Consider the Wildflowers
Consider the Wildflowers
059. Emily Moore: From Solopreneur to CEO
How a news story on a chupacabra in Picayune, MS (featured on SNL) led this entrepreneur to building a full-service media agency. This week's podcast episode is one you can't miss.
Emily Moore is the Founder of Moore Media Group, a marketing agency in Jackson, Mississippi. Passionate about the power of storytelling, she and her team help their clients through public relations, advertising, branding, social media, and marketing.
From solopreneur to CEO, listen in as Emily shares how she's grown a team & built a company culture that supports work-life balance.
WILDFLOWER SHOWNOTES : shannaskidmore.com/emily -moore
📌 RESOURCES MENTIONED:
Emily (00:00:00):
I had been asking for months and the answer kept being no. And finally it was like, we have no one else. Go ahead. So it was around Halloween, so around this time, and I was from a small town that was about an hour away from the station picky in Mississippi. It's pretty rural. And I had been seeing people from my hometown post on Facebook about this creature that they were calling a Chupa Cobra, which was like, is it like a mythical demon dog? I had never actually heard of it, but it became like a joke. It was around Halloween. It was like this thing's all over pick you and what is this? And I was like, this would be a fun news story. It's a weekend, no one's watching the news. It's close to Halloween. I'm going to go do a fun investigative piece on the fan animal. And I did, and it ended up going viral news stations all over the country ran it. Anderson Cooper talked about it on CNN. It ended up on the weekend update on Saturday Night Live, and it was just hilarious because it was this random reporter who had no idea what she was doing. There was no one there to tell me no, and I just went and did it.
Shanna (00:01:03):
You're listening to Consider the Wildflowers, the podcast episode 59 for managing social media accounts from her couch to growing a full service marketing agency with a team of eight and less than 10 years. Emily Moore does not shy away from a challenge. In this episode, we are talking all about building a team and stepping into your role as CEO. If you dig professional bios, here it goes. Emily Moore is the founder of Moore Media Group, a full service marketing agency in Jackson, Mississippi. Before launching the agency in 2017, she spent several years as a television reporter and producer covering breaking news and feature stories. During these years, she saw firsthand the power of storytelling and communicating a message in a way that is both effective and captivating. She and her team use these skills today to help clients across various industries reach their audience through public relations, advertising, branding, social media and marketing.
(00:01:53):
Emily is also the author of Words are Like Magic, an illustrated book of encouraging poems. She lives in Jackson Metro with her husband, Tyler and their two children. From solo show to CEO, let's dive into today's episode. 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 turned business consultant, I have a unique opportunity to see the reel. 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 shaped them and the journey to building the brands they have to 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. Hi Emily. Welcome to the show. I'm so excited to get to chat and just to get to know you.
Emily (00:03:01):
Yeah, I'm so happy to be here. It's so funny because I've been listening to your podcast, so just like us talking together and not just me listening is a weird adjustment for me right now.
Shanna (00:03:14):
Well, thanks for listening.
Emily (00:03:15):
I'm used to hearing your voice, but I'm not used to you talking to me. So it's a weird thing.
Shanna (00:03:20):
It's so funny. This is such a side note. I had a doctor's appointment this week and the sweet lady that I go and see is also my sister's doctor. But anyways, long story short, she was like, you know what? I have to tell you something, Shannon. I was like, what? She was like, my friend was on your podcast. And so I listened to it because she's my friend and she was like, oh wait, I know this voice. I know this voice. And she was like, it finally clicked. And I was like, that is
Emily (00:03:42):
So, she didn't realize it was you until she was looking to the episode.
Shanna (00:03:46):
That's funny. And she was like, I know this person. And then she finally was like, it clicked. And then I was like, oh, get to see you this week. So
Emily (00:03:52):
Small
Shanna (00:03:52):
World.
Emily (00:03:53):
That's funny. Yeah, it's just weird. I've been listening and I'm like, oh wait, wait, she's talking to me. I'm supposed to respond.
Shanna (00:03:59):
Well, thanks for listening to the show. The podcast has been so fun. I can't believe at the time of this recording. I think we're in the sixties, I think of
Emily (00:04:08):
Episodes,
Shanna (00:04:09):
Which is just so fun. And I'm like, I'm already thinking, what are we going to do for a hundred?
Emily (00:04:13):
Yeah, you got to do something big.
Shanna (00:04:15):
Okay, we're just rambling, but I have to let, because we're going to talk about what you do on the marketing side. We do content marketing. I'm not on social media.
Emily (00:04:24):
I know. I tried to find you. I always,
Shanna (00:04:27):
I've always been super inconsistent. I could never Okay. Blogging or YouTube and it's been incredible with the podcast, and this is why I always tell people now, I'm like, you've got to find the thing that clicks for you. And I tried all the different ones. Video, YouTube makes so much sense and finance, I could teach so much better, but that's a lot of production and not that the podcast isn't, but anyway, so it's just been really, I'm like, pat, if I had a pinch me moment, like quit fire. It's like, Hey, I've done this. I've kept doing it.
Emily (00:05:03):
Yeah, I mean it's going well. And that's which we'll get into my stuff a little bit, but we work with so many different industries and that's kind of what I always tell people, what works really well for one of our clients might not work well for you. And so it's all very trial and error and part of it is kind of what you said, you found this and this felt right for you. And I think because you enjoy it, it doesn't feel like, oh, I have to go record another podcast. You seem like you genuinely doing these interviews, so that makes it easier to be consistent. It kind of is very natural for you.
Shanna (00:05:32):
Yeah, media consultant right here. There we go, Emily. Hi. So we connected through Lauren on my team
Emily (00:05:39):
Who
Shanna (00:05:39):
I just absolutely adore and I think that's probably why we are just, we could be in real life friends. I think we've just hit it off.
Emily (00:05:45):
I agree.
Shanna (00:05:46):
I mean we literally just started talking and we're
Emily (00:05:48):
Making
Shanna (00:05:48):
Jokes already. So let's go, but tell everybody just who you are. And then I want to go back to life. Before starting your business, what were you doing? What was your first career? Was starting your business, your first, just give me background.
Emily (00:06:02):
Okay. It's a long winding road, so you just tell me if I get too much in the weeds. So yeah, my name's Emily Moore. I own more media group, a full service marketing agency, marketing and advertising agency in Jackson, Mississippi. We started six years ago this month actually, and by it was just me, but I guess I need to go back before that to explain how I started it. I went to school at Mississippi College, a small Christian school actually where Lauren went. We were not there at the same time, but I was there with her sister and that's how Lauren and I know each other. So I actually had five different majors in college, couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Literally everything from nursing to pre-law to pre-physical therapy, got an interview at a PT school and then didn't go to my interview because I decided I didn't actually want to be a physical therapist. After doing all that work,
(00:06:55):
Landed in communications with an emphasis in public relations and a minor in writing, which I always, that feels random after I say those other things. But I always came back to communications. I think the whole time it was like, this is what kind of we were just talking about with you and your podcast with what I naturally and feels like a good fit, but it really intimidated me that there wasn't necessarily a clear career path afterwards. It was like there were so many different things you could do with that, and that really was intimidating as somebody who had always had a next step about to leave college. That's a scary feeling. Nursing school, you go be a nurse free law, you go be an attorney. It was like there was a step, but communications, it was like, go do anything. So my first job out of school was at a news station on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and I kind of really always wanted to do news. I would say the dream was to be on Good Morning America
Shanna (00:07:50):
Because that makes sense naturally.
Emily (00:07:52):
Why not? Of course, yes, I want to be a new thinker, but again, it was that intimidating. It was that fear of failure that I think kind of kept me from saying that and going for that, like, who do you think you are? But I was like, you know what? This is what I like. Let's just see how far I can get. So I took a minimum wage job as a production assistant, just running cameras in the newsroom, all that was available and I was like, this will be a foot in the door. And I immediately made friends with some of the reporters and started going in on weekends and shadowing them and borrowing gear and shooting my own stories and shadowing them on interviews and learning what questions to ask and learning how to shoot and edit stuff and just nothing that ran on the news, just making stuff each weekend to practice. And eventually a position opened up for a producer position at that station, which would get to actually write the content for the news still not being on air, but at least a step up. So I took that, kept doing my self-reporting on the side to practice, and finally there was a weekend where literally nobody could work. Everybody was sick. I was the last person. And they were like, okay, Emily, you can report this weekend.
Shanna (00:09:06):
And you were ready. You've been practicing.
Emily (00:09:08):
I was ready. I was like, let's go. I had been asking for months and the answer kept being no. And finally it was like, we have no one else. Go ahead. So flattering, so encouraging. I was around Halloween, so around this time, and I was from a small town that was about an hour away from the station picky in Mississippi. It's pretty rural, but it was still in the market. And I had been seeing people from my hometown post on Facebook about this creature that they were calling a Chupa chabra, which was, is it like a mythical demon dog? I had never actually heard of it, but it became like a joke. It was around Halloween. It was like this thing's all over pick you and what is this? And I was like, this would be a fun news story. It's a Fune or Saturday, I don't remember which.
(00:09:52):
It's a weekend. No one's watching the news. It's close to Halloween. I'm going to go do a fun investigative piece on the fan animal. And I did. And it ended up going viral news stations all over the country, ran it, CNN, Anderson Cooper talked about it on CNN. It ended up on the weekend update on Saturday Night Live. And it was just hilarious because it was this random reporter who had no idea what she was doing. There was no one there to tell me no. And I just went and did it. And that led to me in up getting a job as a reporter and producer in Jackson, Mississippi, which is where my husband and I live now. And I ended up staying in news for a few years. This is a side note that has nothing to do with work, but the night that it was on Saturday Night Live was actually the night I met Tyler.
(00:10:40):
Now my husband, we met through mutual friends and it was at their house and my phone started blowing up and it was a Saturday night and I was like, I'm so sorry. I was talking to Tyler, I just met him. I was like, I'm so sorry, I don't know if someone is dead. It was late Saturday night. I was like, my phone was blowing up. I got to go see what's happening. And it was everybody being like, your story's on Saturday. That was Tyler's first impression of me. But anyway, so I ended up working, hooked, hooked. That was it, the Chupa Cabra. So I ended up working in news for a few years. It was so fun. I genuinely loved it. I was the morning live reporter, got to cover breaking news and just really, really fun season for me to get to do this thing that I had always wanted to do.
(00:11:24):
And Tyler and I were dating. We got engaged before we got married. I think we just started actually talking about the future and where life's going to look like. And my schedule was like I had to be at work at three 30 in the morning. I got off at noon. It was weird. He and I were having a hard time even seeing each other with the opposite schedules. And I just was like, I knew I really wanted to have a family here. My family's only three hours from here. We kind of decided we were going to in Jackson, Mississippi. And I think with those two things I was like, I don't know where this goes. And so I don't know that I see myself doing this. So that's when I made the decision to start looking for a different career path and get out of news.
(00:12:05):
And I went to a PR agency because a lot of reporters or people in news end up going into PR because it's so similar, it's also storytelling. They're just such connected industries and there were parts I liked about it. It was a highly corporate environment, which was a big change from me with my weird three to noon schedule, never knowing what story I was covering that day. It was just very, very different. And I just didn't love the strict corporate life because personality wise, that just wasn't a good fit for me. But I realized there were pieces of what I was doing at that job that I did really like. And so the storytelling aspect and the video aspect, which I was able to use some of the stuff that I had learned in news to start shooting videos for clients. And that was really when businesses were starting to use social media.
(00:12:52):
Social media had been around, but businesses were still figuring out really what that looked like for them. And so that's when I started doing some of that. So after that, I left the agency. I wasn't even there a whole year and I kind of hopped around again back in the college days where I hopped around to different majors, I hopped around to different jobs, all still in the communications realm, but just figuring out where do I want to work? Where do I see myself? And I finally was just like, I don't know that there's a job that I'm just going to love 100%. I kind of just want to go do my own thing. And I had started doing a little bit of social media and video for businesses on the side just because I had those skill sets that I had built through news and the agency. And so Tyler and I talked about it and we ended up, we didn't have kids, we were just in a season where it was possible for me to just say, Hey, I'm just going to try this and see if I can do this full-time by myself and not have a boss. And he was like, that's probably best since you can't find somewhere that you want to stay.
(00:13:51):
Honestly, that's how more media started. That's when more media group started and it was just me and I didn't really have plans to turn it into an agency, but I just kind of took it one step at a time and just kept saying yes to opportunities and yes to clients and had a college student reach out about an internship and I was like, I don't really know what you'll do, but sure, come on. But that turned into we did get more work and I did need her and I ended up hiring her when she graduated and she was my first hire and it's just grown from there. And so in the six years, which I'm sure we'll get into, we've gone from just me on my couch working on my laptop to a team of seven and an office in Jackson and doing everything that we do now.
Shanna (00:14:35):
I mean, it's amazing. I love your story so much. Oh my goodness. Thank you so much for the backstory. And I want to hear now, okay, so you are starting more media group, you're working from home. Talk about those early days of figuring out your offers or were you just saying yes to anything, figuring out your pricing? I want to talk about the early days and then we'll shift into how you've grown and where you are now. But just talk through those early days. How did you figure out what you offered? How did you get clients? How did you figure out your pricing and what would you say went well and what was train wreck?
Emily (00:15:12):
Yeah, so honestly in the early days it was really just a lot of yeses. It was just like, I mean I've always been kind very open to like, yeah, let's see where this goes. So it was like social media. Yeah, I knew we did that video. I knew I did that. And then somebody was like, could you make me a website? And I was like, I'm sure I could. And so in the marketing world, it's one thing always leads to something else. And I've learned that clients really being able to go to one person or one company for all of those things. And that is honestly why more media has grown. And I know some people take different approaches. Some people are like, no, we're only going to do video, we're only going to do social media. And I think that's really great too. Then you can really specialize in that.
(00:15:52):
But what I liked was being able to really take care of my clients in whatever capacity they needed. It was like, Hey, we love what you're doing with our social media. We're not sure we love our branding. We kind of want to update it. Do you think you could help with that? And I'm like, I can find a designer and kind of help. I don't do design, but I was like, I can facilitate that and make that happen and I know what we need it to look like to really be able to communicate your voice the way that we want to. And so I can be a part of that. And then that led to, Hey, we want to do a little advertising. I was like, sure, I can figure out advertising. And so it just grew. And then as the team grew, it led to me being able to fill in those gaps of, okay, more clients are asking for this.
(00:16:29):
Design is one of those things. I don't even do Canva. I don't want to do any part of design if it's in my head. I have not figured out a way to get it out of my head onto a phone or paper or whatever to make it look like it looks in my head. I can't do that. So let's hire somebody that can do that and be able to do it really well for our clients. And that's honestly how we grew to where we are now. But I think when you say what went really well and what didn't go well, and then the pricing, honestly, I didn't know what I was doing in the early days. I was just trying to find the sweet spot of, okay, I think it's worth this, but it's just me. And I don't have a ton of experience as being more media group.
(00:17:08):
I had all this work experience, but I'm like, how do I justify trying to find the sweet spot of like, okay, I'm new but I feel like it's worth this, but I feel like they'll only pay this. So it was very much like, oh, they did accept that. Let me go a little higher. Like, oh, nope, they walked away. Let me come back down and figuring out what that looked like. And again, in the early days when there wasn't overhead and there weren't other employees to hey, it was okay, I feel like to kind of figure it out that way. Of course now it's more like it's very different now having seven salaries and health insurance and all that to pay people and office to pay for and all that. But in the early days it was really just a guessing game of like, oh no, that was too high. Let's go down. Oh, too low. Let's go down.
(00:17:52):
But when you say what went well and what didn't go well, I just feel like everything did go well. And I always tell people that, and it's not me being humble. I truly just think I got very lucky at being in the right place at the right time, having people that said my name in the right rooms with the right people that hired me. And then when I got those jobs, I will take credit and say eventually my team worked really hard for those clients and really cared about the work we were doing. And then they said good things about us to other people. And I always say that Jackson, Mississippi is just another small town. It's like everybody's so connected. And so that goes a really long way in this market as people, and I think it goes a long way in most markets, but especially here, just doing good work for people and really caring about their work makes them want to refer you. And so we've really grown just because of that, because of people getting lucky early on and landing some good clients and then doing good work for them and them telling other people about it.
Shanna (00:18:46):
Yeah, I love it. Emily, was there a point, I'm going off script kind of, but was there a point,
Emily (00:18:51):
I love off script.
Shanna (00:18:53):
You're growing, you take on an intern. Where was the point where you're like, I have to figure out business stuff. I have to figure out pricing, I have to figure out overhead. Did that happen gradually or was there a point where you remember, okay, I need to understand my numbers?
Emily (00:19:16):
Yeah, I would for sure say it was gradual. I would also say I still don't understand my numbers. Thankfully my husband, I am very highly creative, highly relational. I don't really want to look at the numbers and figure it out. And it's so painful for me to have to sit there with a spreadsheet and I'm like, no, but this is all the possibilities. And my husband, thankfully is very business-minded, very numbers. He loves numbers, he loves a spreadsheet so much, and we have a personal budget and a spreadsheet that we review together every month, and I want to pull my eyeballs out every time. But he's thankfully from the beginning been very much when I got, Hey, I think I need to hire somebody. He was like, well, let's look at it. And we looked at it together and he was like, yeah, let's start with part-time and you can hire part-time and work up to full-time. Here's what you can pay, here's what you can offer, but you're going to need to keep bringing in this much a month to do that. And honestly, he's always been the one to step in and do that. And he still works full-time at his job, but he always takes time. We still once a month get lunch together and pull up my books and go through it. And he's the reason that I've been able to grow in a probably safe way
(00:20:27):
That's not just like, this feels right, I'm an Enneagram seven if that explains anything, but I'm very much like, this feels good, this feels fun, let's do this.
Shanna (00:20:35):
And
Emily (00:20:35):
He is like, yeah, it feels great, but if this happens, this is going to all fall apart if you lose this client, that doesn't work anymore. So I would say it was gradual, but I would also say I haven't figured it out, and I'm always so thankful that I have him to look at before I hire anyone or make any big spending decisions. We look at the numbers together and he's like, yeah, you can do it, but this is kind of your threshold here, or no, we need to wait a little while before you do that. And it's been, I think are really healthy to have that for me as a business owner, to have somebody that loves me and caress about me and wants what's best for me to be able to speak into that. But also, it's been cool for our relationship for him to feel like a part of more media because obviously it has become such a huge part of my life and it very much does. It's my company company, but it feels very much like a team effort and it doesn't work without him.
Shanna (00:21:29):
Yeah, I love that. He's like your unofficial CFO.
Emily (00:21:31):
He really, he says that all the time. He calls him cfo. That's what I, it's become a joke at the office. It's like, oh, can we go do this? Oh, do we have to ask Tyler?
Shanna (00:21:43):
Yes,
Emily (00:21:44):
He's the buzzkill.
Shanna (00:21:47):
That's amazing. So I love that you said that, Emily. I tell everybody, I work with all my students, all my clients. I'm like, as the CEO of your business, you don't have to be the numbers person. You don't have to love spreadsheets, you don't have to enjoy me bookkeeping. I mean, I love a good bookkeeping session. Let me get that zeroed out. I feel so happy. You don't have to do that. That's how my brain works. But to have someone on your team, whether that's someone like me who's an actual hey, fractional CFO or a spouse or a friend or somebody who loves the number side that you can know no matter what, we have to be empowered to grow. Like you said, you can make these decisions confidently because you have someone that is looking at the numbers and can say, yeah, you can do that, or How about doing it this way? And so I love that you brought that up. Numbers isn't your thing, but you have someone helping on that business side.
Emily (00:22:50):
Yeah, I mean, like I said, it does, and you just said it makes me more confident because obviously hiring someone's a very big deal and it's very scary to commit to, Hey, you can leave your job and come work here and I will pay you and I'll give you insurance and I'll take care of you. That's a lot to say to a person and to be able to follow through, I think especially early on. But I still get nervous whenever I hire somebody because it is such a big commitment financially. And to have him saying, no, this works. This works with the numbers, and you've got some wiggle room here. Even if you lose a couple of clients, you'll be okay. I feel like him saying that always makes me, I think gives me a little less anxiety about committing to hiring a new employee.
Shanna (00:23:30):
Yeah. Emily, you said, so you're in your sixth year of business, is that correct? Yes. Okay. Talk about just where the company is now. I think you said seven employees, you have an office. How has the growth felt for you? Have there been moments where you're like, oh my goodness, this makes me so nervous? Has it just felt like, okay, one step at a time, really steady, just I know that's big growth in just six years.
Emily (00:24:00):
Thanks. I sometimes get insecure about listening to some of the people on your podcast. Whoa, they have that many employees. I don't know we'll ever be that. It's easy to be like some days be like, I have seven employees, that's a big deal. And then be like, oh my gosh, we're nobody in between. But I think, so we've doubled in size between 2022 and 2023. So this spring was when we hit that double, we jumped from three to six and then we added the seven. And so there's been some growing pains that honestly I'm still going through because in the early days it was me doing everything.
(00:24:37):
And again, I'm a big yes girl, so it was like if I didn't know how to do it, I figured it out or would outsource. And so a lot of our clients got used to that and got used to knowing me personally being the one that was talking to them. And I think that that really kind of helped us out. That personal touch of people were like, yeah, more media group. I work with Emily Moore, she's at the meeting, she's the one doing it. She answers her phone every time I call. And I said it earlier, but there were a lot of yeses early on and honestly probably should have had more boundaries early on, but I don't regret it because saying yes and probably working way more hours than I should have is I think what led to where we are now. But now I am much more strict with my boundaries now.
(00:25:16):
I have two children, they're four and two, so our hands are pretty full these days. But I think I've been shifting in the last year from being the, because even as we added people, I was still very hands-on with accounts and even managing some by myself still. But I've been really trying to shift to not being the person that does everything myself, but being the person that builds a really strong team of people who can all do things well and serve our clients best. And so that's been a really big change for me personally and for the company and the way we work. So I hired a business coach this year that that's been a game changer and been super helpful and she's really been helping me shift to actually being the CEO and not being everyone's account manager. So we're still figuring out what that looks like.
(00:26:03):
I have now an accounts director and a creative director who managed the people under them. So that structure is all new as of this year. We had our second directors meeting yesterday where I'm kind of trying to really empower them to lead the team, and I'm trying, my goal by next year is to not be the main contact for any clients, but to be able to support my people. And I want to go to those meetings and I want to be part of those big picture discussions, but if a client needs something posted on Instagram, I don't want them to call me. I want them to feel like they can call their account manager, and if their account manager has a question, they can ask the account director and they know they can trust them as much as they would trust me. So that's really been the shift in this last year that we're still figuring out, honestly.
Shanna (00:26:50):
Yeah, I think that's so interesting, Emily, that you brought that up because I do think as your business grows your role so often what you love doing, whether it's for you, media writing can sometimes become the last thing you do.
Emily (00:27:09):
It's like
Shanna (00:27:09):
Now I'm just a director of people and overseeing the team. What would you say for you as the company has grown and now you have this, yeah, you're managing this large team and what has still come naturally for you, and then what were some of the lessons learned? Big struggles now that the company is so much bigger,
Emily (00:27:32):
So naturally just the people part of it. I do like the leading a team part. I never set out to do that with more media, but I think I'm realizing like, oh, if I don't have the stress of also having to account manage, I like the leading a team when it got really stressful was when I was trying to do it all at the same time. But as I'm stepping out of that, me being the direct contact for the client and I'm realizing I can kind of have a strategy and a plan and empower people. And I like seeing light bulbs go off and the team get to do something and be really proud of what they did. So I'm learning that that does feel natural. I didn't really know it did though, because I was so in the weeds of the day-to-day stuff that felt stressful. But as I stepped back from that, like, oh, I like this. I do want to do this.
(00:28:20):
What's been really hard? I've had to let an employee go and have some difficult conversations, and that is not natural to me. In fact, as an Enneagram seven, I do not unhappy feelings. I do not like people being unhappy with me. But I think realizing sometimes you have to have these hard conversations because it's best for the whole team. It's not just between me and that one employee. It's like, okay, well this is affecting our clients. This is affecting the rest of the team. This is affecting the whole workplace vibe. And so it's having to make those really hard decisions and have those really hard conversations for what's best for the team is really hard and doesn't come naturally to me. And so that's something that I hope to not have to do too much of, but that I feel like I've had to become okay with of I'm going to have to do this, but this is the best decision. And I've been at peace with that when I've had those hard conversations. I don't regret any of 'em. I think they all happened because they had to happen for us to keep moving forward in a healthy way.
Shanna (00:29:26):
But
Emily (00:29:27):
Typically I would like to just avoid that confrontation and just be like, oh, it'll work itself out. And I think I've learned it doesn't always work itself out. And so that's been I think a growing point for me.
Shanna (00:29:40):
Emily, did you ever imagine your business would look like it does now?
Emily (00:29:46):
No, but I think it's not that I was like, oh my gosh, that's not possible. I think I just never thought about it. And I guess it's embarrassing to say I really didn't have a plan. Like I said, I just was like, I want to do this. I like doing this. And it was like, oh, you need an internship? Come on, we'll figure it out. And it was like, Hey, I have enough work. Do you want to come work with me? And so there really hasn't been a picture of what is this going to look like in five years? And that's something too, having a business coach now, she's asking me those questions
Shanna (00:30:17):
Of
Emily (00:30:18):
What does more media look like five years from now? And the first time I was like, I have no idea. And she was like, well, we need to think about these things. And I was like, you're right. We absolutely need to think about these things. What do you think it should look like? So I think that's part of that growth too, of being the leader is like, it's not just me on my couch and Oh, if this doesn't work out, I'll go get a job. It's like there are people who I'm responsible for providing a job for that. I want to be able to keep doing that. And so there has to be a plan. And so having a business coach has really helped with that this year.
Shanna (00:30:47):
Yeah. You seem, I mean we just met, but it comes across, you're someone who just kind of takes things as they come, takes it in stride, but has it added a different level of pressure as the business has grown? Have you ever been like, ah, I don't want that pressure? Or are you just like, yeah, okay, we can do this?
Emily (00:31:07):
No, it has definitely added pressure. And there have been moments, especially right before we doubled when it was like, okay, there's a lot of work. There's not enough of us. What are we doing? And it was like people were reaching out and I was just like, Tyler was even like, Hey, do you even want to do this? You don't have to do this. There's been moments where it's like, this is a lot of pressure and I've had to stop and say, what am I doing? Do I want to do this? And the answer has been yes. And I've said a couple of times, there's been a couple of different points in the last year where it's been like, yes, but not in this way. And that's when hiring people with different skill sets came in. I hired an office manager and that's when I hired the business coach.
(00:31:51):
I actually have a meeting with today that I see her once a month. And some of that has come from feeling that pressure and saying, okay, I am very much like, yes, let's do it all. But I think mean, of course I hit a wall and I'm like, okay, I can't do this. I don't want my team to get burnout. I don't want to get burnout, so what do we need to change? And that's whenever I think it's hard to sit down and really think through how do we do this in a healthy way that makes sense and also serves our clients. It's not like we can just stop and be like, okay, everything's stopped for three months. Let's regroup, restructure, we need
Shanna (00:32:26):
A break. We
Emily (00:32:26):
Have work to do every day. We're doing social media. It doesn't stop. And so being able to keep our clients, keep the level of work that we're doing for them the same, but also be able to internally restructure, regroup has been a challenge, but I think we've figured it out this year and we're continuing to figure it out. And I think it's just having people in your life that do ask you those questions of like, do you want to do this? Is this going well? What do you need to change to do this in the way that you think is best? And being able to stop and make those changes whenever you need to.
Shanna (00:32:58):
Yeah. Okay. I'm going to ask you one other off script question then we'll get back to it. When you hire a team, when you grow, when you get an office manager, when you get an office, when you're like, Hey, the life that I want to feel healthy is not working so much, that means hiring more people. That is a sacrifice of your bottom line. That's probably taking money, I would imagine, out of your paycheck to pay others. Have you wrestled with that? Was it an easy decision because it's like, Hey, I've got to get this help. That's something when I work with clients and students in this growth phase, you're used to making a lot of the profit and it can feel hard to give some of that up, but it sounds like for you, you had to do that for your own health and
Emily (00:33:46):
Wellbeing.
(00:33:48):
And I don't think it's been a hard for me, so my husband still works full time, he has a good job, and I think we are comfortable and anything. I think we've reached a point where we're just comfortable. We're not insanely wealthy, but I think I don't need to be, and so I'm not motivated by money, and I honestly don't think I ever have been. Obviously I want to make money and make enough to live comfortably, but I'm not like, oh, I got to have the next thing. Oh, I want to go shopping on, I got to do this trip. I do love travel and stuff, but I think I'm much more would prefer, like you said, just that quality of life. For me, it's always going to be more worth it. I'm probably always going to pick hiring somebody to make the workload more manageable so that I can live the life I want over making more money. But I think I'm in a season, I'm at a place where I'm comfortable. Of course, it'd be different if it was like, I need this money. I think I'm just at a place where I'm like, I'm good with this. I don't need to make more. I could do this. I just want to spend more time with my kids and focus on my mental health and be able to read a book every now and then. So it's like
Shanna (00:34:56):
Stuff
Emily (00:34:56):
Like that I think is part of the season we're in. So no, those decisions haven't been hard for me, but I think it's because it'd be different if I know I've listened to a lot of your episodes and you talk to people who the husband does work with the wife, and I know y'all do that. And so I think that that would be scarier, but it's like Tyler's not going to change. And so I think we have that to kind of fall back on. So yeah, it hasn't been that big of a decision because I care so much and I think that's why I started more media was the quality of life thing. I couldn't find a job where I was like, I like this. I didn't want to be at work at eight and sign out and back in for my one hour lunch break and have to sit at my desk till five. I didn't want that. So yeah, that's kind of motivat.
Shanna (00:35:40):
I love that. So motivator
Emily (00:35:41):
For me,
Shanna (00:35:41):
I think having the clarity and I want to talk about work life. I mean, I have a toddler as well, so she's two and a half, but
Emily (00:35:49):
You're there. I know, I
Shanna (00:35:51):
Hear you. I hear you go. Yeah,
Emily (00:35:53):
My two year
Shanna (00:35:54):
When the life, my motto for my whole company is Business built for life. I truly believe that we can, if we're clear on the life we want, we can model a business around that. And for you, especially in this season, I imagine with littles at home, you're willing to give up some of the financial reward in order to have more time and money go so hand in hand in that way. Okay. But before I ask you about how you manage life with two little people and run a company of seven employees, what would you say is the best thing you have learned about money?
Emily (00:36:31):
I think, again, I've never, I've been very privileged. I grew up in a home where we weren't super wealthy, but also never went without whatever. Usually what was on my Christmas list I would get for Christmas, we went on vacations. They weren't extravagant, but we did go on fun. So it's never been something I've had to think about. My parents bought me a car when I got my license, my parents paid for my college. I've been very, very lucky. So it's honestly never been something I've thought much about until I started a company. When Tyler and I got married, we had a joint bank account and it was never something I think I had to worry about. But then when I started more media, it was started at zero and have watched it grow and then have watched myself be able to, like I said, hire people and give them what I hope is a job that they love.
(00:37:17):
The workplace environment is very important to me. And so I'm like, this is a tool that I can use to create this life I want, but also hopefully create a life for other people with a job that they that has flexible. We don't count vacation days. We work from home on Mondays and Fridays that has that flexibility where they can also have that time with their family and do stuff that they want to do and then pay them. It's cool whenever you get to see employees go on trips or buy a car or do something and you're like, well, they're doing that with a salary, I'm paying them. That's cool to see. And I think we do pretty fulfilling work. I know sometimes marketing and advertising gets a bad rap of like, oh, it's here today, gone tomorrow stuff. But we're working with clients who are doing really cool stuff in Jackson, and that is fulfilling to me and I think to our team to get to know that we're a small part of that. So I guess now I see money as a tool to be able to not only create the life I want, but also hopefully help my team have the life that they want to. And you can only do that. No, I am not motivated by money. And I'd like to say I don't care that much about it, but you got to have it. That's right.
Shanna (00:38:23):
Yeah. I always say money is likely not the reason you went into business, but it is a tool to keep you in business and sustaining your dream.
Emily (00:38:34):
Yeah,
Shanna (00:38:34):
And I think that's so cool to hear you say that. Okay, let's talk life. We're time goes so fast when you're having fun. Okay. How have you seen your business shift in different seasons of life? It sounds like you have two little humans at home, four and two, your company's six. So how have you been able to be the mom? You want to be the wife, you want to be the business owner, you want to be?
Emily (00:39:01):
Yeah. Honestly, I feel like I'm still figuring that out too, but I think for me it's just more about the perspective of what's going to matter at the end. And I don't think that's as easy as always being like it's always family. I don't think that, I think it is some of that big picture stuff of when I'm making decisions of deciding that my kids are going to have to go to preschool. Whenever I had my daughter, the four year old is our daughter Ren. I was like, oh, I want to work. I want to keep her at home with me while I work. And I think a lot of us think that, and then you try it and you're like, this is so much harder than it was in my head. In your head you're like, they don't just sit around the baby. I had this beautiful picture of her playing on the little mat right next to me and me just working, sipping my coffee. And it was not that. It was her trying to stick her finger in an outlet while I was on a Zoom call. Exactly.
(00:39:52):
So I think just realizing early on, I've got to make the decisions that are best for our family. And so it was putting them in preschool, but also me, I've been saying all year I'm going to take off on Fridays. And I told the director just, I was like, I'm really going to do it guys. I'm going to do it. And I think that a 20, 24 thing for me is I want to be off on Fridays and I want to keep the kids home and spend that time with them because rent's going to be in kindergarten next year and I'm not going to be able to do that. So it's like, I think just making those decisions of, I guess always this feels more of a to say, but at the end, what am I going to be proud that I did and where I spent my time and the decisions I made?
(00:40:28):
And sometimes that's choosing the work and the bigger strategy to create this life that we have. And sometimes it's choosing, I'm going to take off today and go pick up the kids and go take 'em to get ice cream and go to the park because I feel like I need a little bit of quality time with them. And so it's just making those decisions. Also on the note of family, we do have the four and two year old, but I guess by the time this airs, we'll probably have our first foster placement. My husband and I have been going through the process the last few months to get our foster care license, and we finished everything this week. So I'm waiting on a call any day to get our first placement. So that's something back to that kind of like us talking about what do we want? This is something we've talked for a while about potentially doing and being able to have this job that I have that is flexible allows us to do things like that. And so that's something too that's important. And we're about to see what life looks like with I guess three in the house. Yeah.
Shanna (00:41:25):
That's exciting. Do you feel like you have to just speak that truth over your, I feel like for myself, it's like what I know to be true doesn't always translate to how I feel. Like mom, guilt's real. And just speaking truth of Kyle tells me all the time, you get to spend more time with our daughter Madeline than a lot of moms do and that
Emily (00:41:48):
Working
Shanna (00:41:48):
Moms do. And I'm like, I know that, but sometimes I don't feel that. Do you feel that way or has it just been like once you made the decision, you're like, I'm clear on why we're doing these things?
Emily (00:41:59):
No, I definitely feel that way. I mean, I think that, yeah, mom guilt's real. No matter what season you're in, no matter what your situation is in, there's always going to be something like you're working too much, you're not working it up you. I think it's always, it's just a constant thing that's always there. And like you said, you have to come back to those truths of I know I'm making the best decision for my family, but I do think sometimes it's regrouping. It's like, and if it feels wrong and you're feeling guilty constantly, it might be worth that pausing and saying, is this the best decision? Is there another way? Let's look at our options. And I think that that's kind of what this whole journey of figuring out more media has kind of taught me is don't have to just because you're like, this is it. This is the way we're doing this. If it's not going well, you don't have to keep powering through and doing it that
Shanna (00:42:43):
Way.
Emily (00:42:43):
You can switch and you can change kind of the plan. And so I think, yes, I absolutely feel that guilt, but I think when I do, I just say, okay, why am I feeling this? And then remind myself of the truth and be like, no, this is right. This is the way it's supposed to be. And continuing down that path or saying, no, we need to change something.
(00:43:00):
And I think honestly, it's gotten easier as my daughter has gotten older. I do have a two year and three month year old little boy too. But I feel like with my first, when it was just Ren, I had more guilt when she was younger, but then when she got old enough to start having friends at preschool, she loves her friends and she loves her preschool. I didn't feel as guilty about taking her. I know she's having a blast at school. And I think with my youngest, it was easier because I knew that was coming. And now he's just now in the stage where he's really starting to have friends that he talks about in the mornings. It's like, I'm going to go see Travis. I'm like, yeah, we're going to go see Travis. And so that helps too. It's so much harder when they're like babies and you're like, I should be the one rocking them all day.
Shanna (00:43:45):
Yes. Yeah. Oh, that's so good. In a world that asks us to do it all. Well, how have you found that harmony? And I know we've talked a lot about that, but are there any specific, like you said, we're trying to take Fridays off, or are there any things you've put in place that you have found one or two things that have helped you feel more, I don't love the word balance, but just harmony? Yeah.
Emily (00:44:10):
I mean, I think something, when I first had wr, I was trying to figure out what does this look like? My therapist was like, it's not as much about the quantity of time that you're with her. It's much more about the quality of time. And I think for me, that has helped me be at peace with them being at school during the day and me working and also being like, I'm working. I'm fully working. And whenever I'm with my kids, I'm fully with my kids. I said early on in the days, especially before children, I would be responding emails late at night. I'd be working on press releases or working on a website late into the night. And now I have a very strict, no work past five. Even if a client calls, most of them know now I'm not going to answer. I'll call 'em back the next day when I get the kids. And I try to get 'em before five if I can, but I'm always available to the team before five. But pretty much when I get the kids, I'm with the kids.
Shanna (00:45:03):
And
Emily (00:45:04):
When I'm at work, our preschool has cameras. I've never logged in to look on the cameras because I'm like, if I watch 'em, I'm going to be wishing I was there with 'em. I'm going to want to go get, it's like when I'm at work, I'm at work. When I'm with the kids, I'm with the kids and just being fully present. And I know that's not a perfect solution, but it's really helped me a lot being a person who does want to be there for everyone all the time and realizing you can't do any of it. Well, if you're trying to do it all at once,
Shanna (00:45:27):
Yeah. Well, oh my goodness, you can't do any of it. Well, if you're trying to do it all at once, that's so good. I talk to so many people and I love it. And I have found that some people do kind of that integration really well. It's all kind of mushed together, and that works for them. They're working, they're at home, they're doing this. And it took me a long time, and I wish it had not taken so long for me to be like, I need separation. I need it to be fully present here, fully present there. I don't do it all. My brain just can't. I don't know. It just doesn't do it.
Emily (00:46:02):
Yeah. Well, and for me it was like the guilt was more intense because literally while I was with my children and working, I would be feeling guilty because I'm like, I'm only halfway listening to them because I'm typing this email and I feel like I've got errors in this email because I'm not fully focused on it. And so it was like,
Shanna (00:46:19):
I'm
Emily (00:46:20):
Like, why am I feeling guilty while I'm spending time with them? This should be the good time.
Shanna (00:46:24):
Yeah. Oh, that's so good. Finding what works for you. I love it.
Emily (00:46:27):
Yeah.
Shanna (00:46:27):
Oh my goodness. I could keep chit-chatting with you, but we're getting to that clock timer. Let's do a quick fire round.
Emily (00:46:33):
Okay.
Shanna (00:46:34):
And thank you for sharing. This has just been such a joy to spend time with you and chat and hear your story. And I feel like we at Kindred Spirits. Okay, quick fire. One thing you would be embarrassed if people knew.
Emily (00:46:46):
Okay, I almost said this earlier and I was like, oh, embarrassing. I don't even know the password to our personal bank account. My entire, obviously I do for my work one, but it kind of became a joke several years ago. It's a very complicated password, and I write all my passwords on the notes in my phone, which is terrible. It's absolutely terrible. And Howard's like, you cannot, I'm not giving you this password if you're going to write it on the notes in your phone, because that is not safe. And it was really hard. It wasn't just one I could memorize, and I was like, well, I have to write it down. He's like, no, I haven't memorized it. And he'll just recite it and I'm not memorizing that. I'm writing it down. And it kind of became this joke, and now I'm like, fine, I'm just not going to learn it. I'm just going to keep swiping the card and it's going to be on you with something there. So I don't even know it. I mean, I know the money I'm putting in it and I know what goes, but I guess just half of it is me trusting him and half of it is just, I do feel confident that, obviously Tyler wouldn't steer us wrong, but part of it is me being stubborn and being like, okay, fine. That's on you.
Shanna (00:47:53):
Yeah. You know what, Emily, thank you for sharing that, and I thank you for sharing that because I know so many people listening probably have the same situation going on. But what I love, and you talked about this very early on in our conversation, is that at least once a month you're sitting down with Tyler and you're talking about the business. You're talking about
Emily (00:48:12):
Your
Shanna (00:48:13):
Personal finances and what I call that is our money date. And I teach all my students to do that. Just sitting down once a month and looking at your business finances, looking at your personal finances and just understanding where your money is going. When I get nervous is when people have no idea and they're just like, wait, what? But you are discussing it,
Emily (00:48:37):
And so it's not, you're just in
Shanna (00:48:38):
The dark.
Emily (00:48:39):
Discuss it.
Shanna (00:48:39):
Yeah.
Emily (00:48:40):
I mean would obviously yes, if I were actually worried I'd be logging in there, but because we do discuss it every month and I do know, but now it's more just a stubborn thing that I like.
Shanna (00:48:50):
I'm
Emily (00:48:50):
That it. That's ridiculous. Yeah.
Shanna (00:48:52):
Kyle and I are such, and I'm so blessed our marriage is this way, but we are partners in all things, our finances included, but he's not logging in. I'm managing it day
Emily (00:49:05):
To
Shanna (00:49:05):
Day, and I think that is good for us. And it sounds like for you, that works for you. You have Tyler who's managing the day to day and you, you know what you need to know when you need to know it. Okay. Thanks for sharing that. Any regrets or wish you could do over moments?
Emily (00:49:21):
Moments? I don't think so. I mean, I think I'm very much a, whatever happens meant to be kind of person. Of course there are things that I think about. I mean, I said early on the dream to go beyond good Morning America. It was like, I think that I sometimes think about what if I had stuck with news and left Jackson and gone to a bigger market and stuck with it, how far could I have gotten? But there's absolutely no part of me that would go. And now that I know the life I have now, the life that Tyler and I have built in our
(00:49:53):
Kids and our community here, and where more media is and doing foster care here in the county that we're in, I would not do it any differently. But of course, you always wonder, I dunno if you've ever read the Midnight Library, but I read that this year and she kind of goes back and lives all these different lives of, if I had made this decision, I'd be here if I'd made this decision over here's so cool. So it makes you think about those things. But I think so, yes, I think about them, but I'm never wished that I had done that, if that makes sense.
Shanna (00:50:21):
Yeah. Oh, that makes So, okay. I wrote the book down. Sounds so interesting.
Emily (00:50:25):
Oh, it's a good one.
Shanna (00:50:26):
Okay. Big win Pinch me moment.
Emily (00:50:29):
We didn't even talk about this, but I published a book. I know we haven't even talked about it. So it's called, words are Like Magic. I call a children's book for adults. It's a book of illustrated poems. It's very much like a coffee table book. It's beautifully illustrated, beautiful cover, but it's basically of poems of different scenarios and things that people who have gone through those wish that someone had said to them. So friends who have struggled with infertility or had a miscarriage or gone through a divorce or friends with depression or struggled with self-image, but also a little more lighthearted stuff of what to say to your friend who doesn't know what she wants to do with her life. Or there's one about your friend who's adopted things to say to those people because it's situations where a lot of times you don't know what to say, so we don't say anything. And just acknowledging that that makes that person sometimes feel more isolated and alone. So giving you tools of asking these people, what do you wish someone had said to you? And then making that into this poem with beautiful illustrations. So I published that during the pandemic and it actually ended up on Good Morning America. So that was
Shanna (00:51:30):
My moment. Stop it, Emily. So
Emily (00:51:32):
They interviewed me, but of course it was pandemics very much. It was a Zoom interview. I didn't like it to go be in the studio, but it was very much a pinch me moment, seeing this book that I made and thought that it was doing really cool stuff and see it on Good Morning America was very much a pinch me moment.
Shanna (00:51:50):
That's amazing. Okay. And Kristen Lay illustrated it, right?
Emily (00:51:54):
Yes, she did. She's so talented. It's so beautiful. Yeah, so that the whole experience was just really cool.
Shanna (00:52:00):
That's so cool. Side note, what made you want to write that book?
Emily (00:52:05):
So tell a story at the beginning of it, but it really just came from a run-in with a girl who came in. It was when more media had this tiny office. At first it was in the back of a shop and it was a girl that worked at the shop. And so we were there when she came in every day. We were already working when she came in to open the shop. And I didn't know her super well, just kind of casually. She came in crying one day and it was like this awkward silence. We're kind of there working, we're all separated by a thin wall. And I just asked her what was going on and she had recently had a miscarriage and was just having a really hard day. I think a song had come on her that had triggered it, and she just started talking about how she felt like nobody was there and it was because she felt like nobody was saying anything.
(00:52:49):
They didn't really know what to say. And she actually rattled off a few things that people said that weren't helpful, but it just kind of made me think about myself. I've had friends who've gone through difficult situations when I didn't reach out for that same reason. I was like, well, I don't know what to say to them. I haven't gone through that. There's nothing I can say that can make it better. And never, of course, intentionally wanting those friends to feel isolated, but realizing, oh, if I don't reach out, of course they feel alone and they think I'm not here. So ended up just thinking of different scenarios where that might happen, and then talking to people who've gone through each of those things like, Hey, what would've been helpful? What would you have loved for somebody to say
Shanna (00:53:27):
To you?
Emily (00:53:28):
And presenting that in, like I said, a way that I think ended up being really beautiful.
Shanna (00:53:33):
Okay. I'm excited. I'm going to get it. Okay.
Emily (00:53:35):
I'll send you one.
Shanna (00:53:36):
Okay. Oh my goodness. No, I'm going to buy it. Okay. Best advice or just really good advice that you have received?
Emily (00:53:43):
Okay. This isn't advice. This is so cheesy. You sent me these questions and I was like, I don't know. Of course there's been a lot of good advice through the years and we've talked about things that people have told me, but I am a big Broadway fan and I took my sisters last year to see Mean Girls, which is so fun. Such a fun Broadway show. I'm very nostalgic. I was in high school when the movie came out and just loved it. But there's a song in it called I'd Rather Be Me. And it is so cheesy, but it is also so empowering and fun and I love it. But there's a line in it where she says, the world doesn't end. It just feels like it does.
(00:54:19):
And I feel like I have really latched onto that in the last year of anytime something doesn't go the way you plan, whether it's in work or life, it's like you have this plan and you think this is going to work and it doesn't work out, and it's so devastating. And you're like, what? Now? I think just realizing that's not the end. And I think some of that too comes from this trying different career paths and figuring things out. But it does in that moment feel like, well, this was the plan. This was it, and it fell apart. So what now? And just realizing you can sit in that for a minute and acknowledge that, but then you can get up and make a new plan. And it's not the end. It was just a small hiccup and you thought it was going to be this way, but it's not going to be that way. So let's picture what it's going to be like now and just making that turn and go in the new direction.
Shanna (00:55:05):
That's so powerful. I'm writing it down. That's so good. And mean Girls,
Emily (00:55:10):
I love, I'm a artist, just creative. I love the cheesy feel good. Anything to music. I love it. I love a musical.
Shanna (00:55:18):
You're right in the fields.
Emily (00:55:20):
Yes.
Shanna (00:55:20):
Okay, last quick fire question, then we'll send it off. What are you working on now or one resource that you would like to share?
Emily (00:55:27):
It's also something totally different we didn't talk about, but my husband is launching, by the time this airs will have launched a company called Case Canvas.
Shanna (00:55:36):
Okay.
Emily (00:55:37):
He has really helped me chase my dream and build more media. As I've talked about. He's been a huge part of it for the last six years. And this is something he's been working on for two years. And I told him from the beginning, I was like, I will help, but I got to see that you're really doing this. He's had probably 20 business ideas since I've met him. And I'm like, you have to really get it near the finish line and I'll help you get it across, and then I'll be all in. And so he has, he's worked insanely hard on it. So it's for iPhones, it's like a clear phone case with these inserts that you draw on, and they're on this special waterproof paper, so it won't run. So you can't do it with markers, but you have to color with crayons or colored pencils. So the target market is kind of like people who actually want to draw their own. So either artists or high schoolers, college students who think it's fun, but you get a pack of five and you can draw one and have it in there for a few weeks and then do something else. Or moms right now. I was going to
Shanna (00:56:30):
Say, moms, I'm
Emily (00:56:31):
Holding it up. You can see me knowing you can't see me. So mine has a drawing that my little girl did on it, but there just it's little piece of paper, so you can have as many as you want, swap 'em out as often as you want. So it's called Case Canvas. So the website is my case canvas.com, and we're on Instagram.
Shanna (00:56:51):
We'll find it and I will link it. Oh, I love
Emily (00:56:54):
It. Oh, the case canvas on Instagram. So it's really cool launching November 1st, so we'll be launched hopefully by the time this airs, and hopefully going well. So we'll see. So yeah, and that's again, something I've been able to do with having my own company is be able to divert some of my attention to help him chase this dream that he has because of the freedom, the time that it gives me.
Shanna (00:57:16):
Oh my goodness, I love it. Literally, as soon as you said that was like, I want Madeline to draw Madeline.
Emily (00:57:21):
Yes. It's so fun. And people see it and they're like, wait, what is that? And I'm like, ranger that. And they're like, what? And so it's like a really cool, it's cool. Yeah. And if she does bad, you have several, so Exactly. No, Madeline, try again. Let's get it together. Get your colors better. I love, you're embarrassing me. Okay,
Shanna (00:57:37):
So excited that it's launching and I already wrote it down. I want to add it to our small business gift guide this year. Okay.
Emily (00:57:43):
Oh, thank you.
Shanna (00:57:43):
Yeah. Okay, let's send it off with, what would you tell yourself on day one when you're like, you know what? I'm not going to work for anybody else. I'm going to start my own media company. I'm sitting on the couch taking on clients. Looking back now, six years, what would you tell yourself?
Emily (00:58:01):
I don't know. That's such a hard question. I still don't feel like I have it figured out. It's not like I feel like, oh, you need to know this. I don't know. I think just, and I kind of said this with the song that I've kind of embraced, just hold the plans loosely and be open and adaptable to change
(00:58:19):
And take advice from others. I'm pretty confident most of the time. I think sometimes it's hard for me to admit when I've made a mistake and to regroup, and you'll be like, you know what? Maybe I'm not doing this the best way. Maybe there is a better way. And so just being open to change and taking advice from other people. And like I said, holding the plans loosely and just always kind of taking those breaks to assess the situation and make sure that this is still the best way. I think that's been the most important thing for more media and for our family, even with this foster care journey of like, okay, this is it and we're going to try. And I keep saying that people are like, how long are you going to do it? How many kids are you going to take? I'm like, I don't know. We're just going to say yes right now. We're saying yes to one child and we're going to see how that goes and go from there. So I think just being very open about all of it.
Shanna (00:59:09):
Yeah. Yeah. Oh my goodness, this has been such a joy and just uplifting. It's been so fun to talk with you, and I really feel like we would just be friends and hang out and this has just been so good.
Emily (00:59:22):
I do too. I thought, like I said, I feel like I've had the advantage. I've been getting to know you from listening to your episodes, and I already knew we were going to hit it off. I was like, oh yeah, we're going to be friends.
Shanna (00:59:31):
We're going to be friends. Emily, thanks for sharing your story and your journey, and I just think it's so beautiful that we get to design these businesses that do work. We enjoy for you, employ other people. How cool is that? And continue to be nimble, like you said, and be like, this is how we're doing it in this season. And you know what? It might change. It might change in a month. It might change in six months, but I just think it, it's just been really sweet to hear your story. So thanks for your time today.
Emily (01:00:02):
Thank you. Like I said, I've really enjoyed getting to listen to your podcast and get to know you. I feel like, and the stories that you tell, I think what you do is really important. Being a business owner and hearing these stories of the others that you've interviewed is so encouraging. So I hope you keep doing it. And it's really just been fun to get to talk to you and share mine, and hopefully someone feels encouraged by it the way I felt encouraged by so many others.
Shanna (01:00:25):
I love it. 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 Emily. A little sunshine from our wildflower of the week. Every entrepreneur needs Shanna in their life. Entrepreneurship can be a lonely world, and numbers can be really daunting, especially for newbies. But thanks to Shanna and her passion for helping creative entrepreneurs through her podcast, we can all feel a little less alone and a lot more assured that we are doing our best. Thank you for all of your reviews and support. They mean the world. One final thought for today from Morgan Harper Nichols. One day you will look back and see that all along you are blooming. As always, thank you for listening. I'll see you next time. I.
