Top Tips for Starting Your Biz with Steph Gillies

This is the life you're making, right? So we're making our life every day we're making our life. And so when we when we look at when we're thinking about an idea, are you? Are you just daydreaming about it and then living for the weekends? Or are you going to you know, make your life build your life into what you really want it to be.

This is The Entrepreneur School podcast where we believe you can run a thriving business and still make your family a priority. This show is all about supporting you the emerging or early stage Entrepreneur on your journey from solopreneur to CEO while wearing all of the other hats in your life. My name is Kelly Sinclair and I'm a brand and marketing strategist who started a business with two kids under 3am, a corporate PR girl turned entrepreneur after I learned the hard way that life is too short to waste to doing things that burn you out. On this show, you'll hear inspiring stories from other business owners on their journey, and learn strategies to help you grow a profitable business while making it all fit into the life that you want. Welcome to Entrepreneur School.

How Hello, Steph, welcome to Entrepreneur School.

Thank you for having me.

I'm excited to chat with you. I'm also excited that we've met in real life. This is a theme I've been talking about lately, the importance of actually like going and still meeting with people and, you know, creating those relationships because you live in the same area as me, which is amazing. So I'm so glad that you reached out and that we now have a connection. Absolutely. Because you know, that is the way that we can grow our businesses. And that is what you were here to talk about. You're here to talk about starting a business and some of the things that people might be like seeing as flags like, because that whole jump from corporate to being an entrepreneur is is a challenging one, right?

Yeah, it absolutely is a challenge. It's a challenge is not just like your everyday schedule, but it challenges your mindsets and your finance, and it's there's a lot of challenges for sure.

Yeah, exactly. I remember like, I definitely had said to myself, like I'm never gonna be an entrepreneur, it's not something I want to do. I had this like belief that it was lonely. And like, I like people, so therefore I can't be an entrepreneur. And then, you know, the cards aligned in a different way. So what do you see when you're working with clients and helping them starting businesses?

Um, yeah, so most of my clients, a lot of them, you know, are have started a family, and they're working a job that they're not necessarily have a lot of flexibility. And so when they move into entrepreneurship, they're really looking for those opportunities to have more of a flexible schedule to be able to, you know, be there for their kids, when they when they want to, to be able to go to volunteer in their class, if that's something they want to do, and be able to pick them up after school. So it really gives them a lot more of that flexibility and the ability to do that kind of stuff. We're in a job a lot of the time, you're not able to do that kind of stuff. So

Oh, absolutely. Like I literally don't know how I my kids would not be able to do anything. Like they're in so many activities. And I don't know how, like, it's just not possible to get someone to gymnastics at four o'clock if you are working in the city. And you have to be there until five.

Yes, absolutely. I had to save probably last year, but I had no business. So I was able to pick them up. But like who starts programs at four o'clock when you're working? Like it's not possible?

Right? I know. So it's one of the like, the best things about being an entrepreneur. So tell us a little bit about your background and how you got into doing what you do.

Yeah, so um, early on in my career, I had 32 jobs and 15 years. And then I finally I finally decided on a career direction, and I went to school for social work. And so I worked in the nonprofit world for many years. And then at the beginning of the pandemic, and 2020, I was laid off of my nonprofit job. And I kind of took the time to decide what I wanted to do. I was feeling frustrated with the schedule, you know, I was overworked and underpaid. And I just wanted something different. And you know, working for myself has always been something that was of interest to me. And so I decided to jump into business. So I started out as a resume writer, helping people get to work quickly because I had experience doing that. And I had gotten a certification as a resume writer a few years before, and then I started adding career coaching on and then what I noticed over like a lot of my clients with career coaching is that a lot of them were exploring the opportunity of business, right? They're like, oh, like help me get back to work. I want to remote job I want it to be flexible. I want to be able to dictate how much I make. It's like well, that doesn't really sound like a job. In most cases. That sounds more like starting a business. So I was a lot of my clients were interested in entrepreneurship. And so I started coaching people to start their business and helping them, you know, get that business launched, come up with a business idea, figure out their target market, discuss a little bit of marketing, and then launch their business that they can, you know, take back there time and there and take back their time and their finances. So,

Yes, yeah, that's not a job, actually, that isn't that that is starting your own business. But it comes, it comes with the price tag of figuring it all out. Right. So what are some of the things that your clients that you see, like, or and even just from your own experience, like as you get started, as an entrepreneur, what are some of the things that you think are the most challenging or like, put up the most resistance?

I think the probably the biggest challenges for me was like, the financial insecurity. At the beginning, obviously, I was not someone who started a side hustle, built it to a reasonable spot, and then quit my full time job. No, I just, like, jumped in, because I was laid off. And so I was like, well, if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it now. And so there's a lot more pressure to make money a lot quicker. And so that was a little bit, that was probably the biggest challenge at the beginning. But once you have like a client base built, and, you know, I contracted at the beginning as well, so that I could, you know, make some money. And that just like helped with the security side of things that you could continue to build the business. And then the other thing for me is probably the hardest part was putting myself out there, you know, like the marketing side of things. I'm not someone who loves to talk about myself and put myself out there. And so. So the first few times that I posted on LinkedIn, LinkedIn is my go to for marketing. And I would create these posts. And then I would just like close my eyes and out press Paulista note, just like, whatever happens, happens, not a big deal. And I was so nervous, like, I thought, like people, were just going to start talking about it. And really, like nobody knew who I was at the time. So nobody really cared. And so it was great to get going, right? Because then I started. And once you do that a few times, it's really not that scary. And you realize that it's actually kind of fun, and you meet people, and you share your opinion, and people disagree with you. And then you learn new things about what other people think. And I just posted yesterday about whether you put one space or two after a period, it's so it's such a big debate, and it cracks me up so much, because I think it's not a big deal at all, but

Okay, yeah. So what are you? Are you a space? Or are one space or two?

Okay, so I'm a to space, because in high school that I was a to space, they require two spaces. And it's just like muscle memory now, right? You just press two spaces, but I'm trying to make the switch to one space, because apparently people are really angry about two spaces.

Yeah, it just makes it take up so much more. No, you don't print things anymore. Anyway. So it's like a movie.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, I'm a one space. So I think we got thing. But I wanted to dig into some of the things that you were saying there about, like the fears of putting yourself out there when you first get started. And also, like, talk to me a bit about the like creative things that you were doing to help ease that financial instability and insecurity at the beginning. Because you said you were contracting. And I know that like for me, I started out like just hourly billing and kind of was like, I'll do anything and everything. And, and that's kind of how we start. And it's totally fine to start like that, you know?

Yeah, I mean, absolutely. At the beginning, I said yes to everything. No, it's not a word in my vocabulary. It's something that I am working on now to having more of like work boundaries now that I have more established business. But yeah, I contracted to multiple outplacement agencies. So outplacement is one a big firm lays off a whole bunch of people, they hire someone to help their employees get back to work quickly. And so I still work for a couple of them now, just more on a part time basis. But when I was contracting, it just helped to have that that base so that you could so that I could, you know, focus more of my time on building my business rather than rather than just not bringing in any money at all. And I think like, the biggest thing was, I just spent, like, all day, reaching out to people and networking, that's what I did, you know, I was determined to build this business and to make money and to make it work. And so instead of just like, be sitting there being like, I don't know what's gonna happen or whatever. I just actually like spent hours on LinkedIn, reaching out to people starting conversations, emailing people and getting information from them. And, you know, just really building partnerships was a huge part of how I grew my business. So I would partner with career coach, career coaches, and I would write resumes for their clients that I would have to do less marketing. And so I just like I just did pretty much all the things I needed to do to get started.

Yeah, so you are taking action. So what I I'm hearing. And so what was motivating you?

Really, like I needed to make money I was I was on employment insurance at the time. And so I had to at least cover that in like two months had to get that covered. And so I was motivated to like, figure that out. Otherwise, I would have to go back to work and get a job. And I really didn't want to do that. And so I was very motivated to not get a job. And so I was just doing everything possible in order to make it work.

And did you try out like different, like niches and stuff for your own business? Or how has that evolved?

No, I didn't have a niche. At the beginning. It was just everybody and everyone, anyone who

needed a resume, like that's a niche?

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah. And then yeah, it's evolved. Like I work a lot I work with in my career coaching side of things. I work with pretty much anybody. I mean, I've written resumes and coached people in pretty much every discipline. But for the business coaching side, I found it's more been like women or parents or moms who want to get back to who want to who don't want to go back to their job, or who wants to have that more flexibility. And so the business coaching has been more for women who are we're looking to start a business.

Yes. And again, for the whole, like scheduling of your life with your kids.

Yeah, exactly. Mm hmm.

Okay, so what did you do? See, I loved how you said that you like, would cover your eyes and just press post and be like, okay, but don't get out there. Like, how did you get yourself to do that, because I know, this is something that people struggle with all the time.

Yeah, I create my posts were not very personal at the beginning. Like they were all just like tips about writing resumes, or tips about interview coaching and stuff like that. And so that felt a little bit safer for me, because I didn't really talk about myself. And, you know, funny story, I like my first ever post on my Instagram page, I don't use Instagram anymore, but I made like a graphic on Canva. And then I sent it to, like, I posted it, and I sent it to like all my friends. And then I got like a response was like, there's a spelling error in it. My first post, and I was like, freaking out about it, I was like, Oh my god. So I like fixed it quickly posted it again. And, and now if I made a spelling error, I'd be like, whatever, it's not that big of a deal. But like, you know, back then, you know, your first post you think is such a big deal. And so like I could just like the thing was I chose areas that I felt safe talking about. So like, if someone wants to challenge me in a certain area, like resume writing, I was pretty confident in my skills. And so I chose things that I felt pretty comfortable talking about and then posted those things first, and then after a while, you know, you get you get more comfortable as you become more of an expert, you spend more time doing what you're doing. And then you feel less less of that fear to post and put yourself out there for sure.

Yes, I love that. And I always say that, it's like, it's totally a habit building activity. You have to get used to like you actually build your confidence and your competence at the same time. So as you're like practicing more, you're getting better at it, you're getting smarter at it, then you can do it more than you can feel more confident. And it's like a cycle that goes around, right and contributes to you being able to continue and like to, to but now to the point where you're like, I'll just reach out to people who I don't know, at all and say like, let's talk about collaborating. And here you are on my podcast as a result of that.

Yeah, for sure. And I mean, that's like what they say about imposter syndrome, right? Like everyone experiences impostor syndrome when they start something new. But the way to get through it is to just do it, right. So you just have to start, you just have to try it. And you just have to, you know, learn as you go, and then those feelings will start to feed.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So good. And I love that you were talking about like choosing something that you feel a little bit more comfortable with to start because there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing that says that you have to like go out into the world and just like challenge everybody's opinion on everything, like you can just start contributing to a conversation.

Yeah, exactly. And I didn't post every day, right, especially at the beginning, I think I started with once a week. And now I post three times a week. But I still don't post every day because like, I don't like spending that much time with social media. So yeah, I mean, like, I think the pressure to just do everything when you start is so is so real, that you have to really decide what's important for you and what you think is the best for your business journey.

And you are talking about like, how you created some really important partnerships and collaborations, which I think is like a really under utilized strategy that you know, especially when you have an opportunity to be like hey, if you Can I work like for your clients? Can I can I find? Sometimes I hear this called Power partners, where you have like complementary skill sets that would work together that you can like, find some partnerships. So like, tell us a little bit about how you came across that idea.

Yeah, I mean, while I was when I was only doing resume writing, I was like, you know, the people who need resume writing the most are recruiters and career coaches, who often don't do that stuff themselves. And so I was like, what if I just reached out to those people and asked if they needed a resume writer. And so actually, like most of my business came through like comes through partnerships, the marketing side of things, and it decreases the amount of marketing that you have to do, which is great, because I was not loving marketing at that. Yeah. So it's a great way because they're marketing for their clients, you offer them either a little bit of a discount, or you offer them a referral fee. And it's a no brainer for them, they send you their clients, and then they get a kickback. So it's like, free money for them. And also, like, helps build both businesses. So it works out quite well. But yeah, the I basically just searched people in my area on LinkedIn, I reached out to them. I mean, I would say probably 50% didn't respond. But you know, the 50%. I did, you know, like they're, they've, I've built some, like really long term relationships out of it. And, you know, some people who will be future future partners, maybe, or something that will happen in the future, I really believe that every interaction is worthy of having. So I think that anyone you reached out to whether it works out to talk now, or works out in the future, I think it's always worth it to have conversation. So

Absolutely, it's it's ingenious, and like you said, it's a total no brainer. You know, when you're not like competing with the person, you're like, I'm adding a complimentary service. And, and somebody who is really, like, focused on getting good results for their client will see that as extra value.

Yeah, exactly.

Mm hmm. So when for those of the people who are listening, who are like us, you know, flirting with the idea of creating a business, what are some of the tips that you have around like coming up with, like, where to start as far as your business idea.

I think the biggest thing to remember, and that was something for me to you that I didn't think of back then is your starter business idea. It doesn't have to be your forever business idea. Right. So like I started as a resume writer, I do not plan to write resumes forever. But I like the coaching side of things. I like business coaching and stuff like that. And so I'm transitioning into that. But like, when you're thinking of a business idea, you can think of anything that's like in your passion, something you're excited about. Just something that gets you into the business space helps you learn the mindset and start growing and start building that community and that network. And once you have that built, it's so much easier when you're ready to transition into something you're maybe more excited about. But it's always just about thinking of that starter idea. So something that you know, maybe you have that skill, people are asking you to help them with it for free, that's a great, that's a great indication of something you might be good at. Something that you do maybe at work that you that you're really enjoying, I talked to someone who used Excel a lot at work. And so she started building Excel spreadsheets for clients on the side as a part time job as a part time business. And so that's, like, that's a really, really simple idea. There's, like so many millions of ideas out there, you could really start anything.

Yeah, especially like the little tactical, like task based kind of thing is like, I will create X product for you, or I will do X service for you at, you know, and then knowing that you can just continue doing that. And you're right, because like once you get started into it, and then you learn some of the basics of actually like running a business, then you can start thinking about a bigger strategy and what the long term plan looks like and how, you know, you might need to grow a team and like, expand and scale to, to fulfill that for yourself.

Yeah, exactly. The opportunities are truly endless. I mean, I've seen like some really definitely interesting businesses and even jobs out there that I didn't really know existed before I started resume writing. And so it just really opened my mind to see that really, the opportunities are truly endless. Anything you can think of that you would be interested in doing and starting a business, you need to do a little market research to see if people would spend money on your idea. But once you've done that market research and you can see that you know, it's a viable idea, then then you can run with it and it's always really fun.

Yeah, and as we talked about when we were having coffee the other day, like there's a market for everything people bought pet rocks. Yep. People pay for some things you would not imagine that people pay for and you just have to match up the thing with the market that is going to pay for it because of course that is that is the whole point of having a business is that somebody gives you money. Yeah, exactly. Ah Then well, what else? Anything else that you want to add? As far as advice for people who are getting started, like, resources? encouragement?

Yeah, I think like the, I think, when you're starting, if you're thinking about starting a business, I would encourage you to just do it. Because a lot of the time, that's the biggest hurdle is, is the is the spot from thinking about it to just jumping in and, and putting yourself out there and trying it. And what you'll find is, either you're gonna love it, or you're gonna hate it, right. And if you don't like it, that's okay. Like you don't, you don't need to continue. But if it's something you love, and it's something you want to continue to foster, then you can create something, and you can really, truly build an amazing life. I was listening to this song that actually came up, I'd never heard of before, I don't know who sings it. But it's called Daydream. And she says, like, this is the life you're making, right? So we're making our life everyday we're making our life. And so when we, when we look at when we're thinking about an idea, are you are you just daydreaming about it and then living for the weekends? Or are you going to, you know, make your life build your life into what you really want it to be? You should listen to the song, it's super good. I'll send it to you after

Oh, amazing. We'll put it in the show notes too. Ah, yeah, that is so true. And you know, like, the fears of like, there's so many things that get in people's way that, you know, what if I fail? What if somebody thinks this about me? What if it doesn't work out? Like, but what if it does? And either way, aren't you learning an important lesson? Aren't you getting some important data from trying and experimenting and experiencing and doing the thing? And even if like, what's like, what's the worst case scenario? Right? You go back and try and get a job again? Yeah, really, like you're, you don't become unemployable by trying to start a business.

It's so true. And like, just like on the failing side of things, when I started my business two years ago, actually started two businesses. I don't really talk about the other one. But I started like an in person business here in Cochran. And it just I had a partner, I two partners, and it just didn't work out the partnerships didn't work out. The business was like, it felt like it was just a grind. Like every day like, like trying to get people interested in it was just so hard. And so we actually cancelled we, we closed the business last year. And it was, I mean, technically, it was a failure, right. But like, I learned so much from that. And I feel like I learned a lot about what I want out of my business journey. I learned so much about that. I thought for sure this that business was like my dream business. And then once I started building an online business, I was like, no, no, like, no, no, online business is the way to go. And, you know, I just like I learned so much. And I would never take back that moment. And I and but it was technically a failure. And I but I don't care. I feel great about it.

Oh, yeah. And that's such good perspective. Because I even remember, like, when I first went to college, I was taking a degree in science, like a Bachelor of Science, and for the first like six days of going to like chemistry and physics classes. And I was like, oh, no, what is the opposite of this? Right? And so even by making the decision to enroll in the wrong degree, it taught me to like go to the right one where I found the communications faculty, and public relations, which led to literally everything else that I'm doing. And I would not be, you know, hosting a podcast and doing any of this stuff had I not gone down that path, which started with going down the wrong path to begin with. So like, all good things tend to come from something that doesn't seem like that's a failure.

Right? Exactly. Yeah, for sure.

Yeah. Amazing. Well, thank you so much for chatting with me staff. This has been really valuable for our listeners who are like, on the edge or like just getting started to, to think about, like, what their steps are, how they can like put their fears aside and jump in. And you know, because what's the worst that could happen? So let everybody know where they can connect with you. And I believe that you have a resource that we'll share in the show notes as well.

Yes, for sure. So you can connect with me through my website. It's Steph gillis.com. And I have a free download for five steps to start your business with minimal overhead. And then I'm on LinkedIn primarily. StephGillies linkedin.com/in/stephgillies and then I'm trying out threads so we'll stay tuned on that.

Trying out the threads. Me too forgetting about it already. Yeah. Oh yeah. I Forget about the weekend. Oh, no, there's other social media. Awesome. Okay. Well, thank you so much. I hope you all reach out to staff because as we always talked about on this podcast, when you get an invitation to connect with somebody, take it. You will stand out when you reach out. So do the thing.