NK Podcast: Leading H.E.R. Way

Ep 69: The Truth About Profitable Websites with Emily Foster

• Nikisha King | Certified Life & Business Coach • Season 3 • Episode 69

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Are you a creative entrepreneur, wedding pro, or service-based business owner who feels like your website isn’t doing your brilliance justice — this one’s for you. 

In today's episode of Leading Her Way, we dive deep into what actually makes a website profitable (spoiler alert: it's not just pretty pictures). Emily Foster of Emily Foster Creative shares how she helps creative service providers in the wedding and hospitality industry design websites and brands that work.

From identifying your ideal client to understanding what your website needs to say (and what it shouldn’t), this conversation is packed with the kind of real-world, revenue-boosting advice most designers don’t tell you.

Plus, she’s gifting you two powerful free resources to take action today (linked below)!

3 Takeaway Actions You Can Start Now:

  1. Download the Brand Clarity Workbook
    Before you build or rebrand anything, you need to understand your ideal client and the transformation you offer. Emily’s workbook will help you get clear on your message, audience, and what makes your brand magnetic.
    👉 Grab the free Brand Clarity Workbook
  2. Audit Your Website with the Elevated Website Checklist
    Don’t guess what’s working. Use Emily’s proven checklist to ensure your site is aligned with your goals and optimized for user experience.
    👉 Get the Elevated Website Checklist
  3. Update Your Instagram Bio for SEO
    Quick win: Add your niche and who you serve directly into your IG bio. This small change increases discoverability and helps your dream clients say, “Yes, she’s for me.”

Ready to take your brand seriously?
Follow and connect with Emily to start building a brand that reflects your genius and sells while you sleep:


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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Leading Her Way with your host and business guru, Nakesha King. This podcast is the ultimate destination for women, creative entrepreneurs, who want to break free from burnout. If you are overwhelmed by client demands and feel like you're doing this all alone, you, my friend, are in the right place alone. You, my friend, are in the right place Now. Let's dive in for steps to take back your time and simplify your workflow. All right, Nikisha, take it away.

Nikisha King:

Hello, gorgeous Everyone, welcome to Leading Her Way podcast. Today we are in for a treat. We have Emily Foster, who is, I would consider, the. She's going to tell us more, but I believe she's one of the best branding and she's website builder that I know of. She's really good in what she does, she's like flawless in her SEO organization and I'm so happy she's here with us today because she's going to give you guys the lowdown and the secret tips that I think you need sometimes because there's so much noise and I just think sometimes it's good to hear from someone who specializes in something that they know exactly these important parts that will help you move from point A to point B. So welcome, Emily. It's a gift to have you with us. Can you let us know and the audience how do you transform your client's life through what you do and share a little bit about what you do with our audience?

Emily Foster:

Hi, thank you so much for having me. So yeah, like Nikisha said, I'm a brand and website designer and my approach is really based in strategy and personalization, especially for the types of businesses that we work with. With my studio, I own Emily Foster creative and we're niched specifically in the wedding and hospitality industry but work with all kinds of creative service providers like coaches, therapists, really anyone who offers some kind of service and has some level of creativity in their business. And I would say the biggest transformation that we make for our clients is helping them to showcase the amazing work that they already do.

Emily Foster:

I think that there's a transformation during the process for our clients where they get more confidence, like right, when we start to work together, because we dig into their brand strategy right away and there are questions asked that maybe they never even thought of or that they actually already know the answers to, but they never thought that that was what needed to be front facing in their brand.

Emily Foster:

So there's like that beginning of the process when we work with clients and then we develop their brand identity and their websites and there's that instant confidence after the project when they can show up better in the world because they have a brand and website that, frankly, doesn't embarrass them.

Emily Foster:

I was actually on a call yesterday with a client a past client whose site we launched at the beginning of last year, and she's like I feel like what I had before was good, but now this is like my big girl brand, like this was like my big girl look, and I'm like that's so true, because the transformation that you feel when you have a rebrand with us is kind of like the transformation when you're getting ready to go interview for a huge job, like you wouldn't just show up in a t-shirt and cut off shorts, you would show up with this amazing brand that accurately represents who you are and, especially with our niche, it's that blend of strategy and speaking to your ideal clients or your aligned clients, but then also infusing some of your personality, because so many of the brands in the space are personal brands or small teams.

Nikisha King:

Thank you, and that is so true. It's that big girl website where you move up a notch.

Nikisha King:

Because, about being a business owner. You're always going to transform. That is one of the tasks in it. That is a requirement If you decide to stay still in the website in the systems. That's where your growth gets stagnated. So that's a really good point. The part about the questions and clarity and confidence let me tell you that is so big, emily. It's normally people think it's the website that transformed you and it's not. It's the work you had to do to get to that website.

Emily Foster:

So tell me, when you ask questions, what kind of questions you ask and does these questions lead to the copy that you have put on the website? Yeah, it does. So our biggest package is like an all-inclusive approach where we do everything for them, including SEO and copy, and we use that same approach with all of our packages, even if we don't write their copy in SEO. So I still ask a lot of intentional questions and then they get a guide to write their own copy for, like our lower ticket offers. So even in every call, we're still getting this lens that I'm about to go in. So even in every call, we're still getting this lens that I'm about to go in. But we spend a lot of time talking about ideal clients and more than just what they like and what they do Like, it's the combination of demographics and psychographics. So demographics ignore those facts surprisingly, like. I think that we know that they matter for ideal clients. But people get a little bit uncomfortable when I ask them a question like what does your ideal client make every month or every year for their household income, and they like don't know the answer to it. But it's like how do you expect to know if they can afford your pricing if you don't actually know what their lifestyle looks like. So that's like the demographic side. The psychographics that we get into are specifically their emotions and their wants and what they desire from your services. Why would they invest in your services to begin with? But then also we talk about like why would they invest in your services over someone else who's a cheaper option? About? Like, why would they invest in your services over someone else who's a cheaper option?

Emily Foster:

For a lot of our clients who are like wedding planners or photographers or venues, this looks like why would they invest in your services versus having like aunt sally be their coordinator? Um, so, talking about like, what is the value that they perceive there? And then, when they're not wedding planning or when they're not engaging in your service, like what does their lifestyle look like? Where are they spending their money? And it's that cliche that we've probably heard of like, oh, they like Starbucks and they shop at Target. But it's deeper than that. It's thinking about like what kind of lifestyle are all of their friends engaging in? And kind of like, what's influencing their sphere? So a lot of conversation around that and then also end results. So, talking about their forward goals, like what do the next five years look like? And one of my favorite questions is what do you want your ideal client to feel when they land on your website? And then also, what do you want them to feel when they're done working with you and they're leaving a review, because I think that we often think like, oh, I'll just launch the website and then everything's done.

Emily Foster:

But part of the brand strategy process is showing up after people click on your website, so after they convert to an inquiry like how are you going to continue to engage with them through the sales process and your onboarding and client processes?

Nikisha King:

Right, so good, so, so good.

Emily Foster:

A little wordy.

Nikisha King:

No, but it's fine. It's giving details, right. That's the whole point of having also a website. I was listening to something and I loved there's a difference between a website and there's a difference between funnels because, the website is the first entry point and then the funnels lead them somewhere.

Nikisha King:

In you doing websites, first entry point and then the funnels lead them somewhere. In you doing websites, how do you categorize it or how do you see it? Because it's like a brochure, it's like this warm welcome. And I want you to express it from your point of view, since it's your specialty. How do you see it?

Emily Foster:

Yeah, I see it as part of the funnel. Sometimes I think that it's like dynamic because I think that if your goal is to get most of your clients through SEO, it's definitely like I view it as your digital billboard. It's the first thing that people see and you have to attract them. So that's where SEO matters so much, because for a lot of our clients, like in their industry, seo is a no brainer, like you have to have it. Like in their industry, seo is a no brainer, like you have to have it. But also we're in this like really dynamic space where it might be the third or fourth touch point that they get from you. Like they might find you on Instagram first or through an Instagram ad and then they referred to you or they find you on like a preferred vendors list, so they might have multiple touch points in your other marketing. That isn't even the website and the website is like that last trigger to convert them.

Emily Foster:

And I think in the ideal world, everyone would inquire and convert into a client, like right on the sales call, right, like you wouldn't have to funnel them into other things. Or another path that we see a lot of clients do is like they find you on Pinterest, they download your lead magnet and then they come back to your website and engage there and then make the inquiry, like sometimes weeks or months later. So we talk about that strategically of like what, where is your energy going in your marketing? Where do you want to spend the most time? Because I think it's totally okay to say like I don't want to be on Instagram or I don't want to have a lead magnet and an email list, like it's fine to make those decisions. We just have to be intentional about how we're building the website around that. Yeah, I say that it's like your visual storefront, even if you're a service provider and you're not technically selling your physical products on there. I think that's the most common thing that I use and your brand is the visual voice of your business.

Nikisha King:

It is, it's the announcement, it's the you know when you have someone on the horn that's what I feel like it is. It's always speaking about you and what you can do for them.

Emily Foster:

So when.

Nikisha King:

I say, speaking about you, I got to be really intentional, because there's something about copy where people keep talking about the company and I'm like stop talking about the company, exactly the transformation, the outcome that they're going to get. Why are they here? Like tell them they're here and you get it Exactly.

Speaker 1:

So good All right.

Nikisha King:

I want to ask you why is knowing about your ideal client the starting point for making real money in your business?

Emily Foster:

I feel like it's like saying, like why would you go to the doctor? Or it's like why would you solve a health problem without going to the doctor and understanding what's wrong? It's like you can't make money without understanding who you're selling to. Sure there's going to be some luck Like you can always make money without being super clear for a little bit but it's not going to be a sustainable income for your business, which we want sustainable, like slow growth. You know we don't want like fast, overnight growth most of the time.

Emily Foster:

So understanding your ideal client gives you a base to come back to when you kind of have that doubt and you aren't sure what to do next in your business.

Emily Foster:

And it gives you a base to come back to when you kind of have that doubt and you aren't sure what to do next in your business. And it gives you certainty that you're also serving someone and solving someone's problems. So I think for a lot of us that can help with mindset and any like sort of doubt that we experience in our business, because you know exactly who you're for and you know, like, the skills that you have to offer and it kind of takes that guesswork out of the equation For me and for a lot of my clients, like, understanding your ideal client is an essential key to your marketing. It makes everything so much easier because it's the cliche, but if you're speaking to everyone, you're speaking to no one, and it's literal Like if you've ever sat down and tried to write Instagram captions for just everyone. You have no idea what you're talking about. And then you do default to talking more about the service or the features and benefits of your offers, versus actually talking about the transformation that you're offering to your clients.

Nikisha King:

So true, so true. The other thing about it also is when working with you and getting the copy.

Nikisha King:

I think that's gold, because everything they're telling you becomes copy that they can use on their social media. It's like taking those and then spread it the word, because people need to hear a thing more than four or five times. They need to have contact with you. And if you take the copy from your website and you're able to create little pieces and little tidbits of it and put it on a static post, or create a real lot of that sometimes we don't have to work harder, we can just work smarter. It's so easy.

Emily Foster:

People are shocked when I tell them. So, like to preface, I use ChatGPT not for anything SEO related, because that can be risky, but sometimes for captions or email newsletters it can be a really great tool and I actually give chat GPT my website and say like please come up with something using the wording and the voice on this website and it might pull literal pieces. So I know it's original content because I wrote that pull literal pieces. So I know it's original content because I wrote that, or I had my copywriter write it in my case, because we're like the cobbler without shoes we can never get outside of our own heads enough to do our own messaging. But it's such a handy tool and people are so shocked they're like oh, I never thought about putting my website into chat GPT, but it's like you're feeding this AI beast and like letting them run with something and then you're also guaranteeing its original content. That's actually like sounds like you and doesn't sound like the generic AI written content that we might see.

Nikisha King:

Yeah, so good. Can you share an example of how understanding your target market has helped a client create a more profitable brand?

Emily Foster:

Yeah, I was trying to think of a good client example. So we have a venue that we launched last year and understanding what packages align with the right couples has helped them really visualize their marketing a lot easier. So they have like an elopement package where they can rent out the venue for a weekday and that kind of client is totally different than the client that's booking a full weekend and staying in their overnight lodging. So understanding their two different kind of ideal clients in that way has allowed them to show up consistently for both of them on social media and we write their blogs now too so being able to have messaging for both of those and kind of pull out that messaging when needed to serve their revenue goals. So ideally, booking out every weekend is a goal for this venue, but then we also have these filler spots for elopements.

Emily Foster:

So talking about that and that's also where I think understanding your ideal client is really essential, because it might not be one person. We talk a lot about what I call secondary clients. So I always want to know, like your dream client and the main person that you would work with every day if you could. But then a lot of us have some sort of supplemental service or revenue outlet that we really want to sell and that might not be for that same person at all. So it's important to kind of have those two different archetypes to work with.

Nikisha King:

Such a really great point. A secondary, especially the secondary, because we all have it. That's why a lot of us get in the I don't know who I'm speaking to. I can't focus on one person, right, because they know there's a secondary. But it doesn't mean you cannot focus. You focus on your primary and then you capture your secondary.

Emily Foster:

Yeah, yeah, and I think something that's interesting that people don't think about enough is the client journey. And I don't mean necessarily like your funnel and the way they're finding you, but for a lot of us not that venue example in particular, because elopements and weekend weddings are so different For, like a lot of planners or photographers or designers, like everyone wants the highest package they just might not be able to afford it or they might not see the value in the same way. So there's this journey of like. There's phase one of a client who, like they're just dipping their toes into your service. And then there's phase two, like they're more committed, and phase three, like they want the full package. So we'll talk about that too of like, how do we speak to your most ideal client but still help your other clients to aspire to that, even if their financial reality doesn't look like affording that?

Nikisha King:

So true, so true. Favorite question because this is the one that I think a lot of people get confused about when it comes to website design what's the difference between a pretty brand and a profitable brand?

Emily Foster:

Yeah, I love this question. A pretty brand is often trendy. It looks good, it's the one that your friends are like, oh, this is beautiful. But then you don't attract clients in the following couple years after launching and you end up changing it again. So pretty brands often change over time. You don't stick with your color palette, you don't stick with the same typography or it's really trendy and you start to look outdated in just a few years. I would say a profitable brand is built on strategy first. So there's been a conversation had of like we're choosing the color red because it's meaningful to this goal and it speaks to this kind of ideal client and it tells this story for our brand versus red because it's your favorite color. So all of those strategic decisions are made for every single aspect of the brand and then it's used consistently so that you can continue to have the similar messaging, get the regular brand recognition that you need from people, for I think the stat is that they have to see it seven times for them to actually commit to investing.

Emily Foster:

So, they need to recognize your same brand seven times and show up then and that's when you know it's profitable, is when it's starting to help you convert those clients and showing your value. You shouldn't have to work so hard to show your value. It should come from your visual and your written voice and it should be selling for you all the time. Of course, there's going to be like short-term kind of sales copy and like marketing copy, like instagram and blogging and building a new sales page for a new offer and things like that, but your brands should stay consistent across all of that such a really great point strategy is like the quick answer to that.

Emily Foster:

Like pretty brands are trendy and profitable brands are strategic.

Nikisha King:

Yes, that is so true. For me it always also pretty. Brands don't talk about the transformation, they talk about the features. Yeah, they're like listing it out, explaining it, doing a lot of over explaining with pretty pictures.

Emily Foster:

Yeah, and sometimes stock photos too. Right, like it's very generic, it's not specific. Yeah, and pretty brands are often more scared to niche down, like you're still speaking to everyone and kind of like staying in that safe zone versus like telling people who you're for and who you're not for Exactly, exactly.

Nikisha King:

So good, I know that because I was a pretty brand at one point.

Emily Foster:

Yeah, we all start there.

Nikisha King:

We do. We all start there. It's not a bad thing, Meaning it's not. It's not something that's negative. It's part of the process. But as you mature on your journey, you realize everyone's not for you, because you encounter everyone and you're like no, this is not going to work.

Emily Foster:

Yeah, you have to have that life experience, it's true.

Nikisha King:

Yes, and then you start to understand the strategy of it. Wanting it to work for you. If you're going to invest in it, yeah, so that's good. How can business owners use client pain points and their desires to shape the heart of their brand and increase conversions?

Emily Foster:

Yeah. So one book I always reference is Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller, and it talks about client pain points and the transformation and storytelling. So understanding your client's pain points, before you even go into the brand identity development or the copywriting, is essential to building those things and it can help you because you can answer those questions. So basically, every pain point is a question that your client is asking or something that's waking them up at night, and then your solution or the transformation or the win that you're giving them is the answer to that question. So it's showing up with your tagline or your headlines on your website and your copy and basically just answering those questions. Like I think people sometimes overcomplicate it, but it's really just like showing up and in a better worded way saying like I see you're worrying about this thing. Here's how we help you solve that. And then answering that repeatedly throughout your website with the strategy In your brand itself, the brand identity.

Emily Foster:

It might be having a tagline in your logo designs or having more research about, like, what kind of aesthetics your ideal clients are paying attention to and then leaning into those a little bit more for your brand itself. And then the consistency, too. It comes back to that of continuously answering those pain points over and over again and bringing them up in your marketing. Bringing them up at least seven times because algorithms, including the algorithm of Google, are going to show people even less than seven times. So continuing to repeat it until you get tired of it. I always say that a strong brand is one that you start to get tired of, because once you're tired and sick of it and bored, it's when people are just starting to pay attention 100% correct.

Nikisha King:

There's moments I'm like this is so repetitive and I forget. This needs to be repetitive because they forget the first or second time?

Nikisha King:

And when are they having a touch point with you? I'm the one creating content, so I'm constantly seeing the same thing, but they're not. They're coming in and out of my world and they're finding me in different places, but messaging is always the same and that's why I need it to be repetitive, so they can hear the base of it. Understand. This is Nikisha. Like she's not one thing one day and another thing tomorrow.

Emily Foster:

Yeah, and it gets boring, like honestly, I think some of us designers get bored with it Like. I'll give an example One of my dream jobs out of college would have been to work for Starbucks as a designer. And when I think about it, working for any kind of corporate company or like a nonprofit, anything where you're only doing their content all the time, it's really old because you're just using the same basic color palette, the same typography over and over, but you don't see these huge global brands changing things, like even the brands that are over 50 years old. They've done a few rebrands, maybe every few decades, but they're just using the same thing over and over again. So those kinds of jobs aren't usually appealing to really creative people. For that reason and we have to remember that when we are the creators in our business, like developing all of those marketing assets- so true, so true.

Nikisha King:

All right Now for someone who's struggling to stand out and attract paying clients. Where should they begin with their brand strategy?

Emily Foster:

to turn things around, yeah, I think gathering as much data and insights as you can early on is good, like I think if you are struggling to attract clients, the answer right away typically isn't an expensive rebrand and website Like expensive I know is subjective, so I hate to say it, but it is a luxury, I realize, like investing in your brand and website and I think that it's much more worth it to do it right and pay more to get it done right than it is to piecemeal it and, for example, hire a chief designer on Fiverr right away. So, if you're just like not in the point to make that launch with your brand and website yet, start collecting the data, start gathering client testimonials, take the time, if you can, to have like a questionnaire or some kind of follow-up coffee with your past clients and ask them why they invested in you, what was it that they were seeking and why did they feel confident enough that you were the person that could solve that pain point for them essentially understand their pain points. If you don't have a lot of clients, like if you're very early on in your business, then market research I think can be a really great way to do this too, like basically networking and then offering something to people in exchange for asking them a few questions about why they've invested. Like, for example, one thing that I did very early on in my business is I started messaging some wedding pros, and especially ones who had already worked with a designer, not to pitch or anything like that, but just to ask how their experience was and what made you decide to work with this designer. Or, if they hadn't worked with a designer before, ask, like, why would you choose to work with a designer?

Emily Foster:

And it was really interesting to kind of learn more about my ideal client and my not ideal client, because you would come to realize, okay, not everyone is willing to pay for the value of this service, so it could help align a little bit more with that.

Emily Foster:

So having like a database which when I say database it can be as simple as a Google Doc with this information and starting to understand who you want to work with, can be really helpful and then using those pain points very quickly to try to generate some connection. So I think doing that market research will help you to network and it can open up a point where you might be able to kind of make that connection and get your first few clients or get a few new clients if you've had a lot in the past and you're just looking for more work. So getting out there and networking is one of the quickest ways. And building those connections because that referral base will help you over time and when you show up in the future with your rebrand. That's really strong Like those people will notice and will already be in your network. And then using that data to create content based around pain points, like instagram content.

Emily Foster:

Get your website launched, even if it's like a basic template in the beginning right and you can do your best with your copy, then ask yourself some of these questions get it launched, follow some seo basics just to start driving up some traffic and get that momentum. And then it's one of those things that it's like a snowball effect. It will happen eventually. It's just a matter of time of building up that momentum and telling yourself that your success is inevitable and then the rest will come.

Nikisha King:

Such a good point. Now you mentioned ideal client, and we started off with ideal client. Who is your ideal client? Tell me about that.

Emily Foster:

I love it and I know it's always evolving a little bit. But for the last four years so I've been in business just over four years now it has been the creative wedding or event entrepreneur who in general is about two to 15 years in business and they're booking their ideal. They're not booking their ideal clients. I should be clear on that. They're booking clients and they might already be making some of their revenue and profit goals, but the goal is to level up and niche down more into clients that they are more passionate in working with, so they've developed their skillset they know that they are more passionate in working with, so they've developed their skill set. They know that they have a good offer.

Emily Foster:

It's just that there's kind of that gap. It could be that they aren't charging enough yet. They're charging enough to be full-time in their business, but they aren't charging enough to be able to work with the clients that they find the most dreamy, or they don't have enough to outsource to a team, or they haven't necessarily built up enough momentum in their main business to try a second venture, like education or a course or mentorship or something like that. So a lot of my ideal clients are in that phase of leveling up and they know that they need a brand and website to get to that next phase. And they're smart enough to know that they shouldn't be the one doing it. They have gotten to their point of where they've been able to DIY for a certain amount of time, or they hired the cheaper option for a while, but they really understand that the next step is to level up with an expert who can dig into everything that they've built themselves and get them to that next empire building stage in their business.

Nikisha King:

So good. I love that. I hope everyone heard that. And it's so good when it's clear. Yeah, because when you see it, you know it. It's like qualifying someone. That is what your ideal. I'm a real estate investor, so we call something a buy box, but for you, know it, it's like qualifying someone. That is what your ideal I'm a real estate investor, so we call something a buy box, but for you, it's a beautiful ideal concept of who my person is. So when they show up and they inquire and you're like, oh, they meet these specific points, oh, this is my person, they're ready to up-level game. And with you saying that, I heard it and I was like I'm ready and I'm like, all right, I'm going to go chat with Emily. Cause, at that point where I'm like, okay, for my coaching website, I need help and I'm like I don't want to do all of it by myself.

Speaker 1:

You know what I mean, can I?

Nikisha King:

Yes, but, like you said, as a cobbler with a shoe incident, right Like we don't have shoes because we're busy making everybody else's. So I love that you shared that, emily, thank you so much and what we're going to do. To close out, I want to know from you if you can give our audience three actionable steps that feel like something that they can do to maybe, if they're not ready yet to step fully into rebranding their website, what are three steps or three actionable steps that they can take to just get them started?

Emily Foster:

I love that. Are you okay with me offering a resource on here?

Nikisha King:

Yeah, and we'll put it in show notes.

Emily Foster:

Okay, great, I would say. Number one is to fill out this brand clarity book. I'll send that to you, um, but it's emilyfostercreativecom slash brand clarity workbook and it essentially will help you dig into your ideal client more and answer some of these questions. So that's the only one. That's the most work. I'm not going to give you three workbooks, I promise. So that's number one is start digging into that, um.

Emily Foster:

Number two is to update the SEO in your Instagram bio, if you have an Instagram for your business, and add your niche in there. So word exactly what you do and who your ideal client is in your bio, and that can help start getting some traffic to your Instagram. So that's number two. And then number three is is to I don't want to tell you to build a website like right now, because even that's a lot of work if you do it on your own but I would say to do a basic logo that's professional for right now. If you don't have anything or if it looks really clip arty, go into canva, which we don't build brands in Canva when we work with our clients, to be clear, and it's not a permanent solution but build a text based logo, something that chooses like a high end font that aligns with your clients and have your brand name along with a catchy tagline, and create a few options there so that you can get that up on your social media posts and your website to get some momentum.

Nikisha King:

Thank you so much Thank you. We truly appreciate you and your wealth of information and I love that. I'm going to ask you one last question because I think this is important. You've been in business for four years. There is something you did to escalate your progress. What did you do?

Emily Foster:

That's so much pressure. I'm like it's so hard because when we're in it we don't see it.

Nikisha King:

if that makes sense, let me ask you this question then how much have you invested in yourself to get where you are today, in four years?

Emily Foster:

A lot and that actually my answer before the clarifying question was going to be that I just started outsourcing as soon as I could. My biggest first investment was 5,000 for a coaching program in like my first six months of business and that was after making like an $800 investment in a coach like my first month of business and that was scary to me but she was working with a coach. That was the $5,000 option and that was kind of like the step up I needed and I think, having that mental start at first, I was inspired to make the investment because of the book you Are a Badass and she made like I think it was like an $80,000 investment in her business if you read that book. So I still haven't gotten to that level, but having that initial kind of like fear driven thing taken away really helped me.

Emily Foster:

Like full disclosure, I put it on an interest free credit card. It was nice because we were getting married at the time, so we got some cash back to use and I paid it off within like the timeframe I think it's like a year that you don't get charged interest and I paid it off much faster than that but that even now like might seem like a lot of money for a certain kind of investment. But it seemed like a lot more then and it kind of helped my nervous system get comfortable with those kinds of things. And then I would say about the last like two and a half years I've taken an approach that I heard about in a book that I heard through that coaching program. It's called the big leap.

Emily Foster:

And it's about working in your zone of genius. And I find that whenever I get to a stuck point in my business and I'm not able to grow more like last year was a time when, like I was just really burnt out and working a lot and I realized like I physically can't make more money, like doing these things just on my own, like it's just people don't really talk about it, but like you can only make so much money on your own, like you don't have to have a full team, but you do have to have some sort of support. So every time I get to a kind of stuck point like that, I examine, like what do I need to take off my plate and who can I give it to? And that looks like everything. It looks like getting our groceries delivered through Instacart.

Nikisha King:

I just did that and that's been a lifesaver.

Emily Foster:

I'm like why would I waste like? There were weekends where we were spending four hours going to like Safeway and Costco, like different grocery stores, to get everything we need and it was sort of fun, but not the way that we wanted to be spending half a day of our weekend.

Emily Foster:

So now it's like we only go if it's for enjoyment or like a quick grab. I have outsourced cleaning a little bit in our house. It's something that I want to do more of, but it's just continuing to invest in things that aren't my zone of genius is an essential, and it's a little challenging every time that you start to get to that like wall where it's uncomfortable and maybe it's a bigger investment than you're expecting or maybe it's something new that, like you, have some kind of mindset issue around. Like I feel like grocery delivery and cleaning are big ones for a lot of people because we're all capable of it, and so we feel bad, especially depending on how you grew up and the influences in your life. Like you feel bad having someone do that for you, but it's essential to continue to advance in some way with those things.

Emily Foster:

A virtual assistant is huge. I've had a virtual assistant helping me for the last couple years and it like gives me anxiety now to think like if I had to take all of this back, like there's no way I could do it and I don't want to. Like it's just soul draining to do some of the things that I have outsourced. There's one book I recently listened to that affirmed it we Should All Be Millionaires. Yeah, have you listened to that one? Yes, it's a good one. Yeah, she talks about little micro economies in society. It's just further validation that you can only get to a certain point doing it on your own.

Nikisha King:

So true, and no business is a solo business, no business that we look at and know about doing things in the world. To change things is no solo business. They always started out with the growth of people, more than one.

Emily Foster:

Yeah, and whether it's someone giving you knowledge or time or skills, it can be however, you need it to in this moment. But yeah, maybe start with the grocery delivery, because it's something small. You just pay a small fee, people complain about it all the time.

Nikisha King:

And I think when I didn't do it, I was like, oh, this is a lot. Then it was that moment. The moment happened when I was like I'm not able to and we need food and I have no time for this. Yeah, I did it. Do you not know how much money it saves me? Me walking in Costco is like a $500 bill. Oh yeah, totally. I'm in an Instacart. It's like a $250 bill. It's like half of my bill.

Emily Foster:

Exactly when I say we have fun going grocery shopping. It's for those impulse buys, yes, and you get the hot dog on the way out.

Nikisha King:

Oh, my goodness. So I see the benefit and now I'm just like what do we need? I pulled my phone out. I'm like whatever. And I'm happy to pay the tip because when they drop it off, I'm happy to know that I'm still in my robe while I'm picking up my groceries from my front door. So I'm happy to help someone who needs that help, because that's another thing. Right? People do these jobs because they need extra cash. There is nothing wrong with that and you're 100% right about that. So thank you for sharing about your growth, because there are a lot of business owners who don't invest in themselves and when they're stuck, they don't know where to go. They really believe is the external factors in the world that's stopping them from making money. They blame everything outside of them. It's just like the pretty website. The pretty website is just pretty and it doesn't convert and doesn't do anything. But a strategic website will be profitable, Just like a strategic person who invests in themselves will be profitable.

Emily Foster:

Yeah, and I'll add something too that was essential. Related to this is, I think after my first year, year and a half, in business, I realized like you can pick two or three people in your personal life who aren't entrepreneurs but otherwise like be very, very intentional about who you tell your investments to. So find your network of fellow entrepreneurs and find your very intimate network of like your spouse or partner or a parent, or like good friend, and like confide in people about those next level steps you're taking. But your world gets a lot calmer and focused when you don't share all of your entrepreneur plans with non entrepreneurs, because that's another thing is like we're wired in the corporate world to not make these investments.

Emily Foster:

Like to not get your groceries delivery delivered, to not invest in your business because it's not essential. Like your life is built more around like this guaranteed pay. Like you can only scale up so much in most careers. Like there's not this like infinite amount of money that you can make in most nine to five jobs. So people just don't see the investments the same way. Like I feel like accounting is a great example of like most of us you know pay at least $2,000 for an accountant to manage our taxes as a business owner, because that's essential to find someone quality and someone in a nine to five just doesn't have to pay that, so they would kind of balk at those prices. And I feel like if you receive a lot of that judgment in your life from outside sources, it ruins your confidence and makes it a little bit harder to do those things.

Nikisha King:

Such a go nugget moment.

Emily Foster:

Thank, you Protect your peace.

Nikisha King:

Yes, thank you for sharing that, and it's okay. It's okay however you do it, but that's a really great point, because not everyone can see what you're doing, because they don't live that life like you.

Emily Foster:

Yeah.

Nikisha King:

Thank you so much, Emily. Before you go, share with everyone where they can find you. We'll add it to the show notes, but you're more than welcome to share it here as well.

Emily Foster:

Yeah, so brand consistency. You can find me as Emily Foster creative. My website is emilyfostercreativecom. You can email me at hello at emilyfostercreativecom, or I'm emilyfostercreative on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. Perfect.

Nikisha King:

Thank you so much, thank you so much.

Emily Foster:

This is amazing.

Nikisha King:

Thank you guys for coming.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for joining us today on Leading Her Way. We loved having you with us. Remember on leading her way, we loved having you with us. Remember each action you take, no matter how small, adds up to big results. If today's episode fired you up, hit subscribe for more insights and visit our resource hub, which is linked to the show notes. There you'll find tools to streamline, organize and grow your business. Keep moving forward and we'll be right here to cheer you on next week.

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Nikisha King-Hidalgo

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