043. Elizabeth McCravy: From Freelance to Full-time

From coding MySpace websites in middle school to launching a web design and template shop post-graduation, today’s guest Elizabeth McCravy has had entrepreneurship in her blood from an early age. Though she may have been born with a natural inclination toward owning a business, she would characterize herself as an accidental entrepreneur. Hear how Elizabeth was somewhat reluctantly pushed onto the path of entrepreneurship and grew a business in just a few short years that supports her family and provides her time to be the wife, mom and business owner she wants to be. 

WILDFLOWER SHOWNOTES : shannaskidmore.com/elizabeth-mccravy

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Elizabeth McCravy (00:00):

I didn't have that much demand yet for my one-on-one service. I also did not have an email list and I didn't really use social media much for my business, so I wasn't have lists anywhere to sell to. But I was like, it'll be a great idea to launch pre-made brands. I had seen other people doing it. It looked like a cool idea. It looked like it might work well, and I was like, okay, I'm going to do this. And I just feel like looking back, I didn't put much thought into it. I again had no one asking me to do that. I didn't even know if people in general wanted that to begin with, but they definitely had not told me they want it from me. And so I spent, gosh, who knows how much time, but I launched these pre-made brands. I think I made like four or five of them and just heard absolute crickets.

Shanna Skidmore (00:44):

You are listening to Consider the Wildflowers the podcast episode 43 from coding MySpace websites in middle school to launching a web design in template shop post-graduation. Today's guest, Elizabeth McCrae, has had entrepreneurship in her blood from an early age. Though she may have been born with a natural inclination toward owning a business, she would characterize herself as an accidental entrepreneur, hear how Elizabeth was somewhat reluctantly pushed onto the path of entrepreneurship and grew a business in just a few short years that supports her family and provides her time to be the wife, mom, and business owner she wants to be. If you dig professional bios, here goes. Elizabeth McCrae is a website designer and business coach living in Franklin, Tennessee. She's helped over a thousand business owners stand out online and show off their skills through her personality pack show at website templates. She was named show a tier of the year and 2019 and was named one of the top designers on Show It in 2020.
(01:36)
She's a mentor to other designers through her course and coaching program, booked out Designer. And her favorite thing is probably hosting her weekly show, the Breakthrough Brand podcast where she shares the reality and behind the scenes of building a successful business. Elizabeth also does real estate investing with her husband and they have five investment properties across Tennessee and Alabama. When she's not podcasting, coaching or designing new templates, you'll find her chasing around her cute toddler deep into the latest mystery novel or having drinks on the porch with her husband. Okay, formal introductions over. Let's dive in. Hey, it's Shanna and this is Consider the Wildflowers, the podcast. For the past 15 plus years, I've had the honor to hear thousands of stories from entrepreneurs around the world. As a former Fortune 100 financial advisor, turn business consultant, I have a unique opportunity to see the reel.
(02:22)
Behind the highlight reel. I'm talking profit and loss statements, unpaid taxes, moments of burnout, and those of utter victory. Or as my husband says, the content everyone is wondering but not many are talking about. And now I'm bringing these private conversations to you. Hear the untold stories of how industry leaders, founders, and up and coming entrepreneurs got their start, the experiences that shape them and the journey to building the brands they have today. Stories that will inspire and reignite encourage to redefine success and build a life in business on your own terms. Welcome Wildflower. I'm so glad you're here. Elizabeth, welcome to the show. I could not be more excited to have you.

Elizabeth McCravy (03:00):

Oh, Shanna, I'm so excited. I was telling you before we started recording that I absolutely love this podcast and love you and your business. So it is an honor to be a guest.

Shanna Skidmore (03:09):

Okay. So I feel like we should know each other. I mean in so many ways I feel like we should know each other, but for years our mutual friend, Scott Codwell, has just talked so much about you and how wonderful you are. And I feel like our circles are so tightly connected, so I just need to make a Nashville trip happen and yes, like I r l Friendship.

Elizabeth McCravy (03:31):

Yes, I love that. And I love Scott too. And it was funny when you asked me to come on, I immediately texted him and I was like, Scott, Shannon messaged me. Thank you for talking because he talked to me about you a lot as well. So that's really fun.

Shanna Skidmore (03:44):

He's such a connector of people anyways. Yeah. But yeah. Okay. Hi, and let's be friends and welcome to the show. I want to hear your story and for everybody listening gets to hear it too. But tell everybody just who you are, what you do. And then I just want to kind of go all the way back to life before business.

Elizabeth McCravy (04:04):

So high level. Now I am a website designer and I live in Nashville, Tennessee, like you just said, in Franklin specifically. So little like suburb area of Nashville. And I've had my business seven years now, seven years this month as we're recording this. So that feels crazy. And like I said, I do website design, primarily show it website templates. And I also have a course for designers called Booked Out Designer, where I teach designers how to build an in-demand design business, kind of like the business side of design. And I also am a podcaster over at the Breakthrough Brand podcast and my husband Adam and I also do real estate investing. I'm a toddler mom, Shannon. I think our kids are about the same age. I

Shanna Skidmore (04:48):

Can't even like all of these. We are the same human. Okay. Madeline turns two at the time of this recording. She turns two on Saturday. Okay,

Elizabeth McCravy (04:58):

So you're like six months ahead of me then. Colin is 18 months right now. Okay.

Shanna Skidmore (05:03):

So sweet. Yeah, it's the sweetest. That's awesome. Two. Okay. Every stage I'm like, this is my favorite. This is my favorite. This is my favorite two. Madeline is like, I'm going to have to send you this video I took yesterday of her. She's standing up on our bed. She has a Dolly Parton golden book, which just makes me so happy in general in life. Thank you Dolly. And she is singing, do you know the Holcomb's, Ellie and Drew Holcomb? Yes. I do love them. She's singing Ellie Holcomb song, sing, sing, sing, which is her favorite song and she's just belting it at the top of her lungs. And I'm just like, what is this little tiny human going to do in her life? Because there's bigness there. Yeah. That there's just so sweet.

Elizabeth McCravy (05:43):

Yeah, I love that. And I'm with you. I feel like every stage I'm like, oh, this is so fun. This is so fun. He just keeps getting more fun.

Shanna Skidmore (05:50):

Yeah, I love it. Okay. Congrats on seven years. Also, I'm pretty sure Franklin is where Justin Timberlake lives. So

Elizabeth McCravy (05:56):

Yes, I've seen Jessica Bill before, but yeah, they live close. They live in Leaper's Fork, so really close to where we live.

Shanna Skidmore (06:04):

Okay. I mean we're not going to sock, but I mean, okay. I love Franklin. It's such a cute place, but okay, so seven years in business. How did you get started? What were you doing before business?

Elizabeth McCravy (06:16):

Yeah, so my career before my business was really short-lived actually when I think about my whole career total, I've definitely been a business owner a lot longer. I was only not a business owner for about four months in terms of time after college I worked jobs in high school and college doing other things. But I started out well how about how, I'll back it up a little further actually, Shannon. Cause I feel like it makes more sense as I start a little earlier. But basically I've always kind of knew I wanted to start a business as a kid even. I've always had an interest in that. I had MySpace shop situation where I was making MySpace layouts for other teenagers with my sister in middle school. Stop. Yeah, that was so fun. Awesome. Yeah, it's so funny now cause it feels so similar to making templates, although way more professional now.
(07:08)
But I learned you have really basic H T M L back then and just super enjoyed the creativity of that. Never thought it could be a business doing that, but I had that kind of itch even as a kid. I would buy stuff on eBay or buy stuff and then resell it on eBay, but basically grouping stuff together, reselling it at a higher price point, buy grouping products together that made sense. Had a business Dreams journal as a kid where I would write down business ideas. That definitely already existed. My little small town, Tennessee girl, just to not know about different things that I'd have the most business ideas. But with all that being true of me, I graduated high school and was like, I want to be a nurse. Which doesn't even, I think about that version of myself and the version of myself as a kid with all these very creative, designy entrepreneurial spirit.
(07:58)
I was drawn to nursing because it felt really safe and familiar. I think a lot of friends were doing that. Our school definitely had a big push towards that's a great career for women. And so I went to college as a nursing major very quickly. Left that major before even taking any classes from it. Just like when I got there I was like, ah, I don't actually, I like science. And that's kind of how I ended up here, but I don't think that's what I want to do. And so I went to my college's career counseling center, which so grateful for that still. I'm like what a great thing that colleges have that. But I met with someone and they did some personality testing with me, asked me all these questions about my interest and things. I enjoy doing what I'm good at. And ended up switching majors to a major, had no idea of even existed called Digital media studies, which was a combo.
(08:46)
Yeah, it's such a good major. I'm like all schools need to have this. My college actually changed it now to where it's not the same as it was those years ago, but basically it was computer science, graphic design and marketing. So you took a little bit in each of those classes and you got to pick one to focus on. And my focus was design. So I graduated with that and was ready to go corporate. And again, not thinking about starting a business, I thought business is for when you're in your thirties, Elizabeth, you'll do another kind of job working for someone else first. And so I got a job at an advertising agency here in Nashville, was super pumped about it and ended up really disliking it, which I think was a blessing and disguise. Cause I don't think I would've started my business had I had a job that I loved, but that led me ultimately to start my business.

Shanna Skidmore (09:35):

So you're four months-ish into your career at this advertising agency? Give me a year timeframe wise.

Elizabeth McCravy (09:44):

So that was 2015 and I actually got married. So I graduated college, got married. My husband Adam and I had been dating since senior year of high school. So we were those people that got married right out of college and he got a job on young life staff, which I know Shannon you're familiar with. And that's how we actually both know Scott. And so he got a job working for Young Life and then that's how we ended up in Nashville. And I feel really lucky that I got a job right out of college at that time. I mean, people who graduated then might also realize this, but it was hard. It was definitely hard for a lot of people to get a job. So I felt super great for, I found a job, it's well paying, it's actually in the career that I was planning to go into and we needed my income. It was a good payment, especially with Adam being on a ministry salary. But yeah, I just really didn't like it for a whole lot of reasons. Shanna Skidmore (10:36):

So what made you think I'm going to start a business, not I'm going to go find another job?

Elizabeth McCravy (10:41):

So I actually, I feel like I'm such an accidental entrepreneur, which I think most feel most people are like, that's such a common story. But so I was very much like, I'm going to find another job. So I was at that job, like I said, about four months, and I looked in our company handbook and was like, okay, here's all the details about how to give your notice and what happens. And it's said in there that you're supposed to give 30 days notice. I was like, okay, I'm going to give my notice cause I'm really, I can handle another 30 days and I'll have 30 days to find a new job. So I went and had that conversation with my boss, which I was like embarrassingly cried and I was so awkward. That's probably what they ultimately were like, please just leave. But I actually left that day without a job, which was so unexpected and I totally get, it was very much as a joke when I say that's probably why they were just leave, it was, I feel like I left on good terms.
(11:37)
But they also were like, we don't want to invest time in someone who's leaving. And they were like, we have all these other designers, we'll just give her work to them. And so I felt really bad because they all got overloaded by me leaving. But yeah, I literally did the pack up your desk situation that day and it was like, and I left work early at 2:00 PM I remember that. And I remember walking around my apartment complex after I got home from work that day. Adam was still working and I told him, Hey, I just don't, now I don't have a job. So that's kind of crazy. But I remember walking around doing what I love to do. I still do this all the time where I put my headphones in and just pray and think and not really listen to anything. And I just felt such a piece of, I probably shouldn't feel much peace right now because this is scary.
(12:24)
We need my income now. I'm not making money. But I still felt such a piece of this is it's all going to work out. I'm going to find another job. And in the meantime I'm actually going to just enjoy for a second maybe not having as much to do. So I actually did after that very quickly, went into job application mode, looking at all the job boards for other similar work in Nashville. For me it was like, it doesn't have to be in advertising, but maybe something like a PR agency, a graphic design studio looking for those sorts of jobs. And I literally did not hear back from anyone. It was just like, you such a crazy thing of, again, I got my first job out of college really easily. This job I left. So then it was kind of like, okay, now I'm not hearing back from people. This is not coming as easily. And at the same time I was freelancing. So I had been freelancing since college. During college I freelanced a lot. And then at this nine to five I'd also been freelancing. So I had that work on the side doing really random graphic design stuff for people and then also social media management. So I have that, a little bit of income coming in there and then was not finding a job. And so ultimately in the waiting time for finding a job, I started getting more clients basically.

Shanna Skidmore (13:42):

Yeah. Okay. Tell me that's such, when you said you walked around peace, I mean that's totally a god thing. Yeah, I would feel like I would just go into panic mode of let's make this happen, get the applications out. But tell me about those early days in business. At what point were you like, this is a business, I'm going into business? What were your initial offers? How did you come up with pricing? I just want to know about those early days.

Elizabeth McCravy (14:08):

Yeah, so gosh, so it took me seven months before I officially made it a business. So in reality, I've done this freelance slash business thing for about seven years and seven or eight months or so, but it took me that long. So it was seven months of me kind of being like, okay, I'm looking for a job. Okay, well I might try this other thing, I might try this other thing. And during that time, so first talking about those seven months, I was nannying a lot. I was dog sitting. I also was teaching yoga because I'm a certified yoga teacher and that was something I did in college for so much fun and also to make money as a college student. So I was doing all of that stuff while also taking on more freelance clients. And I can't recommend that enough for new business owners of if you are in the situation that I was in where it's like, hey, you really need your income.
(14:59)
But now you're going into a field where it's really uncertain, you've got to go find clients. Having that income from nannying and these other things, dog sitting house, sitting the yoga teaching helped me have some consistency and also gave me flexibility to work on my business. So I had three families I was with as a nanny and one of them, for example, I got to their house, it was like four days a week I want to say. And I would get there at 5:00 AM before the mom left for work and the kids would still be asleep. I would get them ready in the morning, get them out the door to school, and I was with them from five to 8:00 AM So it was like it got me up in the morning, I made some money, got to hang out with those sweet kids and then would start my workday at eight and then had a few hours until the next family.
(15:41)
So it was a lot of that on the personal side early on. And then when I first started though as a freelancer, I really was doing all the things and Shannon, I feel like you and I are kindred spirits on this, but I know that that sometimes get a bad, gets a bad rap of Jane of all trades, master of none, jack of all trades, master of none. But I think that when you're really multi-passionate and you have a lot of different skill sets, you might truly not know what direction you want to go in in your business and it takes time to figure out. So for me, I wasn't offering all the things because I thought I was going to do all those things forever. It was more like I'm figuring out where I've fit into this, what makes sense for me. So I was doing social media management for a lot of retainer clients.
(16:27)
I would do branding, I would do website design. I even did some billboards and menu designs for restaurants and brochures and copywriting. I did setting up some people's email marketing software, random stuff like that. And I really liked it all. And at one point I actually thought social media would be the direction that I would go like that I'm going to do social media management, my third bus or so second business name, I've had three business names, but the second one tied in the word social for that reason because I again just really enjoyed that. But I ultimately ended up deciding that I liked design better and that I was better at that than the other stuff and more passionate about it for sure. So I stopped offering social media marketing front facing, so not taking on any more clients, but I actually kept my retainer clients for quite a while and just quit marketing as a service. And then I slowly let go of some of them and referred them out to someone else and then eventually just quit having that all together.

Shanna Skidmore (17:27):

Yeah. Elizabeth, I love that you brought this up because I don't think most people know that I did the exact same thing for almost a year. Yeah, I threw, I say I kind of threw spaghetti on the wall and just did anything and everything people would ask me to do. And I got paid with, Hey, I'll make you dinner, here's a gift card, here's all these things. But what that year set me up to do is I officially launched my business a year later, which was 2013 for me. When I officially launched. I had been doing all kinds of things. My background of course is in finance, so I was helping people with other taxes. I was setting up bookkeeping. I didn't know I had a lot of skills, but I didn't know where I could best serve. And so what I tell all my students now, I'm like, that year set me up so that when I officially launched, I knew exactly what I was going to offer. I knew exactly what it needed to be priced at because I'd been doing it. And of course you still pivot and shift and make changes along the way. But then that first year we did 106,000 in profit in our first official year in business. I'm like, that wouldn't have happened without my year of figuring it out. So I love that you brought that up. Yeah, that's so good, Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth McCravy (18:36):

That's amazing. I love that.

Shanna Skidmore (18:39):

Yeah. Okay, so tell me just how it's grown since that first official year, seven years ago. Are you still doing the same offers? Tell me when you started adding new offers, offering the templates, education. I would just love to hear about the growth.

Elizabeth McCravy (18:58):

Yeah, so gosh, I, let's see. Like I said, I started doing one-on-one work, primarily a lot of social media management. And then eventually I turned towards just like, hey, I'm a brand new website designer, that's why I'm marketing myself. As I got on to show it before I started on WordPress and then I transitioned to just solely offering show it. And that side of my business grew so well and so beautifully and just like I'm really so grateful for all the clients I've had and the whole experience, a lot of learning along the way and definitely some bad months in there and all of that. But I got to a point where basically I had a lot of demand. I was consistently booking one-on-one clients for again, brandy and website design projects. I was staying booked out consistently where it's like I've got plenty of clients coming in.
(19:50)
I had more demand than I could keep up with. And I still remember so many times just being pained, having to refer out a client I really wanted to work with because I'm like, I don't have the capacity for this. Or sometimes it was that their budget was smaller than what I was trying to charge at that point, which totally makes sense. I think there gets to be a point with one-on-one work sometimes where we can be like, okay, this is the most should cost and that you have to figure out other options. So for me, I was very obviously looking at my business and it was like, okay, it's time to scale in some capacity. I don't know which way to go. And as a designer, I mean there's a lot of different ways to scale, but the two I was really considering was a team.
(20:33)
So kind of going agency model or going the productizing a service model with templates. And I, it's so funny looking back at that version of myself, but I was so I just had a huge to having a team. I now have a small team of contractors and I'm like, I could not do this without them. But the time having a team was like, no, I don't want to do that. I really like working independently. I thought the financial pressure of a team would be too much. I don't think I fully realized how you can't do part-time and contractor and things like that. And I also liked doing it all myself and was not very smart in the way of how can you delegate things. So I ruled out an agency model for that reason. And then templates made a lot of sense even outside of the fact that that was the one I was supposed drawn to because I had people asking me for lower cost ways to work with me, which an agency wasn't necessarily going to solve that because I probably would've kept pricing generally the same.
(21:32)
And websites are also my favorite thing when I niche down to brandy and website design websites was the part I'm like, yes, when we get to the part of building your website, that's what I want to do. I feel like I'm just in dreamland anytime I'm designing a site and show it. So templates made a lot of sense because of that. And I launched my template shop, oh gosh, I'm forgetting now. I want to say 2017 maybe. Okay. I think that's right. And it's grown a lot since then. I've added new templates. I started it with four templates and just a few kind of basic tutorial videos. It had all the cart software and automation set up well, but I started with templates and then since then it's grown to, my podcast came next and then after that my course booked out. Designer. That's S

hanna Skidmore (22:19):

So fun. Thank you for giving me a year. I always like to reference, so I love show it as well. That's what our website is built on. And I think, again, we're such kindred spirits because I was so nervous about building a team as well, and I definitely got to the point with my one-on-one services where I was like, I just don't feel comfortable even charging more than this. Which I know sounds maybe silly to some people listening, but there became a pressure of deliverables at that price point. And that's when I sat down and was like, how can I, like you said, product ties a service. And that's for me where my signature, my first course came the blueprint model, which just basically walks people through creating a business plan and it was the best thing we ever did. How would you say that your business has shifted and changed since moving to more of a product type model? Yeah,

Elizabeth McCravy (23:13):

I mean I feel like it's a completely different business in some ways. I still work with clients some definitely less since becoming a mom. And I've started just recently doing one-on-one consulting calls as something like TA on because I've realized I really like connecting with people one-on-one still. But yeah, I mean, I guess ways it's changed. For me, a big turning point would be when my podcast launched because it was my first time teaching really basically. And I truly love teaching and I, I kind of known that because for early on in my business I was blogging pretty consistently and I cracked myself up thinking about this. If anyone listening is doing this, you need to just start a podcast. But I literally would write my blog post and then I would record myself reading the blog post and put it on SoundCloud. And then I was embedding the SoundCloud player in the top of every blog post and it was just me straight up reading it.
(24:12)
I think I still have something on my website. If you could scroll really far back, you can probably find them. But it was me just like, it take 10 minutes, me just reading it. And then as I did that, I started to, as I'm reading my own blog post, I would add stuff in and then I'm like, yeah, I felt like I was slowly trying to podcast but just wouldn't make it happen really. So when I officially launched the podcast to give you dates, that was in 2019 and the very beginning of the year. And I just loved the teaching of it, showing up every week, getting to talk about things I was learning in my business and being a really open book about it. And I, hilariously didn't have an interview for probably 50 episodes. I might have had one in the first 50, but it's, my podcast is very much a solo show since then, in the early year I have had more interviews, but it was, it's really just been me showing up, talking and being like, Hey, here's what I'm learning.
(25:05)
Working for me and the podcast has been a best of all worlds because I really truly enjoy creating content for it. It lights me up. I think I would like my business less if I didn't have it. And it also definitely is a lead driver for all of my products. I just recently started doing some ads on it, so that's a new thing. But before then, it wasn't directly monetized, it was just through, hey, I casually talk about my own stuff. So it has helped me grow my business and I really love it and it's allowed me to do that education itch that I had. And ultimately it's what led me to do booked Out Designer, because the podcast is not for designers directly with anything. I actually started being like, this is not for designers, it's for people who might want one of my website templates, but there's a lot of designers who listened to it. And I started getting questions of, Hey, I want to go deeper on this. I want to know how you did this. How do you grow your business in that way? And so that led me to make that course, which again, I'm so grateful for. Cause I don't know that I would've gone that direction necessarily without me having gotten to try education on the podcast first. Shanna Skidmore (26:14):

Yeah. Oh my goodness. This is all so good. Elizabeth, I want to ask you, I have so many questions. I want to talk about the business, the number side in a minute, but before I do that, I just want to hear you share, what do you feel like in the past seven years that you have done really well or that, Hey, I got that right. Not to brag, pat yourself on the back, but which you should, but just that went really, really well versus what some things that were hard lessons learned, things that did not go so well.

Elizabeth McCravy (26:48):

Oh, that's a good question. So things that have gone well, I know I'm thinking, I didn't really think about this. I know, I think you said this question ahead of time, but I didn't even really think about it much. I feel like a lot's gone well. I just feel like I've been really blessed in my business of having clients. I love pivoting to different things at the right timing and staying in my own lane is something I feel like I've done well of allowing my business to be different than other people's and different than other people in my industry. And being okay with that. Something that's a bit different from my template shop than others is I've built a personal brand business. My template shop is literally called Elizabeth McCravy shop. And I've had seasons where I've been all these other shops, they have all these cool names and it's just like it's not built around them.
(27:35)
Do I want something built around my name? And I've tried in those times where I've kind of been like, wait, do I like this? I've tried to lean back into it of no, I having built a personal brand. And I think that is the way my personality even naturally flows as a business owner. Even with I had, again, like I said earlier, I've had three different business names. So my third business name is obviously just my own name, but I started with the whole made up business name concept. And I think it's because I was believing that in order to be legitimate, I can't just use my name and also believe that my last name was too complicated, which I still think I run into that sometimes. I definitely get Elizabeth Mick Gravy at sometimes in messages and stuff, which is fine. It all is okay.
(28:22)
Tennessee have okay name. Yeah, real. Oh my gosh, that's so true. But yeah, so that's something I feel like I've done well and has worked out well for me. And just I think too, I show up an open book and that's just naturally part of my personality of just not someone who's like, I have this big business secret that I'm not going to share my course. I'm not going to share my podcast because I only want it. For me, I'm very much a, I want to share seeing work and I want to share too what I'm seeing not work. And I think that's helped me build an audience and has drawn people my direction. Yeah. What was your second question? What hasn't worked?

Shanna Skidmore (29:02):

Yeah, what hasn't worked?

Elizabeth McCravy (29:03):

Okay, so one thing, this is my biggest business mistake you could say, that always kind of sticks out in my head. I try to pivot to digital products too early. So we were saying, I've started my business officially in 2016. I want to say that same year even. I actually think my template shop was a year later. I think that was 2018. So I think in 2017 when I was still really working on figuring out, doing branding, website design and that being like, this is my offer and all of that, I didn't have that much demand yet for my one-on-one service. I also did not have an email list and I didn't really use social media much for my business. So I wasn't have lists anywhere to sell to. But I was like, it'll be a great idea to launch pre-made brands. I had seen other people doing it.
(29:57)
It looked like a cool idea, it looked like it might work well. And I was like, okay, I'm going to do this. And I just feel like looking back, I didn't put much thought into it. I again had no one asking me to do that. I didn't even know if people in general wanted that to begin with. But they definitely had not told me they want it for me. And so I spent, gosh, who knows how much time and even a little bit of money, I paid my sister to write the copywriting for the sales page, which feels kind of funny looking back on, cause I probably should have written it myself. But I launched these pre-made brands, I think I made four or five of them and just heard absolute crickets. And ultimately I sold a few of them to literal past one-on-one clients who needed a sub logo for something.
(30:38)
And then I eventually just took it off my website. But that felt like a fail and a big lesson in it though. And I'm so grateful that I even had all that happen because then when I went to launch my template shop a few years later, I kind of knew what I needed to do. I knew, okay, I can't just launch to no one. I also can't just launch without a demand for this. And it worked out. So I always tell that story to tell people too, of if you do want to transition into a one to mini model, it's not always as simple as a lot of the gurus tell you of. Just exactly make a course, everyone's going to buy it. It's like that's or making a product everyone's going to buy. It doesn't always work that way.

Shanna Skidmore (31:17):

Yeah. Oh that's so good Elizabeth, because I started my business 2013, that's like the early days of Instagram. It's like pre-Instagram for business. And then launched the blueprint model in 2016, which was also pretty early in the course industry I would say. And I feel like Wyatt had such success is because I had such high demand for my one-on-one services. And now especially when the course world is very saturated, which is, I'm not saying it's negative necessarily, I'm just saying it's saturated. That just is what it is. I see a lot of students get frustrated and feel defeated when a really good product that they create just doesn't go anywhere. And so I think that's such a good point Elizabeth. For me, I'm grateful I built up my track record first with one-on-one clients and I think that made my course better as well. So that's a topic we could totally deep dive in, but it is just such a good point that timing and launching when it's the right time, when you have the demand for it, building the demand for it is so, so important. So thank you for sharing that. As I listen to you feel like you have such a brain for business and as you talked about being a child and doing all your business ideas as a child, I mean I think that's incredible. How can I get that in Madeline support as a parent support these interests that children have? I'm interested, is anyone in your family a business owner? Did you have this model to you in some way or how do you feel like you learned all these awesome business tools?

Elizabeth McCravy (33:03):

So my dad was a business owner and he was like a kind of serial entrepreneur revive. So when I was really little, he did a completely different things than when I was older. And he passed away in June of 2020. So that's a hard thing. But he has definitely a legacy in my life as a business owner. And he was always very encouraging to me that I can do whatever I want, so to speak. And no one ever was pushing me towards business necessarily. I do think though, as I got older and was having that job transition, my dad was actually one of the people that when I was not finding a job but was freelancing, he was like, Hey, you have a business. You're just not calling it a business. You should make it a business. You can actually do this. So he was always a big voice in my life of you can do this.
(33:52)
When I didn't want to believe in myself about being able to do it. But he's an entrepreneur. And then my grandmother had a very big entrepreneurial spirit and my mom's father also who I never really got to know cause he passed away when I was really little. But there definitely are entrepreneurs in our family and with both my parents something that I definitely, like you're saying as a mom, I want to do this for my son Colin and any future kids. But when I quit my job and was basically a nanny on the surface, it looked like, Hey, you're a babysitter, you're doing random side hustle type things and you just graduated college and you have all the student loan debt and you're not even using your degree. I feel like some people's parents could have been upset trying to push them, no, you need to go get another nine to five.
(34:43)
What are you doing? Yeah, this isn't working. This is a bad idea. Both of them just had complete confidence, I guess, as how they would've put it that I was going to figure it out and it's okay. And they were both even very encouraging to me. Cause I felt some imposter syndrome and imposter might not be the right word, lack of confidence around the fact that I was basically being a babysitter in my twenties. And again, I I'm someone who did that. So as I'm saying that, I'm like, I don't think there's anything wrong with it, but I would feel sometimes when people ask you what you do, and I'm in reality, I'm actually kind of a babysitter. I'm kind of freelancing though and I'm trying to find a job and that it led me to have a whole lot of lack of confidence and they both had a lot of confidence in me even in that. And were never pressuring, you need to go figure this out. And my husband was the same way. He was like, you're going to figure it out. We're going to make ends meet and we're going to make this all work financially. So yeah, I would say that that's kind of the entrepreneurial background of the being very encouraged early on.

Shanna Skidmore (35:38):

Yeah, I love that Elizabeth, because you're so right. I mean, I had a finance career for what was seven years from personal finance and then corporate finance and wanted to get out from behind the desk job, was tired of looking at spreadsheets. I knew there was a need for financial help for young entrepreneurs. At that time I had been working in corporate finance for a fashion designer and I was like, there's something here for entrepreneurs who aren't necessarily taught the business side. I knew there was something, but I didn't know how to make that a career and so I just wanted to go do flowers. So I started doing floral design with Amio Saba out of Atlanta, Georgia, and I felt very similar. I don't exactly know what I'm doing, I'm just trying to figure this out. I have these ideas and I'm so grateful that my husband's also a big dreamer like me. You need those people in your life to encourage you and your dreams and give you that space to figure it out. So I love that you had that. Okay, let's talk numbers. Your relationship with money, what would you say your relationship with money is now versus when you first got started? Have you always been pretty confident in the business side? I'd love to hear about them.

Elizabeth McCravy (36:50):

Yeah. Okay. There's so much we can say about this. I know you just said we, we've already been talking a while, but I feel like this is such a great question and I've loved personally, Shannon listening to your podcast, hearing other people answer this part of the conversation. But I was thinking about this interview, I literally asked my mom, I called her yesterday and I was like, Hey, would you be okay with me sharing some stuff related to my childhood and money as it relates to my parents? And she was like, yes, I'm okay with you sharing that. So this is stuff I normally don't talk about. I've never talked about my podcast or anywhere else. But for us growing up, I would say in my house and our family money was kind of just weird. So like we saying we didn't have money would not be accurate because we actually did have money.
(37:33)
We were definitely lower middle class for where we lived, but the reality of what I saw with money as a kid was feeling like it was really volatile and really scarce and just like there's never enough to go around. And it was really common growing up for us to have conversations like, Hey, our utilities might get turned off this month because we don't have money for the bills or our phones are going to get turned off because that check might bounce. Both my parents filed for bankruptcy separately after they got divorced while I was in elementary school and our house got foreclosed on. But all of that being said, well I also went to a private school on a scholarship though, but I went to a private school pre-K through 12th and we always had food on the table, always had clothes to wear and plenty of fun activities to do.
(38:18)
So it was just weird. That's the best way to describe it. For me, when I look back, it's, it was just a weird financial situation, but I feel like as a kid I was basically taught that money's hard to manage and very unpredictable. It's like there's never enough. It's confusing, it's hard to manage. I was never really taught much about money from either of my parents. So that was the childhood version of that. And also I was taught, and my mom and I had literally talked about this yesterday when I was asking her if I could share this, that her review of this whole situation when I was like, Hey, this is kind of how I experienced money in our home growing up. She said, her experience is that God always provided. And I'm like, I totally can see that as well. She reminded me, and I had forgotten about this, that after my parents got divorced and money was really tight again, filing bankruptcy, all of that, someone anonymously, and we still don't know who it was, paid my sister and i's entire private school tuition at this private Christian school for an entire year.
(39:15)
And my mom still has no idea who did it. And we were probably going to have to be pulled out of that school had that not happened because we didn't have the finances for it. So it's like there have been things like that when I was a kid and even now as an adult, having started my business and how my husband on a minister's salary where God just provided in ways that you wouldn't necessarily expect and it'd be like, oh, this is so shocking. It literally can only be explained by God showing up here. So in my adult life though, I feel like it's funny because money was so scare screening up, I feel like when I look at that situation, I'm like, well, you would think a kid who raised that would be, let's go find a really stable job where it's super predictable.
(39:54)
But yet I ended up literally leaving the predictable job to go do something that felt so unpredictable, especially early on. So just was really still drawn to that kind of career. But the way it's kind of played out for me, I'm an igram six, first of all. So I'm a huge planner, worst case scenario thinker. And I for a long time had a giant emergency fund for my business. I basically built it up over a few years. But I mean even going back to just two years ago had way too much money in the emergency fund per my size of business and my business expenses, it didn't make sense. It's like maybe some businesses need that much, but my business didn't. And I'll even just share the amount. I had about a hundred thousand dollars in the emergency fund where again, not for taxes. That's not even the profit of the business, that's not month over month income.
(40:45)
It was just the emergency fund of me being like, what if something bad happens? That's your, so I'd say yes, exactly. Prepared. Yeah. And so my bookkeeper, both of them were like, Hey Elizabeth, you probably need to do something else with this. And it's funny because in our personal life we actually are a bit more risk takers financially. We do real estate investing. We own five properties now, and we have always been big into investing in the stock market. Even with our personal finances, we don't have our savings account just in a regular savings account. We use Ally Bank where you get a little bit of interest for having the money sit there. But in my business I was just like, oh my gosh, I have to have this big pile of money sitting here in case something bad happened. So literally two years ago, or three years ago, I guess, no, two years ago, we basically when started investing in real estate, that was how we started was me being like, okay, I'm going to let go of this giant emergency fund and make it smaller in a more reasonable amount for what my business size and expenses are.
(41:46)
But that's how it's played out for me of basically kind of can be risk averse in my business because I can be afraid of, well, what if something bad happens? What if we can't afford something and wanting to have that extra money there. Shanna Skidmore (42:00):

Yeah. This is so interesting, Elizabeth, because I actually find a lot of people run their business finances differently than their personal finances. Either their personal finances are in tiptop shape and their business is like, I have no idea, or vice versa or the opposite. So it's not all that shocking to me when you're like, we're pretty risky in our personal and then risk adverse in the business. Would you say there were some resources or how did you learn about money management, especially considering your background from your family experience?

Elizabeth McCravy (42:34):

Yeah, so early on, and I feel like Shane, you might appreciate some of this cause it feels kind of funny. So when Adam and I first got married, so again, that was about when I started my business because three or four months later started it, we did all of our personal finance budgeting in a spreadsheet. So literally just a Google sheet and literally I had a tab for every category. So we're kind of following the Dave Ramsey envelope system a bit. But wait, I think we actually did do the envelope system for maybe a few months, but then we switched to this. But basically I would open up regions, every single transaction that happened on our card, I was inputting into the spreadsheet. So it'd be like Starbucks 4 50, 4 53, the exact down to the dollar that goes on. Elizabeth's fun money, Adam played golf that goes on Adam's fun money.
(43:19)
And literally every single transaction I did once a week. So I was doing really intense bookkeeping almost for our personal life. And it's funny because up until I officially made my business a business, so again about seven months, but I did have expenses then even when I was freelancing as you do, we had all of my business expenses put on to that precious little spreadsheet that was for our personal life. So I had a category that was like, these are the business expenses and there weren't that many because my business is pretty lean as a lot of online businesses are, especially starting out. But I had things like paying for do Soto, paying for the social media scheduler. I was using my domain hosting, things like that on our personal budget, which Phil's just so funny looking back on, I still have those budgets in my Google stuff.
(44:07)
But yeah, learning about it though, I mean I think it was just stuff like that literally the process of, because neither of my parents budgeted literally no budget. It was just like we're just going to spend what's there and when there's not anything there, there's not anything there and a lot of credit card debt and doing that method. So we kind of learned through just figuring out for ourselves. And we did that very intense budgeting, which I think was good for a season because it gave us an extreme awareness of where our money was going. Definitely not sustainable long term, especially now that years later I buy so much on Amazon to where everything would be Amazon where it's like, I can't even tell what this is. Is this a baby product? Is this a hair product? It's this dish towels, who knows? But that was the thing early on.
(44:52)
And then in my business I did a similar thing that I actually sell now as a small product in my shop, but I had a spreadsheet and I still use a modified version of it now, even not working with clients. But basically I would put in, say I have a January income and a January expense, and there's an overview of all of it, but I would put in on January, say I book a client, they're on a four month payment plan. A lot of designers and other creatives experience those kind of payment plans. So say it's $2,000 a month, they book me in January, I put them in January, that income's going to come in, put it in February, March and April. And so then I can look overview at my business and be like, okay, I know if I don't make anything else, I'm going to have this $2,000 coming in March from this client that's on this payment plan and this is the day it's going to hit. And that was really helpful for me managing the financial side and managing cash flow in the business early on when it can be so unpredictable.

Shanna Skidmore (45:50):

Yeah, cash flow I always say is one of the, and I think Elizabeth, you've talked about this in some of your blogs and podcasts. Cash flow is so important to business. And one of the main reasons businesses go out of business is because it is learning how to manage cash flow, especially in seasonal businesses or when you get big chunks of money at a time, whether it's a retainer, deposit, payment plans. So I love that you were tracking it and found a way to track to the penny. So we have a personal finance course, it's called Blueprint at Home, and it's for entrepreneurs, because I worked in finance for five years in personal finance. I mostly worked with entrepreneurs. And what I realized is that, and I think statistically only 30% of households have a budget. I always joke and say budgets like a six letter curse word, but I did the very same thing.
(46:45)
I teach to my students of know where your money is going and then you can spend intentionally. And so instead of calling it a budget, we create spending plans. And so we kind of tell our money where to go. And so we have a spreadsheet in that course blueprint at home, and it's called your household Profit and loss statement. So it's literally bookkeeping for your home. And it's like you said, I don't go through every transaction that we could get on a whole tangent on budgeting, but it is so great that you have found a way. I always like to ask, what would you say is the best thing that you have learned about money

Elizabeth McCravy (47:23):

So that it's not mine really, that it's cheesy as it can sound like it's what God's given me and I'm meant to steward it well. And that money's just a tool. I think so often, especially as business owners trying to build our businesses, literally, Shannon, I've heard you talk about this. It's at one point it was like, get a six figure. Well, actually let's back up a little more. At one point it was like, let's make some five figure months. And then it became build a six figure business then seven figure. Now, I literally see all the time Facebook ads being like, you can have a eight figure business. And I'm like, it just is. So it never ends the hustle of how much money you could try to make never ends. And something I've learned is that my happiness is not tied to how much money I have.
(48:13)
And I do think there's a level where there's a, up until a certain point, I do think that how much money you have directly impacts your standard of living and things like that. Obviously if you can't make ends meet, that is going to affect how you're feeling emotionally and all of that. But there gets to be a certain point where it's more money doesn't necessarily mean my life changes. And so kind of acknowledging that can take the pressure off some as a business owner. And also I've really grappled with, as again, I've seen so much of, okay, make seven figures, make eight figures. Do I actually want that business? And I can tell you, I've thought about it, I don't want an eight figure a year business. That sounds really stressful. And honestly, I might not even make much more than what I'm making now in a payroll because you're going to have to have a huge team and huge add expenses and things like that. So just kind of figuring out, okay, what do I want money to look like for me and my business and the life I'm trying to build and building the business to support my life, not to where my life is my business and just making money for money's sake.

Shanna Skidmore (49:20):

Yeah. That was so good, Elizabeth. Yes, to all of those things. There's a study, it's won the Nobel Prize and by Angus Deaton and nobody knows, but there isn't actual study. And it won the Nobel Prize, which I think is incredible about the correlation of income and happiness. And it was done, I just looked it up, I think in 2010 it was published. So at that point in time it was $75,000. And after that point, it's just saying there's no correlation income as your happiness doesn't increase in the direct correlation to income increasing. And actually there was a point in the study, and I don't know the statistic, but it was where happiness decreases as income rises. It's such an interesting study. I'm going to link it for everyone below. If you want to get nerdy and read this study, it's so good. But for inflation, that would be $90,000 in today's money.
(50:18)
And like you said, there is a point where we all need security, kind of that Maslow's hierarchy of needs we need food on the table and to pay our bills. But I just talk so much about defining what is enough for you and understanding what you value in life and how much that actually costs to live. Because we can so easily get caught in seven figures, eight figures, that's going to make me feel legit and not like the business we have when we get there. So that's so good. Okay. We're going to go into a quickfire round. I really, really am struggling to not ask you. Maybe I'm just going to ask you quickly because I can't not, oh yeah. So we're going to keep going. I would love to hear, because we have toddlers very similar in age, in a world that asks us to do everything really well. And it sounds like your family, at least partially relies on your business income. How have you found Harmony in your work in being a wife, being a mom, and just doing life? Well,

Elizabeth McCravy (51:23):

Yeah, and gosh, I mean, feel like motherhood. I, I'm, I'm still feel new to motherhood, which you might still too, Shanna. Absolutely.
(51:32)
But I don't feel new to business. But doing motherhood and business together has been honestly harder than I think I was expecting. Maybe because people don't talk about it enough. Maybe because it hit me harder, I don't know. But just figuring out the time management of it, the different priorities and feeling to pull different directions at different times has felt really hard. But a perspective that I've held onto as I've had to make decisions about motherhood and about my business is that everything is a season. And knowing that the seasons of my life will change. And so what I can do is joyfully lean into the season that God has me in now, whatever that is, and that I'm right where I'm supposed to be, the season I'm supposed to be in, and someone else who also has a similar business might be in a different season.
(52:16)
And that's okay. And for me, the whole first year of Colin's life, basically my business took a big step back and it was so scary. I'm being completely honest. It's some days I was like, yes, this is awesome. I love that I'm doing the mom thing more. There were weeks where I looked like a stay-at-home mom. Yeah. Even though I actually have been for the last three years, our family's source of income as my husband's been in grad school, our main only really source of income besides the real estate business. But I've had times where it's like, no, I look like I'm a stay at home mom. And I've loved that. But at the same time, during that time, wrestled with feeling like I'm behind, feeling I've lost my spark as a business owner, or that I can't keep up with trends anymore. Because when you take a maternity leave, and for me it was about five months leave from my business, I came back and I was like, everything's changed.
(53:06)
Convert Kit looks different on the back end. And my email marketing software and Devadas done these updates. And I don't know how to keep up with anything. And I just have to remind myself that this is a season and this is a season I'm in, and it's not a race. And I can do all, I have so many big dreams for my business and different, and I have to know that I can do those things, but it doesn't all have to happen at once. And it doesn't all have to happen right now. And I'm in my business for the long haul. So I've got time. And I know that I won't regret working less right now while my son's Jung. I don't think there's any part of me that looks back and will be like, I wish I would've done more posts on Instagram that week and less time playing with his little play kitchen. I don't think I'm going to regret that. So just knowing that's all season and every business is unique, every person's unique. Everyone's goals are completely unique. Someone else's revenue goal doesn't have to be someone else's paycheck goal doesn't have to be yours. Just like you were saying, Shannon, of knowing what is enough for you. So I just try to trust God in this season with what he's giving me and then live abundantly from wherever I am that week.

Shanna Skidmore (54:13):

Okay. I'm so glad I asked you that because I needed it. I took 2020 off, came back, had Madeline three months later, and then basically took a six month maternity leave. Yeah. I

Elizabeth McCravy (54:25):

Have a million questions for you, Shanna, about that actually. So we could do

Shanna Skidmore (54:28):

A whole

Elizabeth McCravy (54:29):

Other, I need to call my podcast and we can do that.

Shanna Skidmore (54:31):

Yeah, please. Cause I have so much more money to talk to you about real estate investing. We haven't even got to cover that. And Kyle and I anyways are having some discussions very similar to that. We let's be in real life friends. But I will say, I know not everyone listening shares the same faith that we have, but God has just given me so much peace about, I'm grateful that I get to spend the time I have this time with Madeline, even though I know it has affected our bottom line. And on days I, I wrote down how you said there are days, it's like, have I lost my spark? Am I still relevant? And yes, there was a massive shift in our industry in 2020. 21. Yeah, 22. So coming back, launching the blueprint model 2016 to 2023 now looks completely different. So I'm like relearning our business. And some days I'm just like, am I feel like a dinosaur. But I like what you said, I'm in this business for the long haul too. I love what I do. I love it, and I can learn and grow. And so I'm glad I asked you that. Let's do quick fire and then let's have a podcast. Another podcast episode. Yes.
(55:48)
All right. Elizabeth, what is one thing you would be embarrassed if people knew?

Elizabeth McCravy (55:52):

So we talked about kid stuff a lot. So this is what came to mind for me as a kid. I used to eat Frosted Flakes with milk on and everything, but then adding yellow shredded cheese. No. To the cereal.

Shanna Skidmore (56:06):

No.

Elizabeth McCravy (56:07):

And that was the way I ate cereal. And I don't do that anymore, but I still, when I think about it, I'm like, that probably tastes good. So that's my review.

Shanna Skidmore (56:18):

Wait, did you grow up in Nashville? You're from Tennessee?

Elizabeth McCravy (56:21):

I'm from Tennessee. Like smaller town. Yeah. But that was how I ate Frosted Flakes. And that's actually a thing if you look up Frosted Flakes with Shred Cheese, it's like I read on Buzzfeed once an article that was saying, people who do this, and I was like, oh my gosh. That's how I ate it growing up. So

Shanna Skidmore (56:34):

Anyway, I just wonder how does this happen? How

Elizabeth McCravy (56:38):

It was my mom accident accidentally put it, she accidentally put it, and we liked it was how it happened for us. So it's

Shanna Skidmore (56:44):

So gross. Thanks for sharing that. I love it. I went through a phase where I just really did not mashed potatoes. I mean, who doesn't mashed potatoes, but, and so I tried to put ketchup on it. Ew. It's so disgusting. Yeah,

Elizabeth McCravy (56:58):

That sounds like

Shanna Skidmore (56:58):

It. If you love that, then whatever. Okay. Any regrets or wish you could do over moments?

Elizabeth McCravy (57:04):

So when my dad passed away in 2020, I jumped back into work really quickly. And I think at the time I don't, I was just going through the motions of things, and I think I wanted work as a distraction and business was going really well. And so it was an easy yes to be like, yeah, I'm going to just keep things going, afloat just how they are. But when I look back, I think I needed more of a rest to take a real break and grieve and do all the other things I had to do because of him passing away. So I wish I would've taken more time. And I think actually when I took a really long maternity leave, it was almost inspired by the fact that I'm like, I didn't take a leave when I really needed one at that time. And kind of giving myself like, okay, I'm going to take leave this time when I have this big life transition. So yeah, I wish I would've taken more time. Yeah.

Shanna Skidmore (57:54):

Thank you for sharing that. And I'm sorry to hear about the passing of your dad. I'm sure that was very hard. Okay, let's go into Big Win or pinch me moment.

Elizabeth McCravy (58:04):

Yes. Okay. So I feel like I've had so many, I've been thinking about this reflecting on hitting in a business anniversary, but one of my favorites is that when I first opened Book Dot Designer, I did it as a beta launch. So I had not created it yet, but had been marketing it and had maybe mod, I think I had module one and Module Zero done, and I only launched it to people who were on the wait list on my email list, didn't even make it available on Instagram. And the morning I sent off the email, it sold out for the bait around, which had 30 spots immediately within the first hour. And I actually ended up with 40 people in the bait around because I didn't shut it down quickly enough. And it was just the craziest, I feel like I can literally still visualize myself sitting at my kitchen table watching everyone just eagerly buy, literally, clearly not even reading the sales page, just buying. And I was just on cloud nine all day and just felt so grateful for that first round of students. They were ser, they're seriously, I still, they're my people. I just loved them mean, they helped me really make the course because I made it after Fatal launching it to them. So just really that whole period of my life of doing that launch and then making the course is one of my favorite times. S

hanna Skidmore (59:22):

Yeah. Oh, I love that. Okay. Best advice or just really good advice that you have received?

Elizabeth McCravy (59:28):

Okay. Asking yourself the question when you're making a business decision or even personal life decision, is there a way I can win doing this even if it fails? And then pursuing different business opportunities and ideas that way. So with less reluctance of I'm so afraid to fail that I can't even try, that's been said asking, is there a way that this can actually be a win, even if the thing I'm trying fails. I heard that recently ish from Tim Ferris on his podcast, and I was like, yes, that's such a good way to put it. And it's definitely how I, for years have really tried to approach business decisions of, if it doesn't work out, is there something else I'll gain for it? Is there new relationships that will come out of me trying this? Is there lessons I'll learn? Is there something I can teach someone else on my podcast because I've tried this way of doing things? So basically asking yourself, is there a way I can win doing this even if it fails?

Shanna Skidmore (01:00:18):

Elizabeth, that's so good. Coming from, I think I'm probably a one on the Enneagram, maybe a nine, but I have found the older I get, the more failure adverse maybe, or I get harder on myself for things that didn't go as planned. And so I don't jump. Colin and I were just talking about this week, why are we wrestling so hard over these decisions? And I get more responsibility. Things just, you bounce back maybe a little bit slower, but I love that idea. How can I win even if this doesn't go as planned? Yeah, that's so good. I love that. Okay, last quickfire question and then we'll send it off. What are you working on now or one resource that you would like to share?

Elizabeth McCravy (01:01:01):

Yeah, so I'm always working on new templates, which like I said, me designing with some music and a coffee is my favorite thing ever. And so actually this morning I was working on a template right before we started recording this, so that's something I'm always working on. And just recently I launched a new show at add-on template that is for building your email list. So it's landing pages, unsubscribed confirmation pages, a page you can use for if you spoke at a summit or a conference where you want to direct people to afterwards with a lot of links. There's a whole bundle, I call it the landing page bundle. So that's a new thing, and just working on all kinds of new templates.

Shanna Skidmore (01:01:38):

Oh, I love it. Elizabeth, this has been such a joy to get to spend time with you. I feel truly like I could talk to you for another hour easily and step Yes to thank you for your time. I'm so glad to know you and I do want us to be friends in real life, Tennessee friends. Yes. But let's send it off with what would you tell yourself, looking back now, what would you tell yourself on day one of starting your business career or losing your other job?

Elizabeth McCravy (01:02:08):

Yeah, okay. I would tell myself to soak it all up and soak it in, because when you are farther along in your business, you will look back on these early days as the good old days and like, oh, that was so fun. That was so wonderful. That moment was so cool. So don't rush to some point where you think everything's better, where the grass is greener, because the joy really is in the journey of building your business and all those sweet moments that are often hard and the rollercoaster of it all.

Shanna Skidmore (01:02:35):

Oh, so true. Elizabeth, this has been so fun.

Elizabeth McCravy (01:02:38):

Yes, it has. Seriously, Shanna, thank you for having me. I love your podcast. I love you, and it was so fun chatting.

Shanna Skidmore (01:02:44):

Hey, wildflower, you just finished another episode of Consider The Wildflowers the podcast. Head over to consider the wildflowers podcast.com for show notes, resource links, and to learn how you can connect with Elizabeth. Elizabeth has generously offered 10% off her website templates or the Booked Out designer course for Consider the Wildflowers Podcast listeners, that's you. Head over to the show notes for quick links and use the code Wildflower to activate your savings. One final thought for today to chew on from Tim Ferris. My definition of luxury has changed over time. Now, it's not about owning a lot of stuff. Luxury to me is feeling unrushed. As always, thank you for listening. I'll see you next time.