How to duplicate yourself with Content Creator-turned-Expert VA Chellie Petersen - 48

This is Law and Wit, Episode 48, How to Duplicate Yourself with content creator turned expert VA, Shelley Peterson.

Welcome to Law and Wit, Creative Counsel for Entrepreneurs. I'm your host, Brittany Rettell, mother of 4, entrepreneur, naptime lawyer, and attorney for creative entrepreneurs. I'm here to share inspiration and action so that you can tackle your business blocks and confidently own your business in every sense of the word. Thank you so much for being here.

Hello everybody and welcome back. I'm so excited to have you guys here to join us. So today we're going to be talking about all things help. How do you get help? How do you keep help? How do you make sure that you're using good helper dollars in the best place possible, especially with that first hire? Okay, and so with that, I wanted to go right to an expert, and so I reached out to my friend Shelley Peterson. Okay, so Michelle Peterson, but affectionately we call her Shelley. You might know from her days of the Mumsie Blog, which was a really cute parenting blog, but she's a busy mom of 4 who now uses her skills to help other creatives and influencers multiply themselves, okay? She helps them, she provides advanced VA skills and specializes in video editing, content creation, and social media management, okay? She helps busy creatives and influencers extend themselves, okay? And she takes over tasks that maybe people shouldn't be doing or they're taking too long at, or frankly they just don't have time for. You know, as she describes it, you know that notebook of ideas of things that you want to do and are not getting done, Shelly takes care of that, okay? She takes that notebook, she runs with it, and she gets it done. So I'm so excited to have her share her wisdom of kind of the path she took from transitioning from having her own blog, of being a content creator, um, to because of where her kids were and kind of some, uh, you know, transitions in her life, she decided that she wanted to move into this role as more of a freelancer and someone running her own virtual assistant firm. And that's what she's doing today. So without further ado, um, let's welcome Shelly Peterson.

Hello everyone and welcome back. I'm so excited to introduce our guest today. We have on here, uh, Shelley Peterson, and she is a really talented blogger and influencer and now helps people run their businesses. Um, and so we're so excited to have her on here and talk to us on Law and Wit about all things getting help.

Yes, I'm excited to be here. Thanks for having me.

Of course, of course. So, um, well, let's just start us off? Why don't you tell us a little bit about your origin story? How did you kind of get to be in the space that you are now and helping clients, um, and, you know, this kind of crazy new, you know, internet marketing influencer world?

Yeah, for sure. Um, so first off, I never ever saw myself doing anything like this in a million years. My, my background is in elementary education. I have two degrees. In that field of work and taught for a couple years and then had a surprise baby and that kind of set me on a different track. By that point I had two little kids and I had big chunks of time in the afternoon when both of them would be napping and I'd have all my other stuff done and I'd have a bunch of free time. That was great at first as a young mom with two kids, but then Suddenly it's like, you know, I kind of had done everything I really wanted to do during nap time and I realized I have all of these talents and skills that are kind of getting put on the top shelf that I still want to use and make sure they don't get rusty. So I started a motherhood-based website called The Mumsy Blog and it was all about being, mainly focusing on being a stay-at-home mom and I would share tips and tricks that other stay-at-home moms could do and put a lot of plugins with education since that's where my background was. Fun educational tips and tricks that moms could do at home with their kids. And that slowly grew and it became a, it became a pretty big local website. And that segued into me doing monthly live segments for a local news station. And that was a lot of fun. I did that between the news and my blog. I did that for about 5 years, a little over 5 years. And then I went through a divorce, also something I never thought would happen with my life and the plan I had for myself, but you know, stuff that you don't ever plan on happening usually happens in your life. And as much as I wanted to keep doing my blog, my blog had just gotten to the point where I either needed to hire out, which you know, we all talk about later because that's now what I do, I am a hire out, but I either had to hire out and have people help me run my site, or I had to hire help to watch my kids. And due to financial circumstances from my marriage, I didn't have the funding to do that, and it was too overwhelming, and I was having a really hard time being a one-woman show. And I just thought, you know, I need to stop. It's not making me happy anymore. I'm not enjoying it, and I'm a big believer in that. And I just thought I need to kind of switch gears, and so I took a little hiatus and put my blogging on hold and found myself kind of in a similar situation. I now have 5 years' worth of skill sets that I gained from being a blogger, and I don't want those to go to waste. I worked really hard to get those skill sets. What can I do? I still need to bring in some money. You know, child support and alimony is covering a good majority of some things, but I still had gaps and needed to make ends meet. I am with this divorce between my, my ex and I, we had agreed for us personally that we didn't want our kids to go to daycare. I have nothing against that with other parents who do that, but for our kids, it just wasn't something that was right for them. And so we decided to have me be the main stay-at-home parent. And that makes it hard, you know, when you want to bring in money and your income has been slashed in half. And I thought, you know, I know a lot about content creation. Video editing, consulting, all of that stuff. I'm going to be a virtual assistant. I have a lot of experience. I know how the industry works. I know influencers very well. I can speak their language and do their lingo. And so I created a new website called ShellyPete.com and I offer a bunch of my services there and that's where I am today.

That's awesome. So I love about Your story, Shelley, is that you, um, you know, you've, you've had some twists and turns that were unexpected in terms of what you were going to do with your skill sets, and yet you kind of embraced that, um, and you were thoughtful about what are you good at, um, what do you enjoy, where is a good intersection of some skills that you have, and also what the, what the market is going to reward. I think sometimes, um, sometimes some of us as creatives or creative entrepreneurs, you know, we think, well, I'm really good at this, and we kind of, you know, like get mad at the universe or whatever that people aren't paying, or, you know, or there's not an alignment in terms of that, that value for what our skill set is. Um, and I think you were really smart in that you looked at, okay, these are, you know, a Venn diagram. This is all the things that I know that I'm good at. Um, but also what are people paying for and what makes sense with this circumstance in this season of my life.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, so it's turned out to be quite a good gamble that I made on myself for sure.

Um, and so, you know, kind of walk us through what do you do for people now? You know, what's kind of your typical thing that you do for your clients as a VA? Yeah.

Yeah. So as a VA, I'm originally, when I started, I did a big push on video editing. Um, I'm self-taught, use iMovie, just basics. And so my niche, I think also, you know, it is very important to niche yourself in where your best skill sets are. And, and mine was on when I was blogging, I had my own little YouTube video, and so I learned, you know what, the best tips and tricks for kind of filming your own videos and doing it on your own. You don't have the money for a film crew and for someone to edit your content afterwards. I learned all that. And so as I shifted gears into being a virtual assistant, I put all my focusing on video editing for mommy bloggers, mommy YouTubers who were kind of in the same situation I found myself in back when I was doing my YouTube channel. They could, you know, they could sit down in front of a camera and film the video, but then where are they going to find the time, you know, the 2 to 3 hours it takes to put together a YouTube video? They could do it, but they, they probably would have been doing what I did back in the day, which would be putting the kids to bed and then start editing the video and go to bed at 2 in the morning if you're lucky. And so I knew there was a big need for that. Things have been shifting gears in the influencer world. Video is kind of where it's at these days. And if you have a blog, you kind of need to have a YouTube channel. And so I just started reaching out to a bunch of my friends that I knew were influencers and moms and making that same transition into video and saying, hey, let me edit your videos for you. I've even created a packet that you can get on my website, ShellyPete.com, that kind of walks you through all the basics and things you need to know before you sit down and film. A video.

Oh, so helpful.

Yeah, you on that. Or I was just giving away this packet for free, you know, just as a, as an, as a help, because I think, you know, as women we really do need to stick together and help each other out. I'm a big believer in that. Um, and so originally that's where all my client work was coming from, was these moms reaching out to me and saying, hey, I do need help with this. I can sit and film a video, but I have no clue how to edit it, or I have no time. To edit it. And then fast forward to now and where I'm at, I actually have stopped doing video, video editing. The clients that had me doing that had moved on to some other things and, you know, wanted to put that on hold. And that's one thing that's interesting about freelance work is you, you never know how long you're going to have your clients for and what you're going to be doing for the length of time that you're doing it for. And so now I'm doing a lot of brand outreach for clients. I have influencers who have reached out to me and said, hey, I need help making deals with people and, and getting things because I just don't have the time. Like, I can do it, but I don't have the time to sit down and do it. So now I'm doing that and I'm kind of doing more of some agent work, which has been really fun. And I've had that. And then I here and there still do some content creation for some bloggers and influencers where I write articles for their website. And kind of repurpose stuff or, you know, take things that they've done and yeah, get for them and then, um, answer some occasional questions if they have it. So some consulting along with that.

Yeah, very cool. Well, you're just like a Jill of all trades here. I love the, um, yeah, especially what you talked about, the reaching out and, you know, doing brand outreach work. So, um, because I think the, the process of pitching and approaching brands is such, you know, shrouded in mystery and is really overwhelming for a lot of people when they first get going. Um, So, you know, what, you know, if you were giving someone the tips, if you had, you know, some mommy blogger who was just fresh on the scene and was like, how do I do that or where do I get started, what would be your tips for them, you know, to try to be more successful? Yeah.

You know, if they were doing it themselves and not hiring out someone to do it, you know, I would point them in the direction of their e-courses and things that you can get, some really good ones like Pitch It Perfect is a really good one that I actually used for myself. To kind of educate myself better on that. So I would say obviously, you know, educate yourself first. Maybe talk to some other influencers who are currently doing it themselves as well and pick their brain. I, you know, like I said, again, we have this great network of women here, and if we can just all open up some more and help each other out, it's amazing what we can all learn from one another. So the e-courses, like Allison's influencer marketing course. Yeah, and she does a really, really good one. Allison Faulkner of The Allison Show, she's fabulous. And then talk to people in your community, in the blogger community, influencer community, see what they're doing, see what mistakes they made that they wouldn't do again or things that are working well for them. You can learn from both of those. And then from there, really, it's all about trial and error and tweaking things as you go and saying, okay, hey, I reached out to this company, this didn't work that well, so I need to go back and maybe tweak this and do it a little differently here. But, you know, be brave and do it. You can sit there and drag your feet forever. I think a great way to kind of jump into that before you're just reaching out to businesses is there are a bunch of branding networker networks, branding networks for influencers out there. Um, some of my favorite are Social Native, Acorn Influencer. Um, there was another one I just learned of. Oh, they're like Reward Style, all of these. And they set it up for you and then you go in and answer some questions. Um, but that's a, that's one great way to do it. And then from there, as you start doing that, um, you kind of get a feel for how those go. Start finding brands. Just make a list of brands that you wanna work with and then get in contact with them. I mean, you can send 'em an email, but sometimes the easiest way I would tell people who ask this question is, how do I even get in touch with these people, is hit 'em up on Instagram, shoot 'em a DM, get on their Facebook, shoot 'em a quick message. And it just, keep it short and sweet when you're first reaching out to them. Hey, I'm so-and-so, I, Give them a compliment. I love this comp— your company because I would love to work with you. Can you point me in the right direction of who I can chat more with about forming a collaboration or a featured project with you? Yeah, and then let it go from there.

Exactly. Oh, I love that. Yeah, so, so succinct tips for moving forward. And, and yeah, I think, um, in, in terms of being smart and savvy about what are the brands that are natural fit for whatever your content is, whatever your niche is, and to look for, um, yeah, I mean, you know, people hear, you know, all the time and they'll say, you know, look for who you're already talking about or who that you have all over your home and whatnot. Those are probably going to be brands that are going to be a really close fit and aligned with the what you're giving to your audience already.

Exactly. Yeah, you just don't want— because that's exactly right, you don't want to just work with anybody. You want to make sure the brands that you're working with are true to your own branding and to your audience because you can lose audience members and followers by brand, by featuring content that isn't original and true to who you are as an individual.

And that's off-brand for you.

Yeah, it's off-brand, and they'll catch on to that super fast.

The audiences are savvy now. So, and it's not to say that you can't— you, you can and should, and it's okay to monetize your content, but you need to be smart about it.

So yeah, you need to be smarter. Yeah, don't just do it to make the money. You also need to do it to you know, stay true to your brand and grow your brand.

Exactly. So, um, well, when you, um, you know, when you reach out and are looking at, um, you know, when kind of starting that process of like brand and outsource or whatnot, um, you know, what role does legal play in that process or really any of your other processes that you have? Because, you know, I, I see those contracts later on when like we're reviewing them, but like what, you know, when people even just start those discussions, um, you know, what do you see that people are doing great and what do you see maybe that people are having messing up or not seeing? Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, you know, for me, I originally didn't even have contracts for myself when I would have people wanting to work with me. And I was— luckily, luckily for me, I have not been jaded by anybody yet. I have heard horror stories, and as I've heard those horror stories, I was like, I— this is so silly. Why do I not have something for myself? Like, it's so important to protect yourself. And it's not, it's not the mindset that you're always going to get burned, but you need to have that safety net there for yourself just in case. And so, you know, for me as a virtual assistant, as I have people reaching out to me, I'll just have a discussion with them first. And then once we have the agreement to work together on whatever project it is, I, you know, I have a contract as such where it's a main outline, but then I go in and tweak it. Dependent on the, the project or the work that I'm doing, and then I send it to them and it has the stipulation. Sometimes it's just a one-time project, sometimes it's a, hey, I need you to do this for a couple months, and everything's listed in there. Um, it, it covers, you know, you're— you've agreed to, to use my services for this amount of time, this is what you're having me do it for, you've agreed to pay this fee that I charge on this date, and then they sign it, and then I just— I send them a copy, I keep a copy and it's very simple, but it gives me that safety net that I need. And people who aren't even virtual assistants, I think anyone who is offering a service, whether it's a blogger, an influencer, a YouTuber, they need to have contracts because we're always— it's not a one-person show. We're always working with somebody at some point.

Yeah, you're going to have a freelancer, something as part of your team. There is no one, you know, or no, no smart and savvy person who gets very far in this business who is doing all— wearing all these hats and not having help.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Especially when they get to the point of hiring out and hiring out someone like me. Like, I think they need to have a contract as well, which I have had. I had it once. I worked with a really big influencer and she had a contract for me to sign as well. And I thought that was, that was great. You need to have those on both ends.

Yeah. Because you're an independent contractor and, you know, there's, there's stuff that you're touching as part of the business that's, you know, you're seeing a little bit behind the curtain and there needs to be some discussion of what does that look like. And especially because you're getting a handle on numbers and compensation and, you know, you know, real, real stuff, really important stuff.

Exactly. Yeah. And you don't need to be a big influence. I think some people think, well, I'm not to that point where I need one, I'm not huge yet, or I don't have this big following yet. But that is not— I mean, you can get burned at any level, at any level. So whether, you know, you have a smaller following or a big following, I think Everybody in this industry should, should have contracts and legal work in place to protect themselves.

Yeah. So, and brands are okay with that now, and they expect it. It's not a weird thing. It doesn't make you funny. No, you know, no.

I think in the past, yeah, I think brands were kind of like, why, why? But brands are smart now too and have been educated. And I think there, there's not that— the awkwardness that used to be there or the confrontation that may have been there in the past is no longer there.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. You know, I agree with you there. So, um, so what should someone look like? You know, you, you mentioned kind of what, what point they might know when they need a VA, and it's when they're finding they, they don't have time for tasks, they, they find theirself, you know, burning the candle at both ends. Um, you know, but what should they be looking to hire a good VA? You know, there's, there's, you know, big websites you can go and, you know, huge pools, or they can go and look, um, in other places. But, you know, what, what do you recommend, um, you know, to look for in a good VA that'll be a good match for somebody?

Um, you know, I think number one is sit down and look at what you do best when it comes to your business. What are you doing best? And you keep doing that, right? Because you, you know you're the best at it. And then when it comes to everything else that you know you're not the best at, start hiring out for that. Um, I always— I'm a big believer in word of mouth. I actually do minimal advertising for my, my work that I do as a virtual assistant. Number one, because I just, I don't have the time to right now as a single mom. Any time I do have is spent on client work. So it's hard for me. I mean, being a former influencer, I know the importance and the power in having a social media platform and all of that. I'm just not at a place right now where I can, and I've accepted that. But I am a huge believer in word of mouth, and so I think a great place to start when you know you need to hire out and get help for certain areas in your business is go to other people who are doing what you're doing and say, hey, I need someone to edit videos, or I need someone to help with my content creation, and say, do you know of anybody? Have you used anybody that you would recommend? Another great place to do that is join, join Facebook forums. There are tons of blogging and influencer Facebook forums out there that you can join, and you pop that question up and you'll get responses right away. And you can even search for it in the search engines that are on those Facebook forums. You could type in, in that little search engine, virtual assistant, and it will pop up posts that people put within those forums advertising their work or questions, similar questions that other people have asked with links to people. And those are great ways to find people that, that other people have used and trust or recommend.

Yeah. And would you, would you say that, that like people should be prepared to have some references or to have kind of a portfolio or, you know, to be able to just show something, you know, when in, in that hiring process when you're looking at working with somebody, you know, there should be something that you should be able to see that kind of gives them an idea of their previous work and, you know, what they've done for people?

Yeah. 100%. Um, so for me personally, like I said, I don't have the social media platforms. I have my personal social media platform at Shelly Peete that has a link to my website on it, but I have created a website and I also have a media kit, which is basically your online resume. Um, and that has a list of all the clients I've worked with. I've also made sure for myself as a virtual assistant, when I've— as I've worked with clients over the— let's see, it's been almost a year and a half, um, which is crazy to think. Time flies. But, um, I've asked clients I've worked with in the past to write a, like, a recommendation— or not a recommendation, but a testimonial. That's the word I'm looking for. A testimonial. Thank you, mom brain. A testimonial. And I actually have a page on my website that is specifically devoted to testimonials and then links to those clients' websites, pages that have my work on it.

Gotcha.

And then on my website as well, I also in other areas I have links, links to examples of my work, whether it be content creation, video editing, but you do, you do need something. So for me personally, when I jump on those Facebook forums to promote my services, I'll do a link specifically to the page on my website that has my testimonials and examples of my work.

And kind of let the, you know, the social proof and other people kind of speak for your work. Yeah, yeah, very, very smart. So yeah, and then, you know, in terms of what's a good fit, I think you were— you, you know, you said it, you know, look for someone who's complementing, you know, what it is that you need. And so you probably need to take some time to be self-assessing in terms of what, what things you really need to get done, and to be honest about your time constraints, your resource constraints, and, you know, what your budget is, and to get all that stuff done. Yeah.

Yeah, make sure you know exactly what you want. It'll make the process a lot easier when you're hiring out a virtual assistant because you can just get right to the work once you find that person that is a good fit for you.

So on the, on the flip, you know, have you seen anybody or have you seen either even clients even in hiring you, whatnot, seen people that maybe were wasting their resources or were not, they weren't in a place yet where it was taking, you know, it was being an inefficient use of a virtual assistant or like how can people kind of get this wrong?

Wrong versus— yeah, like versus not, right? Um, you know, in thinking, in thinking back, I really haven't seen anybody who's, who's wasted their time when it's come to hiring out for virtual assistant work and getting it wrong. Um, mainly because when they're, when they're hiring out, it's, it's because it's in an area they know that they need help in. Where I, where I have seen them, I guess, make a quote-unquote mistake is using a virtual assistant for too long who wasn't giving them the results that they deserved to get. And I actually, I have a really, a really good friend of mine, Sarah Tiao, who is amazing at what she does, and she's hired out recently to to have, or she did in the past, she hired out someone to help with, like, same thing, brand, brand outreaching and making connections with brands to, to get featured work with them using this person. And, and keep my fingers crossed that it eventually works out. Luckily, we're in an industry where there are plenty of people out there who are doing what I'm doing, and you can find that person. You just have to go back and do the same steps they did the first time. Word of mouth, search the Facebook forums, you can even do Google searches and you will find somebody who will be the perfect fit for you. But I would say that is the biggest mistake I see is people overpaying and not keeping tabs on these virtual assistants that they're using for certain things. Losing a lot of money, and then they end up losing time.

And right, and they're trying to fix it, and now there's more angst, and it was supposed to be a solution to stuff, and, you know, and it's hard. Yeah, no, then that is really hard. And, um, especially because if it's an area where, yeah, you just think, oh, maybe just having it go further will fix itself, and it's, it's awkward and it's conflict, and you know that it would be really hard to fire someone, to say, hey, this isn't working, we need to have a conversation about this. And so, um, I think that there's a huge temptation there, you're right, just to keep things in the status quo. But, um, but you need to be thoughtful and I probably ask yourself some hard questions like, if, if I knew like what this was, would I hire this person right now for this rate? And if you wouldn't, then that's not a good reason to keep paying someone every week, every month.

I know. And then you just, you get to the point where you just kind of need to put on your I'm a badass hat and have that hard conversation. I think people—

channel your inner Jensen Sherrow, whatever.

Turn on some Beyoncé, shake it out, do whatever you gotta do to have that conversation. And you know, my one piece of advice for that is if you need to have that hard conversation, sit down with a pen and paper beforehand, write down what you want to say, and then you can read off that as you're talking to them. So you don't— because there are so many times when I think people backtrack like, oh, okay, I'm sorry, yeah, we can, we can try this out again. And I'll give you another chance. Business is business, and if, if your virtual assistant that you have at the moment doesn't get that, then that's their problem. It's not yours. Let them go.

They'll learn it and you'll be better off and it won't be on your dime.

It won't be on your dime, which is what's most important.

Exactly. So amen. I think that's really important. So, oh, well, thanks for sharing that. And Sorry, sorry for your friend, but yeah, I think that's a tough spot. And I think you need to be careful about, you know, people who promise too much, you know. Um, you know, it's, it's maybe, you know, it's kind of like the old saying, if it sounds too good to be true, it maybe is, you know.

Um, in terms of— and one way— oh, sorry, go ahead.

No, I was just gonna say, yeah, I mean, I would look for, you know, what are people, um, promising in terms of, you know, what, what they've actually gotten and what's realistic, knowing that all of us are always, you know, we can't control the actions of other people. We can't control the algorithm. We can't control whether people respond to your emails. Always like, you know, let's look at realistic what, what we can actually do.

Yeah. And one thing you can do to protect yourself with that is do a— one thing I've actually had clients do with me, which I think is a great move on their end, is they do, I'm gonna give you a 3-month trial basis, or even a 1-month trial basis. And if you're, if you're delivering like you say you're gonna deliver, then hey, let's extend the contract and continue working together. And that's a great and easy way way to protect yourself and really see if this person is going to do what they say they're going to do for you.

I think that's super smart. And it builds in that conversation right there and it makes it less awkward because you already know that in a month or 3 months or 90 days or whatever, you're going to be checking in and they know that and you know that. And so it's not this big like, "I can't believe you would send me this email," or, "I can't believe we would talk about this." And you're like, "Actually, you completely should because it's already here. It's already on the calendar." Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it takes all that. Oh, okay. I think that's really helpful. Um, well, and I, I'd love to hear more about— because you mentioned, you know, one of your first things is kind of almost like a lead magnet, or how you got clients interested was in telling them what they needed to have set up to really excel well with their video. So, um, in that vein, like, can you share any of the tips that were on there? Or like, what other systems or processes should people do to kind of get things ready to be— to have help? You know what I mean? Like, what do they need to be doing beforehand to make— to have, have a clean send-off and be efficient use of someone else?

Yeah, I think number one is be really aware of where you need the help and why you need the help. I have had some instances where I've had clients say, I know I need help in this area, but I'm not exactly sure why or how I need that help. I'm like, okay, and I'm happy to sit down and be like, and go through things with them and figure out exactly what it is they need help with. But when you're running a business, time is money, and, and the, the longer you spend trying to figure out why and where you need the help, you're you're losing that time and getting that help done and being efficient in that area with, with your employee that you're hiring on. Um, and so, you know, sit down, make a list, really figure out what it is you need done. And, um, and then from there, like, have a game plan. So let's say for instance it's, um, it's content creation, you need some stuff, some articles or whatever put up on your website, you don't have time to sit there and write all the posts all the time, have a layout already done and ready to go for that employee so you're not doing all these trial and errors and having posts go up that aren't really true to what you've been doing already in the past and say, hey, I'm gonna hire you on to write my content, here is a specific and exact layout of what a post should look like on my website. Website. Or if it's a video and you've edited some videos already and you, and you, and you have a specific way that you want it done, have that ready to go when you hire your video editor, right? And say, this is, this is what I want. And honestly, like, a good, a good virtual assistant would have, have that form in that process ready for you. So something I offer to my clients who hire me out for video editing is I have a form that I shoot them off right away. I say, okay, Hey, it's kind of a, what is the style of your video? What are you looking for? What do you want? How long do you want the frames to go? Do you want, and it's just all these questions that I ask, and then I use that form as a guideline for when I edit their videos. But that's something they can do on their end, and have that ready to go for when they hire out. And so I think specifically, that's really the best thing you can do is just really know what and where and how you need your help so that when you hire out, it's not a guessing game for that person. They know exactly what they need to do to help you so that you're not wasting time going back and fixing and tweaking things.

They can just get right to work and give you great quality work because you're giving them the recipe of how to be successful and how to create stuff that works. Oh, I think that's so smart that you use a questionnaire like that because you're right, there's so much that can differ in style in terms of do you like fast cuts or do you like other graphics or are minimalist, you know, when you want, you know, um, or yeah, in a blog post, is it how many pull-out quotes do you need? Do you have graphics in there or photographs or, you know, all the different style things that just, that people make?

Yeah, yep, exactly.

And their content. So, uh, yeah, well, that's really good. So, and now you're like talking me into that. I'm like, well, I'm obviously going to be hiring Shelly when I'm doing my video because I wouldn't know how to do any of those things. And yeah, you're a pro.

I would love to do it for you. I actually love editing videos. I think it's a lot of fun.

Yeah, that's, well, that's amazing. And that's a gift because there's so many people who really, really, really don't. And if you're one of those people, you probably need to be, um, talking to her. Um, so, you know, you talked about like video is getting, you know, so big on social. Um, you know, because you have such a good bird's eye view, you've been in the biz, and now you're kind of helping on the back end of the biz. What else are you seeing that's working for people in content creation in the influencer space? Besides just more and more video?

More and more video, I know, right? I swear it's just a video, it's always video. But really, aside from that, podcasts. I'm really loving podcasts and I love being on yours right now, but all the time now it's not what book are you reading or what show are you watching, it's What podcast are you listening to right now? I'm like, uh, I can name off like one or two. I just don't have the time. But that's where it's at. And I'm not saying that's what everyone needs to do, but man, if there's a way where you can add in audio or some type of a podcast to make that a thing, I think that sitting back and watching that is a great thing. It's like, you know, the pendulum's always swinging in our industry. What's the next big thing that people are going to do? And obviously it's It's whatever taps into as many of the human senses as possible, right? That's what people want these days. And so I think if you're gonna, if you're gonna be in this, this industry, you just need to make yourself as accessible to people as possible if you want to grow. If you want, if you want to be huge, then that's just what you want to do. If you, if you kind of like your tiny little small group of people, then I don't think you necessarily need to do that. But people grow by how accessible they are to people and, and how relatable they are to people. And I think adding in, in the, in the essence of a podcast and people being able to sit and hear your voice and things that you have to share, I think has come across as really beneficial for people. But You know, I really honestly, I don't think anything beats video, and you can keep it so simple. You can do it at home, you can get, you know, the right products. And I actually have a list on my— or a link on my website to a document that I created of all the equipment you would need if you were going to sit down and start incorporating video, whether it be into just your Instagram or onto your website. And it's stuff that you can acquire over time. It's not you need to buy all this at once, but hey, let's gradually buy this as you have the money. And you can obviously— the best two things you could have is a tripod and a camera, and then you open the blinds on a window and you've got your lighting. And then as you save up money, you can actually get the great lighting devices and things that you need and microphones and stuff. But, you know, start with the basics and go from there. And, you know, if you don't want to make the videos, then start dabbling in the, the live stories. Those are great. Um, really, you can start wherever and go from there. But I just, I honestly think, and I could be wrong, but right now I just, I just don't see anybody going wrong with incorporating video. I think video is just always going to be a big part of the influencer blogging business world from here on out and part of the experience.

Now I, I agree with you there, and I see, and I see people who, um, you know, not— it shouldn't be, I think, at the peril of other content, you know, like, you know, try not to be like too scattershot or try to be, you know, kind of, you know, too washed out on all different platforms. But, um, but certainly, you know, making sure that you're, you're on stories, you're giving behind the scene, even that, you know, you're trying out IGTV. I mean, I see a lot of people people just being playful with it and not sure exactly what is working on there and how is that going to interplay with their YouTube channel if they have one.

But yeah, yeah, and if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but you tried it. And then like you said, you know, find what works for you and then run with it. You obviously don't want to overwhelm yourself because if you're only— can I swear? Yeah, yeah, okay, sorry. Um, if you're, if you're just half-assing everything, yeah, The people who are there, they're gonna know. People who are coming to check your social media or check your website, they're gonna tell that you're half-assing it and you're not giving it your all. So find, again, going back to do what you do best, find what works best for you. If it's too hard for you to be on every social media platform, do the one that you get the most engagement on. You know, for me it was always Instagram and, and Pinterest, so I just stuck with Instagram and Pinterest. I didn't even bother with Facebook. Aside from the fact that I would just sync my Instagram post to my Facebook account, I really didn't let it do anything, and I was okay with that. It brought me more happiness and peace, and I could really focus on it and make it good quality content.

Right, exactly, exactly. So, well, that's awesome. Well, um, is there any other parting advice? I think you had a little, um, a listicle for us to share on some tips. I know you've shared So many great wisdom, but of course if we have you here, we're going to squeeze you for everything that we've got.

And so— Yes, squeeze me away, baby. You know, just really when it comes to systemizing your business, there are a lot of things you can do and there are a lot of things you shouldn't do. And it's hard to kind of know where to start because there really is just so much out there. But for me, when I was starting my blog and transitioning to being a virtual assistant, I have 6 things that I've always made my religion in doing a business and being a self-made woman. And, you know, the first is come up with the— you know, you have your idea and you know what you want to do, and the first thing you want to do is come up with a plan for that idea that you have. How are you going to start doing this idea? What is it that you need to do? Do you need to create a website? Do you need to just open up an Instagram account? Come up with a plan. And then start following that plan. As you're beginning to start your business, take note of what your strengths are and what your weaknesses are. What are you doing best? What are you really awful at? And, and, and divide it in such a way where you put your, your focus and your emphasis on what you're doing best, and then you you set aside the things that you're not so good at, and when the time comes, when you have the finances to hire out, start hiring out and getting the help in those areas where you're not as successful. My next thing that I would do is, as I'm sitting there and I'm growing my business and putting it together, I'm also keeping track of things that aren't helping my business be happier healthier, or, um, more productive, and I let them go. I think we as human beings in general love to hold on to baggage and strife and all those things because we just think it's gonna work, somehow this is gonna work, and I'm gonna make it work. But that slows you down, and when you're trying to grow a business, time is money, and you need time on your side. And so just let that stuff go. And if it's something that you love, shelve it for later and bring it back at another time when you have more time to give it the TLC that it needs so that it can continue to make your business a happier, a healthier, and more productive space, not only for yourself but for those who are coming to be a part of your space with you. My third tip is don't lose sight of the big picture. That's super easy to do, especially in the, in the world that we live in with social media. Everyone's always putting their best foot forward. I think we as a society are getting better at showing the not so lovely aspects of our lives, which is very important to do. But there's still a lot of, hey, my life is rose-colored glasses and things are great. And it can cause you as an individual to lose sight of what your big picture was with yourself. So don't get caught up on the small things. Do not allow yourself to get caught in the comparison trap. That will kill your business. It will kill it. Um, and just focus on what you've set out to do. And as long as you just stay on that path and keep your eyes forward, you're going to be very successful in what you do. Uh, my fourth tip is make sure you're staying current. Things are always changing in this industry and the pendulum's always swinging. The algorithm's always changing. So it's very important for you to be online reading the most current articles on algorithms, on how to engage on social media, on how to have an effective website. Make sure you know what's going on and what the most current practices are so that you too can be doing that to help benefit yourself and your business. My fifth is stay authentic, be true to yourself. You know, we've mentioned Allison before and this is a a great tip of advice I got from Alison, which is figure out what your brand is and then just don't deviate from that. And make sure that your brand is true to who you are as an individual. Obviously you don't wanna brand yourself in a way that is very untrue to who you are as a person. You wanna make sure it falls in line with your core beliefs and who you are as an individual, but Find that brand and stay authentic to it and run with it and love it and promote it and share the heck out of it. And people are going to accept it and love it and want to be a part of that with you. And then my last tip, my 6th tip, is don't give up. If you need to switch gears like I did, I've switched gears a lot. I mean, here I am now, virtual assistant. You know, first I was a teacher, thought I was always going to be a teacher, then Life changed and I was a blogger and thought I was going to be a blogger forever and now here I am a virtual assistant. And through it all, I have, you know, I've rolled, I've learned to roll with the punches and I haven't given up. And I think that speaks true to anybody out there. If it's, if you're at a point in your life when you know you need to let go of whatever it is you're doing, let go of it. But don't give up on your dreams and the person that you want to become. There are other ways to achieve that. It might not be a blog anymore. It might be being a virtual assistant. It might be just being a mom. It might just be going back into the career field and working a 9-to-5 job, but don't give up. You can always become the person you want to become. If, you know, life throws you a curveball and you're turning down a corner you didn't think you would, it will happen as long as you just love yourself and work your little heart out.

Amen. I love your— those pearls of wisdom, and I appreciate you, you know, speaking from the heart about, yeah, about, about where you've been and your journey. And you know that it's, it's it's a winding one, but that I think that that's so much more the common experience than the exception. And so I think it's really important for people to be okay with that, that plans change and the, you know, the vision changes, but who you are as a person and how you're able to adapt to that and that resiliency is what's really important so that, you know, you stay true to who you are and how you want to show up in your life and for the people you care about and then the good work that you want to do.

Yep, yep, exactly.

All good stuff. Okay, so if people want to connect with you, if they want to hire you, which I'm sure they do, they need you in their life, how can they find you?

Well, you can find me at my website, ShellyPete.com. That has all of my services, my, my packets and my, my document, my Google documents I've talked about that people can access for information on how to edit videos and even start a video in the first place. All that's there. It has a blog on it too. I, I don't blog as much as I used to on it, but periodically I'll pop on there and have some tips and tricks on there. So you can go to that, shellypete.com. And then I have my Instagram, which is Shelly Pete, and it's me. It's mainly me talking about being a divorced single mom and raising 4 little kids, but I do have plugins there for my business as well. And there is a link to my website on my Instagram as well.

Awesome. Okay, well, so we'll put all those links in the show notes for people, um, so if you need them, go there. Um, but thank you so much, really, for Shelley, for coming on and just sharing your wisdom with us and for getting us just excited about branching out and getting the help that we need to take our businesses to where we want to take them.

You're so welcome. There is not— there is no failure in seeking help, only strength.

Awesome. That's wonderful. And that, that's going to go on Pinterest, right?

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