Lessons in Entrepreneurship - What 6 years in business has taught me

Speaker A: Hey. Hey. You're listening to Stop the Scroll, a social media marketing podcast, and I'm your host, Heidi Schmidt. I'm a social media strategist and agency owner with over 15 years of marketing experiences helping businesses grow online. We'll be diving into what you need to know so that you can show up confidently online without the overwhelm. Get your notebook ready to jot down some amazing marketing gems, and let's dive into it. Welcome back. My friends, it has been a hot minute, and this is, I, uh, want to say penultimate, but penultimate is like second to last, so this is not the penultimate episode. However, this is going to be the final episode of season one. We're going to call this season one of, uh, Stop the Scroll, meaning we're not going away forever, but we are taking a break. But to celebrate, essentially two years of the podcast, I'm going to share. Uh, you know, this week we're celebrating six years in business, which feels like my head is kind of blown, right? Six years of all the things, you know, six years of growing a team, you know, finding and getting ghosted by contractors, you know, finding good fits who have been with me to the team and finding some not so great fits. Ah, it really know over the past six years, I've really learned my leadership style. I have learned so much about just the work that I want to do, you know, and it's funny because we talk about, like, quarter life crisises and all these fun things. Like, I remember experiencing that in my 20s where I wasn't quite sure which direction I wanted to go. I felt a little, like, untethered, if you will, mainly because that all happened during the Great Recession. But, you know, when you're in business, like, there's such personal growth that happens. And, you know, I have to give a very big shout out to, um, my business coach, Alison Loftus, who has just been a true gem and has been very much an anchor to me on this business journey. She has helped me so much with systems to have in place and all these things. So I would not be here at year six without her guidance and brilliance to, to lift me up. But I wanted to share. So being this kind of end of season one, because life is lifing and life is busy. And those of you longtime listeners know that I am also running for political office here in Maryland. And, and it's taken up some time. You know, my values right now are, you know, getting elected and taking care of my clients. And so everything else is kind of coming second fiddle to that. You Know, it's. It's literally like family clients campaign. Not necessarily in those order, in that order on any given day, depending on the day. Like, it might be campaign, family clients, like, but those are my top three priorities right now. So the, the podcast. Bless my podcast manager, Liz Chapman, who is an absolute, absolute gem. Uh, if anyone is wanting to start a podcast, like, I cannot recommend her enough. She has the utmost patience for me over the past couple months, like all you listeners know, like, I have not been as active. I have not been recording as much because There are only 24 hours in a day. And, you know, sometimes that 35, 45 minutes that I really need to, like, sit down and record and bang out an episode doesn't happen. And it has been probably a month since my last episode. So here we are. Here we are. I wanted to do this around my six year in business, which kind of coincides with my two years on the podcast episode. Both of those were, were last week. And so it just kind of makes sense. And you know, my podcast manager, Liz, is taking a long vacation in May. Bless her. Like, I hope she has a trip of a lifetime. I've heard inklings of it and I cannot wait to meet her in July. By the way, I'm going to a, uh, business retreat in Chicago. Thank you, Lauren Najar, for leading that. Another gem. Like, if you are in business and you haven't yet spoken to Lauren, she chef's kiss. She's brilliant. And so that kind of leads me to my six lessons in six years in business, my six biggest takeaways, and, uh, that I want you to think about as. And they're. Some of them are marketing specific, some of them are social media specific, but some of them are also just not. So that's, that's what we're going to chat about today. Thanks for bearing with me. Thanks for spending the past five minutes letting me rant and ramble and kind of share the direction that the podcast is taking. The podcast has been a light and it has taught me so much. And it's not going away forever, but I may rethink it. I may rethink it. And so these next few months, you know, there are less than 70 days until the primary, probably around 60 days by the time this goes live, and like less than 200 days until the general election. And that has to be my, my focus that my team kind of keeping the train, the client trains moving because they are brilliant. Those are my focuses. So the podcast, we're hitting pause. Pause. Anyhow, so let's get into these six lessons because I really think that they're valuable and they are life, marketing, entrepreneurship, business, all of the fun things. So let's talk about them. So lesson number one. And you know, it's funny, cause I was, I was typing these up. I outlined myself and you know, for once I did not, I did not use ChatGPT at all to prep this last episode. Recently, I would dump a title and be like, give me an outline. Just so that I wasn't all over the place and felt like I had some sort of like, okay, this is what I'm talking about. But today I wrote out my six lessons and you know, they're gonna turn into a carousel. They're gonna be all the things, they're gonna be all over social media in the next week. But I'm gonna start with engagement. And this is true on social media and it's true in life that engagement everywhere stimulates growth. And you know, I've not been as consistent posting on my own social media accounts. A lot of you following me probably noticed that I'm still, um, try to be somewhat active on stories. But even with engagement, I am still growing my account even though I'm not consistently posting. But engagement is not even just online. It is about finding your community. It is about being active. And my best piece of advice, and uh, this is, you know, I've talked before about like knowing where your leads are coming from and being active on those channels or in those communities. You don't have to be everywhere in business. You don't have to be on TikTok, you don't have to be on, uh, you know, you don't even have to be on social media. I have talked to so many businesses that are not even on social media, but like, their businesses still grow. You don't have to be everywhere, but you do have to show up. You have to. Like, if your leads come from in person networking, and I know plenty of people that like, this is the case, then you have to show up to in person networking. Your business is not going to grow itself. You have to find where your leads are. Like if it's on Instagram, if you are an online business owner, then you gotta show up on Instagram, like consistently. You don't have to be everywhere, but you do have to be active. Engagement begets engagement. Engagement stimulates growth. Like, be engaged. Here's the thing, and this kind of leads me to my next one. People want to be engaged with the brands. They want to know that there's real People behind them. Which leads me to lesson number two. Be authentic. And this is overstated, but especially in the world of AI. And it's funny because I was just having a conversation, shout out to Jamie, who kind of prompted this conversation. And I knew that this was kind of going to be my last episode for now, so I didn't want to do a whole episode on it, but I found a way to fit it in. People are so sick and tired of AI Slop, and we see AI everywhere. And now that, like, AI is doing those, like, trashy images. My God, please stop the insanity. Uh, stop the AI image insanity. A client of mine recently hired someone, and they put out today. You know, my clients can always post for themselves, like, if they're so inspired. I never say, like, no, you can't post, but they put out, like, this terrible AI image. And I was just like, my God, no, stop with the AI slop. Be authentic. You know, I'm going to be transparent. I have used AI for clients mostly to ideate or to edit. I'm a terrible self editor. I'm not gonna lie. Like, I am a terrible self editor. Like, I ramble. If you've read my. My, like, newsletter or my. Or blogs, or if you've listened to the podcast, like, I write how I speak, I am authentic af. And what you see is what you get. And that's why authenticity is one of my brand values, and it's one of my values in my campaign. Like, what you see is what you get. I am authentic. But people connect with people, and people are smart enough that they're going to see through AI Slop. And, you know, eventually, like, maybe my business, um, will transform more into, like, political communications consultants. I'm learning a heck of a lot here. But the one thing that really grinds my gears is when I see other candidates, like, putting out posts, and I can just tell that it's AI and it's like, God, you're trying to connect with people. Like, have an original thought, right? Like, even in business, like, people want to connect with people. And I've, uh, been saying this so long is be authentic. Like, stop. I recently spoke at a networking lunch for the collective, which, if you're in the Annapolis area, you, you know, the collective. And I said, you know, people want to connect with people. So, like, there is a whole thing. And I'm seeing this in politics, and I'm seeing this in business. People want to go back to the Instagram of 2017, 2018, where people would just post and it wouldn't be so overthought and it wouldn't be salesy and people, uh, weren't using Instagram like a billboard anymore. Be authentic. It cannot be overstated that authenticity sells. And when you show up online, stop using it as a billboard and start connecting with your audience. Start. You know, like, I was thinking about how, you know, I have a fundraiser coming up for my campaign in a week from when I'm recording this, probably after I publish this, but like, I literally, like, you know, I can keep posting my flyer and I can keep, you know, whatever dragging on about it, but I decided that, like, you know what, like, I want to talk about how flipping hard it is to fundraise as a candidate. Like, it is really hard. And maybe that'll get people out to my event, maybe that'll get some donations. But like, that to me screams authentic. And, you know, I can talk about my m. Why blah, blah, blah, like, it's my birthday, it's my birthday month. April's my birthday month. Like, we take the whole month. We take the whole month. But yeah, it's not like I cannot overstate authenticity online. People, especially coming out of the pandemic, like, people are seeking that authentic connection. They want to work with brands they connect with, that they have trust with. And you build that trust by making that connection. So show the behind the scenes. Stop over perfecting things like, let it, let it ride, man. I'm looking at my list of things and I kind of took one of these lists. But we're going to go back to rule number three, which is people know when it's AI. I kind of talked about this, but, like, unless you're an expert and can make it not sound like AI and if you need someone who can help you do that, I've got a girl. I've got a girl. Got a gal who can do that. Chrissy Rae is brilliant with AI and teaching AI to like, sound like you. Like, she does this for one of our mutual clients. But use it wisely and use it strategically, you know, like, we don't want AI to take over our, uh, brain power. Right? It's funny because I am literally an endorsement packet. Hell, all of the organizations that you want endorsements for, like, they're all, here you go. But I literally, like, it's funny because I have some like, canned responses that I customize, but I needed a little bit of help creating that canned response. And my husband, bless him, he's a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant editor. He saw me like typing into AI like, this is what I want to say. And he's like, no, he's like, you write it yourself and I will edit. Because sometimes AI is good to like clear your thoughts, right? Or to just clarify things a little bit more. So it's a tool. Use it wisely, use it strategically. I did not end up using AI for any of my endorsement package. Just FYI. I think it's fine to use it for captions if you're also adding a personal touch occasionally. Like, I will brain dump. Um, like, hey, I want to create a caption about xyz. Or I'll use like a, uh, tool that I have that helps create like a week of content. But then I customize things. Like, I always, always edit and add my personal touch. Like that doesn't quite sound like me. Like also the EM M dashes. And I know many a, uh, writer love a good EM M dash, but if they're overused, that is a surefire sign of AI. And also, like, can we please, I'm going to reiterate this. Can we please just stop with the AI graphics? They look like garbage. I said my piece. I'm going to move into some kind of business lessons. Bandwidth, uh, you have to know your bandwidth and you have to know your capacity. And they are not always the same thing. And this is one thing that I learned through a mastermind that I'm in. But like, we have our bandwidth and we have our capacity and sometimes they are not the same thing. Like I might have the, like right now. Like, I probably have the capacity for another client, but I don't have the bandwidth. I don't necessarily have the bandwidth to manage it. And so until I find an account manager, like, I mean, I wouldn't say no because my marketing assistant could probably help with the content creation or the management, one or the other, or both. But I know that my personal bandwidth, like, I am tapped out. I can do some projects, I can do some strategy sessions. I have an email marketing VIP day and I'm probably going to be doing over the summer a eight week masterclass again. But I am being super protective about that bandwidth and capacity because you have to protect your bandwidth. You have to protect your margins, you have to protect your space. Like it's not good if I'm in, you know, 40 hours of meetings a week. And, and so even, you know, I think about, and this is something that's been really important that we've been, you know, because I have my, um, my nine to five, I run my business, which is not really nine to five. Sorry, random aside, my mic stopped working, so now I need to, uh, totally pick up where I left off. Sorry about that. So this might seem a little disjointed, but owning a business is not 9 to 5. We all know that. And obviously for me, the campaign is very five to nine, but that is talking about bandwidth and capacity and all these things. So knowing where my priorities land right now is basically where I need to spend my time. And for me right now, unfortunately, like, the podcast kind of has to take a backseat. But in business and in life, you know, I've had friends tell me who run businesses like, this is not a growth season for me. This is a survival season. And I think we as business owners need to give ourselves that grace to understand the seasons of life that we are in. And when it is a growth season, when we can push ourselves a little bit harder and when we have to kind of scale back because life is life thing, we're all human. And I think sometimes we just need to give ourselves a little more grace in that respect. On that note, lesson number five is surround yourself with the right people. When I started the podcast, I named a whole bunch of people who have been instrumental in me growing my business to what it is, who are still, you know, my business is not perfect, and there is still so much to learn because I did not study entrepreneurship or business management. Surround yourself with people who are going to lift you up. Surround yourself with people who aren't just gonna, like, blow smoke up your butthole, but are going to give it to you straight. Because sometimes, like, honesty is the best advice. And when you're not doing great or when you're sucking, like, sometimes, like, your feelings are your feelings. And sometimes we just need people to reaffirm our feelings, right? So surround yourself with an amazing community. Surround yourself with people who are experts in the things that you're not experts in. I am so, so grateful to be a leading lady ambassador and to have this incredible community of badass women who are killing it in business. And, you know, sometimes we all want to burn it all down. And I gotta tell you, like, Q1, I was ready to burn it all down. Alas, I have bills to pay. I cannot burn anything down, per my husband. But business is hard. And I think any business owner will tell you that, like, there are ups, there are downs, there are highs, there are lows, there are valleys, there are peaks. And surround yourself with people who understand that and who get it and who have been there, or maybe they're coming up behind you like surround yourself with people like that. That's all that I can say is surround yourself with people who get it, who are gonna cheer you on and who are gonna let you have shitty days. You know, sometimes when we have shitty days, sometimes we just want someone to be like, hey, that really sucks. I don't need someone's apology. I don't need to someone to be like, oh, I'm so sorry. Like, no, sometimes you just need someone to like sit in the suck with you and be like, that's really shitty. I'm sorry you're going through that. Like sometimes you just need someone to say that. And I know I just kind of said the opposite, that you don't always want someone to apologize because the universe is gonna, Universe, right. Not to get all woo, woo, but I think when we think about who we surround ourselves in life and you know, I, I think about just some of the relationships that have kind of fallen by the wayside, especially as I've launched my political campaign, like people who literally told me, I'm sorry, I don't agree with you politically so I can't support you. Which kind of just begs the question, like, let's just support good people in political office, you know, like, maybe they don't need to agree with us on everything, but like, let's just support good people. Like, down with the party system. Not really, because, you know, I, um, am a lifelong Democrat. Those are my values. Like that's the party that aligns with my values. My husband was a Republican when I married him, like, whatever. But surround yourself with good people who are going to cheer you on, who are going to show up for you, who are gonna give it to you straight, but you need to be told like, shut up, you're being ridiculous. Uh, like surround yourself with the right people. And the final lesson, and this is something that I think many people will relate to, is stop underselling yourself. And to any of my fellow social media managers who are listening to this, if you have not yet raise your rates, stop underselling yourself. Social media is a hard ass, uh, job, especially when you're a freelancer, especially when you're doing it as a business. It is hard. Social media is a 247 job because it never turns off and everyone wants a lot without a big investment. So raise your rates. You are talented, you are, uh, worthy of. And if people don't see your value, and this is true of social media and anything else, if people don't see the value in what you offer, they are not Your ideal client. Your ideal client will 100% value what you have to give, value your offer. They will value your expertise. If they don't, then they're not your ideal client. And stop wasting your time marketing to them. Often in business, especially when we're new in business, like, we, we undersell ourselves because we want to catch all the clients. But you know what? Like, not every client is that ideal, um, client. So hold true to your values. Hold true to your worth. And if you don't think that you're worth it, you 100% are. So raise your rates. You are worth every dang penny. So, yeah. So on that note, those are my six amazing lessons. From engagement to community, to using AI Smart, to not underselling yourself, to knowing your bandwidth and your capacity, and to being authentic. Authenticity wins all the time, everywhere. Whether you're networking in person and marketing your business in person, or whether you are solely an online business owner, authenticity wins every single time. I've learned a lot in two years of podcasting, and, man, I'm tearing up. I'm getting all weep here. I have had the honor of working with some amazing people who have found me through the podcast and who have found so much value through everything we've done here. And we're not going away for good. It's just a pause. You can always follow me on Instagram at Heidi Schmidt Creative. Follow me. I will probably put out a blog or an email or something with my top 10 favorite most listened to podcasts. So expect that compilation coming soon. And yeah, it's, it's been a journey here over the past six years and two years of podcasting. It's been a journey. And, you know, I, as I, as I get further into this campaign, I'm like, man, what are they going to pull out of my. What are they going to pull out of my campaign? Out of my podcast chest. But, you know, we'll see. I think that this podcast has been really valuable to many a business owner and I've loved being the host. And, uh, I have a couple upcoming guest appearances on other podcasts, so y' all can listen to me at other places. How you can work with me throughout 2026 is I have my 90 minute strategy sessions. I'm offering a couple of those each month as well as my consulting packages. Those two are available and they're a little bit more structured because I found that letting it ride like the client, letting the client kind of like, I don't know, I needed a little bit more structure for my own Purposes, but, but yeah. And then coming up in the summer there will be another social media masterclass which is going to be a little bit of social media, a little bit of email and. Yeah. And then finally the other way is my email marketing setup VIP intensive. Because here's the thing, the one thing that I've learned over the past five years is that social, uh, media has become slightly less effective for most business owners. It's very much geared towards creators these days. So this is feel like they're fighting an uphill battle and you're not alone and you're not wrong. So making sure that we have owned marketing and rented marketing as I call it. Social media is rented space, we know that. So having owned marketing like you know, blogs or emails, those kind of things, spaces, platforms that you kind of own and have the rights to, those are equally as important. So anyhow, thank you all so much for listening. The past two years have been quite incredible and I look forward to coming back and like I said, like, it may come back in a different shape or form. We may rethink some things. We'll see. I've really been absolutely loving the intersection of social media and policy and politics and campaigns. So hopefully at some point the, the ride takes me back to that space where I had so much passion, you know, 20 years ago when I graduated college. So it's not farewell, but it is goodbye for now. Stay connected with me online at, ah, Heidi Schmidt Creative in all of the places you can also. And I'm, I'm gonna put this pitch out there if you wanna follow along the campaign. This is not a, this is not sponsored by my campaign. This is, you know, no authority lines. But if you wanna follow along with the journey of me as a candidate, I am being super authentic. You can follow my substack. You can. Which actually has not been updated in like two months. So don't. Maybe don't follow the substack. See life is lifing. But you can, you can follow me. I tend to be a little bit, I've been trying to be a little bit more active on TikTok and on Instagram TikTok I will link. I don't even remember my username. I think it's Eegally Heidi. And then Instagram you can follow the campaign. Heidi Schmidt, Marilyn31. Until next time, go for create amazing content that is authentic, authentic true to you and uh, true to your brand. That stops the scroll.