Friends With Businesses

With Friend, Allie Gibson: The Bold B*tch & Big Brain Behind My Rebrand

• AnnMarie Rose

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 55:28

Allie Gibson, founder of Growth Story is the brand strategy genius behind AnnMarie's recent rebrand and website rebuild. She's also a bold, decisive leader who's not exactly one to ease into things (we're talking she decided to elope over text message). This year, she's scaling at lightning speed and "just dipping her toes" in hasn't even been an option.

In this episode, AnnMarie sits down with her actual real-life best friend, "work wife", brand strategist and client, Allie Gibson. They get into how Allie started her business with minimal drama, the process behind her signature brand clarity sessions, and the real answer to when it's actually time to invest in a rebrand. 

They also get honest about what it looks like day-to-day as Allie is rapidly expanding her team and scaling her business amidst a cancer diagnosis and other life curveballs.

Dished in this episode:

  • A rapid-fire round of controversial preferences: olives, pet parenting, TikTok, and morning-person energy (whose side are you on?)
  • How Allie started her company with minimal drama, aside from the occasional internal spiral
  • Allie's actual creative process, and why it has to look a lot different from many of her creative peers 
  • The real answer to when it's time to invest in a professional rebrand and website (or website overhaul)
  • What it actually looked like to keep expanding her team and her business through crazy life curveballs like a cancer diagnosis
  • Why Allie isn't a dip-your-toe-in kind of person, and the outcomes she has gotten by leaping with her full chest even when her palms are sweaty

Bottom line: Standing the test of time in business isn't about certainty. It's about trusting yourself enough to do what's required so your business can hold up and hold you when life gets life-y.

Join the conversation: What's one thing you have been waiting to feel 100% ready for before you go for it? We want to keep this conversation going, so tell us!

Hit subscribe and be sure to share this epsiode with your own Friends With Businesses.

Still working on trusting the leap before it makes sense on paper? The free Life-Proof Business Leader audio series goes deeper on exactly this.

Resources mentioned:

About Today's Friend:
Allie Gibson is the founder of Growth Story, a website and branding studio for service providers who want their brand and website to work as hard as they do. Instagram | LinkedIn | Website

Stay connected:

SPEAKER_01

A website needs to have information that attracts exactly the right people that you want to attract. And for it to be effective, um, there's a lot of information you need before you can even get there.

SPEAKER_02

You know that feeling you get when you're hanging out with a business owning friend who just gets it? Nerding out on strategies, spilling the tea, really fully going there about work and life, maybe even laughing till you cry. Yeah, that's exactly what we're doing here. I'm Henry Rose, I'm the founder of two wife, sister, friend, and business strategists who've spent over a dedicated made of multiple millions of being coaches, consuming agency ownership, businesses with multiple city working. Yeah, you guessed it. Mm-hmm. This is where those conversations happen at level for you and with you. Around here, it's all on the table because around here we're all friends with businesses. All right. Thank goodness it's just us, friends with businesses, that is. And today I'm joined by my actual real life. I mean, I've already mentioned everyone you're here is a real friend of mine. This is it happens to be my ride or die bestie, Allie Gibson. And I am just so, so excited to one, get to have this conversation with her because we're both moms of toddlers. So oftentimes our park hangouts. There's questions that we'd love to ask one another and conversations we'd love to have that just don't quite make it to make it to air, if you will, between, you know, getting our kids to stop climbing up slides and whatnot. And also, she's absolutely brilliant. So she is the founder of Girl Story. I'll let her share just a little bit more, but that is a website and branding studio boutique. She does amazing, amazing work. She did my own site. She is has an expanding team of brilliant creatives. And she is a true unicorn. If you've invested in branding, you've invested in website, you know there's a lot of people out there who are can be really great at design, but you know, then you've got to go find someone else for copy, or your website looks amazing, but is it really attracting people to your website or to your brand? Or is it gonna convert them once they get there? Allie is amazing at all of those things. And not only that, pulling out so much brilliance from you, she's really truly a unicorn. And I'm just so happy that I get to have such an amazing, smart, brilliant friend, and that you get to hear from her as well. Oh. I'm super happy to have you here.

SPEAKER_01

I'm excited to be here.

SPEAKER_02

So we're gonna do a little like get to know you situation, uh, because I think it's just fun. Like you're it's like you're joining us on the couch, hanging out, and we're gonna dig into so much business real talk. But Allie and I joke, we have so much in common, right? We've got toddlers, we both live in San Diego, we're both gluten intolerant. Like there's so many things that we have in common, but there are a few things that we don't. So I'm gonna list them off. I'll give Allie if you want to like add any caveats here as we go through. It's a list of four, and then we want to know from you. There our contacts will our our place to DM us will be in the show notes. And we want to hear from you whose side are you on in the things that we don't have in common.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, this is great.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, first one, olives. Allie likes olives. I do not like olives. Have you always liked olives? Were you like a toddler that would eat them off your fingers?

SPEAKER_01

No, I think I trained myself to like them when I was also training myself to like martinis. This is gonna sound this is gonna sound ridiculous. So when I first started drinking martinis, I only drank dirty martinis. And now I don't drink dirty martinis, I just drink dry gin martinis with a lemon twist. But I would because we used to go to this bar in college where they were $5 during happy hour. Five dollars for a martini. So I would like to take a sip, eat a bite of olive to like cut the alcoholness of it all, and now I just like the little salty bite. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02

So fan of olives because five dollar happy hour. Got it. Next question. Should have gone to school in Indiana where they'd give you pictures for $2. Um, pet parent, you are the most loving, nurturing pet parent. You have a lovely kitty cat and dog who I love to visit and have no desire to have pets of my own. Did you always have pets growing up?

SPEAKER_01

Yes, always have pets growing up. Almost got an dunner dog this weekend.

SPEAKER_02

To be continued at the park later. Um TikTok. You don't have it, I have it, I'm salty about it because I can't send you TikToks. I mean, I can't I think there's like a way to see them, but it's like annoying. And then you send uh the one I I'll see one that I want to send you, you'll send me it the next day on Reels. And I'm like, saw it on TikTok yesterday.

SPEAKER_01

Just pretend you haven't seen it.

SPEAKER_02

That's all I ask. We just pretend. Um, I'm a morning person, you are admittedly not.

SPEAKER_01

No, correct.

SPEAKER_02

Simple enough. So we want to know whose side are you on for these. Are you an olive person, not an olive person, pet parent, not a pet parent? I feel I'm going to lose miserably on that one. Uh TikTok or no TikTok, um, morning person, not a morning person. Okay. Love doing a little get to know you because it's fun to know who you're hanging out with, right? No. We're gonna start with more of just chatting about some like personal things, and all these are it's so fun to get to chat with like my real friends and dig into something I'm like, I can't believe I've never asked this before. So you took a leap to start your business two and a half, three years ago? Three, three years ago. And like, as far as I know, your family isn't super entrepreneurial, or are they? Like, were you how did you just make that decision to just start this thing? And was everyone in your family like thinking you were crazy? And maybe I'm right, I could be wrong about some of that. Uh my my background on that.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Um, no, and I told you before how when I left to get married to my husband, I just was like, I'm going to elope and get married, and my parents are like, okay, we'll take you to the airport. So no, no one reacted when I told them I was starting my own business. It was kind of like, okay, she's doing another thing. There she goes.

SPEAKER_02

Are you always the one in your family that's like doing the thing, or are your siblings like that too?

SPEAKER_01

Um, I think I am probably on a spectrum. There are five of us. I'm the far on the farthest edge of doing the thing. Okay. There's one of my siblings is on the definitely on the lowest end of doing the things. He'll never listen to this, so it's fine. But and then everyone else kind of falls in the middle, like has very clear interests, doing you know, interesting things sometimes, but also has a stable W2 job.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so would you say that you are on the more less risk-averse side of the spectrum? Like willing to take the risks.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, I'm willing to take the risks. I think I spiral about risk as much as anyone would, but I will still do it just to see. Okay.

SPEAKER_02

We're gonna get into this more later because this is something I've definitely noticed about you that I want to dig into more because I find it very interesting and fascinating. And I think people could really benefit from hearing, you know, from someone who does take those leaps, but also does a bit of the spiral and the reasoning through all the things, but then still takes a leap and maintains the leap even when curveballs come. So we're gonna get into that even more. So no one was questioning you when you started. And how did, like, what about Ian, your husband? Is he does he question the leaps and the risks?

SPEAKER_01

No, no, maybe that's why we're a good match. Um, he didn't ever question it either. I mean, I have been freelancing for a while um through COVID, and then um prior to that, I was bartending. Like, I was living a free spirited life. I wrote a novel while I was bartending, and um, I had had corporate marketing experience, but when the bars shut down for COVID, I started freelancing in marketing and doing all the things. So it wasn't a huge leap to start working for clients, it was just uh a bigger investment. More, you know, more was on me to do all the business development and then all the execution. Um, probably my stress was noticeably higher. And there was a point, maybe a year in where we were like, it's fucking expensive to start a business. Like, and it feels like I'm doing okay, but it doesn't look good for a while.

SPEAKER_02

So true. So true. I joke that in the early days, I mean, I was so young, I was 23, and my reason for starting at that point was like I'm never gonna be more broke with less responsibility than I have for it right now, so I might as well just do it. Um, you had a kid when you started, right? So it's a little bit different, it's a lot different story. Um, and yeah, it's like there's a lot of months that for me personally, I was like, I don't know really how we're making ends meet. We're figuring it out, but yeah, it's those early days are no joke.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And then when you get into the point of scaling, there is a moment where it's that the resource, like it's increased resources that go out again. And I find so many women, it like triggers something from those early days that makes them feel like they're doing something wrong.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, I'm there right now again, like yeah, bringing another person onto my team this week and thinking, Am I even gonna be able to pay them? Like it's scary, it's terrifying. Yeah, but each time I have done that kind of expansion, it there's like a waterfall effect that happens after. So I'm in that right about to go over the waterfall moment right now again, kind of like sweaty palms, excited to get to the other side.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, there's so many sweaty palm moments, and I've definitely found like you know when the sweaty palms are like, let me just ride this waterfall because what's what I'm you know, what's gonna pour in from it is gonna be good, but it is like on on paper, terrifying in those moments. No, okay, you're very creative too. So you you said you wrote a novel. I think you'd mentioned that to me before in passing, and your husband writes movies. So very creative household you got going on. Are there certain things like do you do those creative juices just naturally flow for you? Are there specific things that you do that to that keep the creative juices flowing or the inspiration sparked on a consistent basis? Because you're also having to pour out those creative juices into clients day in, day out, like being really expressive on behalf of others and on behalf of yourself. So how do you keep those juices flowing?

SPEAKER_01

Yes, a few ways. Um, I like to say we're huge media consumers in this house. So I'm always reading a book, we watch a million shows, we watch movies on the weekends, or just like give us all the media we can get, uh, which helps keep me inspired and think through storytelling and new ideas and things like that. Um, one thing that's interesting for me about being a creative person is I cannot like if I close my eyes and try to visualize an apple, I cannot see anything. So I don't have any kind of like visualization ability that could help me pre-execution. So every time I start executing something creatively, I'm like, I have this moment of panic every time where I'm like, do I even know how to draw a logo? Like every single time. And then I do it and I'm like, oh, this is so fun, and I'm good at it, like it's it feels natural, but it takes me a minute to get into the creative flow. And that's also something that I've had to learn over time is I need time to set aside to get into the creative flow. Because if I'm just like, okay, I have 20 minutes, I can do a little bit of work on this logo, and then I'm gonna switch gears and start writing emails or something, it's not gonna happen. I'm just gonna sit there and be like, I don't know what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_02

So knowing your own creative process, and I think this is, I mean, I don't think I mentioned this, but Allie and I are like full work wife, though we say like life wife too. Um, because she's my client, I'm her client, we talk about business things outside, and I think this is one of the reasons we probably work well to together because my intuition, my creative process is I'm super visual, like so much of my intuition shows up via like it's almost like a movie in my head. So I can see things playing out, and you've seen me do this, like and you've slacked me about certain things, and I just start like playing out as if it's happening in real time because I can just see it. And um, and then you can get you can see it once you I've said those details or articulated them, you can like really get specific about how they're gonna look and have the like ability to execute that. And I think that it's been such a fun and fulfilling way to work for me because I don't always know how the thing's gonna get like brought to life specifically.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I think that also speaks to an important part of my creative process is relying on a brand strategy to before creating anything. Having words to describe something gets me a few steps closer than just if you're like make a logo for a coffee shop. I would be like, What's a coffee cup? I've never seen a coffee cup before, you know, like I've it's like takes me so much longer to get into it than if I have a foundational starting point where I can be like, okay, this is what we're making, this is who it's for, this is the vibe, things like that. You're so good at describing those high-level foundational details that it's like gifting me a starting point for creator.

SPEAKER_02

So yeah, it's it's definitely works well, and it's so good to just know like what you need to get in the flow. And you're I know your process obviously very well, both as a client and as someone who's like helped you to refine your process as your business strategist. And the feedback I've seen from people when they go through one of your brand clarity sessions, for them too, you know, not only does it give you a great jumping off point if they decide to move forward and do a brand of website package with you, also for them, it gives them so much clarity around like the vision for their own business and the impact they're having in the world.

SPEAKER_01

You know, it is so hard to do that for yourself. It's like you kind of have to be willing to brag. And we don't, especially women, we don't like to talk about ourselves too much. So if someone comes in and asks questions that make you have a light bulb moment, like, wow, I really am changing the lives of my clients, or I really am making a difference, or doing this incredible thing that I started my business to do, it helps you see it better than if you're like, why am I doing this thing that is like so stressful all the time? And I know it's good, but I can't articulate it. And yeah.

SPEAKER_02

It's the start to any of her packages, but people can also just book these separately, and you get this amazing document with all this great stuff about your brand and really the story. And I love how you brought in earlier, you said like the media consumption helps you with the storytelling, because I think that's the real difference between you and other, not that there aren't other brand strategists out there who do something like this, but you are so like on there to uncover the story of it all and then to tell the story through the visuals. And did you have when you first started offering those sessions, did you have what did it flow the exact same way to uncover that story or has that evolved over time?

SPEAKER_01

Hmm. Good question. Um, I why did I start it? I think I it's funny because this is something you probably would have pointed out to me eventually. Um, and I could have started it so much sooner, but I think I noticed that I was asking these same questions in every project, and once I got the answers, it was making the project flow a lot better and go uh more smoothly. And so I just kind of extracted that from the process and productized it and made it its own thing. Like I knew I was gonna do this anyway, so I just started mandating it because a lot of people want to skip that process, and it's essential for me, as I've explained, like I need that to be able to create anything, but it's also like gets them in the mindset of okay, this is I'm thinking about my business from the lens of my customers, and it's just really important. I don't remember why or even how I was doing it before. Um, I think it was probably just like a lot more ad-lib. Like, tell me about your customer, and then I would work on something, and then I'd be like, wait, what is I don't know. I can't even, I have no idea.

SPEAKER_02

Now yeah, I mean, and I love it because that is one of my favorite things when I'm working with clients, is like I see the parts of the process that are getting repeated, and I'm like, I mean, so many times I get people who come to me and they're like, I don't really know how to, you know, turn this into a group program or turn this like standardize this part of the process so I could bring a team in. And I see those patterns that happen over and over again, and it's like one of the first things you can do to quote unquote life-proof your business or create more leverage for yourself is just notice those things that you're repeating, and then they become standard in the process, even if they're stuck, you know, a manual lift. Like this is not something that's like you're totally hands-off from, you're actually very in it, but because it's standardized, you're not starting every project thinking, where do I begin? Here, it's like I always start with this session and it always goes this way, and I know it's gonna take me X amount of time to execute on the follow-up afterwards, and that creates some element of life proofness because you know what to plan for.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. I'm all about a process, like maybe kind of maniacally. Um my ops manager is like when I hired her, she was like, You have way more than most people have who I work with when I'm starting out. And I was like, But I need I need more. Give me more, set up my systems, give me automations, I need it all because that's how my brain works. Like, I I think this is a also a part of when you have many clients in different industries and you're bouncing around from projects, you need to be able to like pinpoint where you are in the process to adjust and start working on that project throughout the day, you know.

SPEAKER_02

Totally, totally. So I I keep a note section in all my clients' roadmaps because I want to be able to quickly come back to like what we spoke about on the last call, yeah. So that I know, okay, here's where we're building from. Otherwise, it's just too much to hold in your own brain.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02

And we talk about yeah, and your mom. And you want to talk about like a creativity dream that like trying to hold all these details at once. If you just have a process for like keeping track of the details, it makes things so much simpler. Um, okay, I this is so good. And I love that we're like actually getting into the specifics. I of like what creativity and how you maintain creativity and your process. I would love to know, because you are like truly an expert at what you do. I find that so often people with their brand new website, myself included, either wait way too long to like get an update, get a refresh, really tell the story of where the business is and is going, or invest way too much, way too soon. What is your experience with that? And when do you feel like it's actually time to make a significant investment in your branding and website?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Um I mean, there are a few triggers I think that are important to think about. The the short answer is not right away. Please don't do it right away. If you're starting a service-based business, especially, um, and you I think for a lot of us, we feel like we have to have a polished brand and website. It's like checking a box, it makes you a legitimate business. That's how we feel. But if you invest in it right away, you're investing in something that might not be relevant even three months from that point, or six months from that point, or a year, you know, and then you have to invest all over again, start over. So it feels like you're checking a box, but it's kind of just busy work. Like it's getting something out there that isn't gonna work for your business. Um, if you really feel like you have to have something up, like do something easy, find a template, put your words on it, or you know, just focus on something else, you're like optimizing your LinkedIn profile or something and share that with people. Um, because a website needs to have uh information that attracts exactly the right people that you want to attract, and for it to be effective, um, there's a lot of uh information you need before. You can even get there. And to get that information, you have to have clients. So you have to have had at least, I don't know, three clients to know what you want to do, what you don't want to do, who you like working with. You might work with someone who's like a nightmare client, and you're like, I'm not working for this person, this type of industry, or whatever it is ever again. I hated doing these things. It's already all over your website. Now you have to refresh everything. Um so I think a few clients under your vent, you know, like with 50% certainty what it is you want to do and who you want to do it for. And you've seen the outcomes of what your services can do for your clients. Um, maybe you're like a year at least into business, but the biggest thing is that you've done enough work to know what it is you do and do not want to do.

SPEAKER_02

I could not agree more. It's such a significant expense to get it done well and that to pour out that upfront cost when the context and the input required to get it done well, like to actually get it done well so that it has some legs and you can see actually see an ROI. Yeah, you're not gonna have that until you have the data, the input, which comes from real client work. So, like, I mean, put together a deck, put together, I mean, I've sold so many offers off of Google Docs. Yeah. Um, tap your your network who has trust with you without needing to see a website. Like you're the whole idea is like you'd be starting a business ideally, something that you're based on something that you are have expertise in. So, and there are people in the world, if you have developed expertise, there are people in your circle to some degree who probably trust that enough where they don't they wouldn't need to see a website. And then you can get that that input to actually have a story to tell that's gonna carry you forward when you make the investment.

SPEAKER_01

A lot of the questions that I ask in the brand strategy conversation initially are like, what's going on in the lives of your ideal clients when right before they reach out to you? Like what's keeping them up at night? Can you and if you can't answer that question with certainty, you know, then it's the copywriting on the website's not going to be very effective. Like we want to speak to those feelings and demonstrate empathy that we know exactly what they're going through so that when people read the words on your website, they're like, how like do you have a camera in my house? How do you know this about me? How do you know that I'm going through these things? Like, this is exactly what I need.

SPEAKER_02

What about for someone like me who had a site for 10 years that was that I did get created, but maybe I was probably like six months in, a year in, and then it's you know, it evolved over time and evolved over time a little bit here and there, but like it was still the bones of it were still that early stage website. And I mean, obviously I've you know I've helped hundreds of clients at this point, and I was still kind of like not investing. So what about until we talked and I realized I really needed to. What would you say to someone in that scenario? Like, how did they know, like, hey, it's actually really time for your site and your brand, your site to really truly reflect the caliber of expertise and the the story of where your business is currently and where it's going.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. You said uh a couple months ago, you were like, Can we just put a coming soon page up? Because I people keep saying they're going to my website and it's not accurate. Like you didn't want people to see the content on your website. That's a sign that it's not doing a good job, you know. Um if you're embarrassed to send someone the link, that's a sign. If it has information on there, so when you share it, you have to say, but that's not like I actually do this now, I used to do that, blah blah blah. I think a good thing about your situation is that you did invest in that website from a professional, so it looked good, it was well made, it just didn't capture everything that you wanted it to capture now. And your new site works as more of a tool to attract people and then get them where we want them to go to make a conversion.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. That's I've definitely found and I've told you since then that that somebody asked me to see like the link to one of my offers or like just saying, oh, here, check out this page on my website. I like couldn't do that. I always had to have separate pages built or a document that I was sending someone and had to remember where that link was or this link was. And that was so much extra mental bandwidth just to remember like which links I needed to send where, and or to need to explain something in a voice note because I don't have a page that really gets the job done. And even, I mean, since we've launched my new site with my new offer pages, I've even sold some like incredibly high-ticket offers to people who we didn't necessarily write the page for, but they absolutely fit into the category of the person who that serves. It's just that they're their specific industry, they don't have quite the same language that we use to write that page in particular. And it still though gave them the details where they're like, okay, here are my remaining questions because of the language I would use to just talk about these things in my industry. I want to make sure we're on the same page. So it's given me a really easy way to have those conversations with people. Whereas before, I that probably wouldn't have even like that person wouldn't have even reached out to me because they would have, they needed a lot of details, a lot of facts. And I didn't have those in a publicly accessible place accurate to what I was offering.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I think that's an interesting point. Um, because I always say that the copy on the website should help people either self-qualify or self-disqualify. So when someone's reading the copy and you're like loud about your values that they don't agree with or they do agree with, those should be points where they're like, okay, this is my person or this is not. For that person in particular, it's interesting because they were clearly interested enough to read through everything and recognize that the niche that we were targeting was not their industry. Yep. But still wanted to learn more. So if someone in that niche were to read the copy, they would be like, This is for me. And I understand everything. So you've answered most of my questions before we even get on a call. For that person, she was just doing her due diligence, you know.

SPEAKER_02

Yep, exactly. Um, and and literally was like, I know you wrote that this this page sounds like it's written for this, which is not me, but it's the the other parts of it sound like it could be for me. So let's talk. So yeah, did a great job there. Um, okay, super helpful because yeah, that's just one of the things that it kills me when I see newer business owners investing way too much, way too soon. And then obviously, like it just unlocked it really uh our work together has been such a catalyst for even like me starting this podcast, like us looking at what's going on the resources page. I'm like, well, I guess it's time. I guess it's time for the podcast to get going. Um, and it just really activated so much in my business. So I'm glad we're having this chat so other people can hear for themselves, you know, if it might be time for them.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Or not time. Yeah. Oh, um, another thing that was specific to your situation is that you through our conversation about brand strategy, you refined your offers. And a secondary benefit to at least my approach with branding, brand strategy, is if something feels confusing during that conversation, and I'll point out any point of occasion. I don't know if that's how it was. I think you just had a like one moment yourself, but like this is something that will come up where I'll ask like, can you explain the difference between these two offers to me? And a lot of times they can't, or there's a lot of overlap. So we we make little refinements to it so that when we put it on the website, it's clear this, these are the buckets that we want to send people to.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. It was, I mean, I sunset an offer that I had for six years because of this conversation, and created two new offers that I really love and am obsessed with and that are selling quite well. And that wouldn't, I mean, eventually would I have adjusted my offer suite. Yeah, sure. But it it was like that conversation sparked so much clarity so quickly that I was able to act on it really, really fast. And I think that's also what happens when you have some outside perspective or you push yourself to like get clarity in a container with someone else, and you can see very quickly where the muddy points are. And it's helpful to have that. Like it's not something to be scared of, it's something that's gonna sharpen like your business results overall. It might not be like entirely comfortable in the moment, but it ultimately does give people better results over time because you can't live in that mud forever. Like you'll just run yourself out of business. Okay, so I want to talk about like your current business and where you are with things. Now we talked about kind of how you got started, just took that leap, started working with clients, you've got this amazing process now that gets people really great results. You alluded to this earlier that you are in the thick of scaling. First, I just want to know do you find that this moment that you're in right now, where you're bringing on more team, we're refining your processes even more. Do you find this or the initial startup, like getting your first five clients, which which season felt harder or more uncomfortable to you?

SPEAKER_01

So, one thing about when I started this business is I landed my first client like immediately. I went to this all-day networking event, connected with this person, um, Kim from Caring for Mama. It's an e-commerce brand, very different than what I'm working on now. We did all of her branding packaging and her original website. Um, and that project lasted like six months. And so I was pretty much only working for her, and I think I did like a pro bono nonprofit website during that time too for the first six months. After that first six months, I had my first like dry pipeline. What the fuck am I doing? Which a lot of people have right when they launch. You know, there's there's also a perception when you launch a business that you're like, if you build it, they will come and they won't. Like they're not coming. You have to go find them and capture them and bring them to you. Um, so at that point, it was really stressful, six months in. But a different kind of stress. Now I feel like I have such a strong team of support that even though this season is mentally exhausting and uh scary at times, it doesn't feel like impossible, I think is a big differentiator. I was still pretty much alone at that point when I had the where are the clients moment. And now I have a business strategist in you, I have an ops manager, I have people who will point out areas where you know things could get better, improve, or new ideas I could try. Um so it's way less scary than waking up and being like, okay, I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_02

And at this stage too, it's remembering this is a conversation you and I have quite frequently. Like, what's true today isn't necessarily going to be true tomorrow. This is one of my favorite things that gets you also through the early days of having a baby. It's like just because they weren't sleeping great today doesn't mean they won't tomorrow. And all conversely, just because they were sleeping great today doesn't mean they won't. Like it's that kind of thing. And also, you know, just because no amazing applicants came through today, or just because, you know, you had one difficult client situation today doesn't mean that that's like gonna be the truth about the for like entirety of your business, you know? And so sometimes I think it's having that perspective. Um, whereas in the early days, like having no clients today, if you don't do anything differently, yeah, probably will be true tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. And you you always help redirect me too when I get in these like everything is awful moments. Um, most recently with the submarine season advice you gave me, where I was like, I just cannot get my head above water and feel like I'm never gonna catch up. I had to take two weeks off of work, and I was my process was just thrown totally out of whack whack, and I was just, you know, drowning in tests. And I told my husband Ian, I feel like I'm underwater, and he said, You're like a submarine, like so casual. And I knew you would turn this into something golden, and so I sent it to you like Ian just said this, he's calling me a submarine. Is there something here? Like is this my identity now, or what? And you said you're in a submarine season, and whatever else you said, it was just so beautiful, like such a good reframe.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, you're not a submarine, you're the business at the moment in a submarine season.

SPEAKER_01

Beautiful. And the submarine goes down and then it comes back up, and then it goes down again and comes back up, and that's kind of the journey.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and I'll say you shared this publicly in our group, Life Proof Business Accelerator Slack, so other people can also see, like they, you know, scaling a business, creating leverage, go moving into, you know, going from, and we'll talk about this in a minute, but like I mean, you went from like, and I to just clarify for anyone else, I uh confirmed with Ally that it was okay that we talked numbers on this podcast. Um, I would never like, you know, out people's finances or anything, just because um, but I mean when we started working together, we're doing like 7k months and we've near tripled that. Like it's that's uh a leap when when you're taking that kind of leap, you're gonna have moments where we're we don't necessarily have the team on board to or the the process is fully built out as the work's coming in, as the the business is is moving. And mind you, in the middle of that, like you also had cancer, which I didn't even bring that up. Like you got diagnosed with cancer, got the cancer treated, like in the middle of all of that.

SPEAKER_01

It's been a year.

SPEAKER_02

It's been and it's all it's August. Like we're two-thirds of the way through.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So I think it's like also just sharing those things in community, like being able to say, like, hey, it's been a it's been a a month. It I'm so grateful for the growth that's happened. And I also am like, am is this ever gonna get light? Like, is it this really gonna get lighter? And for someone to say, like, yeah, here's how it's gonna look when you're through the season. And just was it last week that you shared, like, you're kind of you're you're starting to get there.

SPEAKER_01

I had one day where I was like, oh my God, I'm gonna stop working at 2 p.m. because I feel like I'm I feel complete for the day. And that's the first time I've felt like that in a long time. So good.

SPEAKER_02

Those little those little moments of evidence are what we have to like focus on. Yes, we notice the things where we're feeling like two stretched in so that we can create, you know, processes and modify around them, and then also starting to like notice that evidence that, like, oh, okay, it's it's actually happening. There's I'm seeing the light, I'm seeing the weightlift. And then kind of before you know it, that's the rate, like you're just living that way most days.

SPEAKER_01

I love that. And it's so funny. I just remembered maybe like four months ago sending in the group. Um, hey, next time I'm this is like the opposite problem. I said, next time I'm like, don't have big projects coming in. I have a light project load um and I'm complaining about that. Can you just punch me in the face instead? Because I could have been using that time to do so much, and instead I was using it spiraling about not having enough work and where's my next project coming from and what am I doing? And now I'm on the flip side of that where I have I don't want to say too much work because abundance, like don't go anywhere, but you know, I'm I don't I have less time to do other things, do focus on the business and business development and improving, and yeah, I'm looking for the happy medium.

SPEAKER_02

So you just kind of gave us a hint about kind of your journey throughout this year, really taking the business to a whole new level, a new, like it's rocking and rolling. I mean, you have employees pretty much like we're yeah, like you have team, real team, and we're looking at like, okay, where's like we're talking about like half a million dollars in revenue next year. Like those are the real conversations we're having. And we we I remember when you came to me and we've like, you know, we've been friends for a while now, and you're like, yeah, so I want to work with you, but I'm not at your like revenue minimum. And I say stuff on Instagram, so like kind of to see like what sticks, but not there's not a set revenue minimum, so to speak. It's more like, does your business have these pieces that I can do something with that are gonna get you the results you want, which I'm like bare minimum I'd like for you to be able to two times your revenue. Well, we also reduce the workload on your shoulders over time, of course, it doesn't happen immediately. Um, and I need to be able to see like, do you have those pieces in place? So we talked, we sat down, and we did that sort of audit to make sure that you had that. And at that time, when we look back at your revenue from like the whatever, four or five months prior, it's about average like seven K months. And then when someone's gonna make the type of investment that my clients do to work with me, usually when they come to me at that stage, if I have someone come to me at that stage, usually what they're saying, what they'll say to me is like, I just need to get my revenue up a little bit before I can this leap can make sense, like I can make this leap make sense. And you didn't say that. And I find that really interesting because I I mean, especially like where things have gone this year, like the leap always ends up making sense. Like there's kind of no, you know, I'll stop saying it 100% when the reality becomes different. But like right now, it's like 100% of the time for people it makes sense, it just works out. But I'm wondering for you, like, why wasn't that why did it make sense in that moment for you?

SPEAKER_01

Good question. It's funny because it's another leap that I did where I don't really think about it. I just I remember on the call being like, okay, well, how do we start? And I remember that too. And like when I got married, Ian was like, should we just get married? I said, Yeah, this was over text, and then we did. Like, that's just like that's just how things go around here. I don't know. I think also I trusted you. Um, I knew you weren't gonna sell me something that you didn't think that I needed or would be beneficial for me. I invested in a few different programs last year, and they were great, but they were like really focused situations, like LinkedIn strategy and sales specific group program things. And this felt more comprehensive, like we're gonna look at the whole picture of your business, and um I love a mantra and and I have sticky notes all over my desk reminding me certain things. And one of the things that I have used for the last three years is what is the next best step, and that is a way for me to break out of my like analysis paralysis or you know, task overwhelm, or like I have so much to do, I don't know what to do first. I can bring that to you, and you can be like, obviously, it's this, like, do this, do this one thing first, and then everything else will make sense. And I and I wouldn't bring like my task list to you, but you can be like You can, but you would be like, You you should focus on this. Here's a plan to hire your next person. Here's a two-week, how about we do two-week sprints so you're not overwhelmed, like you know how to to position things for me. So I'm like, okay, I can do this, yeah, I can manage this, and you do it differently for everyone. I see it in the on the group calls, like you can match someone's energy so well. So yeah, anyway, that's a long-winded way to say you're an easy yes.

SPEAKER_02

Well, thanks. I am curious though, like, how was this vision of your business? Which we're like, I'd say we're I mean, you know me, we're gonna keep expanding and like doing who who knows what's gonna unfold unfold from here. But like also doing business when you're like at 7k months, like kind of adjusting timelines all the time, and like one month you have a lot of clients, one month you don't have like that's a different way of doing business than the way you're doing it now. Like it looks very different. And I'm sure I don't exactly remember the conversation, but usually what I'm doing is kind of selling people in that next phase of their business that I see as possible for them because also the one I know I can get them to. Um, and so I'm sure I did that with you. And how was that, like where the business is now and where it's continuing to go? How was that such an easy yes for you? Because I think that's especially when I have people come to me who've known me for a little while, like I'm the easy yes. They know I'm not gonna screw them over, like that does me no good and them no good. But it's the being able to say yes to what's next for them that is a really hard thing to do.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Um, honestly, I have a hard time with vision planning in general. Like, I don't know if I had a vision, and so you gave me one during that conversation that felt palatable and that was good, you know. Like, I'm not a person who can answer a five-year plan. Like, I'm not thinking about that, I'm living in the moment, I'm taking it day by day because that's like I have just have too much going on to spend energy thinking too far ahead. But to have someone with business strategy expertise come in and say, This is what I could see your business becoming, and then I'm like, Oh, like, yeah, I can see it becoming that now too, because you said that, but I wasn't even really thinking about it, it was just in survival mode, you know. And now I'm in like expansion mode and planning for something with longevity, and um, there was never a plan for me. This was never a hobby, there was never a plan or a possibility of me going back to working for someone else. So it was either gonna be this or I don't know, a different business that I was gonna create. And I think I just needed someone to say, you don't have to be the business, you can lead the business and see what happens from there.

SPEAKER_02

I love that so much. And I think you just answered kind of what was gonna be my last like closure to this conversation as a whole, which was like, how do you keep in expansion mode when hard stuff comes up? Because also in the middle, like you made the decision, we get moving, you're like, I was just diagnosed with cancer and I've got the surgery and all these things. Um, and like your dog was super sick in the middle of it, like so many things. And we're most, you know, I've seen people who contract in those moments, but I will say most often it's the people who have kind of have one foot in, one foot out, or like this could work out, and if it doesn't, then I'll go do this thing. And it's not that you have to be like 100% full time in their business in your business. I work with people all the time who've got like whether they're like you know, in a corporate position too, or they've got like a teaching role that is additional revenue stream, like not to say you can't have other revenue streams, but it's like that full playing the long game in the business is like in my opinion, what what will keep you in through the hard moments. Do you find that to be true for yourself?

SPEAKER_01

I don't know if I was thinking about the long game when I found out that it was cancer. And I wasn't thinking about how it was gonna change things at all. I was just like, okay. I mean, you know. I got that call, I went for a walk in the city, and then you found me in the city. We weren't even sharing locations at that point. I just You found me in the city. Like it's crazy, it's crazy. That's I mean, that's such a beautiful friendship moment. And we I don't know if we talked much about it. Like you know how I cope with humor. So we went and got a glass of wine, we're drinking wine and we're like laughing about it, but it's also like fuck, so we're crying about it, and and then it was like, okay, now let's do the thing. And I wasn't thinking about it much. And then when I had the surgery, I was not worried about it. I thought it was gonna be easy. The surgeons told me it was gonna be a very straightforward process, it would be quick. I went through the process, it was more complex than they thought, and so I had to have a second surgery. So I thought it was the surgery was Thursday, I thought I'd be back at work Friday. I was not back at work until two weeks later. And I hadn't even considered that as a possibility. Like, I just don't consider failure a possibility, and I'm not a perfectionist, and I'm not like I'm you know, I don't think that I'm doing amazing. I mean, I know it's great work, but I'm not like I'm the best person for this job, you know. I'm not a narcissist. I think you're you can think that for me. My clients can think that for me. It's just yeah, but I just knew it was gonna work out. I know it's always gonna work out somehow because it does. It just even if it doesn't for a little bit, it does eventually. And so I guess that's how I plan for the long game. I just take it day by day in the short game, knowing that it's gonna work out eventually.

SPEAKER_02

It's like radical self-trust too, where you're like, I it's it's part of your identity. It's like I am someone who it always eventually works out for. Therefore, I'm gonna like it could not be working out today, and I'm still gonna like I know what's on the other side of this. Is it working out? I just need to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

SPEAKER_01

I love that. And I work really hard. So I'm not like someone who's putting it in the universe's hands. I'm not like I trust that this is gonna work out because it always works out. No, I just I'm gonna keep working at it and eventually I'm gonna have a light bulb moment or something's gonna click. I'm gonna get an amazing support team, I'm gonna hire the right people, I'm gonna get a dream client, and things will flow for a bit, and then something will happen that will be really difficult. But I'll fall back on my support team or I'll fall back on my experiences that I've been through already and make it through until the next time. And there we are on the submarine. Yep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So good. So I'm gonna bring this conversation to a close because we could go on forever. And I think that there have been so many good little nuggets in here, just people seeing themselves at all different stages of business and just normalizing what comes up through those stages of business and the things that you can trust in that process and the things that maybe you don't need to cling so tightly to in those moments. And I just want to give, I really want this space. I mean, this is the first guest episode that I'm recording. It's actually the first one because I'm recording my first solo one later today. And I really want this friends with businesses experience to really feel like a conversation that our listeners can join in on. And so in the episode show notes, there will always be like the place where both you know my guests and I hang out the most online where you can join in this conversation. Um, so for Allie, we'll have her spots of guessing, like your Instagram and LinkedIn will be good spots to like point people towards in terms of continuing the conversation. But I am super curious to know if you've been listening and you're you've maybe thought to yourself, oh, like there's something I've been wanting to feel really ready for, or like a sweaty palms moment that I know is gonna feel like sweaty palms, and I've kind of been waiting for the right moment to take that leap, or I've been looking for the right evidence that I should take that leap. And I'm really curious to know, like, what is that thing for you, or one that you've that's been the case for you recently and you took the leap and like how'd it land? I think it's an important conversation to have because the truth is that the biggest leaps you're gonna take in business, you don't have all the answers beforehand. You don't have the hundred percent certainty. I mean, starting this podcast is one for me where, like, does this a hundred percent make strategic sense on paper for me to start this podcast? Is it filling this the one strategic gap that exists in my business right now? No, it's not. But I just like could not ignore the call to do it. So therefore I'm doing it. Did I have sweaty palms? Even though you're my best friend and I talk to you all the time. Getting on this pressing record today, yeah, I did. Did I do it anyway? I did. So I want to just invite that conversation of like the normalization of the sweaty palms moments and like just speaking into existence, the thing that like you know is right for you, even if it doesn't make a hundred percent sense on paper. And so if we can be that sounding board for you to just like drop it in somewhere so you can have someone being like, You got this, um, please do that. I'm assuming that's it's okay for me to give full permission to for me to invite people into your world, Allie.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. I know I was just thinking, I feel like I'm I mean, in a literal pool environment, I'm not a person who dips my toe in the water and then slowly gets in. Like I either need to be pushed in or I need to jump in and just do it. And um you just reminded me that the reason why I even wrote a novel gears ago was because I was laid off from my first corporate marketing job. So that leap decision was made for me. That was me getting pushed into the pool of alternate job life, you know. And since then, I think I've just followed every other major decision with okay, it's time to jump, go. Don't think about it, just go. And I've always used this say yes and then figure it out strategy in business. And you know, I think it fits that jumping in drive.

SPEAKER_02

It definitely, definitely does. And I think every entrepreneur has like a little bit of that, even if they are very like risk-averse and detailed. There's there's room for all of that. And there will be moments in your business journey where you just have to like trust and make the leap and do the thing that has been nagging at you because it's it's your intuition. Just this. This is so good. Okay, um, we're gonna drop all the things in the show notes in terms of like where you can find Allie, how you can connect with her, how we can you can keep the conversation going, because that's really what I want this to feel like is like truly, you've been just been hanging out on the couch with me and Allie. Maybe you've had a glass of white wine with us or a latte or your favorite mocktail. Um, guaranteed if it's after 7 p.m., she and I would probably have a glass of white wine, and our kids are probably running around all crazy. So I hope you've enjoyed this time. We've loved having you here with us and can't wait to chat again with you soon. Thank you so much for hanging out. If you loved this conversation, please, please subscribe, follow, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps us connect with a lot more friends and businesses. For even more like business goodness for me, be sure to check out the show notes for a free four-part private audio series.

SPEAKER_00

For more information about how to start podcasts, please visit www.carbonstudio.co or even mic at mic.carbonstudio.co. You can also find the details in the show notes.