Choosing the Right Business Model for Entrepreneurs with Chronic Illness with Cinthia Pacheco

Welcome back y'all to the Crafted to Thrive podcast. I am so excited to invite our guest Cynthia on the show. She is amazing. She is a chronic illness warrior as well as SEO Maven.

One of the most fun fluid conversations I got to have has been with Cynthia.

We have stayed in contact with each other over the course of, um, over the course of months at this point. But what I love about this episode that you guys are going to get to hear is how we can choose to create a business model that works for us being chronic illness warriors that are—

that have businesses.

And what I love, what we talk about in this show, she and I talk about some of the fears, some of the mindset drama around money and talking about our offers and feeling more confident in what it is that we do. And then also growing and choosing the way we do business that's best for us and how she has done that, how she's learned to do that, how she's kind of removed herself from different places and parts of her business to give her more return on revenue, return on her investment, and energetically in her business and in her life by doing things that come easy, things that she enjoys. And so we talk about how we've done that, how she's done it, and so many more amazing things on the show. So if you wanna check out her full bio, go to the show notes and check out her full bio, but also check out the episode where I was on her show as well. They'll be in the show notes as well. So if you have been looking for an episode to talk about how do you find the heart and the mindset around choosing the type of business you want to have, how do you deal with money mindset when it goes on to talking about how you view money in regards to investing or in regards to your own offers, this is the episode for you. So stay tuned. Welcome to Craft It to Thrive, the globally ranked podcast for entrepreneurs living with chronic illness. I'm your host, Nikita Williams, and after being diagnosed with multiple chronic illnesses myself, I figured out the surprisingly simple missing links to growing a profitable business without compromising my health. Since then, I've helped dozens of women just like you learn how to do the same. If you're ready to own your story and create a thriving business that aligns with your health and well-being, you're in the right place. Together, we're shifting the narrative of what possible for entrepreneurs with chronic illness. This is Crafted to Thrive.

I am so excited to have Cynthia on the show. I'm excited because we just literally recorded a podcast episode for her show, and it never usually happens where it lines up where it happens like in the same week. So I'm excited for you to share with my audience who you are, what you do, and we'll just jump into our conversation.

Yeah. So my name's Cynthia Pacheco. I'm an SEO expert. I founded Digital Bloom IQ and I specialize in health and wellness SEO. So search marketing and our mission is to heal more of the world by helping our clients get found in Google. So that's what I do. I'm also a mom, dog mom, human mom. And yeah, I'm Argentine Canadian and a little fun fact there. But yeah, I'm excited for the show. Yeah, I, I love your show. I think it's so important, so I'm excited to get into it.

Yeah, I am excited to talk with you because we were just talking right before we started recording. Like, this isn't— you haven't done a show in a while where it's like personal, like, how did we get here and how has it affected your life? So why is your mission like to help the health world get found on social media? Like, what led you to this path?

Yeah, so with a lot of this stuff, it's just like I've had my own personal experience. So I have a chronic illness, polycystic ovarian syndrome. I've had just different journeys around mental health. We can get into that. And I found the internet really helpful, right? Like, especially with something like PCOS, it's so— for a woman, it can be a very shame-provoking type of chronic illness because it changes how you view your body. And it's hard to talk to maybe your family or people around you about it. And so when you find these resources online and you find medical professionals Holistic professionals who are passionate about it and then other, you know, people who are also doing what you're doing and going through it, it just changes how you view yourself. And so for us at Digital Bloom IQ, helping our clients get found is so important. And I feel like a lot of health and wellness people just, they feel like they can't market themselves. They struggle with their own marketing and they struggle with doing SEO because it can feel very techie. So. That's our kind of like the story, a little bit of the story behind the mission.

Yeah, I think what you said, because there's so much information, right? Like on Google, if you put that in, like, yes. And I can almost like, I feel like when I put things in, even for myself, usually a health coach doesn't pop up first. It's like all of these other things, right? And especially if I'm looking more locationally, like for someone who is a specialist in that, it definitely— and back in 2017, when I was diagnosed with endometriosis, that was like, what is that? Like, on the internet, what is that? Like, what is that? Have you experienced, like, with your own personal journey of managing with PCOS, has your mental health been more affected because of that journey? That drama journey, I like to call it.

Yeah. I mean, I remember in university going to the library and looking for books on PCOS. I've been always obsessed with taking control or taking ownership of my own health, especially for those of us who have chronic illness. It's not like you're just healed, right? And that's so hard to accept that this is just something that you're going to— for your life is just part of your life. So part of the mindset and the mental health, like you mentioned, is accepting like this is part of your organism, part of your body, part of your mind. And once you accept that and you almost embrace it, it actually kind of becomes easier in many ways because you can take ownership of the lifestyle changes that are really kind of permanent, right, going forward, or adapt. So, yeah, I absolutely feel like— I mean, PCOS and endometriosis have a lot to do with mental health because it impacts our hormones. And so our hormones are connected with our emotions. And if you don't know that, right, if you don't have someone who's helping you understand that, you think you're going crazy. You think, but it's literally a hormonal thing. And so you could go see the best therapist in the world, but if you're not also working on balancing your hormones, then you're not going to be able to complement that mental health side. So, yeah, it's a little bit— can turn into a vicious cycle if you're not really careful about how you're taking care of yourself and, yeah, just educating yourself of what your body needs.

Yeah.

What are some of the things for you when you decided to start this SEO digital marketing agency kind of deal, like, were you doing something else before that, or was this kind of like a thing you kind of fell into? Like, what made you decide to come and go down this lane, especially in SEO? Like, of all the digital marketing, y'all, like, like, even when I dabbled in digital marketing, somebody was like, you should do SEO. I was like, nope. No, I shouldn't, because that is a whole nother beast. It takes a very special brain for it. So why SEO? Like why was this business the vehicle for you to find more freedom in your lifestyle?

Yeah, so starting my business, I was coming off of a corporate job that was very stressful, long hours. And so that definitely was impacting my health. And I had a friend who had started to dabble in copywriting. For smaller businesses, and she kind of opened up this like entrepreneurial women, you know, women entrepreneur world. I was like fascinated because the women who I found there and I was talking to, they were just kind of living a completely different life, to be honest. And I could definitely see how that would— I mean, I was interested in the impact. I was interested in kind of being part of that world, but I could also see how from a, from a health perspective, you know, choosing your own hours, being able to travel and, you know, work a little bit or just randomly take time off, right? And like, just not like literally work less hours and have no limit in terms of financial reward and all that. That was very, very attractive. So that's kind of how I got started. I actually didn't start with SEO. My corporate job was web analytics. And so I started on the small business landscape doing Google Analytics analysis, reporting, and setup. But I quickly— well, quickly, it took a few years. I realized that for a small business to really invest in Google Analytics, they needed to be in a different headspace, right? Because as a small to medium-sized business, there's so many things we can invest in.

Yeah.

So I pivoted to SEO, which complemented the Google Analytics skills. And SEO had a much more direct return on investment for these types of businesses. And SEO is, to me, it's fascinating. It drives my clients crazy, but I love it. Yeah, I find it, I love it because it's got like a psychology element. It's got a technical element, which I have because I know how to code and, you know, I have that coding nerd background, but then it's got a very human element. Where you want to be thinking about why does someone search this and what kind of content are there, are they expecting? And especially with health and wellness, you know, what is Google looking for to rank and to see you as a professional? So that's SEO, just wasn't planned. It kind of happened as I started just with my own business and I realized, you know, if I wanted to really impact the space. I needed to provide a service that was impactful, right? And so I shifted and it's been great.

Well, I think what, what you said about like, yeah, it wasn't first starting there. And I, I think you do have to have a passion for it. Like, you really, I mean, you really do, because it is like, I feel like that for people who like do Facebook ads and Instagram ads. So like, when I talk to them, I'm like, I have done them. And the way they get lit up about it, like even how you just got lit up of talking about SEO and how all of these like facets of And I'm over here sitting like, kill me now. Like, like, please don't make me have to try to figure that out, right? Like, don't make me do it. But that's probably exactly why you're so good at it and also why it feels like easy in the sense of you could do it at your flow of however you want to do. How important do you think it is for like, especially those living with chronic illness, to like decide on a business model and a product or service that really actually is exciting for them.

Yeah, and I want to be clear, like there are parts of SEO that feel very heavy to me and that's why I have a team. And there have been stages and there still are stages of a business where there's a skill or a task or something where I know eventually I don't want to be doing that. But I understand and that can be such a relief because especially when you're starting, but even down the line, you know, you can feel kind of guilty that like you don't do certain areas of your business. Even with SEO, like I don't really like some of the technical aspects. I understand them, but that's not where my, my, you know, my genius lies. So I have a web developer, I have a technical person on my team, and I've made peace with that because I serve my clients better incorporating that person. So I just want to be clear, like my vision is an agency vision, especially with something like SEO. So I guess the nugget of wisdom there is you can be passionate about something, but it's totally okay if you need help, right? To fulfill that passion. Especially if you're doing, I mean, all our businesses just have different layers and different areas. And it could even be like, you know, for me, I love speaking on podcasts and I love public speaking. And so more and more I'm actually trying to move away from the client execution side of the business as well. And that can bring up fears too, because it's like, well, I'm not actually doing SEO, but I'm still an SEO expert. Like, how does that work?

Yeah.

So anyway, that's important to, because that can easily lead to burnout. Like you're trying to do all the things, you're trying to like have all your hands in all the cookie jars and you're not helping, you're not helping your clients, right? Yeah.

I really love that you said that and I'm, I'm glad because that's kind of where I was going to come back around to because I was just— I was, I was recording another episode yesterday with someone else and I feel like this industry of like entrepreneurship, we have to start normalizing like, yeah, you can have a passion and enjoy something, but there's also like the parts of it that you're not going to enjoy and that you can't wait to the day you can like have a team member or someone do it for you while still delivering on the things that you really enjoy in your business. So I really appreciate you saying that because I really think, and you let me know, like, I feel like people, when we start entrepreneurship, always see, especially a lot of times on social media and even sometimes on podcast episodes, where it's like all of these like glitz and glam and everything's wonderful and unicorns and blessings all around. And you're like, yeah, but I've been doing this and feeling like I'm clawing my way. And it's like, can we be real for a second?

Yeah. And, and I know, like, I know my clients, like, I know what needs to get done at this stage. I'm transitioning to more of the team. So maybe someone listening is in that right now, or they're getting ready, or they're, you know, past it. I know everything that needs to happen. So if an email doesn't go out or there's a client deliverable, I will stay up and I will do it. Like, I trust myself enough to do that. But I'm leaning more and more into the systems and processes so that I can trust my team, right? And I can trust them to resolve the problems. And I can also lean into what I'm like meant to do at this point or what I feel the most lit up by, right? And at the end of the day, I see how me doing that ends up, you know, we provide a better service, our clients are happy, things go faster, things grow faster. But it can be hard to let go. It's like your little baby.

And yeah, I think that's a real thing, like your baby. I don't know, maybe it's because I've just been around at this point. Like, I'm to the point where I'm like, please take it all. Like, all of the stuff I don't want to do, I'm good. I'm good if you do it. Like, I'm good if anybody wants to take it and do it. I can just do the thing I really enjoy doing, which is like interviewing people on the podcast and like coaching. Like, that's all I ever want to do when it comes to work.

Oh, I hear you.

I hear you. So like, Cynthia, like, what has been some fears? Because you've been doing this for a while. So what has been some like beginning fears? You know how they always say new level, new devil? Like, what was the first inklings of fears? And then like, as you're growing, and I think you've kind of hit on it, but how, how have other fears like transformed to being something you never thought or didn't even think it was going to be?

Yeah, I mean, so when you have your own business, it's, it's you, right? It's just you. You're the one on the sales call, you're the one delivering, you're the one everything. And so because you see all these sides of the business, sometimes at the beginning I found it hard to sell and then also like just really value that selling, right? Because being a salesperson is different than the person who executes, right? Just like mentally. So just the mindset of valuing my own skills right from the beginning. And this I would say for everybody, like you already have something to deliver, to give. You don't need to wait, right? Even if you're a coach, I feel like you can start charging, you know, from the beginning.

I don't know if that's controversial, but we're going to come back to that in a second.

But yes, like, don't wait. Like, so many people are waiting with their certifications, blah, blah. It's like, no, like, you have something to give now. Start charging now. Whatever kind of feels— you have to find that line of like, this is slightly uncomfortable and also slightly exciting for me to like receive this number. So that was a big mindset thing, all the money mindset. You know, I really have had to work on that over the years. Of, you know, going up on my prices, trusting myself with that and trusting that the right clients, you know, would find me with those prices. And then the other fear that, yeah, new level, new devil. It's ongoing. I'd say the devil for me is like the same fear, but it kind of like hulks up, you know, over time, like kind of, it's the same fear. So for me, it's always like, I don't know enough, especially with SEO, things change so fast. It doesn't change dramatically, but there's like some shifts. And so I'm always scared that I won't be able to provide enough of an impact to really help my clients. And again, that's been something I've worked on and I feel, I feel like I've made a lot of progress because again, I realize that if a client hires me, they're already doing better than yesterday, right? So if a client hires me today, the fact that they hired me That's an improvement. That means that they're, they're already working on their SEO. The other thing that helped me a lot is I have a personality type to wanna help others and just, yeah, take responsibility for others. So I've had to work on reminding myself that clients hire me and I'm a small cog in their wheel of their business, right? So I'm working for them, I'm on their team, but this, their success in their whole business is not dependent on me.

Yeah.

And so over time I've also worked on hire, you know, getting hired by clients who are already successful, who already believe in their business. They're not looking for validation. They already believe in SEO. They just need someone who's the right fit to execute it for them and then to work with them as a partner. So that's again helped me a lot take away that burden of feeling so responsible for everything. And we've all had those clients that kind of like throw their business on you. And you're like, wait a second, it's your business. Like, I don't need to convince you of anything, right? Yeah. So I think the more you— whatever your mindset stuff, you know, whatever you're working on, there's the internal work that you're doing. But then looking at like, what would be that ideal client? Because the internal work was always going to be there. And I think you can shortcut a lot of the results you want by just focusing on like, what do you want next?

Yeah.

And then just like getting over your own issues.

You're all like our mindset mess. Like, that's really what it is.

Yeah, because it's never going to be perfect. Like, again, my fear is just going to hulk up and there's always going to be something new and I'll be like, oh, that's a version, that's a new angle on that. Then it's more about— I'm sure you've experienced this too, like the skill of just getting faster around like how you look at a fear, how you— yeah, how you have a relationship with it even.

Yeah.

And just speed things up in many ways.

Yeah. You said that beautifully. Like, I'm going to have to like, like, keep that in mind how you just said that. Like, this is what I always tell people when they're like, especially when they're wanting to work with a mindset or like a business coach who focuses on mindset and they're like, when are you ever done? I'm like, that's a hard question to answer because, you know, I feel like there's always— like, I love the illustration of Hulk's. Like, you really don't know how deep sometimes those mindset dramas are until you get to a different level. And you're like, oh my goodness, this is hitting in a place that I never would have even imagined because you never experienced it or you've never gotten to that piece of growth in your journey. And the point, though, is having the tools to deal with them faster, right? And so—

exactly.

I love that you shared that. But I do want to go back to something you said about like charging when you're just starting out, especially I feel like even more so in an industry where so many people— I was just listening to something yesterday and was saying like 5.5 million people here in the United States alone have started up a business and most of them are coming from corporate. And so all these people who may be coming from corporate who like want to start and might like, let's say 1% of them want to be coaches and health coaches at that, and you're wanting to give your services away for free. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa, right? Whoa, right? Right. Like, stop. So I love to hear your take on that.

Oh yeah, it's just so frustrating because it's not even thinking about this as a concept. I know I was just thinking of women in my life. This for me is a woman issue, a woman issue.

100%.

Yeah.

The women in my life who have so many gifts. They're so talented. They do their work so well. They've got the biggest hearts ever, and they don't know how to value their gifts. And they struggle with that part of charging, right? And not even the selling, just like putting a price tag on it, right?

Yeah.

Because the selling is like a whole other conversation, right? But just like valuing this. Like, I have this friend, just to give an example, who, you know, the— she's just amazing at organizing things. And, you know, we have just like a big mess in our kitchen, like stuff piled. And, you know, those people who just know how to like put the, the dish that you use often in like the corner, blah blah blah. And it's the stuff I like doing. So I'm like, okay, I'll pay you, like, come, come to my house an afternoon I know this is like a very not like businessy example, but like just like those simple things where it's like she could charge me, it could be great and like I would love to pay her, but there's just, there's so much there. So I would say my advice is one thing that's helped me a lot is to think about this as if you're talking to a friend and seeing her gifts because for some reason it's so much easier sometimes to see the other person's gifts and to see like how fabulous they are. And so sometimes when you start to look at yourself in that way and even like, might sound kind of cheesy, but writing kind of like a letter to yourself or trying to stimulate that, like, okay, how can I have a conversation with myself about this? Can help you see, oh, I could charge a little bit for this or something symbolic, right? But this is so important because when you start charging for your work and there's a money exchange, the transformation, you know, if we're talking about coaches, but any type of service is immediate, right? So someone pay— you pay someone. We've all had that experience. We immediately feel that change, right? We immediately feel like something has changed in our life because money is energy. So there's so much work to do in that area, just like money mindset. And I've had my own journey with that. But I would say, yeah, like just sometimes it helps to look at other people who are doing what you wanna do, like compare, but in a positive way of like, okay, she's charging this, why don't I charge? Like, I wouldn't say that should be a long-term strategy, but we're human, right? So sometimes when you see someone else who's like living that dream or getting started, it can be helpful to be like, okay, if she can do it, why not me? Right? Like, why not me?

Yeah, so yeah, for you, you said like, they're like, if you were to name like one, you kind of— I feel like you're kind of beating around the bush, but I'm gonna try to see if I can get it. Love it, love it. Like when you're like, there you've been working on, like you, that's something you've had to work on specifically, money mindset. But what is the specificness of the money mindset? Because here's what I think, we talk a lot about money mindset often, like I hear it all the time, but nobody really talks about like the thing, like like the specific thing. Like, so like for me, even when I talk about money mindset, my thing has— my thing has always been like feeling like, am I charging too much because I'm trying to appear like a certain like level when I— when the value or the service or whatever the case may be is not really like there yet? Like I haven't gotten to that transformation, like even though technically in my brain I have been, I've got the certifications to prove it. But in my mind, it comes from that place, like, am I actually good enough? Like, am I good enough? That's my money mindset. It always comes down to that part of the thought, right? And so I hear people talk about money mindset, but I don't hear people, like, go down to, like, but really, what is the thought behind you're not charging? What's the thought? You're not charging enough.

Like, yeah, it's tangled. It's so tangled, Nikita. There's so many. I think that's why it's hard to untangle it. Because there's the, am I worthy? You know, it like comes down to our worth. But then there's also this thought of like, it's, I'm ungrateful. You know, there's a lot of like this goodness sort of thing of like, I'm ungrateful or like I'm not a good person if I charge, you know, if I'm expensive, you know, like I'm a, if I'm like a nice brand, like a Starbucks or whatever, like if I'm charging over the whatever, the standard, I'm being bad. And then I think for me, and again, for me, this is a lot of women, we're very community-focused. We're family-focused in many cases. So we worry about what other people will think. What will they say? What will they— even the people who are so supportive of us, who want the best for us, who are partners, our families, our moms, our dads, whatever. Those end up being like our worst enemies in many cases because they don't mean it. They just don't mean it. But they don't know what I've had to focus on. You know how the horses, they put like the racehorses, they put the blinders on?

Yeah.

That's what I've had to do with the most loving, the most caring people in my life. I've had to do that because they don't see my potential. That's not their responsibility. I mean, they see my potential. They have their vision, right? Because they care. And they want me to be successful. But the person who's responsible for really reaching there and getting to that or whatever that vision is, it's me. And sometimes to get to that, you need to put the blinders on. You need to absolutely ignore, you know, whatever you need to do, like put the headset on, get out of the house, like follow women, follow people who are doing it, who are like, you know, going to really tell you and say to say the things that are going to help you and just ignore everything else because no one knows your potential but you. And it can just be hard because we think like others think they're supporting us and we think they're supporting us. But sometimes there can be some holding back, especially with money, because there's— it's tangled. Like there's so many emotions, there's so much, you know, not to get cliché, but like society, you know, movies, all the things, it's all kind of against us, unfortunately.

Yeah, I agree with you, Cynthia. I, about a year or two ago, I had someone come into when I was having my group, we were doing like a whole money mindset things.

Yes.

And some of the questions that they were asking, I was like, my brain was like blown of just being like, whoa, like, like, whoa, whoa. Like, I don't, I didn't even realize how deep it had gone, like so much it had gone. And it really was like, if you work with coaches, if you're around coaches, if you're around anyone who's in any personal development, the moment you become aware of it, you become like aware of how tangled, like you're saying, it really is. Because you're like, dang, like, not even like, like, even outside of business is like how I feel about buying them shoes is all wrapped up in this too. Like, how I feel about toothpaste is all wrapped up in this too, you know?

Because we need to use money every day, right? Like, money isn't like, it's every single day. And so if you're not paying attention to your thoughts and your beliefs and if you're not willing to shift that, because the truth is it's easier to keep thinking how you've been thinking now.

Yeah.

And it's scary because it's not just about you, it's about everybody. So, but I will say it's worth it. I will say that there's so many examples now of women who are doing that. And at the same time, it's like on one hand it seems impossible, but the other side, it's like, this is inevitable. This is inevitable. Like this goal, this whatever, whatever the vision is, it's like, of course I'm going to get there because that's That's what I see. It would be like, this is the options I see available to me. Why wouldn't I get there? Right? So I think that's the best investment you can make. One of the best investments that I've made in my business has been money mindset coaching, money courses, obviously hiring an accountant, like the practical side, but the mind, the brain stuff. Oh my goodness.

Yeah. And I don't know, like, here in the States, we deal with a lot of, like, especially when it comes to healthcare. I always am curious to hear, like, how has that affected your mindset around money and in your business? Because here in the States, getting the kind of support we need for chronic illness, I mean, the bills, that's a trigger. Like, for most of my clients, they're like, yeah, I've got so many bills that it's kind of like, yeah, whatever. It's just a funny— I call it the funny pile at this point. It's like, it's a funny pile. Like, it's just, what are we going to do? And so I found that over the years I've had to learn to have a different relationship with my, my chronic illness medical bills because it can start adding all these thoughts on like your worth and your ability to perform and all those different things where that's completely has nothing to do with my business. It's just the matter of fact of having chronic illness and what happens. So the thing is, our business gives us the vehicle to at some point take care of those things in a more flexible way than if we were to like work sometimes corporately. So I guess what I'm saying is, like, has living with chronic illness affected how you view money, and how has it, like, viewed how you run your business?

So I live in Argentina, and we have an— I have to say, an excellent healthcare. It's two-tier, um, it's very accessible. But anyway, it's, it's a completely different situation than the US, and I don't want to get into the socioeconomic differences However, I will say that I have had moments in my business where I did feel like my PCOS or just the mental health side has been like a burden, definitely. Either because I can't work 8 straight hours. I won't even say I can't even work with 4 straight hours right now. Like, my eyeballs. So I've changed my perspective of like, no, that's actually normal for me. Like I used to be shamed, like I felt shamed, like, oh, I should be able to work 40-hour weeks or whatever.

Yeah.

It's like, no, this is normal for me. Like, let's not even compare what the human standard, like whatever, because that could also be a whole conversation of like, what is like the actual, but then for, it's like, well, what if we just focus on Cynthia? Like, you know, what if I just worked less and made more money and that was actually more productive more effective, more impactful. And so I've again had to switch my mind of like, no, my chronic illness is part of my life and I get to take care of myself and it doesn't have to be a limiting factor. Now I know depending on your chronic illness and depending on what stage you're at in it, it will feel maybe limiting at times. There might be I don't know. I've had friends who have chronic illness where they get migraines and stuff like that, right? And in the US you could have migraines and it's just like, you can take drugs to alleviate that, but you literally can't work. How can you design your business so that you could take those days off? Or again, instead of seeing it as a limiting thing, seeing it as like, this is the reality I'm creating, right? And this is how I'm healing myself. And the other thing I want to mention that's not really chronic illness, but it's kind of related. So I've always struggled with numbers, and I think I've got some sort of dyslexia. I've never gotten tested or anything. So that's not chronic illness, but I just struggle with numbers in general. And for a long time, I just made it mean, oh, I must be bad at numbers. I must be silly, stupid, whatever. And at the same time, I love data. Analytics. I love looking at that. So how is that possible? So I've learned to separate things where it's like, who cares if I pull out my calculator? Who cares if I don't remember what the multiplier things are? I'm not an accountant. Like, I don't want to be an accountant. So I think there's also skills like we kind of talked about at the beginning. If you have a skill in your business that you're struggling with because of your chronic illness or because of whatever, you get to eventually hand that off. And in the meantime, if you're not there yet, you just get to either ask for help, take it slow, you know, make a coffee or a tea. Like when I do, because I still do my bookkeeping, hoping to hand that off very soon. I just make it like a ritual and I've actually gotten better at it. I'm still super slow and I still make mistakes sometimes, but I've like, now it's kind of like a rite of passage and I'm like, man, like look at how much I've learned. And like, I feel so intimate with my numbers now. I still use my calculator all the time, but I've just found systems and structures to help me with that area. And so it's not a limiting factor at all because again, I don't need to do everything to be successful. I just need to do the right things.

I just got goosebumps. Like, I just— oh my gosh.

I wish every—

like, not everyone. That's like the epitome of what I want women to do when they work with me, like to get to that point of where they're like, yeah, this looks like a limit, but it's actually— it doesn't have to be. Like, it just means I— and I— when you said I get to, I tell my husband all the time, we talk about this kind of stuff. I'm like, well, what if you didn't have to, but you get to? Like, just making that shift from I have to, I get to, is a completely different mind thing. Like, it's a completely different feeling, right? And so like to say like, oh, I get to be intimate with my numbers or I get to, you know, for me it's been email. Like I am very much of a like a communicator and my brain, when I start to type or write something, my brain goes way faster than I'm able to write or anything. And I do have a little dyslexia too with letters. So for me it is like, It used to be like the thing, like, I'm horrible at a writer. I'm just a horrible writer. But in school, I did great in language arts and writing. And I'm like, when did I develop this narrative, right, that I'm just so horrible at this one thing when it was just like, that's where it became— wherever that came from was probably when someone said something about it and called me out for it. And now I have this feeling about it, right? And now I've learned, like, over the last few years, I've been working on that too. Like, well, I don't enjoy writing, but I actually enjoy it more when I put on a great playlist and I have my tea and, you know, I'm taking my time. So I love that you shared that too about you and your numbers, like making this thing that feels limited accessible and like you get to, it just changes the conversation in your mind completely. That was amazing.

Like, yeah, I think you have to identify the tasks. Like my bookkeeping has to happen one way or another, right? So I get to choose, do I wanna hire someone? Do I wanna like put this on a credit card? Do I want to, like, do this for myself? And like, at this point I look forward to it, but I know when I hand this off to a bookkeeper, I'm going to be so, so happy as well. So it's like those two parallel universes get to exist.

Yeah.

And I mean, even with the SEO, like you said, you don't like writing. I struggle with— I like writing. It's, it's a, you know, it's complicated. So what I've done in the past, and this has worked with me or like worked, is that I'll record episodes and then I have someone, I have like a tool like Otter, for example, that will transcribe it. And then I've had a copywriter take that and make it a blog post. And then I'm the one who puts the cherry on top, goes in and does do the fine, like does that final editing that I love doing. And I'm an SEO expert. So it's like some of you're like, oh, you know, that's not real. It's like, doesn't matter. I don't need to like everything.

Yeah.

Like, Why would I like everything, right? And I wouldn't— like, my time is best spent in other ways. And I— how I guide myself with that is like, where do I get my energy back, right? Yes. Like, that's, that's your guiding factor. If I feel drained after something, that goes on the list of things I'm going to hand off. If I feel re-energized, that goes on the list. And that list will change over time. So it's like something you just have to be always looking at and paying attention to.

Yeah, yeah, I love that so much, so much. So let's like shift gears a little bit. Let's talk about SEO for a second. For all of those folks out there who are, let's say they're service-based entrepreneurs, what is one of the most important aspects if they want to use SEO in their business to help them grow that they should start looking or paying attention to right now?

Yeah, so I would say Understanding the foundations around keyword research and how keywords work. So keywords are phrases or words and phrases that we are trying to rank for in Google. Something like anxiety, OCD and anxiety, for example. So there's someone who's ranking for that right now. And so understanding the concept of how to use that phrase OCD and anxiety in your blog, in your website, so that you start appearing for that. So understanding that foundation is a great place to get started because once you understand that, that's one area of SEO you can again decide, do I wanna hand this off? Is there a process that I could already integrate with this information? Like, do I have a VA who's writing social media posts? Can she take, could she round up 5 Instagram posts that are already written and then recycle that into a blog post and maybe target a keyword, right? Yeah. That's one area that I tell a lot of people to get started in because it's easier to understand than other areas of SEO, like technical or backlinking that just require a little bit. It's not impossible, but it's just a little bit more technical, right? And so for some people, their eyes kind of glaze over.

They're like, what are you talking about? Yeah. Yeah, I definitely—

I'm looking at you. Yeah, she's like—

I'm like, she's probably looking at me right now because I'm like already like, okay, this is great. I mean, I do think it's really important. I have a client, she is— she's actually, um, based in Tampa and she is a destination wedding photographer and she has a marketing background in like SEO and she does that like in her, like, as she calls her, the job that pays for her dream job, which wedding destination photography, right? And she's amazing at it. Like, the thing— like, last year she really focused and we created like a plan together to figure out how she can. And blogging has been literally how she has scaled from $10K, like around $3,000 or $5,000 a month, to like $10K and $20K months because of just solely, um, SEO on her blog. And I mean, honestly, I feel like photographers are— in my personal opinion, that's probably one of the easier things to use SEO for. As you know, for photographers, it's like a really dream little place to be. But I definitely understand. She always explains to me about the keywords and how they're important, and I'm just listening to her. I'm like, yeah, so great.

That's wonderful.

I'm so glad you're doing this. I'm like, okay, so let's talk about some mindset. Like, social media. It's just like, not. But I have seen the power of it. Definitely.

Yeah. And for chronic illness, like, we talked about this on our episode, is like if you look at other marketing options like Instagram and social media, it just requires a different rhythm. It's not good or bad, it's just different. And so, you know, if you have a chronic illness where you do have like mood swings or you just have cycles of like you can't work, something like complementing your social media strategy to something like SEO can be really nice because you can still have leads come in. You can still have sales come in if you have like a funnel or something like that. That you can kind of be making money consistently, just have like that base income every month that are coming from people who are already searching for what you want on Google. So that's one of the reasons also why SEO has— you know how you feel like your job chooses you? Like, I feel like that. I feel like that. Like, I chose SEO, but it kind of, it chose me too because I'm on my own journey of my own SEO of like, how can just automate this and have— I'm not saying it doesn't require any effort, like that doesn't exist, but just like this thought of like, okay, I've set something up and then I kind of let it simmer for 3 to 6 months and those sales are just kind of coming in and then I'm tweaking it, you know, and I'm growing it and I'm like playing around with different things.

So yeah, it can be fun for that. I wanted to ask this question because I thought about this when we were talking in our chat and I was like, have you found like for SEO, does podcasting support SEO in a way that is how would someone go about incorporating SEO with their podcast?

Yeah, so having show notes on your website just sounds very basic, but I know a lot of you listening don't do that. And I didn't do that. Like, I have a whole set of podcast episodes that don't have show notes. Don't tell anybody. I am going back and updating them. Yeah, but just doing that there, you've got your blog. Like, you've got your consistent blogging if you're doing weekly, monthly, quarterly. Well, not quarterly. Well, I mean, you could, but biweekly, let's say, you know, even daily. I don't know, there's episodes like— there's podcasts like that. If you've got show notes going out that are thoughtful, right? So I'm not— it's tough because I think for a lot of people, and I have this happen to me too, there's like— you can do show notes that take a long time, or you can do show notes that are kind of more like shorter. So find your sweet spot for whatever you can invest in right now, whether it is transcribing having a VA like have like, you know, bullet list of talking points. If you can ideally make the podcast its own blog, that would be pretty cool. You can again have a VA look at a transcription and then make it more like a blog format. There's so many things you can do in terms of tactical SEO, but it absolutely goes in hand in hand because once you have a podcast episode, you've got like the the prime material and then you can kind of mold it and make it just something that's more SEO friendly.

Yeah, I love that. I love that. So tell us something that you're most excited about coming up in your business or something happening in your life that you have coming up soon.

I'll start with the life first. I'm getting on a plane in less than a month. I'm so excited, actually. Yeah, I haven't been on a plane for like over 2 years, so—

Girl, me neither. We're going on a plane next weekend too, and I'm like, I don't know how I'm gonna feel. It's like, what is happening? Yeah, it's exciting, right?

Oh geez, just like that feeling. Anyway, yeah, for those of you who like to travel, you know, you just know when you're like getting in the airport, just kind of like feels like you're— so that's So that's life exciting stuff. And then business-wise, yeah, I'm really excited. I actually have an SEO course and I'm making a bunch of changes to it. I'm re-recording some of the episodes, episodes. So podcast. Oh my God. Yeah, some of the trainings. And yeah, I've just, I've been having a lot, for those of you who have courses, you know, it can just be hard sometimes to get that student engagement. And I've been working on my mindset of just showing up as in like there's 100 people watching me, right? Or, you know, whatever number feels grand to you. So that's been an upgrade for me to like that mindset of like, I'm recording this, maybe there's like no one watching, but I feel like there's 100 people watching. And so how you show up and how you deliver and how you give value is completely different. And so anyway, so I'm excited about that SEO course because it's a great resource for a lot of people who wanna learn the basics of SEO without getting super technical.

Mm-hmm.

Or, you know, they just want their VA to learn and so they like hear VA, go do this.

Yeah. I love that. Well, you'll have to definitely send us a link so we can put it in the show notes so that folks can check it out. Yeah, that's definitely on my list of to-dos for my VA that will want to do that part because, yeah, I mean, not all VAs love that.

So, no, I hear you.

Yeah, but definitely I think it's a great piece. And then you brought up a really good point that I just wanted to bring up again for anyone who's listening, like finding a business model to market your business while living with chronic illness that serves you versus you serving it is so much more powerful. I mean, that's why I even started the podcast, because of that very fundamental of like, I don't have to show up on video. I can repurpose this for my blog or for social media or for an email. Like, so many different things I could use as content without having to like be on for, you know, this thing. And so I think it's powerful to know that you can be empowered running a business even when you are in a flare-up or even when things are going really difficult for you.

So yeah, yeah. And there's a lot of talk about consistency There's a lot of talk about productivity. And if you have a chronic illness, that can feel really scary and it can worsen your chronic illness because you feel anxiety because you're not able to do your whatever crazy 6:00 AM morning routine. Those people, I love you people. I love you people. But I am on the other side of the camp. I mean, morning routines are great, but anyway, it's just like if that's all you think, like, if that's all you believe is, like, gonna lead you to success, you just feel like you're designed for failure, right?

Yeah.

So when you have a chronic illness, yes, finding the marketing that lights you up, finding the marketing that heals you, literally makes you feel good, is not only good for you, but it actually shows up— like, the way I know I show up on my podcast, I know that's just better for my audience. So it's like a win-win, and that It's like, I think a lot of people struggle with that, but like, just keep looking, keep experimenting, keep pivoting, try different things, try different rhythms. Like, I love Nikita Williams Williams. You've got a podcast every 2 weeks, you know, for some of you, maybe the thought of doing something weekly freaks you out. So what can you shift? And remember, nothing's permanent. Yeah, you can take breaks. You can say to people, hey, like, I'm not going to be emailing you for a month or whatever. You can batch content. Like, there's so many options, but if you don't— yeah, sometimes it's just hard to see it for yourself. So it's— it can be helpful to have support around that too.

Yeah. Yeah. I love that. That is so true. Yeah. I have been weekly. I have been once a month. I have been 2 times a week every week. Like, this show has been like on all different kind of things depending on how— what's going on. And it doesn't— it hasn't affected my ability to grow. Like, it just hasn't. And so I think one of my really good friends and clients, she's like, it's not about being consistent, it's about being persistent and being consistent. And I love that. Yeah, right? It's so good. So anyway, how can everyone find you so they can check you out? Obviously we'll have it in the show notes, but let us know.

Yeah, so you can go to my site, digitalbloomiq.com. I have a bunch of free SEO resources there. I have actually a keyword guide for health and wellness. I've got some specific SEO resources for health and wellness. And then you can go to my podcast, which is Digitally Overwhelmed. And Nikita's episode is going up soon on there too. And then you can also hang out with me on Instagram, which, speaking of consistency, I haven't been posting on there at all, but I'm okay with that.

I love it. Well, thank you so much for being on the show, Cynthia. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

That's a wrap, y'all. Thanks for tuning in to Crafted to Thrive, the podcast that helps entrepreneurs with chronic illness to thrive and build a holistic business and life. Check out our website at craftedittothrive.com for this episode's show notes and all the gifts and goodies. Connect with me on Instagram @thrivewithnikitawilliams for more tips and behind the scenes and more. Tag me to share what you loved about this episode, and I'll feature you on an upcoming episode. So until next time, remember, yes, you are crafted to thrive.