Kelly Reynolds  

All right. Welcome to another episode of the agency series on the Get your act together Podcast. Today, I would like to welcome to the podcast Audrey King. Hi, Audra. 

 

Audrey King  

Hello. 

 

Kelly Reynolds  

So other Can you tell everyone a little bit about yourself and what you do and what your businesses? 

 

Audrey King  

Yeah, I would love to. So I am a teacher turned graphic designer, turned agency owner turned business strategy and coach. So I have had quite the journey. But everything that I have experienced, I find just serves me better in every iteration of my business. And I have been able to really focus in on two things as I've grown my business recently, and that is, when women create wealth, we make the world a better place. And my cat just sneezed, I'm so sorry. We started that over again, you can't that's okay. We couldn't get we couldn't get me out of the last interview. I have to driving beliefs in my business. One is that when women create wealth, we make the world a better place. And that's really the driving force behind why I created she loves her biz. And then the other is to always follow the fun. So I'm always trying to apply both of those, both to my personal life and my business life.

 

Kelly Reynolds  

I love that. Like, I feel like we're going to talk a lot about all this stuff. Because this is this is so much at the heart of a lot of the things that I talked about as well, that money isn't a bad thing. And you need to have a good life. Because we shouldn't all work each other until the ground.

 

Audrey King  

Right? It's likely and that hustle culture is not serving any of us. Well, and it's time to rewrite that narrative, I think.

 

Kelly Reynolds  

Yeah. And I think a lot of us coming from corporate that a lot of us right and come from corporate, we want to get out of there. And then we have this business. And then we basically do that to ourselves all over again. Yes, yes, exactly. Yes. I want to get out of this crazy world, I'm gonna make the world exactly the same when I go and do it for myself. Yeah, and then we're all burned out.

 

Audrey King  

Yeah. And I think it's like, it's what's familiar and what we like, you know, our culture in our society has led us to expect and, and so that process of kind of breaking out of that mindset, it takes, at least in my experience, and a lot of the people that I work with, it takes some time and some really intentional effort to and reflection is a big piece of it too, to say, oh, wait a minute, let's put the brakes on, take a step back, decide what we really want, and then build it up from there, instead of using a model that I think is based on false assumptions of like, what actually makes people happy and what we want out of our lives.

 

Kelly Reynolds  

Yeah, and I've talked about this before on the podcast, but the making those intentional decisions, like I wanted to be around for my child more, or I wanted to be able to go paddleboarding on a Friday morning. And those were in decisions instead of working 15 hour days to make more money. I wanted the freedom which I think a lot of us start businesses for the freedom quote, unquote. And then we forget that we actually wanted that. 

 

Audrey King  

Yeah, so we get caught up in the details right in the day to day to do list.

 

Kelly Reynolds  

And then the clients ask more and more of you and you feel like I have to I have to I have to write. It's so hard even to this day. I've been in business for six and a half years. And I preach about it. And it's still hard for me to be like, I've got to walk away from my desk. I'm gonna shut my notifications off. So yeah, that that like overwhelming. So I love this whole file the fun I love this. Really this this totally tongue down. I love this whole concentration on that kind of fun life and living your lifestyle. I love it. Yeah.

 

Audrey King  

So I when I launched she loves her biz I had been working I had worked as a teacher and if you are a teacher or you know a teacher, you love a teacher, you know that sometimes the hours and the workload and just the mental load that you carry can be overwhelming. And kind of like you I wanted to I had a two year old at the time I left teaching and I I realized I was bringing so much of my work home both physically and mentally, that I wasn't able to balance you know how I wanted to show up as a mother and then how I wanted to show up to my students and my my colleagues. And so I decided to start my business I started a freelance graphic design business that really focused on helping course creators and content creators create educational materials. I made a lot of sense based on my background. So I did workbooks and you know, course outlines and that kind of thing. And then I realized what I really loved was strategy and business building. I became fascinated by business building. But along the way I had gathered up all of these beautiful Wonderful people in my network that I got connected with. And I realized I wanted to, like bridge the gap between entrepreneurs who needed graphic designers, web designers copywriters, to be able to successfully build wealth and their business. And these lovely people who, you know, were really, really good at what they did, but maybe, you know, didn't want to have to work so hard to find clients, etc. And so I didn't realize I was launching an agency when I launched, she loves her biz, our two year birthday is in September, so happy birthday to us. Birthday, that's great. But I was like, I just want to connect people, I love being a connector. And so I launched she loves her biz. Couple months later, someone said, Oh, you run an agency. And I was like, oh, yeah, I guess I do. But it was, you know, the idea was being able to free up time and space to be able to show up, because even as a graphic designer, I think when you first start any new business, it's easy to get, you know, kind of overwhelmed and bogged down in the details. And so I was looking for a place where I could find more balance. And I think having a team within an agency has really helped because it's not all on me anymore. You know, it's we share, share the load and also share the rewards.

 

Kelly Reynolds  

Yeah, I love it. Yeah, I think that every single person I've, I've talked to, that has an agency is like, I didn't know I was gonna have an agency like, like, 99% of people, they have too much work, or they want to connect you like, like, there's different reasons, but all the sudden they're like, Oh, this is an agency. And it's so funny, because it's something most people fall into. Instead of, I'm going to create an ad like, it's not the thing that most people say, I'm gonna go do this.

 

Audrey King  

And I love hearing that because I felt, you know, a little silly when I looked back, and I was like, oh, yeah, the I'm creating. Until you start, you know, in that world, I think you some, at least in my case, I didn't identify that. That's what I was doing. I just knew that I wanted to, I saw a need. And I knew that I wanted to help meet that need. And that was the way that I came up with to do it.

 

Kelly Reynolds  

Because I think some of us think of agency is like madmen, like an ad agency. You don't I mean, and we're not that. So I don't like we don't see ourselves anything like that. So we're not an agency, and then you start doing the work. And then you're like, I have client facing team members who handle the work. And I'm like, oh, like, I didn't even think I realized I was an agency. For a while either. I was just a person with help. Yeah, exactly. You know, when lowly have this realization, one distinction

 

Audrey King  

I learned, I took a course with Tasha booth, she has a VA agency. And then she also has a course for agency owners. And a distinction that she made that really kind of helped me crystallize. What is an agency owner, at least how she defines it is that when you're an agency, as opposed to someone with a team who provides services, the agency owner is, you know, stepped back from the day to day implementation. And that doesn't mean that there's no implementation. And it's a gradual process, but more stepping into the role of, you know, setting the direction for the business, a high level decision making that kind of role versus being more involved in the day to day.

 

Kelly Reynolds  

Yes, yes. Yeah, I feel like an agency is so much about one having like that kind of client facing book of business part. It's not just a team, you're you're handling stuff in the background with and then yeah, that's the leadership, I will say that I am a little bit more fuzzy on those lines with the leader. Only because I think like, especially for me, I didn't want to just be the marketer in chief. I didn't just want to be I don't know the one who looks at financial projections. And does the marketing like I still wanted to do some of the work because the work is what I really liked. So I'm less defined on that than I know she is.

 

Audrey King  

Well and I think there's room to play there right like that's why we get to we created the biz our own business because we want to have the autonomy to decide like what is my role and what do I want to take on? And I know like with my agency, I have, you know, I have a graphic designer who does branding and logo, I have a web designer, I have a copywriter, but I still like to dabble a little bit in in the sales copy and, and really what I love is the strategy piece and so I As I build out my agency, I took on the role of like strategist and coach with my clients, because I found that the strategy is wonderful. But having someone to step you through that strategy along the way, makes it much more likely that you're actually going to accomplish what we've set out to do in the strategy. And then I can manage all of the team members based on like having that strategy in mind and knowing the clients really well. So our agency is really built around like a high touch experience where we work with fewer clients, but we get to know them really well. They're often working with me in a coaching relationship, and then I can hand select the team members that I think are going to be appropriate for their job, and what they need to accomplish, and then kind of be that overall guiding force. And I love that because I'm much more interested in like the big picture than in the tiny details like tech stuff I'm proficient at, but the detail pieces, it makes me want to tear my hair out. Whereas I can get into a strategy and get lost, you know, in flow for hours. So I think part of part of deciding on your role in the agency is just really focusing on amplifying your strengths. And then, you know, handing off the things that are maybe in your wheelhouse, but not like your superpowers.

 

Kelly Reynolds  

Oh, totally. And I think that most people get so in the weeds that they can't get out of their own way, right. Like they, they have a problem letting their team do their job, they hire someone to do the thing. And then they don't let them do it. Right. They're like they, Oh, they have to approve every single thing or they just get to be in the way. Totally, totally. I think that's a big thing. And there are tons of things that we should not be doing. There's, it takes me like three hours to make a graphic, I get real excited about it. I make it I post it. And then I think I'm done for the week. And I was like, Yeah, well, we need like four more a day. Like, I don't know how to do this, like having a spreadsheet, give me an SOP, I don't have to do that give me like the strategy or the coaching. I like that part. But like graphics to me are. They're just not natural. So yes, like totally giving away that. And I love this idea of what you're doing. So you're doing, like you're the coaching piece, and then you have a team that will help them with whatever they need help with.

 

Audrey King  

Yeah, so that's something that's something that I had to kind of, you know, figure out, I had this feeling that like, I enjoy doing, you know, I enjoyed orchestrating the agency work even. And I always had a strategy piece, I have a product called the love your business blueprint, which is how people start working with me where we craft a strategy for the next six to 12 months. And then the idea is they can take that and execute on their own or with their own team, or they could hire my agency to do it. So I always had that strategy piece. But what I figured out is that there needed to be more support in place for a lot of the entrepreneurs that I worked with. And I find that for myself, I have had a business coach for the past three years a business coach or a life coach for the past three years, because are you familiar with Gretchen Reubens, four tendencies? 

 

Kelly Reynolds  

I'm not. 

 

Audrey King  

Okay, so she has a framework and it's basically about how do you respond to internal and external expectations. And she created it as a way to help people like understand the best ways to create new habits. So it's like kind of hacking yourself to get what you want. And my tendency is called an obliger, which means I respond extremely strongly to outside expectations, like a client deadline, I'll never miss a deadline, I'll always show up 100%. But I respond less strongly to internal expectations. So something like I want to, you know, spend an hour a day gardening or something like that, right. And so having a coach in place to help, like keep me aware of like, what what I'm setting out to do in my own life. And also accountability has been huge for me. And so I realized a lot of the clients that I was working with, it's the same kind of thing where we can create a plan, we can even build out their assets. But having someone walk alongside them as like the implementation happens and sometimes going through like the period of growth that happens and it's uncomfortable and all of those things, makes them much more likely to be successful in reaching those goals. So that's why as I I served more clients within the agency, I realized I want to shift it and I hadn't I didn't really have an example to follow because what I have come down on is the agency now only does projects for people who are working with me in either a group or a one to one capacity, and it was a little bit difficult to come to the decision because there's that scarcity that can come in. And it's like, well, if I say you have to work with me to get your website built by my team, that's, you know, that's a little scary, because not everybody's gonna want a coach, right or a strategist in that way. But I also think it's one of the things that helps differentiate us from other service providers or agencies is that you do have that person who walks beside you the whole time. And it's not, you know, we don't finish the project, and then you're on your own. So for people who are looking for more of that support, it's really valuable to them to have it but it took, it took a little time to come to that conclusion that all right, we're doing this.

 

Kelly Reynolds  

Right. Like, it's very hard to say, I'm gonna do only this now. Right? Like, it's gonna say are scary. It's so scary. Like, so many people that like the whole idea of a niche or, or picking a thing is scary, cuz you will do all the things. And it's like, no, but I could offer anything, I want to help so many people, but like, you help more people by saying no, this is what I'm really good at. I do this thing. Well, and

 

Audrey King  

I think the more people you serve who fall into a certain niche or category, the better you become at serving that niche. Yeah. So it's like a self fulfilling, you know, I don't know if that's the right word. But it's, it feeds on itself. Right. 

 

Kelly Reynolds  

Yeah. You become that expert to those. Exactly, exactly. Yeah. So when you're doing this strategy, what kind of strategy? Is it? Is it a marketing strategy? Is it a content strategy? business in general?

 

Audrey King  

Yeah, I love that question. So it started out as, like, overall business strategy. And then I realized I wanted to help people build businesses that also fit in really well with the lifestyle that they want. Because what I saw, not necessarily in my own business, but in other businesses around was people creating these businesses that they thought was going to, you know, tick the box of whatever they needed, maybe it was a revenue goal. Maybe it was, they wanted to be seen as an expert in their field, but they were sacrificing so much to get there. And I think in business, there are so many shoulds out there around marketing and around, even pricing and how we show up as business owners. And so what I wanted to do was make sure that my strategy that I crafted was a business that would sustain not just the business goals in terms of revenue and impact, but also the lifestyle goals. And so now, when I do a strategy, we talk about things like how do you prefer to work because the Monday through Friday, nine to five is like, not the only option, right? Maybe you want to work in really intense bursts, and then take a few weeks off at a time, maybe you only want to work three months a year, maybe you want to work four hours a day, six days a week, you know, like there's a lot of different options. And then what are your goals outside of your business that your business can help support. So like somebody who wants to move to another country and, and run a business remotely in a timezone that's different than where their customers are living? We talk about all of those things. So that whatever we build a year, two years down the line, even if it's commercially successful, they're not waking up and seeing like, Oh, this isn't actually the life I wanted to live, because I went through that, you know, I didn't like my lifestyle as a teacher. And then I've had, you know, seasons in my business where I'm like, this isn't fun right now. Like, my, my coach asked me a question. And the answer that came up stuck out to both of us. And it was like, how do you know when you've taken on too much? And I thought about it for a second. And I realized, it's when everything on my to do list feels urgent, like for the day, right? Like it has to be done today, I've taken on too much, because you don't have that space to, you know, to do some of that more creative planning and thinking and

 

Kelly Reynolds  

your brain can't think like that. Yeah, you need space. Mm hmm.

 

Audrey King  

So that's something that like, through the strategy piece we try and be aware of, but often it includes, you know, this is what is gonna set you apart, I like to include a section there's a written document that goes along with the strategy. And it's like, what makes you unique? And that's really the basis for building marketing from right, what's going to make you stand out? And then what are your goals for the next six to 12 months? What are your longer term goals? And what are the pieces that I think are going to help you get there? So for somebody like a coach that might be like, what packages make sense for like your revenue goals and how you want to serve people? For somebody who's a service provider? Maybe it's like, what do we need to make sure is on your website so that people understand like how you provide services or creating a VIP day. I love VIP days. I think they're amazing. And so it's really taking a comprehensive look at the next six to 12 months in service to like some of those longer term goals. And sometimes we make tech recommendations and that kind of stuff, too.

 

Kelly Reynolds  

I love it. I love it. I love the idea of building your own business. And then hating it, I think is crazy yet. Most of us do it at some point, right? Like, most of us, I want to say all of us go all in here. But we're, there's wonder we want to hear like, I don't want to do this anymore. Like, let's burn it to the ground. I want to do this, I'm gonna change everything. And sometimes that's just five minutes to freak out. And then you go right back to like, Okay, let me get my life together. Let me change some things instead of burning it all down. But yeah, we do that all the time. And I think there's so much guilt in it, like you were talking about when you want to work. There's so much guilt around that because people are like, You shouldn't work Saturdays and Sundays. And I'm like, I was on a paddleboard or they Friday, I gotta make it I'm going to like switch things around. And you get so much guilt of like what you should do, like you were saying, there's so many shoulds. So if I say, Oh, I'm going to spend the last week my son has camp, and go and hang out with my husband by ourselves, because we have, you know, a month of kid. Then I'm going to work on a Saturday afternoon, and it's totally fine with everyone else. But there's so much. There's so much guilt and judge Enos sometimes. And you have to rule that out. 

 

Audrey King 

Yeah, I was. I try. I do most of my work on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesday is my my do life day where I'll get a haircut or go to the chiropractor, I get a massage a couple of weeks, a month, like a couple times a month, that kind of thing. And then Fridays are like my Flex Day. But I put in like five hours yesterday because on Friday, my daughter and I She's eight, we're going to IKEA we're having a mommy data at IKEA because we love IKEA. And I used to like really feel guilty for working on a Wednesday because like I say, I only work 20 hours a week and I take these two days, you know, for for myself, and then here I am working. But then I realized that's ridiculous. Because, you know, that's why we build these flexible schedules is to choose what's right for us. And sometimes what's right for us this week is different than what's right for us next week. Yeah, and the important thing is just to tune into that. And I think that's why, you know, last year, I was like, I need to put my money where my mouth is in terms of really leaning into that idea of finding alignment in my business and freedom and flexibility. And so I created a mantra for myself, which is follow the fun. And it's all around like both, like finding that alignment and then taking action on it. Because sometimes I think it's like we know what we want. But it's hard, overcoming the shoulds and the guilt and all of the voices that are wanting our attention. And just saying like, what feels fun in this moment, what feels right in this moment. And so I worked with a coach once and she was like the first person or the first thing to pay attention to is yourself, and then serve your clients and then everything else. And with myself. I include like my family with that, too. And that's something I strive for is to put myself first I don't always achieve 

 

Kelly Reynolds 

It's hard. Right? Like, I get to the end of the day. And I'm like there was four things that I wanted to do for myself today. And that didn't happen. Yeah. And it's so hard when you feel like you're being pulled in all these directions. And you're home, right? Like if you're an office, you kind of quarantined in this place where there's nobody else talking to you weren't, you know, I'm saying like the outside world, not just your colleagues, but but like, we're not I'm home, but like, the dogs got to go out or the kids got to make lunch or there's, there's, there's, there's things to do that you get pulled away. And then all of a sudden, none of the things that I wanted to do for myself happened today. And then and then and then and then you know, it just keeps going.

 

Audrey King  

And it's so important, I think to honor ourselves because that's what prevents those moments of burning the business down right? I like to think of my business sometimes it's like an angry hungry monster that's demanding to be fed. And then what I want it to be as a cute cuddly monster that's giving me lots of money to do the things that

 

Kelly Reynolds  

sounds great. Visual

 

Audrey King  

sometimes is like, figuring out okay, what, what monster am I dealing with today? And like, what are the action steps I can take? And and a lot of times if I'm in that space of like, you know, this is this is horrible. Why am I doing this burn it all down? It's like alright, I need a break. Like I've been putting in too many hours or I've been putting too much pressure on myself too. Because, you know, I think a lot of us are perfectionist or recovering perfectionist. And take a step back, take a walk, take a nap, take a day off whatever I can, you know make work at and usually after a good night's sleep, I wake up and I'm like, Oh, I actually love my business.

 

Kelly Reynolds  

Yeah, yeah. And there's this whole idea of like this. Everything's an emergency, everything is urgent. I used to work on Wall Street. I was at Lehman Brothers for years, and one of the big bond salesmen would come over and be like, I'm taking Kelly for beers. And my team would be like, No, you're not. He's like, Yeah, because he was a big deal. And he could do that. And he would get to the bar. And I'm like, How are we here on like, it's Friday at noon, and why am I at the bar with you? And he was like, Kelly, we're not saving lives. We're bond traders. Like we make other people money, like, nothing is life or death Here, drink your beer, like everything will be there on Monday. And it was such a wonderful reminder, because he was a big deal at a big deal place. And he was like, yeah, yeah, whatever. What am I saving life example? 

 

Audrey King 

Yeah. What a great example of perspective, right? Yeah. Yeah. Never was urgent. Yes, exactly. And in our own businesses, you know, there is something we've invested a lot of time love and energy into everything can feel a bit life or death. But then you take a step back, and you're like, No, I have an actual real life. And this is just one piece of it. And yes, and not the whole thing. And maybe that's, you know, the differences like letting it consume, consume us as if that's the only piece as opposed to understanding that. It's just one part. Actually, I do a monthly follow the fun workshop, and we do a different topic or guest every month. But at the beginning of every single one of them, we do a check in. And I kind of tongue in cheek, I built a fun oh meter. It's just like a little circle pie, if you imagine. And it's like, we look at five different areas to say like, How fun is this field this month? And how fun is this feel things like revenue and our marketing, and the clients we're serving and our offers or the products that we're selling? And then that kind of helps create a picture of like, how is our whole life feeling? And it's just as valuable for me as it is for the people who come to the workshops to have that monthly, you know, moment of reflection to say like, okay, in the coming month, what do I want to create a little more balanced around? And in the past month, what went really well, and what do I feel like, you know, maybe could be improved, and, and celebrate the wins, and then like, look for the areas of growth. And I think that's something that I've learned through the the journey of building my agency and my coaching business is that moment of reflection is where the magic happens. It's not in the doing and the doing and the doing, it's in the stepping back. And just being with, you know, with our experiences and allowing ourselves to reflect on that. 

 

Kelly Reynolds

I wholly agree. Like when I'm working, working, working, I can't think of anything, I can't be creative. And then I love to sit with large pieces of paper. I'm a person who has to write things down. large piece of paper whiteboards, like my office, as you can see in the podcast, can't hear see it. But my room is all windows, like my whole room is Windows. So I want my dream is to have a wall where I could put an enormous whiteboard. But I can't do it in here to just be able to write all the things like I just want to be able to doodle and think of that think everything out. Because you need that space to like get things out. Instead of thinking, what do I need to check off? What do I need to put on the spreadsheet? What do I need to create, like, those kinds of things. So I like giving yourself that space. I've been doing that at the pool, which sounds silly, but remarkable. And my kids playing in the pool, we are at the you know, the community pool, and I'm just sitting there and I'm doing nothing but sitting like underneath a tree, trying to just like let my brain come out. So that's been a really, that's good. Yeah. All right. So why? Hold on? Sorry. Pretty quick stuff. So okay, how let's get to the nitty gritty a little bit. How is your team structured? How is your business structure? 

 

Audrey King 

Yeah. So we're a very small team. I have an Operations Assistant, who I work with, regularly, like we have a weekly meeting on Mondays and we kind of talked about the plan for the week, we check in on any agency projects that are happening. And she's the go between, between me and my agency team members often like I'll say, can you check in with so and so about this, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then, so she's, you know, contracted for a certain number of hours a week and we flex on that if we need to. And then the rest of my team is on a like a subcontractor basis. And so they have their own businesses as well. But I bring them in for projects. Whenever we have a client project to take on so they're all over the world. One of them is an Australia and other in South Africa. Time Zones are something that we you know, work around. But all of them are either day rate. I want to say they rate professionals, they are professionals, but I don't know, there seems like there should be a better word they rate subcontractors anyway, their day raters. They're all day raters, and they have experience with that. But sometimes because of time zones, we we shift that structure a little bit where maybe we build a website in two or three days instead of in a one day. You know, mega build. And we have an availability calendar. So if they're ever going to be, you know, full, if they're fully booked in their own businesses, or they're on vacation, or anything like that, they just fill that out. So I have an idea. And so when a project comes up, I just look and see who's available, who I think would be the best fit for the project. And then my operations assistant helps to coordinate a lot of the project details. I'm there, you know, getting regular check ins and monitoring what's going on. And then sometimes, like I'll do a review, before it goes out to the client, just to make sure it's in line with what we're looking for, and that kind of thing. So I'm still definitely involved in the day to day operations of the agency side. But I'm not the project manager. By myself, I guess I kind of share that with my Operations Assistant. Yeah. Does that answer your question about how that's structured? 

 

Kelly Reynolds

Yeah. Yeah. So how are you getting the workout to them? Since you have a scene? Oliver? I think that's an interesting thing to ask too. Like, if you How are you dealing with getting the work to all the people? Is that your ops assistant? Do you have project manager to like a tool? Like, how are you getting them to know what's going on? 

 

Audrey King 

Yeah, so we have SOPs for basically, the the flow of a project. So for example, if we're doing a website with copywriting and branding, that's a six week project. And we know like, on week one, this happens week two, this happens, you know, that type of thing. But it's my Operations Assistant doing a lot of the communication with the contractors, and we use Slack for that. So for each project, we'll just create a Slack channel. And we try and keep all of the communication between the team and there. And then my ops assistant or myself is checking in with the client as needed, if, if there are things that we need from them, we don't invite them into our Slack channel. But sometimes we are in their Slack channels, if we're also coordinating with their team, if that makes sense. Yeah, that totally makes sense. Yeah. 

 

Kelly Reynolds

Yeah. Like, these are all the little things, right? Like, it's always like, Alright, so how do you work that? 

 

Audrey King

Yeah, exactly. 

 

Kelly Reynolds

Yeah. So do you have? Do you have team meetings at all? Are you lack kind of like, we don't here because we have people work in different time zones. And they're contractors. And I like meetings. So like, if I don't have to be in them, I love seeing their faces, but I love I hate random meetings for no reason. So are you having those kind of weekly things? Or is it much more on their own? To get things done? 

 

Audrey King 

Yeah, so when we so right now we're, I'm focusing on filling my one to one coaching, because I don't always have coaching clients who need agency support, like I do, just business coaching, as well as like the agency side. So we're, I'm focusing on filling my capacity for one to one coaching clients. So I haven't been promoting the agency as much. And then once that is full, we'll do a group program that will include a business build out. And so we'll have more projects right now, we usually have one or two projects going on at a time. When we have a higher volume of client projects. I think meetings are a good idea. Like, even if it's a every other week type of thing. But a lot of that type of stuff can also happen in the Slack channel for the size of agency that I have. I do meet with my ops assistant weekly and then for all of the other subcontractors I like to check in with them if we haven't done a project recently, at least once a quarter. So I'll just see like, like, I have a retainer product for people. We've done web design for where they can get maintenance from us. And so I'll check in with the person who provides the maintenance once a quarter and just be you know, make sure everything's going okay on her end. When it's about time for someone's contract to renew just checking in to make sure that she's still available to continue servicing that contract, that kind of thing. Um, And then yeah, for the other, like the web designer and the graphic designer and the copywriter were often touching base through the project. And and they don't necessarily see a lot of the other team members. I do think it's great for team building. And one thing that's important to me is that we feel like a team that women that I work with, we're an all woman team. They're amazing. And we all enjoy each other's company. But like you said, you know, meanings for meeting sake. Don't make a lot of sense to me, either. And so I think just like I said, for the scale of what I do, it doesn't make sense to have a regular, like, weekly or monthly meeting with with the team. 

 

Kelly Reynolds

Yeah, I think yeah, I feel like it's, it's hard to get a lot of schedules together. And if there's not a really good reason to do it, like we're all working on a project, a lot of my teammates are working on specific clients. So there's not a lot of overlap. So like we had a holiday party, and I'm realizing that I should have had a summer party, I need to get on that. But it, we don't really don't really need to talk a lot unless and then they do on Slack. So that's, I would love to I would have loved to have drinks to everyone all the time, I think. But yeah, having those like weekly meetings, I'm always curious, because I think some people love them. And I have what, I have been enough meetings in my life, I feel like I've hit my quota for all four meetings. So yeah, like, yeah, that's I always find it interesting to see like, where people fall on that. So how are you? How do you find your team members? How do you find them? How do you hire them? How do you bring them on? And onboard them? Do you have a process? 

 

Audrey King 

Yes, all of that I definitely do. And I actually have a workshop that I did, I think it was June's workshop, where I went into like, really fine detail and showed like the examples of the of the applications that I use and stuff like that. But basically, it's a three to three and a half part process, where the first is like, I call it an I think I call it an interest form for whatever the position is. And I just use a Google form for it. And at the top, there's a space for text, and I put like, what she loves her business all about. So we, we work with a wide variety of people, we believe Black Lives Matter love, as love, we have a diverse clientele, I put it out there right at the beginning, because I want to make sure that the people that are filling out the application are going to be excited about working with those clients. Yeah. And I put a little bit about the business, I put a link to my website, and then list out. Basically what we're looking for, I like to include a bonus, like, so I'm looking for somebody doing these things, these are the qualities if you, you know, if you are blah, blah, blah, if you are not blah, blah, blah. And then bonus if you, for example, have prior Operations Assistant experience or something like that, but not necessary. So something that would be a nice to have, but not necessarily something that I have to see in the application. And the first round of application is really just to give me a snapshot of them. I don't ask for specific levels of aptitude in different, for example, like platforms, or apps or stuff like that, but I asked if they have experience with and then I have a huge list of things like WordPress ConvertKit, you know, all of the different types of things that they might be doing within somebody's business. And I'm some of it, I'm looking for specific, like if I had a web designer who didn't design in WordPress, that wouldn't work because we just do WordPress websites. But others, I just want to see that they have a range of skills. And then I have a few questions that helped me immediately eliminate people or pass them on to the next round. So for example, one of the questions is so and so sent an email saying that a friend refer them to us and they'd like to know more about our services, how do you respond? And so it has a few more details than that. But I see what their response is. And on my website, I have a discovery call link. And so I want to see that they've taken the trouble to go see like how do people get in contact with Audra or get a call with her scheduled or those types of things. And it's amazing. Some people like switch the names were like the person who referred the writing unit to them, you get those types of things. I'm looking to see like can they have a friendly tone? Can they find the right information on their own because I don't want to have to micromanage my team. I want a team that I can give them You know, this is the goal that we want to accomplish. Here's our company best practices go for it. I have a question about pay. And so like, sometimes people don't understand that working for an agency, you can't charge the price that you would charge if you found the client, if you took on the risk for, you know, the client satisfaction, that kind of thing. And so, for example, when I was hiring for my operations assistant position, I had people who came back at $4 an hour, I had people who came back at $80 an hour, right. And so it helps me eliminate, I don't mind if they asked for a little bit more than what I have in mind for the position. But I need to be able to negotiate with them to find something that works, you know, for my budget, too. So if it's too low, in my mind, they don't have enough business experience to understand they should be charging more. And if it's too high, then they're just, you know, not a right fit for for my budget. And so when I go through that first round of applications, I'm quickly, you know, throwing out some of the applications based on a few key questions. And then then for all of the people who kind of pass that first round, I send a second round, and I asked for a video of why they want to work for the business to just kind of see how they are on screen, every position that I have is at some point going to be client facing. So I want to see how do you present yourself? Can you you know, speak in an engaging way. But I also provide my own video on that second round application and just say like, I wouldn't ask you to do anything that I'm not willing to do. So here's a little bit about why I'm excited to hire for this position, and you know, things like that. And then that one, I'm asking for more. Like, later on in the application, I'm asking for more technical, like understanding what they're technically good at. So rates, your ability on these key pieces of software, or applications or platforms, I give them some scenarios like, you know, if this happened, what would your response be that kind of thing just to see how they work in a team and how they could maybe work with clients. And so some of the people who get that second round application, don't fill it out, I think it's more work than what they necessarily want to do. But that's great. Like, to me, if you're willing to take that second step, that that shows that you're really interested in the position. And then the third round is a, an in person interview with me. And so, and it's more just like a conversation, what are you looking for, etc. Here's what, you know, any questions I have, or anything like that. And then the half part is, sometimes if I'm hiring for like, a specific balance to the team, like, I know, I'm a very quick start. I have an idea, and I'm ready to go for it. I needed somebody who was a little less of a quickstart, who could kind of balance that. And so sometimes I'll ask for, you know, I'll pay for it. But ask them to take like a Clifton Strengths or, you know, aptitude test or something like that. Yeah, fully or something. 

 

Kelly Reynolds

Yeah, I'm, I'm a three quick start. Yeah, I'm gonna research till the next model comes out. So, how do you pick people? Is it very much what the like the rubric you've created? Or is it more on gut? 

 

Audrey King

Both so I, I'm a connector, I love people. Even though I'm an introvert, I love to connect, like individually with people. And so if if it were up to me, I would want to hire everybody. Or at least that was, you know, that I, I clicked with. So when I get the second round interviews, which are the ones that I really, like, put the most energy into the first round is kind of a pass fail type of thing. The second round, I'm looking for people that I feel like, I can easily work with, they like I have, you know, we all have our own personalities and how we like to work. One of the questions I have is like, how do you like to get feedback? How do you respond to criticism, that kind of thing? And so I go with my gut, but I also look at, do they have the skills that we need? Or are we going to have to train them? You know, where are they in terms of the budget? Can we afford to pay them a little more if I really really liked them or those types of things. The the last hiring that I did was a there were two really strong candidates and so I went with the one that was in the same time zone as I am because that just makes things easier. 

 

Kelly Reynolds

It is easier. Yeah. 

 

Audrey King

I will say I also So I tend to hire from just personal connections that I've made. So like, my first tech guru was just somebody who was in a course that I took. And we connected. And she did a little bit of work for me and my business. And I really liked what I saw. And so when I started the agency, I guess that's how I filled my first positions. Actually, it was just the connections I had already created. And then later down the line when I needed to hire for maybe skills that I didn't already have connections for, you know, I asked, in a couple Facebook groups, I posted my, my job description, the round one, and then like, went from there. But I get people who reach out and say, like, Are you accepting, you know, partner partnerships, and that kind of thing on a not infrequent basis, as I've gotten a little bit more well known. And I I'm always open to that, because, you know, I think that shows initiative and and oftentimes there are people who have tried to run an agency and decided like, it wasn't for them, or they've tried to, ya know, build their own freelance business and then realize they don't want to have to find the clients, they just want to be able to do their their favorite thing, which is whatever work they do. And I feel like those are the perfect people for eight to work with agencies because they are so good at what they do. And they have realized that they do not want to do and a lot of marketing, they do not want to do all of the other stuff you've got to do to bring in clients. So I feel like and those are really, they want to do a great job, they just want to do that part. So if you do that part, it's a great partnership. And I think I love hiring people who have tried, kind of like tried it on their own. And either they're just looking for a little more stability by working with other within an agency, or they're like, I just want to do the work because they understand a little bit more about like, what it's like to run a business and how you have to, you know, even if I would love to pay everyone on my team $100 an hour, I think they're worth it. But the reality is, we can't always we can't do that, right? And so like if they have a little bit of business under their belt, but then decided it wasn't exactly what they wanted, they come to it with a little more understanding of how things work in a business. 

 

Kelly Reynolds

So on that, how do you pay your people, you don't take any numbers if you don't want to, but like, how does that work? Is there a percentage of whatever you're getting paid by the client that you like to stay within? Like, how do you kind of set up the money coming in the money going out so that you actually make some money? 

 

Audrey King

Yeah, that was something that I struggled with. And I will say like, in my first six months of business, I had a 23k month. But almost all of that money went out to other people, right? So I see it all the time. I use that as a mental example of like, when you see those big number months from people, that's not what matters, what matters is how much do you actually get to keep of that? Yeah, and so now what I do is I try and basically, I pay the contract contractor. A third is my goal is to charge three times the amount of the cost of service provided, I guess, is a way to say it. So they keep a third eye, the business, you know, business expenses, and all of that keeps the third and then I pay myself a third. That's like the goal. But then I have services that kind of work within a range, like two and a half to three times the cost is what I try and stay within because some things are just more profitable. If I'm coaching a client, I get to keep almost all of that because I'm the one providing the service, right? If we're doing you know, certain types of builds are, have a higher or lower profit margin on but it all kind of equals out to fit into that framework.

 

Kelly Reynolds

And you guys, you guys are doing packages, right do coaching package or the project package, whatever that kind of thing is, it's not like an ongoing retainer of like a bucket of hours. It's much more like scope driven. This is what we're going to do for you. 

 

Audrey King

Okay, yes, for sure, though, I think we have on retainer, for like for mapping all this money out. It's kind of sometimes easier to like, okay, these are the things we're going to do. I'm going to have these people do these things, so you can match those up. So you can pay yourself. Exactly. And I always, you know, when I use Profit First in my business accounting, and so when I sign a client immediately I put I know what I'm, I've already talked to the contractors and like verify their availability. Well, I haven't but my ops assistant has right it has been verified by the availability and the rate that we agree on to do the work. And then I immediately put that into a contractor Holding account, so that it's there. And then I do my profit first based on everything else that's coming into the business, like what's left over after I pay the contract? 

 

Kelly Reynolds

Oh, that's great. That makes sense. It does. Yeah, I have mine. A little skewed. But mine goes into the optex account, because same thing, but I like that idea of having that ahead of time. So that you can't spend it on the right. People like to get paid. Like they like to get paid on time, it's a really good thing to keep up, as well. 

 

Audrey King

And I think both from like that obliger, where I want to make sure my team always gets you know what I promised them. And then also, I'm personally interested in personal finance. And just, I, for me, it's easiest if the money disappears. And then I don't have to remind myself Oh, but I need, you know, like, $2,500 to pay this person and 500 to pay this one, like, I can make my business decisions more easily. Based on that, I will say something I did to uplevel my business this year was hire a bookkeeper. So I had always kept my own books. And then that's one of those detail things that I am capable of doing it, but it does not bring me joy. Reconcile accounts and stuff. And so that's been really helpful, because she's also able to help me see kind of the snapshot, not just for this month, but also over time, like, what what, what, what are the trends? What are how are they fitting in with our goals, that kind of thing? 

 

Kelly Reynolds

Yeah, I keep a daily like, we call it a goal tracker. But it's like, what have we done daily? We have different counts. We don't we there's some older accounts that are actually hourly. So we kind of rack up these hours, they're like, they've been around so long. That's just like, it's they're grandfathered in. And like, seeing that come in every day. Like I know exactly where we are, where we go. Like, I know, on a tuesday if we hit my goal for this, or you don't I mean, like I love that I am the detail person. I'm the one who's like, in there, like, Oh, let me let me see everything is how many how many more days before? I've got it at the school. So I love how the brains all work differently. 

 

Audrey King

Yes, exactly. We need everyone, you know, we need that in life and in business for sure. 

 

Kelly Reynolds

Yeah. So what makes your agency different? 

 

Audrey King

Hmm. I love that question. I think what we stand for is building wealth as a as a catalyst for change that I I want to see and my team wants to see in the world. And so we're coming at everything that we do with the question of like, how can we build this business for our clients, that's going to help them make the changes that they want to see. And often, you know, our clients are almost 100% women, we will work with men, of course, but they have to subscribe to our philosophies. In terms of what how I see the best ways to build businesses. And the our driving force is really around women creating wealth as an opportunity for change. So the people that we work with tend to be healers, or coaches, or experts in areas that are, you know, making the world a more just equitable and fun place to live in. And so I think that is part of what helps us stand out. And then also just the personal investment we make into each client. I never wanted to build a million dollar a year huge agency business, I like to keep you know, I, I want to make money. There's nothing wrong with having a million dollar a year business. Maybe that'll happen someday. But that's not my driving force. My driving force is like connection and relationships with the clients we serve, so that they can, in their own way, make the world a better place. 

 

Kelly Reynolds

I love that. And this plays in one of my favorite quotes. And I don't remember I don't know if it's Denise Duffield, Thomas or someone else but it was imagine what the world would look like if a lot more good people had a lot more money. Mm hmm. 

 

Audrey King

Yeah, exactly like that. 

 

Kelly Reynolds

I think there's so much conditioning over the years of money is evil. We shouldn't want it we should just want to do good in the world. And I'm like, Yeah, but even if you want to save all the dogs, they need to eat. So if you need some money, you could buy them all food, like like the money isn't a terrible thing. You can really, really make some change with it. If you you know, like, the goodness is not isn't you it's not the money of being good or bad. 

 

Audrey King

Money is neutral. And I think it's a question of like, we have sometimes we see false choices like I can either be a good person or I can be wealthy. Right. And that's a that's a narrative that is like interwoven. Oh, sorry. We are. Yes. But I like to see it as a yes and yes, I can be a good person and I can be wealthy and use that wealth to make the world Better Place, like a lot of things are easier when you can buy things. Or you can pay things. Right? Yeah,

 

Audrey King  

exactly. I mean, if you want, you know, if you want to whatever your thing is that you want to see resolved or fixed in the world, having more money is going to give you more power to make that change that you want to see.

 

Kelly Reynolds  

And that's it. I mean, getting a voice into the places you want Congress lobbying, and all of the things, all the change that you want to see environmentalism, you know, it's great, I've been at lots of marches, but it doesn't have the same impact as if you can put some money behind it. And that money comes with power. So I love that part of it, this is a big thing with me.

 

Audrey King  

I love it. And I think that's more and more part of the conversation that I'm seeing, like, I see more people talking about the way and I have a lot of feelings about capitalism, and like how it has worked, and it hasn't worked and the people that served and the people that it's, you know, caused pain. But the our reality is, that's the system we're operating within. And we can't change that necessarily, until we, you know, I don't want to say we can't change it, we, right now in the system that we're operating within the best way to kind of equal out some of the the corporate stuff that I think a lot of us are realizing is not benefiting our planet, or our lifestyles or our our humaneness. Our humanity is to, to fight with the same weapon that's, you know, being used to hold some of us down. So I think, for me building wealth, I used to think of money as I've always been interested in money, but I used to see it as, like, I was guilty. When I started to create wealth, like I've been investing for a long time, I consider myself financially independent. But there was a lot of guilt that came with that, because who am I to have so much and other people have so little right? I've made it a value judgment on myself. And then over time, and coaching and therapy, and all of those things, I realized that the the money is isn't the problem. It's what people do with the money. That's the problem. And so I can choose to do good things with my money. And and that released me from a lot of that guilt.

 

Kelly Reynolds  

Yeah, I mean, one of my favorite things is to just to be able to if someone's in a jam, or they don't have it, or like, they're really upset, like, I can just fix that easily with like, a little bit of money. Like, that's my favorite thing is just be like, I can fix this, like I can fix this problem.

 

Audrey King  

When when I run a follow the fun workshop, one of the things that was important to me is that it had a mission bigger than even just helping spread the message of follow the fun, which has been really impactful for me, I wanted it to have a giving back component. And so every workshop, there's a small like a $7 fee right now to join the workshop, because I want people who are going to show up. But we take that money. And if it's a month where I'm teaching on my own I, I invest it or donate it in a cause that I support. And if it's a guest, then we invest it in a cause that they support. So I had a guest. Last week, we raised over 12,000 or 1200. Sorry, over $1,200 for Kiva loans for women on entrepreneur. That's wonderful. I've been so interested in those. Yeah, yeah. So I got to help 10 women entrepreneurs, both in the US and all over the world, you know, get a little support in their business. And I think we can create businesses that pay us abundantly, but that also do good, both large and small. You know,

 

Kelly Reynolds  

I love that. Alright, so before we wrap up here, yes. What do you think is one of the things that you love most about running an agency.

 

Audrey King  

It's working with my team and seeing the results that our clients get. And so like I said, we were invested in our clients success. And so when that success happens, we're celebrating the success with the client. And then the team that I've gathered, they're all women that I admire, and I enjoy spending time with and so just getting to see them do really good work. But also, like have a really fun relationship with them is very fulfilling, and I enjoy like supporting them as well, like knowing that the money that I'm paying them is going to help them in their families. Gives me a lot of satisfaction. Yeah, that's one of my favorite parts as well.

 

Kelly Reynolds  

I love that. And then what do you think is one of the hardest parts of having an agency?

 

Audrey King  

You know, I think it's just trusting in yourself and in the process. So I think about all the decisions you make as the leader, right and It's something that I've gotten more comfortable with over time. But of course, I'm human. And so there's still doubts. And you wonder if you're going in the right direction, or you have a difficult situation that you've never encountered, I had my first workshop refund request through PayPal. For my $7 workshop,

 

Kelly Reynolds  

oh my goodness, that you're donating. Yeah,

 

Audrey King  

that we're donating. And so it's like, you know, you sometimes have that moment of, oh, what do I do, and sometimes, you know, our emotions can get activated, and then it's stepping back into that leadership and saying, you know, this is actually something to celebrate, it means enough people are coming to the workshop that, you know, we're just, there's a certain percentage always, that's going to come back, right. So I think those new experiences are probably the hardest part, just figuring out how to handle them. But then, you know, the next time I get a refund request, I'll be I have an email, template response drafted and I can use it. And I, I saw something one time, I had to do with parenting where it was the daughter's first time, you know, rebelling and calling her mom the B word. And instead of like, freaking out, the mom bought a cake and said, Put like the quote, like, I hate you, you're a B on the cake. And and, you know, they both had a chance to cool off. And then she was like, you know, you're, you're independent. And like, this is part of it. She celebrated it. And I've always kept that story in mind. And I you mentioned Denise Duffield Thomas, I really like her work. I reread Chill, chill printer when I need a little like, boost.

 

Kelly Reynolds  

Yes, yes, I do as well.

 

Audrey King  

And I think about how, you know, some of these difficult things, as an agency owner, or as any kind of business owner or leader are really opportunities to celebrate that you've reached that milestone. And so it's not somebody hated me in the workshop, and they want their money back. It's that which wasn't actually even the situation. But it's that my workshops are now reaching enough people that we had this come up. And I will say in in the instance for this request, they never got the emails, even though they were all sent through the email service provider. It gives me an opportunity to say how can we make our process better? So that yeah, you know, maybe on the confirmation page, we say, if you don't get the email, please reach out to this address. Perhaps you put your address in wrong

 

Kelly Reynolds  

like that. I spell my name wrong all the time in my email. Yeah. I've been married for almost 10 years, I've been to Reynolds and I still like miss an L or something. So yeah. That's right. Audra. Thank you so much for being on the podcast today. I have loved these conversations, where this conversation. Tell everyone where we can find you. 

 

Audrey King

Yeah, so my website is shelovesyour biz.com. If you're interested in attending a workshop you can go to she loves her biz.com/ftf workshop. And I also offer free business advice. So I have a self guided check in you can fill out and I'll personally review each one and give you some email feedback on a business question that you might have. So that's available at she loves her biz.com/ftf Awesome, and I will put all of that good information in the show notes. And thank you so much. I've had such a great time today. It's been a true pleasure. 

 

Kelly Reynolds

Thank you so much. And I will see everyone next week.