Marketing for your business can be challenging in an ever changing market of trends and technology. Have you been looking for a place to land where you can find inspiration to grow a profitable, sustainable and fulfilling business? A place that offers brand-building resources, practical marketing strategies and realistic revenue idea?
MAIN TOPICS
-
Why a content marketing strategy is important to your business
-
How to make a content strategy profitable and impactful to your business’s bottom line
-
Tips for repurposing content for maximum impact
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Repurposing content is key to your success and to not burning out
Combining content strategy with sales funnels is how you’ll see ROI
The best platforms for your content strategy
MORE ABOUT THIS GUEST
Kinsey is an Innovative Marketing Leader with experience delivering high-touch marketing solutions that build brand loyalty, expand market share, and grow revenue. Recognized as a strategic marketer with a hands-on approach, roll-up your sleeves mentality, and entrepreneurial drive. Proven success in designing and implementing effective business development strategies. Subject matter expertise in income stream diversification, marketing strategy, email marketing, and strategic partnerships. Skilled at developing highly engaging and compelling content strategy for profitability and sustained growth.
LINKS MENTIONED
EPISODE TRANSCRIBED
Hi, you all, its Angela. I'm back for another episode of Business Unveiled and I'm so excited to interview Kinsey Roberts today. We have a mutual connection in the venue, wedding, event, consulting, speaking space. Continue Reading
Yes.
Angela Proffitt:
And whenever she reached out to me and she's like, “Hey, I've got this great girl, she's a marketing strategist. She owns a venue, she's got a podcast. Like you should talk to her.” And I started, always go around and look online and like see about people. Because you can't say yes to everybody. If they're not in alignment with what we're trying to do, which is basically help our audience. And so, when I was talking to Kinsey, I'm like, what all do you … okay, this is … I'm like, okay girl, you're just an entrepreneur. We have entrepreneuritis. And then her company name, She Creates Business, which I absolutely love that name. This is what this girl does and she, at heart is an entrepreneur. So Kinsey, thank you for taking time today to share your story with us.
Kinsey Roberts:
Thank you so much for having me, Angela. It's truly an honor to be here and I really appreciate you bringing me on.
Angela Proffitt:
Of course. So today I want you to just share the ins and outs with our audience about how you started to become a marketing person, which really turned into strategy, which when I started my business, that didn't exist. It's like what, we need a strategy? I mean, there was that thing called a business plan, but that's kind of a joke now, in my opinion, it's like, you really need a strategy and you need a marketing strategy. And then recently you became a venue owner, which is another avenue of revenue, but a whole nother experience of being an entrepreneur.
Angela Proffitt:
And then you also have a podcast called She Creates Business. And so I'm excited for you to share because really it's all about creating a winning content strategy. And without a strategy it's hard to win. I've learned that the hard way. And it's so overwhelming sometimes-
Kinsey Roberts:
Yes.
Angela Proffitt:
… and people are like, oh my God, it just blows my mind. And people just shut down, instead of doing something, they do nothing. But then also in my experience I've learned that if you don't have a consistent strategy, you might as well quit wasting your time of just posting randomly, like whatever.
Kinsey Roberts:
Yes.
Angela Proffitt:
So we're going to jump in and dive in to all of that. So you'll definitely want to hang out. So Kinsey, before we even dive into the marketing strategist part, tell us about your journey. Where did you grow up? What was your first job? All that good stuff.
Speaker 3:
Welcome to Business Unveiled, the podcast designed to help you thrive in the creative community. Here's your host, events and productivity consultant, Angela Proffitt.
Angela Proffitt:
What's up GSD leaders. Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of Business Unveiled, where we share expert tips and secrets from top creative industry professionals. You know we're going to take you behind the scenes of our experiences, share with you what we've learned from them and how it's made us stronger, because no one said it's easy owning a business, right? But it's a lot more fun when you've got a strong support team around you. And that's exactly what we do at GSD Creative. We're right there by your side. And I'm so excited that you've chosen this podcast to take the first step in growing a productive, profitable and successful, wildly successful business within the hospitality and creative industry.
Angela Proffitt:
Today's episode is being brought to you by 99designs. 99designs is the global creative platform that makes it super easy for designers and clients to work together to create designs they absolutely love. You can get creative concepts from a multitude of talented designers. You get matched with the perfect designer to help you bring your idea to life, from start to finish. From logos, to packaging, apps to books, 99designs is a faster, simple and affordable way to find and work with creative talent. You can save $10 today on your first design by visiting B-I-T.L-Y/A-P-9-9-designs. Give it a try.
Kinsey Roberts:
Oh my god, well, thank you. Yes, I am … Well, this is funny. I'll start with my first job, which you guys will laugh at. But I grew up in a very rural area. I went to school in a little town called Ault Colorado. That's A-U-L-T, and I actually lived outside of town on 80 acres. And so we didn't have a farm or anything like that, but we just lived on 80 acres, lived outside of town, grew up in a really rural area. And so my first job, I was not a babysitter. I still don't really like other people's kids. If I know you really well, I like your kids, but I'm not … I was never like, I know, it's not money, I just don't. It's not my thing. And not that I would not of course take care of anyone's children, but I'm not actively saying like, oh, I'll babysit for you. And that has been true all my life.
Kinsey Roberts:
I was never the girl who was like, I need money babysitting. I was like the antithesis of the way I wanted to make money. We actually had some neighbors when I was 13 years old, I was in middle school and they asked me if I wanted to babysit their grandkids. And I said, “Nope, no, thank you.”
Angela Proffitt:
That's great.
Kinsey Roberts:
” … but do you have anything else?” And they said, “Well,” they did have a farm. And as a wheat farm, winter wheat farm. And they said, “Well, we do, but it's like farm work.” And I said, “Okay, what is that, what do you mean?” And they said, “Well, it's actually pulling rye, which is …” I had no idea what that was at the time. But what that basically means is you walk through acres and acres and acres of wheat fields and you pull out the weeds by hand and that's what I did.
Angela Proffitt:
And you chose that over babysitting?
Kinsey Roberts:
Yeah, every time, because-
Angela Proffitt:
Wow.
Kinsey Roberts:
Yes. Because I was like, okay, that seems like I could be, looking back on it now I thought to myself, why did I choose that? Is because I wanted to be outside. Not that I'm like, I'm super outdoorsy person you guys, I'm a marketer, hello. I love to be inside. But I wanted to be in control of my schedule. I wanted to be in control of my work product and I wanted to just feel a little bit more independence than having to sit inside and watch kids, which actually, looking back, I did not know this then, I was 13 years old. But looking back now I can say well, okay. Yeah, yeah, no wonder I'm an entrepreneur is because I wanted to make my own decisions.
Angela Proffitt:
At like a very young teenage age, Which is awesome.
Kinsey Roberts:
Yes.
Angela Proffitt:
It's awesome.
Kinsey Roberts:
Thank you.
Angela Proffitt:
This total like derail sidebar scroll moment. But recently my mother was out of town for like 24 hours. And like, this is when Kobe Bryant like awful, awful, awful situation happened. And I was like in the air and my mom was like flipping out and she like pulls out my baby books, and I don't know, she's just nutty sometimes, but it's a cute nutty. And I come home and she's like, “I found your report card from your four year old preschool teacher.” I mean, literally on notebook paper, it's like yellow. And she's like, “Everything that your preschool teacher said is exactly how you still are today.” And I'm like, that's hilarious. I'm going to do a marketing campaign that you should pay attention to your kids when they're a little bit younger, because you can like see at a very young age that you're making these decisions that you don't even know that you're making. And as a parent, like you could kind of sway your kid in my opinion.
Kinsey Roberts:
You're right.
Angela Proffitt:
So it's just crazy. If people will just stop and listen sometimes to the younger people, it's funny. So how did that bring you into the whole world of entrepreneurship? Like did you ever work in a job or you've always had that mentality of like, I'm going to make my own decisions and this is what I'm going to do?
Kinsey Roberts:
Oh yeah, I've totally worked in a job. No, I feel like that was just the beginning of, okay, I love to work and I love to make money. Like if I put XYZ in, I'm going to get XYZ out and I'm in control of my work product as far as being a hard worker, which I definitely learned from both of my parents, they're extremely hardworking. And I have absolutely had jobs, so that was my first foray into, if you work, you get money. And so from then I was doing anything and everything. I definitely was not a traditional … I love the stories of people who definitely were traditional entrepreneurs from day one and they're like selling bracelets on the playground and all of that. I wasn't like that at all, but I was really interested in hard work and getting a paycheck.
Kinsey Roberts:
So I worked in, as we all do, not everyone, but I feel like a lot of us do, I worked in as a waitress and as a hostess. And then eventually as a bartender and I feel like that was really my entrance into the hospitality industry, which, you said something interesting about your, even though that was your preschool report card, which I love that story.
Angela Proffitt:
Right? Crazy.
Kinsey Roberts:
And bless your mom, like she loves you. That's the sweetest, moms are the best. But I was listening to a podcast recently with a woman named Joanna Coles. She used to be the editor in chief of Cosmopolitan Magazine. And she said that if you look back in your childhood and kind of mine your childhood for clues as to what your, was to, and look at those clues and compare them to what you are today in your career, you can actually see the trajectory of your life. Just like your mom said, like everything is true about you when you were four, is true about you now.
Angela Proffitt:
Yeah, it's crazy.
Kinsey Roberts:
It is crazy, but it's so true. And so I always try to remember that when I think, gosh, maybe I'm not as successful as someone else, or maybe I'm not as far in my career as I should be. Or gosh, maybe I shouldn't have spent so much time being a waitress, but the reality is none of our paths are linear and all of those experiences that I have, or that I had have led me to where I am today. So being in the wedding industry now, I can see where that came from. So after spending all of my like high school years in the restaurant scene, I went on to be a food and beverage manager at a country club. And that's where I first started in weddings.
Kinsey Roberts:
We hosted weddings and large golf tournaments and events at that country club, and I managed the food and beverage staff. And I wasn't even thinking of that specifically when I started my journey into being a venue owner back in 2015, but I can see now how it directly ties in. I really more got into marketing. I did one year of college. I went to journalism school at the University of Nebraska for one year. I did not like to have to be in a class, that was completely irrelevant for all year long. And so I quit college-
Angela Proffitt:
Amen.
Kinsey Roberts:
… which used to be a point of embarrassment for me. I used to think like, oh, everyone would say like, oh, where'd you go to school? Or did you meet your husband in college? Like he was in college, I wasn't, I was working. I'm not embarrassed anymore because I went to one year of journalism school and that may be a failure to other people, but now I'm a podcaster with a successful show and that's journalism. So again, that is a again, non-linear path and non-traditional path to where I am today and it all feeds in. Right? You can kind of see the theme here. So after going to college for one year, my friends, I loved, I loved journalism. I got a little taste of marketing when I was writing for the student newspaper.
Kinsey Roberts:
And you, when you are in journalism school, you get kind of a little taste of everything. You get a little taste of like newspaper journalism and broadcast journalism and marketing and what that all looks like. And that's where I got my taste. So that was back in 2007 of, oh, I kind of like this. I don't want to sit in Greek mythology 101 during the day, but I like this. And so I moved back home to Colorado, did a few jobs here and there again in the hospitality industry and then was able to get into marketing by 2010. I was lucky enough to get a temp job as an administrative assistant in a boutique marketing agency. And I just said, “I love answering phones and I'll do whatever you need while I'm temporarily in this job, but if you have anything else you want me to do,” and because I was not aggressive, but forward, I didn't just sit and answer phones and say, gee, hopefully they notice me.
Angela Proffitt:
Right?
Kinsey Roberts:
I said, “Listen, I'm smart. I'll do anything you want. I don't know a lot about marketing, but I'm super teachable and I like to learn.” And lucky for me, they said, “Great.” Yeah, they had somebody, one of their SEO specialists teach me a few things. And one of their marketing assistants and I was just doing basically data entry. It is 2010 you guys. So those are back in the days where like link building and kind of that gray hat SEO was okay. But it was basically data entry, but that's how I got my star. And they said, “You know what? Thank you so much. This temp job is over, but you've really proven to us that you could be an asset and we can teach you everything you need to know.” And I got a full-time job as a search engine optimization assistant at that boutique marketing agency in 2010. And that's where I've spent my career is just moving up and doing different marketing jobs.
Kinsey Roberts:
And my last one was as a marketing manager for, in corporate real estate. And when I was leaving that job, we were moving back to my family's ranch or my husband's family ranch in Colorado. And I knew that, this is a rural area where we live and I said, “I'm going to need something to do. I'm leaving my corporate job. There's not a lot of industry here,” and that's when my sister-in-law and I decided to build the venue. And I said, “We could do this. You have your own skillset, I have my own skillset, which includes marketing and building businesses and here we are.” So that's how we can kind of see, from pulling rye in a wheat field, because I didn't want to babysit kids to, what I'm doing today. It all fits together.
Angela Proffitt:
So you and your sister-in-law, you all built the venue from the ground up?
Kinsey Roberts:
That's right.
Angela Proffitt:
That's incredible.
Kinsey Roberts:
Yes. We built it from the ground up. And my sister-in-law is a couple of years older than I am. And she got married in this area years ago. And at that time, that was when the seed was planted for her about some kind of event space. She was looking for a venue, looking for somewhere to have her wedding, nothing really stood out to her. We don't really have a lot of selection here and she ended up getting married in my in-laws, which is a beautiful area. But at that time that's when the seed was really planted for her, but she didn't really do anything with it. She kind of just came back to the idea every couple of years.
Kinsey Roberts:
And then when I was moving back, because I'd had these experiences in the event industry and the hospitality industry and the marketing industry, I somehow got on to online business and found a conference called the Creative at Heart Conference. And then I said, hey, I kind of dug that dream. Like dusted off that idea that she had. And I said, “Listen, you've mentioned this, I think we could make a go of it. And why don't we give it a shot?” We had the property to do it and yeah, we built it from the ground up.
Angela Proffitt:
So would you say you and your sister-in-law are like, she deals with XYZ and you deal with ABC? Like where you guys are totally different or would you say that you pretty much agree on everything and like, everything's good if you keep in the family?
Kinsey Roberts:
That is a great question. So here's what I will say. Partnerships are hard. I don't recommend getting into one unless you DM me on Instagram to ask what … No, I'm just kidding. Partnerships are hard, you guys, and they're even made harder by working with family. Now, here's the great thing about Katie and I, we did not get into a partnership in our early 20s, we were in our early 30s, which there's a lot of life to live between your 20s and your 30s and a lot of experiences to have. And so if I got into a partnership with someone in my early 20s, I would be a complete hot mess because I'm an eight on the Enneagram. It's called a challenger. And so you can imagine, 22 year old Kinsey is a lot different than 32 year old Kinsey.
Kinsey Roberts:
And so now that I can kind of have that self awareness, it makes it a lot easier to express my ideas and my opinions in a milder manner. But yes, for the most part, Katie and I have different skills. We don't always agree on everything and that's something that has been challenging, especially when we first started the business, in 2015, we worked through how do we work together? How do we make decisions? Who's responsible for what? But I think that because we're both committed to our clients and we're both committed to the business, we try not to step on each other's toes as much as possible. And again, just having a line of these are my skillsets, these are your skillsets. I'm not going to …
Kinsey Roberts:
I'm not precious about the way she landscapes the venue, I don't care. I know she's great at it. And would I do it differently sometimes? Yeah, absolutely. But the reality is it needs to be done and she's good at it and I don't care. And just like, she's not precious about the way I market our business. She does not have that skillset whatsoever. And she knows that I'm going to say that, and so as long as we're getting clients and we're in the black, then that's what she cares about.
Angela Proffitt:
Yeah. I mean, I just, I laugh because my family had a venue for like 35 years and-
Kinsey Roberts:
Oh my gosh!
Angela Proffitt:
Yeah.
Kinsey Roberts:
That's awesome.
Angela Proffitt:
So, I mean, I grew up around it and then my family, it's like, sometimes you want to strangle them, but it's like, my sister worked with me for many, many, many, many years. And then my brother started a new business two years ago. And so it's just funny because we continue to grow as a family, like with family goals and sometimes we don't agree, but it's having those different experiences to bring to the table to like keep each other grounded. And it's just funny, because sometimes my brother's like, you're so hard on me. Like you wouldn't talk that way to your other people your consulting. I'm like, oh no, no, I treat everybody the same. Like I'm going to tell you exactly how it is and you know what? Somebody did it for me. And if somebody sugar-coated everything for me, I wouldn't be where I am today and I'm not going to sugar coat it for you.
Angela Proffitt:
But sometimes I do have to remember like, don't be so hard. It's just, it's funny, but I don't think that my family would ever let me down. And so yeah, there are those days where … And I mean, our nieces work with us, like I mean, all three of my nieces.
Kinsey Roberts:
You're in deep.
Angela Proffitt:
Yeah. Know how to like tie the best bows ever. And this year, the nine and 10 year old learn how to do like flowers and how to cut them and it's just, when you grow up around it, it's just something that, it's a skill that you don't even know you have until you grow up. And you're like, oh, I could do this for a business. Okay.
Kinsey Roberts:
It's true. It's true. You're giving your nieces so many valuable skills and the way your venue works within your family is it sounds really similar to the way our ranch works. So it's still a working ranch and everybody works here. I don't work on the ranch, I'm probably the only one, but that's what my husband does full-time. So he works there, his brother, his sister, she's not as much full-time on the ranch as she used to be, but her husband, my in-laws, it is very much a family affair. So it's very much like your venue just a different industry. So yeah.
Angela Proffitt:
Yeah, it is. And it's so cool though, because from a marketing strategy perspective, which brings a whole different set of brains to the table, I'm just interested to know like what tools you use to make decisions on where to spend marketing dollars like for the venue?
Kinsey Roberts:
The only tool I use, well, there's two things that I use. The first is that I use numbers and data all day long. I don't even really like math or statistics very much, when it comes to especially my personal life, but I'm sure you would hear a lot of marketers say that, but when it comes to deciding where to spend money, they become my best friend, because what I know about data, what I know about math, what I know about statistics is that there's just one answer. They don't lie.
Angela Proffitt:
Nope.
Kinsey Roberts:
You know what I mean? It's not conceptual like writing or marketing. That's really an art. It's a science, but it's more of an art form. It's conceptual, there's a lot of testing. And when you get to a point where you have a meaningful data set to look at, so don't get me wrong. If you're just getting started in business, or maybe you haven't been paying attention to the numbers or you haven't had a consistent strategy up until this point, that's okay. There's a lot of times where you are going to have to test and then you can go back and do what I'm saying. And what I do, which is I look at my numbers. I do monthly marketing reports and I don't look at it more than monthly, even sometimes by-monthly because you don't get again, meaningful numbers. I can't look at everything every week and think that, oh, I need to change my whole strategy now because we had a bad week. That's not what I'm saying.
Kinsey Roberts:
We need to look at things really from a holistic perspective. And I look at my numbers. So for me, that looks like finding out where all my referral traffic is coming from. More importantly, that's finding out where my referral traffic is coming from that's actually converting into paid clients. That's finding out what kind of content performs the best for me in our podcast, on YouTube, on our social media channels. And by mining that data and looking at those numbers, that's how I determine what kind of content I post, so here's a concrete example. By looking at the types of referral traffic I'm getting between Facebook and Instagram, the kinds of interactions and the kinds of numbers that I'm seeing with the content that we post on both of those platforms, what I've learned is that our really hyper local market of neighbors, people who know us through other people, referrals of personal friends, that all comes from Facebook.
Kinsey Roberts:
Those are people that definitely would refer us, but a lot of it is just people who are cheering us on. They want to see what we're doing. They're very hyper-local to us and that's all on Facebook. So of course, I post content that's related to that on Facebook. Now on Instagram, that's where our couples are coming from, Denver, which is two and a half hours' away or Grand Junction, which is an hour away. Those are our couples. We convert to paying clients on Instagram. They're not just like our local hype guys. Both are super valuable and I'm going to serve both of those audiences, but by knowing the numbers and by knowing those different audiences on each of those platforms, that determines what I post on each of those platforms.
Angela Proffitt:
So is there a specific platform or a data aggregator that you would suggest putting those analytics together or do you just simply go to Facebook and go to Instagram and look at all the raw data that comes out of those two platforms?
Kinsey Roberts:
Yeah, that's a good question. So for me, I use Google Analytics on my website and I don't get in the weeds too much with this friends. If you're not doing all of this right now, that's okay. Start where you are. So for me today, right now, for the last few years again, because I have, that's what I did in my career, is, aggregate data and all of that. So I use Google Analytics on my website for my venue, and that's where I find out where all of our traffic is coming from. And that's where I see where our most popular content is. And then I also use that same analytics code to put on like my Facebook ads and our Instagram ads and all of that. And again, that's really getting into the weeds.
Kinsey Roberts:
You don't have to do that. Simply put a lot of websites now, Angela and I were both talking that we use Kajabi. I use Kajabi for my podcast business and my marketing consultancy, but I use Squarespace for my venue business. And Squarespace, Kajabi, Wix, all of those platforms, WordPress, they all have internal data systems that you can just look at and that's good enough to get started. It may not be as robust as Google Analytics, but you don't need that to make good decisions about your business. So if you are on any of those platforms and you're on your website, specifically, use those native analytic tools, they will show you like where your traffic's coming from, how many unique visitors you have per year, per month, per week. All those things. If you're selling any products on your website, they'll have a lot of those revenue aggregators. That's good enough for now. Start with what you have.
Kinsey Roberts:
When it comes to social media sites like Facebook like Instagram, yes, Angela, to your point, I do use the raw data that they have. They actually have amazing analytics. If you dig into your Facebook page, if you dig in Instagram, not as great, but still valuable to see where people are coming from, the times they're most active, that's easy stuff to implement. If you can see that 90% of your audience is female, they're coming from Denver, Colorado, and they are most active at 9:00 PM. Surprise, you should post at 9:00 PM. Then that's easy for me, you know what I mean?
Angela Proffitt:
Exactly.
Kinsey Roberts:
It's not rocket science, like that's easy information and most people are not looking at it. They're just like, I hate social media and I need to detox. But the reality is, is like it's such a democratized way to advertise your business. So just get a few data points, test it for 60 days, go back and see how it worked. And if you're like, oh my gosh, posting at 9:00 PM to content mostly related to females is really crushing it for me. Well, good for you. It's because you mined that data and you had a solid statistic to go on.
Angela Proffitt:
It is shocking to me that I start to do consulting and coaching with lots of different business types, in different industries. Most of them being women led and they don't know what they don't know, but they want to spend money. They want to run ads and from a psychological angle, we'll help them. But it is just shocking where I'm like, I don't spend marketing dollars if I can't track them and-
Kinsey Roberts:
That's right.
Angela Proffitt:
… I mean, I've done it two years ago before I learned, because I didn't know what I didn't know, but I didn't understand how to set up a pixel appropriately. So it would track from a Facebook ad or a boost, ads manager didn't exist. You were running and boosting out of a personal account. I mean, just, I feel like you got to like work with an expert and all they do is like Facebook ads or Instagram ads. And they have to keep up with it constantly. But just going out there, throwing money at something and it's like a mind fuck, like excuse my language. But it is, it's like, oh, I'll throw $35 to boost this. And then 3236 people get to see it, but it's like, okay, well, what was your ROI on that? How much revenue did that make you, how many clients did it make you, how much money did you make back on that?
Angela Proffitt:
And these are, it's like, people are almost satisfied just to get the high numbers that something's getting viewed and they don't understand how to play the game. And it actually really bothers me. And then, they'll have a beautiful website and it looked great. And then I'm like, let's look at your Google Analytics because it's free. And they're like, oh, well, I don't think I have that. So what I've learned just in the recent months of trying to help people understand their data, is that website people, I guess that's not a normal thing of like setting up the backend, at least that's been my experience. Like I worked with one girl who had four locations of her business about to open a fifth, had it for five years and we're helping her do some marketing stuff for the fifth location. I'm like, well, let's look at your numbers. Let's look at your analytics and blah, blah, blah. And she's like, “Oh, I don't work with the PR company that like did all that anymore, or the marketing company.” And she's like, “But I'm still friends with the girl.”
Angela Proffitt:
So I'm like, “Okay, we'll get your username and password, that's the first thing.” I'm like, own your shit people, don't let the agencies own your stuff. And then she's like, “Oh, well, apparently I never asked for that to be set up, so I don't have it.” I'm like, “You've owned your URL for how many years and you have no analytics?” And like secretly, I'm like, I'd flip out, but these people truly don't know that so many decisions, it's so important, which was one thing that you talk about, is like why a marketing strategy and why the content is purposeful and why it's important to your business because of the ROI and the revenue. So from your perspective, why is the content marketing strategy? Like why should you even have one in the first place?
Kinsey Roberts:
Yes, that's such a good question. Well, and I think it starts with what you're saying is, I think people are happy to throw money at things as long as they see those big numbers. And interestingly enough, to your point about this client that you had, she was starting a fifth location, clearly she has some kind of success. If she's in her fifth location.
Angela Proffitt:
Totally.
Kinsey Roberts:
So that's a testament that Google Analytics itself is not going to make you successful in business. And you may even get to your fifth location, but “Your fifth location,” without that strategy, but just think where this person could be if they were making strategic decisions in their marketing, in their content strategy, based on numbers that they already had rather than, oh yeah, I don't even have access to the back end of my website. Thank God nothing has broken. You know what I mean? So it's just, it's not inherently that we're not saying, what we're saying about content strategy is not inherently that you won't be successful without one, but you can really cut down the learning curve and you can really cut down your marketing spend if you can adopt this content marketing strategy.
Kinsey Roberts:
Because in business, here's the thing, you can spend time, money or both, that's it. You can spend time, you can spend money or you can spend both. And there are times in your business, maybe you're just getting started. Maybe you are in a slow season from a financial perspective. But at the end of the day, there are going to be times in your business where you can't spend money because you're diverting that to something else. But you can spend time and a content marketing strategy will help you prop up that time you're going to spend, because what you've done now, what you're going to be doing in your content strategy is creating that evergreen content that will constantly prop up your business, that will be working when you're not working, so that when you are in a position to put more advertising dollars into the content that you've created, whether it be through ads like Angela mentioned, or boosted posts, or what have yoU.
Kinsey Roberts:
As long as you know the ROI of those, well, you don't have to go back to the drawing board and say, oh, okay, now we have money, so now I should create content. No, you've already been creating that content. It's already been working for your business and now you can just give it a shot in the arm with those marketing dollars. And so the reason a content marketing approach or a content marketing strategy is so important for your business is a few things, regardless of the industry that you're in, it's competitive and it will only become more so. And people, for a long time, I feel like the pendulum is kind of swinging back, but in a different way. So Angela, when our parents were young, they knew the grocery store owner, they knew the gas station guy, and they had those really, local relationships and the community was really supportive.
Kinsey Roberts:
And that's how you did business is you built that know, like and trust factor in person. And then we kind of got into this, in the last 10 years, the last seven years especially, we've gotten into this “Online business” game where we all forget that we're actually local businesses, unless you're not, but I am. I mean, at the end of the day, you could call my venue a brick and mortar. You know what I mean?
Angela Proffitt:
Right.
Kinsey Roberts:
And our clients are changing, the millennials, gen Z, here coming up in a couple of years, our clients are changing. And they want to know, like and trust you. They want to feel like their part of your story. They want to learn something from you. They want to see you as an expert, but they also want to see you as approachable. And so what I mean by when I say the pendulum is kind of swinging backwards, it is because people want to build those relationships with you. They want to feel like you're the local grocery store owner, but they want to be able to do that virtually. And that is what a content marketing strategy can do for you.
Kinsey Roberts:
If you are showing up consistently, let me say it one more time, consistently for your audience, for your ideal clients, for the people who've hired you with a content marketing strategy, they will validate their own decision to hire and do business with you. And content marketing, when you're not injecting like cash into it as far as paid ads and things like that, content marketing is free. Remember I said, you can spend time or money or both on your business. Content marketing takes your time, don't get me wrong. It takes your time, but it is something that can be valuable in your business, whether you're just starting out and you don't have a huge marketing budget or you have a huge marketing budget, but you need something to prop up that marketing budget and to actually promote.
Angela Proffitt:
So everybody can use it.
Kinsey Roberts:
Yeah.
Angela Proffitt:
Do you have people that say to you, I don't know what to talk about?
Kinsey Roberts:
Yes, every time.
Angela Proffitt:
I mean, what WTF?
Kinsey Roberts:
Especially if a client wants to start a podcast. I want to be a podcaster but I don't know what to talk about. And I'm like, I beg your pardon. And even if you … You know where I hear this a lot, Angela, is established business owners, yes, but also newer business owners, maybe into like the two to five year business. So they're like, oh, I've only … here's what they say. I've only been doing this for five years or I've only been doing this for two years and I say to them, I'm sorry, were you born two years ago?
Angela Proffitt:
Exactly.
Kinsey Roberts:
Did you just like plop up on this earth as a wedding planner or as a venue owner, as a business consultant two years ago? No. You didn't. You have a lifetime of experience, a career of experience that is feeding into the business that you own today. You have a lot to offer, you have a lot to say, lets niche down and get three to five pillar topics that you're going to become an expert on. Yeah, let's do that and we can hone that message, but you have a lot to offer, trust me.
Angela Proffitt:
Like I will say, I didn't realize how people would A, care and B, listen. And I mean, I was that person many years ago before I had a brand strategist, this was before it was like, cool and like a thing prior to even Facebook live coming out. And I didn't know what I didn't know, I just kind of followed directions and what Kevin told me to do. And thank God I follow directions pretty well, especially when I don't know what the hell they're talking about. They're like, just do this thing. Okay? And I'm like, I don't really have time for that, but okay, like I'll make time.
Kinsey Roberts:
Right, good.
Angela Proffitt:
And so what I've learned over the years, it's funny because when we first started doing videos, I had them professionally produce and it was perfect lighting and perfect backdrop, everything was freaking perfect. And then my relationship changed with that company, and so I'm like, well, shit, I'm just going to do it myself. And that's when like Facebook live came out and then Instagram comes out and then Snapchat came out, which I was never a Snapchat person. I'm like, if I can see it once, if it's going to disappear, like I'm just not going to do it. Which that wasn't my audience anyway. But what I've learned is Instagram stories, it's our highest platform. And it's like this FOMO thing where people want to be in the know about, in my mind I'm like, this is stupid shit. Like this is everyday life for me. But for some reason, like people find it very fascinating.
Angela Proffitt:
And so I'm like, what do you mean you don't know what to talk about? Like these are things that you're doing on an everyday basis. Now, be thoughtful about it. Like everybody goes to the grocery, everybody puts gas in their car. Like everybody eats food. Like be thoughtful about it, but it's just like, people actually do care and they do want to know that you're not a robot and they do want to see like you're a real person. You go through real life things just like they do, and it does make you more relatable. And so like, when people are like, what should I talk about? I'm like, just tell me about your day. Like let's just start vlogging, do you vlog? Do you like to vlog Kinsey?
Kinsey Roberts:
I don't know. I'm funny because I have a lot to talk about, but I also battle with being very private.
Angela Proffitt:
Yeah.
Kinsey Roberts:
But you're so right, Angela, I feel as if, if you don't know what to talk about, if you don't know where to start, just start telling people about yourself. And if you feel private, like I do, I do. I'm not somebody who shares their kids on social media or anything like that. I feel very private in my life. But what you hear on my podcast, what you see is what you get, it doesn't make me less genuine, it just means I choose to share different parts of me. And that's really important, and that's what Angela is saying, is be thoughtful about it. That doesn't mean you cannot be yourself in what you're sharing, that just means you're strategic about what you share.
Kinsey Roberts:
I don't have to put my kids on social media in order for you to know me, that's not a thing. There's no connection point there. And yeah, I agree. I think that, going back to what we talked about, as far as getting people to know, like and trust you, we look at it like, oh my gosh, I don't want to put my face on Instastories or I don't want to Snapchat, or I don't want to TikTok or all these things. And we're thinking, nobody cares about me. Nobody cares what I'm doing. And the reality is, it's funny, if you go back into all of advertising and all of marketing or all of the most popular stories, guess what they all have in common? They're all human interest stories, that has always been the most popular content, Well before social media.
Kinsey Roberts:
Digging to archives, you don't have to do this you guys, because I know you're busy. But if you dig into the archives of your newspapers, if you dig into the archives of magazines, if you look on your local news stations and what they're reporting on, human interest has always been the highest performer. And that's why there's a funny saying in journalism and this is a little bit dramatic, but if it bleeds, it leads. And basically that means if it's dramatic and if it's personal, then we're going to go with that story. And so, just you living your everyday life doesn't have to be dramatic, but to someone else it's exciting, right? And what Angela is saying is just vlogging your daily life. That's exciting because it gets them … it's a unifying experience. They can relate to you, they see what you're doing. And they can say, oh, I like that. I feel that way too.
Kinsey Roberts:
Or yes, I love avocado toast for breakfast or what have you. Or they can say, if you're polarizing, which you should be, I hate avocado toast for breakfast. Why are you doing that? And that's just such a silly example, but I hope that that illustrates our point, which is what's duh to you is mind blowing to somebody else.
Angela Proffitt:
It really is. And again, like it just, I kind of just had this like, aha moment, I mean, it's probably just been two, three years ago and I'll tell you what really made me mad, is people, because I really started to ramp up on coaching and consulting. And I would hear these comments over and over and over from other women. They're like, but you're not married and you don't have kids and you don't understand. And I'm like, and you don't know me and you don't know my life because if you knew me, you wouldn't say these things because there's a reason like I'm divorced. My sister has four kids, I practically raise them half the time. So to be more relatable, I'm like, okay, I'll start letting people in a little bit. And again, like you said, we choose what we let in and what we don't let in.
Kinsey Roberts:
That's right.
Angela Proffitt:
But I will say as soon as I started, like the weekends I wasn't working, I'm a gymnast, I'm selling girl scout cookies, I'm teaching little girl scouts how to be strategic in sales. I'm teaching them how to like figure out who's going to be a buyer and who's not going to be a buyer. It's just like, but that was just everyday family life, you know? But the more I started to like, just again, let people in a little bit, everything went up. Our numbers went up, everything, and so then you pull your audience and they're like, oh, we thought Angela was just a robot with the perfect little life, with a nice car and a nice office and always traveling the world. And can I come into your suitcase? And I'm like, that's part of my job, but that's not who I am.
Kinsey Roberts:
Yes.
Angela Proffitt:
You know? So it's like, let people in a little bit so you can be relatable. And then with your strategy, we're all human beings and what I've learned, content and having a strategy in your numbers can be profitable and it can be very impactful. And I know that's something you talk about. So how do you guys use your content strategy to ensure that you are profitable for the businesses that you have?
Kinsey Roberts:
Yeah, that's a good question. So here's a specific example of something that I do for Vista View Events, which is my wedding venue. That perfectly in my mind, perfectly marries or blends, marries, see what I did there you guys? That perfectly blends what we're talking about, which is be relatable, show people you're a human being, let them on the inside, but also combines, another thing that I'm extremely passionate about, which is educational content and helping our ideal client, our future clients see themselves in our stories and also helps them see us as experts. Here's an example.
Kinsey Roberts:
My venue is in Colorado. We are, like I said, we're a local business. People are coming here to get married. And so part of our content marketing strategy is being a tourist in our own town, being a tourist in our own community. And here's why that works for us. Number one, it's amazing video content. And everybody needs to be on the video train. If you're not, let's talk, you need to be.
Angela Proffitt:
Right?
Kinsey Roberts:
Yes. And I know Angela agrees. If you need inspiration on what to do on video, you need to follow Angela on Instagram. I'm just going to put that out there, do it right now.
Angela Proffitt:
Put it all out.
Kinsey Roberts:
Press pause, follow Angela on Instagram. But what we do is we are, this is our strategy, we're tourists in our own town, tourists in our own community. And what does that mean for us? Well, we're a wedding venue. That means we bring thousands and thousands of people into our local area, every may through October, which is when we are open. And all of those people are couples, they're parents, they're bridal wedding party, excuse me, they're guests. They all need to know what's going on in our local community. And it's a perfect way for us to show off our local community, to show off local businesses, to share with them what they could be doing in our area. It's incredible video content and it's also educational.
Kinsey Roberts:
So let me give you an example. My sister-in-law and I, Katie, the other owner of the venue, we will go to a local hotel, we'll document the whole thing and let people know where we're going. This is where we're staying, here's how you get there. Here's how far away it is from the venue. But it's basically like a reality show. We spend the night there. We give them a tour of our room. If they have an in house restaurant, we go there, we share our food. We talk about, oh, this is a cute place for a wedding shower, or this would be great for your rehearsal dinner. Then we, again, maybe we'll go out to another local business that's near that hotel in Glenwood Springs, which is the town that's close to us. Then we'll head back to our room. We'll talk about what we're going to do in the evening.
Kinsey Roberts:
We'll talk about if they have anything going on at that hotel, down in the bar or what have you. What we're doing is we're creating valuable content for our audience. Every couple who comes to our venue needs to know where to stay, everyone, every single person. They need to know where to eat. They need to know where good spots are to have rehearsal dinners. They're not from here. Even if they are, this is the first time they're planning a wedding. This is all information. It's good for us because we enjoy it, right? Marketing doesn't have to be annoying you guys, you don't have to take a “Detox” from your business or from social media. It can be fun. And this is part of the way we make it fun for ourselves.
Kinsey Roberts:
And then we wrap it up, we let them know like, here's what we're going to do after the hotel stay. Here's how you check out. Here's where we're going. We're on our way home. We've done this dozens of times and what happens, it's our most highly rated, high engagement content marketing that we do. We save our videos, we re-share them. We don't have to be going to a hotel every single week to create this repurposed content. But what we do is we save our videos, we re-share them, we put them in our email list. We make sure that we link to them where we email all of our current couples and say, hey, we were recently at Hotel Colorado, if you've been thinking about for your guests, take a tour of one of the rooms with us. And we're able to re-share, repurpose that content, which is a core value of mine. And that's how we do see how we hit so many bullet points of content marketing.
Kinsey Roberts:
Number one, this isn't free to us, but it's inexpensive to us. We do it on our off season because that's when we have time to do it. So a hotel room for one night, not expensive, super doable for our business. We are highlighting other businesses in the area which builds relationship with them. Super important for any business. Relationships are key to everything, that's number two. Number three is we are providing educational content that our ideal client needs and wants in order to become a Vista View Events couple. They may not know that they need it or they may not know that they want it right then, but then they look at it and say, oh my gosh, I'm so glad they showed that to me. I've never been to Glenwood Springs and I'm so excited, now I kind of have an idea. I feel like I'm there.
Kinsey Roberts:
And finally we've told a story that will make the couple, the hero of the story, because now they feel like a local. Now they can put that information in their invitations. Now they can put that information on their wedding website to help their guests have a better experience, and they're the hero of the story. So that's an example of content marketing that we use, that is inexpensive, that can be repurposed over and over again. That touches on four points of your overall content strategy that will take your business to the next level to ensure that you're booking clients. And that you're also getting referrals.
Angela Proffitt:
Yeah. And also too, like something that, I'm not a numbers girl, but when I need to be one, I can be one. But so one of my team members is like, that's her fun job, is all the numbers. And she's like, hey, like we've got this many this and this many this and this many this, and I mean, we could go stay here and do a whole day of podcast of interview and have like all these local people come, exactly what you just said. And you can't really look at it like, oh, I'm staying at this gorgeous five star hotel for free. Well, nothing's free-
Kinsey Roberts:
That's right.
Angela Proffitt:
… and your time is priceless and you can never buy that time back. So it's like, if I'm going to give you my time and access to my audience, then you're going to give me something in return and we both win, but you have to make sure that again, it's an alignment. And so there are, I'm not even going to pretend to lie, but like there've been times where years ago, again, before I understood how this works. I'll never forget, I went on this one trip to Costa Rica, the pictures looked pretty. But I was like, oh my God, I would never do a wedding here. I would never do an event here. I would never even have a client come into a honeymoon here. Like why am I here? And it was just like, I was just looking at it as like, oh, this is a free trip. Cool.
Angela Proffitt:
And this was kind of before, well, this is before we had a content strategy. And now it's like, we get these ask all the time, can you come here? Can you come here? Well, if I'm going to do business with you, yes. But if it's not in your wheelhouse of doing business, like no offense, but I'm not going to go stay at a Holiday Inn or a Best Western and do content creation and host a podcast from there because that's not where my clientele is at all.
Kinsey Roberts:
Yeah, that's right.
Angela Proffitt:
So just thinking about that could be good from a business perspective. Nothing comes for free.
Kinsey Roberts:
That's right.
Angela Proffitt:
Let's talk about sales funnels for a minute because a lot of people hear us talking about it, but they don't know what one is and they don't even know where to start. So if people, and I mean, I don't like to use paper, but when it comes to strategy, I whiteboard everything out and then take pictures and videos and then set goals. And so if you have a content strategy and then a sales funnel, you can really get a good return on investment. So if people don't have a sales funnel or they don't quite understand what it can do for them, what is your advice to people to start with a basic sales funnel?
Kinsey Roberts:
That's a good question. So what I like about a sales funnel is that it directly is in alignment with one of my core values as a marketing strategist, which is that we should all be repurposing our content. Just posting one time, one thing and running away and hoping that it leads to paying clients is not a good strategy. It's also not a good use of your time. So in addition to a lot of other ways that you can repurpose content and we can talk about the Angela if you want to. But in addition to that, one of the easiest, maybe not the easiest, but one of the most valuable ways to repurpose your content, to have your content working for you when you are not physically sitting down at your desk is a sales funnel. You could call it a marketing funnel. You can call it a content funnel, I don't care what you call it. Whatever makes the most sense to you.
Kinsey Roberts:
But essentially what that means is that you've created a piece of content. And I'll give you a concrete example here in a second. But what that means is you created a piece of content, you have a funnel connected to some kind of email system that is dripping out content that you've pre-created to the person who's opted in to that email funnel. And then towards the end of that email sequence, the last two to three emails, you are offering your client either a paid service with you. So for me, that would be book a tour at the venue, get on a 15 minute consultation with me if you need some virtual wedding planning or for my podcast, it would be, grab the She Creates content calendar, or maybe it's grab one of my customizable lead magnets, something like that. Depends on what your industry is, but that is the basis of a funnel.
Kinsey Roberts:
So let's use an example. Let's say that you are writing a blog post and so super healthy, really meaty blog post. And it is 10 ways to get more clients in your business. 10 ways to get more clients in your local business. Well, a great opt-in or lead magnet or freebie. Again, I don't care what you call it. You can call it whatever makes sense for you and whatever helps you understand. A great freebie for that would be, hey, this blog post is 3000 words long because I like to be thorough. If you don't want to read this and you want to save this blog post for a later, pop your email here, and I'll send you the free ebook, which is just the blog post in an easier to digest format. You can read it on the go when you're at the doctor's office, in the line at Starbucks, or what have you.
Kinsey Roberts:
They pop their email in, and now in exchange for their email address, they're going to get that ebook, that is, 10 ways to get more clients at your local business. Not only that, but you've set up a, this is where the sequence in the funnel comes in. You've set up a funnel within your email system that is somewhere between five and 10 emails long, some people like a longer sales funnel, some people like a shorter one. It doesn't really matter. It matters once you have a big enough data set to understand how long your sales cycle is, but don't get in the weeds with that if you're just getting started with a funnel. Once they've given you their email address, they get that ebook. They're also dropped into this sales funnel. Let's say it's five to seven emails long.
Kinsey Roberts:
And in this five to seven email sequence, you are just feeding them additional free content, additional free information, that is a companion that will prop up that ebook, 10 ways to get more clients at your local business. That props up that information, that continues to show their expertise. You also might ask them what they're struggling with, what their challenges are. That's free information for you and also future content ideas, pro-tip. And then, like I say, those last two to three emails, you're selling them something. The third one can be kind of a soft sell, like hey, PS, if you're looking for a digital marketing resources from the wedding industry, come to the pro-shop here at She Creates Business. Or if for me, hey, we'd love to have you tour our venue in person, you can book a tour here, real soft sell.
Kinsey Roberts:
And then in the last two emails, the second to last one and the last one, you're just blatantly saying, I've really enjoyed getting to know you. I hope you found this information super helpful. I'm glad you picked up 10 ways to get more clients at your local business. If you're ready to take it to the next level, I would love to do a one on one strategy session with you, book your time here. And that is a sales funnel. And here's the great thing, that all sounds like a lot of work and it's not a lot, it is work upfront. But then once it's done, it's done.
Angela Proffitt:
Yep.
Kinsey Roberts:
Yes. And that funnel is running for you, like I said, when your butt's not in the chair in front of your desk, and that is the value of a funnel, and that is what can make your content go so much further because you not only have a call to action, which is your opt-in for this lead magnet in that blog post or on that YouTube video or on that podcast. So you're bringing them in, you're inviting them in and you're also giving yourself away to follow up with them. So it's not just a, oh, landed on your blog post, listen to your YouTube channel or listen to your podcast while I was working out, there's a call to action. There's a way for you to get in touch with them, again, and that funnel can be selling even when you're not personally selling.
Angela Proffitt:
Yeah. And also too, like I know that you had said like having a content strategy even for your blog and so, we've never paid a penny for SEO.
Kinsey Roberts:
Good.
Angela Proffitt:
But when we're consistent, every single day putting something on our blog and using keywords, it suddenly starts to show up.
Kinsey Roberts:
Yes.
Angela Proffitt:
And so I literally had another planner a few months ago, say, “What are you paying when people type in this new venue for you to pop up, because it's on the homepage of your website?” I'm like, “No, it's not on the homepage of my website.” I'm assuming it was a blog that maybe I did, and she's like, “Well, can you take that down? Because we're trying to manage that venue.” And I'm like, “No.” I'm like, “What?”
Kinsey Roberts:
No, ma'am.
Angela Proffitt:
Now, she's quite a bit older and maybe doesn't understand like how all of the SEO and the algorithms and the spiders, all that works and she didn't ask, but the fact that she asked me to take it down, I'm like, “No, I'm not going to take it down. That's free content to educate the public on new venues, which in turn could bring us business,” which I'm really not going for that. But like, you just said, it helps consumers understand what's out there. And by the way, the new venue, like they didn't even have a website yet. So of course we own the SEO place because I was like the first one to come and do a video in the town. And the same thing with like YouTube and then having a podcast, like we started doing a podcast just to share a message. And then later you can get sponsors, you can monetize it. It is a lot work, but I mean, there's such great outcomes, like you can help so many people. Like how did you pick the name? Why did you start your podcast?
Kinsey Roberts:
I love what you're saying. And no, she will not be taking down that blog post, but thank you for asking, person.
Angela Proffitt:
Right?
Kinsey Roberts:
I love how you're owning that content. And just to your point really quickly about that and then I'll tell you about the name of my show. Even if that is not exactly what you're trying to do and you guys, if you're being strategic, like Angela is, even if that is not exactly what she's trying to do, what happens there is that she will be found for that specific blog post, for that specific information. Not only is she relevant, but she was quick, right? She was quick on the trigger with that. She was the only person before this venue even had a website. And again, or what I'm trying to say is even if that's not her exact service offering, what happens is that all of those people who now find her, they're going to be even more interested because they're going to say, oh gosh, she was so helpful in this free blog post. I can't believe how helpful this was. I'm going to poke around and see what else she has. That's the ticket. That's the key.
Kinsey Roberts:
It's not always just like, okay, I'm going to post everything that gains us business and that's all I'm ever going to do. That's the wrong frame of thinking. We need to put ourselves in the client's shoes and say, okay, this is still relevant, this is newsworthy and I want to help our clients understand this new venue and understand what's coming in our community. And by Angela helping those people, they're now going to be more invested in her. Why? Because they know, like and trust her because she gave us information freely and they're going to poke around and see what else she has to offer. And that's what will turn into business.
Kinsey Roberts:
So She Creates Business, I like telling the story, it's fun for me. I actually, I had wanted to start a podcast for a long time. I'm a long time podcast listener. And I, gosh, probably in 2000, well, I started marketing in 2010 and through a website called socialmediaexaminer.com, which I still visit to this day. Super solid marketing blog, you guys, if you're not familiar with it, you should check it out. I found a guy named Pat Flynn, who we all know, I'm sure, Smart Passive Income podcast. And I started listening to him in 2014 and I said to myself, gosh, I would love to start a podcast. Maybe I should start a podcast. And I bought a microphone that I kept in the box because I did not know what I was going to podcast about.
Kinsey Roberts:
And so through, I had no idea, through Social Media Examiner, as we all do, just digging into the internet, just being interested in learning new things. I found kind of the world of online business. I found the world of people like you, Angela, who are entrepreneurs and putting out business education. And I found bloggers and even mom bloggers and just people who were making money online. People who were website designers and people who were, gosh, I don't even know what, like logo creators, all these things. And I was just so fascinated by these women who had created their own businesses. It wasn't even related to weddings at that time. And so I said, okay, I'm a little too shy to start a podcast right now, so maybe I'll write a book.
Kinsey Roberts:
I'll write a book and it'll be an anthology and I'll interview all these women about what they're doing to make money online, sort of like Chicken Soup for the Soul. Those anthologies that are a bunch of different stories, but it was going to be a bunch of different stories of women. And I specifically focused on women because I'm passionate about women just getting shit done and being awesome in their life. And I was just so excited and respected them so much. And I thought, okay, I'm going to write a book. And that's where I came up with the name, She Creates Business. I said, that's what I'm going to call it. I'm going to call this book, She Creates Business. I'm going to interview these women and do all these stories.
Kinsey Roberts:
And I made a mind map of it, which I actually just recently posted on Instagram again, because I like to share that at least once a year, it's just fun to see the evolution of ideas. Made a mind map of it, started down the path of just kind of outlining the book and I was getting ready to start reaching out to these women. And that is when, that's late 2014. I'm sorry, mid of 2015. And that's when I was leaving my corporate marketing job, remember? In real estate. And because we're moving back to the ranch and I had found that conference I mentioned, Creative at Heart, again, just through researching and being interested in what other women were doing. And that's when I thought, I could be an entrepreneur. I feel really strongly about doing my own thing and I see all of these other women doing it and I'm moving back to the ranch. And I told Derek, I need something to do.
Kinsey Roberts:
And Katie had that kind of gestation of an idea of a venue. And that's when it started for me. And I said, I'm going to go, we're going to do this venue thing. And then once I have an idea, I'm all in. Or once I'm like in on a project, I'm all in and I want to know everything about it. So dug into the wedding industry and found that conference. And I feel like it was just kismet. It was meant to be, they were coming to Denver that year in 2016. And I said, I'm going, I don't care what it costs. So I went and got on this amazing, or got into an amazing panel of wedding planners. When I say that, it always sounds like I was on the panel. I was not, you guys, I'm just a guest, right? Like I'm just an attendee. I just felt so lucky to be in, it was called Panel Group is what they called it. And I was just an attendee, like a fly on the wall in this group, listening to all of these other amazing women.
Kinsey Roberts:
Made a ton of amazing friends and right then and there, that was July 2016, I said to myself, this is awesome. I am now in the wedding industry because I'm a venue owner and I know what I'm going to podcast about. I'm going to podcast, I'm going to keep that name, She Creates Business. And I'm going to attach a podcast for wedding pros because I know the value of niching down. Marketing background. So I'm going to interview women entrepreneurs in the wedding industry, and less than two months later on September 13th of 2016, I launched She Creates Business and I've been doing it ever since. And that is the evolution, yeah.
Angela Proffitt:
This is awesome.
Kinsey Roberts:
So you guys, your first … is it? Thank you. I love it so much.
Angela Proffitt:
Awesome.
Kinsey Roberts:
I love to tell that story because the first iteration of your idea, and I could never have predicted the success of the podcast. I did not know. I didn't know. Yes, I knew sponsors. I knew you could make money from podcasting. Of course, I was a long time listener, but I didn't know what that podcast would do at the time. The only goal that I had for it was that I was moving to a ranch or moving back to a ranch that I knew was super isolated, I wanted to make friends in the industry. I wanted to hear about what other women were doing, because I was personally invested in the stories of other entrepreneurs. And so I just did it. And again, I just like to say that the first iteration of your idea may not be what you end up with, but don't quit and don't stop.
Kinsey Roberts:
And if it feels hard or if it feels challenging, there's that quote that, learn to rest not to quit. And so I held on to She Creates Business for two years and bought the domain name, you guys, so do that too. But I held onto it for two years and here it is, and it's better than I ever could have imagined back then.
Angela Proffitt:
So go for your dreams, even if it takes you two years to sit on the URL-
Kinsey Roberts:
That's right.
Angela Proffitt:
… it is better later than never. And this has been so much fun. I could just talk to you all day.
Kinsey Roberts:
I just love you. She has the best questions.
Angela Proffitt:
This has been so awesome. But guys, if you want to go over and grab Kinsey's free content strategy, she's got an example for us. It's a Bit.ly link. So it's B-I-T.L-Y/S as in Sam, C as in cat, B as in boy, strategy. So SCB Strategy. So go to that Bit.ly link, you can grab her free content strategy. And then, what's the best platform for people to connect with you?
Kinsey Roberts:
Thank you for asking. Aside from grabbing that content strategy, you guys, the best place to come and find me is on Instagram. I am @SheCreatesBusiness. Please come and hang out, feel free to DM me. I love chatting and it's the easiest place to find me.
Angela Proffitt:
Yay. And then your podcast, is it on iTunes, all the platforms, if they want to go and subscribe?
Kinsey Roberts:
Oh yes. If you would like to subscribe to the show, it is on all of your favorite platforms. iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, wherever you get your podcast, Overcast, all the things. Wherever you get your show, you can come and find me, I'm at, She Creates Business. If you just type in, She Creates Business, you'll find it. Or you could type in Kinsey Roberts, and you'll find it there as well.
Angela Proffitt:
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for doing this today.
Kinsey Roberts:
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I really appreciate it.
Angela Proffitt:
Of course. And everybody out there that's listening, thank you so much for listening to me and Kinsey rant on today about how important strategy is, and it is important, but you got to start somewhere, right? So be sure to tune in next week and everybody have a great day. Bye.
Angela Proffitt:
Now that you have all the tools you need to conquer the world in GSD, just share this with your friends and your fellow GSD Leaders, and be sure you're a subscriber so you never miss the juicy details of Business Unveiled. And you can ask Siri to listen to the latest episode, but you got to be a subscriber. Before I go, I have a huge favor to ask, and it would mean the world to me, while you're listening, snap a quick screenshot, post it to your Instagram story, tag me at GSD Leader, underscore and share with me your top takeaway from this episode and how it relates to you. Until next time, remember, stay productive and profitable.
Speaker 3:
You've been listening to Business Unveiled with Angela Proffitt. Join us next time as we share our experiences to help you be more productive and profitable in your creative business. For more great resources, visit angelaproffitt.com.
EPISODE BROUGHT TO YOU BY
This episode is brought to you by 99designs, check it out: angelaproffitt.com/99designs