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We learn about how Kelly’s strategies help ambitious women grow their brands and her unique visibility methods that entrepreneurs can apply to their businesses.
Kelly Sinclair is the CEO of KS & Co and host of the Entrepreneur School podcast. Kelly, an award-winning marketer and visibility coach, shares her journey from corporate communications to entrepreneurship, juggling life as a mom and a business leader.
Watch the episode ‘Growing Brand Visibility In Just 10 Minutes a Day Featuring Kelly Sinclair’ (releases November 20th).
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Speaker 1:
Welcome to another episode of the Art of Online Business, and today we are going to be talking about getting your brand and how you can help people visible more consistently and more often. Speaking of visibility, if you can see us right now because you’re watching on the YouTube channel, awesome. If you’re not quite yet there, click down in the show notes below on whatever audio podcast platform you’re listening on and head over to YouTube, because then you can see that my new co-host is with me. Her name is Jamie. She’s my lovely wife.
Speaker 2:
AKA your wife Right.
Speaker 1:
And we brought her on the episode as like well on the podcast as a co-host, just because she’s been managing Facebook ads now for about a half a year and she came up in a different ads management school than me. She still gets good results for her clients and she just has a fresh perspective. And the questions that she asks really bring balance to my questions, because I feel like I suffer from knowledge bias. Sometimes I’m just too close to the things that I do and have been for so long that I don’t think of questions from a different perspective, and that’s what you bring to the table.
Speaker 1:
So, love having you here obviously. Thank you, and my other guest, which you can see if you’re watching on YouTube, is Kelly Sinclair.
Speaker 3:
And hello Thanks for being here, kelly, oh hi. Yeah, I’m just interrupting because you’re having this lovely conversation. I was like hello, well, you’re part of the conversation.
Speaker 1:
It’s a four-way conversation between me, JVU and the listener. So, Kelly, all right, You’re the CEO of KSN Co and you’re the host of a podcast called Entrepreneur School, which is an education hub for ambitious women who want to start and grow their brands. You’re an award-winning marketer, a brand strategist and you’re more. But the really cool thing is we actually got to meet in person at the Make your Mark live event and, like I was saying before we hit record, I feel like you’re one of the people who I got along with best at the event.
Speaker 1:
But you’re a girl mom of two, juggling hockey practices and marketing plans. Juggling hockey practices and marketing plans. You’re self-branded fairy brand mother waving the magic wand to give the listener confidence, guidance and the support they need to attract an audience of ideal buyers and get to their next level of success. And I’m excited about, Kelly, what we’re going to talk about in the next episode. I’m excited about this episode, too, because we’re going to talk about your business journey and pull out some highs and lows and some applicable strategies that folks can apply to their own businesses as they grow and persist through change. And in the next episode, you’re going to talk about your 10 minute a day visibility method and you have wet our appetites with your new analogy describing visibility as layers of a black forest cake.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, or your favorite cake, if you don’t know what that is, but yeah, so all the things I love to talk about Entrepreneurship, because that’s the thing, and that’s why I made a podcast called Entrepreneur School, because I realized I was like, why isn’t this like? Why isn’t this isn’t? It’s not the same as business school, it is. Entrepreneur School has your whole life experience of being an entrepreneur, and so I’m happy to dive into all of that. For me it’s been seven years now and very many iterations and pivots and evolutions of what that looks like. Growing that alongside two children who were little and now they’re not so little, and like the whole parenting evolution oh my gosh. And then, yes, let’s talk all things. Visibility too. Okay, cool, yeah, let’s get started with. How did you get started? You said seven years ago and, okay, cool. That’s probably why Kweju understands this. We’re the kind of entrepreneurs who work in our houses and then also need to get on airplanes and go meet people as much as possible.
Speaker 3:
Love it, that is true, is communications and PR, and I’ve done various versions of that for government, for oil and gas companies, big Fortune 500 companies, and that’s all fine, it’s fun. It’s a fun application, right, because everything needs communication. We need to understand who we’re talking to, what do we say to them, what are the best ways to get that message across, and then what is the goal that we need to like achieve with the message. So always a fun, like you know, high problem solving kind of career and definitely like the right fit for me because there’s so much variety to it, but despite that, me like technically enjoying what I was doing in the corporate world. I had two kids under four, which is like crazy pants time, yeah, that’s tough.
Speaker 1:
More like crazy diaper time.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, it’s like diapers and meltdowns and everyone’s cranky and they have to get their sleep on their schedule and they have to be fed at the right time or like everyone’s kind of going at all.
Speaker 2:
Trying to keep everyone alive here folks.
Speaker 3:
And at that time when my kids were that little I was also we had just moved kind of out of the big city so we had a big commute to get into the city and, in an effort to try and avoid all the traffic, we were getting the kids out of bed, out of the house by six in the morning. And I will admit to you, I am not a morning person. This is like in order for me to do that, I personally had to be up at 4.45 AM, up at 4 45 am. No, I am not team 5 am club. Never, ever, ever.
Speaker 3:
It was brutal and I was also telling myself because you know, you kind of hear that this is, you know, you have littles. This is the hard time of parenting, like it’s supposed to be tough, and maybe that was true, but and and maybe I never would have realized either that it was more than just tough, it was. It was like pure zombie. Like I had a cup of coffee, I had a refill for my coffee, before I even got to my office, I half the time fell asleep in the vehicle my husband was driving, don’t worry.
Speaker 3:
And then I would get to my office and just be like a half shell of a human and like then added another layer of the difficulty of just normal, whatever normal is, with kids, little kids.
Speaker 3:
Reflection of this whole situation and what happened actually to make a change in my life was that my mom was very sick with cancer and she started to get like it was just progressing really badly and I had a decision to make about how I wanted to spend my time and I decided to take a leave of absence from my job and sadly she passed away eight days later.
Speaker 3:
So, I didn’t get the time that I wanted to spend with her and to have my kids to spend with her, and it was just such an awareness of, like, what I was really doing before and and how, how. That’s not how I wanted to live my life.
Speaker 3:
Like that is not why we had kids and like, started a family and all this. That was not what it was supposed to be. And some people we have we have these mortality experiences and these awarenesses and like the cliche of life is short is really a cliche for a reason because it is, and you just really don’t know that until you experience some kind of loss or have a moment, I think. And so that was my reflection opportunity and I know that my mom would be so proud that I was able to eventually turn that awful, tragic, awful, tragic experience into being in charge of my own life and deciding to start a business and to create what I really wanted, even though I had no idea really how to do that.
Speaker 3:
Wow, and so it was really just about okay. Well, what do I do? How do I take the skills that I have and what I’ve done before? And I was working in a PR firm, so it’s pretty easy application to say I’m a consultant, so I will do X for you for X dollars per hour and go. So that’s how I started and it’s evolved so many times since then.
Speaker 3:
From you know the different types of communication and everything that I can support people with. But ultimately, what I noticed was that I really wanted to help entrepreneurs, because I think people who go out there and start their own businesses, they are pouring so much more into that. They’re pouring their hearts and their souls and probably their savings and all their time and everything into trying to make this thing work. And I know for a fact that if you don’t tell people about what you’re doing, if you don’t put yourself out there, if you don’t promote and market and get visibility, then you are not going to make it. And I wanted to help more people make it, because I think if more people can be in charge of their own paths, then there will just be more joy and happiness in the world, and that’s what I’m here for In full transparency.
Speaker 1:
I was on a call recently just moments ago what feels like, but maybe a couple of hours ago and we were talking about like cause. It was kind of like hot seat mastermind kind of call and I was sharing and one of the ladies was like wait, joe, do you even sell in your weekly emails? And I was like, huh, that’s a good point. I guess I just released an email that talks about the podcast episodes and some reason I’m not actually like like I don’t have a specific email every week, that I just let people know about my services and what they have to gain from like working with somebody with like like me. I probably should do that, you know and visibility it’s like the whole, the whole thing.
Speaker 3:
They say you know you can’t just like turn over the open sign and like one. If you build it they will come like it. Just it doesn’t. It doesn’t work like turn over the open sign and like one if you build it, they will come Like it. Just it doesn’t. It doesn’t work like that.
Speaker 1:
Open mouth, open business yes, from somewhere. I don’t know where we got that from some book. Well, that was Amway back in the day Was that Amway back in the day when we first started?
Speaker 2:
like that, like when we first got married, we did Amway and like all the meetings and stuff we would go to. They’d always be like open mouth, open business, and I mean it works for everything, though. Right, it’s like if people you can have the best thing ever, but if no one knows about it you’re not promoting yourself, then you know you’re.
Speaker 2:
You’re not going to get any, any sales, any clients, so which might be a good place right now for us to just mention, then, that hey, by the way, we’re Facebook ads managers and if you need ads management services, then go ahead and send us a message, send us an email.
Speaker 1:
Especially if you’re going to launch in January. Because right now it’s already halfway through November and these things that need to be put in order so you can have a successful launch in the new year need to be happening right now. So yes, a link for discovery call is in the descriptions below. Back to you, Kelly.
Speaker 3:
I applaud you for taking the time to do that Because, honestly, like what? There? There’s a lot of things we could unpack around why people are so uncomfortable kind of about. But ultimately, like, if you make the connection and this is all I’ll say about this is that if you don’t promote what you do, then people cannot get your help, which means you’re cheating them out of the benefits of the results that you create, the transformation, and you know that you’re really awesome at the way you do it, right, so they’re going to go out and they’re going to hire someone who is less good than you. Don’t let that happen.
Speaker 2:
You’re the best, right, right, you be the one that they want to go to. So what did you? You started with consulting, and then how did this transform into what you’ve done? Or I don’t know which pivots do you want to mention? Or yeah, all of them. I don’t know how many there were.
Speaker 3:
This is a great episode for me to go back and listen to as I reflect on my life and and I got a few like local clients right away and quite honestly, that was from going out into the world, into networking events and meeting people and helping them to kind of launch things, Like I helped a coworking space to open its first space in the community where I live.
Speaker 3:
And then I started working with the tourism association and we built a brand. So I have a the PR angle brings in well, and branding understanding, like how to communicate what you’re all about. So we had to figure out what the brand for our town was really, which was a super cool project, and I ended up working with Tourism for like five years on their marketing and brand campaigns and ultimately, within that, I got the opportunity to work more directly with small businesses and to support them in teaching them how to market themselves. Right, give them the skills, because we know when we start a business, we are now like 27 different roles, right, you’re accounting and you’re admin and you’re like sales, and if you have a product or your inventory or you’re, you have to deal with legal stuff you’re all of the things.
Speaker 3:
You’re a graphic designer so I think that it’s really important actually to have even if you’re considering outsourcing at some point, you still have to have some basic understanding of what, like, marketing strategy is, because I think the biggest mistake I see a lot of small business owners do is they go and hire a social media manager. Okay, so they’re like let’s go and let’s get on social media, because we need to be on social media, which is a whole other hill that I could die on regarding whether or not you do or don’t need to be there, or how much you need to be there in order to be quote successful. I believe in online presence. I believe in having a way for people to connect with you. I do not believe in posting first and then thinking about the strategy. So there’s got to be something that actually guides your social media strategy if you’re going to go down that route.
Speaker 3:
So this is where I wanted to come in and be like hey, even if you’re doing social media, if you’re writing a website, if you’re thinking about how to promote yourself, which kind of visibility things you want to do, we need to understand your messaging. We need to understand who you are as a brand, because, first of all, that’s going to guide what kind of actions you’re going to take, because you need to know who you’re talking to and how you’re talking to them Right. And so what are the right pathways? And these are going to be different for every single business, and so I got really excited about like sharing that and teaching that and building. So I started building some programs, digital courses, trainings, workshops, those kinds of things to really help teach and empower business owners to do their own marketing when they’re not marketers by trade.
Speaker 1:
How do you empower a business owner to do their own marketing when they’re not marketers by trade?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, I think. I think it starts with like getting them really connected to, first of all, understanding what a strategy looks like. Right, like that we’re not. It’s not just about where do I go, because that would be the question I would get all the time when should I market myself? And the answer is it depends.
Speaker 1:
Love.
Speaker 3:
The marketer answers yes right right because every business is different, your audience is different. If you, if you are, like you know um a landscaper within a physical area, you got to get in front of people who are in your area. So do you need to to get on podcasts to do that? Probably not you need yard signs. You’re targeted. Do you need yard signs? Exactly, do you need super targeted Facebook ads? Maybe Right?
Speaker 3:
Those could be ways, right, but it’s all dependent on your specific business, what you sell, how you talk about it, like, what are the messaging and who are you talking to? Always, it’s always about who you’re talking to and what you’re saying, and then we can choose where to go. Say that right oh, that’s yeah, I’m thinking of.
Speaker 1:
I’m thinking of stories days from, from back when I had the window cleaning business yeah, he used to be quajo, the window cleaner and had his signs all over.
Speaker 1:
It was great marketing, though I had these signs, kelly, and they said I cleaned I think it said I cleaned their windows to pay off my college tuition. And I would just tell people, just leave these signs up for two weeks and I would go into like a development or sub development. You know there’d be like 500 houses in there and like pretty soon, people would just see the signs and I would get more calls and it was like I would get tons of business in one development and I would just move the signs from one person’s house to another.
Speaker 2:
And it was, it was a fun thing for visibility and so okay.
Speaker 1:
So here we are in 2024, the end of the year you started your business how many years ago? Seven. Yeah, yeah what was the first point where you were like this is exactly why I started business and I’m rocking it?
Speaker 3:
Why are?
Speaker 2:
you laughing?
Speaker 3:
Kelly, it’s the first time that I ever had one of those Like what? I mean, I think you’re. You know what. To be fair, I laugh because we so quickly move past those moments and go what’s next right, like, even if there is a win, there is a success, there is something that feels super awesome, it’s always like what is next and so thank you, because I do think a lot of us struggle with recognizing ourselves and celebrating those wins, no matter what they are. So, for me, I love speaking. So anytime I get invited or get to speak, either on a podcast like this or in real life with real people, that makes me so excited with real people that makes me so excited.
Speaker 3:
I love those moments and and I’ve been doing them more and more lately so definitely there’s that there’s always, though, at the same time, like I still have bigger goals, I still want to change things, I still want to, you know, shift how I’m approaching it and step into bigger circles and challenge myself in new ways, and I think that’s really just the path of entrepreneurship right. It’s an ongoing journey of expansion and shifting and growth and it’s sometimes hard to remember like where it all started to.
Speaker 2:
Like parenting, it is not for the faint of heart.
Speaker 1:
No.
Speaker 2:
I think from your Instagram and your picture is so adorable on there, by the way, that says the fairy grandmother. How did you come up with that In my mind? Since you mentioned you’re a girl mom, I’m imagining you’re like dancing around with your daughters one day and like the fairy like I’m the fairy godmother, and then you’re like I’m the fairy grandmother, Like that’s how I’m imagining that you came up with this name.
Speaker 3:
But oh my gosh, true, okay, so I actually have a really great story about that. I was working with a coach and I had this. We did this visualization around like what you know what my role was, kind of like what my purpose was, and what was really interesting is that in the PR world, you’re behind the scenes all the time, right, like PR is about making your client look good. I’ll write it, you say it, I’ll coach you, you show up Like I’ll fix it when you break it, like all of that. That’s PR and I like that. Like I, I like putting someone else into the spotlight and I’m also obsessed with disney. So, fun fact, okay, fun fact, I am the person who’s been there five times with my kids, and my kids are both under 11, so I don’t even live in the US. So there’s that, there’s. And then there’s just visualization of the fairy godmother from Cinderella, because she like made the carriage, she made the dress, she made her like, gave her confidence, she made her shine and she was, she was behind the scenes, right, like only Cinderella even knew that she existed, and so I just had this like the mice, yeah yeah, well
Speaker 3:
the mice helped with it, yeah, but ultimately it was like it was like the magic wand and the and the and the fairy godmother and then, after it had that vigilante, I was like, oh my gosh, I got full goosebumps. Remembered, you know, when you ask your kids what they want to be when they grow up. First time I ever answered that question was I want to be a fairy godmother, like this full circle moment.
Speaker 3:
And my mom was still alive at the time, which is amazing, so I was able to call her and be like mom I did it I’m a fairy godmother and then eventually it evolved into the fairy brand mother, because I was just kind of, you know, trying to find something to connect to, because branding that’s a whole other topic. People don’t understand.
Speaker 2:
I love it, though. That’s great.
Speaker 1:
That’s great. That’s great. What’s one one hard point, then since you were a little more hesitant to share, like a moment where you felt like, okay, I have made it. What’s the moment where you felt like was this the right choice? Should I give up? Should I change businesses?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, I mean, you already know this. So, yeah, I most recently actually was kind of getting to that point, because I think you know, on one hand, the idea of like, oh, I’ve been in business for seven years, that should feel like okay, that’s a lot, I’ve got a lot under my belt. But also, when you’re not measuring up to the goals that you have and it’s been quote that long it feels even kind of worse. It kind of feels like, wow, I’ve been in business for seven years and I still don’t think I’ve got this figured out yet. Like I don’t, I’m not, I don’t have a program right now that I’m like loving. This was kind of like mid 2024.
Speaker 3:
And so I actually thought maybe I’ll get a job, maybe I’ll just like focus on one thing for a bit. And I started to even like pursue that and that didn’t work out either. So it all kind of came back. I feel very, very like you know, the universe does give you signs and tell like, responds to what you want, and I I wasn’t, that wasn’t connecting.
Speaker 3:
But then it all came back full circle when we ended up in Dallas in September and all of a sudden I felt like re-inspired, re-motivated, re-ready to like go out there and and try again and recognizing that, even though, like, things aren’t necessarily where I want them to be, I have so much more experience and so much more like to bring to the table for my clients, for anybody who I get to work with at this point, and things have been turning around so amazingly in the last few weeks, like I created and launched a brand new program called Brand Visibility Accelerator with founding members, and I ended up with a few like one-on-one clients in the last little while. So it’s just like really good to get my feet back in it, I guess, doing things again, and even if it feels like it’s starting from scratch, I sometimes think there’s a point where you can quote start from scratch, but it’s still way further ahead and it’s gonna. It’s gonna take off this time, like you know, you just get that good feeling about it. So that’s where I’m at right now.
Speaker 1:
That’s like the theme of 2024.
Speaker 1:
As I’ve talked with so many online entrepreneurs in the core space, the coaching space, like you would be surprised how many folks just aren’t happy with their offer or they’ve been doing business for so long and they’re just like wanting to try something new.
Speaker 1:
I mean even the former host of this podcast, like Rick. I watched him go through the publicly, you know, like I’m not saying anything he hasn’t shared, but like I watched him go through the publicly, you know, like I’m not saying anything he hasn’t shared, but like I watched him go through the process where, like he just wanted to serve people in a different way after having coached in a specific way for so long and had, like this high level coaching program slash mastermind, you know and like I watched him sunset an offer that was highly profitable, you know, and I’ve talked to so many people this year too on the podcast it’s like the same thing, like I’m just thinking about pivoting away from this offer. It’s been going well, but like I’m looking for a different way, like something new, something fresh like something that my heart is in again.
Speaker 3:
So yeah, yeah, yeah, that for sure resonates with me. Yeah, just that you come back to kind of even the beginning of this conversation. Why did you get started? Right, like, and if you’re not doing something that’s in alignment with why you got started, then maybe, maybe time to relook at that.
Speaker 1:
Right, I feel like at this point of the episode I do want to know because you also can talk about in the next episode mindset to make you take action even when you don’t want to. But we will stick to our predetermined path where in the next?
Speaker 1:
next episode, you’re going to share about your 10 minute per day visibility method and talk about breaking down visibility like layers in a cake, in this case, a black forest cake, though I am partial to red velvet Actually, I used to like red velvet cake Now I don’t eat much sweets at all.
Speaker 2:
I just like cheesecake and that’s it cheesecake there were ice cream. I’m an ice cream gal in cheesecake but the rest of the cakes like here in Mexico it’s all about like the cake and stuff at the parties and then there I just always pass it up but yeah no, no, but I’m excited to hear the analogy me too in the next episode where can listener?
Speaker 1:
please come and listen to the next episode, but like if life gets in the, I need to, where Quay Joe is also going to be featured very shortly and you can find me on Instagram.
Speaker 3:
It’s my favorite place to connect with people, not to post content all the time, but I’m definitely there in the DMs. My favorite thing is when somebody reaches out and says hey, I heard you on the Art of Online Business, so send me a DM at ksco, underscore Kelly, and you can find me on my website, kscoca, where you will also find amazing free resources to support you with your visibility needs.
Speaker 1:
Okay, Very, very cool. Well, thank you for being on this episode, Kelly.
Speaker 3:
Thank you so much for having me, Kwejo and Jamie.
Speaker 1:
You’re welcome.
Speaker 3:
You’re welcome.
Speaker 2:
Good to chat.
Speaker 1:
Thanks for being here listener and until the next.
