Marketing Happy Hour - Understanding the Creator Economy | Kristen Bousquet of Your Soulcialmate

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey there, welcome to the Marketing Happy Hour podcast, where each week we're learning career-defining advice, powerful social media strategies, unique creative tips, groundbreaking influencer marketing tactics, and more from marketing experts that represent some of the world's leading brands. Let's dive in. Grab a drink and join your hosts, Cassie and Erica, for this week's episode. It came to a point where I was like, I am so burnt out. I'm exhausted. Honestly, protect your mental health at all costs. I know it's scary when you're a business owner and you want to just like pour everything and more into what you're doing, but like you can't pour from an

Starting point is 00:00:50 empty glass. Like we've all heard that. And I think there's like nothing more true about being a business owner than that statement. We're diving deep into the creator economy this week with a conversation with Kristen Busquets, founder of Your Social Mate. Kristen's heart behind her business is to equip creators with information to be successful in their craft while building a powerful business. Kristen's been around the block with building her own businesses and growing her own platforms as a creator, and she's sharing her story and insights with us today. More specifically, we talk social podcasting and newsletters and how to use those powerful tools to grow your online business. Kristen also shares PR tips for individuals and brands looking to land placements and why she recommends following journalists on

Starting point is 00:01:37 Twitter and LinkedIn to build relationships and assert your expertise on those platforms. She also shares how she avoids burnout when wearing multiple hats as a professional. I'm excited for you to join us for today's conversation. So grab your favorite drink and let's get into it. Hey, Kristen, how are you? I'm great. Thank you guys so much for having me. You are so welcome. We're so excited to have you on. You literally are aesthetic queen. I'm just going to say this. So the first time I saw your brand, I was like, oh my gosh, we need to have her on. Like, I absolutely love everything you do. You recently got married, which is exciting. So we'll talk about all the things, but before we

Starting point is 00:02:22 really get into today's conversation, just got to ask a question that we always ask all our guests. Kristen, what is in your glass this afternoon? In my glass now and in my glass 99% of the time is water, but I have it. It's a little spicy. Okay. Not just plain water. I use this stuff called Ultima and it's like a little powder that you put in and it's electrolytes, but it tastes like lemonade. So it's basically like I'm drinking

Starting point is 00:02:50 lemonade all day. It has no sugar in it, but I'm getting my electrolytes, you know, but I'm actually drinking water. It's great. Health and wellness queen. Yes. And is that a Stanley cup? I see too. Yes. I splurged because I was like so sick of continuously filling up a glass of water. I was like, fine, I'll just get the cute water bottle and go for it. And I love it. It really is as great as everyone talks about. Amazing. I want to get one of those. Just do it. Well, I actually, so this is my first recording in my new apartment and Cassie brought me a housewarming gift of Onda. It's funny because we talked about Onda pretty much in every episode

Starting point is 00:03:34 of our first season of the podcast. I was always drinking Onda during this question. It's a tequila seltzer. So if you know Shay Mitchell, she was on like pretty little liars and she's like, so she has like so many brands now, this is one of them. Um, and it is incredible. And Cassie just tried it for the first time after hearing me talk about it for like a year and a half. So, um, cheers to that. It was about time. Amazing. Well, Kristen, we would just love for our marketing happy hour listeners to hear kind of your career journey up into this point, just from a brief look at your LinkedIn, it looks like you've held some amazing roles. So we just want to hear a little bit about that before we move on for further in our questions. Yeah. I'll give you the quick version because I

Starting point is 00:04:20 feel like I have bounced around so much. I'm definitely the type of person like I like to try a million different things and and just like I can't settle in one thing ever. So I've definitely been around the block in terms of career changes. I actually started a blog back in 2008. I lived in Massachusetts. I was very young and I liked you you know, fashion, a.k.a. like Abercrombie and Hallsburg at that time. So I'd have my mom take photos of me in like my backyard and I started posting them there. But this was not a career. I'm just planting the seed for the rest. So I basically after college, I was working at Sephora. I was also starting a photography business kind of unintentionally. I just was taking pictures of my friends and I would do their makeup and take their photos.

Starting point is 00:05:10 And before I knew it, I had people asking me, like, can you take my senior photos? And I was like, don't really know exactly what I'm doing, but sure. Like, yeah, give me $20 and like, I'll do it for you. So I unintentionally started a photography business and I was a photographer for years. And I mean, I still definitely dabble, but that was my full-time job for a really long time. I was doing boudoir photography, wedding photography, you know, families, high school seniors, all that kind of stuff.

Starting point is 00:05:38 And then I also, at that time, because I was working at Sephora, I would like do people's makeup and then also take their photos. So eventually I ended up kind of starting a business where we were doing hair, makeup, and photography. Um, it ended up expanding into a boutique, a full service salon. So in 2019, I had a 4,000 square foot studio. We did a photography upstairs. We had a boutique in the front. Um, and then we had full service salon and spa. It was like a whole thing. It was a lot of fun, but eventually I, I just didn't feel comfortable there anymore. I was working with a bunch of girls. I had a business partner who didn't pull her weight and

Starting point is 00:06:17 we didn't get along great after a while. And so eventually I was like, I'm so unhappy here. I can't do this any longer. So I actually ended up selling that business back in 2019. And then since then I've been really pursuing social media because I've had that blog this whole time throughout this whole journey. And I just kind of didn't really think I could ever turn it into something where it was actually a job. And obviously the blog has, you know, turned into Instagram, turned into TikTok and all of the other things. But back in 2019, I started, when I left that business, I was working with clients as like a social media manager, influencer campaign manager. So I really got a peek at the life of people who were hiring these influencers, which was a really cool experience because I was also on the other side as an influencer. So before I knew it, I had people on Instagram

Starting point is 00:07:09 asking me all the time, like, oh, you're an influencer, you know, manager, you're an influencer campaign manager. What do I do if this happens? Or like, what happens if I do this? And so I was getting so many questions and I realized no one knew what they were doing from an influencer standpoint. And so eventually I started coaching creators and that's just kind of blossomed into what it is today where I am a content creator and an influencer. I work with brands in that capacity, but I also coach creators and actually teach them how to monetize. And we have a podcast, all of the things. So it's been a crazy journey. That's amazing. And so I want to dive into SocialMate specifically a little bit here.

Starting point is 00:07:49 And so just tell us a little bit about what inspired you to start that business. I know you've kind of been around the block with creating businesses, building them, which is amazing. And I'm sure lent so much to this business specifically that we want to talk about. But just tell us about that and what you love most about the work you're currently doing. Yeah. I mean, I, again, like never knew that I was going to be making a career out of this. I was just helping people in the DMs for so long. And then I realized at a certain point, I was like, I'm spending like a lot of

Starting point is 00:08:22 time in my DMs answering the same questions over and over again. And before I knew it, I was like, I'm spending like a lot of time in my DMs answering the same questions over and over again. And before I knew it, it was like half my time was spent there not getting paid. And then half my time was like spent actually doing my job. And it came to a point where I was like, I think I can get paid for this, you know, like enough people are looking at me as an expert, clearly, if they're coming to me for the questions when there's other people they could be going to. And so I started off by just doing coaching calls. And from there, I realized on those calls, again, I was saying the same things over and over and over again. And so I was like, I have to just put this in a course and then go from there. And so we had a course for a really long time, but then I missed the one-on-one aspect with people. So we're actually, right now we have a membership program, which is, I think, the perfect kind of

Starting point is 00:09:10 culmination of everything I've wanted to do, where I do one-on-one coaching in the group. I'm able to actually hang out and have Zoom calls with everyone. They have a community. They have resources. So it's really a course like one-on-one coaching kind of mixed together. And I'm so happy with, with where it is now. It's just so cool to be able to like, hang out with other creators and, and really show them like everyone is going through the same things. And like, we can all help each other through all of it. My favorite part is really just being able to see people like come in and not know what they're doing. And then, you know, like a few months in and they're like professionals, you know, they're teaching other people how to do stuff.

Starting point is 00:09:50 So it's cool to watch for sure. Absolutely. I love too, how your business has solely come from this need that you've seen people in the marketplace have, which is super cool. I tell people all the time, you know, everyone's like, I want to start a business. I want to do something. And I was like, well, first of all, start with your expertise and where you feel like you're helping people the most. So that's amazing to hear that you've pretty much done that. And so I'm curious, obviously social media is right up

Starting point is 00:10:19 in your wheelhouse, but what other marketing channels have worked well for you or are you utilizing to promote your business and reach new consumers? Yeah, most of what we do really is through social media. We're on all of the platforms. We do have a newsletter too, which I think is incredibly important for creators. We've heard people say this time and time again, like you don't own social media. You don't own anything, you know, that's there, it could go away tomorrow. And so you want to obviously still have ways that you can reach that audience. So I have a newsletter, we actually built it up this year. And it's been really great to see how many people actually, you know, like respond to the newsletters and, and are clicking on things that we're sharing there. So I'm always trying to find ways to improve that. I also like to do a lot of in person kind of events or panels and things like that where I can actually talk with people in

Starting point is 00:11:12 person. I feel like being in social media for so long, it's interesting to see like how much you don't have any sort of like actual like human connection in real life. But I'm like, I miss actually like having a conversation with people in person. And so I've now that, you know, the pandemic has slowed down, we have in-person events again. And so I've been trying to do a lot of like speaking engagements and things like that to, to market our brand, but also just to, to network. Yeah, absolutely. That's amazing. Well, and I'm curious too, to hear more about your coaching offering. And so we're looking to launch coaching for career marketing careers specifically in 2023. So just curious, like

Starting point is 00:11:58 what's worked for you in terms of how you build that out the process with clients? What does that look like? Yeah. I mean, over the last two years, we've been in business at SocialMate for a little over two years now. I have literally learned so much in the last two years. It's been crazy. I've done so much trial and error. Again, we started off by just doing those coaching calls. And I found that I really liked talking to people. But then when we started doing all coaching calls. And I found that I really liked talking to people. But then like when we started doing all coaching calls, I was like, okay, I'm literally on the phone, you know, six hours of the day and I don't have time to get other things done. So it's been definitely like a process of me trying to figure out for my schedule and my mental wellbeing and

Starting point is 00:12:42 how much I want to actually be working versus like, you know, building other things. That has been a learning curve to figure out like exactly what works for me there. So I feel like you guys will definitely have to try and do some trial and error. Like, you know, we had with our course, it was like a mentorship program. So it was basically a course, but you'd also get like one-on-one calls as well. And it was great because instead of me getting on calls with people and again, saying the same things over and over again, people could watch the course first, actually implement it. And then when they had all those questions, I think that was a really great way to go about it because, you know, like if you don't have the opportunity to ask questions about something after you already try and go do it you know I think that leaves you as a student like

Starting point is 00:13:30 still a little lost which obviously of course that's like kind of the opposite of what you want um but again like after kind of going through that shift of like okay like I can't be on the phone all day the course thing is working though. I tried to figure out like, what's an option that I can spend less time dedicating myself to this. Of course, I'm still working with my students every single day and everything, but I just couldn't spend hour long phone calls, you know, on the phone all day, every day. So the membership is really nice because I'm able to actually like coach people on my own time. You know, I spend an hour at the beginning of the day, hour at the end of the day,

Starting point is 00:14:09 going in there, interacting, building that up, putting in new resources, you know, planning different things. But then it's nice too, because it's a little bit more almost passive, I guess, where it's like not one-on-one necessarily all the time, but it's like one to many. So it's a great way for me as a business owner to kind of like have an unlimited amount of income that I can really make because I only have to put it out once and I can have as many people in the membership as could possibly be. And I still kind of do around the same amount of work. So again, it's just been such a learning curve of trying to figure out what works. But I think for me, the biggest thing was figuring out like for my mental well

Starting point is 00:14:50 being and my scheduling, what worked because that was very different now from what I thought it would be, you know, like a couple years ago. Sure. Yeah, that sounds like it could get to be taxing a little bit on just like overall wellbeing and just trying to manage your time. So I totally understand that and appreciate your advice. We are just thinking on starting out in 2023 with some coaching adventures. So we'll see how that goes and we'll do some testing and learning and hopefully we figure it out the way that you have. So it sounds great. Yeah. Yeah. We're also like very huge podcast nerds over here. We both love listening to podcasts.

Starting point is 00:15:29 We have our own podcast. Never thought we would have our own podcast, but here we are. And so I just want to hear about the beginning of why and how you initially started your podcast. So I, I don't know why, but I've just always wanted to have one. I love, like my favorite part of my job is talking to other people, you know, like getting to have conversations with people who are going through the same things as I am, who understand the things that I'm going through. And so I've loved having conversations, but I was finding like so many of

Starting point is 00:16:03 the conversations I was having where I was like, dang, like this is good info, you know, like people should hear this. And so I always thought about having a podcast and I always made like a thousand excuses as to why I couldn't. I was like, I don't know how to have a podcast. Like, I don't want to go buy a mic. Like I don't even know which mic I need to get, you know? So I never did until I had talked about it for so long that one day, it was last October. I literally sat down and I was like, you're recording an episode right now. Like, we're just doing it. We're going for it. I didn't have a name. I didn't have a plan, like literally nothing. I went to Best Buy, just got like, I asked the guy, which

Starting point is 00:16:40 podcast mic is good for me, you know? like he just gave me one I trusted him and you know here we are with old trustee here and yeah I literally sat down I had my my husband in it with me because he also his business he runs through social media so he understands a lot of the same struggles first episode was just us like kind of talking about social media and you know it kind of just blossomed from there but I literally made every excuse in the book until finally I was like just shut up and sit down and record this like I'm not listening to myself talk about this any longer oh my gosh that's amazing we had a little bit of a similar experience of just like having really

Starting point is 00:17:20 great conversations and trying to find an outlet for other people to be tuned into them. We started on Clubhouse where we were having some great conversations and like there was at the time no way to record those conversations. We were like, we need to pivot this and turn it into something that other people can benefit from as well. So I totally identify with that for sure. And especially like we didn't have any equipment in the beginning. Like I didn't

Starting point is 00:17:45 have a mic. I think you already had a mic. Not at the very beginning. Oh really? No, it was like literally talking into our phones and like sending our friends a little text invite on this app. It was just very, it was funny. Yeah. But yes, I completely, completely and we we didn't know what we were doing we still I mean don't know exactly what we're doing but that's like the fun of it though like you're never going to like go into something and know exactly what you're doing I think the point is that you know like you learn along the way you figure out what works and what doesn't um but side note are you guys still using clubhouse no no I either and I want to but I don't know why I just like can't bring myself to do it I know I just I would love to see stats of like who's still on

Starting point is 00:18:31 that platform because other platforms came out with audio um like offerings and so I don't know if people are still utilizing it the way that they were back in 2021 like early 2021 I don't know yeah I don't think people are but I know there are like definitely still people on I see updates for it all the time of like clubhouse is coming out with this and that to get back on one day yeah well we should do something we'll do something combined I'm down talking about that we're like we need to just do one reunion with a bunch of people I was a guest on a clubhouse session last week, which is so bizarre because I hadn't touched the app in like a year. And it was kind of fun because you're, I mean, it's just voice, right? So it's podcasting, but like podcast video is a thing now too. So I

Starting point is 00:19:16 can just pop it on. I can be in my sweatpants, my pajamas and it's, I don't know, it's kind of nice. So yeah, still have, still have love for the platform, but yeah. Same. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Just a quick question for anybody who's out there that's thinking about starting a podcast, what would you recommend?

Starting point is 00:19:35 I know we both kind of talked about trial and error and just kind of figuring it out as you go. But now that you've had a little bit of experience for anybody out there looking to start a podcast, what equipment should you get? Do you need like crazy, amazing equipment, or can you just go, like you said, to Best Buy and get the microphone that the man recommends? Or like, where should you market your podcast? Where are you marketing your podcast? All the things, if somebody's just starting, what do they need to know? Yeah. Earlier this year, I actually took a podcast course. It was like a podcast mentorship.

Starting point is 00:20:10 And I learned a lot. First things first, you definitely don't need any fancy equipment. I think my mic was a hundred dollars and like, you definitely don't even need one that's a hundred dollars. I actually just watched a part of my friend Tom's podcast. His podcast is called Creators Are Brands. It's amazing. And he was talking to people that have like a top 1% podcast and they literally use the cheapest one they found on Amazon. So you definitely do not need fancy equipment by any means. When it comes to marketing the podcast, one thing that I learned that was kind of like, like a mind blown situation for me, I was sharing my podcast, like on my Instagram stories, like once a week, I'd share it like here and there once a week, in different places. But I was always like, why am I not

Starting point is 00:20:57 getting like the views that I expect? Like, why am I not getting the listens that I expect? And my my mentor at the time, he was like, you literally post it once a week. Like, do you know how many people look at your stories? Like in one day, you know, you need to be posting it every single day. Are you going to bombard people? Maybe a little bit, but guess what? They can literally just hit the next slide and like, keep going. They're not going to get mad at you and unfollow, but like you can't like you're underselling yourself, you know? And you you almost like don't even realize it because you make excuses as to why you don't want to share it too much but right um yeah so I think like oversharing honestly I think is is underutilized for most podcasters I love that oversharing

Starting point is 00:21:38 oversharing is underutilized I like it yeah yeah Yeah. Yeah. One other thing that I learned that again was like pretty interesting to me. Podcasts can be a little bit difficult to monetize in terms of like, you know, getting sponsors and things like that. Obviously they look for very specific, like number of views, especially if you're getting started right off the bat, you're probably not going to be able to find sponsors. A lot of people use podcasts to monetize as part of their funnel. So, you know, like maybe people find your podcast and then you get them to join into your Facebook group and then they go from your Facebook group into your offer. But that's a really great way to monetize is getting people to go through that

Starting point is 00:22:20 funnel starting at your podcast, you know, and that is a better way to monetize I guess than just like waiting for you to to get sponsors because again like it might be a little while before that happens yeah totally totally we've run into that where we've been in conversations with a brand and it's all about the numbers and it is so hard to like it's so hard to demonstrate the value of a podcast listen, because that's somebody sitting down to talk to someone that they really trust for like 45 ish minutes. Like that value is huge. They're probably going to convert, but it's hard when the people that are in charge of advertising dollars are thinking about it in the same way they think about social media of just being like,

Starting point is 00:23:04 oh, that's one little follower that might be the content, but not really engaged with it. No podcast listeners are like very, very engaged. And so I think that's something that's like a communication gap that we're running into every now and then as well. Yeah. That's a really great point. I mean, like I only know a handful of people that I would really want to like sit down and have a 45 minute conversation, you know, so it really does say a lot. If someone's willing to sit down and spend that time with you, they could be doing anything else. Totally.

Starting point is 00:23:36 Absolutely. For sure. Well, I'm curious too, and we started to talk a little bit about this, but in your opinion, what makes podcasting to you a great opportunity for brands looking to advertise and connect with audiences in new ways? I mean, podcasting is, is huge. And I don't think a lot of people realize it fully just yet, especially with like video podcasting becoming like more and more of a thing podcasts are are most people are listening to podcasts you know like it's a huge form of advertising I think people who don't listen

Starting point is 00:24:11 to podcasts have like no idea how how big the world of podcasting is but like once you're in it you're you really realize there are so many podcasts out there again people who listen to podcasts are like die hard going to spend hours of their life there. And again, like bringing up the point of like, it really is so much more valuable than just like an Instagram follower, you know, especially like if we were to look even like Instagram versus TikTok, you know, it's kind of a similar situation where like someone with 20k on Instagram and someone with 20k on TikTok, like's a totally different story you know and like thinking about like you know 20k podcast listeners is even bigger than what I you know Instagram I would say um so like the value really is there but I think

Starting point is 00:24:56 the difficult part for advertisers is like it's still kind of like an unconventional way of advertising like oh yeah the tracking of the stats and like all of that like it's still kind of like an unconventional way of advertising like oh yeah the tracking of the stats and like all of that like it's still not as like cut and dry as something like a facebook ad or you know an instagram story where you can see clicks and all of that so i think it's just a little bit scary for some brands to like yeah their toes into it um but again i i think in the next few years it's only going to get bigger and better because more and more great podcasts are coming out. More and more companies that we know and love are starting like podcast networks, like LinkedIn and all of these things. You know,

Starting point is 00:25:36 so like it's only going to get bigger. Brands will become more comfortable with it. And again, it really is so much more valuable than just someone who's like scrolling by you on social media. People have to make like an active choice to sit down and listen to you, you know? Totally, completely agree with that. That's one thing we've been doing a lot of chatting with other friends that are in the marketing world, just going into the new year. And that's one thing that we've been talking about is like brands setting aside a budget to kind of like play with and just like get in there

Starting point is 00:26:05 and utilize in new interesting ways to get their the story of their brand out and I think podcast is an amazing way to do that um we presented to a college campus like their marketing class and um we were talking I think there was like an article I'm gonna butcher this but um I think there was an article that it said like podcasting is projected to become I think like a four billion dollar industry by 2024 and so right now I believe it or at the time that the article published um it was like two million or I'm sorry two billion um so all that to say it is still like an up and coming platform. For sure. For sure. Yeah. Like once people know about podcasting and they get into it, like you're in it, you know, like you cannot listen to them after.

Starting point is 00:26:51 Oh yeah. Absolutely. Well, shifting gears just a little bit here. We talked a lot about podcasting and kind of what you're up to, but I know that you've been featured in a lot of online publications and one of my specialties is PR. So I would just love to hear from your point of view, what are some PR tips for our listeners looking to land those placements for their brands or just their self as a personal brand? Do you have any tips around that? Yeah, this is kind of the same situation with,

Starting point is 00:27:23 as like a creator building relationships with brands that you want to work with every single outlet that I've worked with every journalist that I've worked with has literally been from me just like introducing myself and being like hi I exist like if you need anything let me know um journalists any kind of like publications are huge on twitter um and linkedin so getting on those platforms staying active on those platforms and kind of like publications are huge on Twitter and LinkedIn. So getting on those platforms, staying active on those platforms and kind of like asserting your expertise on those platforms, I think is going to be a great way to, you know, establish yourself as an expert. But again, like on Twitter, you'll see all the time, if you follow the journalist that you want to hopefully work with there are very you know time very often times that you're going to see a tweet that says hey I'm working on a

Starting point is 00:28:11 story for this I'm really looking for like this person who does this and this like does anyone know anyone and so whether you're recommending someone else but again like kind of getting your foot in the door like hey I'm here to help like um but also you could just be like hey that's me like what do you need help with um again literally every time that I've been featured in anything it's been me answering requests like that or now because it's happened quite a few times I've been able to like actually keep up with a lot of the journalists that I work with frequently on again LinkedIn Twitter whenever they're posting like a new article, I'll read it. I'll write my comments, my thoughts so that I'm a little bit more top of mind so that when they do have something coming up, then it happens almost every time that I comment something, they'll be like,

Starting point is 00:28:53 hey, in my DMs, what's up? You know, like I'm actually working on this story. I'm glad you commented on this. You want to get on a call and like, you know, talk to me about this. So I think it's just putting yourself out there and building relationships, just like pretty much everything. Yeah. Yeah. That's a really good tip is just staying engaged and involved with people and even just commenting, like you said, on things that they're putting out into the world. Like that does make you top of mind. That's really good. Don't overcomplicate it. it yeah which I'm sure that tip could go a lot into more of the creator space too kind of like what you're talking about but you obviously

Starting point is 00:29:30 as you said earlier in this episode you are a creator yourself and do a lot of brand partnerships and so I'm curious what that experience has been like for you but also because we have a lot of brands listening in people from the brand side what do you look for in a brand when you're trying to decide whether or not to do a partnership with them? That is a great question. A lot of the times when I'm approached by brands, the kind of make it or break it for me is, is this a brand that's like open to actually hearing what I have to say? I think a lot of brands forget too that this is a 50-50 partnership. You know, if you're hiring me and you're saying we need to do it this way and I just know with my audience, it's not going to work. I'm going to say that's

Starting point is 00:30:16 not going to work, but so many brands are like, well, that's what we want to do. You know, like sucks. That's what we're doing. And it's like, you know, like, and it sucks if you get into that situation where maybe you've already signed a contract and, you know, then they give you the creative brief and you're just like, oh, this is like not, not it. You know? I think brands that allow creators to have the creative freedom are always going to be brands that creators want to work with time and time again, because like, we know our audience best. Like I know what's, what they like and what they don't like. And if I'm forced to post something that they don't like, and you expect me to get a certain result, and I know that's not going to happen, you know, like, of course I'm going to say something,

Starting point is 00:30:56 but so many brands are like, you know, that's just the way it is. So I think them having that, that flexibility is really important. And this kind of goes for both sides, whether it's, you know, creator talking about a brand or vice versa, treating a person like an actual human, you know, so many brands that I work with are like, you know, they think I'm like a robot and that I'm not an actual person behind here and, you know, expect very like unrealistic things that, you know, like at the end of the day, I would still like to be treated like a human with like feelings and like other responsibilities. And somehow that, that does get lost in the mix more often than you would think. So just human decency, I don't know, it's pretty much kind of like the biggest thing.

Starting point is 00:31:41 And you would think, oh, that's just's just normal but yeah people would be shocked it's not crazy I know one thing we had a Alice Hampton I was just thinking about that um and she works with a lot of talent and brands both on both sides really and she said one of the best things you can do is just spell someone's name right like pay attention crazy she said you would not believe how many emails I get where my talent's name is spelled wrong and it's like it's attention to detail if you actually care about working with someone you care enough to spell their name right so it's like the little things yeah exactly oh my gosh that's so funny I yeah I was just thinking about when Alice said that, but I,

Starting point is 00:32:25 yeah, so funny, simple things. We're, we're only asking simple things here, right? Hilarious. So Kristen, we talked a lot about all of the many hats that you wear with your coaching business, some of your products, your podcasts, your social media, your PR efforts, you're all over the place. What are some tips that you can share for somebody who does wear so many hats in the, in that area? Like what are some time management skills or just skills to keep you sane? I, um, we had someone on one of our old, uh, podcast seasons that works, um, has a company called hustle sanely. And so how would you say you hustle in a sane way? Hire a team. I have, I think there's five or six of us. All of my people that I work with

Starting point is 00:33:16 are independent contractors. At this point, I have, you know, like a podcast producer. I have two VAs. I have someone who does all my video editing, you know, so there's, there's people who are way better at certain things than I am. And so I like to just let them do their thing versus me spending hours doing what they can do in 15 minutes. So outsourcing, I think is huge to again, like keep your head on straight. And then it also allows me to focus on things that are actually going to like bring in more, you know, revenue. It's going to grow our business a little bit more. So anything that anyone else can do, I always try and outsource those things.

Starting point is 00:33:57 So I think that's very important, but also setting boundaries. I'm sure people have heard this a million times, but like, I don't think people really process it. Like you have to say no to opportunities that are not going to serve you without guilt. Um, you have to look at your calendar and realistically say, like, do I need to like cut my days shorter? Like, should I be letting people schedule appointments whenever they want, you know, from 8am to 8pm? The answer is no.

Starting point is 00:34:24 Um, you know, like, do you need to, like, turn your phone off on the weekends? You know, like, especially as a creator, I think who is expected to just like show up online all the time. I've just like stopped using my phone on weekends for the most part. And I didn't used to do that. Like I would spend 24 hours a day on the phone um and so it came to a point where I was like I am so burnt out I'm exhausted I'm not hustling sanely by any means and so again like I had to set those boundaries which I definitely think is very important um yeah I mean just honestly like protect your your mental health at all costs like I know it's scary when you're a business owner and you want to just like pour everything in more into what you're doing but like you can't pour

Starting point is 00:35:11 from an empty glass like we've all heard that and I think there's like nothing more true about being a business owner than that statement yes even I mean Cassie and I both now have our own like businesses and consulting clients and things like that. And we deal with that a lot, but even in the corporate space, like if you're working on a team within a brand, like you do need to set, you know, boundaries and be able to make sure that you're doing the job that's in front of you the best way. And I think we've had that conversation so many times on this podcast of just like setting boundaries you know going above and beyond in some areas but also just being able to say no to something every now and

Starting point is 00:35:51 then is very healthy yeah yeah for sure I I've literally like the way my schedule has changed in the last two years I used to accept calls anytime any place like always I would book my whole days now I'm like no more than two calls in a day and they cannot exceed an hour each. I don't work on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, like I clock out by four every day because like, what is the point of me, you know, making money and having this job if I'm not able to like, go enjoy myself, you know, so I really try and like, spend time outside of work as much as possible. I think another really important thing is like having hobbies outside of work too. I typically

Starting point is 00:36:32 in the last few years, like my, I would work and then I would like clock out of my computer and like go onto my phone. So like, you're never actually like doing anything outside of work, especially when you own your own business and so you know I've started doing like more reading like pleasure reading not like business books I've started going to like a pottery class you know like having outside of work is like so important for sure oh my god oh now I want to go to a pottery It's so fun. It is so fun. Oh my gosh. Amazing. Um, the next question that we had written down for you is what is next for you? What do you see coming in the future? 2023, I think this episode will air in like January or February. What's coming up for you and your business? So at this point in November right now, I am going through

Starting point is 00:37:28 this feeling of I'm just really sick of Instagram. I realized like, what are the days that I'm like depressed? What are the days that I'm like really feeling discouraged? And it's always days when I spend a lot of time on Instagram. And it's very scary for me because so many aspects of my job are based around like me spending time on Instagram. You know, like I need to know what's going on. I need to be, you know, getting interaction on my posts. So that means I have to spend time engaging. I have all my students talking to me about Instagram, you know, like everything revolves around Instagram. But it's just been really a tough place to be in the last few months. I'm sure most people listening would definitely agree with that.

Starting point is 00:38:11 So I am actually trying to shift to spend more time on other platforms and spend more time just again, like focusing on other things, you know, spending no more than like 30 minutes a day on Instagram. I want to almost kind of shift myself to be less of an influencer and more of a coach because I think I'll be, I'll feel a lot less pressure about post-performance when my income shifts to be more coaching versus influencing. So that's kind of my goal for, for 2023 2023 I want to just like be less discouraged about social media um and I I think I've got a good plan to make that happen but we'll see how it goes yeah I love that we'll have to check in with you too later on and see if that all worked out the way it should I'm sure I hope so I know I'm the same way I felt so discouraged by just it in general and I'm like

Starting point is 00:39:03 redoing my house now even just being on Pinterest I'm like oh my house I felt so discouraged by just it in general. And I'm like redoing my house now, even just being on Pinterest. I'm like, Oh, my house to look like this comparison stuff all the time. And it's just so, so it is totally, totally understand. Yeah. Yes. Well, Kristen, we are so sad to be coming to the end of this conversation today. We'll check back in with you at a later time, like we said, just to see how everything's going in your life and business. But before we close out today, we would love to ask a question we ask all of our guests, but what do you know now that you wish you knew early on in your career? I would probably say that like you are the only one that's going to like, decide how successful you are. I think for

Starting point is 00:39:48 me, like, especially in my other business, like I relied on so many other people to like, you know, do things and make things happen for me. And at the end of the day, like I always ended up having to do the things that I needed to, you know, do to make things happen. So I think at the end of the day, like even if you have a team, like you're the one managing that team, you know, do to make things happen. So I think at the end of the day, like, even if you have a team, like you're the one managing that team, you know, like you as, as a business owner are always going to be in charge of your success. So yeah, I would probably say that. That's a good one. Yeah. It sounds very similar. We had someone from a past season who shared something very similar. And it's such a good reminder, because again, going back to social media, and we watch all of these people and how they define

Starting point is 00:40:32 success for themselves. And we're always comparing, we're like, well, our success doesn't look like this. So I'm not successful. And that's so not true. And so it's such a good reminder just to get off the platforms, get off LinkedIn, even from time to time and not compare your journey to someone else's because you're on this path for a reason and it'll all make sense at some point, but just be there for the long haul and keep going. I love it. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Well, we are at the end. So where can everybody find you follow along with what you're doing? I know you're on LinkedIn, you're on all the social media platforms. Let us know where we can find you. So on pretty much every platform by handle is KBOUSQ, KBOOSQ.

Starting point is 00:41:18 On LinkedIn, it's just Kristen Bousquet. I, again, I'm spending so much more time on LinkedIn and on Twitter. So if you want to reach me, send me a message there. Especially with my like upcoming Instagram hiatus that I'm planning. I will hopefully not be available there. Amazing. Well, we'll put everything in the show notes. But thank you so much for joining us. This was a great conversation and just really fun to hear what you're up to and the behind the scenes and everything there. So thank you again. Yeah, we'll be cheering you on

Starting point is 00:41:48 and paying attention to everything you have going on and super excited to see all of your offerings develop. But make sure to check out Kristen on all of those platforms. How good was that? My favorite moment of this podcast was Kristen's vulnerability and sharing that social media is hard. And for a lot of us, it's our jobs. So how do we maintain stamina and

Starting point is 00:42:12 creativity and drive for these platforms without burning out? I know I certainly feel that way right now, and it is tough. Your girl cannot even keep up on Instagram sometimes. We'd love to hear how you feel about that too. Let us know on LinkedIn or send us a up on Instagram sometimes. We'd love to hear how you feel about that too. Let us know on LinkedIn or send us a DM on Instagram at Marketing Happy Hour. And don't forget to rate and subscribe the show. It means a lot to us. Thanks for joining us this week. What a treat to have Kristen on the show with us.

Starting point is 00:42:39 We hope you have a fantastic rest of your week and we'll see you next time.

Marketing Happy Hour - Understanding the Creator Economy | Kristen Bousquet of Your Soulcialmate

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