Tales of Misadventure with Nicole Donnelly

Unconventional Ambitions: From Playground to Entrepreneurship

• Nicole Donnelly / Karlyn Ankrom • Season 1 • Episode 12

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In a world where most kids dream of becoming superheroes or astronauts, Karlyn Ankrom, at 8 years old, dared to dream differently.

Hear how she finally made the leap into entrepreneurship, discovered the power of saying no, and the importance of guarding your team. Get a glimpse into her Fan Firestarter Framework and SNAP Scan,  the information evaluation method that gauges your social media channels' effectiveness from an external perspective.

Ankrom is on a mission to change how small businesses and small teams see and use social media.

ABOUT KARLYN ANKROM

Meet Karlyn Ankrom, the innovative Founder and CEO of Oh Snap Social, a specialized social media marketing consultancy for small and mid-sized businesses.

Her Fan Firestarter Framework is the game-changing approach to social media marketing designed for businesses feeling overwhelmed by content creation. After a decade of experience working with companies struggling with social media, Ankrom recognized their "social allergic" tendencies. In response, she crafted a user-friendly strategy to help newcomers swiftly elevate their social media game in just one hour per week.

Beyond her entrepreneurial pursuits, Karlyn is a devoted mom, wife, and passionate dancer who finds joy in teaching dance during her spare time.

INSIDE THIS EPISODE

  • 2:49 Karlyn’s spirit animal
  • 4:48 An 8th grader finds entrepreneurial inspiration in her father
  • 7:47 Saving for the future and taking the leap
  • 13:19 Misadventure in business and shifting into intentionality and learning to say no
  • 22:52 Guarding your team and a peek into the Fan Firestarter Framework  
  • 27:32 Don’t go viral, be intentional and stay consistent
  • 35:33 LinkedIn’s secret weapon
  • 41:02 SNAP Scan

RESOURCES & LINKS

Looking to overcome marketing blunders and find inspiration from the experts who have been there?

Subscribe to Tales of Misadventure with Nicole Donnelly wherever you prefer to stream podcasts!

Get in touch with the team at Tales of Misadventure by visiting dmgdigital.io.

Don’t forget to enroll in our newsletter for more small business marketing tips and entrepreneurial inspiration! https://info.dmgdigital.io/welcome-to-dmg-digital

[00:00:00] Julie Basello: Hey there. Thanks for joining us for Tales of Misadventure, a podcast all about business blunders. On this podcast, Nicole Donnelly, founder of DMG Digital talks to entrepreneurs and learns how they turn their lemons into lemonade. DMG Digital is a content marketing agency focused on helping manufacturers attract new buyers through digital self-serve.

[00:00:24] Nicole Donnelly is a fourth generation entrepreneur, a girl mom, and an avid traveler. Now let's head into a Tale of Misadventure with your host, Nicole Donnelly. 

[00:00:35] Nicole Donnelly: Hello. Hello. Welcome to Tale of Misadventure. It's another beautiful day here in Virginia and I am so excited to be welcoming my dear colleague Karlyn Ankrom to the show today.

[00:00:47] Karlyn is a fierce entrepreneur. She owns a social media marketing consultancy here in Northern Virginia and she's just doing such great work. She founded this company several years ago and is serving small and mid-size companies, and Karlyn recently started this Fan Firestarter Framework, which is her proprietary system specifically made for all those small business owners out there and small businesses who are just socially allergic to social media. They're intimidated by it. They're just don't have, feel like they don't have the time or the space to be consistent. And so she's developed this framework where they can start to create content in just an hour a week and reduce the overwhelm through this framework.

[00:01:29] So I'm excited for her to talk about that and also just share her amazing entrepreneurial journey. Thank you so much for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed the show as much as I did. 

[00:01:39] So my question for you is, Karlyn, I have this, I have this theory. I have this thing that every person has a spirit animal. Okay?

[00:01:46] Karlyn Ankrom: Yes. 

[00:01:47] Nicole Donnelly: Everyone is a spirit animal. And that's a person who, like, you just feel like is your personality, like your whole jam, your whole soul is like the spirit animal. So on our team, we've got, everyone has a spirit animal. I'm the horse. We've got a cat, we have got an owl, we've got an eagle. And we have who's, who am I missing anyway, everyone has a spirit animal.

[00:02:11] What my question for you is, Karlyn, what is your spirit animal? 

[00:02:16] Karlyn Ankrom: If you could be, it's definitely. It's definitely not a sloth. 

[00:02:23] Nicole Donnelly: I can tell. I know I'm low. I know 

[00:02:25] Karlyn Ankrom: that about you. I'm, I'm low key, like scared of sloths, so that's a fun little fact about me. They just always look like they're up to no good.

[00:02:33] I'm like, Hmm, you're cute, but like, hmm. 

[00:02:35] Nicole Donnelly: It's true. 

[00:02:38] Karlyn Ankrom: What animal? 

[00:02:39] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah.

[00:02:41] Karlyn Ankrom: I don't know. What a lovely question. I don't actually know you. 

[00:02:47] Nicole Donnelly: That's okay. You know, we'll come back. You think about it. 

[00:02:49] Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah. Lemme think about that. Like, 'cause I, I mean, I like animals, but I don't know if I know enough about like their personalities to like okay.

[00:03:00] I'm just gonna go with, I'm just gonna roll with it because it's one of my favorite animal prints, but leopard because. 

[00:03:06] Nicole Donnelly: Oh, I see that. Yes. Love it. 

[00:03:08] Karlyn Ankrom: They're kind of fast. They're a little wild. Yep. They kind of color outside the lines a little bit 'cause they're like, not like a tiger and they're not playing like a mountain lion and they're not, you know, they just kind, kind of got some flare about 'em.

[00:03:24] Yeah. Yeah, so I think that's, and I, I don't know if they actually run fast. I don't know that that factoid, but yeah. So I'm just gonna go animal. 

[00:03:35] Nicole Donnelly: That is awesome. I could totally see that in you, Karlyn from the time that we worked together. 'cause you are, my gosh, you're on fire. I'll never forget we had that strategy session and you were just like, oh my God, do this.

[00:03:48] It's amazing. It was so great. So that's cool. Love that. So let's dive in. I wanna talk a little bit more about your business. So, you know, the ARG podcast is all about like really trying to like normalize. Failure, right? Just growing up, I'm a recovering perfectionist. I grew up and I just wanted to make my dad happy.

[00:04:10] He was very demanding and it was just like, I gotta do everything perfectly. And you know, that's something I've struggled with my whole career, is this idea that it needs to be perfect and failure is a terrible thing. So, And in business we fail all the time. It just is part of life, you know? And so I would just love to hear from you a little.

[00:04:30] Let's talk about that. I wanna hear about like, when did you first know that you wanted to own a business? That's my first question for you. And let's talk about your business to start with. When, when did you first know you want? Like did you always have dreams to be an entrepreneur or was it something that Yeah.

[00:04:46] Came to you organically? 

[00:04:48] Karlyn Ankrom: So it's funny, eighth grade career day. We had to pick someone to shadow. And while I was growing up, I, you know, everyone's like, I wanna be a vet, I wanna be a this, I wanna be, I wanna be a marine biologist, I wanna whatever. I was like, I wanna own a dance studio. Like literally that was what I wanted to do.

[00:05:09] And so I shadowed the owner of the dance studio. That I still teach at today. It's like literally my second home. It's been in business for 43 years. They've created an amazing community amazing of movement and all of that. And so, you know, like I think I put that dream on the back burner for a little while because I was like, I'm not really sure how I'm gonna do that.

[00:05:31] Like, how do I even get there? And it wasn't until, again, that conference that I went to that I kind of was re-inspired. And that what I'm doing that right now from Oh snap! Social is building up the, the, I'm gonna call it like the repertoire, like of the systems that can be played into like a dance studio.

[00:05:53] So yeah, I mean, I think I've known since eighth grade, and I, and as I got older, I realized like my dad is also very entrepreneurial. He wanted to start, and so is my grandfather, so, very independent. My dad ended up, you know, working full-time for, for a grocery store as a meat cutter for 35 years.

[00:06:17] But he was always doing handyman stuff on the side and like always wanted to open like one of those self-serve car washes that you see everywhere now. They weren't even allowed in the county that he lived in before. Now they're like everywhere, which is funny. So, yeah, it's, it's always been part of what I wanted to do.

[00:06:32] I think I just needed a lot of freaking courage. To quit my nine to five and go all in. 'cause I had built it on the side for four years before I went all in. 

[00:06:45] Nicole Donnelly: Ah, see yeah. That's so smart. So that's one thing I like, when you think about entrepreneurs, a lot of times people think, oh, they're such risk takers.

[00:06:56] They just take these wild, crazy chances. And I actually feel like, really successful entrepreneurs are really calculated with the risks that they take. And like what you, your experience is, is like you built that business on the side. You had like product market fit before you went and leapt into it, whole hog, so that by the time that you took that leap, you already had a good solid client base to make it successful.

[00:07:23] Maybe if you would've jumped all into it first at first. It might not have worked out. Right. So I love, I love that like to me, I hear like, oh, you're just really, you're taking those really smart, calculated risks and you really took the time to vet it out first so that you could feel comfortable with the decision and that you had the business model in place to really go for it.

[00:07:46] That's awesome. 

[00:07:47] Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah, and also like, I basically like gave myself a, a headstart in terms of like a loan, right? Because when I was working full-time, I was collecting money on the side. 'Cause I was like, I don't know how to pay myself from this thing. So I guess I'll just like, collect money in a bank and like decide what to do with it later.

[00:08:04] So I had like 25K when I started and so that kind of spurred my comfort level. Yeah. Because I value, as a, I value security as a human. Yes. As Karlyn I value security, which is not, to your point, is not a thing in entrepreneurship. But I like what you said in that I, I don't think I realized it at the time, but I was taking like calculated risks or like weighing the pros and cons.

[00:08:31] And it got to the point where I was like, I'm either gonna do this or I'm not. And that was my 30th birthday. And. We had a client come into my full-time job. I worked at a branding agency, did social media for them, strategy. I, I worked, that's where I learned HubSpot, like you're like a HubSpot Pro too. And like I was like, oh my gosh.

[00:08:52] She was talking, she's like, people come to me when they're kind of, you know, have a new birthday or like, they need to pivot. And I was just like, is she talking to me? Is she talking to me? And so afterwards I talked with her and I was like, off the record, that resonated with me. Can you help me? And so she actually helped me leave that job and it was an uphill battle and she's still one of my dear friends today.

[00:09:21] And I really respect her as like a consultant and also a leadership coach because I needed that kick in the pants. But also I needed my confidence to build in order to leave. I also was deathly afraid of how. Others would look at me or how my boss would react to me being like, deuces, bye. I'm like starting my own thing.

[00:09:42] Like I just was really nervous about all of that. But as I sit here today, it was the best thing I ever did because the confidence has grown. And I've been around people who knew me in 2017 recently. And they're like, you've changed, like you are confident. Like you are like hair on fire. Like you're ready to go.

[00:10:03] It's so nice to see. And I was like, thank you. The fact that you noticed my growth is great. 'Cause sometimes when you're in it every day you're like, I don't feel like I've grown. Like I just feel like, you know, I'm just going through the motions. So that was a nice. Nice compliment. 

[00:10:21] Nicole Donnelly: I love, love that. I, I see a lot of similarities too.

[00:10:24] When I started my business, I had saved money on the side for years and I had my little pot of, you know, pretty much the same amount, $30,000. And I was like, I've got this money. I feel comfortable, I can start this. And anyway, very similar. And that is such a really cool Story that you found someone who could help you.

[00:10:47] You asked for help when the time came for you to make the leap. And so you, you mentioned before, like you don't like to ask for help, but that was a great example of when you did. I think sometimes as entrepreneurs, as leaders in general, we think we've gotta figure it out all on our own. And I have learned every single time I've asked for help, every time I've had the humility to raise my hand and say, I don't know how to do this.

[00:11:10] It has always led to some amazing things. So like if you're out there and you feel like you've just gotta have it all figured out, like you do not, there's people that want to help you, who are just looking to help. And when you ask for help, you're, you're, you're not only getting help for yourself, but you're helping someone else.

[00:11:31] Cool. So you started your business in 2015, right? Right. I think. 

[00:11:36] Karlyn Ankrom: I did. 

[00:11:37] Nicole Donnelly: So you've been eight years. Congratulations on eight years. 

[00:11:40] That's amazing. 

[00:11:41] Karlyn Ankrom: Thank you. Yeah, it's been eight years and then about five full-time for myself. So that includes the side side shenanigans that I was doing. 

[00:11:50] Nicole Donnelly: Very cool. So we, you know, we talk about failure and you know, it's a daily occurrence.

[00:11:57] I just had a couple bites of major humble pie yesterday that made me really think about a lot of things and, and I came out of this, this, this just, i, I got some feedback that was painful to hear and I was like, oh man, this is hard feedback, but it immediately, led to some amazing discovery. Discovery about like how I could refine my products and services, how I needed to move forward.

[00:12:26] And I woke up this morning and had this amazing conversation with my business partner and I was like, oh my gosh, this feedback is like validation of everything we're trying to work to build. And it was such an amazing moment where I was like, this is, I want more of this. Like, do you know what I mean?

[00:12:40] Like I want to fall, fall down 'cause it forces me. To think better, innovate, all of those things. So I wanna hear from you. I'm sure you have had your fair share of like blunders mishaps along the way, you know, and as a recovering perfectionist, I'm like determined to just not be afraid to make mistakes and talk about it.

[00:13:01] So tell me, I want us to go down a trip down memory lane Karlyn, and maybe pick one of your most favorite, favorite blunders that you feel comfortable sharing and tell us what happened. What you learned from it, how did it change you? How did it change your business? How did it change your customers? How did it change your people?

[00:13:19] Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah, so I'm gonna start with this example, 'cause this is more of like a service based kind of businessy one, and then there's also something internally that I had to work on that I failed at to get to where I am right now as a human and as an owner of a business. So the first is I was working really well with a PR agency.

[00:13:43] She was sending me all of these amazing referrals. And by amazing, I mean they have a mission, they have a purpose, they have a book, they have all these amazing things going on in their world. And what I did not do a good job of for each of these people is managing their expectation. Okay? So I was like, we can do this, this, and this.

[00:14:07] And they're like, great, love that. And then they start to get into the weeds of the content and, and as solopreneurs, as bus, as authors, as like, you are so close to your own content, but you don't wanna do like to your business, but you don't wanna do your own content. You're like, no, thanks, I don't wanna do it.

[00:14:27] And then like, we're like, okay, great. We'll do it. We'll, we'll glean from you all the information we need. We'll set up a strategy, you'll review the strategy. You'll sign off on the strategy and we'll go. You'll provide us some photos, dah, dah, dah, dah. Great. Set up a process for approval, nitpick every single thing, everything.

[00:14:50] And I was like, I have failed here. I have failed. And I'm also at the same time, failing a team member because my team member is overwhelmed and stressed because they feel like they're making all of these mistakes when in reality, at that moment, the client was not understanding the expectations or the, how the, the cadence of work goes.

[00:15:15] So definitely a big fail in in managing client expectations, communicating expectations, helping a team member also not feel like they've gotten soul crushed because creatives are super sensitive around what they do in their work. 

[00:15:32] Nicole Donnelly: Isn't it funny with creatives? They're so sensitive, but yet they still put themselves out there over and over again.

[00:15:38] They're just so, such beautiful people. Yeah, I just love it. Yeah. It's like they are on the line putting their heart and soul out there for people to judge. And they get feedback all the time, and they're so beautiful and sensitive and they just keep going and I'm just so inspired by them. 

[00:15:55] Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah. And, and, and it's hard sometimes to hear the feedback and it's frustrating when you hear the feedback from the same person where one week it's, this is approved or changes one thing, and then the next week it's like, scrap it all.

[00:16:08] Nicole Donnelly: Oh, yes. Been there. 

[00:16:09] Karlyn Ankrom: Right. So it, it feels, yeah, it just feels very chaotic. And it's not fair to my team member. It's not fair to the client. Yeah. And so I, because of that blunder and, you know, I was working extra hard to make it right over communicating. We went over on hours, we, you know, profit vanished.

[00:16:34] Nicole Donnelly: Yep. 

[00:16:35] Karlyn Ankrom: And then I just was like, I don't think this is, this is a fit. And they're like, I agree. And so, In that 'cause that had happened, not as that extreme case. That had happened several times in early 2022, late 2021, and I was like, Hmm, we gotta figure out something else for this clientele because we're getting great referrals.

[00:16:58] They're amazing humans. They have so much knowledge to share and they lack the time. And mechanical know-how to do it themselves, but they need to do it themselves, if that makes sense. 

[00:17:08] Nicole Donnelly: Yes. 

[00:17:09] Karlyn Ankrom: So that's where I shifted my services page as recent as February of this year because I was like, I got time now. But I've also been very intentional with this is how we work,

[00:17:20] period, because it's gotten, it got out of hand. We're like, this client, we were doing it this way and this client we're doing it this way. And I was like, who's on first? Like what? How does this work? So we were bending to what the client needed rather than saying, we know what works. 

[00:17:35] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. 

[00:17:35] Karlyn Ankrom: Do you want to join the party or you wanna do it on your own?

[00:17:38] And I've, you know, I've turned some folks away saying, I don't think you need an agency from a strategic level. I think you need a virtual assistant. Like, I think you need someone like that does the work that you want them to do without the strategic level of thinking. And they were like, oh, do you know anyone?

[00:17:56] I'm like, yeah, sure. So like, you know, I, I'm a connector at heart. I wanna connect everybody. But I also know saying no is super powerful because we, we kissed a lot of frogs last year and, you know, we just, we, we needed to get clear. I needed to get clear. So when I was having sales conversations being able to say, I think we can work this out.

[00:18:22] Or having the client, you know, start with the pulse check and strategy elements prove themselves in terms of implementing some of the recommendations. And if they've done that and they're like, I want you to implement it. Okay, great. You've kind of proven yourself that you're willing to kind of. Take some of the responsibility.

[00:18:42] 'Cause as a solopreneur, I cannot be you on camera. I cannot be on camera, army, you know? Though AI , AI might, maybe I can be soon. Who knows? 

[00:18:55] Nicole Donnelly: It's kind of scary. Think about, right? 

[00:18:57] Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah. That's a whole nother episode. It, it was, it was a tough, tough year in that and, you know, rah rahing my team and making sure that they stayed, they stuck with it, that they didn't overdeliver.

[00:19:14] 'Cause my team, they're incredible people and they want to just give, give, give, give, give. And I'm like, they're not paying, paying, paying, paying, paying for that. That's a skill that I, I actually learned when I worked for a brand agency because our creative director, who was my boss, was going over on hours on every project.

[00:19:35] I was like, they're not paying for 10 logos. They're paying for three. Like, stop it. So it was, that's so lesson learned. 

[00:19:44] Nicole Donnelly: Such an important lesson to learn as a small business, especially in a service business because your time is your profit and how much time you spend has a direct. On that. And you do have to be able to stand up and set boundaries and set those expectations.

[00:20:01] And I, I believe that the right people will find you and they respect your clients, will respect you more. They absolutely respect you for when you set those boundaries and say, you know what? This is, you know, this isn't part of our scope or this isn't, you know, rather than just letting them, them walk over you and you just do whatever, you know they're paying you Yeah.

[00:20:22] For a reason. They're paying you for your ta, your strategic advice. And if they're not willing to follow it, then. It's not the right fit. 

[00:20:32] Karlyn Ankrom: Exactly. Exactly. You know, and it took me a long time to come to that. 'cause I was like, yes, we can do it. Yes we can do it. 'cause I was, again, my why was focused.

[00:20:41] I mean it was unfocused and fuzzy. Yeah. And I was like trying to do, again, going to like the comparison thing, which is so dangerous. It's especially in the service business, online digital marketing space. Oh yeah. I was like chasing a million dollars and I was like, like, Why? Why do I need a million dollars to live my life the way I'm living it?

[00:21:04] No. Do I have dreams that I wanna accomplish? Yes, but they don't need to be done in like a week, you know, like Right. We're playing the long game here, and that's what people get a little crazy.

[00:21:17] Nicole Donnelly: I love it about game. I'm reading a beautiful book right now by Dorie Clark called The Long Game. I don't know if you know Dorie, she's, 

[00:21:23] Karlyn Ankrom: Ooh, I don't. 

[00:21:24] Nicole Donnelly: It's a really beautiful book, so check it out. It's called The Long Game, and it's just that. It's, it's just all about like really getting very clear on why it is what, what the, your why and what you wanna be known for, like what is the person, what is the person that you wanna be, which is so much more of a beautiful North star than

[00:21:45] I wanna get to a million dollars in revenue a year, or, you know, it's like, what kind of person do you wanna be? Why? Why does this matter to you? And then if you can align around that North Star, then it makes all the other decisions, I think, so much easier to make. And then it makes it easier to say the nos, you know, like it makes it easier to say no to the things that you know aren't a good fit and all of that.

[00:22:07] And I just have to tell you, I've totally been what you just shared. Like, I've been down that same path, Karlyn. I've been down that same path. I've had to walk away and say no to a client that I was just like, this is absolutely not a fit. It's, it's not, my team doesn't feel trusted and I can't work with a client if my team doesn't feel trusted because at the end of the day, Yeah, I've been there and it's, it's a, it was one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make.

[00:22:35] Walking away was a large account and I lost sleep over it. And, but the, the way that my team was being treated, there was a lack of trust. 

[00:22:45] Karlyn Ankrom: Yep. 

[00:22:45] Nicole Donnelly: There was a lack of respect and I can't stand. 

[00:22:49] Karlyn Ankrom: I've had that happen too. 

[00:22:50] Nicole Donnelly: Situation, you know? 

[00:22:52] Karlyn Ankrom: Well, and it's like my team, I guard fearlessly because they are really hard to come by.

[00:22:58] I can find a new client if I really had to tomorrow. You know what I mean? Like 

[00:23:02] Nicole Donnelly: that's really good point. Yes. Like, like quality team members are really hard. It's, and when you find them, you hold onto them, like, 

[00:23:15] Karlyn Ankrom: they're stuck with me forever. Like, 

[00:23:17] Nicole Donnelly: Yes. 

[00:23:17] Karlyn Ankrom: Versus, you know, a client, I can, if I really like went for it, I could probably find someone to replace that, that income. Over time, quickly. 

[00:23:27] Nicole Donnelly: Way to think about it. And I think as a business owner, I'm hearing like your priority is your team first, and if you take care of your team first, then everything else works out. And I think that's a really beautiful ethos. That's really cool. 

[00:23:41] Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah, and, and, and I think at the same time too, having someone on the team, and this is funny 'cause if my ops manager listens to this, she'll be like, yep, she's the, I'm the heart.

[00:23:53] She says, I'm the heart and she's the hammer. Like people, my team really loves me, but they like sometimes know that Alexis is gonna drop the gauntlet on people. You know, like she's gonna tell 'em the way it is. And I let her own that role. She's happy to own that role. And, and I think it's finding that person that compliments you in that way where they can say, Nope, these are the hours.

[00:24:18] Like, we're not going over, you know, like where I'm like, oh, it's, you know, it's fine. It's like I, you know, that recovering people pleaser thing and. You know, and she's like, no, no, no. And so now I just delegate. I'm like, they're like, what's the hours for this project? I'm like, go ask Alexis. She's got all the numbers.

[00:24:36] Nicole Donnelly: Good. 

[00:24:36] Karlyn Ankrom: Because I'll be like, well, it, it should take you this, but if it takes you this, it's fine. And I'm like, no. 'cause that's profit, that's my kids' daycare that like, you know, like, it, it all leeches over to your personal life at the same time. So yes. 

[00:24:52] Nicole Donnelly: I love that you yin to your yang. That's cool. Yeah.

[00:24:58] Yeah. Well have you, since you've made that change, you, you, this is a recent shift that you made this, you kind of came to this realization and you're like, man, I gotta make some changes. All of that. And is this, was this kind of the impetus for your fan fire starter framework? I. 

[00:25:12] Karlyn Ankrom: Yes. So this is something, so this is something that I've had kind of, and I just finally gave it a name, but it's walking people through like the importance of knowing where you are, understanding where you're going from a strategic lens, and then advancing that forward.

[00:25:28] So like part of the fan fire starter framework. And again, yeah, saying that five times fast. Woo. But I love me some alliteration. Listen, so I love it. So like the P is like pulse check, where we pop the hood, look at the numbers. You can say with confidence, okay, this is where I'm starting from. Here's the content that's working right now, here's what content that's not working, so why would I create more of it?

[00:25:53] 'Cause I will say nine times out of 10 when I'm talking to people, I'm like, when's the last time you've looked at your numbers? And I'm not talking number of followers because the number of followers you have do not matter in the long run. Now that can be a whole nother conversation, but thinking about, thinking about that, and a lot of people are like, well, I don't even know how to read my numbers.

[00:26:16] I don't even know where to start to read the numbers beyond the vanity metrics of like followers and likes and like, what's the, what's the needle that's actually gonna move it forward? And I know that you're extremely data-driven as well, so you're like, well, of course you look at the numbers. I'm like, yeah, but so many people don't.

[00:26:32] Right? And you can totally relate to that. They don't have no idea. They're like, well, my phone's not ringing and I'm not getting people to sign up for the thing or come to my website. I'm like, great. That's where we start. So we run the numbers and then we create a strategy moving forward of like, What's the cadence of content?

[00:26:50] What's the content mix? Who is your audience at a core level? What are the goals? From a numbers perspective? Like, SMART goals, right? 

[00:26:58] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. 

[00:26:59] Karlyn Ankrom: That are specific and measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound that allow you to move the needle forward. 'cause if you don't have a goal in social media, what is the point of posting?

[00:27:08] Just because you have to, like, there has to be intention. 

[00:27:13] Nicole Donnelly: So true for any marketing. Yeah.

[00:27:16] Karlyn Ankrom: For any marketing. Like what's the intention? If you're blogging every day, great. What's the intention? 

[00:27:22] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. 

[00:27:23] Karlyn Ankrom: You know, and so it's, it's taking it a layer deeper and I think people don't understand still to this day, the importance of having that top of, top of funnel,

[00:27:36] piece of marketing that includes but is not limited to social media. That is just a sliver. And I'm preaching to the, you know, this inside down and. It's a sliver. It's not the gamut. And so if you're like, you're like, here's all of my marketing eggs. Let me throw them all into social media and let it run for a month, and then be mad that it didn't work.

[00:28:00] Nicole Donnelly: Sorry. 

[00:28:03] You get expectations. People have like, people. 

[00:28:07] Karlyn Ankrom: Like, I wanna go viral. And I was like, you are not my client. 

[00:28:12] Nicole Donnelly: Oh, bless. Oh, bless. 

[00:28:14] Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah. 

[00:28:14] Nicole Donnelly: Why don't you go viral with someone else? 

[00:28:16] Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah. I mean, and like, and I'm like, what's your goal? And if they say 10,000 followers, 

[00:28:21] Nicole Donnelly: yeah, 

[00:28:21] Karlyn Ankrom: I'm out. Like I gotta go. Like that's not why you do social,

[00:28:26] 'cause that part doesn't matter unless you have 10,000 email addresses on your list. 

[00:28:30] Yeah. 

[00:28:31] Because you don't own any of your followers. I'm getting fired up now. I'm getting like soap boxy. I'm like, like ready to fight someone. But like, because I just, I hear it all the time and I get so frustrated. 'cause I'm like, that's not, you're missing the point.

[00:28:47] You're missing the point. So yeah. I think 

[00:28:50] it's all about building those relationships, right. 

[00:28:53] Building connection, trusting it's social media. 

[00:28:58] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah, exactly. And building, and the audience doesn't need to be a large audience, but like building an audience of people who are your people that you can leverage and turn into a community that can sell for you.

[00:29:09] You know, like, it's so true. 

[00:29:11] Karlyn Ankrom: That's a good point too. 

[00:29:13] Nicole Donnelly: My my network, like, I don't have massive followers, but I can't tell you how much business I've, I've, I've driven from just the relationships I've built through LinkedIn. You know, like, I can't tell you the, you know, and. 

[00:29:28] Karlyn Ankrom: And showing up consistently there and showing up consistently, sharing value, because then you stay top of mind and they're like, oh yeah, Nicole does that.

[00:29:36] Oh yeah, Nicole does that. And they're like, oh, Nicole, I need to introduce you to someone else. And you're like, yeah, you do. So you know, 

[00:29:42] Nicole Donnelly: it's consistency is the secret sauce of successful marketing. Everybody sleeps on it. It's not the sexy, it's like, but you just gotta keep showing up. Yeah, it's all about that brand salience.

[00:29:53] You know, people aren't gonna remember you if they see you one time. They need to see it 50 billion times before. They're like, oh yeah, she's the girl. 

[00:30:01] Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah. And you can repurpose all the things because people don't remember what they had for breakfast this morning, let alone what they consumed on social media 10 hours ago.

[00:30:09] Nicole Donnelly: Like Yeah. I mean, that's the thing about socials. It's just like goldfish. You see it and it's gone. Yeah. And I think, yeah, that's another thing I see a lot in clients is they're so. Worry. About what? They have to like, oh, I don't wanna say the wrong thing. Or I'm just like, dude. 

[00:30:29] Karlyn Ankrom: Just post it and see what happens.

[00:30:31] Nicole Donnelly: Like, just publish the dang thing. You know? 

[00:30:34] Karlyn Ankrom: Like it's literally 2.5 seconds. Someone will see it and then they're gonna either exactly stay or they're going to continue to scroll. And it's our job as a content factory, basically, to help them stop the scroll in those two seconds. 

[00:30:50] Nicole Donnelly: Exactly. Yes, exactly. Exactly. So that, yeah. Oh man, you and I, we could go on and on about that, right?

[00:30:59] Yes. It's like all the people who think they know and they like, like I feel like marketing is the one field where people just feel like I. You could be an amateur and you could just.

[00:31:07] Karlyn Ankrom: My high school neighbor can do social media. I'm like, now I have a whole blog on that. That was like one of my first blogs I ever did on my website because I heard it so often.

[00:31:18] And I was like, well, yeah, they know the mechanics of it. They were basically born with a, a phone in their hand, right? Like that's the reason why, you know, when they're saying, oh, you mean the phone. And they like hold up their full palm to their ear rather than doing like their thumb and pinky. A phone because like they don't know what that phone looks like because that's not a thing.

[00:31:36] So they were born with it and they're like, oh, they can do it. Yeah, they can do the mechanics of it. 

[00:31:41] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. 

[00:31:42] But they don't have the strategic maturity or mindset and experience to understand your business goals and experience to, to see what works and what doesn't. 

[00:31:50] Clients, to see what works and how what works for one client may not work for another client.

[00:31:54] And how you have like all of that's Yes. 

[00:31:57] Yep. 

[00:32:00] Nicole Donnellyni: My goodness. So, I wanna be mindful of, of time here 'cause we're 

[00:32:06] Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah. 

[00:32:06] Nicole Donnelly: Coming up on the. 

[00:32:07] Karlyn Ankrom: We could talk forever. 

[00:32:09] Nicole Donnelly: I know. My gosh. And I, I know you've got like, so much going on. I wanna thank you again for taking the time. 

[00:32:15] Yeah. 

[00:32:16] I would just, I guess I have like one, two.

[00:32:19] Okay. I have two questions left for you. Okay. Okay. Ready? How have you, the first one is how have you marketed your business as a. You're a marketer, how have you marketed your business? What's been successful for you? What's worked and what hasn't worked for you? 

[00:32:36] Karlyn Ankrom: Oh, well the short answer is I don't market my business well because I'm busy marketing everyone else's businesses. 

[00:32:44] Nicole Donnelly: Cobbler with no shoes.

[00:32:45] Isn't that the common problem? 

[00:32:47] Karlyn Ankrom: Right. It is the common problem with everyone. Like it doesn't matter what industry it is, you know, like I was just talking to my, my nail technician and she's like, I did my birthday shoot. And she was like, I was gonna do my nails. And then she was like, then I decided, eh, because she's like, I'm doing nails all day.

[00:33:04] The last thing I wanna do is my own freaking nails when I come home. So like, it's the same thing, you know, like, you know, like hairstylists have grown out roots 'cause they just don't wanna And so I think LinkedIn, for me, has been a gold mine. I think people sleep on LinkedIn a lot, especially if they're service providers because people are having conversations over there related to business.

[00:33:29] But the, the trick is, it's not even a trick. I don't even know why I said that. It's. The strategy behind it is showing up as yourself, being vulnerable, sharing value, and your people will be attracted to what you have to offer. And people that like just don't get it will be repelled. And that's like the best case scenario.

[00:33:48] And so if people are sleeping on LinkedIn, you're like, I like Instagram. Okay, great. I love Instagram too, which is why I'm also on Instagram, but I play on Instagram. Yeah. I don't sell on Instagram. Yeah. At least not like, like. Hard. Yeah, I like to connect with people and have conversations on Instagram. So that's really helped.

[00:34:09] And you know what, and this is gonna sound super trivial and funny, is I tell people when I have a free resource for them, that sounds so lame, but it's so true. We're like, no one wants to see my resource. No one wants to, no one wants my thing. And then you share it, and then you get like new subscribers on your email list, which was the whole point of you sharing it and you're like, oh, I should do that more often.

[00:34:32] Like, hello. 

[00:34:33] Nicole Donnelly: That's really great advice. 'cause I think any small business can come up with a free resource, a checklist on how to do X, Y, Z better, or the secrets framework for X, Y, Z. Yeah, and I love that too because you're right about the email list that is like owned me. Like you own that list. Yep. You, you, like you mentioned earlier, you don't own your followers.

[00:34:53] I mean, they could shut down your account anytime. You have no power. No power at all. It's like, why would you? Yeah. Why would you build on rented land when you, you know, so I love, I love that advice to come up with a resource where you can gather those email lists and start to nurture that list. Yeah, that's really cool.

[00:35:11] And LinkedIn is a gold mine if you handle it right. Like when we say LinkedIn, do not be the person who's gonna just send out those stupid bot messages that are just like, Hey. Do you need 50 leads a month? I have the solution for you. And then they send the follow up message. It's like, did you get my message?

[00:35:32] I got your message. 

[00:35:33] Karlyn Ankrom: Like I know this is automated. I think a great tool on Facebook or on Facebook on LinkedIn is to use the voice memo in messages. 

[00:35:43] Nicole Donnelly: Okay? 

[00:35:44] Karlyn Ankrom: I've never tried that. And the reason why, yeah, I mean I use it all the time on Instagram, and then I found like, oh, LinkedIn has this in the messages.

[00:35:51] And I was like, let me try it. And it's incredible the response rate because you're like, oh, you're a real human. Having a real conversation with me and then people will actually voice you back, which is kind of cool. I'm like, oh, this is what you sound like. That's cool. Like, so that, that, because even though we can't be on video yet inside LinkedIn, within the messages, at least, I don't think probably by the time this airs, it'll probably be a thing you know, changes every day, multiple times.

[00:36:22] And you know, it's just another point of connection and building on that know, like trust, which is. A whole point of marketing, to be honest, is to get people to have that visibility and vulnerability and connection. 

[00:36:37] Nicole Donnelly: I love the voicemail. I'm gonna try that Karlyn. 

[00:36:40] Karlyn Ankrom: That's awesome. You can test it on me if you want.

[00:36:43] You can message me. Yay. Be like, hello. 

[00:36:47] Nicole Donnelly: How do I sound? That's great advice. Yeah. I think for anyone out there, LinkedIn absolutely, especially in B2B, is such a goldmine and I think if you, if you approach it as like, I want to provide value and build relationships and help. That's how you have to approach it is be the person that's just gonna be the go-giver.

[00:37:06] You know, like, comment on other people's posts, share your insights and your knowledge on other people's posts. Show support for other people that you know, show up for them. That's how you're gonna get noticed and recognized. That's kind of what happened to me. I just started commenting on posts from other people in my industry.

[00:37:23] That smart. Met a wonderful gentleman who's like, Hey, I love what you're saying here. Let's meet one-on-one and be through that one relationship. It just opened so many amazing doors from there. So I, I, I totally agree. Like, 

[00:37:35] Karlyn Ankrom: I love that. 

[00:37:37] Nicole Donnelly: just like, how can you share value? How can you, you know. 

[00:37:40] Karlyn Ankrom: And engage and engage with people, be social, on social media.

[00:37:44] I mean, and that resulted in a great connection that then led to business and people sleep on that. They do. They don't do it. 

[00:37:51] Nicole Donnelly: People are scared. Like, here's the thing, I think, what is it? And you know this, like what is it? Only like 10% of people actually post on, there's like a ton of lurkers. And there's this fear.

[00:38:02] And I think if you're afraid to just start posting, well then just start commenting. You don't have to like just start commenting on other people's posts and start getting comfortable there first. And then once you start to feel like that's a great tip, relationships then. Then you can start what? Just get some confidence.

[00:38:18] Then you can start posting, you know, but like take the baby steps so it doesn't feel so overwhelmed. 

[00:38:24] Karlyn Ankrom: Yeah. I love that. That's a great tip. 

[00:38:27] Nicole Donnelly: Oh, well thanks. You've given us, I mean, I, this is, this is such a, I, I feel like. You're like sisters from another mother or something. I like it. Probably. I feel like there's so many parallels between our journeys in a lot of ways, and I just, I really appreciated so much your advice today about taking the time to find your why and sharing about how you've intentionally put yourself in a.

[00:38:52] With people that you want to be like to help you challenge you. Taking that time to really make time for yourself and reflect, you know, and I love what you shared about just taking feedback from the market and just revising and revamping your, your services. And I thought it was so beautiful what you shared today about your team, that at the end of the day, like that's such great advice.

[00:39:15] Like it's much harder to find a good team member than it is to find a new client. I've never heard that before and I think that's brilliant. And it just shows to me like your commitment to putting your team first and really making sure that they're winning. 'cause if they're winning, your clients are gonna win.

[00:39:30] That's really beautiful. So thank you for sharing that Wonderful advice. So what, as we end our show today, what would be your final words of advice or any aspiring entrepreneur out there who's listening in today or someone who's already, who's in the in it, in it to win it? What's your last part? Advice?

[00:39:47] Karlyn Ankrom: I would say whatever you're most resistant at doing is actually a sign that you need to go do it.

[00:39:56] Nicole Donnelly: Yeah. 

[00:39:57] Karlyn Ankrom: It takes a tremendous amount of courage to have that first step. But whatever you're feeling most resistant to doing. 'Cause you know, you know you need to do it, but you're like, ah, I just, there's this thing. That is a sign to you that you need to go do it. 

[00:40:16] Nicole Donnelly: Oh, I needed to hear that today. Thank you.

[00:40:21] Karlyn Ankrom: You're welcome. 

[00:40:22] Nicole Donnelly: That's great advice. 

[00:40:24] Karlyn Ankrom: You're welcome. 

[00:40:24] Nicole Donnelly: So lean into the resistance, pay attention to it, and it's there to push you to do that thing. Something beautiful is waiting for you on the other side. 

[00:40:33] Karlyn Ankrom: Exactly. Exactly. Yep. 

[00:40:36] Nicole Donnelly: Oh, I love that. Well, thank you so much girl. And so I know that you have this really great resource that I wanna make sure that we share with everyone with our listeners today.

[00:40:47] You are such an amazing social media strategist and you're doing such great work. So tell us a little bit about SNAP Scan. What is SNAP Scan and how can our. Let's talk about that for just a quick second and tell us how our listeners can get in touch with you. 

[00:41:02] Karlyn Ankrom: Absolutely. So SNAP Scan is essentially running the numbers for you and giving you a list of recommendations that you can take today to make your profiles, your content better for your optimal goals.

[00:41:16] We look front facing, so we don't need any of your passwords or any of that. We look front facing. You get a recorded video and a deck of those recommendations again that you can implement like, today. And yeah, it's a great, it's a great thing to kind of get you started, know where your baseline is so you can continue to move forward because I think a lot of times we're doing the doing and we don't retroactively look at back about what we've done in order to see what's performed and what hasn't.

[00:41:40] So I'm happy to pop the hood and look at that for you. Other than that, you can find me at ohsnapsocial.com. 

[00:41:47] Nicole Donnelly: Love that and we will share the link for that SNAP Scan in the show notes for anyone who wants to get access to it and Karlyn is just such a wealth of. I, I can test from my own personal experience.

[00:42:00] She has so much expertise in strategic knowledge on social media and, and it can be a great resource in her team. So Karlyn, thank you so much for being on the show today. We really appreciate it, and we just want to invite everyone who's listening today to keep falling forward. There is beautiful success and fulfillment on the other side of your failures, so thanks for listening.

[00:42:22] Julie Basello: Tales of Misadventure is produced, edited, and moderated by Julie Basello with Basello Media Music by Marcus Wei. Special thanks to our amazing guests and the entire DMG Digital team. Visit us at dmgdigital.io to get access to all our podcast interviews and other helpful resources. And if you'd like to get updates on the latest and greatest, please sign up for our email newsletter.

[00:42:45] We'll see you next time for another episode of Tales of Misadventure. Until then, keep falling forward.


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