Speaker 1 (00:11):
Yeah, my name is Shelby Humphreys. I'm owner of Missoula Social Media here in
Missoula, Montana, and of course, I offer social media management, but also a
whole umbrella of digital marketing services like email marketing, website
development, short-term video projects, just anything that's online and people
want to get a better exposure in our Missoula market. I am actually a post
pandemic entrepreneur. I don't know if that's the official term, but I was doing this
work for a good 10 years for another local business, and that business closed after
the pandemic, and I thought, you know what? I'm just going to go out and do it for
myself. And that was, say, I'm on year four now, and it's been going good. So this
work has always been a part of my life in one way or another. I think it first showed
up when I was young, and I'd always imagined I'd see a commercial and I would
imagine a better way to make that look, or I would imagine a play and how we
would do the set to make it very impactful.
(01:11):
And it was always this creative imaginary thing that was taking something one step
further. And then when I became an employee first at the University of Montana, I
was the only one in the office that wasn't afraid to break a computer, and so I was
the one that just kept learning everything new, everything new, everything new.
Finally, when social media really came out in the early two thousands, I was just
primed and ready to learn that next new thing. And it seemed to really bring
together both that creative aspect and the techie geek out fun ways to reach
people in a different way. And it continues to be that way. It changes very fast, but
I like that. And there's always an opportunity to be creative and show something
that everyone is used to in a more fun and entertaining light.
(02:03):
Before I started my business, I was an employee for over 30 years, but the skills
that I developed there really translated to being my own entrepreneur because I've
always felt like it was a combination of heart and systems. Or another way to say it
is one of my favorite entrepreneur leaders, Jenny Blake, she has a phrase called
Love in Systems, where I lead with my heart, what excites me, what is interesting
to me at the time, but also just love all these tools you can bring together to
streamline how I do my work from day to day. And that has actually ended up
being the same things my clients need. They want to stay true to their vision for
their business, but they just need some sort of structure to come along and support
them while they're doing their digital marketing so that they can then go and do
what they do best, which is why they started their business.
(02:55):
So yeah, love and systems, that's my favorite phrase. One of the biggest challenges
for me has been going from being an employee to becoming my own boss. I didn't
really realize how much I depended on that hierarchal boss task employee
relationship to get the feedback from my performance and me being my own boss
and needing feedback from my boss. It just really threw me for a mental curve. So
I've had to find different ways to create feedback loops for myself. And one of the
most effective ways has been founder time, which is another concept from Jenny
Blake. So I take one to two hours a week, I go to a favorite coffee shop. I have a list
of short questions that I'm just asking myself about, how did the week go? What
kind of connections did I make? Is there a new business idea? I have flesh that out, and I've been able to be consistent with this founder time for, yeah, a good three
years.
(03:55):
Sometimes it feels like I just cannot carve out one to two hours this week, but I do
it anyway. And I tell you what the answers that come out of those questions, the
time I spend it, saves me time. It points me in a better direction. So I'm just like a
bid advocate man. If you can just get away for even an hour, sit with a nice cup of
coffee and step back and reflect on your business, I think it is one of the most
efficient and effective ways we can be entrepreneurs. For sure. You know how I
started, the list of questions I have is actually from another practice that I have.
I've always taken myself every quarter on a little retreat and how that started. I
had a bunch of magazines in a pile. Oh, I love this article. I'm going to do
something with that someday.
(04:41):
Oh, this is a great idea. And I finally, one day I was like, am I ever, ever going to do
anything with this pile? And I said, you know what? I'm going to take myself on a
retreat. I'm going to bring all of these things with me, and I'm just going to call out
the best of the best. And that helped me focus so much on what I wanted. It almost
helped me have a tool for reflection because these things, these magazine articles,
these inspirational ideas, they reflect what I want something out of myself. Having
those as a base is a great way to build in a feedback process, let's call it, so that
we're not just like, oh, it's your annual review and your boss is going to give you a
score, yada, yada. What are those websites that we like? What are those posts that
we're saving?
(05:32):
What are those podcasts that really catch our attention? There's something in each
of those that we're attracted to because it reflects something about us that we
want to grow into. And I think it's just easy. Just bring those along to the coffee
shop with you and start writing what you think about that and how it might apply
to something going on in your business world. And eventually, over time, I think
those questions evolve and they sift out and they change and they update. They
evolve as we evolve, but it's the practice of sitting down and doing it. The feeling
that I have at least paid attention for a little bit this week that keeps that constant
worry at bay of, oh, am I doing enough? Am I doing enough?
(06:19):
The other one, I'm still struggling with this one. And it's entrepreneur solopreneur,
meaning it's hard to stay connected when there's no business to walk into. And
you're working with coworkers every day and they say hi, and they say your name,
and I could get a smile and a hug or something that just is so isolating sometimes
to be my own business owner and to find those community connections. It's just a
lot harder than I thought it would be. I think Missoula in particular has the
wonderful gift of the Missoula Downtown partnership and everything that they do
to bring entrepreneurs together. But that's been the bright light for me. But I still
struggle to fight community. Community is at the center, and I know that's a very
common idea. However, when I am stressed out, everything is too much. This same
phrase comes up over and over again, and I didn't start a business just to have a
business.
(07:24):
I wanted to connect with people. I wanted to connect people in the community that
might not otherwise know what each other's doing and be part of that loop of
energy that goes on Missoula, business owners. The whole environment is so
supportive. Everyone wants to do business in a way that supports others, and I get
to be part of that energy, which I really, really like. That's my favorite part of
having my own business. For example, one client of mine, we were looking for a
way to bring more students into their business. We came up with a marketing
campaign around special events, and we wanted to give students a chance to give
back and have donations be part of the event. Well, I got to work with some
nonprofits last year, and so I said, how about we do this nonprofit A, B, or C? So
then, right, I get to go ahead and give back and connect these two, and they might
not have otherwise known about each other if I hadn't been in the room.
(08:24):
So I really liked it, whether you believe in angels or luck. The month that I decided
to go out on business for myself was the month that someone told me, oh, go ahead
and check out this program over here at the business school. The program
chaperoned me all the way from my business idea to opening day. So business
plans, tax forms, where to register marketing, and even the small groups, which is
just a very special precious part of it, because I've continued those relationships
with the folks in my small group, all the practical support, and all the time you
guys saved me. I didn't have to hunt around for everything that I had to do to be
legal in Montana. That alone was worth every hour, and the program
administrators are so generous with the information and sharing it and trying to
make it work for everyone, and they continue to be.
(09:20):
I think it's definitely an organization not only to get into, but to stay with. I'm very,
very fortunate in that my business is part of an industry that pays well for the level
of expertise and experience that it demands. Very grateful for that. However,
cashflow is cashflow and whether it comes in or goes out, I'm still the one that has
to keep an eye on that. So I think one of the easiest things that has been for me is
just to have a simple budget. And I even use a simple budgeting program called
Wave Apps. It's probably one of the simplest ones out there. I don't have a lot of
categories of expenses and revenue, and just knowing that it's simple makes it easy
to reconcile it every month. And so then I just know what that cash figure is every
month. Having the budget very simple was a big go-to. Also, I'm really proud of
saying that I've been able to pay myself from day one, and I've doubled my capital
in the first three years.
(10:26):
So yeah, keeping an eye on that cashflow really allows me to make smart decisions.
And I had a computer that went down that I had to go buy a new computer. I had
to buy a new printer, stuff like that. All this stuff is unexpected. Stuff comes up, but
knowing what's in the bank and what will be in the bank through the end of the
year has really made it work. And another thing, one of the smartest marketing
things I did, and I didn't even realize it was going to be this important when I did
it, was naming my business. I named it the same phrase that people might Google
when they're looking for my services. So Missoula, social media, maybe you're
Googling social media marketer in Missoula, or social media help management in Missoula or something. Most of my new clients come through Google searches. I
haven't had to pay a dime of SEO or ads because my name just matches those
words. And a lot of my fellow marketers, they love the creative names, and I surely
appreciate that. I think it's very cool. Missoula social media doesn't feel very sexy
to me, but it's actually one of the best marketing things and decisions I've ever
done. So yeah, I'm starting my fourth year and I am still trying to dial in what feels
like a balanced work day.
(11:51):
What time do I start? When do I schedule my appointments? When is my most
sharp brain thinking cap on to sit in front of the computer and bang out a bunch of
technical stuff? I'm finding that it's been a struggle to find that right rhythm, and I
think I'm on my fourth iteration right now, and maybe that's just the way it is for
business owners. Things change, circumstances change, our clientele changes, and
we have to adapt the flow of our days to match that. But I continue to try and
tweak it just so that I can be in the moment and enjoy it and realize, Hey, I'm doing
this. I have my own business and I'm having fun. That's what I want out of my
birthdays. Yeah.
(12:37):
One client story that will always be dear to my heart, because it happened during
the first year that I was a business owner. I got to collaborate with Missoula
events.net on a special social media campaign called So Missoula. And the idea of
something being so Missoula has been bopping around in my head for a long, long
time. I reached out to Molly Bradford and she said, all of our businesses that are
still up after the pandemic, let's give them a pat on the back. We're all here way to
go. Let's just celebrate all these businesses that are still here. And so we run
around to different businesses in Missoula and did a little campaign and the very
end, whether it was the board of Missoula on the hip strip or was the M store
downtown, or it might've been a bougie restaurant that we were videoing, they all
got to do their own version of so Missoula. And that was fun. It was fun just to go
around with a bunch of goodwill and say, Missoula Events wants to celebrate you. I
got to be part of it. In creating the videos and the messaging, that is always going
to be a very special memory for me. Yeah.
