From Barbecue Joint to Boardroom: A Tale of Entrepreneurial Triumph Over Imposter Syndrome

And hello and welcome to this episode of The Unnoticed Entrepreneur. I kind of want to say yeehaw because we're going to Texas, Texas City. We're going to meet the ghetto country grandmother, Phyllis Williams Strauder. Phyllis, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much. I am so excited about this. This is going to be fun.

Well, I'm excited because you wrote in and I was so chuffed because, you know, you've gone from really working with your husband and being, as you said, Mrs. Mister, working in a barbecue restaurant, right? And then you've kind of grown out of that, you know, successful as that business was, you created your own brand, but you've also transitioned through another business and then pivoted before starting this Brandmother business. So we're going to talk about how you've built a personal brand, But also how you've built a consultancy helping others using both your amazing ability with wordplay, with building podcasts, with books, with merchandise, and all of this with courage. So Phyllis, tell us a little bit about the backstory, and then I'd like to talk to you about the ghetto country grandmother story.

Okay. I'm gonna try and give you the short version because I can go on and on. So just stop me, say, pump your brakes. But anyway, I got into business with my husband by accident. We started— and I'm short version— started selling lunches from our kitchen table, which ended up morphing into 2 restaurants and a catering company. That's the very short version. But it was— I never— I tell people all the time, I don't cook on purpose, not even for my child. So how I end up with 2 restaurants and a catering company is crazy. But I always wanted my husband— my husband, he loves cooking, and I always wanted him to have what he wanted. And so I started this snowball effect of getting him into this, but I got caught up in the snowball.

But it was a very successful business. But eventually, um, you decided to step out on your own, and I'd love to hear how you've then built what is really a very successful branding, uh, business there in Texas. So just talk to us about Brandma's House. First of all, I have to ask you, how did you come up with the name? Because Brandma is, I just think, a gifted name. I think it's just brilliant.

I actually, what it was, I'm a part of Future Pro Group. That's one thing. And I was talking to Chris and when I introduced myself, I said, I'm ghetto country. I was raised hood adjacent by a country mama. And that has always been part of my brand. But it wasn't until I decided to pivot out of CKO Creator, which I'll tell you about later, but it wasn't until I decided to pivot outside of CKO Creator that the brand mother came about. So being the Ghetto Country Brand Mother, for me, it has a lot of history and it speaks to who I truly am. I always tell folks I was a mother before I had— I gave birth to my daughter. And so to be able to own that now as part of my brand, It's like, sweetie, I'mma be your mama, but I know I'm not your mama.

So, but you built this into— it says, you know, on your website, and for those people watching the video, they can see it, but I will also put a link to it. It's brandmarshouse.com. So you've built a multimillion-dollar, you know, business battling imposter syndrome, and yet your website and you yourself come across as being so confident and so sure of yourself. And we know that the backstory is not always the same as what we see out front. So Phyllis, for those of us that struggle with that journey of believing in ourselves, just tell us, how did you overcome that? Because then we're going to talk about how you help your clients to do that too.

One of the things that, even though I may have my own insecurities and so forth, When you're good at something, sweetie, you can get your confidence from that. And it's, it's that, that thing that makes you good. It's not arrogant. Don't get arrogant about it. That's not cute. But it's knowing that, you know what, I know how to help people do this, or I know how to do this thing really well. And I take confidence in that. It's what helps you kind of flip the script. Stop trying to talk about yourself. If you move that out of the way, then it's easier for you to say, you know what, This is how I can help you. And be honest about it. Don't just give them fluff. Don't give them the benefits because people want you to address their problems. Tell them what it is that you're going to do and not in terms that, that are part of your industry. And it makes a difference.

So this idea of shifting the focus onto the person for whom you're solving the problem rather than trying to justify your own existence.

Yes.

Phyllis.

Yes.

And you've done that brilliantly. Now, just tell us though, as an entrepreneur, you had a business in between the barbecue restaurant with your husband.

Yes.

Into Grandma's House.

Yes.

And it'd be interesting to hear how you pivoted because many people get caught in a business that isn't quite working, but don't know how to move to the next one. So just tell us about how you've done that.

You know what? I struggle with that as well because we start to go down this road and it's hard for us to give it up. It's hard for us to let go. It's like, but I've spent so many years and I've been— First, sweetie, you're dragging a dead horse and it's just not working. And when I had CKO Creator, CKO Creator was specifically made for children and then trying to shove grandma into CKO Creator. So just so you guys know, CKO Creator stood for Chief Kid Officer. And it was how I raised my daughter to be an entrepreneur. and trying to do that with other kids through a 12-week boot camp. But then when I started, when I became the Ghetto Country Grandmother, I tried to shove her into CKL Creator and try— and then CKL then stood for Character, Kinship, and Originality, which is some things about branding. She was not going in that house peacefully and I had to let it go. It was one of the hardest things. I still have CKL Creator in the background that's going to do its own thing again with kids. But it's like, sweetie, sometimes you got to let your— you got to open your hand and let stuff go so that you can receive something new. And that's what I had to do with CKL Creator.

Okay. And you then transitioned just a few years ago, I think now, into the, the Grandma's House.

Yes.

Do you want to just take us through? Because on the website, for example, you know, you say you can't stand to stay a brand baby forever, but also you do use some pretty strong language, stuff that wouldn't necessarily pass the profanity filter here. So do you want to just tell us, you know, how have you made the decision to be, if you like, fairly— how can I put it?

Colorful.

Colorful. I was looking for the words. Do you want to just explain that Because that's quite brave in that sense, right?

One of the reasons why I do branding the way that I do it is because I don't want to have to catch the words before they fall out of my mouth. And one of the things that held me back when I, even in CKO Creator days, was the fact that I couldn't listen to people because I was trying to think of the $5 words to make sure that I did not say the wrong thing. I did not want to offend. I did not want to sound stupid and all of these other things. And it's like, you know what, eff it. I'm not going to— I can't do this anymore because if I'm so busy trying to filter myself, I'm not listening to you. I'm not listening to my clients and I have to listen. So bringing it in as part of my brand, because I write, believe it or not, I write very corporate. I was raised in a corporate environment. And I write very corporate, but I didn't want there to be confusion like, no, she couldn't have wrote that because she sound like this. And I, and I have to go back and I promise you guys, sometimes I have to go back and add an expletive here and an expletive there because of how I write. And it has to be because I don't want anyone to ever come to me and have sticker shock. And like, even when some of my people might hear this podcast, they're gonna like, Phyllis, you didn't cuss on this whole episode. And I tell people, you know what, respect the house. This is his house. If he— if there's no profanity, then you know what, check your words at the door. I get it.

How interesting. So really, I love the idea that, you know, really just being true to yourself, writing in your own— in your own language. And also, presumably, um, this is the language that resonates with the people you're working with too, as opposed to creating almost a third a third kind of narrative which isn't really you and also isn't really resonating with your client base.

My husband accuses me of making my clients cuss because once they may not say how they talk with me when we're having our conversation and building their brand is not how they present in their brand. And I tell people, just because I cuss, don't think that my clients do this. It's not about— cussing doesn't give you power, coolness, or anything else. It's just a vernacular and it's a language. But if it's true to you and you're trying to catch all the words, then you know what? There's something that's not going to be true in the branding that comes across.

But also, Phyllis, what I like about your content is that you do have some cuss words in there, as the Americans say, or swear words, but you don't use them as substitutes for smart words. And so you've actually got a lot of great wordplay in there, including the name Brandmother. So they're not used as replacements for smart words. They're just actually used to create some context. So I think that's very, very interesting the way you've done that and very natural too. When you work with clients, can you give us an example of maybe a client that you've worked with where you help them to be aligned with who they are and not afraid of who they are and therefore to give them the courage to go into the market because they're not pretending to be someone that they're not. Can you give us an example there?

Yeah, I have one client. He's a graphic designer, but he's also colorblind. Excuse me. But he's also colorblind. And so when we talked about building his brand and building his business, it's like, how do we work this in here? He wants to do this so badly, but he was not putting anything out there because he didn't think anyone would take him seriously as a colorblind person. So we pivoted his— not only his brand, but his business to turn him into the colorblind consultant. So then now he can go out and do audits and like, okay, your website is not colorblind friendly. So he's consulting on that. But then also we spell colorblind with a K because he's also a bit dyslexic. So now we have this play on these different things that where some people will see him as a weakness, it's like, no, dude making money off of being colorblind and dyslexic. Let's go get paid. It hits different and it's true to him and it's not It leads a conversation of, you know what, let's talk about this. It sets him apart. Everybody always talking about being distinct. Baby, you are freaking distinct. Trust me.

Yeah, I think that's such a beautiful way of doing that. And that you've also empowered him, right, to do that. And presumably, as it's America, you've left out the you as well. But we better not go there on that conversation.

And believe it or not, he's actually in the UK.

Oh, that's funny. Well, maybe he's got the U in there. Maybe he's dyslexic. He writes off the, the need for that extra, you know, extra vowel there. So, um, now you though, you're writing as well. Um, you know, you've got books— Brahma's Past, Brahma's Present, Brahma's Future— which is great and available on Amazon. So how are you writing these books? And what's the impact of these books on your own brand of Grandma's House?

I write how I talk. I don't try and structure everything so perfectly. I even, like most people when they write, they'll put -ing on everything. Most times I don't pronounce the -ing, so I don't write it. But the first book that I wrote, I wrote my memoir for my daughter. And I tell people, even though I have boundaries and so forth within my brand, there's certain things about my past that I could have let hinder me. So the first book I wrote was my memoir. And it's like, this is all my dirty little secrets, if you want to call them that. And but it's because I put it out there. I never have to worry about somebody coming back and saying, oh, well, she did this and she did that. Yes, I was. I ain't gonna say it on your show, but there's just a certain thing there. But then also, the balance is BS, and no, it doesn't say BS on the COVID but balance is BS comes from my history as Mrs. Mista of of getting lost, having an identity crisis, and making decisions that I regretted. But I had to get over that regret if I was going to move forward. So your decisions are your decisions. You have to learn to live with those and accept which ones did you truly want to make and which ones you didn't. The marketing book, as business owners, so you got to know how to market your business. And so these are things that you have to understand as the person that's leading all of these. And so it's just, I write these because you need to know certain places of where you fit within the industry, within your business, within your market. And that's how my books come about.

Well, for a lady who at some stage was suffering from imposter syndrome, I'm so impressed at the the amount of content that you create. And I love the really fresh and honest branding. And you've also, uh, publishing or producing a podcast.

Mm-hmm.

So Phyllis Williams Strauder over there in Texas, just tell us, you know, you say on your, um, on your podcast, you know, hold on to your bourbon because, uh, CGB is spilling the tea. Tell us about your podcast and what role that's playing for you as well.

My podcast, like I said, I know how my business is structured financially. And because I limit myself to 10 clients per year, I still wanted to help other people. And so the first season of Grandma's Podcast is like, you know what, you got 45 minutes to get free brand coaching. This is what this 45 minutes is for. Come on here, ask your questions. Let's get some things together. And hopefully it'll move the needle a little bit for you, because a lot of times people don't realize that they need help or they won't ask for help. And even when you offer them help for free, they trust it even less. But if you tell them, come on, you can come on here and talk about your stuff and we can solve one of your problems, it hits a little differently. If you're not going to put yourself out there though, Then your business is never gonna move. Somebody has to get out there and say something about it. And paying for advertising, sweetie, you'll be paying forever and a day and nothing will happen.

So that's really interesting. So using the podcast as a way to solve the problem that you can't help all clients.

Yes.

Um, but still keep them involved. That's very, very interesting. And, and you said that you're only taking 10 clients a year.

Yes.

Do you want to just tell us that strategy? Because that's a very interesting approach.

A lot, I always say a lot and I hate when I do that. But what ends up happening, people always want to create courses because it's like, I want passive income. I don't want to exchange time for money. At what I charge, I don't mind exchanging time for money. And having a lot of clients means that some won't get served as well as others. So if I limit it, then I'm able to do more with less. One of my clients, he's a landscape designer and he was actually on vacation. So you know what? I stepped up and I did a couple of social media posts for him while he was away. If I had 100 clients trying to service all of them, I wouldn't have been able to do that for him. When my clients email me or call me or want my opinion, I'm thinking about hiring this person. What do you think? Because I ran a business, I ran a successful business. I do branding, I understand financials, I get asked a lot of questions. So it's better for me to step back and say, you know what, I'll only do these many clients, this amount of clients throughout the year so that I can make sure they get the full BrandMa experience.

That's inspirational, Phyllis. Thank you for that. Now, if there's something that you've done from a marketing point of view that didn't work? Let's say there's something that you'd like to say, and we've all done more than one, but if there's one thing you'd say to people, don't try this at home, what would that be?

Don't try to pay for advertising if you haven't built a brand, because like I said, you'll get caught up in the cycle of constantly paying for advertising and not moving your brand forward.

The—

your brand is long-lasting. Marketing— or I'm sorry, paying for advertising is short-term, and you have to understand the difference. I'm not saying don't do it at all, but if you put your personal brand out there, if you step out there yourself, it'll cost you a whole lot less. It'll cost you some time, but sweetie, you still have some money in your pocket. I did— I promise you, I paid for Google Ads and all. Oh, it's just I may as well threw my money in the air and let it blow in the wind. It did not work. Did not work. It was a whole lot of waste of money.

It's amazing how many people I've interviewed who all say the same thing about the advertising on Google, Facebook. Waste of— a real waste of money.

Yeah, it's for the bigger companies.

Yeah, that's how they're making their money out of the rest of us. Um, Phyllis Williams Strauder over there in Texas City. Texas. Um, and for those of you listening, uh, Phyllis has actually got a wonderful array of, of hats on her wall behind her. Um, so some, some wonderful fashion going on there as well. Um, Phyllis, as, as Grandma's House, if there's one thing that you would say has helped you to move your brand and your marketing To where you want it to be, what would that be?

I tell people, for me, it's about courage. And I talk about courage a lot because courage is about doing it afraid. And I still get palpitations when I do certain things, even though I've done it numerous times. Whenever I sign up a new client, it's like, oh, are they going to like me? But that's some insecure crap that just happens. But find your courage. Whatever makes you courageous enough to step out there and do the thing despite what you're feeling, sweetie, that's what you hold on to and you go do your thing. Don't let somebody, some hater, some comma missing, some bleep in your audio stop you from moving forward. Be courageous enough to go on and put it out there and then fix it later.

Well, Phyllis, you've given us, you know, a wonderful, wonderful example of how you've been both courageous in your own life, but also helped— and I love your story about the colorblind, the color consultant. You know, you're helping individuals as well to overcome those insecurities, but to build a brilliant brand. You've got podcasts, you've got books, you've also got merchandise, which we didn't get a chance to go into today, but you're using Printful embedded into Wix for that.

Yes.

So really, you're creating the complete branded experience, and that just for a limited number of clients. So it's very interesting how full you've built out your brand for a limited number of clients. It's amazing. Phyllis, if people want to find out more about you, where can they go?

You can visit my site, which is brandmashouse.com, or you can always holla at brandmashouse.com. That is my email. You can reach out and let's see what we can do.

Phyllis, you've done an amazing job of being on the mic with me today. Thank you so much.

Oh, thank you. This was fun. You helped me rein it in.

Well, we didn't do too many expletives and we did a little bit of swearing, a little bit on the screen share for those people. But I don't think we're gonna be censored. I hope. I'll have to see when I put it on YouTube. I have to click that box. But what a delight to have joined Phyllis there. And thank you for joining us as we've chatted today about how she's managed to build an amazing brand and an amazing life as well for herself and her family and also giving that gift of being an entrepreneur to her daughter, which is something that I think for those of us as parents is also inspirational. If you've enjoyed this, do please share the show with a fellow unnoticed entrepreneur and rate it or review it on your player. All really, really helps. And until we meet again, just want to say thank you for listening and keep on communicating.