0:43

Get your

0:43

business together, get yourself

0:46

into what you do, and see it

0:46

through.

0:49

Because being

0:49

boss is hard. Planning work and

0:52

life is messy. Making a dream

0:52

job of your own isn't easy.

0:57

But getting

0:57

paid for it, becoming known for

1:00

it. And

1:00

finding purpose

1:00

in it is so doable. If you do

1:04

the work, being boss, the

1:04

podcast for creative

1:08

entrepreneurs from Emily

1:08

Thompson and Kathleen Seamus,

1:12

welcome to Episode 23. Give it

1:12

all away of your approach to

1:16

content sharing and social media

1:16

brought to you by fresh books

1:20

cloud accounting.

1:23

Alright, you guys, today we're going to be chatting about content sharing

1:24

social media, and our philosophy

1:29

of giving it all away. But

1:29

first, we have a few

1:32

announcements. We just want to

1:32

thank you guys so much for your

1:35

ratings and reviews on iTunes.

1:35

We continue to make the top

1:38

charts, which helps us reach

1:38

even more bosses who want to do

1:42

the work and live the dream. So

1:42

please, if you haven't already,

1:45

please leave us a rating or

1:45

review on iTunes, even if you

1:49

listen to us elsewhere.

1:50

And finally, we

1:50

have a secret episode it is

1:53

live. It's called cultivating

1:53

confidence. And it's ready for

1:57

download only at loving boss

1:57

calm.

1:59

In this

1:59

episode we talk about not just

2:02

faking it until you make it but

2:02

faking it until you become it.

2:06

We talked about really digging

2:06

down and finding the source of

2:10

your confidence.

2:11

Yeah, and we

2:11

even talk about how it is that

2:14

who you hang out with can either

2:14

boost or deplete your

2:18

confidence.

2:19

You can find

2:19

this episode exclusively at love

2:22

being boss calm. Alright, so

2:22

back to our episode. Give it all

2:27

away, Emily and I wanted to talk

2:27

about how we share content on

2:32

the internet and online. And we

2:32

can't really talk about that

2:37

without talking about social

2:37

media, but also talking about

2:40

our philosophy of giving it all

2:40

away. Even in our Facebook

2:46

group, someone the other day was

2:46

talking about having an idea for

2:51

something, but they're scared to

2:51

share it, not only because of

2:57

the fear of failure, like what

2:57

if I share this and don't ever

3:00

do it, but the fear of someone

3:00

stealing their idea. And I think

3:03

that that's a fear that comes up

3:03

a lot whenever it comes to

3:06

giving it all away. There's also

3:06

the fear of if you give away all

3:10

your good stuff, then why would

3:10

anyone want to buy it? So the

3:14

first thing I want to do is

3:14

touch on what it means to give

3:18

it all away. And Emily, what

3:18

does that mean to you giving it

3:22

all away?

3:24

For for me, it's

3:24

about proving to people that I'm

3:27

smart. In a lot of ways, it's

3:27

about positioning yourself as

3:33

that expert is proving to people

3:33

that whatever it is that you're

3:36

trying to sell or whatever it is

3:36

that you're trying to teach or

3:40

share in paid services is worth

3:40

it because you're showing them

3:45

the proof that you actually know

3:45

what you're talking about. Or

3:48

you actually have the skills or

3:48

the knowledge to give them the

3:52

experience or the product or the

3:52

service that you are trying to

3:56

sell them.

3:58

I started

3:58

giving it all away whenever I

4:00

first started freelancing. I

4:00

quit my day job and started my

4:05

blog. And I was blogging a

4:05

little bit about freelancing and

4:11

found that people started

4:11

emailing me and asking me

4:13

questions about how I was doing

4:13

it. And so I decided to instead

4:17

of just responding to one

4:17

person, I wanted to go ahead and

4:20

give this information to a lot

4:20

of people. And it's a it's a

4:25

tactic that I learned quickly

4:25

and that I have taken into my

4:29

business now. So I was blogging,

4:29

people are asking me questions

4:33

through email, and I would spend

4:33

a lot of time like crafting a

4:36

long email back to them. I would

4:36

send it back and maybe not even

4:40

get a thank you for this huge

4:40

responses, almost like I was

4:44

bitter. And I was like, Well,

4:44

you know what, I'm gonna give

4:46

this to everyone then. So I

4:46

started putting it on my blog,

4:50

and found that it did just what

4:50

you're describing Emily, it kind

4:54

of positioned me as an expert in

4:54

freelancing, even though I was

4:57

just sharing the journey along

4:57

the way. And so I was giving

5:02

away lots of advice, like how to

5:02

fire tricky clients, how to set

5:06

up print specs to send something

5:06

to print, and how to manage your

5:11

projects, just things that I was

5:11

doing along the way. And then

5:15

whenever I started getting

5:15

creative, I really wanted to

5:17

take that philosophy to what we

5:17

were doing at braid, and just

5:21

give it all away everything that

5:21

we were were learning and

5:25

sharing with our clients. We

5:25

create blog posts about all the

5:30

time and now even with our

5:30

podcasts, we're giving away

5:33

everything we know even whenever

5:33

people try and hire me one on

5:37

one for creative coaching now

5:37

Half the time, more than half

5:41

the time, I would say nine times

5:41

out of 10. I say you know what,

5:43

just listen to my podcast being

5:43

boss, you don't have to spend

5:47

1000s and 1000s of dollars on

5:47

one on one coaching with me,

5:51

whenever you can listen to my

5:51

free podcast that said, This

5:55

podcast is I think what's making

5:55

more people come to us for

6:00

creative coaching. So that's

6:00

kind of the philosophy of giving

6:04

it all away is that whenever you

6:04

give it all away, whenever you

6:07

are sharing your expertise, and

6:07

you're openly sharing those

6:09

ideas, it positions you as an

6:09

expert, and it attracts dream

6:14

customers to you, like mobs to

6:14

light not the dream customers or

6:19

mobs but

6:21

bad metaphor.

6:21

Beautiful. Um, no, I absolutely

6:25

agree with you. So I really

6:25

built my business in the exact

6:28

same way it started, started as

6:28

me blogging, and I guess

6:34

whenever I was making jewelry, I

6:34

was like a product business. I

6:38

was blogging about things that I

6:38

was experiencing and selling on

6:41

Etsy, and found people like

6:41

other sellers on Etsy, coming to

6:46

my blog to learn more about how

6:46

it was that I was building my

6:49

business. And they started

6:49

coming to me for, for advice on

6:53

how to take their business off

6:53

of Etsy, which is what I was

6:56

doing. And that turned into my

6:56

first website projects. And then

7:00

from there, I started

7:00

transitioning my blog into more

7:03

of like, more purposefully, I

7:03

guess, speaking to creative

7:08

entrepreneurs. And that is

7:08

exactly how I built my business.

7:12

I think we're both in the same

7:12

place where neither of us have

7:14

ever spent any real money on

7:14

marketing, like on

7:18

advertisements is not been

7:18

anything that either of us have

7:21

ever done, I've thrown throwing

7:21

money into Facebook ads a couple

7:24

of times just to like see what

7:24

happens and to play around with

7:27

it more than anything. But other

7:27

than like advertising play

7:30

money, which is like 100 bucks

7:30

here and there occasionally.

7:35

I've never done any advertising.

7:35

And we've never had to because

7:38

we give away all of this

7:38

content. So instead of spending

7:41

money, we're sharing knowledge,

7:41

and in turn have built

7:46

businesses from that instead of

7:46

throwing lots of money in

7:49

advertising. I think it's huge.

7:51

And a lot of

7:51

people always ask the both of us

7:53

How do I get a bigger following?

7:53

How do I get more people to read

7:57

what I'm putting online. And a

7:57

big part of giving it all away,

8:01

is making your content valuable,

8:01

making sure that every piece

8:07

that you write is making

8:07

someone's life a little better,

8:11

and that it's teaching them

8:11

tools or skills that they might

8:15

need that they could also hire

8:15

you for that they could I mean,

8:19

every time I write a blog post

8:19

or do a podcast or send out,

8:23

especially sending out an email,

8:23

because I think that inboxes are

8:27

a sacred space, and I want to

8:27

respect that space. So every

8:32

time I send out content, I want

8:32

to be sure that I'm giving my

8:38

readers and my listeners a lot

8:38

of value for their time, because

8:42

I respect that they're showing

8:42

up and reading what I have to

8:45

say or listening to what I have

8:45

to say that's a huge honor. And

8:50

so I want to make sure that

8:50

they're getting something really

8:52

good for their time and their

8:52

investment in me, even if it's

8:55

just time and not even money.

8:57

Yeah, and I've

8:57

even I've even read stats that

9:01

are kind of nerd that I am. I've

9:01

even read stats around things

9:05

like having an opt in for your

9:05

newsletter, and that and a good

9:08

opt in to build your list and to

9:08

grow your newsletter, it should

9:12

be worth to someone signing up

9:12

100 bucks. And if your opt in,

9:17

if it's not something that

9:17

someone would pay $100 for then

9:20

it's not good enough. And I like

9:20

to take that same approach with

9:24

with all of my content. And

9:24

I've, I've stopped blogging as

9:28

much lately. And part of that's

9:28

because I don't have time to put

9:31

in to put in the work to make it

9:31

that valuable. I find myself

9:36

like moving more towards that

9:36

now that things with being boss

9:40

are are leveling out. And I can

9:40

have more time blogging because

9:44

the value that I want to put

9:44

into being boss is very

9:47

important. And the level of

9:47

value that I want to put into my

9:51

blog posts and my newsletters is

9:51

super important to me. And I

9:53

think that that the more

9:53

valuable you can make that

9:56

content to people, the more

9:56

valuable you are to those

9:59

people. Well, you know, I want

9:59

to talk about that for a second

10:02

because maybe the value of like

10:02

that $100 philosophy or an idea.

10:09

I think it's great for something

10:09

that is truly like where you're

10:13

getting value out of it also. So

10:15

it's kind of

10:15

like you would probably pay 100

10:18

bucks to get one person on your

10:18

email list. I mean, if you had a

10:21

bajillion dollars, right, it'd

10:21

be worth $100 to get that person

10:25

on your email list. But to have

10:25

one person read my personal blog

10:30

post, I don't know that that's

10:30

necessarily worth $100. So or

10:34

even like an Instagram post, or

10:34

something like that. I think

10:37

that you have to Think about the

10:37

worth, as it relates to the

10:42

different platforms, maybe we

10:42

can go into that for a second, I

10:45

want to talk about newsletters

10:45

and providing value. And so one

10:49

of the things that we do on our

10:49

being boss newsletter, is you

10:53

get access to our secret

10:53

episodes. And we're also cooking

10:56

up other exclusive goodies, just

10:56

for our being boss, newsletter

11:02

subscribers. For braid,

11:02

creative, we just launched a I

11:06

mean, talking about really

11:06

giving it away, it almost makes

11:09

no I

11:09

know, like, I

11:09

kind of guys listen to this,

11:13

wanting to go

11:13

back and tell me sister Tara,

11:16

like, hey, maybe we should start

11:16

charging for this ebook. But we

11:19

just developed an ebook called

11:19

seven ways designers can brand

11:24

themselves as experts. And it's

11:24

a free ebook. And you sign up

11:29

for our list. And you get this

11:29

it is loaded with really

11:34

actionable content and scripts,

11:34

and interview little tips that

11:39

you can use to position yourself

11:39

as an expert, and it's

11:42

exclusively for designers, but

11:42

really, I think that will

11:46

probably modify it for different

11:46

industries. So even if you're

11:49

not a designer, you can download

11:49

it, but talk about giving it all

11:53

away. And I almost had that fear

11:53

that I was talking about at the

11:56

beginning of this episode, where

11:56

I was like, well, then why are

11:59

they going to hire us? And well,

11:59

what if, you know, what if? What

12:04

if, what if, like, there are all

12:04

these things that kind of come

12:06

up whenever you give something

12:06

away? But whenever I sort of

12:09

have those feelings, I knew I

12:09

was on the right track. Yes, I

12:13

think it's those scary feelings

12:13

where you know, sometimes like,

12:15

Okay, this is the kind of a

12:15

brave move. And so those are

12:21

just a couple of things. And

12:21

then our own braid letters for

12:24

creatives, which is just our

12:24

other newsletter, lots of

12:27

newsletters, I give away an

12:27

ideal day worksheet whenever you

12:30

sign up, and I don't even really

12:30

promote it to build the list.

12:34

It's kind of just that thank you

12:34

for signing up. Here's a little

12:36

extra something something for

12:36

you. So Emily, what do you give

12:41

whenever people sign up for

12:41

indie tactics, which is your

12:44

letter?

12:44

Sure. So in

12:44

detecting any tech, what's it

12:47

called indie tactics is, it's

12:47

had a couple different

12:51

iterations in its life. At one

12:51

point I, I shared like an SEO

12:55

quick guide, like helping

12:55

creatives like build some easy

12:59

search engine optimization on

12:59

their site. These days, these

13:03

days, I position it much more as

13:03

you simply get like this really

13:08

exclusive content that comes to

13:08

your inbox every week. So it's

13:12

less about that immediate opt in

13:12

and more about the long term

13:15

value of what you're signing up

13:15

for. But we've also been putting

13:18

in some things in play to just

13:18

last week or something we

13:22

launched, like a freebie like

13:22

website audit worksheet, so that

13:26

people can sign up, download the

13:26

worksheet and then go through,

13:29

go through their own website,

13:29

and really like make it as

13:32

fantastic as possible. And then

13:32

we've also, I launched this last

13:37

summer, we were about to turn

13:37

this into a more evergreen, like

13:40

opt in option as well is a I did

13:40

a five day email series on like

13:46

building a better online

13:46

presence for your business and

13:49

making your website more

13:49

fantastic. And so we're about to

13:52

turn that into a more evergreen

13:52

product as well, that's just

13:55

sign up, you get a free five day

13:55

ecourse. And you get exclusive

14:00

content in your inbox beyond

14:00

that. So I've went through a

14:03

couple different iterations of

14:03

sort of my like being of testing

14:06

change, sort of see what works

14:06

and see what doesn't. We have

14:10

done really great list building

14:10

without actually having a

14:13

specific opt in. But positioning

14:13

as this ongoing, really great

14:17

content you get in your inbox,

14:17

and it's worked really well

14:20

we're going to try out something

14:20

new. We'll see what happens.

14:23

Alright, so

14:23

newsletters are just one way to

14:25

share your content, I want to

14:25

talk about some other ways that

14:29

we share content and ways that

14:29

we recommend content sharing for

14:33

our clients. And there's so much

14:33

that goes into this. So I want

14:36

to start the conversation

14:36

starting with platforms like

14:40

let's just get into the nitty

14:40

gritty of that are we share. So

14:45

where do you share? All right,

14:45

so I've got a personal blog at

14:48

Anne Kathleen, calm, and I

14:48

don't. So that is a sharing

14:52

platform where I am sharing who

14:52

I am, that's much more personal.

14:56

It used to be a little bit more

14:56

business as because that's where

14:59

my following was. And so I was

14:59

kind of blogging about business.

15:03

And that's pretty much where my

15:03

journey was at the time was

15:06

starting this business. So

15:06

that's just where I share who I

15:08

am. After having the baby I

15:08

wouldn't say I've turned into a

15:12

full fledged mommy blogger, but

15:12

it's definitely more focus on

15:17

that journey and processing that

15:17

as I go. So I share that and and

15:23

then I have braid, creative

15:23

calm, which is where I'm

15:26

blogging. So we have a blog

15:26

there. We also have our

15:30

newsletter there. Now I'm

15:30

sharing on this podcast. So

15:35

being boss we're sharing here

15:35

and I do that With you,

15:39

obviously. I'm also sharing so

15:39

as far as social media goes, my

15:44

favorite platforms that I have

15:44

are Instagram. So Instagram for

15:49

me has almost replaced blogging,

15:49

like personal blogging, and I

15:53

really do a blend there of work

15:53

and life. But I would say mostly

15:57

personal stuff there. And then I

15:57

also have a braid, creative

16:03

Instagram, and my sister really

16:03

manages that account. But I'll

16:07

send her photos every once in a

16:07

while and say, Hey, can you

16:10

Instagram this, I have a

16:10

personal Facebook page, I never

16:13

use it, except to just interact

16:13

with our Facebook group at being

16:17

boss. And I'm all about some

16:17

Facebook groups, but not so much

16:22

as a place to share as much. And

16:22

then finally, I have a Twitter,

16:27

I haven't used it in a long

16:27

time, it just kind of fell off

16:29

my radar. And so we have a

16:29

Twitter, I have a Twitter for

16:32

myself and for braid. Um, and

16:32

then finally Pinterest, which is

16:38

I don't even think of that as

16:38

like a social media tool, I

16:40

think of it more as a creative,

16:40

a creative tool for mood

16:45

boarding, and collecting

16:45

inspiration and stuff like that.

16:47

So one thing I want to address

16:47

here is I'm talking a lot about

16:50

I have my personal stuff, and

16:50

then my professional stuff, we

16:55

get asked all the time, should I

16:55

keep it together? Or should I

16:58

keep it separate? We've even

16:58

done a minisode on this. But I

17:00

think it is worth repeating here

17:00

that you have to just do

17:05

whatever you feel best with like

17:05

there's no right or wrong answer

17:09

whether you should keep your

17:09

personal and professional

17:11

together or separate. It might

17:11

be a blend of both. And for me

17:14

it is it's a blend of both. So I

17:14

have these separate personal

17:17

accounts. The reason why is

17:17

because with braid and with

17:21

being boss, I'm sharing those

17:21

businesses with other people.

17:25

And so my personal accounts,

17:25

I've kept them because it still

17:28

gives me a place to share things

17:28

like my vacation, and I would

17:32

probably share those in a

17:32

professional setting, too. It's

17:35

just not always as I share those

17:35

settings. I don't know that

17:39

Emily, you'd be like, Yeah,

17:39

sure. Let's just blog about

17:43

being a mom or vacation. We even

17:43

haven't been boss blog. But you

17:46

get my point. Yes. So anyway, I

17:46

just wanted to mention that here

17:52

is that there's no right or

17:52

wrong way to i think i think

17:55

whatever you do that allows you

17:55

to just share the most or share

17:59

in a way that you feel really

17:59

comfortable with is what you

18:01

should do, whether that's

18:01

putting it all together or

18:03

keeping it all separate. Yeah,

18:05

definitely. I think that comes also with having a clear brand and knowing

18:07

like how it is that your your

18:11

personal brand interacts online,

18:11

which I know is something that

18:14

you guys do a lot of work with,

18:14

with your clients in terms of

18:18

like, what are you going to be

18:18

sharing and how to share it,

18:21

which I think is just really important and differs from person to person. The way you

18:22

and I share online is not the

18:25

way anyone else may ever share

18:25

online. It's just about finding

18:30

what works for you and the brand

18:30

that you're building. I want to

18:32

hear what your what platforms

18:32

you use, what social media is

18:36

your favorite. And then I also

18:36

want to talk about how they all

18:39

interact together and everything

18:39

kind of feeds into each other

18:43

because I know that's your

18:43

that's kind of your jam. It is

18:46

that is totally my jam. So the

18:46

ones that I use the most let's

18:49

see, I have I have Emily

18:49

Thompson calm, which is my more

18:54

personal site and semi personal

18:54

blog, but I do sell a lot or

18:58

share a lot more business tips

18:58

and advice on there than

19:01

anything else. I'm actually

19:01

probably about to start doing a

19:04

lot of sharing regarding our,

19:04

our big 40 day grand adventure

19:10

we're taking of our trip out

19:10

west, I have some some things

19:13

getting written now for getting

19:13

written know they're in my head

19:16

is where they are. They're

19:16

getting written in my head at

19:19

the moment for sharing some of

19:19

that grand adventure and all of

19:24

that that entails. So which will

19:24

be a little more personal than

19:26

I've been on my blog in a while.

19:26

So of Emily Thompson, which is

19:30

my blogging platform, but then I

19:30

also have indeed tactics, which

19:34

is my newsletter, which I almost

19:34

feel is more my blogging, like

19:39

what people would usually think

19:39

of blogging content than

19:41

anything else that I do. So

19:41

that's really where I share.

19:44

Just sort of like, I don't know,

19:44

tips and advice on how to be a

19:49

better entrepreneur and how to

19:49

think like an entrepreneur. I

19:52

love getting your newsletters. I just have to say that. And I think it's easy

19:54

to take it for granted whenever

19:57

you read a friend's blog or a

19:57

friend's eyes letter, but your

20:00

newsletters are so good. And me

20:00

thinking is there something that

20:06

exists? Maybe you know, where

20:06

because I feel like a lot of

20:09

people are writing exclusive

20:09

content in newsletters, and it's

20:13

so good and it comes straight to

20:13

your inbox. And maybe it's just

20:16

a way of sorting your inbox, but

20:16

it would be so cool if there is

20:19

some sort of app that collected

20:19

all of your newsletter and put

20:23

it into a feed almost like blog

20:23

posts.

20:26

Yeah, well,

20:27

does that exist?

20:28

I think it

20:28

might. I don't I've heard people

20:30

like talking about when I

20:30

haven't went and done like went

20:33

and researched it myself. Yeah.

20:33

This is like unroll me on and

20:37

roll me.

20:38

I don't know

20:38

unroll me is like how you

20:40

unsubscribe from a bunch of

20:40

letters that you don't want. So

20:44

this is the opposite of that.

20:46

Yeah, I don't

20:46

want to I don't know, if there's

20:48

anyone out there, shoot us an

20:48

email hello love being boss calm

20:52

if you know of an app like this

20:52

because I'm in the same boat, I

20:54

get. We and we did a episode on

20:54

this recently about emails and

20:58

how we're inundated with emails.

20:58

But I know so many people are

21:01

sending out such great exclusive

21:01

content. I hate missing them.

21:05

And I love reading those emails.

21:05

Ash Ambridge from middle finger

21:10

project, she has a great

21:10

newsletter. That's one of those

21:12

like I always like seeing in my

21:12

inbox too. Sometimes it gets

21:14

lost, and I get sad. But that

21:14

would be a handy tool and would

21:20

be one that I would recommend my

21:20

people use if they are on indie

21:23

tactics. If we end up finding

21:23

one because that is it's where I

21:26

send it that's my best content.

21:26

If you want my best content

21:29

minus being boss, because be

21:29

actually big bosses, my best

21:32

content in detail tactics is, is

21:32

what is where you would get that

21:39

best content, you can subscribe

21:39

in the short biography.com slash

21:43

newsletter, I think I believe

21:43

that's it. So newsletter is is

21:49

definitely a place that I do a

21:49

lot of sharing. giveaway my so

21:53

my best content there. One of

21:53

the things that I really like to

21:56

do for my newsletter group and a

21:56

way to like nurture that group

21:59

is I do occasionally three and

21:59

30 sessions, where every couple

22:04

of months, I'll release a couple

22:04

of 30 minute free coaching

22:07

calls. absolutely free there 30

22:07

minutes you get, you get 30

22:12

minutes to ask me three

22:12

questions. And it's just a FREE

22:16

Mini coaching sessions. And I

22:16

love doing them, I don't do them

22:19

as much as I need to make some

22:19

more time in my schedule to do

22:22

them

22:22

well. And that's also a great way to like gather content, the more content

22:24

you can see what people are

22:27

asking. And Paul Jarvis

22:27

mentioned this, in our episode

22:31

with him did is really getting

22:31

to know the people that you're

22:35

already talking to.

22:36

Yes, exactly. So

22:36

I've been doing that for years.

22:38

And when he said that I wanted

22:38

to be like jumping up and down

22:40

like

22:40

I do. I'm getting

22:40

burst.

22:43

I've done it for

22:43

a long time. So I've done it for

22:47

a couple of years. And I don't

22:47

even remember where the idea

22:49

came from. But I've actually

22:49

booked clients from getting on

22:55

the phone for free with someone

22:55

for 30 minutes and then booked,

22:58

you know, an $8,000 project or

22:58

something like that's how giving

23:02

it all away for free will

23:02

literally be Money in Your

23:05

Pocket take soundly because

23:05

giving people the opportunity to

23:08

actually like gain that one on

23:08

one value from you. allows them

23:12

to sort of get past any

23:12

objections they may have in

23:16

hiring you. So my three and 30

23:16

sessions are another way that I

23:18

give it all away for free. And

23:18

then where else am I I do a lot

23:23

of mini blogging on Instagram.

23:23

So that's where I share a lot

23:26

more of the personal stuff, but

23:26

also still a mix of the

23:29

business. And that's Emily m

23:29

underscore Thompson on

23:33

Instagram, we also have an indie

23:33

shop biography Instagram, Chris

23:38

takes care of that. She's my

23:38

like PR girl who takes care of

23:41

all of my communications and

23:41

stuff. And she handles the

23:45

indische epigraphy Instagram

23:45

account. And that one shares a

23:48

lot of like the work that we do,

23:48

but also inspirational quotes

23:51

and just fun things that we do

23:51

around the studio. And then I

23:55

have a Twitter, I do like

23:55

Twitter, I'm getting a little

23:57

more into Twitter than I have

23:57

recently. And so it's just sheer

24:02

like snarky shit, like Twitter,

24:02

but then we also do a lot of

24:06

sharing of like really great

24:06

articles and inspirational

24:09

things on there as well. So I

24:09

guess those are my main

24:12

platforms that I cover

24:12

everything with a Pinterest too,

24:15

but we don't really that's just

24:15

like an inspiration gathering

24:17

thing as well. I guess that's

24:17

it. Oh, Facebook. Yeah, the

24:22

Facebook I don't share on Facebook either. I'm not a Facebook share well, and you

24:25

thought about even like

24:25

shutting it all down recently,

24:27

right?

24:28

I have. So

24:28

whenever it was like in college,

24:32

and Facebook became a thing I

24:32

remember like all the people who

24:35

were like 25 on Facebook, they

24:35

were creeps like cuz, you know,

24:38

we're all like 19 I remember

24:38

thinking like whenever I turned

24:42

25 I'm deleting my facebook

24:42

group or my Facebook page. I

24:46

never did it because now that's

24:46

where all my photos are and

24:49

things anyway, I think about it.

24:49

I do. I'm not a huge Facebook

24:52

fan, but I understand this use

24:52

so I play along.

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did you hear about us section?

25:51

whenever it comes to social

25:56

media, a lot of people feel like

25:56

they should be on whatever

26:00

platform like I should be on

26:00

Instagram, I should be on

26:04

Facebook, I should be on

26:04

Twitter. You don't need to be on

26:07

anything that you that does not

26:07

excite you. And so whenever

26:10

you're saying that you're

26:10

getting into Twitter lately, I

26:12

mean, just use whatever platform

26:12

that you're digging at the

26:16

moment and it can

26:17

ebb and flow a

26:17

little bit. Oh, it definitely

26:20

does. You used to be huge on

26:20

Twitter. Oh, I was big on

26:23

Twitter. And then I had a baby.

26:23

Yeah. And you stopped using it

26:26

so much. And you've like it,

26:26

just it guys, it changes?

26:28

Well, the thing about Twitter is that if you're not like updating

26:30

constantly or staying engaged in

26:33

conversations constantly, you

26:33

kind of feel like, whenever I

26:37

open up my Twitter, I feel like

26:37

I've just stepped into like a

26:40

huge, awesome rockin party and

26:40

I'm wearing like my pajamas or

26:45

something. You know, it's just I

26:45

just feel out of touch. And not

26:49

very cool. And and then if

26:49

you're only tweeting once every

26:53

three months, like that better

26:53

be a good tweet. And so then,

26:56

what am I gonna say? So? Yeah, I

26:56

mean, every once in a while,

27:02

I'll kind of hang out and I'm

27:02

sure are saying and I'll retweet

27:05

some stuff. But for the most

27:05

part, I much I really enjoy

27:10

Instagram. And so I was gonna

27:10

say my sister just started our

27:13

braid Instagram account, and she

27:13

has her own account, but she was

27:15

never very active, like,

27:15

literally had 12 photos. Okay, I

27:19

have to share this story.

27:19

Whenever I first started.

27:21

Instagram, I thought it was the

27:21

same thing as like hipstamatic I

27:25

thought it was one of those

27:25

photo apps where you can just

27:29

apply a filter and make a cool

27:29

photo. I didn't know it was

27:32

going on to like a fee that

27:32

other people can see. My very

27:39

first photo is of Jeremy in his

27:39

underwear like total crush shy.

27:45

So once we're all

27:47

rolling back on

27:47

Kathleen's feed now, Jeremy in

27:51

his in his undies?

27:53

Right? Well, I

27:53

deleted that photo. Like once I

27:55

figured out that this is all

27:55

going online and other people

27:58

can see it. I remember, I called

27:58

Jeremy and I was like, I've made

28:03

a big mistake. And he's like,

28:03

what? I was like, you can never

28:07

run for politics because there's

28:07

been a photo of you in your

28:11

underwear on Instagram for like

28:11

52 weeks because it took me that

28:15

long to figure out that

28:15

Instagram was not just like a

28:17

photo app. So anyway, once I

28:17

started figuring out Instagram

28:20

and how it really works, I've

28:20

been using it for a few years

28:23

now. And I really like it but my

28:23

sister has just now gotten into

28:25

it. We were talking to a client

28:25

the other day and and my

28:29

sister's like, yeah, Instagram

28:29

is where it's at. I'm like now

28:32

hold the phone. That's it. Just

28:32

because you just started using

28:35

Instagram does not mean that I

28:35

mean, it is where it's at. I

28:38

love Instagram. But it's just to

28:38

say that it's not the only place

28:44

and Facebook isn't the only

28:44

place Twitter isn't the only

28:46

place I mean, there are probably

28:46

some new social media platforms.

28:49

Oh, Snapchat is the new height.

28:49

Yeah, you think that the cool

28:53

kids are doing? I thought it was

28:53

also for texting like dirty

28:57

photos. I thought that Snapchat

28:57

was

29:00

well now businesses use it to text dirty photos.

29:04

Maybe we should just do

29:04

it. Maybe we should embrace it

29:06

and do it being bused Snapchat,

29:08

oh, wouldn't it be fine,

29:09

because we don't have we don't have any being boss social media, we just

29:11

use our personal accounts to

29:14

kind of interact and promote

29:14

right being boss opposite. So I

29:19

kind of want to talk about that

29:19

like how social media, how all

29:22

the different all the different

29:22

platforms really interact with

29:25

each other and how your

29:25

newsletter should feed people to

29:28

your blog, and that your blog

29:28

should get people to sign up for

29:31

your newsletter and that you do

29:31

an Instagram post, have a blog

29:35

image and send people back to

29:35

your blog post. So I think

29:39

whatever it is that you want

29:39

people to be doing, keep sending

29:42

them across all your channels.

29:42

Let it all work together.

29:47

Yeah, so I've started doing this thing whenever I plan like a marketing

29:49

week, because I'm literally

29:52

doing this these days is our

29:52

start a Google doc and I share

29:56

it with Chris who will like

29:56

implement all the things and I'm

29:59

like alright, you know, this

29:59

week, the general topic like

30:02

this week, it was like financial

30:02

tools. So I did a blog post on

30:07

how financial tools can make you

30:07

like more competent in your

30:12

business. And so and I listed

30:12

out the financial tools that we

30:15

use in our business to get our

30:15

money shit together. And in that

30:20

I blogged the cultivating

30:20

confidence Secret Episode that's

30:23

on love being boss, but I also

30:23

wrote a newsletter that fed

30:26

people like talking about using

30:26

tools to gain confidence that

30:30

sent people to my newsletter or

30:30

to my blog that sent people to

30:33

download the being boss Secret

30:33

Episode. So on this Google Doc,

30:36

I had like a purpose like what is the purpose

35:38

They have and

35:38

that's great, you know, fine, do

35:40

that. But it feels like an

35:40

online bulletin board. And

35:46

that's not what I want our

35:46

Facebook group to be. So the

35:48

other day someone emailed me,

35:48

and they're so sweet. And she's

35:52

a girl that I've known I met her

35:52

had the first designer vaycay a

35:56

few years ago. And she's like,

35:56

Hey, can I promote this thing

35:59

that I created? And I was like,

35:59

Yes, and or kind of like, yes,

36:03

but please don't limit your

36:03

engagement to just selling

36:07

something, feel free to give

36:07

away your gifts of knowledge and

36:11

interact with people. And

36:11

someone who's a great example of

36:13

that is Elise greiss. From SEO,

36:13

I

36:17

love her

36:17

interaction in the Facebook

36:19

group. Exactly.

36:19

So we have

36:19

them on our episode, and she is

36:22

in there, I mean, just giving

36:22

these really golden nuggets of

36:26

inspiration and advice. And then

36:26

yeah, she'll sell something

36:31

every once in a while. But I'm

36:31

more than happy for her to do

36:34

that. And I think people are

36:34

more than happy to buy it

36:36

because she's been engaging so

36:36

much. So they're a really good

36:39

example of people who are

36:39

constantly sharing content. And

36:43

then kind of like that Jab, Jab,

36:43

Jab, hook, like then they're

36:46

hooking and selling something,

36:46

but really, truly not in a

36:49

sleazy way. Okay, I want to go

36:49

back to the content. And because

36:53

as you're talking about content

36:53

strategy, you I or at least I

36:57

do, I almost started to get this

36:57

like, Oh, my gosh, heavy feeling

37:00

of Okay, my content has to be

37:00

really good, really valuable and

37:03

actionable. That can lead you to

37:03

almost feeling paralyzed like

37:09

this, waiting for content

37:09

perfection. And we just did a

37:13

blog post over at braid

37:13

creative. And I'll be sure to

37:15

link to that in our show notes.

37:15

I love being boss. But it's not

37:19

about just shaping your content.

37:19

It's about how your content

37:22

shapes you. And so this goes

37:22

back to my original blog posts,

37:26

and even being boss, our podcast

37:26

episodes here, a lot of it is

37:31

processing through our own stuff

37:31

and sharing our journey along

37:35

the way. And if we're waiting

37:35

for perfection, we would never

37:39

hit record, we would never hit

37:39

Publish. So I think that there

37:42

is a certain amount of strategy

37:42

that comes into shaping and

37:47

sharing your content. But I

37:47

think it's also about going

37:50

ahead and saying it going ahead

37:50

and hitting record going ahead

37:53

and hitting publish. Even if you

37:53

don't have a plan, I think that

37:58

a lot of people are talking

37:58

about content sharing strategies

38:01

and plans. And for me, I get

38:01

this visual of like an awesome

38:07

flow chart that tells me exactly

38:07

what to do. Like every time I do

38:10

a blog post. There's three

38:10

Instagrams and those Instagrams

38:14

linked to this newsletter, and

38:14

like I imagine it like this big

38:17

complex flow chart, but I can

38:17

just kind of check off the

38:20

boxes. And that's what I crave.

38:20

I was even talking to you about

38:23

that in Lee yesterday for being

38:23

boss, like, I wish that we just

38:26

had this awesome plan, we're

38:26

doing it, we're kind of just

38:31

figuring out as we go. And a

38:31

plan really surfaces out of the

38:36

hitting publish the hitting

38:36

record the doing, we figure it

38:39

out as we go. So I just want to

38:39

encourage anyone who is

38:42

listening to this who might feel

38:42

a little overwhelmed, just hit

38:45

publish, and you'll figure it

38:45

out from there. And maybe just

38:47

start with one or two platforms.

38:47

So maybe start with and I think

38:51

it's like your best place that

38:51

you feel most comfortable

38:54

sharing. For me it used to be

38:54

writing and blogging. Now, I

38:58

feel a lot more vulnerable and

38:58

open and excited sharing on the

39:03

podcast. I'm sharing so much

39:03

more here than I am in my

39:08

writing these days. So that is

39:08

like don't wait for content

39:14

perfection, because it will

39:14

never, it will never happen.

39:18

I mean, I have

39:18

been at this point, my god I've

39:21

been writing for like online

39:21

stuff for 13 years. True story.

39:29

Horrible. I'm just now getting.

39:29

That's a lie, not just now I'm

39:33

getting it. And what I was

39:33

writing back then does not

39:36

count. Yeah,

39:37

like what I was like journaling definitely didn't have actionable items at

39:39

the end of that.

39:41

I know it definitely didn't. But but it's definitely like it started

39:43

building voice like you have to

39:47

start writing and whether you're

39:47

writing in a journal or you are

39:51

sharing things exclusively in a

39:51

newsletter or just on Instagram

39:55

at the moment, find one platform

39:55

that is going to just energize

40:00

you to share content and share

40:00

it. Don't think don't think of

40:04

it as giving it all away for

40:04

free. Your job as a creative

40:08

entrepreneur, is to show up and

40:08

add value. And if you do that

40:13

enough, and it's hard work, I

40:13

mean, it's not going to be easy

40:17

to just constantly like

40:17

answering questions and writing

40:20

blog posts and doing these

40:20

podcasts or anything that you do

40:24

is not going to be easy, but if

40:24

you are showing up and adding

40:27

value, you're positioning

40:27

yourself in a way to ask people

40:30

to give you whatever you need

40:30

because you have been adding

40:34

enough value that people will

40:34

just in some ways like bend over

40:37

backwards to help you because

40:37

you've had helped them in their

40:40

life or in their motherhood or

40:40

in their business, or whatever

40:45

it is, because you've been

40:45

giving free content that has

40:47

assisted them in some way.

40:47

whenever it's time for you to

40:50

ask for something, they will be

40:50

much more willing to give it

40:53

than if you're just some creep

40:53

out there who's, you know, used

40:55

car salesman trying to sell

40:55

something out of nowhere.

40:58

The last thing I really want to say is that what you share is what you

41:00

become. So whenever I started my

41:05

business, even, you know,

41:05

freelancing, or even as as I

41:09

started braid, or even starting

41:09

being Boss, I wasn't yet a

41:13

freelancer. I wasn't yet an

41:13

expert and creative entrepreneur

41:17

in working with creative

41:17

entrepreneurs, and I wasn't yet

41:20

a podcaster. What do you even

41:20

call us?

41:24

I Astor's Kathleen,

41:26

I didn't know

41:26

really what I was doing. But I

41:29

had aspirations, and by sharing

41:29

what I wanted, and it gave me

41:35

some laser focus, and what you

41:35

share is what you become. So now

41:39

I am an expert in working with

41:39

creative entrepreneurs, I am an

41:43

expert in personal branding, and

41:43

on becoming an expert,

41:47

podcaster, whatever that means.

41:50

But let's just say what

41:50

you share is what you become. So

41:53

don't be afraid to share the

41:53

journey along the way.

41:56

No doubt. I

41:56

mean, that actually gives you

41:59

more clout than anyone. And

41:59

there's something that you've

42:01

said before this idea that you

42:01

only have to be two steps ahead

42:04

to help someone. That's all you

42:04

have to do in sharing your

42:07

journey will allow them to come

42:07

along with you. And then you get

42:11

positioned as that expert in

42:11

their eyes. So even if you're

42:16

just like just leaving your day

42:16

job to start your, you know,

42:20

creative endeavors, there's

42:20

people who are still in their

42:23

day job, who are only dreaming

42:23

of being where you want to be.

42:27

So share the story along the

42:27

way, share your content, give

42:31

advice that you've learned and

42:31

don't fall into that trap of

42:33

like, well, who am I to say

42:33

things? Or who am I to share

42:37

this advice? I feel like that's,

42:37

that's one of those like, I

42:41

don't know, crippling fears that

42:41

a lot a lot of people have in

42:43

terms of sharing, and did

42:43

something with this podcast,

42:47

this podcast has been huge for

42:47

Kathleen and I and not like not

42:51

in terms of like growing our

42:51

tribe, but like personally like

42:53

Kathleen, and I get on this

42:53

podcast often. And we're

42:57

recording almost every day these

42:57

days getting ready for, for my

43:01

big trip out west. And you grow

43:01

and it hurts and it's painful to

43:09

do, and it's overwhelming. And

43:09

you just sort of do it.

43:14

But it's also

43:14

energizing and exciting earlier,

43:17

whenever you said it's not easy.

43:17

In some ways. I think sometimes

43:20

it can be easy for me, it is

43:20

easy to show up with you. I'm in

43:24

camera out this podcast because

43:24

it is energizing. And it is fun.

43:28

So I think that keep that in

43:28

mind too. Whenever you're

43:31

sharing content is go where the

43:31

energy is, if you've energy,

43:35

literally instagramming and

43:35

that's all you do. Go for it. I

43:40

mean, I remember there was a day

43:40

where I thought that people who

43:43

didn't have blogs were crazy.

43:43

But now there are so many

43:46

different platforms for sharing

43:46

who you are. And you could go

43:51

anywhere and you can do anything

43:51

and you can grow into anything

43:55

just by sharing who you are and

43:55

what you want to become.

43:58

Yeah, it will in

43:58

for us every podcast is easier.

44:01

Like every time we do this, it's

44:01

easier and easier to do it so

44:05

that the painful parts like fall

44:05

away, and it has just become

44:10

much more fun for us to get out

44:10

and be be. I can't talk anymore.

44:16

It's so much

44:17

Yes. So easy. And Lee

44:19

No, unless you

44:19

have a mouth like mine that does

44:21

not like to form words. So it's

44:21

it becomes easier to show up and

44:26

add value as you practice over

44:26

and over again. Because it's all

44:31

it is like anything that you do

44:31

you do the work and you practice

44:33

it until it becomes an easy

44:33

habit that just sort of happens.

44:36

And you become the amazing

44:36

expert that

44:40

you were always meant to be. Hey, guys,

44:43

I wanted to tell you about

44:43

something fun that we're doing

44:46

coming up this fall, Emily and I

44:46

decided that we wanted to go on

44:49

vacation to New Orleans, one of

44:49

our favorite cities in the

44:53

world. And we thought wouldn't

44:53

it be fun if we invited you to

44:57

come along? Go to being boss

44:57

calm slash Nola and learn more

45:02

about taking a vacation with us.

45:04

We hope to see

45:04

you there. All right. Thank you

45:09

for listening to being boss from

45:09

Emily Thompson and Kathleen

45:11

Shannon. Find Show Notes for

45:11

this episode at loving boss

45:15

calm. Listen to past episodes

45:15

and subscribe to new episodes on

45:19

our website, iTunes and on

45:19

SoundCloud. We're also on

45:23

Stitcher too. If you like our

45:23

podcast show some love by

45:26

reviewing being boss on iTunes

45:26

and sharing it with a friend. Do

45:30

the word boss and we'll see you

45:30

next week. Sure, so

45:49

in detecting any

45:49

type, what's it called indie

45:52

tactics?

45:54

Amen. Amen.