Charge Forward Podcast
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Charge Forward Podcast
Authenticity Wins: How Jordan Grubbs Built a Social Media Empire Through Consistency & Connection
Authenticity Wins: How Jordan Grubbs Built a Social Media Empire Through Consistency & Connection
In today’s digital world, authenticity is the ultimate currency—and no one understands that better than Jordan Grubbs, Founder & CEO of Influence Media Marketing Company.
From managing social media for Belmont University’s Center for Entrepreneurship to building a thriving agency serving small to medium-sized businesses, Jordan’s journey is a masterclass in brand growth, content strategy, and business resilience.
But that’s not all—Jordan didn’t just scale her business, she did it while navigating new motherhood. Instead of slowing down, she leaned into strategic planning, delegation, and a strong support network to continue growing her brand.
In this episode, we dive into: Why consistency beats perfection in social media marketing How authentic, in-person content creation helps brands connect & convert The shift from polished ads to real, behind-the-scenes brand storytelling Multi-part content strategies that dramatically boost engagement
Protecting your privacy (especially for your children) in an era of oversharing The realities of entrepreneurship & motherhood, and how to make both thrive
Who should listen? Business owners struggling to grow on social media Entrepreneurs looking to maximize their digital presence Social media managers & content creators needing actionable strategies Anyone balancing family, business, and personal brand growth
Tune in now and discover why showing up authentically is the key to winning in today’s digital space!
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You are the cap for whatever goes on in your store, in your company, in your district, in your household. However excited you are, what you believe is possible, whatever that threshold is. Team welcome to the Charge Forward podcast. I'm your host, jim Cripps, and I have a special guest for you today. She is a Nashville treat. She is absolutely helping businesses grow their social media content and reach out to more customers and their influence. Ms Jordan Grubbs, founder and CEO of Influence Media Marketing Company here in Nashville, tennessee.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much for having me on the podcast, Jim. I'm so excited.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Now. We've worked together a couple of times.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:We have a mutual client and I'll just go ahead and give her a shout out. Miss Valerie Kemp, she's fantastic.
Speaker 2:The best. We love Valerie.
Speaker 1:We do love Valerie and you guys just did a photo shoot and a video shoot there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we did Last month. We had to squeeze it in before tax season really took off.
Speaker 1:Well, I will just dive into the first thing first. In my opinion, it is great to see you thriving and doing great work for your clients, and you, just last year about the same time, welcomed your first child into the world.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And so many people would use that as an excuse as to why they can't continue to run their business or can't continue to serve their clients, and it's been fantastic to see how you've kind of put the pieces together in order to be able to do both and do both very well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was definitely. It was a challenge, it was a learning curve. And I'm 26 too I'm. Some people are like, oh, is that a teen mom? No, I'm 26. But yeah it was. It was definitely crazy. It was a learning curve. I'm I'm a little bit of a workaholic, so it was. My husband, hunter, and I may or may not have been sending emails in the hospital while I was in labor, but yeah, it's been. It's been a challenge, but I've grown a lot and I've finally probably at the start of this year found a good balance on both being a mom and being a business owner and still making time for my husband and myself and my hobbies. So we're in a good spot right now. So it took a minute to get there, but we're in a good spot now.
Speaker 1:I love it. Well, you know one of my past guests as well, miss Carissa Oki. So she owns a business and she's a partner in another business and she has five children and her husband is in special forces. So he is quite often um around the world, uh, defending our freedoms and, uh, you know, I love seeing not just young women but um, um parents who thrive while thriving as parents, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's definitely been. I have a really great village so I probably wouldn't have been able to do it without my village hunter's really great. He has a flexible schedule, which is helpful. Um, my parents live 30 minutes from me. They're over here in brentwood. Um, my uh, we have a nanny who comes like three days a week and my friends I'm like the first of my friend group to have a child so they're always like we can watch him whenever, whenever. So it's definitely helpful and a lot of my clients are understanding, because some clients I'm more comfortable with I'm like can he come with us to lunch? They're like, of course we want to see him and you're just a plus, I guess. So, okay, and I joke with my friends I'm like he's going to have 10 years of marketing experience by the time he's 10. Those entry-level jobs that are like 10 years experience, entry-level. He'll be like I got those 10 years, I'm ready.
Speaker 1:Well, I do think it's important in order to be able to to speak and to talk and not just be a text and that kind of thing. You know there's so many of castle, aren't you know, our sons friends, that we go to a restaurant and they can't order for themselves, and that's so foreign to me because, you know, castle was probably five when we started having him order instead of us, and so, you know, I do think it's important for people to let their kids fend for themselves and figure it out and those types of things, and taking them to meetings and them needing to act a certain way and at the same time, you know, throwing them minute, have them answer some questions as they get older. I think it's good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love it. I was always thrown into. I mean, a lot of my family is business owners and so from a very young age I was like always, you know, in the background of their store or studios and I was just there as a child and I loved it. So hopefully my son enjoys it as well.
Speaker 1:Okay, so let's go down that path just a little bit. So you've got a family of entrepreneurs, and so was it just second nature for you to own a business, or did you work for anybody to start off with, or how did that? How did that all come to play?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I, I, it was really just second nature. Entrepreneurship feels like home for me and that's why, too, I work with specifically small businesses, because that feels like home to like. I'm so used to being part of like a team, of all these things and so it's just so natural and feels like home kind of when I go to all these separate businesses and get to be part of their team. But yeah, I was born in Nashville, tennessee, and then we moved back to Paducah, kentucky, when I was two, which is where a lot of my family is, and my grandparents own a sewing machine store English is Sewing Back and my mom owned a consulting company and my um other aunt and uncle own a martial arts studio, and then my grandparents on my dad's side owned a couple of gas stations and grocery stores. So, and then there's been some failed startups well, not failed, but like businesses that have come and gone within my family too, learning opportunities learning.
Speaker 2:Learning opportunities I've had some myself. But yeah, just growing up around that, I would run around my grandparents sewing machine store and warehouse when I was in elementary school. They'd pay me to box bobbins for them up front. And I remember cleaning like the mats in the martial arts studio when I was in middle school and yeah, I just had a hand in all of their businesses and I loved it. It was so fun. It was so fun to me.
Speaker 1:Okay, and so how long have you been in business?
Speaker 2:I've been technically in business since 2019.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, so we've got year six.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, founded in 2019. I went to Belmont University for marketing and entrepreneurship and they have one of the best entrepreneurship I think it's the top 25 entrepreneurship programs in the country and so their program is really cool because their classes are designed to be a launch pad for your company. So during my classes, I worked on influence and founded in 2019, graduated in 2020, and it was able to set me up for success. So I could just be like oh, here I am, we have everything ready, let's go.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, oddly enough and I don't know if you've heard of this or not but Williamson County has the EIC, which is the Entrepreneur and Innovation Center.
Speaker 2:Oh cool.
Speaker 1:In fact, obviously not while this is airing, but in real time Jeremy Qualls his episode. It ended up being two parts, so the first part aired last Thursday and the second part's airing this Thursday, and they're doing the same thing for high school.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love that so much them like.
Speaker 1:So the program is only six years old, um, but last year they won the national championship, which is like the best business presentation and you know business that is that is launching and that young man is already, uh, doing big things. In fact, his largest client, I think, is in italy or somewhere.
Speaker 2:Oh, my gosh yeah that's so cool. I love that so much. I would have been so into that. I did end up graduating from Ravenwood. We moved back in 2015. So I graduated in Williamson County and I'm sure they work with Ravenwood if they're in Williamson County Great school. But that's super awesome. I'll have to look into that because I love that so much.
Speaker 1:Well, and they're always looking for mentors, so that would I mean yeah great, great space for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely I'll have to reach out to them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely Well, in your brand and in your business. Who is your ideal client?
Speaker 2:What does it? What does that look like for you? My ideal client is small to medium sized. Small to medium sized service-based businesses around the middle Tennessee area. I work with a couple of remote clients. I love the remote clients I work with. It's not my favorite to do remote work. I like to have my hand in the process, from ideation to creation to posting it online, and so having them in the Middle Tennessee area, which is where I'm from, um, allows me to go physically to their business once a month or however often in our contract, and I get to take their content, I take their video, I take their photos, um, I talk with them in person to build the relationship and I get to like really get to know their business and their personalities, and knowing all of that helps me present them online way better than I would be able to a remote client.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Well, and you can see that in the content. And then, what do they typically come to you for?
Speaker 2:Normally they start with social media. So my most popular package is three times per week we post on Instagram and Facebook and the repurpose on to like TikTok, pinterest, youtube, all all the platforms, and then from there because a lot of small businesses typically don't have their own marketing team from there they also are like oh, do you do websites, do you do newsletters, do you do blogs, do you do Google ads, do you do Facebook ads? So from the social media seed I've expanded a little bit. So now we do websites and ads and copywriting and things like that.
Speaker 2:Um but social media is normally what they come first for, and then they end up needing more services.
Speaker 1:So we've expanded from there. That's cool. That's cool, yeah, and so what is it? What would you say is your best success story with growing somebody's social media?
Speaker 2:So my best. I can't take cut at all by myself because she, this person, is really hardworking and ambitious, but I did have a hand in her success. She was kind of my first client who wasn't from here. She's actually a remote client, contrary to what I said, that I do, but her name is Nicole Heal. She just got married, so that's not her last name anymore and I work with her as a consultant now.
Speaker 2:But I helped her first grow her TikTok from zero to 1,500. And then she had like one viral video. I was doing just some editing for her and consulting so I wasn't like fully, I mean she's very ambitious and she, she would post and stuff. So I consulted her. I was like, okay, I, you have one viral video, let's, uh, double down on this, let's post, let's keep the consistency going, because once you kind of get one viral video and if you're able to keep that up, you'll grow really fast. And so I was just kind of helping her, giving her the ideas, consulting her.
Speaker 2:She also had a team and she actually grew so big that she was like, hey, like I think I'm gonna have to go with another marketing agency because I I mean as a freelancer, as a smaller agency. I have my hand in a lot of different businesses so I couldn't like give my full attention there. Um, so I was like no girl, like go you, I'll be here for the little projects and stuff and I still help her out with like I repurpose her stuff on the um, youtube and, uh, pinterest and stuff like that. But yeah, she, she killed it but seriously can't take credit for it all because it it takes the like a really awesome and determined, ambitious client to do that too, because, especially since she was remote, she was posting like the multiple times a day that she needed to post and and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:So yeah, and do you see, is there? Is there? Is there such thing as posting too much, or what is what is ideal, or is it? Is it specific to each business?
Speaker 2:Um, it's definitely specific to each business. I would say the most you can post, where quality meets consistency is going to be the best. So if you can post, it doesn't have to be like the most polished commercial ready video. But if you can post three times a day and that is quality content, you're going to grow faster than somebody who posts like once a week. But it's got to meet that. Like you can't just put up dumb stuff just for the heck of it, like it does kind of need to have a little bit of a strategy behind it at least. But yeah, it's different for everybody. But the more you can post consistently that is some sort of a quality You're going to see faster growth than others who aren't posting as often.
Speaker 1:Cool, cool. And one of the fun things that we're going to do here later in the show is you're going to take a look at mine and just tear me to shreds. Tell me what I'm doing, right. Tell me what I'm doing wrong. If I'm doing anything right, okay, I may not be doing anything right. You never know.
Speaker 2:No pressure.
Speaker 1:Right. So what do you think? I mean? Obviously, growing up with a background with your parents and grandparents and most of your family owning businesses, it was a pretty easy transition for you. Where was the moment where you're like you know what I'm doing the right thing, I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.
Speaker 2:Um, there's been a couple of those moments Cause in in college I actually went to school to be a musician.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we started down a different path.
Speaker 2:We started out as Everyone Does it Balmont, music business and I discovered that I liked that as a hobby more than a career path, and so I switched to entrepreneurship and I had it in my mind. I was like coffee shop, I'm going to open a coffee shop. And I actually had an opportunity to franchise a coffee shop that originated out of paducah I don't want to say any names, I don't know but he was like you know, it'd be really cool if you franchise this to noshville. But we didn't see eye to eye on.
Speaker 2:He was like entrepreneurs don't have to finish college, like you don't have to go to college to be an entrepreneur and so I kind of like left that behind. And then I was the student assistant for the center of entrepreneurship. So I was, uh, I got that job. I applied, I got the job. It was so fun, I get to sit in the office with the director and, uh, I ran the social media and I ran the blog and I ran the website.
Speaker 2:And that was my first like real taste of like doing that as a job and I loved it. I loved it so much and I loved being in there with the professors because I'd know I'd know all the tea that was going on, like they'd come and like talk to things about the like stuff going on to the director, and then they'd look at me, be like this isn't repeated, this isn't repeated. I'm like my mouth. I'm like my mouth is sealed, my lips are shut. But it was so fun because I got to have like a really awesome relationship with the professors and I still keep in contact with them to this day. My friends were almost in the entrepreneurship program too. We were little teacher's pets, but that's okay. We all still stay in contact with our entrepreneurship professors and it was. It was so much fun, but from there I um in college. You do a lot of odd jobs um, so I was also a disney princess at birthday parties okay um, and one of those gigs was a mermaid at this wedding venue, the the Estate at Cherokee Dock.
Speaker 2:So I went Gorgeous place Gorgeous, loved it so much I was just a mermaid sitting in the guitar shake pool. The Estate at Cherokee Dock is Reba McIntyre's old house.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And so I followed them on social media and then, like, they immediately posted a week later, we're looking for a social media manager. And I was like I'm going to shoot my shot. And so I applied, sent them my resume. They said come interview. I was hired on the spot. And that is when I really like because at the Center for Entrepreneurship I did things other than social media. That was just my favorite thing to do. Like I helped manage the student run businesses, and you know there's like paperwork and plan events. But this I the student run businesses, and you know there's like paperwork and plan events. But this I was specifically posting on social media. Sure, it was so much fun, it was so much fun. And that's when I was like, okay, I want to do this, this is what I want to do full time, this is my, my passion. So that's kind of where the love for social media bloomed okay, and so did you work for them, or had that.
Speaker 1:At that point were you a business already and they hired you as a business, or how did that work?
Speaker 2:I worked for them. So I think they hired me in 2017 or 2018 and I was their intern under their payroll and I did social media since I was still in college. I went there like once or twice a week and I got to go to these really cool weddings and they actually put on Hunter and I's wedding as marketing in 2020, which was crazy. And then in 2021, I was starting to get some of like my own clients and they knew what I was doing In November 2021, trying to get the years right they sold um to a larger wedding venue company and then from there I was like, okay, this is my sign Cause I got offered a job with that company, but I was like, no, I think it's time to take influence full time. So I took it full time in 2021.
Speaker 1:That's cool, yeah Well, and I think I think some people they struggle with that jumping off point and so it's great that they obviously their situation changed a little bit. So it gave you a clear decision point for hey, do I go in full on with influence or do I keep a W-2 and continue to grow it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was kind of hard because I mean, influence obviously wasn't full-time yet and so I had some conversations with Hunter and my family and I was like I think it's a sign, I think it's time. But I do miss the Cherokee Doc days because there was like seven or eight of us on the marketing team and we were like a family, we were so close-knit. Two of them still work for me now for this day um, stephen and Kelly. They're two of my contractors but they joke they're like we work for Jordan now. Like sorry guys, um, but yeah, it was a good.
Speaker 2:I'm really bad at being like, um, I don't know, I'm bad at those conversations. So I'm kind of happy that it happened for me where I left, like because they were selling and not because I was just like leaving, because truly it would have broken, because I was just like leaving, because truly it would have broken my heart if I like left and I saw somebody else take my place on the team and like I know it would have been the right decision but it would have broken my heart. So it worked out very well.
Speaker 1:I totally understand that. I think a lot of people get caught in that and I don't want to call it a trap, but it is to some extent in that you feel a certain way about the people that you work with and the team and all those things, to the point where people will often not leave because they don't want to leave their team members behind and that type of thing. In fact, I built a team here in Nashville and I worked there 4,321 days and I grew a team of a little over 500 people and probably the whole last year that I was there. I was there for the team, not necessarily for any other reason, it's just I had hired every single one of them and I didn't want to leave them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's hard, it's really hard, and if you're someone, too, who just gets attached to your little family, it's like moving on or change. Charging forward can be difficult.
Speaker 1:It absolutely can, and that's where a lot of people get caught up. One of the themes in the Charge Forward podcast is people who default to charging forward where other people would give up. And so what's something, maybe an unexpected challenge that you've hit in your path that, um, maybe seemed insurmountable at the at the at that moment, but you definitely worked your way through.
Speaker 2:Um, uh, mother, that was like, don't get me wrong, I knew having a child would be like um, a lot, but I don't think you know, until you get into it, like how much of your time like I look back and I'm just how was I ever busy? How did I ever think that I was busy pre-child? Because I get way more done now than I've ever gotten done and I thought I was the busiest person in the world before I had my son. And now I'm like, oh honey, you don't, you didn't even know what was coming your way. So that was, that was a lot.
Speaker 2:Um, hunter and I, our child was a little bit of a surprise. Like we were open to the idea but weren't like expecting it to happen so quickly and uh, so we kind of were joking about it and we like our relationship is very we joke, we pull pranks on each other, we're we're very much like unserious, like we can be serious when we need to be, but we're unserious. And so I actually took the pregnancy test as like a break because I didn't feel well and Hunter's like you're not pregnant, you're not pregnant. I'm like actually actually. So I gave him the test. He thought he was like are you joking? I was like no sir. No sir, I'm not. We were like, oh man. So I think that kind of was like oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:And so, leading up to having our child since I mostly work for myself, I have a couple contractors I work with I had to like be oh shoot, I don't get a maternity leave as a business owner. All of these companies are relying on me for their social media. And so, leading up to giving birth, I was working with companies. There was my biggest client ever. Um, I was so excited to sign them and they were kind of we're not with them anymore. They were kind of a lot, um to deal with. But, um, I was working like double. I was like, okay, you have an allotted amount of hours per month where I do content shoots. We doubled up before um, I knew I was gonna give birth so I could have like two or three months to recover. And uh, I scheduled everybody's content out like in advance.
Speaker 2:Um, and then when I went into labor, they knew this particular company was why I was sending emails while I was in the hospital with my epidural. I was like, um, please review this. And uh, so I was like, okay, we got it, we worked ahead, we're good. And then, um, once I brought my son home, they were like, um, we're pivoting and we're letting go of all of our contractors didn't have a contract with them.
Speaker 2:Because I liked the person, I thought I could trust them, and so, not only did I have like this newborn that I was trying to like hold my company together, they were this is my biggest client, like almost all my eggs in one basket, like 60% of my income at the time. They were like, yeah, we let go of all of our contractors, sorry. And so all the work I had done to work ahead didn't matter because I didn't have a contract and so that was, that was a doozy, but it was a lesson learned and it ended up being a really big blessing because they took the majority of my time and so I got to spend that with my son. I got to spend like four or five months Like I still had my other. I had like maybe four or five smaller clients and I had work I could do, but it was, it was a blessing in disguise and a good lesson learned.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know I liken contracts very similar to being a landlord and you know, one of the tough lessons that I learned was, uh, be a little bit more firm in the beginning and then you can.
Speaker 1:You can ease up if need be, but don't be a pushover in the beginning because then it's just going to set a bad tone for going forward. And so having those contracts, getting the details ironed out up front, is a big deal. And you know, obviously because we both work with Valerie, I saw what you were doing there getting kind of set up, making sure that you had content ahead of time so that none of your clients were missing content during you being out and adjusting to being a new mother. So, as an outsider looking in, I think you did a great job of kind of teeing that up and making sure that their content was continuing. Obviously, you had to plan a little bit ahead. They had to come in, let's do some shoots and bring some extra clothes so that this looks like it was, you know, filmed in real time. But I think it worked really well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was so glad to hear that because behind the scenes I was like what am I doing? Am I doing what I need to be doing to keep like it was? It was very scary because I was like I'm the type of person who's like, okay, I'm sure I'm going to lose everybody, I'm going to lose all my contacts, my clients. But no, I'm very glad to hear that because I tried very, very hard on that.
Speaker 1:I think it's the old analogy of the duck on the pond. I don't know if you know this one or not. So a duck looks like it's just gliding along, but underneath the water it is feverishly paddling. So there's all kinds of things going on, but you see the calm on top of the water, and so I think you did that very well.
Speaker 2:Yay, thank you. And that wasn't only either my support system. My mom I joke, my mom's a project manager and, being raised by a project manager, you are very organized, and so she definitely helped so much. She was like okay, here's the project plan, here's the due dates, here's what we're going to get done. We had a project plan for influence. We had a project plan for my life, like everything that needed to be done at the house, everything I needed to get all the showers and all the content and the content shoots and the hours I needed to make sure I was taking care of for my clients and what. Yeah, so she was my lifeline during that, because having a person looking in from the outside when you kind of are drowning from the inside was very helpful. My mom is great.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic. Well, so, along those same lines, who would you say other than your mom has been a great mentor along the way?
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, my granddad, Keith English. He might just be my favorite person in the world. It's the person I look up to most. He went through a lot of hardships when he was younger, but he's an entrepreneur. He's very much into self-help. He met Zig Ziglar and he does awesome right, is that not so cool?
Speaker 2:um, and he does his morning affirmations and he's probably like the most generous and kind and hard-working person I know, and he, oh my gosh, he loves our family so much. That's my mom's dad and, uh, I don't know, he just sets a great example for what I want to be in life. And, uh, he gave me his collection of self-help books, which there's six of us grandkids and, um, we all, like about half of us, own our own businesses okay and I, it's just all him.
Speaker 2:he's the one who inspired us to do that and he's so awesome. I look up to him a lot. He's also the busiest busybody you've ever met Like he's 80. I think for his 70 or 75th birthday he took a video of him like jumping from the floor onto a three-foot stool. We're like that's cool that you can do that, but please don't. But he's awesome. He never wants to sit down. He's still. He's awesome. He never wants to sit down. He's still. He's still doing his thing and, um, yeah, I look up to him so much.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic, um, you know. So Nick Heider, who owns this studio, so his dad, uh, mickey Mickey just turned 75 and kind of in those in that same spirit. So for his 75th birthday he did 75 pushups, you know. And so something definitely to be said for staying not just mentally sharp but physically sharp as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's awesome, my husband Hunter. He's an ER nurse and so every time he sees a grand we call him granddaddy. Like granddaddy standing on a counter to put a light bulb on, he's like he's on blood splinters. He just don't need to be up there. That's a tier two trauma. Like he's okay. He did have a stroke last year but he powered through. No deficits, zero, okay.
Speaker 1:So tell me a little more about him. So what does his routine look like? What is he doing in order to be sharp and fit and powering through a stroke at 80 years old?
Speaker 2:He doesn't slow down. So he my great grandparents opened English's sewing back and then he owned it. And then now it's like transitioning to my mom's brother, Joel English, and his wife Cassie, so three generations. And he gets up, he does his affirmations every morning, he looks in the mirror and I can't remember all of it, but he has it memorized. He looks in the mirror, he's like I'm Keith English, I'm kind, I'm generous, I love God, I do this, that and the other. And he just reminds himself in the morning. I mean he's a little more tired now after his stroke, but the man doesn't slow down. He fixes the sewing machines. He goes to my aunt and uncle have like a kind of a farm situation. He goes, fixes stuff in their barn, fixes the light bulbs, does this, that and the other. I mean the man doesn't slow down, he hasn't slowed down. So I think he's just strong. Will just keeps him going.
Speaker 1:I love that. Actually, my last guest that was sitting in that same seat is Larry Schmidto, and you may not know who Larry is, so Larry used to own the Sounds. And he's actually the reason the Nashville Sounds came here. It was him and Conway Twitty and Jerry Reed are really the three that put it all together to bring the sounds here, because Larry was the baseball coach for Vanderbilt.
Speaker 2:Oh cool.
Speaker 1:And so Larry's 84 years old, still goes to work six days a week. He did admit it may only be five or six hours a day, but I've had so many friends that retired and then passed away because they didn't have anything to do or they weren't, they didn't have purpose. And so I think having purpose and just continuing is how people live a long and in a lot of ways, a long and happy life.
Speaker 2:Definitely.
Speaker 1:What would you say other than the affirmations that we talked about, other than the affirmations that we talked about? What if you had to take one thing that your grandfather does and say that is something that inspires me, or that's something that I'm going to add, or I have added? What would you if you had to distill that down to one thing? What would it be?
Speaker 2:I'd say the constant learning like. He's always reading the self-help books like in his collection. He's the reason I read, like thinking, reading these self-help books like in his collection he's the reason I read like Think and Grow Rich and all that kind of stuff. So just just the learning aspect. I mean he's probably slowed down a little bit because he is 80, but he still has those books like right next to his lazy boy and, uh, he reads them and he gets inspired and he likes them and he has his hobbies too. He uh, um, he has a garage out behind the sewing machine store and that's where the vintage cars are. We call it the car museum, and so he'll, he'll drive around the little block and re-lend and peruca with his like hot rods and he likes that too. But yeah, definitely just the learning continuing to yourself, being open to bettering yourself.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's awesome. Any idea what kind of hot rods he has?
Speaker 2:Oh, I could not tell you. I can show you pictures after this, but they're cool, I don't know that much about cars.
Speaker 1:Well, we may have to introduce your granddad to my dad.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Because dad has 14 bays these days and they're full.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow.
Speaker 1:In fact, mom said you know, unless you build another building.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're done.
Speaker 1:You're done buying cars at the moment, but that's fun. We have to have our hobbies, yeah you have to have an outlet.
Speaker 2:That's something that's really important.
Speaker 1:That thing that keeps us inspired Absolutely. So what are you looking forward to the most Like? What's the next thing for, uh, influence?
Speaker 2:or the next thing for you that you're like, oh my gosh, I can't wait to fill in the blank well, that's kind of tough because I've been trying to grow my business and I have and I have like a lot of inquiries, which is great, and I've had to like almost turn people away I have a lot of inquiries right now, which is which is such've had to like almost turn people away. I have a lot of inquiries right now, which is which is such a great problem to have. So it's been kind of like for the next five years I'm kind of just trying to grow slow because Hunter and I do want more children and we kind of want them not back to back to back, but like we want them within a decent age range of each other. So, knowing what I know now about how I'm balancing business and mom life, I'm like I can't really, if I still want to have a really good hand in my business and be successful and be able to give my clients what I need, I kind of have to hold steady for a while, um, while we, um, you know, have our family too, um, but eventually I would like to kind of grow into an agency. I have some contractors who are in college and I'd love to get to the point where I could hire Kylie and Kylie. Both of them I love them so much.
Speaker 2:But I've tried to grow in the past and then I've like hit this point and then I like go back, like like this it's, it's really hard to jump from like just myself and these contractors to having another full-time person and I'm trying to navigate that too, especially while being a mom, because I don't know it's, it's hard, it's hard. So I'm trying to that's the goal to be a bigger agency, to grow. But at the same time I like having my hand in things Like I like being involved with all my clients, so kind of kind of figuring that out. But this is kind of on a smaller scale. This is my year of side quest. I want to do things. I want to like I have had my main quest. I have my business, I have my baby, I have my family. I want to just say yes to some things and experience and learn, and if they're silly, that's fine. But that's kind of what I'm doing this year because my business and baby's kind of balanced right now.
Speaker 2:Knock on wood, knock on wood.
Speaker 1:So, when you say a side quest, what is something that's got you excited about saying yes to?
Speaker 2:um, hunter and I we're. We want to write a children's book. That's one of them. I think we're gonna start with the abcs of the er. Um, even though we're both very different career wise, we're like-minded and that we're very hardworking and ambitious and we just like to say yes for things a lot of times, just for the bit, like we love something that's like oh okay, right on. So I think that's going to be super fun. We owned a hat company one time. We don't own that anymore Owned a what A hat company.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, that didn't work out.
Speaker 1:We learned some things it was a lesson.
Speaker 2:It was a lesson. So other things I think we want to Amazon print on a man. You could do so much. We kind of want to do like some funny t-shirts here and there. We're trying to like we're in a competition on who can learn Spanish the fastest. Right now he's winning, he gets to practice at work, but just things like that, things that I find that are going to push us forward but aren't necessarily like contributing to our main path in a direct line, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:All right, yeah, remind me, I need to introduce you to Carissa Beal. Her last name's changed to Murray now, okay, and so I think I won't say her son's name. I think he's about a year older than now. Okay, and so I think I won't say her son's name. I think he's about a year older than yours, okay, and she wrote a children's Christmas book.
Speaker 2:Oh cool.
Speaker 1:I think it's the Christmas Cookie Miracle, and so the cookies come to life.
Speaker 2:Oh cute, and so it's a fun book.
Speaker 1:She did get it printed and I think there's some things in the works for it to possibly become a cartoon. Oh, how fun, yeah. So I need to connect y'all because I think y'all would have a lot in common.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Well. So when you sit down with a new client, what are some common mistakes? What are some of the things that you see that people do that you know they have good intentions, but maybe it's just not the right path, and it's one of the first things that you end up cleaning up.
Speaker 2:A lot of the time, businesses kind of like combine their personal accounts and there's an extent like I do want my client to be online, I want the personality to be online, I want the, the client, their target market, to know, like and trust them to build. But it's to an extent like I've I've seen accounts where it's like oh, the product, the product, the product, a random like family photo at the beach, product, like it's got to be done in a good way, and so I think I see that a lot of the time it just the intentions there. It just needs to be cleaned up a little bit. Okay and uh, consistency, that is the main thing. I I Consistency is the number one most important thing.
Speaker 2:If you want to grow on social media, quality is important, yes, but if you're not posting, you're not growing. I mean simple as that and I mean that's why they're calling me in. They want to be consistent online, but I see that a lot Like it's hard to do. If you're a business owner Like I get it it's hard to post on social media. Consistency and that's consistently and that's why you bring in outside help.
Speaker 1:And I see the same thing in podcasting. You know one of the first things that Nick and I talked about just right out of the gate. He said if you're going to be successful in podcasting you have to post, like there has to be an episode every single week without fail, and those that don't are never going to really be successful with their content. And you know some of the other podcasts out there that really kind of preach the same thing.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you've ever watched Diary of a CEO. It's a great podcast and you know they make millions on their podcast. So you know that's one of the one of these days, that's the goal. But, um, they were in the same boat. They, it was just a toy until they committed to doing it every week and um. So I think the same thing with social media is, and it can be challenging, as as a business owner myself, Um, it can be challenging, as, as a business owner myself, um I can tell you you're, you're gonna, you're gonna rip me to shreds when you see, I see my, uh, my account.
Speaker 1:It's probably not as bad as you think. Oh, I don't know, I don't know, Um, but it's. It's gotta be something you're committed to if you're actually going to use it as a tool.
Speaker 2:Yes, and so often I see people like searching online, like how to go on social media, and they roll their eyes when they hear consistency. But that is the number one thing. If you cannot get that down, you have no business trying to learn these expert level tips because you're not going to use them. You have to be consistent online. And if you can't be consistent but you need the social media in life, that's where outside help comes in, that's where a freelancer, that's where an agency, that's where hiring somebody comes in. Oh, and another mistake I see if you're a brick and mortar business and don't have your, at least the city you're in in your bio. That always throws me off too, because I all the time I'm scrolling I'm like, oh, this looks like a cool place. I wonder where they are. Click, don't see it, don't follow because I don't know. So, having your, if you're brick and mortar and rely on local business, foot traffic, or you're like a photographer wanting, like Nashville, clients, have your service area in your bio on social media, somewhere easily seen, easily accessible.
Speaker 1:That's a great tip. That's a great tip. What is something else that you see is just overlooked?
Speaker 2:That's a great tip.
Speaker 1:That's a great tip. What is something else that you see is just overlooked?
Speaker 2:Um, it's really easy to let me think real quick. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:I'm trying not to do like three minutes.
Speaker 2:Um, I think what's overlooked is trying to be too polished online. There was a time a couple of years ago where being the most aesthetic and the most beautiful and having the most beautifully curated feed was like the thing to do, and I think a lot of people are still stuck in that and that's the reason they don't post, because, oh their thing, their content isn't perfect enough, their feed's not beautiful enough. We're kind of turning away from that. The consumer is tired of this over commercialized content and they're wanting to see real people, real faces. That's why I encourage all my clients to show their face online because, yeah, your product or service could be really cool, but your client also wants to know you. They want to know who they're going to see when they walk into your business. They want to know your story. They want something they can get behind. And two, that's why series. I think I told you this on the phone the other day.
Speaker 2:Series right now are so important Multi-part series, something that is a story they can get behind, that a consumer can follow and follow for more and learn something that's valuable. It could be a 20-part series of renovating your home. It could be a 10 part series on how to start a business. It could be a five part series on what you need to bring to your tax appointment. Like series that people can follow to come back to, are really important right now because we're kind of transitioning.
Speaker 2:It used to be really easy to get likes and saves and stuff online on instagram, but now I've noticed even some of these big accounts hardly even have hundreds of likes and they'll have like 54,000 followers and it's because people are just becoming watchers online. They're becoming watchers and scrolling and they're not interacting. So, having a reason for them to click that follow button or click that like button with a story they might not initially love it, but the want of wanting to watch the part two of that series outweighs the mental like the, the action of you liking or following sorry, and so they'll follow along because of the series.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:People want they follow some. They follow you to get something from you Like it has to be educational, it has to be entertaining, it has to be valuable. They're following because they want something from you, Like it's gotta be a an exchange.
Speaker 1:It does have to be an exchange and you know, that's that's one of the reasons that I started the podcast is there's so many amazing people that we, we sit next to on the bus or that we pass in a restaurant, or, uh, you know, our kids go to the same school and you don't know how amazing that person is. Um, until you know. And so the goal of the charge forward podcast is to introduce people to other amazing people. And so you know with you point blank, like it's what, what amazing things you were doing, and that you see people doing. And so you know with you point blank, like it's what, what amazing things you were doing, and that you see people doing with their social media so that they can take just I look at it like Legos. They can take this Lego that they got from Jordan and they can put it into their pile. And what can they do with that? What can they build on? How can they turn it into something amazing?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yeah, it's all in Nashvilleville too. I think is so great about networking, at least in my experience for most industries. There's specific industries where people are kind of like nah, but for the most part at least like especially, you know, and you and your networking community, like you've always been like super helpful and excited for ideas and I feel like most of the people I've talked to in the small business world are excited and want these ideas and want to help other businesses grow and I love that. It's a great way to thrive when everybody is kind of helping each other and connecting each other.
Speaker 1:Well, I think it also comes with maturity and confidence. People that manage out of fear want to hold their secrets right out of fear want to hold their secrets right. And then you have people that are confident enough in their ability and the things that they do that they're willing to give away their best practices. I think of Elon Musk just sharing the patents from Tesla and saying if you can do it better than me, do it, use what I have. Or Volvo, however, many years ago, that gave away the three point uh seatbelt, so that it was like no, we're going to help people be safer around the world. Um, take it, use it, let's, you know, let's help save people together.
Speaker 1:Kind of the same thing in business. It's like hey, I'm I'm more than willing to give my my best trick out there and at the same time, if you will too, we'll both be better. So it's, it's fun, and I think that's where you know one reason that you're doing so well is because you were in a program that really set you up for that, that had that collaboration. Obviously, you set yourself up to win by, by really kind of going hey, I want to, I want to be a part of this while I'm in college. I want to be an integral part of all the things in the entrepreneur program and that probably helped launch you into this faster.
Speaker 2:A hundred percent Charging forward. That's the hardest part. Taking the first step is the goal, and I think that's it's the hardest part, but everything else is going to be easier after you finally take the leap, take the step, and so Hunter and I are both pretty good about saying yes, even if it's out of our comfort zone. So I think that part of our personality has really helped drive my business forward and drive our learning endeavors forward.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you said you're both learning Spanish. Now, is there for a purpose? Are you all doing a trip, or is it just a random side challenge?
Speaker 2:We're both like really competitive and so he has a lot of Spanish speaking people he deals with in the ER yeah, er and his new gig that he is doing a lot of like a lot of patients are spanish speaking and so he was starting to learn it, like in duolingo, just because, uh, he needed to, and then he would be talking to me in spanish and I'm like I can't understand you, and he loved that we were trying to clean. He was like donde is sw? I'm like it's in the closet. You literally know it's in the closet. Go get it so kind of out of like you're not going to beat me. I also took it upon myself to start learning.
Speaker 2:That's how a lot of things happen. We're a little competitive in the best way. We're like we're going to make each other better, like that.
Speaker 1:I like it. That's fun, All right. So if you will on your phone there, take a look at mine, so, on most of the things it's Charge Forward Podcast.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And don't hold back.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And so team, I will go ahead and say that I make some of the mistakes that she's already talked about.
Speaker 2:It's okay. Being perfect kills the ability to be consistent. I tell my clients all the time it could be perfect, but you're never going to post it. Good and posted is better than perfect and just sitting there you have to take imperfect action. Um, the first thing I'm seeing is it would be really great if you added some titles. So I'm seeing all these videos from your podcast. But if you kind of had like so I know there's a title probably in your caption, but if, even if you just type it in chat gpt or upload the transcript to chat gpt, you can have like the hook, be on the screen, like five tips on starting a business, so that way when people go in um and scroll on your reels, they can. It's not just a bunch of faces, they're like oh, this particular topic pertains to me, I'm gonna click on it okay um, something that's super helpful is bingeable content, and this content probably is binge like.
Speaker 2:Like you know, when you binge a show on netflix, there's people who like find a social media platform and they're like oh, I love this person. And they like scroll through all their videos. You, you want that, but having somewhere, like if I was just looking at this, I wouldn't know what video to click on, like, like what, what is this giving me? So if you had titles on on the actual screen, like a cover with the title, that would, I think, help you a ton.
Speaker 2:Let's see how we feeling about consistency. Okay, okay, do you try to post like three, three times a week?
Speaker 1:Yes, I mean I would love to post more than that, uh, but it usually ends up uh, uh. It's usually a couple clips from the podcast, um, as you can tell, probably a couple things that are more personal. So I'm kind of muddying the waters between the personal and the business, or the podcast and personal page which is fine, as if you do it with intention, that's totally fine.
Speaker 2:But it is like I'm not going to tell you not to post things. But it can be confusing when people are used to like all this podcast content and then they get like a basketball video and they're like what? So if you tie it in, that's totally fine, but it can be confusing to some people who follow you. Stories are really important stories, you know, like instagram stories he's taken an instagram story before.
Speaker 2:I always tell my clients because that's one thing I can't always help clients with because I'm not there on the day-to-day. I'm like you can send me stuff to post, but like stories don't have to be as curated as the the feed content. So just I tell them like, post, or literally set a timer on your phone three times a day, one time in the morning, one time in the afternoon, one time in the evening when that story goes off or when that timer goes off, just post a story, just post what you're doing. It helps you connect with your audience a little bit more, because people do watch stories and it helps them kind of be like oh there's Jim, he's filming a podcast. Oh there's Jim, he's filming a podcast.
Speaker 1:Oh, there's Jim. He's doing some CrossFit, so it kind of just helps keep you top of mind without having to post like super polished content. Okay so and I will tell you that I struggle with Instagram. So, because I struggle with this answer, please tell me the difference between a story, a reel, a post, because it is blurry to me.
Speaker 2:I got you, I got you. So stories are what shows up Right here, you know, when there's like a circle, these are stories. Oh, let me go back to my account. I have a million accounts I'm logged into, so everything up here.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:A story. We can take a story right now. All right, do you want?
Speaker 1:to yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Okay, smile, I'll tag you All right. So that's a story that is super quick content. Charge tag you so that's a story that is super quick content. Charge forward podcast. There we go. That's a story. It's super quick, super informal content, and so then a reel is a type of post. So this is, this is your feed, and this can be static photos, it can be carousels, which are the multi posts that you have to swipe through, or it can be a reel, which are the videos.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And so reels typically do show up in your feed and you'll know it's a reel because you have this like little little Tells you that it's a video. Yeah, whatever those action things are yeah um, that'll be in the corner if it's a reel, and then you have your own reels feed. If, like somebody just wanted to go watch videos, this are. These are just reels, and if you don't like how a reel looks in your feed, you can click these little buttons and say remove from profile grid.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So those reels, photos and carousels are all in feed post and then these little things are highlights. So a story only lasts 24 hours.
Speaker 1:Unless you highlight it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, unless you highlight it, and these are really good if you have like client FAQs, if you have behind the scenes and you're like this is great. I don't want this content to just last for 24 hours, then you can put it in here.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And for service-based businesses. I think it's a good idea to. If you're comfortable posting your prices online I think it's always good to have like your prices and services, like appear or like frequently asked questions or anything like that. And then, since you are doing a podcast, since you have this long form content, I would recommend posting every day. I know I know that's a lot, but just because you have the content and you get new content weekly, you have it. You might as well post it. Um. There's a great platform called sub magic. Post it um. There's a great platform called sub magic. I think it's sub magicco. There's a monthly fee, but you can literally put a 30 second clip on there. It'll make those like animated closed captions for you right and that's super helpful.
Speaker 2:That has really helped cut down my editing time and you can go in and edit if it gets words wrong or anything, and then you can download the transcript, upload it to chat gbt and then ask it to come up with your title based on the transcript or anything like that. Um, like the little title we talked about putting on the like what the video is talking about so people know to click on it. Sure, um, that's a huge time-saving hack, but since you have the content, posting once a day would be very helpful. Okay, and cross like all the platforms youtube shorts, even though you do post like the long form on do youtube shorts, do tiktok, do instagram, do facebook? Um, anywhere you can put your content is going to be helpful. It's going to be another pair of eyes on your content.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's great. You know, one of the things that uh I tell um clients is that are in businesses where this can happen. So had I had a conversation with uh a client a few months ago and they are, they're in construction demolition and they are they're in construction demolition and I said, you know, do a time lapse of the demolition and then the cleanup, and then the construction and the cleanup and the finished product. Because there's plenty of people out there that say they do things. If you put a time lapse up there of you doing it, you're proving to everybody that not only do I say I do this, I actually do this.
Speaker 2:And that's powerful, because people you've instantly gained some trust out of what may be a 30 second or 60 second video. Yeah, putting that online is great, and a time lapse too, a it's satisfying, so that can be entertaining content. And then you can take that and break it up, put a trending sound behind it and put like a fun, inspirational quote about what you do for your company on there. That's another video. Put it as a background on your website to draw in a like there's so much you can do with one piece of content. You can splice it up into so many other ways. You you can take screenshots of the time lapse, of the different things that are happening and turn it into a carousel, Like turning one piece of content.
Speaker 2:That one piece of content doesn't have to stay one piece of content. That piece of content can turn into 10 pieces of content. And if you're trying to post every day 10 pieces of content, that's 10 of your 30 you were trying to post for the month. So I think a lot of people overthink it. But once you get past that initial like ah, I don't want to be online and once you get past it having to be perfect, then the content can come really easily.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I see people on both sides of the spectrum, even just here at the podcast. Uh, not too long ago I had a guest that uh actually caused me to create a rule going forward, and so this person did not, um, have their person personal profile attached to anything on their business. And, uh, when I went to post the content, uh, I said and when I went to post the content, I said, well, you know, I don't know that I would tag myself. And I said why I said otherwise. I could recreate your website and put it up as if I did all that work and nobody would be any of the wiser. Or, you know, is that how you created your website? Or you know, is that how you created?
Speaker 1:your website, you know if you're not standing behind your product, if you're not part of your business, then I mean it might have been created with AI.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's really important to stand behind your business because if people don't know it's you on social media, then they're going to go somewhere else. Like it's so important for that human connection online. So and that is a red flag like you don't know, like they could be just embarrassed that they own a business and like that's out of their comfort zone for them. But like how's that business gonna grow if they're not willing to step out of their comfort zone? I still cringe. I still cringe to this day. I'm most, uh, hunter all the time. He's like you're so cringy. I'm like I know, um, but um, I'm very comfortable posting on tiktok. Hate posting on my facebook. Hate it so much because it's a different like audience, but I still make myself do it. It's almost like rejection therapy. You got to do it so many times and then, uh, it doesn't matter as much anymore.
Speaker 2:So okay, all right and that's a lot of my clients too. I I try to make them feel very comfortable, because they do have to be a little cringy in front of me. I'm like it's okay, I'm cringy, we, we acknowledge it, we embrace it and we're gonna put this silly video online. Um so, because a lot of them are like don't watch me, I'm like, okay, well, if you don't want me to, but it's fine, like I've been there, I've been there.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, I think too it makes people very real and you know anybody that's out there watching my podcast. You can probably tell that I don't edit a lot of things out, and I think a lot of people do, because. So in my former life, when I ran a big company here in Nashville, we did a weekly TV show in order to share all the information with everybody out in the company and on about the third week and another big shout out to Miss Chris out there. So Miss Chris was working on the episode and I needed something else done and she shared with me that she was. It was taking her about 10 hours each week in order to edit this video to go out, and she goes. Well, every time, you know you mess something up and you want that cut out. You know I've got to cut those things out and all the different things. And I said you know what, we're never doing that again. And she goes what do you mean? I said, from now on we're shooting one take, we're not editing and we're going to be done with it. And if it's a 10 minute video, then it's got to be done in less than an hour and that's all the time we're going to spend on it.
Speaker 1:And if I mess something up, then I mess something up. And at the same time, I think people do themselves a a a misservice because they get themselves used to, oh, I can edit that out. And you can't edit yourself in real person. You know in real life. And so in real time you get one shot at it, you get one opportunity to make a first impression, you get one opportunity to have a conversation or give a speech, and so why would you train yourself that you get to do it over and over and over, and if I mess up, I can just start over. So I think we do ourselves a disservice that way. So I think we do ourselves a disservice that way, and so that's why I don't really edit much. If I stumble over my words or I say something wrong, oh well that's me Shows that you're human.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 2:Shows that you're human All right.
Speaker 1:So if you could pick a single person or a single company to collaborate with, that would be on your hit list. You're like oh my gosh, if I could do that, that would be on your hit list.
Speaker 2:You're like oh my gosh, if I could do that, that would be fantastic. Oh man, I don't know. I've collaborated with a ton of business. I used to do more influencer things before I dove into, like the small businesses, but there's not just one that comes to mind. Truly, my favorite place and thing to create content for is, like my businesses that I do social media for, like I love them all so much. Like I know you're not necessarily supposed to be friends with your clients in some circles, but I consider all my clients friends, like I love them all and creating content with them is the funnest thing. There's no like one brand. I'll be there. I could be. Like, oh, if I collaborated with them, that would just fill the hole for me, that would be it, but I just I don't know. I didn't really answer your question, but no, it's okay, it's okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:What's something out there. So this is the one place that we had slightly controversial, and I can't take credit for this one. This one came from the goat consulting podcast, so big shout out to John and Colby because they came up with this one, and it is things that we think but do not say, and so we're not looking to get anybody canceled, but maybe it's a hard, a hard truth or something that most people shy away from just saying the real thing.
Speaker 2:Mine is. I do not post my child online. I I do my best not to post my child online. I don't intentionally say his name. I don't put his birthday online.
Speaker 2:I blur out his or I'll photoshop hunter's face onto his face I saw that um, I think maybe two or three weeks after he was born, I I posted a picture of us as a family to announce his birth and he looks like a sack of potatoes on that. So but that's the only time I've like posted his face and it's to protect him. I wasn't allowed to have social media until I was 16 and now I work in it and you never know who is watching. I have like 10 000 followers on my instagram. I get weird messages. I get weird messages. I get weird messages very frequently not as frequently as I used to because my target market has kind of pivoted to young women and they don't typically send me weird messages. Um, like young moms don't, but they're weird people.
Speaker 2:There's weird people in your community, like this Nashville area, huge human trafficking area. It's under our noses. Hunter, when he did training at the ER he worked at, I think he was told like 10% of the patients there are probably human trafficking victims. I mean, it is right under our noses and no hate to parents that do this because they don't know. But I cringe every time it's back to school season and I see those whiteboards and they're like here's my child's full name, here's where they go to school. Here's their pet's name, here's their parent's name, here's their teacher's name, here's their favorite food and what they want to be when they grow up. You just told everybody online probably your personal passwords, because whose personal password doesn't involve?
Speaker 2:like one of those things and if a stranger is like hey, sarah, I have insert favorite candy here, your mom, kylie, told me to pick you up. Like you're just setting them up and people don't know, because it's cute, like it's cutesy, to stay connected and know those people, but a lot of the times it is people you know like I don't know.
Speaker 1:It's or that are adjacent yes, yes, and so it's.
Speaker 2:It's tough, too, to keep them online because I do have extended family members who post a picture of him here and there and it's a battle in myself being like, do I want to open this can of worms? And I even turned off my tags because I don't. I don't want him showing up on there, but it's just to protect him. And two, there's a lot of problematic family vloggers out there. Don't want to turn into that. I don't want to exploit my child for money.
Speaker 2:Sure, I am a person who monetizes. Like every aspect of their life, every aspect of their life, is online in a sense, but he is not. He's not online. I've turned down collaborations. I've turned down really cool collaborations because they wanted me to film my son playing with this specific toy and I was like I, I would love to collaborate with you, but I don't show his face online. Um, let me know if that impacts the, your creative um outlook for the uh, the collaboration. No responses, but that's okay because I know in the long run, I'm protecting him yeah, and I think that's you know.
Speaker 1:You bring up some good points that I had never even thought of. You know the whiteboard, you're right, it's back to school, everybody does it and it's fun and all those things. But look at what's being put out there for somebody else who maybe is not your friend or is looking to do something um, ominous.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know you just never know and you hate to think like that, but truly you, you've got to be. You got to keep them safe. It's your responsibility as a parent. Like his life is in my hands Now. If he wants to consent to being online when he's older, like that's a, that's another can of worms will open, but for now I'm keeping him safe. I mean, there's some influencer families who vlog their kids and there's even states I want to say it was illinois, you can fact check me on that that have literally been like, if you're vlogging your family, you have to set aside some of the funds from that for them, because you are making them work.
Speaker 2:That is a work that you're making your child work. So, I don't know, just that's my controversial hot take.
Speaker 1:No, I think that that's great and that people need to consider that more. And you know I had not thought about the whiteboard thing, but that is very impactful. You know, it is a fine line. Every parent has to decide not only just what's right for their child, but also how you prepare them for the world. One of the things that we talk about frequently is okay, where are the exits If something were to happen? And on one side you're like I don't want to scare my child. At the same time, I do want to prepare my child, and you know so it's a frequent conversation for us the phone and social media.
Speaker 1:So, for instance, my son has he's 11 and he has a flip phone and we are not doing a smartphone. And in fact, I said, until you're driving this is it Well, but my friends have great, your friends have different parents than you do. Um, you know they may have a smartphone, but I mean, do any of them have a razor that does 70 miles an hour? I'll trust you to, I'll trust you to go-roading and drive 60, 70 miles an hour. I'm not going to trust you with this thing in your pocket that connects you to people we don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's important, and it's not necessarily them you don't trust either, it's everyone else. It's everyone else looking at your kid like, oh, what can I gain? It's important, so it's crazy. But yeah, those whiteboards every time I see them. They're cute, but I'm like guys don't put that in the lab. Okay.
Speaker 1:So that's the number one thing I think that people need to think through. What would you say is another thing, kind of like the whiteboard that you see is like oh my gosh, please don't do that anymore.
Speaker 2:Hmm, anything like the family vloggers, like, just like putting their kids online, like really, I mean, that's their. You're creating your kids digital footprint for them, and they don't even know that they're online. They just think they're in front of the camera, little video and it. It could be so harmless, it could be a funny photo of the kid's butt or something, but you don't know what people are gonna do with that online. And so really just not not a specific thing, but just protecting their privacy so they can form their own digital footprint when they're ready and aware of what to do, and just protecting them in that way okay, um, if you weren't running your own marketing and uh social media firm, what would you be doing?
Speaker 2:this is a very nashville answer. I would probably want to be a singer songwriter. That's what I went to college for originally. Answer I would probably want to be a singer songwriter. That's what I went to college for originally. It's something I still think about here and there and I'm very fulfilled doing what I do. I love it. It's my purpose working with these small businesses. But sometimes I do wonder like what, if, what, if? So I know that I still can like. And then every time I do get booked for a show, I'm like oh man, I gotta get it ready, I gotta get ready for a show.
Speaker 1:I'm like ah man, I got to get it ready for that. I got to get ready for that.
Speaker 2:And I got to lug my equipment, I got to change my guitar strings, I got to get my set list ready. But once I'm up there it's fun and fresh. But the anticipation of it can be kind of like why am I doing this? And then I love it. But that's probably the route I would take in an alternate universe.
Speaker 1:Okay, yet again another reason why I need to introduce you and Miss Carissa. I think you all will be fast friends If you could have dinner with anybody, living or otherwise. Three people who's at the table?
Speaker 2:Oh, three people. This isn at the table. Oh, three people. This isn't going to be that profound. I would probably do like experts in my industry. I think it'd be so fun to pick their brains. I would want to be a sponge. I'd want to learn. So Gary Vee, I would definitely. I would just like to hear him talk in person, because he's just so charismatic and entertaining, like what's he like at dinner? Um, and then there's another kind of influencer who's my age, who's kind of a peer, but she's more successful than I am by a lot, which I think is why I would want to have dinner. But her channel is like modern millie and she does like influencer collaborations and teaches you how to grow. And then Latasha James, she's an industry expert who's also similar in my age. So I think the three of them at dinner telling me what I can do differently, what I'm doing right, what I'm doing wrong, what I could do to improve, would be really a really cool dinner.
Speaker 1:Okay. So if they were going to, if they were going to spend the time and effort in order to give you those nuggets, what would be a compliment or criticism you would give each one of them to help make them better?
Speaker 2:Oh, dang, I don't know. I love them each. I don't really look at a person, I don't like to pick out their flaws or anything. Okay, so what if you said Gary Vee? I would love it if you would fill in the blank. I don't know. I look up to him. He's like the social media guru.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't want to be on his, his bad side, I'd be scared. No, I don't think he, I think, would actually put you on his good side if you, if you had something to say.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I can't think of anything off the spot right now. He, he can be a little bit like like like just a little bit angry and sometimes, like if he was talking to me like not in a bad way, like a passionate kind of, comes off a little bit angry, and if he were talking to me like that I wouldn't respond very well to that. But his thing is like tough love, like so it works for him but for me I would probably cry if he talked to me like that. But maybe that's why the clients who work with him break with him and that's why I have me okay, no, I get that, because passion can often come at you know, people take it differently.
Speaker 1:That's why it's important the words that we use, we use the right words and especially if you're going to collaborate with someone, or if you're going to have a business partner or whatever, is you really understand what the words that you're going to use mean? Views? Mean because some words mean something different to somebody else.
Speaker 1:A hundred percent so okay and um, so, along the way, somebody out there right now is trying to decide do I start my business? Do I uh, do I go down this path? Do I? Do I keep doing music? Because I've always said I was going to do music. Now I'm here at Belmont and I'm supposed to do music, but they've got something inside of them that's going. I don't know that that's what I'm supposed to do anymore. What advice would you give them?
Speaker 2:I would say follow it. We're given our passions for a reason and you don't have to like full on, just drop everything to follow it. There's like micro actions you can take to explore it. And that's kind of. I mean, I I built influence, I did, but I built it in a very safe way. Like I stayed with cherokee dock until I couldn't stay there anymore. Like I, I built it very gradually.
Speaker 2:There was never like a fool, I'm jumping into the cliff because by the or off the um, because by the time they did sell, I was like I was ready to take on more clients, like it didn't take too long before I, you know, felt good about that. I would just say, if, if something's calling you in a direction and you're, you feel called to explore it, you don't have to dive in, just just try it out. Just say yes, feel called to explore it. You don't have to dive in, just just try it out. Just say yes, do the side quest. Do the side quest and see what happens. At the very least you're going to learn something. At the very least you're going to learn something and whatever you learn, you might be able to apply that and in the future. So it doesn't have to always be this grandiose gesture. I'm doing this, cutting all ties, taking a pivot. It can be those little micro actions that you're like exploring I like the micro action.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, um, what's the scariest thing you've ever done?
Speaker 2:give birth, that was that's great that was so scary, um, that was like I'm scared to do it again and my birth went fine that I think it's such a big fear for women and I thought about it even before I ever got pregnant.
Speaker 2:I was like I'm going to have to do this one day. And it was long. It was a long labor. I was in labor for 26 hours, um, but I had a doula and she helped me, but it was still very scary.
Speaker 2:I had a panic attack getting the epidural for because, whatever, for whatever reason, in my non-rational 16 hours into labor no food, mine I was like this epidural is gonna make me paralyzed, it's gonna paralyze me. And the esthetician is it esthetician or yeah they? They came in they were like it's not gonna paralyze you. I'm like, but you don't know what it is. They're like it's not. And so I finally got the epidural because I was trying to do without it. Um, and that was scary, that was terrifying. And I did it. And with being scared, sometimes you just gotta push through the fear, like if I'm scared of something and I don't want to do something, like unless it's like a general, like it's going to put me in danger, like oh, walk through this dark alley on Broadway at night. No, but if it's something that isn't going to hurt me, it's just going to push me to grow, then I'll typically say yes or I'll try to say yes.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, so that's the scariest thing you've ever done.
Speaker 2:What's the most fun thing you've ever done? I'll tell you our wedding was so fun. Yeah, we would not have had the Calibre wedding we had without the funds for the marketing on there. But yeah, it was a wedding weekend. We had celebrity wedding planners, I had a designer wedding dress, all the bells and whistles All the bells and whistles and my friends can be the first to tell you like jordan would not have had a wedding like that, but it was so fun. Our families were there, our friends were floor. We had the coolest for the food. We had the a live grill and he like live grilled steak and salmon and I was just the best meal I've ever had to this day. Just the whole thing was probably my one of my highlights like so fun, so fun and so cool. What a neat experience. And to tie it into it was technically like the coolest marketing project I've ever done too, because what a cool thing to market your wedding. But that was that was so cool, okay, so cool awesome.
Speaker 1:That is fantastic. Yeah, I don't think anybody has said that that's's I mean, but that's a great story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it ties in everything Marketing, friends, family, my husband getting hitched, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, I think anytime, especially as an entrepreneur, if you can figure out how your life and your business comes together.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah. Then it's just that's the magic Chef's kiss the cherry on top. It's, it's so great. But yeah, that was, that was so cool. Like, what a cool thing. I think about that all the time.
Speaker 1:Like, that's awesome. Um, all right. So because I'm a bowler, yes. Uh, one, because I'm a bowler. Yes, one of the questions that we ask is if you could and it's kind of like the dinner table conversation but if you were going to be in charge of a charity event the whole goal was to raise as much money as humanly possible for this charity.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Who would you have on your bowling team? You need to pick four people.
Speaker 2:Okay, when I first saw this question, I definitely thought of my inner circle, so I'm going to think of some other people and I would not be on the team. I have a scar. I have a chip in my skull from a bowling ball. That's how bad at bowling, what? Yeah, when I was six went to toss, held on to it, fell chin smacked, stitches and a chip in my skull.
Speaker 1:There have been many bowlers sit in that seat that you're sitting in, and I don't think any of them have that kind of story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what are the odds? I'm not very athletic, okay, okay.
Speaker 1:So you don't have to be on the team. You can be the team manager.
Speaker 2:So who are the four people? So the goal is to get as much viewership, absolutely. You've said some people have said some crazy things.
Speaker 1:So we've got, we have hired Influence Media Marketing Co in order to set the line up.
Speaker 2:I think this would be a crazy team and therefore get a ton of views and be a little bit controversial. So what if we did Kamala Harris, trump, putin and kim jong-un? Wow, that would be. That would be a crazy. That would be a crazy event that would be a crazy event.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm gonna make it just slightly crazier okay because the last thing you have to pick is you have to pick the commentator oh, I don.
Speaker 2:I don't know her name, but whoever the comedian, the blonde comedian who did the Golden Globes, was it? She did such a good job. What's her name? Oh, I know who you're talking about. Oh my gosh, that would be a perfect person. She's blonde. She's slightly inappropriate.
Speaker 1:Yes, sometimes more than slightly inappropriate.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Sometimes more than slightly inappropriate. Yes, Okay. I'm going to look up her name and we'll put it here, okay, yes, but that wow.
Speaker 2:That, okay, that's the team.
Speaker 1:That's the team. All right, that's going to be interesting, all right.
Speaker 2:Last question Okay, how do you want to be remembered? I want to be remembered as somebody who can put a smile on somebody's face. I feel like I'm really good about being able to make people smile or laugh and I I like that about myself. I like that. I think people feel pretty comfortable around me and my clients feel that way. They they need to feel that way because I'm filming them in a vulnerable position. Sometimes it's scary being on camera, so I want to be somebody other people can feel comfortable around and smile around and laugh with.
Speaker 1:Cool, I love that. Yeah, out there somewhere somebody is listening right now and hopefully they're. They're about to go live on their face, do it what I mean. Give them some, give them a, give them a pep talk right now, right before you got it.
Speaker 2:Embrace the cringe, be cringy. What's cringy isn't you posting online. What's cringy is people judging you for posting online. So embrace it If you, if your circle doesn't like it, find a new circle, you just do it. Just do it. Rip the bandaid off, get it done.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic. Well, Jordan, thank you so much for joining us today. It's, it's been awesome. How do, how does people, how do people get in touch with you?
Speaker 2:They can honestly just text me 615-913-0772. I'm a Gen Z. That's my form of communication. Typically they can find me online Jordan underscore, lynn underscore. Or influence M-M-C-O is my like social handle. Didn't think that through in college because that's kind of a mouthful, but we're sticking with it. But yeah. Or they can visit my website at influence M-M through in college because that's kind of a mouthful, but we're sticking with it. Um, but yeah. Or they can visit my website at influence m m like m as in mouse. Influence m m c o dot com cool.
Speaker 1:Well, that's awesome. Um, and thank you for sharing the um the bit about protecting your children and rethinking kind of how how we we put things online. It doesn't mean you know it's, it's kind of both sides. We're encouraging you to promote your business and to have an online presence but at the same time, find that line where you say I'm protecting my kids in this way.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for sharing.
Speaker 1:Thank you Well, team. You heard it here with Ms, ms Miss Jordan Grubbs. She is fantastic. She's here in Middle Tennessee and she does amazing work with her clients. If you'd like to work with Jordan, please reach out to her. Like I said it before, she's fantastic. We have some mutual clients and what she does is special because she doesn't send you for a photo shoot.
Speaker 1:She comes out and she does it because she wants to make sure that you're being represented appropriately and in the way that you want, and so maybe you've got some nuggets that you've taken from this episode and then you can bake into yours. Remember, she said consistency is key, and that's whether you're growing your business, whether that's how you're growing your TikTok or whether it's protecting your children. Consistency is key. Tiktok or whether it's protecting your children, consistency is key. So get out there, have fun, and I hope that this was what you needed today.
Speaker 1:Until next time, we're the Charge Forward Podcast. We'll see you later. Team is Jim Cripps here with the Charge Forward Podcast. I just want to tell you I love you, I appreciate you listening, I appreciate you for subscribing and sharing the Charge Forward Podcast with people you know and you love, because that's what we're here, for we are here to share the amazing stories, the things that people have been through, the ways that they were able to improve their life, so that you can take little nuggets from theirs and help improve your story and be better tomorrow than you were today. I hope that this is the tool you needed at the right time and that you find value in the amazing guests that we bring each and every week. Thanks so much and don't forget new episodes drop every Thursday.