Keeping It Real: Navigating Authenticity and Self Expression in Online Branding

Today’s episode of the podcast is an interview with Shannon Kleinjans, where we chat all about how to be authentic and show up as yourself through your social media marketing. For over 30 years Shannon has been helping business owners create their specific brand voice, and achieve their marketing goals. She helps businesses to take the fear out of social media marketing, get visible and create meaningful connections with the clients and customers that they want to serve.   KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST Shannon's experience of leaving her 9-5 job to open her business How to overcome the fears of showing up as yourself in your business How to deal with negative comments and curate your feed   Please do give Shannon a follow, and let us know what you took away from this episode, we would love to see what you thought of it!   LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE Connect with Shannon on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn Connect with Teresa on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter Transcript Teresa: Hello and a super warm welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. I'm laughing because I know today's episode is going to be awesome because I have the most beautiful, wonderful guest ever. She is one of my most favorite humans in the whole wide world. And the, the little story is that I met her at social media marketing world. In fact, she is probably the person in my world, in my membership who I have known the longest, even though she's not in the country and she's over in Arizona, but I met her at Social Media Marketing World years ago. And from there, from that connection, we stayed in each other's world and then she joined my membership and all of that sort of good stuff. And she's been in there ever since. So I'm so grateful for. Welcome to the podcast. The very beautiful Shannon. Shannon. How are you doing? Shannon: Hi, Teresa. Thanks so much for having me. I'm. This is a bucket list thing for me for years, actually. And I've never been on a podcast before. So just diving right in. Teresa: Well, that is lovely. And you should have asked, like, I'd have had you years back, Shannon. Shannon: No, I had just. Yeah. I should. That's the thing. Should ask for what you want. Right. But thank you so much for having me. You're also one of my favorite people. I love that. Teresa: I have had, I've known Shannon for years and years and years, and I'm interested to talk about lots of different things with her. Not only what she does as her day job, but also her transition into running her own business and coming up with her brand, which is super unique and awesome. But before we do all that, Shannon, please tell us what you do and how you got to do what you do. Shannon: So hi, I'm Shannon. I have a boutique social media and marketing business where I focus mostly on local, smaller to medium sized service based businesses. And I help them get online because social media is scary when you don't know what you're doing. So I like to try and help take the fear out of social media marketing for them. So I've been in marketing for really for about a million years. I, started in the prehistoric days. Now back like when, my space was all the rage and talking to people. I, I worked in the dental field and would I happen to have the gift of gab with my patients and happen to just Transfer that over and with share all their like answer their dental questions and stuff like that. So, it kind of started there. Yeah, I don't know. I've been just been doing it for a while. I ended up working with an entertainment center locally that I convinced them. Somehow to let me do their social media marketing and be their person. They had an agency, which was great. They were doing their Facebook. And I said, well, let me do the Instagram and show you what I can do. And it took just a couple of months. And then I was running all of the social media for the entertainment center. Teresa: Wow. That's amazing. Big. No. So good. So a few years back, cause Shannon, as she said, she worked for the entertainment center and she did like, you did a bit of this on the side, didn't you? But obviously you had a full time job, so it wasn't easy. Shannon: That's true. That's true. So the funny story, the entertainment center is what sent me into social media marketing world when I met you. So that took a couple of years of convincing, but they were great and very supportive. But yeah. So I was doing this. I mean, I love it. It's obviously you don't keep doing it for decades and not love it. But as I got to know people that, Oh, let me, let me pick your brain. Can I take you out for coffee or happy hour and let me pick your brain. And I love doing that. That was fine. But I was like, Hmm. I don't really have the time for this, but you know, maybe I could help more people if I did it on, you know, as a business. So, so then I, I started it kind of on the side and then after COVID we had, well, during COVID that was, I ended up actually being super busy with the entertainment center, trying to keep, keep their presence alive and going. Cause nobody was going there. It was shut down, but we had, I had some stuff going on and I just, my dad got ill and not with COVID, but that doesn't matter. But my dad got ill and passed away and. I just had a really hard time just going back into work and being in an office. And I just, you know, how you just kind of like, Oh, I need something needs to change. So I left the entertainment center and thought I'd just roll with this. And it's been almost two years. It's been just two years, actually. Teresa: That is crazy. Two years. That doesn't feel like. It doesn't, it doesn't. It feels like you've been doing it for ages, but. Shannon: Yeah, it's, yeah, it's kind of weird. Time is crazy. But yeah, it, I mean, because I've been doing it so long, I guess it feels like I've been doing it for a while, you know. On my own, but I love it. It's, it was a scary, that was kind of my goal for a while too, while I was at the entertainment center to eventually, I think, and I, yes, I know on our coaching calls and all of that, I had that on, on my list of, these are my goals and I'm going to, I'm going to leave my nine to five and it just didn't happen how I was planning it. I thought I'll have all of my ducks in a row. Everything will be ready and organized and instead. I just went, yeah, I'm just gonna do it. So, that was the best decision though, I think, that I've made. Teresa: And, and do you know what? I think sometimes those are the decisions you have to make, because if you, if anyone spends too long thinking about this, and trying to make it the perfect setup, trying to make it at the perfect time, trying to wait until you've built so much, the chances are you'll never do it. So actually I think to just kind of go now or never and just jump into it and do it. How did it feel like the first few weeks of you giving that up and thinking now I've got to find clients? Shannon: So, yeah, that was, that was kind of a trip. I, I was, I had one client at the time and they were great and I, you know, had them for a little bit where I was working with them on, you know, is my side gig. So I had one going in and I was like "I can do this.", I very lucky in the fact that I have a very supportive husband who's like, go and do it. And I was like, I'll just try it for a month. He's like, you need to try it for longer than that because I, you know, I wasn't going to give myself very much. I'm just going to give myself a quick out, you know. Teresa: A month is not long enough by any stretch of the imagination. Shannon: But yeah, he was like, try it at least three, six, at least just try it. And yeah, it just started. I mean, it wasn't, it wasn't like overnight, Oh, now I'm booked. I mean, it's, it was definitely some trial and error. There was, you know, I learned about what kind of clients that I work best with, that I can help. You know, which is kind of where I've fallen more into the service based and also nonprofit is a thing that I find that I'm kind of getting into as well. That's working. So yeah. So I mean, it was just like a lot of trial and error of like finding what niche I want to be. And I wouldn't say I'm super niche down, but you know, and it's always evolving. Teresa: What was, what was the most terrifying bit of starting your own business? Shannon: You know, there's so, there's so many and, and, you know, I like terrifying, but yeah, I do love terrifying. So, oh, there were a few things that were really