Preparing for 2023: Social Media Trends & Learning how to be an Effective Leader with Mary Robb

This week, I sat down with Mary Robb - someone I have been so impressed by every since I was introduced to her! Mary is an incredibly successful CEO & founder who has great insights into what it takes to scale a business. In this episode we talk about everything from social media and trend predictions for 2023, to how to grow a team, & funding that growth WITHOUT outside investors. Mary also gives us insight into how she provides mentorship as a CEO and leader to her team and her goals to DOUBLE her business every year!

About Mary Robb

Mary Robb is the CEO and founder of Social Practice, a boutique content marketing agency that utilizes creative storytelling to help businesses grow. After working in advertising and marketing for 10 years, Mary discovered a gap in the market for social media as a service. In 2019, she launched the agency and has taken major strides to double the business year over year. Social Practice serves primarily service-based businesses, with an emphasis on aesthetic practices such as plastics, derms, medspas, and cosmetic dental practices. Mary finds her purpose in developing and empowering women through creating new job opportunities and offering mentorship. She lives an active lifestyle and enjoys traveling, trying new restaurants, wine tasting, hitting the gym, or spending time with family and friends.

Connect with Mary & Social Practice

Free social media analysis: https://linktr.ee/socialpractice

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/socialpracticeus/

Website: http://social-practicetx.com/

LISTEN HERE!

Episode Transcript

Mary Robb  00:00

And then we decided, well, I want to double the business every year so we're just going to figure out how are we going to do it? I like have a problem with just being like yeah, like we'll do it like let's go like why not and then you know on the back end it's like, but we always figure it out

Christy Bowie  00:21

hey CEOs Welcome back to the CEO wingwoman Show. I'm your host Christy buoy, and we're back with another exciting episode. Today we're talking to Mary Rob. Mary is the CEO and founder of social practice a boutique content marketing agency that utilises creative storytelling to help businesses grow. After working in advertising and marketing for over 10 years, Mary discovered a gap in the market for social media as a service. In 2019. She launched the agency and has taken major strides to double the business year over year, social practice serves primarily service based businesses with an emphasis on aesthetic practices such as plastic derms, med spas and cosmetic dental practices. Mary finds her purpose in developing and empowering women through creating new job opportunities, and offering mentorship. She also lives a very active lifestyle and enjoys travelling, trying new restaurants, wine tasting, hitting the gym, and spending time with family and friends. I mean, honestly, based on that, like I already want to be your friend. So I am so excited to welcome you to the show today.

Mary Robb  01:26

Thank you for having me, I'm so excited to chat with you. This is such a cute studio.

Christy Bowie  01:31

We absolutely love it here. So first off, I really just kind of want you to get us started in talking about why it is so important to have a social media presence and what that kind of means for us, I think that it's incredibly interesting that you have focused in on kind of fields that we wouldn't normally expect social media to be a part of. So I really want to hear, you know, where that idea came from? And why every business owner should be focusing on this?

Mary Robb  01:58

That's a great question. Um, you know, just with where technology is today, with the pandemic, and COVID. And just with so much flexibility in our daily life now. Social media is the one platform where everyone's connected. It's the number one place to reach people, whether it's your friends, your family, as a business owner, your clients or potential clients. So it's just the the opportunities there are limitless, which for me is just so exciting. And for business owners, and my clients are so exciting. So I think it's just so important that any business owner, whether you're brand new, or you've been doing this for a while, just kind of jumped on the train and get started with it.

Christy Bowie  02:41

Perfect. I love that. So given that you have focused in more of medical practices, what does that approach look like for someone like that, that is more of a, you know, business to consumer strategy? And so why do I care if my dentist has a social media presence? Like what what does that make a difference for, you know, from the consumer side.

Mary Robb  03:02

So really, what we're looking at is, you know, with the services that our clients provide, it is is saturated space, number one. Number two, there are so many different options out there. And a big part of what we're trying to help our clients do is share their client experience online. And for us, it's patient experience. And so having a real authentic place where people can a stay in touch with you or be get to know you more is just so crucial and essential for these businesses. There's new dental offices popping up on every single corner, there are DSOs, scooping up family owned business family practices. So yeah, I think that that's, that's just where, when you look at those things, it's like, well, our, our target clients, they have so many options. It's like how do they choose who they're going to trust to go to? How are they going to? What is that buying journey? You know, what are they going to look for. And so social media gives us a real opportunity to show who we are to tell our story, to show our services to talk about what sets us apart, to show our patients, and to really just help bring in more people that, you know, we align with and want to work with.

Christy Bowie  04:09

Yeah, I think that's so important. Then you talked about how we set ourselves apart. A lot of people listening a lot of us, we're not trying to compete on a cost basis, I'm not going to say I'm going to offer the cheapest thing, I'm gonna say I'm going to offer the best or I'm going to offer the thing that is right for you. And one of the things that I have really been researching and digging into lately is, especially in this kind of uncertain time in the economy, people really appreciate what we call like tiny luxuries. They love to be made to feel like they're having a luxurious experience without necessarily paying for a luxury. So something as simple as, you know, a comfortable client journey at my health care provider makes me feel like I'm being taken care of and having a more luxurious experience when that's not something I'm necessarily invested in right now. So I love that you talked about it's more than just getting Your name out there. It's more than saying, Hey, I exist, because I think there's a lot of ways people use marketing and social media, but you talking about, you know, telling the story of the business and showing, you know, the point of what they want to be there. I think that's so important. Can you kind of dig in a little bit more to what your strategy for your clients is in what you believe the best way to use social in that senses?

Mary Robb  05:24

Yeah, great question. So the first thing I always want you to do as a business owner is to look at who is my target client? What do they care about? What are their needs? What it could also look, you know, where do they hang out? What do they spend their time for us and with our clients, for example, they're looking for that Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom Ritz Carlton experience. So that's always a huge thing that we're looking at. But then also what sets you apart. So we already kind of touched on that a little bit. So first, you're kind of looking at it from a strategic perspective of what does my audience care about? And the big question that I'm always asking is, what kind of content can I put out there, that adds value to my target client, because that's going to build the trust established credibility. And it's also just going to allow them to utilise us as a resource, which then, you know, we're top of mind at that point. So that's kind of where I like to start is just look at, you know, again, the audience, what sets you apart, it's always a good idea to look at competitors. And understand the book, traction is a book that I love. And one of the things they talk about is, you know, write down the top 10 things that you guys do. And typically, if you stack yourself up against all of your other competitors, there's gonna be several things in that 10, that you guys all do the same, but there's going to be three that are unique to you. And so find what those things are. And that's now your marketing campaign. That is what you're going to focus on, and your call to action. Now all your content doesn't have to revolve around those things, but your call to action is going to be around that. So then it's looking at, you know, the types of content. So we talked about this earlier, you know, you're investing in this podcast, which is so smart. Cotton, this is a content marketing strategy right here. So and figure out as a business owner, you know, what aligns with you the most, but, and also where, where is your audience, of course, they're on social. So you're gonna utilise social media to promote your podcast, but your clients, for example, are also listening to podcasts, because they're educated, they're interested in learning, they want to grow. And that's where people who you know, listen to podcasts, that's where they're at. So, you know, look at where your audience is.

Christy Bowie  07:32

Okay. So, you know, on that note saying, Get where my audience is, what do I need to really be investing in every single social platform? I mean, I have multiple social platforms, I had the podcast that's exhausting to continue to do that. So is that important? Or where should I be spending my time?

Mary Robb  07:52

So it does depend on again, your target audience, so I can use your business? For example. I was getting a free analysis here. Yes, I would say so. For example, you're wanting to reach other business owners, right? So you're a b2b, essentially, business. LinkedIn. Number one, podcast number two, because that's where entrepreneurs are at. That's where they're wanting to learn and grow. Instagram 100%, that you can also very easily reach your audience there. Tik Tok, same thing. So, you know, I get a lot of questions about Pinterest, Twitter, it just it all boils down to, where's your audience at? And how easily can you reach them? Because you don't want to try and distribute content on all these platforms, because you will burn out, you won't be as strategic as you need to be for each platform. And it won't be successful.

Christy Bowie  08:35

Yeah, that's a great point. So thinking about strategy, you know, you've constantly said, you know, we need to be strategic. So what does that mean? Like, what exactly should I be putting out there? Is it just trends? Is it fun? Sounds like, what is the strategy for that?

Mary Robb  08:49

Yeah, so a good content marketing strategy would be, first you want to start with four to six content pillars. So pillars, I also refer to them sometimes as categories just to kind of make it simpler. So it's the different buckets of content that you're going to be putting out there that can be one, one bucket can be sales. So it's specifically talking about your services, how to sign up what the benefits are. One of the categories can be education. So this content is strictly meant to be content that can be shared that can be saved, that again, your target audience watches it, and like wow, I learned something new today. Thank you so much. It's free information. I mean, it's and a lot of that, you know, circle back to your business, whether it's a discovery call or a course that you're selling or get a podcast subscriber. Another bucket could be personal like getting to know you as a person, if that makes sense for your business. So what services you sell for example, I would say most your clients work directly with you, if I'm not mistaken for now. And so, you know, people knowing that you're a real person outside of your nine to five or I know you have multiple companies, but like, you know, like getting to know you also is a great way to establish trust and build credibility. Because ultimately people want to work with people they like, you know, there's a lot of options out there. And so, and there's plenty of business to go around. And people just want to align with the people that they trust to help them grow their business. So that's why, you know, I always am a huge advocate for the personal bucket, some people, you know, will have a business page, and then a personal page, I currently have it set up that way for myself. But again, I think it depends on your target client. So for what you're doing, I think it does make sense to have it blended. And then another category, I mean, it can be all sorts of things, whether it's speaking engagements, events, workshops, just kind of more credibility, building things, but get your four to six pillars of content established, then you want to evenly post on those things. So the way that we approach strategy is we sit down, and we do brainstorming sessions, whether it's on a monthly basis, or a quarterly basis, sometimes biannual eights, depending on the client. And we brainstorm topics for each of those pillars, each of those categories. From there, you put it into a content calendar, and you make sure that it's all evenly distributed. And then you have a game plan. Because I think one of the things that I think where people get stuck is the pressure of daily showing up and the pressure of having something new and creative to say, because, look, we're entrepreneurs, we have a lot of hats that we're wearing, we have a lot of things being thrown at us all day, every day. And I can tell you, I am a natural, born creative, but I do not feel creative every single day, because of just where my brain has to, you know, be that day. So I'm a huge advocate for planning ahead as much as you can, you can't plan everything. My favourite quote is, if you fail to plan you plan to fail. And it's just it's one of those things that it'll just take so much pressure off. So once you get all of your topics established, and you've got, you've got your content calendar, I really, especially for entrepreneurs, that have seen and feel that the best and easiest way is to create the content and bulk. So content batching. So book a full day on your calendar, hire photographer videographer, you can hire a social media agency like ours, if you don't wanna do this yourself, and go create all your content in one day, that'll last you at least one to three months, so that you don't have to wake up every day, worry about putting on your makeup or drying your hair. It's this whole, it's a whole process, you know, it's like, Oh, my God, I'm like, now I'm an Instagram model. Like, let's just add that to the list. It's like exhausting. So do it one time, once a month, once a quarter, get as many photos and videos as you can in one day, and then you're good. That's really kind of our strategy and how we approach the creation of the actual assets, photo or video. And then when it comes to writing and sharing the content, there's so many tools out there, there's scheduling tools, there's engagement tools, I always suggest spending at least 30 to 60 minutes a day on the engagement piece, which would be responding to people and reaching out to new people. Because the whole point of socialists be social

Christy Bowie  12:53

calling calling me out right now. Thanks for the reminder.

Mary Robb  12:57

I mean, it's hard. I mean, to be honest, uh, you're a business owner and audit, I have people on my team that help the social practice page, because I, I've been pulled in so many different directions, I don't have time to respond to DMS and comments all day, every day. And then also reach out to my target client. So you can build out a strategy for someone that can assist with that. But you want to make sure that whether it's you or someone on your team is spending time on the app every day, because putting a post out there and then logging off, you know, spending five minutes a day on the app is not going to move the needle, these apps want you spending time on it and one of the apps notice that you're spending time on it, when they notice people are coming back to engage with you after you engage with them. First, they're gonna start prioritising your content over people who are less active.

Christy Bowie  13:40

Yeah, that's super important to hear. And something I think we need to be reminded of commonly, you know, we're not just putting this content out for us, we're putting it out. For other people. The goal is to build a community, right? It's not to me be a voice to everybody, it's for us to be a community all together. And so that's something really important to remember, I want to go back to where you talked about the personal bucket because I, as a data driven person, have tracked a lot of this information. I recently was realising you know, I had a point in time where my sales calls just like weren't converting, and I was tracking you know, okay, what am I doing what's going wrong? Maybe it's the source they're coming from. And one of the things I noticed that is almost backwards from what I've commonly heard in the industry is my social leads were converting higher than my referral leads. And the reason was because my social leads saw authentically who I was, and they knew what to expect from me. I mean, I'm an accountant, but I'm not going to show up in a corner office in a stuffy suit like, and if you just hear from someone Oh, I know an accountant, you can go talk to that is kind of, you know, you don't know what to expect. But I thought that was a really interesting metric that you know, my it was actually my tick tock leads like the people who see me think that's the most authentic platform truly, at least for me, and so Oh, that was just something super interesting that I am definitely believing personal really matters. So, you know, that is scary, of course to put yourself out there personally, what if What if people don't like what I have to say?

Mary Robb  15:14

It is. And you know, I just had so many thoughts when you're sharing that because kind of a something I mentioned earlier, people want to work with people that they like, and trust. So it really kind of starts with the like, though. And the thing that you're selling essentially, is financial accounting services, right. And as a business owner, all of the categories that they have to worry about every day, that's one bucket, at least for me, personally, I just like my eyes start to cross, I start to glaze over, I get really stressed out, you know, I'm good with numbers, but your business gets to a certain size where not all of it makes sense anymore,

Christy Bowie  15:48

which is worrying about where you don't have time.

Mary Robb  15:52

And I have an amazing team. But I mean, when it comes to who your audience is choosing to invest in to help them there does need to be a connection, because if there's not, they're gonna go and try and find somebody else, even if you did nothing wrong. And so I think it's so important to just be comfortable with humanising yourself, it doesn't mean you have to go on and you know, share all your deepest, darkest traumas of your whole life, but it's just being personable having a personality being relatable, whatever that means to you. For some people, it's a lot more deep and vulnerable. For some people. It's just light and fun. But I think it allows your audience to connect with you in a way that helps them wrap their mind around the pieces of their life or their business that you're going to help them with, if that makes sense.

Christy Bowie  16:41

Yeah, for sure. And I do think that is a trend that we're seeing business go towards, you know, wanting to know that this person isn't just providing me a transactional service, they are working with me as part of our team. So talking about, you know, social trends and what's going forward, I would love to pick your brain on 2023. That's coming up pretty soon. What social trends do you expect to see? And how do I get on top of that right now.

Mary Robb  17:06

So what we were just talking about authentic real content, number one, video videos, past, present, and future, I think the faster that you can get comfortable with video, the better off you're gonna be. You know, even with this podcast, like we talked about, before we started you can use the clips from this podcast as your video content. This is all very high value added content. So I don't want the listeners to think well, gosh, like I don't want to do a selfie video. Every day, it looks so stupid. Like there are different ways to go about creating video content. But that's the number one way to reach people is the most engaged with content. You can either film it yourself, you can hire someone to film it, you can create podcasts, you can speak at different events and have someone film that for you and put it in bite sized chunks. You can start a YouTube channel and then use that to promote you know educational content on your socials. So there's a lot of different ways to do it. The other thing so I don't know if you have heard of be real yet.

Christy Bowie  18:06

Oh, I love the real big fan. Big fan. Wait,

Mary Robb  18:09

we need to be friends on there. So yesterday in the office, we we do a monthly Social media trends meeting where we talk about all of the latest trends happening right now. Be real is blowing up. It's like a glorified Snapchat but you have two minutes to post. You know what you're doing. You can't fake it, faking it. There's no filters. I'm like, I'm a millennial. I'm 30. Now, like, I need the filters. And I'm just kidding. But um, so it's the whole premise behind it. And by the way, if you guys don't know what be realised, go to youtube search be real SNL skit, you'll learn it in two minutes. So like, wow, that makes so much sense. But the whole point is, it's authentic content. And that's what people are craving is just like real content from real people. Because social media is so curated at this point. I mean, we it you know, it's people make a shit tonne of money. So to be fair, I mean, yeah, it's curated because the quality of the content continues to standards, and the bar continues to be raised higher and higher and higher. And I think

Christy Bowie  19:09

we also have to remember sometimes something I forget is like people on social media have teams behind them making this happen, you know, the big names that you're comparing yourself to versus be real is literally that,

Mary Robb  19:22

yes. Well, so the whole purpose of me mentioning be real is authentic content. So if you're looking at your content strategy for 2023, how can you show up a little bit more authentically, the personal category, going back to that, that's where people are gonna relate to you post photos that don't look filtered. I mean, there's ways to filter them without them being super filtered. You know, so you know, it's because people can catch on to that and then they start to feel like you might be phoney fake so the authentic piece is huge. And last but not least, I would say get comfortable with stories because you may have noticed all the platforms are bringing that in So

Christy Bowie  20:00

and that's probably not by accident, they see the success on the other platform.

Mary Robb  20:04

Yes. So you're gonna have your feed content, which is posts, graphics reels, tic TOCs stories is where you can share some of that authentic be real, you know, type of content as well. I believe tick tock now has it, of course, Instagram or Facebook do I believe YouTube is rolling it out? They aren't haven't already. And same thing with LinkedIn. So getting comfortable with some of those daily updates, and just being present, I think that's a huge thing is showing that you're present in your business, you guys are active, you're busy, you're taking off being relevant, it's also going to help you outshine your competitors as well.

Christy Bowie  20:39

Yeah, that's awesome. And really good to hear. If you guys listeners here, see me implementing all of this, you'll know it was because

Mary Robb  20:47

you're welcome. To do Louis, you know, love to

Christy Bowie  20:51

do it. Alright, so I want to pivot a little bit and talk about your business and your journey as well. Because not only do you serve successful business owners, I mean, you undoubtably are one yourself. So I want to hear a little bit, you know, how did your agency start? And where did that come from?

Mary Robb  21:09

Yes, so I was born just a super creative person, but also have always been entrepreneurial. But I've always had to work for everything that I have. And so my first about, I'd say, 10 years in my career, I spent time working for other people. And I was honestly blessed with some of the best opportunities to work with small businesses, to learn from some incredible leaders, bosses, managers, and just, I'm kind of like a sponge, I just absorbed all of it. And I'm a very curious person. So I always wanted to know why. And I wanted to learn more about not just my role, but like how the companies worked as a whole. So you know, I graduated from college with a PR and marketing degree, a minor in business, I first went for business, and then I realised I was more creative. So I needed to do the PR thing. But, you know, then I worked for several different advertising and marketing agencies. And I think that was just so crucial for me, because I learned the logistics of how those businesses operate. And that's, that's a huge part of owning a business. And to be fair, I credit that experience to our growth in our success, and just how quickly we've grown from having zero investors zero, you know, financial resources, I started this with $5,000. And just, this is where we're at. So, and then on the flip side of that, my last job before I launched, the agency was, I wasn't outside sales for marketing software startups. So I learned how to sell. Because to be honest, as a creative marketing person, I love campaigns, I understand the sales process, but I never considered myself a salesperson, I thought I can't, I don't want to sell anything. Like that's weird and awkward. And I can go between being introverted and extroverted. And I don't go out of my way to bother people or like, try and push them to do anything. Unless, like, it makes sense. So I was, I was honestly super lucky to just get that opportunity because it kind of broke that barrier for me, because I knew before I started a business, I needed to get comfortable with that. And for me, it was learning the process and just getting that experience, so and that Job was specifically in healthcare, and the last agency worked out for that was in healthcare. So that's why we've kind of niched into that area. And not to mention, you know, healthcare is I personally just love working with practices. I love doctors and their passion for what they do. I love just the stories that they all have. And I don't know, it's just for me personally, and even for our team, just working in that space is just super meaningful and impactful. So that's kind of how we niche there. But I started the business in 2019. And it was after I saw that there's a huge need in the space for social media as a service. Didn't really didn't really have anybody that I felt comfortable referring my clients to for that, because they would ask me all the time, you know, Mary, what do we do about our social media, like you're doing all these other things read from a marketing perspective, but how do we approach this? And my best answer at the time was, you're gonna have to go hire someone, because the companies agencies out there didn't have a service that made sense. And that was authentic and not honestly delivered an ROI. Because there was no strategy behind it. Social media is still Well, not anymore, but it was relatively new when I was new in my career. And so, you know, the thought was, well, we'll put a graphic up and call it a day, you know, and we won't think much about it. It'll be kind of fluffy. And, you know, we checked the box. And so for me as a millennial growing up with a computer, like MySpace, and Zynga and Facebook, like I was like, You guys are doing it all wrong. So yeah, I kind of took a leap of faith in 2019. And the timing was right, and just kind of have been chugging along ever since.

Christy Bowie  24:51

Awesome to really see a need and say, Yeah, I'm gonna be the one to fill that because I think in a lot of places as entrepreneurs, we're like, oh, we could do this. We could do this but like If that can be you to do that, and that can be used to fill that space. And I also love that you credit, you know, your work experience with a lot of the things you learned. I've learned over time that a lot of entrepreneurs like to put down like corporate jobs like, Oh, that's terrible. That's not for me. And I'm like, I made all my mistakes on someone else's dime. Yeah. And I learned from people who had been there and who were smarter than me. So I think that's something really important to consider it, you know, we're not reinventing the entire wheel of business, there are things that we can take from our past experiences. So obviously, you know, you started in 2019, you've grown now to multiple full time employees, you work out of multiple cities, which is just mind blowing. To me, I think every single week, you're like now having a client in this city. So can you kind of explain the process of expanding your business? How you knew you were ready to start growing, hiring, you know, more and more employees? What that looked like for you?

Mary Robb  25:57

Great question. So it's funny. This comes from my creative marketing sales brain. I just like randomly decided, well, I want to double the business every year. So we're just going to figure it out.

Christy Bowie  26:07

How are we going to do it?

Mary Robb  26:09

I like have a problem with just being like, yeah, like, we'll do it, like, let's go, like, why not. And then, you know, on the back end, it's like, but we always figure it out. That's the whole point. And like, that's the confidence that I built in my career experience, which going back to that, that builds confidence, because at that point, you have knowledge, you have experience, you know how to solve complex problems, because you've done it before. So then that opens the door for you to be able to go out and do your own thing. But, I mean, it's very rare that you can at 22, I was listening to a podcast about this the other day, at 20 G, you can just like, Alright, I'm gonna open my business and be wildly successful, unless you're very blessed with like, lots of resources, connections, whatever. So anyways, not to go on a tangent. Yeah, so I, I'm a number oriented person, and I'm a goal oriented person. So I just had a number in my head, I was like, I want to be this by this time. Now, the numbers have changed since I very first started because they were very optimistic. With considering, like, you know, we could go out and get investors to make it happen. But how did it happen? I think part of it was, I am just a very active socially active person, I spent a lot of time reaching out to people, I spent a lot of time working on our sales process and building new connections and developing business. So that was a huge piece of it. And then on the on the flip side, my experience working in the agencies and knowing the different departments and knowing the different roles, like I've learned just when certain people are going to be needed to be pulled in. So I kind of already had that established, like, Okay, once we get to this size, we need to hire this type of role. Once we get to this size, we need to hire this type of role. So I think it's important if you have experience or not, like think through your upcoming five years. So I've always had a five year plan, I've always had like a hierarchy kind of in mind, of course that changes as you grow. But just a general idea of what you plan to do and how you plan to get there we do. We've always done annual meetings to talk about our goals and how we're going to get there and each department how they contribute. So planning, planning, planning, as boring as it is, you have to do it. And just know that, you know, things aren't always going to be on the plan. So you have to be flexible, and you have to be able to pivot Of course,

Christy Bowie  28:17

yeah, that's great. And to hear that, you know, you really have stepped into what I like to say is the CEO role, right, you're not just the one creating the content, you're not the one servicing the clients anymore. And I think that's a very pivotal place that I see most business owners, quite honestly either succeed or fail when they say, you know, I am willing to relinquish some of the control of the day to day tasks, to some people I trust to my staff, this is what I have them for. And then you step back and say, okay, my goal is like the visionary, I'm going to create the path, I'm going to be the one to determine how we go forward. Because if you are so ingrained in the day to day of like servicing your clients, you don't have time to make that five year plan, you don't have time to, you know, do all of these things and find new employees like you are still servicing the clients. So at what point were you ready to say, okay, like, I'm the CEO, I'm no longer the service provider.

Mary Robb  29:13

So I was really, again, blessed with an opportunity to be very closely connected to some entrepreneurs in my world and I was able to see firsthand how they were running their business and how they were successful. And so from the day that I started my company, I never set it up as if I was going to be a solar print solopreneur I set it up as an entrepreneur meaning I always had just a layout of who was going to do what now in the very beginning it was just me but I still I had contractors when I it was just me doing the photo doing the video doing some of the writing and the reason for that and granted I love the creative process. I love doing that stuff myself, but I wanted an agency and so I've always from the get go I started out with I had created processes before we even know When our doors so that people can help. And then as time goes on, when a new person gets hired in, new processes are built, new KPIs are built for that person new systems are put in place. So, you know, I just think that starting it that way, because I've, there's no right or wrong way. But I think it has been an advantage for us. Because that's been the thought process from the beginning where I've seen some people start off like with what you're saying, and they do it all, because again, it's a passion, of course, like you want to, it's fun for you, you love creating content. But from a business perspective, you have to think about it strategically. My big thing is, how am I going to scale this? How can I scale and building even if you're teeny tiny? If you were to pass this off to someone tomorrow? Like, what's the minimum amount of training that you'd have to do? And how efficiently can we make this happen and still have the same quality and still have the same client experience? So that's always been top of mind for me from the beginning.

Christy Bowie  30:55

Yeah, that's a really good point. And yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna go home and write down some things. And constantly document that's really good to hear and kind of know that, like, that was always your plan from the beginning. So you know, you basically have talked about that was a little bit before you were ready, like you're constantly scaling before you're ready. Would you say, that is a good idea for entrepreneurs? Because I think as entrepreneurs, we're constantly like, scared, it's scary. But also like, when when do we leap when we just take the leap and trust that it's gonna happen? Now,

Mary Robb  31:29

yesterday? Well, and you know, let me just give you a caveat. So I did save a lot of money, where that number is different for everybody. Okay, so you got to find the number that makes you comfortable to quit your job, and say, if this totally flops, and I gave it a six full months of effort, I'm not gonna be like, Sol, whatever that looks like to you. For me, it was a chunk of cash, I knew I had like a blanket, but you just have to get comfortable with just doing it. And I think it's a huge thing, that the competence thing, it's, you have to look at your career and think, when was I in a scenario where I thought, There's no way I'm gonna figure this out? There's no way I'm gonna get through this, there's no way I'm gonna get this job. There's no way I'm gonna, whatever it is, and then you do it. You have to remember those things. And sometimes, like, it might even be as simple as write those moments down and remind yourself, like, if I can do this for somebody else, if I can do this for my clients, why can't I just represent myself, honestly. So that's, if that is something you desire. Now, entrepreneurship is not for everybody. It's very hard. And it is not for I don't know, it's not for anybody that is not highly energetic, partially crazy and ready for what's coming next. I mean, you know, it's just like, I don't know. But it's, it's totally worth it. If that's, if you feel like that's you?

Christy Bowie  32:56

Yeah. And I feel like that was my same approach to it, too. I was like, alright, you know, we're going to save up. And we're going to try it. And I'm gonna give myself this much time, because I owe it to myself. I've heard people say, you know, weren't you scared quitting? And my response is like, No, I was more scared staying in a place that I didn't love. I was more scared knowing this sounds so cheesy, but like that I wasn't going to live up to my potential because I was scared. Yeah, like, that's, that's quite frankly, more scary for me. And to know that, like, I didn't give myself a chance. I don't know. I just don't know how I would feel every day being like, I really could have done this. And that's what I wanted to but I didn't yes,

Mary Robb  33:35

no, I totally relate to that. That's like death to me. And that means you're an entreprenuer, though. And again, there's different types of people out there. But I'm assuming that people listening can hopefully relate

Christy Bowie  33:45

to that. Yeah. So obviously, throughout our conversation, you know, you talk about your team and how you have grown and scaled, which tells me right off the bat, you are a great leader, you are great at you know, worrying about your people thinking about them. What are some things that you think have really honed in on how to be a great leader? And what would you recommend other people start paying attention to?

Mary Robb  34:07

So I think for me, it starts with just my experience being an employee for so long, and having so many different types of bosses. I'm hypersensitive to just how people feel in the workspace, what their needs are, you know, what really drives them? What motivates them. And something I'm always looking for is how can I pour into others, you know, who needs more than than the other person? Where can I really step up and support them? One thing that's been such a game changer for us is using the strengths finder as a tool. everybody on my team has their top five strengths and we bring this out when they first start with us. And that's something that I'm always looking at is how can I tap into their strengths and how can I help help them develop those strengths in their role? So putting the right people in the right seats has been a huge piece of our just strategy and success and For me, it's about helping them not only show up as their best self, you know, working on behalf of social practice, but even outside of work, that's also super important to me, I want everyone to be happy, and I want them to be growing and, and feeling good.

Christy Bowie  35:14

Looking back at your business, your your three and a half years in now. And is there any time that you look back and you're like, Wow, that was a really pivotal moment, or I learned something here, or I changed my path here, like, what do you think, was a huge pivotal moment for you,

Mary Robb  35:33

it's definitely been this past three months. Because you know, when you grow, and when you scale, there comes a point where you are growing so fast. And for me, you know, I'm always balancing the quality and the client experience with the team and their success and their happiness in their role. And it's just a really hard place to be, because you're always trying to meet everyone's needs. And some days, the balls drops on one side or the other. And so, the past year, what's happened is I, when I first started it, like I mentioned, I had this whole plan, right? And I've always been someone to think things out and then be like, Okay, we're gonna do this, and then you're gonna do this. Well, we grew so fast that, you know, I had put a plan together that I thought would work. And it ultimately failed. And I had to move, you know, people around, I had to move responsibilities around, I'm very in tune with what my strengths are, which is sales, marketing, vision strategy. I am less skilled at Operations Management day to day, and I'm terrible at details. Like, it's stuff like that, and I'm aware of that. But when you're growing as an entrepreneur, you have to kind of be flexible and able to, to move into different parts of the business when when it's been called for. So, the past four months, I've been called back into being heavily involved in operations heavily involved, and day to day management of the team. And it's been such a blessing because it's given me a fresh perspective on how things are running. Because, you know, when I started it, you know, things were run differently than they are now because we're a lot bigger. So, you know, with that said, I would just say, the biggest lesson I've learned is that when you're growing, I, if I were to go back, I would have been a little bit more involved in the operations earlier on, I think I was super excited that we're growing. And I said, Great, we're gonna keep doing this, we're gonna do this, we're gonna go do that. And that's, that's the visionary me. But, you know, I wish I would have slowed down a little bit and just stayed a little bit more involved and what was happening, I kind of just relinquish control a bit. And you know, I think for women, I hear a lot of feedback that they have the opposite problem. So somewhere, I don't know what happened. But anyways, but it's been great because it's, I've been able to kind of reestablish some foundational things like our values, our culture, what matters what, what we need to focus on. And so I'm excited for what's to come in this next year, because I think as we continue to grow, it'll really help us attract some talent that also aligns with that. So

Christy Bowie  38:15

yeah, that's awesome. And I will say, you know, that is the most common place, I see business owners really struggling when they are facing incredible growth, which is a huge success in itself. And it's fantastic that the problem you're facing is growth, but really maintaining the culture, the quality and maintaining everything that's going on, while also being really excited about that growth. I mean, you are by no means alone, and anybody who's listening who is feeling the same, you know, I would say that's the number one issue I see is actually growth, which is, hilariously, the opposite of people are like, I'm scared, I'm not gonna grow fast enough. No, you you are if you do things, right, if you put the effort in, it's actually controlling the growth. That is really the big problem for a lot of businesses. So, you know, looking back, if you have someone is kind of starting their business now or starting their journey of growing or hiring their next few people, what would you recommend they do right now?

Mary Robb  39:12

And in the category of hiring and yeah, growing and expanding? Yeah. I mean, your team is everything right? It's kind of like sports, you know, your players are essential to your success. So, a couple tools that we use the Strength Finders number one, I don't hire anybody until I can look at their strengths because I'm very in tune with what each strength means and where it can work and add value to each role. So that's a huge tool. Some people like desk some people like there's other tools, the different Myers Briggs, there's so many different ones Strength Finders, though, for me is my favourite just because it's very clear, you know, someone's a good fit for a role or not. We also have a couple different checkpoints with our team and I think as you're bringing on new people If you don't want to spend too much time with them, you know, you got to, you got to have the right mindset around like allowing people to thrive without holding their hand. But you also want to have a system in place for checkpoints and asking the right questions, I think that's one thing that's been so important is learning how to ask your team the right questions, so that you can get as close to the problems as possible and solve them as quickly as possible without wasting too much time. So we use the software called 15, five, and the whole goal behind it and I always get it backwards. Operations, not my strength, but I love it. Because each employee, it's 15 minutes for them to fill out their survey, and then five minutes with the manager, it might be vice versa. But every Wednesday I meet with each person on my team in the afternoons. And we actually block 30 minutes, but we're really small team right now, there's four other people that are full time on the team. So I blocked two hours on my schedule, I meet with each person for 30 minutes, we go through their 15 Five questionnaire. And it's a list of questions about like, how their how's your week going? What are they struggling with. And then there's three questions that are tied to their KPIs. So everybody has a list of key performance indicators that that will help them measure their success in their roles. So a weekly checkpoint, I think, especially when you're bringing someone on new because you want to still be in touch with your team and know what's happening, again, without having to be around them all the time. And the last thing is, when you're hiring new roles, I learned this the hard way, have KPIs didn't know what they were I, the only KPI I was ever given was on my sales job, which was easy. It's sell this number and you're good, you know, and don't mess up. Like Great, perfect, easy. So it's, it's not the easiest thing to define for each role depends on it. But having KPIs like tangible, measurable goals for each person, I break it down to three for each one of my employees. It just provides so much clarity for you as their manager or them, like as a team member, you want them to know where they can be successful, because what I discovered earlier this year is that no one was performing at their optimal level. And that's where all these issues were uncovered. So I think having those from the just right out of the gate would be super helpful.

Christy Bowie  42:14

Yeah. And I think that's not only helpful for you, but that's also help for your, for your employees, especially, you know, the type of people I guarantee you're hiring, you know, driver types, they want to hit those goals, they want to hit those metrics. But if they're like, I don't know what that is, then that's so hard for them to say, Yes, I'm good at my job. Maybe you don't think they're doing very well, but they think they're doing fantastic. And so just to have an indicator to say like, Yeah, this is, this is where you are on this performance scale, I can see how that's incredibly helpful. And like, I'm taking notes for, for me truly going forward.

Mary Robb  42:50

Well, you can call me anytime I am now I can write a book on this. And I knew nothing. Can I just say one other thing? Yeah, I did have a coach come in, back in June, that has completely changed. And she's the one who I've learned all of this from. So by the way, I didn't learn this from Google, I was very blessed again with this, this person that entered my world. And so coaches, that's where like, who, you know, is so important. We met through a mutual connection, she had a need, I had a need, we were able to work out a deal. And so we've been able to get these things in place, because through her support, so I just have to mention that.

Christy Bowie  43:29

Yeah, and I think that's important. Also on the topic that I've been having a lot of conversations about lately is like investing in your business and investing in your success. You know, sometimes hiring somebody outside can be scary when you're like, I could Google all of this, but thinking about, you know, first of all that I guarantee that person was better than Google. That's why they do what they do. They can teach you how to implement it. And to succeed. I think that's one of the things that we, as a society, like, don't think about when we're hiring people were like, Yeah, theoretically, I can go out and learn it. But like, I need accountability. I need someone saying like, yeah, you need to implement these things. And then also just, it's going to escalate your timeframe, right? It could take you months and months to implement these things. But a coach or somebody who is an expert on what they do, is going to help you get there 10 times faster. So I love that you brought that up, because I would say, and maybe you don't feel this way, but the women in general get scared to invest and get scared too, whether that be spend money or time to get scared to invest in their business because this goes along hand in hand with the confidence thing. It's like, what if I don't make it back? What if I don't succeed? So how have you been able to constantly be like, Yeah, this is this is gonna pay off?

Mary Robb  44:42

Well, you know, unfortunately, if I'll be honest, if we were just at a place where it was, something's gonna, something's got to happen. Yeah. My, you know, the team, like I said, was not performing. We were having a lot of mistakes happening. My health was deteriorating, right? really bad this summer. And so, you know, and I, this is where I will say like my faith comes in, because the timing of everything has always somehow worked out. And I, you know, I happen to have known Michelle dollars her name, she owns a company called the female roundtable works with female entrepreneurs, highly recommend, just got 25 plus years experience in operations and to get her on. She should actually grip Yeah, hello. Um, so that was the, that was kind of the breaking point for me. And I was like, I, we're not going to be able to reach, you know, I'm the visionary. I'm up in the clouds, we're not going to get there though, without we need help. And we do have a line of credit. That's one thing I'll mention too, is that that has been super helpful. It's just a security blanket. And it's been used this year. And that's one thing you can do very low risk, you don't have investors. There's pros and cons and investors gonna be wrong, but so you know that that's those are the two tools. And then I said, you know, we had a goal, like I mentioned, so we can't get there unless we fix XYZ.

Christy Bowie  46:04

Yeah. And I think that's really important. You bring up a line of credit, too, especially in today's you know, economy, that's something I'm working with a lot of my clients on, it's like, just get that safety net. And if you don't need it, you don't need it. But I think inherently as human beings, our actions are sometimes driven a little bit more by our heart and like risk, rather than the numbers and the logic. And I see this as a numbers person all the time, when my clients are like, I don't feel like I'm okay. And I'm like, No, literally, like, my job is to look at your numbers and you're fine. But sometimes, just having that security blanket of like, okay, if something happens, I have a line of credit, or I have somebody I can call who helps me like that, in itself. It sounds so silly, but like can truly impact your decisions. Because I think something we forget, a lot of times is like, we are human beings, and we don't always act in the necessarily the most logical

Mary Robb  46:56

way. Oh, absolutely. And while you were saying that, so I was raised by a banker. So I'm lucky that I've got numbers ingrained in my head. I will also say, I could not have made these financial decisions, a without the line of credit and be without a fractional CFO, which is what I know you do. So you know, having someone in my corner to analyse the numbers, analyse the data, be able to project when we need to hire, be able to project revenue, be able to give sales goals, that has literally been the only reason why I've been able to confidently make these decisions, because you can't make decisions, especially when they're money related. Without data. I would say if you're trying to scale up a business pretty quickly, you gotta get someone like you and your corner 1,000%.

Christy Bowie  47:35

I'll just I'll just let Mary talk to say anything, I promise I didn't pay her or prompt her anything. But yes, I think that's so important. And whether it be you know, a financial expert like me, or like you said, a coach, you know, having somebody who is an expert in those areas that you really struggle after assessing what your strengths are, and being so hyper aware to know that like, Yeah, this isn't a strength of mine. And sometimes that's hard to say, you know, I'm not actually good at this. But the minute you recognise that and let somebody who is good at that, not only do you free up your time and your stress and your effort, but like, a lot of times I see people take the time that they were spending on this daunting and terrible task for them and literally go make more money in those freed up hours. Like if we all just sit here and do what we're best at. That's That's how this works best.

Mary Robb  48:26

1,000% Because you know what time is money. And as a business owner, your time is the most expensive. So if you're sitting there spending an hour to three hours analysing a spreadsheet, crossing your eyes, trying to do the math yourself, whenever you can have someone like us Come on, like, Oh, this is what this is what you need to conclude here. Yes, like, please, here's my wallet helped me so I can go back to living my best life and my strike zone.

Christy Bowie  48:51

Yeah, that's awesome. Well, I thank you so much for sharing your experience. I think this is a perfect place to wrap up today. But I definitely want our listeners you know, if they want to find you if they want to reach out to you if they want to, you know work with you. Where can they find you?

Mary Robb  49:06

So we're hot and heavy on social social practice, U S is our handle on Instagram, tick tock, LinkedIn, Facebook, you want to follow me personally. I'm Mary Elizabeth Robb. And our website is social dash practice, TX for texas.com.

Christy Bowie  49:24

Perfect and all of those will be linked in the show notes below so you guys can find Mary and her team anytime you want. So thanks so much CEOs for listening, and we'll see you next week.