Ep. 28 Pinterest Strategy, Pattern Work, and Learning to Trust Your Body with Elaine Timms

Elaine Timms built a Pinterest strategy business that grew to 100K sessions/month, sold a blog for five figures, and has spent almost eight years helping entrepreneurs get their content working long after they hit publish. She's also someone who spent years in fight-or-flight without knowing it — outsmarting everything, including herself.

In this conversation, Elaine and I talk about what actually shifted when she stopped following everyone else's rules — in her business, her body, and her creative life. We get into the energy over strategy philosophy she's built her work around (and where that phrase actually came from — credit to Chelsea Schreiner), why Pinterest might be the most nervous-system-friendly platform you're not using, and the fiction writing project that's been coming to her through her dreams.

This one's for the business owner who's doing everything right and still wondering why something feels off.

What we cover:

• What "energy over strategy" looks like in a real business decision
• Why slow growth isn't failure — it's a nervous system choice
• The pattern work that shifted Elaine's visibility wound
• Journaling: what to do with it after you write it
• How Elaine is merging her data brain with her creative one
• The fiction writing project she's finally giving herself permission to pursue

Work with Elaine - 

elainetimms.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/elaine-timms/

https://www.instagram.com/elainetimmscreative/

https://elainetimms.kit.com/37b6e3c17c - Pinterest audit checklist

https://elainetimms.com/pinterest-marketing-strategy-guide-for-beginners/ - Pinterest strategy guide

Book 1:1 here

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hey, I'm Leslie Turner. I'm a mom, a somatic practitioner, and an intuitive coach. This is the Intuitive Drop. Short conversations about emotional truth, the nervous system, and living from your intuition in real life without losing your mind along the way. Let's drop in. Hey, hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of The Intuitive Drop. I have a guest today. Her name is Eileen Timms. She's one of my favorite people. She is a Pinterest strategist who has spent over a decade helping business owners get their content working for them long after they've hit published. I know Pinterest is the long game, and we'll talk about that. She serves established entrepreneurs, so we're talking bloggers, podcasters, content creators who are done with the hamster wheel and constant creation because that leads to burnout. She's also a former blog owner who sold her site for five figures. Proud, proud moment. And she's a fiction writer in the making, which I believe I had a slight hand in, so I'm gonna talk about that too. And uh she's someone who has done some of the deepest pattern work you can do. And she's here today to talk all about all of it, but to talk about what happens when you finally stop outsmarting yourself. So Elaine, thank you so much for being here.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Leslie, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

We're just laughing pre- uh episode before I hit record because I was like, we kind of look like sisters. I just got bangs and now I'm just emulating Elaine. And uh we were we're both born in the same year, so we could be maybe twins. Twins. Absolutely, Irish twins, isn't that what they're called? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Okay, so let's get into it, Elaine. Uh, I want to talk about one thing that you had said in your intake forum. You've built a whole business philosophy around energy over strategy. What does that actually mean on like a typical day where you have to make a real decision?

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Well, that actually just means being okay with how does it feel before it's like the strategy that I absolutely have to do. And the energy over strategy, I definitely took that from you because it was finally, you know, the definition that it was like, right, that's what I've been doing the whole time. So I don't fall prey to I should be doing this, big time growth, scaling at all costs. And what that's led to is like really like slow growth, which has been great for my nervous system. Uh, and something that I embrace because energy over strategy just allows me to be human first, which is important. Okay, what does that mean, human first? So, human first, in other words, I I grapple with building a business in the first place. I love it for so many other reasons, but on the flip side, I am not actually a huge, like capitalist loving person where everybody is a lead, they're on my spreadsheet. Um, I'm building a relationship with them just strictly because I want them to become a client. Any of those things gives me the ick. So yeah, that that's the it that's it in a nutshell, to be honest. So human first means treating people as humans.

SPEAKER_02 3:18

Yeah. It does lead to a bit slower growth because you were creating relationships from scratch. And then eventually, if they lead to something great, if not, you've just made a friendship and connections and honoring that. And that's how I felt.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Like I'm not a big launch person, like I don't want to have like these grand launches that you know what, like somebody's and it's so interesting because I actually like help people with their funnels and stuff like that. But for me, it's like I don't want to just put you in a funnel and that's where you are. And then if you don't convert, I don't want to have anything to do with you. That just gives me the ick. And I think a lot of us need to return to that human connection.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

I agree.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

So I I think it's gonna happen now with the rise of AI, but we'll see as we keep moving forward.

SPEAKER_02 4:03

I I hope so. Now, Pinterest, how did you get into Pinterest specifically?

SPEAKER_01 4:08

So, yeah, specifically, so I was always a user back in the day, but I definitely was just a scroller, didn't use it for anything else. Then with the blog, uh, that was a way to get my writing online, give myself a creative outlet when I became a mom. And then I learned very quickly that if you build it, they do not come. So you can write until your heart's content, but nobody's gonna read it. So I needed some way to build traffic. And of course, Pinterest, you know, circa 2016 was a great way of building traffic. It still is, it's changed a lot, but I learned everything I possibly could about Pinterest, had all sorts of bloggers in my community that were having great success, learned all the things, built its traffic organically, about 100,000 sessions per month. Um, and then I had people like asking me how I was doing it, like in my circles. So then I'd be like, hey, like I'll just help you with that. Oh, hey, I'll just help you with that because I'm a natural like helper giver. And so that's how Only Tim's Creative was born. So I started a second business on the side helping people. And then I ended up selling the blog because it became too much. Like I couldn't manage both, and the blog started to get a little bit neglected, and I didn't want to let it just go by the wayside. So I investigated selling it and sold it for five years. So that's how Pinterest became like a huge part of my life. And now I've been doing that for the last almost eight years for other people.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

It's such a niche, and I I love that you put your heart and soul into it. And you're also seeing how like the with the work we've done. So I I got Eileen's permission to say we have worked together kind of extensively in a four-month container that took her through a lot of unlearning, shall we say? And then she's also in my membership right now with the intuitive circle. So we're constantly looking at what is running life, what could be sabotaging us, what could be holding us back, but also on an emotional pattern level, what needs to go? And that's one of the things I love about Elaine is she's so open to be like, yep, this isn't me anymore. I need to let this go. I need to work for them. Yeah, let's pivot. So you've built an incredible business around Pinterest, but something has shifted in the last, I don't know, six months. What is your intuition guiding you to right now?

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Um, intuition is guiding me. Like the writing itch is definitely back like tenfold. And so for a little while there, I was like, oh my gosh, does that mean I'm like giving up on Pinterest and just gonna like shift completely into something else? But actually, it's learning to embrace both of them, my writing side and my like, I'll call it like more my data side, my logical side, and letting the two coexist in ways that they've never before. And so actually, just recently I've decided that I'm going to incorporate more writing and more of like a newsroom style approach to my own marketing and kind of join the two together. So basically, this in a nutshell is just allowing my intuition to lead me and show me what feels right while also allowing myself to just be and following what my heart wants to do too. I've never really let both things exist. It's either I'm a creative writer and that is completely separate, or I'm like in my Pinterest business and I have to be very logical and data-driven and everything else. But now I'm gonna let them crash. And intuition's telling me this is the way to go. So this is gonna lead to something that I don't even know what that is yet. And so I'm pretty excited about it.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

It's like talking about the feminine and masculine. You can't be all one or the other. There has to be a blending and a harmony of both. So very cool. Exactly. Now, have you always been intuitive?

SPEAKER_01 8:01

I I have, but didn't realize it or just didn't name it like that. I have this inner knowing I can walk into rooms. I all know, you know, that could be a bit of like, you know, other patterns playing as well. But, you know, lean working with you, leaning into it, researching on my own, and then just actually stopping to listen to myself, I've realized yes, definitely intuitive. Yes. I don't know if I'm a psychic, I don't want to go that far, but just have this knowing about things is all I will say.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

Yeah. I can tell anybody listening that when Elaine first came to me, it was it was there, but she wasn't trusting it. And so when we worked together, and like my my four-month container I had was very hands-on, very high touch, if you want to say. And her growth was so fast that I was, it was unbelievable what happened in that four-month span. And then I was just like, okay, run with it. Just see what happens if you pay attention to that.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

I think I was just ready. Like it was just like it was like one email that you sent, and it was just like, yep, that was it. Decision made. I was like, I couldn't keep living with ignoring what I I couldn't vocalize what that was at the time, but I was like, okay, it's something shifting. All right. So worked with you, and yeah, it's been great. Like it's it's coming back to myself and and just staying strong in in what I know about myself.

SPEAKER_02 9:29

With the intuition work, we did significant work on patterns, like the emotional deep patterns from your family of origin. Now, without going anywhere, you don't want to go. What's like one thing that that kind of work changed in your business?

SPEAKER_01 9:43

You know what? That work definitely showed me patterns from my family of origin that I didn't need to take with me, that I was like just embracing as if, you know, it's kind of like almost like you're living on autopilot. This is just it, and this is just what happens, and and just going along like that. But working with you allowed me to actually see those patterns for what they were, shift them, and then not care about them. Like they're there, they're on a shelf, but they don't control me anymore, and I don't care about them as much anymore. Does that answer your question?

SPEAKER_02 10:25

Absolutely. Was there one thing that you noticed was a significant change, like whether it was a visibility wound or a worthiness, anything like that?

SPEAKER_01 10:34

I'd say there was so much, Leslie. Like you've hit on two of them. Definitely visibility, and not just from family of origin. There's many experiences in my past that all led to that. I've got a heavy past. But yeah, it's definitely visibility. It's something I can still need to work on. I think we all do if we're actually being honest with ourselves. But yeah, it's the not caring, it's the realizing that like I'm human. Everybody else is having a similar experience or their own experience that causes them to, you know, doubt themselves. And it's the ability to now push through those things and just do what I want to do and not worry about it.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

It's not for everyone, and that's okay. Right.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

Yeah. I think that's the essence I want all women, entrepreneurs, to get to through, you know, work with other people, work with your therapist, work with me with somatics. But I think you're also embracing it so much that it's rippling out, and people are like, Well, if Elaine can show up unapologetically, so can I. Right. I think that's having a bigger effect than you realize because you went from kind of not showing up on socials necessarily to being like, whatever, this is me. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

I've always had a had a like not a quote unquote problem with it, but I've always felt socials is a little bit performative. Like it's very like, this is the highlight reel. This is like, look at everything's going great. And so I've just, you know, I've shelved that. Like, if that's what people want to do, that's okay. But that doesn't mean I have to do that. I can show up authentically in my way. And and it's not as often as some other people. Okay, great. That it works for me. Wonderful. Let's move on, right?

SPEAKER_02 12:21

Like, that's that's it. I think that goes back to the energy over strategy because you're not following anybody else's rules. You're not following the algorithm, you're not following the somebody else made this, said you have to show up every day. You if you're like, No, I don't. No, I don't. No. And that's huge. Spoiler, you don't have to. Um are you using that that phrase in anywhere else in your life?

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Energy over strategy. Yeah, it can show up now in like my personal life. I don't know how much like I'll share about that. That's fine. But yeah, like in small ways, right? Not that like my life is full of strategy and like I have this big plan to like accomplish and such things, but more so like just paying attention to people's energy.

unknown 13:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

Does it feel good? Yeah. Does it feel you know positive in the way that I need it to be before leaning into whatever it is?

SPEAKER_02 13:19

Yes. Yeah. As opposed to just going, well, they're a nice person and there's no logical reason why I can't hang out with them. And you're like, wait a second. Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 13:29

Exactly. It feels awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

And yeah. Yeah. And that's it's trusting that, right? And that goes back to that intuition. It's it's like mine has definitely grown very loud. So it lets me know exactly, you know. And if I, you know, and I'm not perfect.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

So I screw it up sometimes too. I mean, I I do this work for a living. I'm still not perfect at it. What does your intuition sound like? Is it in your head? Is it in your body? Where do you notice it?

SPEAKER_01 13:55

It's a combination of both. So I do have like a voice, and it's not maybe this is going to be interesting for some people, but it's, you know, it will tell me like no, or it's like it's been loud and it's been uh like I can't believe you're gonna do that again, or something like that. Like I've had that, and I'm like, whoa. And then I've also had that coupled with like body reactions to let me know that okay, yeah, that voice and the situation, whatever it is, yeah, it's not right, or it does feel right, gets you excited, yeah. So both, both, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

That's one thing I talk about with clients a lot is like that full body yes or a full body no, and understanding the difference between individually your yes and and my yes are gonna feel so different in the body, but so powerful when it starts to become up regularly as this oh, I noticed the difference on that. Holy, I'm excited. I'm expanding. I'm you know, I love that you you have cultivated that so deeply that you don't second guess it anymore. Yeah, no, I I can't not be true to myself anymore. I think that's incredible because that's what it's all about. This your body almost gets sick if you're not following your aligned path anymore. And I know your path is you said in well, in sessions with me that fiction writing, not just you know, this newsroom thing, although that sounds incredibly cool, but fiction writing is kind of a next step as well. Well, tell me more about that. What's going on there?

SPEAKER_01 15:36

So I so I right now I'm still developing in my spare time. I have an entire world. I actually have multiple story angles created. I know, and it's it's really exciting to let myself because I've always wanted to write a book and always wanted to be a fiction writer, but for a long time that was for everybody else. Yeah, I was like creative and everything, but I never gave myself permission to do it. So what that looks like now is just quiet mornings, developing, but I'm not pushing it. Like I'm not like giving myself a deadline where I'm like, oh my gosh, by the end of the year I should like have the first drop done or anything like that. I'm just letting it come to me, which is super powerful. And I've been wowed myself. Like I don't want to say like I've impressed myself. It's more like a wow moment where I'm like, wow, that just like came so almost easily to me as like incorporated it. It's still in the development phase, and I'm still just allowing. But yes, that is it's on the docket and it's so exciting. Moving forward, I know it is so exciting. Ultimately, maybe I will be like a fiction writer and retire all of the other stuff, and that's just what I'm gonna do.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

When you first told me that, I honestly had this full body yes in my body, like, oh Elaine, this is gonna be big. This is gonna be big. I know I fully am backing you on this because there's something about it that's just it lights up. I don't know if you can hear it in my voice, but it lights up something in my chest and in my voice, and I'm like, oh, she's gonna be good at this. It's very exciting.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

And and just for anybody, because I think people would appreciate this, a lot of the scenery uh and locations have actually come through in my dreams. And I actually dream of, you know, like dreams can change, like the topic or whatever's happening, but the location's the same. So I've got like six or seven that I pulled from, and I just think it's wild that these settings are there and I know it's yeah, it's I know. I've just embraced it, it's part of the creative process.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

I I think we don't want to gloss over the fact that if you can take imagery that's in your brain and transform it into actual words on a paper, that is talent, my dude. That is immense talent. I applaud you on that because I have attempted to do that in the past, not necessarily dreams, but just ideas that come in. And it doesn't seem to translate as well. So good on you. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Yeah. So, and but that's like the development process too, because then, you know, another dream will occur and I'll be like, right, there's that detail, like over here.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

So And I think because you're not putting pressure on yourself with deadlines or, you know, I want to get it out to a an audience by this point or a publisher by this point, that it gives you the freedom to just see what comes in and to fill in those gaps or details. Oh, incredible.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

And if I'm being honest with you, like I I do that in everything in life. Like there's no deadline, there's no like pressure to get everything done that runs in my business, my personal life, and now the book.

SPEAKER_02 18:43

So is that new? That is does that did that come with the energy first strategy second?

SPEAKER_01 18:50

I think that energy first strategy second was just finally putting a definition to it. But what I haven't realized is that in some small ways, I have always practiced it. It's just actually laser focused in and realize, right, damn, that is what like I've been doing like this whole time. And then now I'm actually just identifying it and being like, yep. And then when I heard you say that, I was like, that's it. That that's what I do. It's energy, like I don't care about. Well, it's not that I don't care about strategy or any like pictures people listening, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

Now I gotta give credit where credit is due. I heard that phrase from someone I've already had on the podcast, Chelsea Schreiner. So thank you, Chelsea. Right. With the lack of pressure or not having those deadlines, how do you keep yourself accountable to actually getting stuff done? Number one. And what is it doing to your nervous system?

SPEAKER_01 19:43

So holding myself accountable, it's just I've never really had like if I've got work to do or things to get done, I've always been very good at executing. So it just keeps me motivated. Another thing is that I I do love to like live the way that I want and work on my terms. So right there is like a huge motivating factor because if I don't do the thing, it's not going to l look like that anymore. Yeah. And what was the second part of your question?

SPEAKER_02 20:08

What is that doing to your nervous system, not having that pressure? Keeping it nice and calm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Did you did you live from a place of nervous system dysregulation at any point that this feels more like you?

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Yeah, it does. I did live for like kind of like in fight or flight a lot of the time without really realizing it, and then had stopped listening to my body and intuition completely. So this has been a journey, right? So there's elements that I was doing without realizing I was doing them. Because I spent so much time in fight or flight, I couldn't identify those things. And so working with you and then working on myself is just been like almost like full circle, but right, like you have been doing this, you know, like your nervous system is more regulated via the work. Like I chose Pinterest and fell in love with Pinterest, which is probably one of the best platforms to use to regulate your nervous system without identifying that that's what I was doing or that's why I was so attracted to it. Yeah. So yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:19

So for anybody who's listening who's like, I feel like I'm in fight or flight. I feel like I got I'm following the rules that aren't what I created. What would be a piece of advice you would give to them?

SPEAKER_01 21:32

I would spend time quiet, quiet mornings, journaling changed my life, checking in with your body, listening to it, writing that down, and then reading it back. There's one thing to journal, and then there's another thing to go back and read, see what progress you've been making and actually are you embracing it? Are you doing the changes? Or are you just allowing yourself to slip back in? So that's the piece that I feel like always gets missed. It's like journal, journal, it'll feel great. But like, what do you do with all that you wrote? Feels good at the time, but then like 24 hours later, you might not be living whatever it is that you're wanting or your goal is. So reading it back and I I kind of track my progress. Like, oh, okay, great. Like that doesn't upset me as much, or that doesn't, you know, sway me as much anymore, those kinds of things. That's that's what I would recommend doing.

SPEAKER_02 22:25

Okay. So journal. Everybody go out and buy a journal and get ready to dump, but also process and read it back and adjust accordingly. It's great to see how far you've come too. Yes. Well, and then you can because I think your brain likes to bypass the good and just focus on sometimes the negative things that are happening, and it misses the fact that you were triggered by everything and now you're not, and that's exactly and then you miss your accomplishments.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Huge issue that I uh had to go through, right? Oh wow, like, oh what it's cool that I sold a blog. Okay, cool. Like that was like news to me, Leslie.

SPEAKER_02 23:06

Yeah, that's hard. Pivot moment, yeah. That that needs to be acknowledged. That now you get to say this was a moment that changed me a little bit. Absolutely. Well, Elaine, it's been an absolute pleasure to have you on the podcast. I will link all of Elaine's contact information. Follow her on social media. What are you working on right now that people can hop on to immediately?

SPEAKER_01 23:32

So I have my ETC newsletter, which is just the ins and outs of Pinterest. So it's like what I'm seeing inside of Pinterest accounts. So if you're Pinterest curious, that is a great place to start. I also write a newsletter newsletter over on LinkedIn. It's called Discoverable. So if you don't want to sign your email up to anything and you're on LinkedIn, go ahead and add me, follow me over there. I also have a Pinterest audit checklist that people that have tried Pinterest and maybe failed at it or just don't even know if they're doing it correctly. It's free. It's just a Google sheet that has a checklist, checks everything off, scores you, tells you exactly where you're at, and gives you some tips for improvement. That will also add you to my uh general big newsletter as well. So you can grab that. I'll include a link for you, Leslie, so you can include it in the show notes.

SPEAKER_02 24:25

Thanks. I appreciate that. Thank you. Elaine, it was a pleasure. No. And uh, if for anyone who's interested, please follow her. She's a wealth of knowledge. Yeah. Thank you. If something in this landed for you, I'd love to support you further. Whether that's through private sessions, ongoing containers, or simply listening to another episode, trust what feels right. All the ways to work with me are linked below. There's no pressure, just options. Thank you for being here and for doing the quiet, brave work of listening to yourself.