142 | It's Not About Social Media! Marketing your Professional Organizing Business
Since I became a business coach for organizers a few years ago, if I had a way to add up the amount of time that I talk about social media in relation to a lot of other topics in business--I think it's an oversized part of the conversation that exists for how to grow our businesses. Social media for professional organizers is a tough topic, and one that causes a lot of frustration (and work.)
I wanted to have a really candid talk with my guest about what social media is and what it isn't for professional organizers, and how to do marketing for professional organizing.
My guest is Kate from Kate The Socialite, and she is a marketer for the home services industry, including many great professional organizers. We are talking about why soical media isn't the answer many people think it is--and why.
You can listen here, read the full transcript below, or find us on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you love to listen to podcasts!
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Melissa Klug: So we have talked about the thing that you have realized, and I have realized, and many of us have realized, but maybe haven't gotten off the hamster wheel yet, doesn't work—which is social media to get organizing clients. What are your foundations, so when a client with a pro organizing business comes to you and you say, “what actually works?” What does that look like for you?
Kate the Socialite: It looks like making marketing personal because really marketing is a relationship and that means that you can't be marketing to just anyone who has a home and might possibly need your organizing services.
When a client comes to me, I remind them that marketing is a relationship between them and their ideal client. And that's why you shouldn't have marketing that is so generic you have to be intentional so that all starts at the website level. If you don't have a website, you need to get one because you should be talking directly to your ideal client on your website. You shouldn't start talking about yourself right away and what you do.
You should actually say, “Hey, busy career woman or busy mom or whomever, do you ever feel like your house is a chaotic mess? But you cannot get on top of it?” And they'll be like, “yep, totally.” Okay, now you've got them. Now you can say, well, here at my organizing studio we specialize in helping people just like you because we know that your time is valuable and we know that your home functions better when it's organized.
So click here to check out our services. Like, oh, right, okay. Now they've got the specific call to action. They feel heard, they feel understood, and you can carry that through to your service packages. So instead of saying it's the pantry revamp, you can give it some sort of, Name that's still very clear, that is aligned with your ideal client.
When you describe the package, describe it from the perspective of that particular person. Yes. You know, we are gonna take all your vitamin water, we're gonna take all your kids' snacks, we're gonna take all these things and we're gonna make it organized so that you know when you need to buy more, so that you use the stuff you already have and that actually saves you money.
And so that you have that, that visual, that eye candy, when you open your pantry, you're excited to look at it because, man, that looks good. Yeah. And that makes you feel good. .
Melissa Klug: And I love what you're saying because I had a business coach that used to always used the phrase, “use second grade language with people.” And I think a lot of times we have people that are like, I have to sound like really fancy, or I have to make this sound beautiful. Especially when you're building a website, you just, you think, no, please use simple words and use, use that, connect with people. Yes. Words, like, the words that you hear in every consultation.
The word I always hear is overwhelmed. So everybody's overwhelmed. Whether it's overwhelmed, chaos, any of these words that you hear clients say to you all the time, use those words in your marketing to connect with people.
Kate the Socialite: Yep. I mean, . It's the really, the most successful trick in the marketing book. Just use your ideal client's words back at them. They're telling you how they want to be marketed to, so pay attention on those discovery calls because it, it's amazing. It'll help your copywriting so much and you don't have to worry about sounding polished. You don't have to worry about sounding professional, obviously stay away from profanity, although I feel like a few WTFs might be appropriate if it's that could work situation.
Let's just say that after you've got your website squared away, think about the blog. Turn your most common questions into a blog post. Yes. And share your projects, share photos. Share what the client's problem was and how you fixed it. But share it from an emotional standpoint Not, oh, their pantry was a mess, but this couple is super busy with work and they are trying to eat healthy. They can't find anything in their pantry. Here's how we made it easier for them to live a healthy, happy lifestyle. Share the photos cuz now you're connecting with people on an emotional level.
You can do the same thing in an email newsletter, but it has to be shorter. You have to have a specific call to action for people to book a call. And it really could be that.
Melissa Klug: Yeah. And blog posts in particular, I think that there are a few words that start to scare people a little bit, or phrases. Sometimes when people are like, oh, blog posts, I have to like, basically write a a book quality piece of, of marketing, you know, it has to be perfect. Nope, it doesn't have to be. None of these things have to be perfect, first of all. But you can take something, a simple concept in your in your business, and you can write a blog post.
What do you recommend for blog posts? 500 words?
Kate the Socialite: Yeah. So 500 is the minimum. You could go up to a thousand. I think most people get tired of writing at that point. Yeah. even. I do, and I'm a writer. Yeah. But yeah, if you have a 500 word post that's basically a single page document in Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
So single space, single page, and make sure that you have headings so that people can skim it. Make sure you've got a nice balance of photos. Like you don't want it to be all images because that's not really helpful for your seo, but you wanna make sure that you're able to tell the story and don't stretch it out to make it 500 words if it's just not that long.
But also make sure that you're hitting on the emotional points and then ending with. , are you ready to take the next step? Well, the next step for people reading your blog posts wouldn't necessarily be to book a call with you right away, though. You could have that as an option. Maybe the next step for them is actually to get one of your free downloads.
Your free download should not be, here's how you can organize this yourself because you're not trying to sell. Yeah. Why? But it's more so like, here's what you can expect when working with a professional organizer, and it walks people through the emotional component of it. We're not gonna throw away your stuff. We're gonna help you make streamlined decisions. And then we're going to get the appropriate sized organizational things for your space. We're going to put it all together. We're going to teach you the organizational system so that it doesn't get screwed up within a week.
And then that's also when you can talk about the maintenance packages that you might offer so that they're not like, oh, so I hire you and then you're gone forever. Don't leave me like this. You know? And it's a great upsell, but as long as you're focusing that download on—here's how we are going to help you and not, here's how you're going to do it yourself.
People are going to get so much value out of that, and the value isn't necessarily the knowledge of, “okay, I'm gonna do this.” It's more like, okay, they're going to help me. They understand my problem. It's not going to disrupt my life. It's actually going to improve my life. Then once they get your download, because they had to sign up for it via their email address, now they're in your contact. You can't ignore them, okay?
Melissa Klug: There's a lot of untapped revenue in your mailing list, even if you've only got 12 people there. Even if it's 10 people. You guys, yes. It doesn't matter how small your list is, it really does not.
Kate the Socialite: So make sure that you're reaching out to them once a month. Now we get down to, okay, well, what could I say in that newsletter? You could talk about one of your previous clients, but if you don't have a lot of clients right now, that could be pretty hard to do.
So instead, you can talk about here's how I approach organizing the kitchen. You know, here's how I organize the cabinets. Here's why. And it's again, not DIY. And then you could also just talk about like, one of the newsletters that we have in my membership is the emotional cost of clutter. And then we also have one about how clutter eats equity. And that one's for people who are like trying to get ready to sell their home. But they've got so much stuff in it that when people come for showings, it's like I can't see past your stuff. And that can actually cost you big time, even when the market is hot. Sure, your home might sell, but it's not going to sell for what it could have sold if your stuff was just not in the way.
And so really taking people up to a bird's eye. and helping them understand that this is why organizing matters. It's not just about having Instagram perfect pantries. It actually has real world implications. And talking to them about that once a month in a newsletter, that's where we're seeing conversions happen.
People will click reply and they'll be like, I really need your help. When are you available? And all of a sudden they're just in a huge. because they're like, oh, I didn't know I needed this, but I need it and I need it now. And that's like the perfect situation. So, that's the sales funnel. Now people are getting to your site because you're blogging once or twice a month or they met you in person or someone referred them to you.
You have to have that blog to really engage with them. That lead magnet or the, the free download to capture their contact info and then the newsletter once a month to nurture them into a client. And that's what you can do. And you can do that in addition to being social, on social media. Right. Or you can do it completely in place of social media.
And here's the crazy thing I'm gonna throw out there. The return on investment for email marketing versus social is 40 times higher.
Melissa Klug: Okay. So I want everyone to like stop and absorb that because I do, I talk a lot about it's, and we're gonna talk about this, but email marketing is the most slept on thing in our business. I think it's something that people maybe know that they should be doing, but 40 times the return even, I assume you're gonna agree with this. With a small list.
Kate the Socialite: Even with a small list. And we have a lot of people who come to us and say, well, I only have 20 people on my list, or 60 people. Totally fine. Because those people will either refer you to someone else by forwarding your newsletter and then that third party ends up hiring you. We see that happen a lot more than I thought we would. Kind of surprising. But that's just because the word of mouth referral method is not dead. No, and that's why email marketing is not dead.
That's why it's worked for decades and will continue to work. So yeah, [00:12:00] if you have a small list, it shouldn't stop you from sending out a newsletter every single month. It should not be every day. It does not need to be every week. It should not be once a quarter, it should be every month. The timing and the consistency matter because if you're sporadic about it, then no, it's not going to work.
But nothing does. When you're sporadic, it's like going to the gym like, well, that, you know, I went for the month of January. Now it's March and I don't see results.
Melissa Klug: wonder why, right? Well, and I think anything in our business, you're exactly right, that consistency really matters. And so showing up one time is great, but showing up the 12th time is even more important. And getting that regular cadence together too is just building, that's building a habit that then is gonna take you throughout the rest of your business.
Kate the Socialite: Yeah. And usually at this point in the conversation, people are like, well, what if I don't have any list? Yeah. Like, well, okay, if you're brand new to organizing and you, you probably don't have contacts, that's okay. vThere are a couple different things you can do.
Number one, put all your friends and family on your mailing list because they are your biggest cheerleaders. Number two, get a lead magnet on your website if you don't have one—get a website that's like a no brainer. You absolutely have to have that before you can really start marketing yourself.
So the lead magnet is just something that is tailored to your ideal clients and people are like, ah, what's an ideal client? Yeah, just somebody that you wanna work with and you know what their pain points are. Maybe you wanna specialize in helping them with one area of the home specifically, or you just wanna specialize in a certain type of person in general.
But when you know your ideal client, you'll be able to then entice them into your mailing list.
Melissa Klug: Well, and I, I think that sometimes what happens is people get overwhelmed. So where you go in your head is, I'd like to do the thing that I understand, and usually the thing that people understand is I pretty much understand how to put something on Instagram and Facebook, so that's what I'm going to do. Some of these other things might be a little bit next level about, well, I don't know how to do a lead magnet.
I don't even understand what that is. I don't know how to do an email. Like, how do I do a mass email to people? And then that kind of stops it, it just, that progress then stops because you're not sure how to do it. Yeah. And so we gravitate toward the thing that's easy versus let's do, and I'm promising you and Kate would say the same thing.
There are easy ways to do all these things that we were talking about. These are not things that require huge knowledge or huge. Expenditure or huge, tech involvement.
Kate the Socialite: yes, and that's really what I've built my business model around, because I wanted it to be simple and I didn't want it to be an online course that taught people how to do their own marketing because they just don't have time and there's nothing that I could do to give them more time except do this for them. So that's why we have that done for you service model, which is still, I would say, semi custom. And that's why we're able to keep the price point at such a manageable level for people.
But knowing what to say in an email newsletter is extremely hard when you're not really in the marketing mindset all the time. Right? And I see a lot of people say, okay, well I'll try email marketing, or I did try it and it did not work. And then they share, well, here's what I'm doing. I'm putting my latest blog post, my recent vacation highlights, and a bunch of other things in my newsletter. And people aren't really responding to it.
They're not clicking, they're not even opening it anymore. And that is a telltale sign that they're just overthinking it. Yeah. I mean, don't we all just overthink the heck out of everything in our businesses? I don't know why, but we do. So again, it goes back to simplification. You have one point that you're trying to make in a newsletter.
You have one call to action, you put a picture of yourself, a short little bio, and that is so darn effective. Yeah. Because people are like, okay, I know who you are. I underst and what you can do for me, I need you. I need help.
Melissa Klug: And I think you've said a couple things that I harp on a lot, which is, one, show yourself. Because people hire you, the person, they want to know who they're connecting with. They wanna connect with you, that service provider, by the way, even if you have a team that's gonna show up, they still want to connect with you, that person. And then also, we do not have to overthink. The content so much that we then don't put anything out.
It does not have to be a book length. It does not have to be 6,000 words. In fact, that probably hampers your success like it does. It's very, very simple. One point, like you said, one call to action, something about yourself. Boom, you are done. Mm-hmm. , I, I think that that's the biggest thing is people think it has to be some like huge, huge thing.
And it doesn't, right?
Kate the Socialite: Because a newsletter that's too long will stop getting opened and it also just completely loses effectiveness. If you have that much to say, make it a blog post. Yep. But I would also then caution people again, sending out an email saying, Hey, go check out my latest blog post and call that their newsletter, because all they're doing is actually sending people backwards in the sales cycle.
When people find you online and they go to your website, they get in your mailing list and now they receive your newsletter. If all your newsletter does is send them back to your website, at what point are they supposed to contact you? Yeah. And so that's why the call to action needs to be book a discovery call or book a consultation, however your internal workflow looks that's what they should do next.
And they do have to be told exactly what to do. And I don't know if this is just like a woman thing or what, but we do have a hard time telling people what we want them to do. Yeah.
Melissa Klug: And we, we, I think we don't wanna be bossy and be like, go do this thing we want, we want 'em to arrive there by themselves. But especially with organizing clients. They're so chaotic in their brain and they're disorganized, so they might not know. They appreciate that kindness of here's exactly what I want you to do.
Kate the Socialite: Well, that's just it. It is a kindness to them to be like, okay, you need help with your home? I can help you click here. And they're like, huh, okay. So you're not gonna like, have to just tell me what I need to do. You're just going to interview me about my situation and then come do it for me. That's amazing.
Melissa Klug: And it could just be that you, you give them that information about here's what to expect. You might have an email newsletter that says, Hey, have you, have you been overwhelmed by what is the process? Here's my process. Mm-hmm. You can keep it really, really simple for them and tell them exactly what they're going to expect, because some people are afraid of the unknown.
Kate the Socialite: Yep. And I'm glad that you mentioned that, because we do have newsletters specific to the how we work and the process. Because there are a lot of people that don't know, like, why are they just going to throw away my stuff? Yes. Are they even gonna ask me? Right. What if I'm attached to some of this, like the emotional and mental health component that comes into play when organizing or decluttering?
That's a big deal. And it's also a great way for you to justify the rates you're charging if you break down, here's what I'm doing for you. So that when you get onto to the bottom of it and they look at your price, they're like, oh, that's reasonable. I see why it costs that. I was talking to an organizer just yesterday who's like, you know, people spend $10,000 with me.
They do it because number one, they don't have to do any of the work. But number two, they see how much labor goes into this, how much it's, it's not like we just snap our fingers and Wow. The pantry is beautiful.
Melissa Klug: One of the things we talked about yesterday we had a Zoom call with one of, one of the groups of students that we work with and we were talking about sometimes people feel useless when like a client is going through stuff and they're like, well, I'm kind of just standing there.
I'm like, Nope, you're not just standing there. Actually, you are a holding them accountable. You are holding mm-hmm. Time for them. You, otherwise they're gonna be on the couch watching Netflix. you are, because that's a lot more enjoyable, right? Mm-hmm. like you are actually helping them move forward and that is, that's a mental health service.
It's everything. And people are happy to pay for that.
Kate the Socialite: Yes. Because. You're holding them accountable. You're also the coach. You're the emotional support. They need to be like, you can do this. Nope, just one more. Okay. What do you think? Do you, do you use this? When was the last time you used it? Do you really need four of them? You know, prompting them through that. That's a very good service to offer.
Melissa Klug: It's reducing decision fatigue. Especially like you said, a lot of the people we work with are busy moms. They have families, a lot of them have jobs. It's, you are really actually offering them that burden. Removing the burden of all of that decision fatigue. That's a really, really big deal.
Kate the Socialite: Yes. And if. Organizers market their services from the standpoint of look at how much I'm helping people. They won't have to feel gross about their marketing anymore because you're not trying to like squeeze ball your way into someone paying you money for something that doesn't help them. Right? It's a tremendous help. And so there is a mindset shift and a little bit of a confidence thing that has to happen there because if you're not confident, if you don't believe in the services you're offering, that does show through your market. .
Melissa Klug: Absolutely. It shows through remarketing. It also shows on consultations. You are exactly right that you have to be confident in your own message because that shines through in everything that you put out, whether it's personally or whether it's behind a computer screen.
The one thing that I always want tol tell people too is please don't be intimidated by some of these things. There are systems that you can put into place whether you work with Kate or whether you do it on your own, but especially with a blog post, if writing is not your jam, but you can talk. Do voice dictation on your notes app and just talk about what you want to say. And that turns into words that then you can modify. Like, you do not have to be overly intimidated or say, well, I'm not a writer, I'm not a copywriter. Be yourself and use your voice. And that makes all the difference.
Kate the Socialite: Yes. I, and I like that dictation tip. One of my friends runs a custom blogging studio and she partnered with me to offer blog post templates. Oh, nice. And yeah. And she always tells people, okay, as you're filling out the blog post template, just record your voice. It needs to sound like you anyway.
Don't try to be something that you're not. And you don't have to be a writer if you're just not a writer. Right. And it's funny because some people will join me membership, and they're like, okay, I need newsletters, I need blog posts. I need a lead magnet. No idea what lead magnet is anyway, and we'll get them all set up with these things.
And then after a few months they're like, you know what? I think I've got this. I think I can just go do it on my own. And then they do. Then they get so busy with work, they come back and they're like, okay, I'm just gonna have you do all of this. And if you're busy to deal with it, yeah. . And, but they're so happy to say that they're so happy, so confident. Like, I have all these clients now and I've got a waiting list, so I am going to happily pay you to take this back on for me because even though I know how to do it, my time is more lucrative when it's spent elsewhere.
Melissa Klug: I had this conversation with my business bestie yesterday, and we were talking about when you make those decisions in your business of what is, what is my time worth. What is it going to be for me to create this thing versus to pay someone to create this thing for me? And there is a cost benefit analysis of all of that, but you can free yourself up and give yourself the permission that I want to be able to spend time with clients or generating other clients or doing in-person networking or whatever it is that looks like for your business. But there are always routes that you can take.
Kate the Socialite: Yeah. Because it's not set in stone. If you're outsourcing it right now, you don't have to outsource it forever. Or if you're doing it by yourself right now, you don't have to do it by yourself forever. Right. You just allow yourself the freedom of flexibility.
Melissa Klug: It does not have to be a one size fits all thing. It, it can be what works for you, but just want to give you the ability to say, I need to do what actually works. And something we said about social media is what does the data say? And I think sometimes we're afraid to look at actual numbers. We just are afraid to say, well, oh, but this isn't working. Cool. It's not working, so let's do something different.
Kate the Socialite: to be totally honest, I am not a numbers girl. I don't like them at all.. I like running my business, but I hired my husband last year to be C F O because he likes numbers. Yeah. And I'm like, because I just, I just can't, I don't do it well. However, the peace of mind that comes with looking at data, looking at analytics, then being able to make an informed, confident decision of, all right, I'm going to stop doing this, or I'm going to invest a little more in this because this is actually working. This is working. That's called being a business owner.
Melissa Klug: Well, what do you see moving forward for? So, we should have said this at the beginning. Kate doesn't just work with organizers, you work with interior designers, home stagers, you are in the home pro business. What are you seeing from all of these adjacent services in terms of what this year is going to look like?
Kate the Socialite: So, 2023 Is a weird year. Because obviously, at least in the states, we've got an economy that's going up and down. But the people who have been marketing consistently throughout, the pandemic even before that, they're doing extremely well. They're booked out. If you're starting your business right now, don't be discouraged, because even in the best economy, the first years in business it's building. Yes. And you're gonna build and build and not see the results, and then all of a sudden the results will be there and you're gonna be like, whoa, I did. , you know, it's the best feeling.
But what I'm seeing is the people who know what's working are confidently investing in more, and the people who are like new or money is tight because they haven't been marketing consistently, or at least not in the ways their business needed them to.
They're like, okay. I'm bootstrapping it. Teach me how to do this, I'm gonna do it myself. Yep. And I'm happy to say that the people we work with and the people we want to attract are tough ones. The go-getters who have been through it, and a lot of them are solopreneurs. And we, we work with men and women, but primarily it's women that are attracted to our services and. We just connect with them on that level of, like myself and all my team members, like we all have kids. We know it's hard to have a career and raise your children. So that means everything you do in your business, every minute you spend in your business needs to matter. It needs to count, needs to be intentional.
Melissa Klug: Well, and I will also say just as 2023 rolls out, you know, the, we've been just collectively as a universe, we've been through a lot in the last few years. Okay. And every year feels a little bit, you know, every year you're kind of like, what, what's gonna happen this year? But we have to be ready as business owners for anything and 2023, we don't know what it will bring. But even if the, at least the US economy, if there are signs that, it might be slowing down a little bit, people who are willing to invest in our services are always going to be available, even in a bad economy, that are going to be people that are willing to invest in services. And so, yes, keeping heart that it does not have to be a booming economy to do what we do, I think is important.
Kate the Socialite: Yeah, some of the most successful businesses today were started back in 2008. When we really did have a huge crash. So don't, because it's easy to make excuses.
Cause I, I know I did in the early days of my business, I'm like, well, I don't have any connections. Well, the economy's not good. Well, well nothing, you know, we all just get over yourself because you can do it and you're gonna have, you're gonna feel so proud of yourself and I mean, that is success. Yeah. It's success is not really the number in your bank account. It's the lifestyle that you get to create for your family as a result of you taking risks and working hard because it is hard work.
Melissa Klug: It is. It's not simple. I came from a corporate life. And when I first started my business, it was, you know, it's the first year, you have to be ready to, it is building time. You, you know, I was not replacing the income that I used to have in my old job and my husband said something to me, because I had like kind of a down day where I'm like, oh my gosh, maybe I've made a huge mistake and what was I thinking?
And by the way, we all have those days, so please just call alone if you think that. And my husband just looked at me and he said, you cannot put a price on your happiness. And he goes, you are such a happier, nicer person because you're happy, you love what you do. You love what you do and there is not a price tag that you can put on that. Sometimes you need to have those moments of, it's not just about the bank account, it's about a lot of other life quality things.
Kate the Socialite: Yes. Yes. My husband, sometimes we get husbands that are just so smart, they just say the smartest things, you know? Yeah. And other times it's like, eh, I don't know where that came from!! But he was like, I feel like a millionaire. And I was like, okay. Why? Like, well, because we have a team. I can work for you and set my own hours. But I feel like a millionaire because we can live the life that we wanna live. That's, that's wild. That's crazy.
Melissa Klug: And you said it earlier, but something that you built. I get a lot of confidence from that of like, I built this thing from nothing, And it feels really good to be able to, to say that I built this thing and I'm proud of it.
Kate the Socialite: Yes. It's really, really challenging in ways that you don't expect. And there will be seasons where it's easier in seasons where it's harder. And then the, of course, those moments where it's like, why did I ever think this was a good idea? Like, what ? But it's a legacy really. And I think that's what we're getting at here. It's about do you wanna build your legacy or do you not? And the majority of people do.
Melissa Klug: and it's not about the size of your business either. If you want a six figure business, amazing. But you could have one client a month and it's a passion project for you and you have done it. It is about what your goals are for your life and your business and your world, and achieving those. So it's not about the size of your bank account, it's not about the size of your client base, and it's not about the size of your email list,
Kate the Socialite: or your Yeah. Anything , anything. It's definitely not the size of your social media following. The vanity metrics don't matter, but I also, I would say what is more important than knowing how to market your business correctly is knowing how to manage your money correctly. Because if you can manage your money correctly, even if you only have a little bit of it coming in, you're going to be able to afford more things. Like, number one, you're gonna be able to afford to pay yourself. Number two, you can afford to reinvest by marketing. Because when I'm working with a lot of the newer organizers and designers, they're like, I need to work with you, but I can't afford you.
And I'm like, okay, well, when you're new, I mean, I get it. I do. You gotta bootstrap the heck out of it. But at some point you've got to get control of those numbers. And you have to understand, this is my budget, this is what's going here and why, this is how much I'm allocating for taxes. It if money management is more important than marketing. Truly.
Melissa Klug: The other thing too that I talk about the concept of investing with people is sometimes people will say, I don't have the revenue right now, or I don't have the funds for your program, which to again, totally understand. I do want people be responsible with their money. The other thing you have to think about sometimes though, is, are you going to get to that end goal much faster? Our goal is if you buy one of our programs, you are gonna make that money back instantly. You know, we, we teach you the things that you are going to make that money back.
And the same thing I know with, with what you do is mm-hmm. , your goal is that you make that investment and make that. Not instantaneously, but you make that back quickly. Yeah. And so at those times too, you need to know, hey, manage your money to a point where you can invest in the right things that are going to help you grow exponentially.
Kate the Socialite: Yeah. And there are a lot of hidden things that we pay for as business owners. I mean, the online subscriptions to this, that, and the other thing, the apps that we actually don't need. And I'm not hating on social media managers because maybe you need one, but if you don't need one, then don't pay for one.
Like if you're boosting posts or ads, stop. Yes. Because that money is valuable and can be used elsewhere. Not necessarily with pro organizer or with me. Yeah. But I'm just saying like in general, you could just be pocketing that.
Melissa Klug: I completely agree. And this is not a sales pitch. It is just a matter of saying, know those numbers and don't do outlays of money in your business that are not getting you something in return. Always know that. Return on investment.
Kate the Socialite: Yep. Go. If you've got a business credit card, go through that statement every month. Because if you signed up for something and either you didn't realize it was a monthly recurring charge. Or if you, you'd renew it when you signed up, but you forgot that you had it. Yep. Or if you've got things, you're paying for it, but you could actually downgrade to the free plan that they offer. Right. Just do it because those things add up.
Melissa Klug: Also just a pro tip, I'm a fairly experienced business owner, or you know, mid experience. I've been doing this for a few years and I had one the other day that I got caught on. It was a seven day free trial and then I forgot about it and all of a sudden I have this $169 charge and I'm like, . So that's, it can happen to the best of us, but yes, you're exactly right. Go through that statement. Go, know your numbers or hire someone in your house that knows your numbers. one of those
Kate the Socialite: things. I mean, that's what I did. Cause I'm like, ugh. Gotta find someone who's better at this .
Melissa Klug: Yes, exactly. Well, what, what is next for you kind of personally, what do you, what do you feel about your business?
Kate the Socialite: So we are making a lot of internal changes in Socialite in 2023. And obviously with this little boy talking in the background. Yeah. He's also my main focus along with my three and a half year old. So this is what I always wanted to do though. I wanted to create a business that would let me be a mom.
And instead of trying to fit my personal life around my business. So thankfully I work in an industry where people are very understanding of children. But yeah, we're making a lot of changes. Just branching out in new ways trying to offer even more value to our vault members. As of February 1st, everyone who's a member gets access to blog post templates. And currently the old method was you have to be on an upgraded package for it. But now, everyone gets them, that's so everyone can improve their SEO and can have that full out content marketing sales funnel. So yeah, very excited about that. But just putting together all the background bits and pieces that have to go into effect. It's not as simple as saying, oh, you guys get this now. I mean, there's like a whole backend spider web of things, but it's good and I love it.
Melissa Klug: That's awesome. Well, we want everybody who's listening to create the business that works for them and their life, whatever that life looks like. And whether you just want more freedom in your life to go travel or, you know, just take naps every day. By the way, that's my dream. I would like to take nap. But whatever that looks like in your business, we just, we want women to be able to create that life that they love. And it is, it's out there.
Kate the Socialite: It is. And also remembering that like, well, this is my personal belief, so I'm just gonna say that first of all. But I believe that we were all put here for a specific reason and purpose, and that we were given the skills that we need in order to accomplish it. Sometimes we have to hone those skills, like, it doesn't, it's not necessarily just handed to us, but just knowing that you have a purpose here and that your career choice and your choice to have your own business impacts the lives of so many people for the better. It's kinda a big deal.
Melissa Klug: It's a big deal. And especially with what we do in the home industry. It is not just putting things in pretty containers, it's giving people a life that is better for them to lead. And that is, I think, such a service of what we do and, and not to minimize that, I think is really important. Well, thank you so much for all of this information!
Melissa Klug: And where can people find you on the internet? .
Kate the Socialite: Yes. If you go to katethesocialite.com, you can get connected with all the different services that we offer. You can book our call, you can send me a message, all the things.
Melissa Klug: Yes. And a lot of the people in our Inspired Organizer program and that, listen to this podcast use your services, it really, it saves a ton of time and a ton of effort, and we love what you do also listen to her podcast for realsies because even though sometimes it's about, you know, maybe another part of the home industry, I always get amazing gems from it. So please go listen to the Kate Show,
Kate the Socialite: Yes, the Kate Show. You can find it. Spotify, apple. Pretty much anywhere you get podcasts.
Melissa Klug: Thank you for talking to us!
Kate the Socialite: I appreciate it. Thank you for having us.
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