we do is our work speaksfor itself, and so when our work
is being displayed on people's pages,that that spreads as well. And so
that really did just kind of dominointo more work for us, which really
helped, and I just kept gettingbusiness and so that was really really great,
and honestly, that like just keptus rolling for the first couple of
(26:47):
years. And I think the biggestturning point was when we made a really
big price change. And so afterabout three years, we got to a
point where we were a much biggerteam, we were much more experienced,
and we just had a much biggervalue that we were providing our clients.
Our services were much more intentional,much more involved, and so we had
(27:08):
to revisit with the packages that wewere offering. Our initial clientele where people
like me, where we were dayone business owners, we were one woman
shows. We were you know,really just grassroot business owners, and our
pricing reflected that. And three yearsin I had a team of much more
experienced women working with me. Ourservices were really really involved packages, and
(27:32):
so I had to modify our packagesto reflect that. So our pricing was
no longer affordable to those same women, so we had to revisit, Okay,
networking at these events for women whojust quit their jobs and started companies
is not going to be effective becausethese women can't afford what we're offering now.
Yeah, and so we really hadto revisit, like, how are
(27:53):
we going to find the women whoare five, ten, twenty years into
their business. So we really hadto start elevating our overall marketing. So
we did a full on rebrand intwenty twenty two, so last year,
and we basically just revamped everything.We really switched it from boss Babe and
like pinks and purples and revamped itto really timeless, really neutral, really
(28:17):
elevated, and we started networking withyou know, bigger businesses and higher up
CEOs and C level companies, justcompanies that were a bit more established,
and we basically had to just reallyshift our marketing. And that was like
a really big change for me becausefor me it was interesting because we obviously
(28:41):
do marketing, like that's literally whatwe do, and to struggle with marketing
was like really ironic. But whenwe do marketing for our clients, we're
marketing from business to consumer, butwhen we're marketing for ourselves, we're marketing
from business for business to business,yeah, which is like completely new for
us. Yeah, so I feltreally dumb because that was like, why
(29:03):
are we struggling to market ourselves?Like we know this shit. Yeah.
I think it's one of those thingswhere when you do something so much for
everyone else, you don't really wantto do it for yourself. And it
was so close to home too,and yeah, it was just really interesting,
and so we really had to sitdown as a team and be like,
so, how are we going todo this? But we ended up
(29:25):
just really finding a strategy that workedfor us, and once we got in
the door with a couple of theright clients, we ended up just doing
what we do best and they wereable to refer us to a lot of
other really great clients. And we'vealways just really thrived off referrals. And
I truly believe that if you nurtureyour clients, like more of the right
clients will come. Yeah. SoI don't really chase. I try not
(29:45):
to force anything with any of thewrong people, Like I truly believe like
if you just take care of yourpeople, like the right people will keep
coming. Yeah, I've seen yougo from calling people trying to get clients,
and I've seen the progression from thesestartup businesses and these startup women,
and I just like it feels likeyour business has grown up with you and
(30:08):
you really do practice what you preachand that you have just been attracting people
and you don't stress over not gettinga client if it's not working out.
You don't try to force a relationshipthat's not working, which I think is
so good because when you are tryingto force something when you're not aligned with
(30:29):
it just is telling the universe basicallylike there's a lack when you have all
of these other amazing clients. SoI think that is amazing. That kind
of leads me to one of theother questions, which is what is one
of the three hardest things that you'vehad to learn with this company and building
(30:51):
these businesses. Yeah. I thinkone of the biggest lessons I've learned is
that not every client is ideal likeon paper is necessarily a good client,
And so I've had to really learnthe process of how to vet the clients
and like establish how I find whois a good client for us and who
(31:14):
isn't. And that was like areally painful process to go through because I
just get so excited about people.Yeah, and I'm it's because it's my
business and because I am so passionateabout my clients, like it's emotional.
Yeah. And basically the way Ilearned was by going through it. And
we found a client that I itwas my dream client, like on paper
(31:40):
and it's just a client no,okay, well they fit the shoe as
well, but yeah, yeah,yeah no, And it's just like it
really is like dating because you kindof have to just learn it, and
like you start to see like redflags and things like that. And it
doesn't mean that there's any harm doneor that there's any ill intent or any
(32:01):
bad things. Like it just mightdoes not work, you know, or
it might not be the right timeor whatever. But basically, you know,
there was a client that we hadbeen wanting for years and then we
finally got to a point where theywere ready to work with us, and
on paper, they were exactly whowe wanted. You know, there were
a woman owned we were passionate aboutwhat they did, and just everything about
them was exactly what we would putas our ideal dream client, and then
(32:24):
we started working with them, therewas just a lot of like miscommunications.
There's a lot of like expectation,like just you know, a lot of
just tension. I guess y'all weren'taligned. Yeah, we just weren't aligned
in so many ways, and therewas just a lot of like conflict and
we weren't able. Like we weretrying to be as as accommodating as possible,
(32:45):
but in order to accommodate, wewere having to like leave our processes
and really go out of our way, and it was like obstructing the way
we offered our service. And thenit just was causing a lot of resistance
and it just really wasn't working.And I was just like, why is
this not working when like on paper, they're our dream client, Like this
(33:05):
should work, you know. Yeah, And I just got to the point
where I realized, like, withwhere they're at in their business and with
how they want to receive this service, it doesn't work with where we're at
and how we offer this service.It has nothing to do with them,
It has nothing to do with us. But what they're looking for isn't what
we offer. And that's you know, that's just that you know, it's
(33:25):
nothing personal. It's they haven't doneanything wrong. We haven't done anything wrong,
but it's just not going to work. Maybe later, but not today.
It's like any other relationship. Yeah, where doesn't mean that that person's
bad, doesn't mean that anything elseis happening. Besides, you guys just
are looking for two different things,yeah, exactly each other. And so
I was able to learn from that, and like we had to terminate that
(33:47):
relationship or that work relationship at least, and they were understanding, and it
was unfortunate because I did really lovethem as people. I love their brand
and want to support their brand,but it just wasn't working. And but
I did learn from that. Nowevery time we go into a consultation with
a client, I know better questionsto ask based on you know, what
are your expectations when it comes tocommunication, you know what workstyle does work
(34:08):
best for you. And so I'mable to better understand like where they are
at, so that we can avoidhaving that kind of relationship again because I
know it won't work regardless of ifthey're a great fit for us values wise.
It's a learning experience and you've learnedhow to spot more red flags and
situations that might not work out.Yeah, y'all, y'all aren't looking for
(34:30):
the same thing. Okay, wehave five more minutes, so we're going
to do a couple rapid fire questions. How do you practice work sorry,
how do you practice work life balancewith multiple companies? I don't often it's
hard. Yeah. When I do, I think I compartmentalize. You do
(34:55):
you compartmentalize a lot? Yeah,I think I really have to separate,
like when I'm working on one businesswhen I'm working on the other. And
I think I've gotten to a pointin my career where I've decided what role
I want to play in each business, and I have to just try to
honor that. And I've also justaccepted that sometimes I had to pull extra
weight for each business and that's that. But sometimes we get off out of
(35:21):
routine and sometimes we're drowning a littlebit, and then we just have to
get back on it. But wedo our best. So sometimes there is
no balance, but when there is, we compartmentalize. And you know,
I've also just learned that whether it'spicnics or it's marketing, none of it
is life or death. Yeah.From a third party, I feel like
(35:43):
I've seen you be more present inwhat you're doing. Whenever you're doing a
thing, like when you're taking vacations, you're taking a vacation more so than
also working at the same time.Yeah, and then like when you're hanging
out with me a lot more,you're just hanging out with me and then
not working at the same time.It's that's just like something that I've noticed
you do as well. Yeah,I've definitely tried, because I do feel
like for a long time it wasvery much like everything all at once,
(36:06):
and like that doesn't it doesn't reallydo anything for any of the things.
No, you're allowed to be yourown person and have your own life too.
You're not your business, you know. Yeah. The next question is
what is your favorite and least favoritething about being a business owner CEO entrepreneur
Early, I think my favorite thingis that the opportunities are endless, Like
(36:31):
I really have endless room for growth. I can also take the businesses in
any direction, and I have toremind myself sometimes like I can't take vacations
whenever, I can take days offwhenever, and I can take the businesses
in any direction. I can youknow, grow my team, Like the
opportunities really are endless, very creative. Yeah, I think creative wise,
(36:55):
growth wise, career wise, likethere's just really so much room to grow.
I think my least favorite thing isthat in the thick of it,
I can feel really needed and likecold in a lot of directions. So
I think when things get hard,I feel like my team needs me and
my clients need me, and likeat times I can feel like thirty forty
people need me, ball pressure andyeah, and it can just feel like
(37:20):
a lot and I feel like sometimesI just have to like close my eyes
and like put my phone and belike everyone like, oh wait, yeah,
for sure, for sure I cansee that. We thank you so
much, Ni Valerie res cl Itwas so lovely having me on the Hot
Girls Cry Podcast. Thanks so muchfor having me. I can't wait to
be back on. We'll see younext week listening. Thanks for listening to
(37:46):
the Hot Girls Cry Podcast. Ifyou've enjoyed this episode, show some love
and support with a rating review,or keep the conversation going over on our
socials t T y L
This week, a hot new bombshellenters the villa. I'm Shanya. I'm
a content creator and a manic moneyspender. I'm Valerie. I'm a serial
entrepreneur and recovering perfectionists. We're hereto bring you life in wellness, tips,
tricks and hacks from experts and ourpersonal experiences. This is the Hawk
(00:20):
Girls Cry Podcast. Welcome back toanother episode of Hawk Girls. Christ Welcome
(00:41):
back you guys. We're excited fortoday's episode because it's one of my favorite
topics. Yes, And I feellike whenever we were planning episodes and stuff,
I was like, hello, wehave a business mogul at our fingertips.
Let's interview about Yeah, And itwas actually one of the topics that
(01:02):
I was like fine not talking aboutbecause I didn't want to like hijack the
podcast and make it all about businessbecause it's something I can talk about day
in and day out. But thenwhen we've been doing our q and as
and stuff, I've been getting alot of questions and y'all have been interested,
so let's talk about it. Yeah. I think it's something that seems
(01:23):
so daunting for people, is startinga business, because it's a huge mountain
to climb, and I think peoplesee that and get very overwhelmed. So
it's really interesting when you see peoplewho have done it and succeeded at it
and all of those things. Butbefore we get into all of that,
wait a minute, hold on,are we forgetting hold the phone? What
(01:48):
do we be grateful for? I'dbe grateful for I just thought of it
and now I feel like I lostit. I'm grateful that the weather is
below one hundred degrees in Dallas,Texas this week. Cold friend. We
have a cold friend, and itis now ninety seven and it was like
one hundred and seven last week.So I will take it, and I
(02:10):
am grateful for that. I onlyhalf died on the walkover inside here,
not full die, not a fulldie. So it's a win. Yes,
No, that is. It isnice. Like I've been enjoying it
too, and I've been able togo for walks and I've been needing some
movement and some outdoor and some sunshineand some fresh air. Yeah. I'm
(02:30):
very very ready for fall, likehave never been more ready. What are
you grateful for, Valerie, Well, just to be soppy, I'm grateful
for you. I've had a veryrough month. I'd say August has been
hard with work and life and businessand just my schedule. And you're always
(02:52):
so understanding and like you just getwhere I'm coming from and you know how
I'm feeling, and you just alwaysknow how to make me feel better.
And you sent me flowers last week, and it's just you're always there for
me and you know exactly what Ineed. And I was like crying last
week in my car because she justlike fully, like it's one thing to
(03:14):
have a friend to be there foryou, to like hear you when you're
going through it, but like toreally feel like they get it. It's
just something different. And I'm justvery blessed to have a friend like you,
not me tearing up so literally,Oh stop it. I love you
so much, you know I loveyou? Oh god, no, I
can't talk. Thanks the lot,No, thank you. I love you
(03:38):
so much. I always here foryou, forever and ever forever. Okay,
stop crying. Cry literally the firsttear shot on the podcast, and
we had a whole episode about ourfriendship and this is like how I cry.
Of course. Okay, So thetopic of today's podcast is how to
(04:00):
start a business? All the businessthings. Yeah, all the everything business
feet Valerie Rosso because if you guysdon't know, Valerie is an entrepreneur.
She has three companies, right,two wish two and a halfish depends on
how you want to count them.Okay, you have your social media marketing
business, which was your first baby, and then you have your picnics twist
(04:26):
your third baby. If you're countingphotography as your second baby. Yeah,
so I have the marketing agency,and then under the marketing agency, I
have like another branch, which islike the lifestyle photography studio, So like
in the eyes of the government,that's like a DBA. So like I
treat it like a second business,and it's just kind of like a second
(04:49):
branch of the first business. Thisis why I say like two and a
half okay, but I mean Iwould I just consider them to be two
businesses. But like, it justreally diffic on how you want to look
at it. But I just sayit as two businesses. In my eyes,
you have like five, honestly,that's what it seems like. But
(05:10):
Okay, starting from the beginning,I know that you were working full time
when I first met you at afirm for marketing. It was a PR
firm. Yeah, And what madeyou want to get into social media marketing
specifically when you decided to start yourbusiness. Yeah, I mean I was
at a PR firm here in Dallasand I was working as a social media
(05:32):
manager there. So that was beforesocial media is what it is today,
So it was still up and coming. This was obviously now like I don't
even know, like seven eight yearsago, so it was definitely a thing,
but it just wasn't as prevalent inbusinesses and it was still like we
were dipping our toes in it.It was like Okay, how do we
leverage this? And at the PRfirm, we were using it for our
(05:57):
clients and so that was part ofmy job was like Okay, how are
we using this thing? And Iwas doing it for probably fifty clients and
they were all like doctors and lawyers, and I was basically the strategist of
Okay, how are we going toput them on social media? And like
how are we going to use thisto build their brands? And I just
really liked the creative control and likethe creative strategy process, but I didn't
(06:24):
really like the types of clients wewere working with and I didn't really like
the management that I was under,and I just got to a point in
that business where I knew I didn'thave a lot of room to grow,
and I just knew I could doit differently if I had total control,
And like, maybe that was justa point for me where like I just
(06:44):
wanted control. But I was like, you know, I could do this
for businesses that I like more andthen I'm more passionate about and do it
for less businesses because at the timeI was just really creatively burned out doing
it for so many people, andI was just like, I could do
this for for clients and be reallyinvolved and intentional with my time and energy
and creativity and do it for moremoney and less work and just be doing
(07:11):
this for myself instead of a companythat doesn't really value me or my time.
So you just quit whole turkey,and you didn't kind of have a
side hustle or anything. You wentstraight into starting your business, feed on
the ground, have to make moneydoing this. So I actually was really
fortunate because while I was at thePR Agency, I started networking and attending
(07:34):
like networking events and conferences and speeches, and that's where I started to meet
a lot of women who that's whenI really started to figure out like,
Okay, I really am passionate aboutwomen entrepreneurs and I love working with women.
And there's so many women in Dallaswho are doing cool things and they
don't have the marketing support to gettheir businesses off the ground. So that's
(07:55):
what really inspired me, like,Okay, I can do what I love
to do while supporting the woman whowere doing what they love to do.
And in doing that and in attendingthose events, I was able to find
I met a woman who was areally successful entrepreneur and I just really connected
with her, and so she endedup mentoring me. So she actually helped
me understand like the basics of abusiness. So she actually talked me through
(08:16):
like what do you want to do, and she inspired me to start the
business and to start it as aside hustle and basically asked me like,
well, what's your end goal?And I was like, you know,
to work for myself. But Isaw that as like in the future when
I'm like a real adult, whenI'm married and have a house and kids.
And she was like, well whythen, And I was like yeah,
(08:37):
why then, Like why is thatmy timeline. So then I started
taking action and like working and likenetworking and building client hell while I was
still at my corporate job. Andthen I got to a tipping point where
my corporate job was really pushing thelimit with like how they were taking advantage
of me and my time. AndI just got to a point one day,
probably five months after starting my business. I think I started, like
(09:01):
legally started my business in May,and the plan was to quit my job
as of next May, and becauseI was in the process of planning my
wedding, so I wanted to likebe responsible about it, and so in
May I legally started my business andI was like, I'm just gonna save
money, built some clientele, makeconnections. I think as of September was
(09:22):
when I was like, you know, I'm doing a lot of work on
the side. I basically was workingnine to five and then working for my
business and building connections, doing allthese side projects from five to eleven every
day and all weekend. And Ijust got to a point where I was
like, I'm just going to doit for myself, Like I'm gonna,
you know, bettle myself. Iknow I can do this. I know
(09:43):
I'm willing to do whatever it takes, So I just quit. It's like
that sink or swim mentality. Yeah, like if that's the only option,
like you're gonna make it work.Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of all
in at that point. Yeah,And I think that's when you probably made
a lot of growth and really gotthe this rolling. Yeah. And I
knew, like, if I'm spendingfive to eleven every day working on all
these other projects, imagine what Ican accomplish if I have my night all
(10:07):
these hours. Then I'm about togain. And I also knew that,
like I'm the kind of person thatif I have to bartend to make rent,
I will. You're a hustler,and you knew that if even if
it was a little rocky, therewas other avenues that you were willing to
go down, yeah, to makeit work in the long run. Yeah,
So I knew that that was justwhat was going to happen. So
I just up and quit. Ilove that because I think even for me,
(10:31):
I get really scared to start businesses. And that's one thing I admire
about you is you're very action focusedand you will take the action so quickly,
and it's just immediate. But Ifeel like a lot of people are
like me, where they want todo something, but it's kind of like
holding them back. So what doyou think. I don't know if it's
(10:54):
just inherent in you. And thisisn't even one of the questions I wrote
down, but I'm just thinking ofit. I didn't prepare for this.
I didn't prep on this one,y'all. What do you think is kind
of the difference between not starting andjust starting and getting it going. Is
it just you just have to likerip the band aid off and just go
for it, or do you thinkit's just one of those things that it
(11:16):
gets easier as you just start todo little things and little things. Yeah,
I mean I think I think thatthere's two ways to approach it,
And like I think it just dependson the type of person you are,
because like I think there's just likewhat what do you have to lose?
You know, Like obviously I wasin a situation where I didn't have a
mortgage, I didn't have kids.I you know, no one was going
(11:39):
to starve. You know, worstcase scenario, I could go bartend,
I could uber I had options,and you know, I'm in a position
of privilege where I could do thosethings, you know, but that doesn't
look the same for everybody. Likeif you have kids, defeat and you
know mortgage should pay, like thatmight look different. You probably can't take,
you know, that same risk necessarily. But I do think a lot
(12:01):
of people do let their ego getin a way where they aren't willing to
go and bar attend if they haveto, or to go and do a
part time job if they have toto make ends me while they're trying to
work towards something they want to worktowards. Yeah, And I think that
can be really hard for some peopleto swallow. And I think that's just
the side of a hustle that peoplearen't willing to accept sometimes. Yeah,
(12:24):
you have to ask yourself, areyou, like really really willing to go
to the worst possible outcome with thisbusiness? Yeah. I think that's what's
scary sometimes, Yeah, because thissuccess isn't guaranteed and it's really really hard
work. And so I think weoften see success stories, and at the
end of the day, success storiesare sharing the success, you know,
(12:46):
And so I think like when yousee it, you're like, oh,
well, that looked great, Butit's really hard, and I think,
you know, I don't, andI try to be really transparent with like
how far I've come and what I'veaccomplish. But at the end of the
day, like I am still reallyfortunate and how I've gotten here, and
like it has been really hard still, but I am still coming from a
(13:07):
place of privilege and I'm still veryfortunate, but I still have worked really
hard. But there's still so manyhurdles you have to overcome, and like
a lot of people have to,you know, you have to be willing
to work really really hard to getthere. And I think just a lot
of people like and there's no shamein that, Like there's no shame in
like not wanting to do that.But I think like a lot of people
(13:28):
don't tell you either, yea,how hard that is. It's hard and
it's long, and it takes alot of time. It is so long,
so long. I feel like whatyou said, like you see the
success and you always see the finishline, and we see these influencers who
create businesses and they have this massiveaudience, so it seems like it's just
(13:50):
overnight. Yeah, it seems overnightbecause you saw it overnight. Yeah,
exactly, and you nobody shares.A lot of people don't share what goes
on Fina scenes and the low partsof the journey and stuff like that.
Like a lot of people talk aboutalex Earl and how she was like an
overnight success on TikTok, but likeeven her, like she was posting on
TikTok daily for like five years beforeshe took off, and like maybe there
(14:11):
wasn't like hardship or like struggle inthat journey, but like it wasn't overnight,
Like it was consistency for five yearsbefore she became something bigger. And
it's like it's most people aren't technicallyovernight. A lot of people would have
quit during that, yeah, fiveyears and just through in the towel.
(14:33):
And I remember I was watching aYouTube or one time talk about how to
grow your YouTube, and she waslike, if you've been doing this for
a year or two and you're notseeing growth, then maybe it just need
to come to terms with the factthat it's not for you. And I
can see truth in that, butI think that's kind of wrong because you
just never know. At one pointyou can be twenty doing YouTube and not
(14:56):
take off. On YouTube till you'reforty and you find your groove and you
find your niche, and you know, everybody's journey looks different, so you
can't say there's this you need toquit here. Yeah. Yeah, it's
not easy, and like if itwere easy, then like everyone would do
it, and it's just it's noteasy. Well, what are the things
that are kind of behind the scenesthat you don't really see, The business
(15:20):
stuff, the legal stuff that youneed to have in place and need to
be aware of when you're starting abusiness. There's so much literally nobody ever
teaches you. Yeah that you justhave to know, yeah, and you
just have to learn it. Andit is amazing how far we get in
life without knowing this stuff, evenwith taxes, I'm I'm amazed, and
(15:41):
investing and all of that stuff.So that's one part of starting a business.
And I've started a business, butit was kind of I don't even
know if it was legal. Idon't even know, Like I honestly don't
even know. But I know youhave to have an LLC and you need
like a low and yell. Yourbusiness needs to be registered in some way.
(16:03):
And I think that's the part thata lot of peopill skip, Like
they almost don't register it until theyIt's like they don't want to register their
business until they know that they're goingto stick with it. And I'm like
I get it, but I'm alsolike, don't start the business unless you're
going to stick with it. Yeah, are you committing? Are you not?
Yeah? And so a lot ofpeople will just kind of start it,
(16:23):
and like, I get it.Sometimes things will start as a hobby
and then they become something like Iget it, but yeah, you need
to register your business either as likea DBA or like an LLC or an
s corp or something like. Itneeds to be legally registered with the state
that you're in. And that's reallyimportant. And like my mom has been
a massage therapist for like fifteen years. It's like her main job, not
(16:45):
even fifteen years, like my wholelife, and she just registered her business
and I'm like like, how didyou do this for that long? And
so it's just like that's that's forone, really important and like that's something
that like no one ever taught us. And I have like a bone to
pick with this school system because likeI went to school for journalism and you
can go to school for something inlike a specialization like journalism or graphic design
(17:07):
or anything, and they only teachus enough to go and do the job
for someone else. Yeah, theydon't teach you how to go and do
it as a freelancer or how tostart your own graphic design firm. Like
unless you go to school for businessor for both, they don't teach you
that stuff. And that's so messedup to me because they don't teach you
(17:27):
how to protect yourself as an individualin that craft. And I've just there's
so much that we miss out on. Yeah, for sure, I definitely
think it should be a pillar,and at this point especially, it should
be a pillar in anybody's education forany niche that you're going into, because
you could do that yourself, especiallywhile in college. Like the most most
(17:48):
of my team members start out withme while they're in college and they're freelancing.
That's something important for them to knowwhile they're in college so they could
build their portfolio to make money.They need to know how to provide their
own contract, how to file theirown taxes while they're in college trying to
make money to pay their way throughcollege and make money safely while they're working
(18:10):
their way to get good jobs,you know. So, Yeah, one
of the big things is registering yourbusiness and also being able to understand contracts,
understanding, you know, how toprotect the work that you're producing,
how to protect yourself, you know, to get paid all of those things.
You don't necessarily need a lawyer,but if you know that you don't
understand those things, it is worthinvesting in a lawyer. And you know
(18:33):
they're not cheap. You get whatyou pay for. But it is something
that I think is worth investing in. So for me, it took a
couple good burns for me to learnthat I just needed to fight the bullet
and pay a thousand dollars to geta really good lawyer to write my contracts.
But it's worth it. In theend. I've been using those contracts
and stay one and modify them overthe years. Yeah. I remember when
(18:56):
you we were first in our friendshipand you are just talking about out your
contracts and your lawyer and all thisstuff, and you're mentioning that a lot
of photographers that you worked with,it didn't make people sign contracts and stuff
like that, and it wouldn't reallyburn them. I still have friends,
Like I have a friend who's beena photographer for like eight years and she's
like, oh, I never usecontracts. And I'm like, well,
what do you do And she's like, oh, just tell people the price
(19:17):
and then I give them their photos. And I'm like, has anybody just
not paid you or anything? She'slike, no, not really, And
I'm like, well, you're reallyfortunate. But I think the bigger you
get and the bigger prices are andthe bigger projects you get, like the
more that's at stake, And like, if you're not a registered business,
they can come a client can comefor you personally and your personal assets so
that they can come for your home, your car, like if they can
(19:41):
sue you. And then if youdon't have a contract, they don't have
to pay you and sah can pieceout. Yeah, so there's so many
things at stake if you don't haveall these things lined up, and like,
yes, it's tedious, and trustme, it's the least favorite part
of my job. Yea, LikeI hate do it so much and I've
had to do some of which inthe past month because we've just made a
(20:03):
huge transition with the state and allthis shit that I've had to do in
the past month. But it's worthit to protect you and your business and
your money. Like it matters somuch to get registered, to have good
contracts. And the other thing that'sreally important too that I didn't do in
the first year was bookkeeping. Itis so important to have your book keeping
(20:26):
in order. I am good withnumbers, I'm good with math, I'm
good at sales, I'm good atmaking money. I'm also very good at
spending money. And in the firstyear of my business, I thought I
was kind of keeping track of likewhere the money was coming from, where
it was going taxes. I thoughtI kind of had it under wraps,
and I was still solow, soI wasn't really paying a whole lot of
team members yet. But after thefirst year, I started hiring and having
(20:48):
to pay people out and things likethat. But then the first year of
filing for taxes came around for mybusiness, which is also very important,
Like make sure you follow your taxesbecause I'll come and bite you in the
butt fast by real fast, Joe, don't play. You know, you
gotta take care of that ship.And that's something that like you have to
(21:10):
get in order. But after myfirst year, I dug myself such a
hole by doing I thought I wastaking care of them, but I did
it so incorrectly that like we're justnow in year five digging ourselves out of
that hole as a business. Yeah, And so after year one, I
was just very aware, like,clearly I don't know what I'm doing here.
(21:30):
I also hate doing it. Ialso don't want to take the time
to learn the ins and outs ofdoing this, So I hired an accountant.
So just be self aware and like, if you hate writing contracts and
like you hate but peeping, likehire the people to do that. And
if you don't have the money todo that, charge more so you can
pay someone to do those things,but also know enough to understand what's going
on so that you also don't getscrewed in those areas, Like you need
(21:52):
to learn the foundations of those things, because those are all doesn't matter what
kind of business you're in, thosewill always play a part, like contracts
will always play a part. Moneywill always play a part in your business
some way somehow. So you haveto just accept that and then just learn
it a little bit and then investin the experts who will help you in
those areas. Yeah, and Ifeel like it's very important to just start
(22:17):
off doing that. You get intothe rhythm and that's just how it always
is, and you create those habitswithin your business. So if you can
start off registering your business, givingpeople the contracts, and just having a
team that can support you and thingsthat you're not good at, I feel
like you're going to set yourself upfor a little bit more. Yeah,
(22:37):
that's fassined that way. Like no, your strengths and your weaknesses. So
like I would say, day one, if you know you're starting a business,
register your business and then you canstart a business bank account. Always
keep your business money separate from yourpersonal and you can't start a business bank
account without an ei N. Youcan't get an ei N without having your
business registered. So again, registeryour freaking business and then you can also
get your contracts in line with yourbusiness name, not your personal name.
(23:02):
You know, get an account andif you need one, or you can
do your book keeping yourself. Butknow your strengths and weaknesses and just keep
your ship in order from day one. That way, you're not backtracking,
you're not having to clean up likeprevious messes. Just start from day one
in a clean slate, like treatyour business like it's its own person,
Like it's not an extension of you. It's like it's its own thing with
(23:22):
its own like make accounts, itsown mess, like, don't let it
be like part of you and yourmess. I love this so much,
and I love everything you're saying becauseI've never heard anyone say the things that
you just said. And you seeall of these people who have businesses online,
and you just never hear about whathow to operate it from the back
(23:45):
end and what it actually looks liketo set it all up legitimately and organize,
because I think really quickly it canget overwhelming and just seem all too
much whenever it's messy and disorganized andback taxes, and yeah, it can
get scary real quick. Yeah noit can, and even from day one
(24:07):
it is scary. But if youcan do it in the organized, legitimate
way from day one, it iseasier than backtracking and having to clean it
up after the fact. I lovethat. Okay, so switching gears a
little bit. When you first started, how did that look like for you
getting clients? I know you mentionedyou would go out and network, But
how is that different from how youcurrently that are not that go get clients?
(24:33):
Basically, Yeah, day one,I was networking a lot. And
this is obviously pre pandemics, Solike I was going to conferences, I
was going to happy hours, Iwas just meeting people, introducing myself.
And day one it was like theera of like boss babes. Like we
us, it really was like primeboss Babe era, and we all like
quit our jobs at the same time. Like I can't even tell you how
(24:56):
many of us are celebrating our fiveyear anniversaries right now, because we all
just up and quit and started likea revolution. And I basically would just
introduce myself, and like, Ido think it's really important that like,
even if you're not a people person, if you're starting a business, you
have to put yourself out there.You have to just you know, you
have to tell people what you're doing. You know, the businesses won't come
(25:19):
to you, the clients won't cometo you. You have to just say
like hey, like I don't thinkit to be salesy about it. I
think just be like, hey,like I started a business, Like is
there anything like I could do foryou? Like, is there do you
know anyone who could use what I'mdoing? And that's what I did.
I put myself out there, soI would do it at events, and
in the beginning, because I hada job that you know, paid my
(25:40):
bills, I was willing to doa lot more free stuff. So I
would be like, hey, like, I'm starting this new business. I'm
offering social media photo or a video. You know, I see that you're
having an event coming up? CanI shoot your event in exchange for exposure?
Like? Can you post my photosand tag me? And that's how
I would start building clienteles. Sothen I would do that for brands that
were aligned with me and like whoI wanted to work. So I worked
(26:00):
with a lot of women owned brands, salons, bakeries, and at the
time, I really wanted to workwith woman owned, Latina owned, van
owned companies, and so I wasjust reaching out to these companies or meeting
them at events. And then whenI was at these events, one of
the perks of what I do isthat you know, if you're the person
with the camera, people know you'rea photographer, and so people would see
(26:22):
me and be like, oh,you do photography, Like can I get
your card, and so that helpeda lot. And then another perk of
what we do is our work speaksfor itself, and so when our work
is being displayed on people's pages,that that spreads as well. And so
that really did just kind of dominointo more work for us, which really
helped, and I just kept gettingbusiness and so that was really really great,
and honestly, that like just keptus rolling for the first couple of
(26:47):
years. And I think the biggestturning point was when we made a really
big price change. And so afterabout three years, we got to a
point where we were a much biggerteam, we were much more experienced,
and we just had a much biggervalue that we were providing our clients.
Our services were much more intentional,much more involved, and so we had
(27:08):
to revisit with the packages that wewere offering. Our initial clientele where people
like me, where we were dayone business owners, we were one woman
shows. We were you know,really just grassroot business owners, and our
pricing reflected that. And three yearsin I had a team of much more
experienced women working with me. Ourservices were really really involved packages, and
(27:32):
so I had to modify our packagesto reflect that. So our pricing was
no longer affordable to those same women, so we had to revisit, Okay,
networking at these events for women whojust quit their jobs and started companies
is not going to be effective becausethese women can't afford what we're offering now.
Yeah, and so we really hadto revisit, like, how are
(27:53):
we going to find the women whoare five, ten, twenty years into
their business. So we really hadto start elevating our overall marketing. So
we did a full on rebrand intwenty twenty two, so last year,
and we basically just revamped everything.We really switched it from boss Babe and
like pinks and purples and revamped itto really timeless, really neutral, really
(28:17):
elevated, and we started networking withyou know, bigger businesses and higher up
CEOs and C level companies, justcompanies that were a bit more established,
and we basically had to just reallyshift our marketing. And that was like
a really big change for me becausefor me it was interesting because we obviously
(28:41):
do marketing, like that's literally whatwe do, and to struggle with marketing
was like really ironic. But whenwe do marketing for our clients, we're
marketing from business to consumer, butwhen we're marketing for ourselves, we're marketing
from business for business to business,yeah, which is like completely new for
us. Yeah, so I feltreally dumb because that was like, why
(29:03):
are we struggling to market ourselves?Like we know this shit. Yeah.
I think it's one of those thingswhere when you do something so much for
everyone else, you don't really wantto do it for yourself. And it
was so close to home too,and yeah, it was just really interesting,
and so we really had to sitdown as a team and be like,
so, how are we going todo this? But we ended up
(29:25):
just really finding a strategy that workedfor us, and once we got in
the door with a couple of theright clients, we ended up just doing
what we do best and they wereable to refer us to a lot of
other really great clients. And we'vealways just really thrived off referrals. And
I truly believe that if you nurtureyour clients, like more of the right
clients will come. Yeah. SoI don't really chase. I try not
(29:45):
to force anything with any of thewrong people, Like I truly believe like
if you just take care of yourpeople, like the right people will keep
coming. Yeah, I've seen yougo from calling people trying to get clients,
and I've seen the progression from thesestartup businesses and these startup women,
and I just like it feels likeyour business has grown up with you and
(30:08):
you really do practice what you preachand that you have just been attracting people
and you don't stress over not gettinga client if it's not working out.
You don't try to force a relationshipthat's not working, which I think is
so good because when you are tryingto force something when you're not aligned with
(30:29):
it just is telling the universe basicallylike there's a lack when you have all
of these other amazing clients. SoI think that is amazing. That kind
of leads me to one of theother questions, which is what is one
of the three hardest things that you'vehad to learn with this company and building
(30:51):
these businesses. Yeah. I thinkone of the biggest lessons I've learned is
that not every client is ideal likeon paper is necessarily a good client,
And so I've had to really learnthe process of how to vet the clients
and like establish how I find whois a good client for us and who
(31:14):
isn't. And that was like areally painful process to go through because I
just get so excited about people.Yeah, and I'm it's because it's my
business and because I am so passionateabout my clients, like it's emotional.
Yeah. And basically the way Ilearned was by going through it. And
we found a client that I itwas my dream client, like on paper
(31:40):
and it's just a client no,okay, well they fit the shoe as
well, but yeah, yeah,yeah no, And it's just like it
really is like dating because you kindof have to just learn it, and
like you start to see like redflags and things like that. And it
doesn't mean that there's any harm doneor that there's any ill intent or any
(32:01):
bad things. Like it just mightdoes not work, you know, or
it might not be the right timeor whatever. But basically, you know,
there was a client that we hadbeen wanting for years and then we
finally got to a point where theywere ready to work with us, and
on paper, they were exactly whowe wanted. You know, there were
a woman owned we were passionate aboutwhat they did, and just everything about
them was exactly what we would putas our ideal dream client, and then
(32:24):
we started working with them, therewas just a lot of like miscommunications.
There's a lot of like expectation,like just you know, a lot of
just tension. I guess y'all weren'taligned. Yeah, we just weren't aligned
in so many ways, and therewas just a lot of like conflict and
we weren't able. Like we weretrying to be as as accommodating as possible,
(32:45):
but in order to accommodate, wewere having to like leave our processes
and really go out of our way, and it was like obstructing the way
we offered our service. And thenit just was causing a lot of resistance
and it just really wasn't working.And I was just like, why is
this not working when like on paper, they're our dream client, Like this
(33:05):
should work, you know. Yeah, And I just got to the point
where I realized, like, withwhere they're at in their business and with
how they want to receive this service, it doesn't work with where we're at
and how we offer this service.It has nothing to do with them,
It has nothing to do with us. But what they're looking for isn't what
we offer. And that's you know, that's just that you know, it's
(33:25):
nothing personal. It's they haven't doneanything wrong. We haven't done anything wrong,
but it's just not going to work. Maybe later, but not today.
It's like any other relationship. Yeah, where doesn't mean that that person's
bad, doesn't mean that anything elseis happening. Besides, you guys just
are looking for two different things,yeah, exactly each other. And so
I was able to learn from that, and like we had to terminate that
(33:47):
relationship or that work relationship at least, and they were understanding, and it
was unfortunate because I did really lovethem as people. I love their brand
and want to support their brand,but it just wasn't working. And but
I did learn from that. Nowevery time we go into a consultation with
a client, I know better questionsto ask based on you know, what
are your expectations when it comes tocommunication, you know what workstyle does work
(34:08):
best for you. And so I'mable to better understand like where they are
at, so that we can avoidhaving that kind of relationship again because I
know it won't work regardless of ifthey're a great fit for us values wise.
It's a learning experience and you've learnedhow to spot more red flags and
situations that might not work out.Yeah, y'all, y'all aren't looking for
(34:30):
the same thing. Okay, wehave five more minutes, so we're going
to do a couple rapid fire questions. How do you practice work sorry,
how do you practice work life balancewith multiple companies? I don't often it's
hard. Yeah. When I do, I think I compartmentalize. You do
(34:55):
you compartmentalize a lot? Yeah,I think I really have to separate,
like when I'm working on one businesswhen I'm working on the other. And
I think I've gotten to a pointin my career where I've decided what role
I want to play in each business, and I have to just try to
honor that. And I've also justaccepted that sometimes I had to pull extra
weight for each business and that's that. But sometimes we get off out of
(35:21):
routine and sometimes we're drowning a littlebit, and then we just have to
get back on it. But wedo our best. So sometimes there is
no balance, but when there is, we compartmentalize. And you know,
I've also just learned that whether it'spicnics or it's marketing, none of it
is life or death. Yeah.From a third party, I feel like
(35:43):
I've seen you be more present inwhat you're doing. Whenever you're doing a
thing, like when you're taking vacations, you're taking a vacation more so than
also working at the same time.Yeah, and then like when you're hanging
out with me a lot more,you're just hanging out with me and then
not working at the same time.It's that's just like something that I've noticed
you do as well. Yeah,I've definitely tried, because I do feel
like for a long time it wasvery much like everything all at once,
(36:06):
and like that doesn't it doesn't reallydo anything for any of the things.
No, you're allowed to be yourown person and have your own life too.
You're not your business, you know. Yeah. The next question is
what is your favorite and least favoritething about being a business owner CEO entrepreneur
Early, I think my favorite thingis that the opportunities are endless, Like
(36:31):
I really have endless room for growth. I can also take the businesses in
any direction, and I have toremind myself sometimes like I can't take vacations
whenever, I can take days offwhenever, and I can take the businesses
in any direction. I can youknow, grow my team, Like the
opportunities really are endless, very creative. Yeah, I think creative wise,
(36:55):
growth wise, career wise, likethere's just really so much room to grow.
I think my least favorite thing isthat in the thick of it,
I can feel really needed and likecold in a lot of directions. So
I think when things get hard,I feel like my team needs me and
my clients need me, and likeat times I can feel like thirty forty
people need me, ball pressure andyeah, and it can just feel like
(37:20):
a lot and I feel like sometimesI just have to like close my eyes
and like put my phone and belike everyone like, oh wait, yeah,
for sure, for sure I cansee that. We thank you so
much, Ni Valerie res cl Itwas so lovely having me on the Hot
Girls Cry Podcast. Thanks so muchfor having me. I can't wait to
be back on. We'll see younext week listening. Thanks for listening to
(37:46):
the Hot Girls Cry Podcast. Ifyou've enjoyed this episode, show some love
and support with a rating review,or keep the conversation going over on our
socials t T y L
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com