Who? What? Why?

Welcome to She's Crafted to Thrive, a show for women in photography and other creative businesses. You will hear conversations about the real everyday struggles of juggling life and business while trying to maintain passion and balance. As women, we have the skill of getting things done, but sometimes we get in our own way. It's here where you'll see that you're not alone. You'll discover that success does not mean perfection. Fear, negative thoughts and challenges are all part of the journey. On the podcast, you'll find the inspiration and tools you need to have a life and business that thrives.

Hello, my name is Nikita Williams. I'm a marketing consultant for women in photography and other creative businesses living with endometriosis and sharing my story. And I'm your host of She's Crafted to Thrive. I can't wait for you guys to listen to this intro episode to see why I started it, what my journey has been and why you will want to listen.

Hi, so I am super excited that I am starting this podcast, um, She's Crafted to Thrive. So I thought I'd take this first episode to really just share why I started on this journey of a podcast and why I really in general just started my business and a little bit about me so you kind of know my background and I'm not so much of a stranger to you. So I'm going to first start talking about why I titled this podcast She's Crafted to Thrive. And one of the reasons why is because I think that name is super cool and that's the name of my business. The name of my business is actually Crafted to Thrive and I work with photographers and creative entrepreneurs, specifically women, helping them craft a life and business that they love. And how I do that is by doing a lot of things like coaching in the marketing space on how to do the things they need to do. So that's kind of in a nutshell what I do for them. And I used to do a lot of services where I do done-for-you services, and I'm moving away from that where now I'm taking a lot more time doing the piece that I really enjoy, which is really just teaching and helping clients learn how to do some of these things or prioritize where they need to go in their business and what things they need to do in order to grow. And while on this journey of my business of Crafted to Thrive, working with women in photography, I work a lot with photography people and business because I love photography. My husband and I used to have a photography business way back Win. And ever since I was younger, like when I was in my teenage years, like when I was like 15 or something like that, I got introduced into photography. And I, as one of my first jobs, working with a friend's friend, doing— first I started off selling photography shots of sports, kids in sports. And then I started to learn a little bit about how to shoot some things in photography when it came to kids and sports. And then from that, it kind of just bloomed into this hobby that I love to do. And most of my friends growing up, some way, shape, or form, were into photography as well. So that is kind of where— why I'm so drawn to photography as far as just like, why is that niche so close to me? And I really didn't remember that, guys. Like, I thought, like, I, I kind of love photography, and I, I kind of— I don't know what happened. I really honestly don't know what happened outside of, like, my life kind of changed. My husband and I were doing it together as a business, and, um, my health and stuff— and you guys will— I'll tell you about that in a minute— but kind of got all out of whack and everything. So I kind of let it kind of just dissipate. And because I wasn't doing it so much as a hobby, I kind of disconnected from it as far as a business thing. So for a while there in my Crafted to Thrive business, I wasn't specifically supporting photographers or creative entrepreneurs. I was just helping anyone and everyone that was in business work for themselves, specifically women. I was that niche in that sense of helping women in business. And I was doing like virtual assisting. I was doing a whole bunch of other other things, but I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do at the time. So I feel like I need to fill you in on the other piece of this. So we've been in Florida for 2 years now in September, and before that we were in Atlanta. That's where I grew up. That's where I met my wonderful husband, and that's where my mom and my brother are. And that's where, like, pretty much my whole family base and a lot of my experiences in life happened in Atlanta, Georgia. So that is home. It will always be home. Never thought that growing up. I thought I'd never want to come back to Atlanta. I would travel and go all these different places and I would never ever— like, I just was not a homebody at all. But I do miss home a lot these days. So, but from Atlanta, we moved here because my husband got a job. And I love the ocean, guys. I love the water. I love the beach. It's something that just honestly soothes me. Um, it really helps, helps me with stress. And the sad and funny thing is that we used to come here way more frequently to visit for vacation, and now, um, the beach and the water and everything is so close to us that we don't get to it as often. And And part of that is because of my health stuff that I've got going on. But it's so funny how that works. And, but we, we like it here. We like it here in Florida a lot. So when I came here to Florida, um, I had a choice of continuing my real estate business, which I did have in Atlanta, my real estate license. And I decided not to. One, I did not want to have to go through the hoops and jumps of getting my real estate license in Florida. And after looking into it, I just was like, I'm not feeling this. And I'm glad I didn't because right when we came, came to Florida, I was able to do some things with my health. Like I was able to figure out some things and find a great, um, OB-GYN doctor who really took care of me and was willing to do a surgery that no one else was willing to do in Atlanta because I was too young. Blase, blase. That's a whole nother episode, which I will do on another one. Um, but if I were trying to do real estate and all that kind of stuff, it would have been crazy. So I was trying to decide what to do with all my experience in life. So I've been a real estate agent. I've been in real estate pretty much since high school. I used to work for a lawyer's office, um, that did closings and stuff like that. So I've always been in real estate, but at the same time of doing those things I in some way, shape, or form have always loved being around creative entrepreneurs or business owners. And throughout my years, I've worked with photographers, I've worked with graphic designers, I've worked with artists, like people create art on like a wall with paint, or jewelry makers or candle makers, makers, really makers and artists. And I've always loved that. At one point I was working with a coworking space that I absolutely loved and I was so privileged and honored to work with this small business that kind of started up. I'm pretty sure that experience set me onto the path of like, yes, I want to help creative entrepreneurs. I want to help creative businesses. I just had so much fun while helping her in her business. In the coworking space. I was, I guess you could say I was like the, the community manager in that area and that shop, it was called the Work Spot and I loved it. Like that was probably one of my best times in life was working in that place where I met tons of entrepreneurs and tons of women and so many different things. That was really, really, really cool. And it was just so nice. And at that point I was also launching my business called One of a Kind Local Markets. So I was doing like little shows where I would get a handful of creative entrepreneurs, makers and artists and photographers, and we would do like a show. And the space that I was working in, the coworking space was huge. It was big enough where we could do stuff like that. And the woman that I was working with or partnering with, her name was Rayanne, and she had allowed me to use that space for that. And oh my gosh, I love doing those shows. Like, they were probably my best. They were not the most lucrative, but they were a great way for me to meet different people in the community and have different events. And I love doing that. The only thing I didn't love was the burnout from it because I mean, it's basically planning an event like a wedding every month, like I was doing every 3 months, it felt like. And I really did well at it. It was just very— it was a lot. Let's just say that it was a lot. So I decided like, okay, that's not what I'm going to do. And so I started focusing more on helping those creative entrepreneurs entrepreneurs and makers really in their business. So what that meant for me and for those that I worked with was really helping them decide what to do, to spend time on doing, and how to do those things in a way that was most profitable for them. And I loved it. Love, love, love, love, loved it. And then life kind of changed and the coworking space that I was working with, they changed, they shifted. And so I shifted. And at the time, my husband and I were volunteering, and we do this, we continue to volunteer now. We decided that we wanted to help our congregation in an area learn a foreign language, and one of the languages was Bulgarian. Yeah, you heard me right, Bulgarian. Had never heard of it before, and it was so Awesome. It was another awesome time of our lives. We learned Bulgarian, we traveled quite a bit. We have such close friends from that time in our life, like they are family for life. It was just really, really nice. And it was really nice to be in that voluntary work, meeting people who weren't really familiar with what we were talking about, which was about the Bible and just different things. That they had never heard of. And we did that for about 3 years. But that timeframe met us or brought us to St. Pete. One of those times we came here to visit, and that's where we are right now in St. Pete, Florida. And we just love the area. We just thought it was so hip and cool. And for years we had talked about moving to Florida. We were thinking, yeah, we'll move to Jacksonville, we'll do all these different things. But when we came to St. Pete, it was just like, this is the perfect fit. One, it's like so cool. Two, it's like water surrounding us. And it was just really nice. We really liked the area. So my husband got the opportunity to get a job here, and it was here. We were like, yes, we're going to do this. We're going to go. And we sure did. It was really fast. Our friends and family didn't have much time to get ready for us to be gone. But we did, we left, and we've been here for 2 years. So when we came here, you know, I had a lot of things going on with my health, and I decided, well, I'm going to work for myself. It's probably the best. And like I said earlier, I'm so glad I did that because it's allowed me the freedom to do so. But the biggest problem was I had so many years of different experience and working with different people. I was feeling like really overwhelmed with where should I go? What should I do? And I found— I say I found, but I really think that I was helped to find this. Like, this particular person helped me kind of put everything in place that I needed to have or think about and kind of put it into a business. So before, I was just like doing every little thing here, there, and I wasn't really sure exactly for me, which is crazy because I would train and coach other people while, you know, years before how to do this. But for me, I was just really convoluted in my brain. So Julie Stoian, I don't know if you know her, but Julie Stoian is a mom and her story is amazing. And I found her right before she kind of blew up. That's what I say. She's like completely huge. Like, she's huge. She's amazing. Like, she's really an influencer. Influencer and the space of marketing and all that kind of stuff. But I found her right before I feel like that cusp happened to her business. And her thing was create a laptop life, and here's how you do it through digital marketing and all these different things that I have been doing for years for other businesses and for other people, even people that I worked for, I did for. But my brain just hadn't connected the dots on how to translate that into using that to help like my own business, like create my own business in that kind of way. And I did her course for like 3 months and it was like bam, I went right into it. I had some clients, it was great. I was doing Facebook ads, other little virtual assistant kind of things, but mainly my focus, my, my drive was Facebook ads and email marketing and landing pages and I started to learn how to do some custom CSS for Squarespace, and I've always used Squarespace. So that's been like my jam for a long time because we used it for our photography business way back when, because WordPress was just not something I was going to take the time to learn about because it's so, it's so much. So I did that, and ever since then I've kind of been pivoting. Every now and then I pivot. I feel like I pivot all the time. Time based on understanding where I needed to be. And I think it was about January. No, it was right before I had my huge— right before I had my surgery, which was in December of last year. I had a hysterectomy, which is crazy. I know, because I'm 30 and I'm 31, actually. But then I was just turning 30 or had just turned 30. And it was because of my health issues. I have endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome and fibromyalgia and a whole bunch of other lists I'm not going to go into. But I've been suffering with endometriosis, which has been the biggest concern, which causes all the other flare-ups in my life for a long time. And for years, you know, my doctor was like, we can't do this. We're not going to do it. I had surgery, had surgeries where they went in and like scraped the endometrial tissues out or burned them away. But nobody was willing to do the hysterectomy because I was too young. That was the— basically, that was the cusp of everything. No, you're too young. So when I came here to St. Pete and found a doctor that, one, was willing to do it, two, was amazing at what she did, I was like kind of like scared to what to do with my business, because that meant that a lot was going to change, even though I feel like my day-to-day life has really— it's just been the same consistently. And at that time, a good friend of mine came back into my life. I'm so thankful. Her name is Rene Hughes, and she is a Simplicity coach and entrepreneur. She has her own business and a Young Living entrepreneur. And she helps women and just she helps people really get simple, like look at your business and life in a simplistic way and do it in a simplistic way and then also find where you need to be. And then not only that, to be consistent and not overwhelmed and not stressed by it. And I knew she had a business, but I didn't know that's what she was doing. She reached out to me to introduce me to essential oils because I wasn't really using them for my health. I had, you know, used them for other things at times, but I hadn't heard anything about using them for like dealing with my essential oils, like dealing with my endometriosis. So when I was introduced to it, I was like, yeah girl, I'll try it. You know, I trust her, she's a great friend. At the same time, I started to learn that she did business coaching, and she was really instrumental in helping me refocus and reconnect with that piece that I was so passionate about, which was working with photographers and creative entrepreneurs and photography in general. And I was just like, I'm so glad. And that's when my business pivoted quite a bit, actually. I went from just working with anyone and marketing to anyone to really focusing my, my efforts and my marketing avatar to women in photography, and I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. Love it. Love it so much because I just love photography. And then I speak to these women and I know why I love photography all over again and then why they love it. And then to really help them see how to put those pieces together as far as marketing, because it's a different part of their brain, I feel, and it's a different effort and a different thinking about things. So I I'm just really grateful that I'm able to help them in this way. So that's a little bit of story about me and my business and why I am here and where I came to this point. And now I have pivoted into doing more coaching and mentoring and showing people how to do stuff. I still do done for you services. I just charge a lot more for that stuff. But that's the piece I love. I love connecting with the women in photography and in creative businesses and helping them just get past the fear, get past the overwhelm, and really focus on what they need to do one piece at a time. And if they don't know how to do it, I'm right there with them along the way, trying to teach them and show them how to do the steps. Because a lot of times they don't have time to do this stuff. Like, they're moms, they have another job, like photography, or the creative business is their side hustle, or they may have a have a full business and their business is doing well, but they want to grow and they don't have the time to sit down and focus on all the little pieces. And that's what I'm there for, to one, help them figure out what little pieces to focus on and then how to do those little pieces in a way that's not overwhelming and that's simple. So I love it. I love, love, love it. But while doing this with these women and this business, I was struggling myself with blogging and it's such a huge thing. Content is king. Everybody says it and that's what you're supposed to do is content, right? And I hate writing, y'all. That's no joke. I do not like to write. I don't mind writing about my own stuff, but when it comes to business and stuff, it's really hard for me. I'm starting to get better and because of the way I'm doing it, which I'll share with you in another post about how to get past that. I hate writing to— oh, this is not so bad. Um, but while doing that, I had come up with an idea of just really connecting on a more personal level with the women that I talked to. And I started asking people that were following me on Instagram or that I was following in some of the Facebook groups if they would be interested in doing interview, because I feel like we we can all learn from each other's stories and what we all are going through. And we all have tips and tricks and tools that we all could use to help each other. So I started recording these Zoom calls that I had with these ladies, and I love that part. Like, I loved having the time to just like chat with them and talk with them and hear the inflections in their voice when I ask them a question like, what's your passion? Like, why do you love this? What are you doing, what's so difficult for you, just to hear that emotion. And I just thought, wow, that's amazing. But the piece that I wasn't really connecting with was the writing about it because I wasn't sharing those videos with people. I was writing about that interview with that person. And one, it just wasn't working for me. It was so hard because I was like, I can't convey the emotion and the feeling behind what I just heard right now from this woman that was amazing.. And so I started thinking about the podcast idea and just talking about it with my husband and just researching a lot about it. And I was starting to listen to some, and everybody has their own way of doing podcasts. And I was like, yeah, I like podcasts, but I like a very conversational, laid back. I don't mind the questions back and forth, which is what I do in my podcast, but I wanted to just be more like me, like I would have a conversation with anybody, but with some structure. So I was really focusing on trying to get to that point because one, I knew a podcast, I could just edit it and have someone do the show notes and be done. And then two, it's so much more enjoyable because I get to just chat with these wonderful women and share their stories and hope that inspires other people people to push past their fears or to use something that they heard to grow their business like the bomb.com so that they feel so much more confident that they can do it. And you will fall and you will fail and you will make mistakes, but you will have success. You will have really awesome days. Some days won't be so awesome, but guess what? You will survive and you will continue. And every woman in business has that story, and specifically creative entrepreneurs, we have really high highs and really low lows. So it's really important to feel like, oh, we're not alone. And that's the piece that I really wanted to share. So that's why I decided to name this podcast She's Crafted to Thrive, because we are all created in a sense that we all have something special and And the wonderful thing about this is that as I'm recording these podcasts with these awesome ladies, all of these women that I'm talking to have learned that, that we all have something very special to offer. We're not all the same, we're all different, but we do have a lot of the similar concerns and fears and how we can really help each other. Definition of craft is a skill in planning, making, or executing. Executing. And that's the truth about women. We, we have a special skill. To me, I think we have a special skill in planning and in making and making things happen. And that's why I named this, you know, this podcast She's Crafted to Thrive, because we are— all of us, this is the one thing that's pretty consistent for all women, is that we have this skill to make things happen and plan and execute them well. That's how we were created. I believe that we were created that way. We were created as helpers and we were created to do, put things in place. And as women, we do that every day, whether we're on our own, with our families, in our business, in our life. That's what we do. We all might do it differently. We might all think differently in a way. But I believe part of our purpose is to do, to craft, these lives that we have. And so I just wanted to share that piece of everyone's story because that's so different for everyone and to really be there for each other and hopefully build a tribe of women who feel and are confident in that fact that we are not, we're not alone and we can do whatever it is that we put our minds to and we can accomplish it. So. I want you guys to know what's coming up on the podcast. It's lots of interviews with lots of awesome women. They're going to be women in photography and creative businesses. Some of them are not in creative businesses or photographers. Some of them will be women who support those type of women in those businesses. They'll be coaches, they'll be marketing experts every now and then, but the majority of this will be about the women who are in these niches, who are photographers, who are in creative businesses, because I want to share their stories and I want other people to be like, if they're on the edge or they're at home and they're like, I don't know if I want to do this, or if they're on the verge of giving up because they feel like nobody else has experienced those low lows, then I want them to hear this podcast and be like, I can do it. She could do it, I can do it. I can push past and I can grow. And I think, I think the biggest, the biggest piece is that I really want to facilitate conversations that matter for women in these businesses. And I hope that we can create authentic friendships and collaborations within this group. I will be launching a Facebook group for you guys so that we can all kind of connect and just stay connected. In that way. And my content will be free when it comes from She's Crafted to Thrive. And if you would like to know how to be a guest, if you've been in business, you can go to my website at craftedtothrive.com and see there how to be a guest. Or if you might be considering about being a sponsor once we get all the bomb.com. I like these things. I'm such a '90s girl. So y'all just get ready because I say stuff that's so old school. And I say old school because it's like '90s. I know. Anyway, just know that this is going to be a lot of tears, a lot of laughter, a lot of real talk, and a lot of ways to be inspired to do the things you want to do. You'll find the inspiration and tools that you need to have a life and business that thrives. Because yes, we are women and we are crafted to thrive.