Latest / The Life-First Solopreneur / 08. Does Your Unique Value Proposition Always Have to Highlight Your Work With Carly Ries
Transcript
- Carly Ries (00:00): What I always say is, you work in your business when things are busy and work on your business when things are slower Intro (00:05): Bigger doesn't always mean better. Welcome to the One-Person Business podcast where people who are flying solo in business come for specific tips and advice to find success as a company of one. Here are your hosts, Joe Rando and Carly Ries. Joe Rando (00:24): Welcome to the One-Person Business podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Joe Rando, Carly Ries (00:29): And I'm your other host, Carly Ries Joe Rando (00:31): Today we're going to be turning the tables again. I'm going to interview Carly about her experiences as a one person business. Carly has been in the marketing world for over a decade and has consulted with businesses ranging from local mom and pop shops to global Fortune 500 companies. She's one of those digital nomads who has traveled full-time around the country with her husband, toddler and puppy. I have no idea how one does this. When she's not out on the open road, you can find her in her hometown of Colorado Springs hiking, cooking, doing yoga, and finding the nearest trivia night where she can dominate the pop culture questions. And again, I have no idea how one does this. Carly Ries (01:11): It's my superpower is what it is. Joe Rando (01:13): It's amazing. So let's get started. Carly, I'm going to start off with a question. Tell us what you're currently doing and the background that led you to want to be a one person business. Carly Ries (01:27): I'm currently working with you as marketing director for Lifestarr and Co-host of this podcast, but I am an independent contractor doing this so I can take on other clients if I want to or have time to. That right there, managing my time is why I decided to be a solo consultant. The first half of my career was spent at marketing agencies and honestly, I wouldn't trade that for the world. You get exposed to so much. You work on so many different types of campaigns and you build amazing relationships both with clients and with coworkers. I'm so happy I got my start there, but I hit a certain point where I was like, okay, I have a substantial amount of knowledge, but I have zero control over my schedule. I'm working 60 hours a week. Some of the campaigns I'm working on I'm not even really interested in. And that just didn't seem right to me. So I took the knowledge, became an independent consultant, took control of my schedule and promised myself I would only work with clients and companies I was genuinely interested in because I knew that that would help foster my best work. And here we are. So basically solo entrepreneurship ultimately came down to taking control of my time and choosing the types of clients I work with. Joe Rando (02:40): Carly, I do want to point out that when you were with an agency, you did some work for me at a previous company, which is how we met. That company produced enterprise software for spatial intelligence in the retail real estate industry. I have to believe that was not one of your passions, and yet I never would've known it from the way approached your work. You were always enthusiastic and focused. Carly Ries (03:04): I appreciate that. It's funny because based off what you just said, that typically wouldn't be my first interest. You're right. But it was super fascinating. We could talk about that offline, but it became one that I was passionate about. So you're good. Joe Rando (03:18): So, what is your why, to stay small? Carly Ries (03:23): This may sound a little selfish, but I like being in charge of my own schedule and what I can say yes or no to based off my personal needs. Honestly, I love doing the marketing work instead of managing somebody else to do it. We actually talk about this in a recent interview with Josh where he mentioned a book by Michael E. Gerber, which is amazing. It's called the E-Myth. I highly recommend anybody check it out. It discusses competing personalities of a business owner. We all have the entrepreneur side, which is the visionary, the manager who thrives on order and predictability, and then the technician who is the doer. And I'd say at heart, I'm the technician personality because I actually like creating the work and delivering it as a result myself. I have a hard time watching somebody else do it, which is probably a character flaw that I need to work on. But I really do just love the nitty gritty of marketing, not just the high level stuff. Joe Rando (04:18): So how do you distinguish yourself from other people in your industry? How do you think about positioning yourself? Carly Ries (04:26): I love this question because so many people think it's a skill that needs to be the differentiator, but it doesn't have to be. For me, my differentiator is the working relationship. So let's say a marketer like me gets you results, but the experience to get the results are dreadful. Is it worth it? Maybe if you like the bottom line, but you may be very unhappy until those results are achieved. And there are certainly other marketers out there with my skillset, much better skillset at that. But I've yet to have a client for me that I'm not still friends with or am on excellent terms with. That to me is a huge differentiator and what sets me apart when I get referrals, Joe Rando (05:07): Those people that you work with. You can't wait to get it done partly to have the results and partly because you don't have to deal with them anymore. Carly Ries (05:15): We've been there, the worst. Joe Rando (05:17): But I can vouch for you, Carly, on that. It was always a pleasure working with you and it still is. I could be having a bad day, but when I get on a Zoom call with you, there's no way to stay depressed. You are so upbeat. It's a great quality and a really cool way to differentiate yourself. Carly Ries (05:36): Thank you. Keep going. Joe Rando (05:40): All right. So how do you go about getting clients? Carly Ries (05:43): This actually ties into that last question. Because I focus so much on client retention and delighting my current clients, it's turned into a steady stream of word of mouth referrals. In my mind, if you can deliver the results and provide a good experience, people will pass along your information to others. I'm also very involved in my local community. So when people think of marketing, they often think of me because they know me and trust me before we even begin working together. Joe Rando (06:09): So let me ask, do you ever feel lonely? And if so, what do you do to combat the isolation? Carly Ries (06:15): Oh man. So when I first decided to go independent, I knew this was going to be the hardest thing for me. I'm an extrovert and was terrified of this aspect, honestly. Really it was kind of hard the first few months when I was getting started. So I started working from coffee shops, coworking spaces, libraries, whatever, just to be in a place with people, but where I could still stay focused. But since then, I've now worked from home for over seven years and I've gotten used to it. I do stay home a lot more now, more so than I did at the beginning. I try to make all of my meetings with clients who are in town, I try to make those in person. And of course, Zoom is a lifesaver for distant clients, but I also make it a point to get out of the house and focus on life outside of work so that I have things to look forward to with people when the workday is done. Especially if I've been in my office all day and haven't spoken to anybody. Joe Rando (07:07): What is something you wish you had known ahead of time before starting this journey Carly Ries (07:12): To embrace the downtime. This is something that I've heard from financial advisors. I don't know if this is common knowledge, but when I've talked to a financial advisor, they always say in regards to the stock market, to ride the wave, just stick it out through the ups and downs. I feel like you have to take that approach when finding someone in business too. It's just kind of a part of it. Well, actually, it's part of any business really, so you need to prepare for it. What I always say is you work in your business when things are busy and work on your business when things are slower. Joe Rando (07:45): That's definitely really great advice. This whole idea of working on your business is I think foreign to some people, and it's such an important thing to do those non-urgent, but very important things that can just change the game for you going forward. When you talk about the financial advisor, I always think back to Warren Buffett and he says, well, if you like hamburgers, why do you get upset when the price of hamburger drops? And that's what happens when the stock market drops. So you should be buying if you really believe in the stocks that you're owning. But anyway, that's another podcast. Carly Ries (08:19): I digress. Joe Rando (08:21): Your favorite thing and least favorite thing about being in a one person business? Carly Ries (08:27): I hope I don't sound like a broken record. I feel like I've said this already, but my favorite thing would be managing my own time instead of being stuck to a desk from nine to five, just because that's what you're supposed to do. I really like to optimize my productivity hours. I take advantage of being an early bird and get up super early and can knock a bunch of things out before the rest of my house is awake. And then that way I can take breaks throughout the day and get a workout in, on a good day when I actually do workout, have lunch at the park with my family and so on, so that I can keep my brain functioning and focused when I need to get stuff done. My least favorite part is not always seeing the people I'm working with. Joe, you as an example, we've been working together off and on since 2016, and I still have not met you in person. Joe Rando (09:11): Well Inbound 2022, I hope. Carly Ries (09:13): Fingers, toes and everything crossed. Joe Rando (09:17): Any tips for separating your work life from your personal life? Carly Ries (09:22): I may not be the best person to ask about this because it can be so easily blurred, especially when you're working from home. It's like if you have free time, you may as well get work done. So admittedly, I'm really bad at this, but it's really because I love what I do, so I don't mind blurring the lines a little bit. I will say I try really hard to get all of my work done on weekdays, even if it means working later at night or getting up even earlier. I try to make my weekends my own, and that's really how I try to separate the two. Joe Rando (09:56): I've started doing that recently. Top advice for staying focused? Carly Ries (10:05): Put your phone away, end a discussion, interview over. That is my biggest thing. Put your phone away. It is so distracting, and I honestly don't have the self-control to not look at it if it's next to me. So if I need to put my head down and get work done, I put the phone in the other room and keep it there until the task is complete. Just remove it. Joe Rando (10:30): Yeah, I think that some people are feeling a cold sweat right now from that recommendation. It is a problem. I totally agree. Okay, so how do you manage your business processes and what tools do you use? Carly Ries (10:44): This one takes a little trial and error at the beginning, but I know where my strengths and my weaknesses are, so I try to optimize with that. Innately, luckily, I'm good at staying organized and since I just need to organize myself, I have a pretty good process down for that. But on the other hand, I know I'm horrible at other aspects of my business, like taxes. Rest assured I do always pay them but that's all thanks to my incredible CPA who puts up with my lack of knowledge. She's amazing. So moral of the story, I focus on my strengths and educate myself or outsource the operations that I don't understand. Just a side note for that, if you hire a virtual assistant or outsource anything, it's really important that you document your processes of how you would do them step by step before somebody else takes over. (11:33): It takes some work upfront, but will save you so much time in the long run, especially if you need to train multiple people at any point. So I would highly recommend that. Then in terms of tools and business operations, I use Lifestarr, a shameless plug there, but I really do use it for task management, email and communication. Then I use the Google suite for documents, spreadsheets and things like that. And I love Calendly for scheduling meetings. It's just helpful to avoid all the back and forth. I recommend that tool. Joe Rando (12:06): Definitely. I will say that I think it's really smart of you to focus on your strengths because a lot of people feel like, oh, I'm not good at this. I have to get better at it. And your strategy of saying, "I'm going to focus on what I'm good at and then supplement what I'm not good at", is much more effective. Kudos for seeing that and living it Carly Ries (12:29): Again, through trial and error, you figure it out. Joe Rando (12:34): That's right. Let me ask, what helps you embrace uncertainty in regards to income, schedule and all that stuff? Carly Ries (12:43): Honestly, for me, it's a frame of mind. I look at being, I guess a solopreneur, just like a regular job. So when you work for somebody else, you may have a salary and know what you'll be making month to month and what you'll be doing month to month, and you can more or less plan for it. But as you've seen in the past year especially, even that isn't guaranteed. So you just need to have a game plan for the ups and downs and look at it just like you would any other job. Joe Rando (13:11): That's true. People say, oh, you work for yourself. That's so risky. I suppose, but by the same token, you could just wake up one day and find out that somebody else has decided you don't have a job anymore. And that's a risk that people I don't think take into account as much as they probably should. Carly Ries (13:28): Yeah, there's that false safety net. Joe Rando (13:30): Okay. Biggest mistake as a one person business. Carly Ries (13:36): So, taking on too many clients at the same time. Afew years ago I had a lot of referrals, which is nice, but they all came in at once and I felt the need to say yes to them because they were all super interesting. Honestly, it would've been the highest or the most amount of money I would've made in a single month ever, which I think would be appealing and tempting for anybody. So I took it all on, but I was drowning and I knew my work was suffering because of it. It was just a really stressful, stressful time. I somehow got by with a lot of coffee, but it was in no way sustainable. What I learned there is you need to find a happy medium, and you have to learn to say no. Even if something sounds interesting, you have to know your limits. Joe Rando (14:19): Just say no. Very powerful. I think you had something about that in your ebook. Carly Ries (14:27): Yeah, easier said than done, but so impactful. Joe Rando (14:31): Okay. Biggest aha moment as a one person business. Carly Ries (14:35): I just talked about outsourcing, so that's one. But also finding trusted people within the biz that you can call for help when you need it. This doesn't mean you have to build a team by any means. It just means you have the resource to delegate to if the need arises. For example, strong areas are strategy and content creation, but I cannot, for the life of me design. It's nowhere in my skillset. I couldn't finger paint as a kid. I don't have any design skills. I know freelance designers who I always reach out to when I have a request for design, and I'm also very transparent with whoever I'm working with. They know I'm not the one designing, they know I'm asking for help with that. The other aha is to keep a close group of people to learn from and to keep those relationships growing. This is especially important when you're on your own. I think you should join mastermind groups, Facebook groups, groups in your town with people who have the same professions and learn from each other. It's easy to get into the day-to-day of things, but you cannot forget to stop learning, especially when you're on your own and especially from professionals in your space. You have to make it a priority. Joe Rando (15:47): What was your biggest, I got this moment as a one person business. Carly Ries (15:53): When I was confident enough to increase my rates and people accepted, that was a good day. For whatever reason, it's so hard to ask for raises, increase rates, and so on for so many people, myself included. But what you're really asking for is your value. So when I was truly able to see the value I provided for people and others did too, things really took off from there. That was my, I got this moment. Joe Rando (16:19): The other side of that coin is when you said you had so many offers and you were so busy and it was too much. My sister's a freelance photographer, and she has the same situation where she's booked way to the future. My dad, really good businessman his whole life, just a smart businessman. And he would always say, if you're too busy, raise your prices. And it's so true, because if you do that, you'll be less busy and you'll make more money. Carly Ries (16:46): Yeah, it's great. Joe Rando (16:49): I hate to say it because I'm usually buying these services as opposed to providing them, but it's true. So, best piece of advice you've received that's helped your career as a company of one. Carly Ries (17:04): Again, don't want to sound like a broken record, but just to know your strengths and your weaknesses and be transparent about them. It can be so easy to accept a job and say to yourself, I'll figure it out. And while I'm all for learning, absolutely, you also have to be realistic and know how far you can go with a certain skill. Hone in on what you're good at and delegate the rest. Joe Rando (17:26): I imagine if you take the wrong job, you could actually lose money just because it would take so long to actually do it. Carly Ries (17:32): Oh, yeah. I mean, your reputation's on the line too. Fake it till you make it to an extent, I guess, but just know what that extent is. Joe Rando (17:42): Let's have some fun now. Favorite movie that always puts you in a good mood. Carly Ries (17:46): I dunno if these are embarrassing or not, but I'll just go with it. If I need a good laugh, Tommy Boy. Basically anything, Chris Farley, but Tommy Boy. If I need a feel good movie, the Greatest Showman. And, if you want to be entertained, watch me watch The Greatest Showman, and you'll see me dancing around singing. It's a hoot. Joe Rando (18:06): Well, I've seen The Greatest Showman, but I've never seen Tommy Boy, and you're not the first person to tell me I need to watch it. So that's got to be rectified. (18:17): What's your favorite song to pump you up? Carly Ries (18:22): Well, another embarrassing thing, and this really isn't the music I listen to now. I'm just going to throw out that disclaimer, but if I need to get pumped, I blast anything Brittany. Basically anything from late nineties, early two thousands pop, that's my jam and I can really jam out to it. Joe Rando (18:41): Lastly, and more seriously, how do you define success? Carly Ries (18:46): Having enough time to spend quality time with the people I love. Joe Rando (18:52): That's awesome. To wrap up, maybe you can let the audience know how they can get ahold of you. Carly Ries (19:00): The best way to connect is on LinkedIn. My handle is just Carly Ries. You can email me directly at carly@lifestarr.com or fill out the form on our website at lifestarr.com/podcast, and I am the one that responds to that. Joe Rando (19:23): Well, Carly, this has been a lot of fun. I hope you all got some useful information out of this. I know I did. I just want to ask you to be sure to tune in next week for more insights to help you with your journey as a one person business. And of course, be sure to subscribe. See you next time. Carly Ries (19:40): Thanks, Joe. (19:44): You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't mean you're alone. In fact, millions of people are in your shoes running a one person business and figuring it out as they go. So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures? At LifeStarr, we're creating a one person business community where you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs. Be sure to join in on the conversations at community.lifestarr.com.