Learning from Launch Setbacks: Julia Block Pearson's Path to DIY Social Club Success

Jennie Wright [00:00:02]:

Hi. This is the Acquire podcast from the Odd Phonic Podcast Network, and I’m Jenny Wright. This is the podcast that delves deep into the world of list building and online events, and it is designed to empower entrepreneurs and marketers with the knowledge and strategies to master these essential business growth tactics. And we’re gonna have a good time today. We have Julia Blok Pearson here. Julia, say hi.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:00:25]:

Hello, everybody. I’m excited to be here.

 

Jennie Wright [00:00:27]:

Absolutely. And you are the dynamic CEO of Stratos Creative Marketing, and you are here on the Acquire podcast. This is really great. So I can tell you a little bit about Julie. So Julie’s expertise lies in crafting impactful marketing strategies and resonating deeply with businesses and forging genuine connections with their customers. You are you and your team actually have cracked the code for lead generation, steering businesses away from the of aimless marketing efforts and guiding them towards a formula that not only brings more leads, but significantly boosts revenue. I like this part from humble beginnings as a freelancer back in 2018. I wrote this whole thing.

 

Jennie Wright [00:01:09]:

And her marketing agency now boasting a remote team of 11 talented individuals spread across the country. And drawing from your experience working with nonprofits, Julie has recognized the dire need for DIY social media strategies due to budget constraints. Very timely. And her team has since developed groundbreaking groundbreaking DIY processes that have empowered brands to excel on social media platforms. This is really cool. I am very excited for this conversation.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:01:37]:

I’m excited for this conversation too. This isn’t like an amazing person you get to talk to.

 

Jennie Wright [00:01:43]:

And so just for clarity, you and I are in very similar spaces. So we’re gonna have be able to kinda delve deep, and I always talk about this. I am in this for collaboration, not competition. So in the spirit of that, I love talking to people who technically would be my competition, But I don’t look at it that way. You and I don’t you don’t look at it that way either, I think. Right?

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:02:04]:

Nope. Absolutely not.

 

Jennie Wright [00:02:05]:

Good. Alright. That means we can I mean, I think that, you know, there’s room for all of us in this space? And Mhmm. By talking to people who are doing exactly what I’m doing or similar or Slightly different that we can find really cool things. We can collaborate. We can grow. We can do good stuff. So For sure.

 

Jennie Wright [00:02:23]:

On that note, let’s talk about lead generation.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:02:26]:

Let’s do it. I’m sorry. I am obsessed with lead generation, and I can tell you a little bit about how we got into it. Because originally, like you said, I was a freelancer. I started, like, doing social media, and I love doing it. But I started realizing that my, my clients were not getting the wins they wanted or expected with Organic alone. Some of them just wanted proof of life, and I am all for that. Like, let’s just, like, show that, like, Your business is still alive on social media, especially because more and more especially younger generations are using social, in the same way they might Google things.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:03:08]:

And so if you don’t show up, then people like, it posits questions as to whether the business is still alive. So that’s where we started getting into lead generation and using social ads. And I love what you said, Jenny, about, Collaboration over competition because I would not be where I am if it were not for all of these excellent Other social marketers and ads marketers who have helped me craft, like, our methodology. Like, I think that It’s I’m standing like, they say, like, you’re standing on the backs of other people, but, like, I really am, and it there are, like, key people who have helped me develop what we do now.

 

Jennie Wright [00:03:51]:

Mhmm. Absolutely. I’ve been I’ve been doing this since, what, 2011? No. 2012. Pardon me. I’ve been doing this since 2012 and Couldn’t get to where I am now without sort of, like, one of my friends called it not her board of directors. What did she call it? Her board of advisers.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:04:08]:

I love it. Mhmm.

 

Jennie Wright [00:04:09]:

Right? So she has this board of advisers. She puts a lot of stuff in front of them. She says, thank you for being patient with me while I figure this stuff out. And it helps you grow. Like I have my own little mini board of advisors. My partner is at the top of that list. A good friend of mine, Katie Brinkley, she’s, She’s a social media strategist. Mhmm.

 

Jennie Wright [00:04:26]:

She’s been essential. And then there’s, you know, there’s a whole bunch of other people in there as well. It’s essential, I think. And, to to get further into sort of this lead generation piece, I love it too. I’m, like, obsessed with lead gen, email marketing, How we get there, all the different things, and what I love is that every year somebody’s like brand new way to lead gen. I’m like, You’re lying. It’s not brand new. It’s exactly the same.

 

Jennie Wright [00:04:53]:

You just painted it a different color. What do you think about when people come out and say, oh, there’s this brand new way of lead gen or this brand new way of acquiring new leads.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:05:01]:

So I think when people say that, they it is clickbait. Like, that is like so for everybody listening, like, When people tell you there’s a brand new thing, it generally is because if you hear, like, oh, it’s brand new, I have to have, like, the brand new. And so I get I get why they do it, but I agree with you. I would prefer We use a lot more messaging of, like, tried and true or tested, like, things like that because brand new might be Great. And even if it was new, that might be great. Like, it might be a great newly generation, like, avenue, but I want something that works. I don’t care if it’s new or if it’s old, like, quite frankly. Yeah.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:05:48]:

And I think that there are, like, tried and tested, like, ways to generate leads whether it’s through social, through networking. Like, there’s so many different ways, but, like, why reinvent the deal with something that is uncertain when we have something that we know that works.

 

Jennie Wright [00:06:06]:

It just feels like people are considering that they have, like, a a short attention span or the worry is we always have to have something new, fresh, brash. And, you know, at the base of all these different types of, like, brand new marketing or brand new lead gen, there’s still the basis. So there’s still the thing that all of our lead gens are based off of. Right? Like you said, like, it’s, you know, lead magnets. They’re not going anywhere. Right? Online events.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:06:33]:

Awesome.

 

Jennie Wright [00:06:34]:

People have always said, summits are dead. No, they’re not. Are you kidding me? No. Email marketing is no longer Email marketing is going nowhere. Like I

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:06:44]:

mean, we like, at least in this like, in the States, we just went through Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and, like, we I cannot tell you. Like, I didn’t answer I didn’t look at my email. And the next morning, I had a 140 emails from just random And I also unsubscribed from half of them. Yep. But, it is not dead.

 

Jennie Wright [00:07:05]:

No. It’s not dead. And on the Black And when the I mean, at the time we’re recording this, it is right after that time. Right. Mhmm. And, you know, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, I, I I don’t participate in them anymore. I look for really good deals all year round. No shade to people who do Black Friday or Cyber Monday if you did them, Have at it.

 

Jennie Wright [00:07:24]:

Totally. Yeah. I find it I’m a Canadian. I find it very overwhelming to to have it. We only have had Black Friday and Cyber Monday in Canada for a shorter period of time than you guys have. And so, I personally just don’t Like, I find it overwhelming to get 6 emails in one day from 1 person.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:07:45]:

Totally. I totally agree. So mhmm. So We do Go ahead. Like, we do, like, a Black Friday, Cyber Monday light version, but I also have, like, really been thinking about what, what does it mean to live life at ease, and I think that’s without digital clutter. And so, and, guys, like, I am, like, a social media strategist. I, like, help people with email marketing, but I also am like, how do we live, like, our best lives personally? And I think that subscribing to the emails that you find valuable is, like, where it’s at, because I I did buy a few things, But they were all from small businesses that I am like, oh, I’ve always loved this, or it was something that I’ve been thinking about for 6 months.

 

Jennie Wright [00:08:34]:

And I

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:08:35]:

was like, I’m not in a hurry to buy it. Let me see what they come out with on Black Friday. And so, things like that. I think that’s, like, a A healthier way to consume, like, rather than just like pressing buttons like the day of.

 

Jennie Wright [00:08:52]:

Yeah. I’m I’m the same. I’m I’m literally the same as you in terms of that. There was something I wanted to buy for my partner. And when I was at the store a couple weeks ago, I I was gonna go buy it, and the person at the cash register said, if you wait 2 weeks, we have a Black Friday sale, and you can save, like, 25%. I’m like, Please put this back on the shelf. I will do that. And I did, but I knew I was gonna buy.

 

Jennie Wright [00:09:15]:

It was something I knew I was gonna buy. Right?

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:09:17]:

For sure.

 

Jennie Wright [00:09:18]:

So I don’t have the, I didn’t have the whole, like, crazy, you gotta look for deals. Now I know people who do it. One of my best friends does it. She goes crazy for it, and I’m like, have at it. She’s like, I got a blender for, like, 45% off. I’m like, you go, girl. Like, have have the best Day of your life doing that stuff. It’s just not me.

 

Jennie Wright [00:09:37]:

Not me. No. Alright. Let’s talk about some So you developed you developed this innovative DIY sort of social media process. I don’t know a ton about it. I wanna know everything about it. Can you give us a glimpse As to what it is and how it works?

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:09:54]:

Yeah. For sure. So at Stratos, like, our whole mission is to help improve business owners’ lives in relationship to They’re social medias, because I find, just last week, I had 2 conversations with people, and both of them, the first few things out of their mouth was, I hate social media, but I know that I need it. And I think that we are a lot of us are in that boat, and that’s why I’m obsessed with proof of life social media marketing because I’m like, sometimes that’s all you need. Like, if you’re not an ecommerce brand, you just need To, like, put something out there so people know that you’re in business, you’re taking clients, etcetera.

 

Jennie Wright [00:10:33]:

Live. Yeah.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:10:34]:

Yeah. And so for a while, like, we We do done for you social media, and that’s all we were doing for a while. But I would have these excellent business owners who were so passionate about what they did but didn’t have the budget for our done for you services. And so, this DIY process has been in Development slash in my thoughts for probably 3 years, trying to figure out a way that I can make something that is Low cost, still purse personalized, but it’s still good. And so We have, like, what we call the DIY social club. And it’s for people who mainly service based businesses, but we also have, like, a track for nonprofits and another one for creative entrepreneurs where every month, you, get we have, like, a scheduling software. We deliver Twelve templates into your software. They’re all editable.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:11:36]:

So some of them are, like, fill in the blanks, And so all you have to do is, like, put your business name in, like, put who your clients are. That’s really cool. Serve them, and, like, Those are the templates, and then we also have Canva graphic templates that you can go in and change the colors. You can change the fonts. You can change the sure. But, basically, our clients who’ve been doing it for a while, the 1st couple times, it takes, like, a couple hours, but now they can sit down and plan a whole month of content in one sitting. And some of them can do it in one hour. And so what I love about this is that I have, a client who is an author.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:12:20]:

I have a client who’s, like, a therapist, and I have a client who, is an accounting software. So, like, 3 totally different things. They get these templates. They personalize them for themselves, and then they put them out to the world. I see them. And because I created them, I know that they’re all, like, our templates, but nobody else has any idea because it looks like they just spent a lot of time on their social media. And so we’ve kinda hacked the system for DIYers because we wanted something that was low cost, didn’t, like, take a ton of time investment because, we know that we need social media, but it, like, sucks our time and our energy. And so this has been a really, really cool It started as an experiment, but now it’s like a full fledged, social club, where we can offer that to DIYers.

 

Jennie Wright [00:13:15]:

That is really cool.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:13:17]:

Mhmm. Yeah. We love it. So

 

Jennie Wright [00:13:19]:

That’s awesome. How long you’ve been running it?

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:13:22]:

For, like, a year. And I’ll be honest with everybody. When we launched it, it fell flat on its face. So I just wanna normalize the fact that launches happen, and they don’t go Great.

 

Jennie Wright [00:13:34]:

Okay. Now I wanna hear about the launch.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:13:38]:

Well, we like, we had done ads. We had done, lead generators. So going circling back to lead generators, like, our lead generator was, a 101 social media prompts. Great lead generator. Everybody loves it. I was getting new emails for, like, 29¢ an email. So just ridiculous. Like, and so here I was like, oh, I have this massive list.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:14:06]:

Let me launch the DIY club to it. Here’s the thing, though, and this is what we discovered, is people who want social media prompts are usually because they are true DIYers, and they wanna make it from scratch, or they are people who are considering doing social media, but it is harder to take somebody from doing nothing to doing something than to take, like, Clients who were, scraping by with their social media and offering them a better product. So that’s what we learned was, like, those people on that list, a 101 social media prompts, were a great list, but not for this offer. And so it fell flat out in his face. Mhmm. Yep. It fell flat out in his face. Like, we sell them something else now.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:14:57]:

Like, but, But it took a minute because for the 1st couple months, I had thought, oh, people can make the jump from a 101 social prompts to the DIY club, and they can’t. I needed to find the people who were doing social media but hated the process Mhmm. Or, like, didn’t know what they were doing, and we’re just fumbling through it and taking them to get, like, a good product rather than take people who are doing nothing.

 

Jennie Wright [00:15:30]:

Where’d you find them, and how?

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:15:33]:

So we actually decided to, Make it a slower process. So we our DIY club started really, really small, and it’s slowly growing, But incrementally, we actually are doing more and more of it through affiliates. Like, I have other marketers who have signed up to become an affiliate, and help their clients do it. We also niche down. Originally, like, there was just, like, the DIY club For all social people. And then we were realizing this works better for service based businesses. And, oh, yeah, we have nonprofits that are really good candidates, But theirs are slightly different. Like, their calls to action aren’t, like, buy more.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:16:17]:

Their calls to action are donate. And so Mhmm. We niched down a little bit. And then we also have done it through our sales calls. And that’s how we’ve slowly grown it is When people come to me asking for social media and then they find out our pricing and are like, oh, that’s out of my budget, we say, how about this? And then we offer them the DIY social club. So it’s made it a slower process, but it has made it really because now the people that are in it, are referring their friends and family. So, like, that’s I just needed to get, like, some mass to, like, start it moving, and now we’re seeing, like, Better growth than we did, at the beginning. So

 

Jennie Wright [00:17:03]:

Okay. And do you think that, like, give it a year, give it 2 years, that the DIY marketing like, the the DIY social club is going to be your main income driver for the business, or is it gonna continue to be like a good ancillary.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:17:19]:

That is a great question. I don’t totally know. Don’t think it’s gonna be, like, our full fledged business, because we still love doing done for you work. But my hope is that It might get to a place where it’s 5050. Because as business owners, we all know, like, if you have retainers or passive income, you can make Better decisions, about your finances. And so that’s the hope and the goal is that this will become, like, the platform by which we can make better financial decisions. In addition to like, we already have, like, a really good base of retainers, for a done for you, but I’m hoping that this will help cover more overhead, like more assistance, Things like that. More staffing so that we can do better work for everybody.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:18:10]:

So

 

Jennie Wright [00:18:11]:

Okay. Mhmm. I don’t know how open you Yeah. TBD. Right? I had a membership once a couple years ago Yeah. And, it didn’t work.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:18:19]:

Yeah.

 

Jennie Wright [00:18:19]:

It didn’t work. So let me talk to I wanna ask you about, like, attrition. So people coming into the DIY social club, like, how long is your average person staying? And if you’re not comfortable with any of this, you don’t answer any of it.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:18:31]:

Oh, I’m happy to. I’m gonna be honest. I don’t really actually know the numbers. Okay. But I would say, We had, like, our beta trial users, and, none of them stayed. So, like, none of them

 

Jennie Wright [00:18:46]:

stayed this?

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:18:49]:

It was, like, at the very, very beginning. So, like, before I launched it and I had a failed launch. So, like, we’ve guys, like, we went through, like, Beta launch. People loved it, but weren’t willing to pay for it. Then we did our launch. Nobody bought it. And so I was, like, scratching my head because I was like, people tell me that they need something like this, but why is it not working? And so then we did everything else that we told you about.

 

Jennie Wright [00:19:16]:

And in the timeline, like, when is this happening? Is this happening in 2023 or 2022? Or

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:19:21]:

This happened, like, at the beginning of 2023. Yeah. Okay. We launched it, like, I think we, like, started our beta testers at the end of 2022, and then we did the launch 2023 thinking like, okay. Like, we can relies on, like, oh, now you have, like, new social media goals. Yeah. That didn’t work either. Yeah.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:19:46]:

And so I would say, Our longest standing member has been in for 8 months Nice. Since, like, we were Successfully sold. Mhmm. Our Highest, like, purchase month, like, you could say. We had 3 or 4 people enroll. So, like, not a ton. But, like, also, like, this is, like, a $300 membership. It’s not, like, a $50 membership.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:20:20]:

And so, like, so but what’s nice about that is that we’ve been able to figure out the kinks as we’ve gone, and our Members are getting, like, more personalized attention right now, while we do that, and so they’ve entered all at, like, a really great time. So I would say be if I was to average, like, our beta testers and all these people, I would probably say, like, 3 months and climbing, mainly because we have a couple people who’ve been in there for 6 to 8 months at this point, and they’re helping Upper average. So

 

Jennie Wright [00:20:56]:

Yeah. Well and and thanks for answering those questions and being so transparent. I mean, a $300 a month membership is up there, But for I mean, I’m I’m I’m on your sales page. Yeah. There’s a lot of value built in. And if you know, based on how much it costs to hire a social media manager who’s Got the full team who’s gonna do the full implementation. Right? That’s a really good cost savings if you don’t want that.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:21:21]:

Totally. Like, our our done for you services start at $1,000.

 

Jennie Wright [00:21:26]:

And that’s average. That’s average right now. Yeah.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:21:30]:

And I would say, like, we are on the more expensive side also, like, because our top, like, top Package is 25100. And most of our clients, like, end up at around, like, the 1500 mark. And so for those people who are like, gosh. It is not worth me, like, spending 1500 on my social. Like, I think the DIY club $300 is, like, a really Easy yes, for a lot of people. So

 

Jennie Wright [00:21:59]:

Yeah. What are you gonna do to grow?

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:22:04]:

That’s a great question. So right now, we in 2024, we are revamping our own lead generators because I’m like, there has to be A lead generator or a lead magnet that gets me closer to the purchaser than, like, my 101 social media prompts.

 

Jennie Wright [00:22:21]:

So we’re reduce that gap.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:22:23]:

Right. So we’re working on reducing the gap. Like, what does it take for somebody to download a Freebie, and then say yes. And so I’m working on that. We are also working on creating Operationally, like, the systems, like, how do we do it faster, better, easier

 

Jennie Wright [00:22:45]:

Yep.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:22:45]:

For, like, our my staff?

 

Jennie Wright [00:22:47]:

Cost less money, do all that kind of thing.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:22:49]:

Costs less money, then I make more money, and so on it, which then means we can invest more, etcetera, etcetera. We most of us are business owners, so we get it. But I think that that’s kind of our goals for 2024. In the future, I would love to have, like, 10 different tracks that we’re like, because right now we have the service based businesses. We have, creative entrepreneurs, and we have nonprofits. I would love to have something like Health care specialists where chiropractors and physical therapists could, be served. Maybe, like, automotive specialists where, like like, I would love to have more tracks to be able to serve more people. My business coach is, like, niched out niched out, and I’m like, how about I just have, like, a lot of little ones? Like, a lot of little niches.

 

Jennie Wright [00:23:43]:

Oh, that hurts me a little bit. Oh, I

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:23:46]:

get it. And so, like, everybody falls different places for Nishi. And so that’s where I personally struggle because I my own personality loves helping As many people as possible, and so it’s hard for me to say no.

 

Jennie Wright [00:24:03]:

I get it. I totally get it. But I and I mean, I’m gonna I’m gonna sing alongside your business coach for a second because I think you have to, like, I think you have to perfect what you’re doing in this one space and crack the nut or crack the code or whatever euphemism you wanna use. And then it makes getting into those different tracks so much easier. It create like, creating those different verticals, And you’re probably from the sound of it, you’re probably pretty close. I love failure. I love a failed launch. I freaking love it because it’s it’s it’s It’s demoralizing in a way or, you know, it can be whatever you want it to be, but

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:24:40]:

awful. So it’s actually I felt awful. Like Yeah.

 

Jennie Wright [00:24:44]:

And I’m glad you felt awful, but because for the only fact that eventually, you’ll be like, crap. I gotta pick myself up. I gotta figure this out. I gotta try something different. I gotta be innovative and Whatever. Mhmm. And it’s this I mean, not to be not to be, you know, Click baity or anything like that, or just be, you know, saying something for the sake of saying it. But as business owners, we we thrive or survive from the resilience.

 

Jennie Wright [00:25:11]:

Right? Like, this is not an easy job. You’ve been doing this since 2018. I’ve been doing it since 2012. It takes Oh, gosh. It takes some gumption.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:25:19]:

A lot of grit. Yeah. For sure.

 

Jennie Wright [00:25:20]:

A lot of grit. So even though you failed and it sucked and it probably kicked you back a couple feet. Right? And you’re like, what the hell am I doing? And you probably went to your partner or your husband. You’re like, what the frac? But

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:25:31]:

Oh, yeah. For sure.

 

Jennie Wright [00:25:33]:

Yeah. But look at you. Look at what you’re doing now. Right? So you’re being inventive And and all those kinds of things, that’s why that’s why I love hearing.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:25:39]:

Agree. And I think I agree with you. Like, when I think, like, the going back to the nation, I do think that you are right. I I will say this, and my so is my business coach. I those tracks, I don’t think will happen for a while because I’m like, we gotta actually make money before I make new things. Oh, and so

 

Jennie Wright [00:25:58]:

the fun part. Like, I wanna make all the new things.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:26:01]:

I know. And that’s And that’s, like, I think, also, like, the I think the grit is what it takes, like, an entrepreneur to survive. I also think The innovation, the new ideas, like, we are built to create things. I was at a seminar recently, and they talked about the Like, 3 crucial people, to grow like a business, into, like, a corporation eventually, was a Operations person who can work out systems, things like that, the artist who, like, creates things, And then the entrepreneur who has, like, the vision. And I can’t decide if I’m, like, more in the artist camp or more in the entrepreneur because I am like I have the vision as the entrepreneur, but I also love coming up with products and services. And so it was, like, a really interesting question to posit myself. I know that I have no operational bone in me, which is why we have, like, an operations expert on our team. So that was, like, a really easy answer.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:27:10]:

But I think that As entrepreneurs, we have to have vision. And to some extent, we are also artists because we’re also creating things

 

Jennie Wright [00:27:20]:

Mhmm.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:27:20]:

To solve And fulfill that vision. So

 

Jennie Wright [00:27:24]:

Totally. And I know we went on a deep dive on, like, your stuff. I kinda wanna, like, pull it into a different direction for a And and thank you again for being so transparent. Anytime. So you, you have a lot of storytelling sort of impact in the things that you’ve done. Right? So you you know, when you were a solo freelancer and now you’ve got your team, right, tell me about the power of Storytelling, how we can make such a massive difference. Right. So you’re talking about doing social media with intent so that you’re not spending all of your life on it.

 

Jennie Wright [00:27:57]:

How does storytelling sort of play into that? Can it help you create that balance of not having to be on it all the time?

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:28:03]:

Mhmm. For sure. I think it does. One of my favorite, authors is a good friend of mine. Her name is Susan Peyton. She writes the book, The Business of Stories, and she has just done a phenomenal job of, like, helping people tell their stories. I think that, for me personally, I use this phrase a lot. We are humans first and workers second.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:28:33]:

And so I have all of these, like, human stories happening. I also have all of these working stories. And I think that when people come along for the ride, they’re enraptured by both of those stories. And so I can tell you the story of how I started Stratos, after being sexually harassed and not having a CEO believe me and a bunch of other people, and so that’s why I set off on my own. That will probably speak to people in a room, who have also been disrespected and, decided to take their own journey into their own hands. I can also tell you, like, the story of, How my daughter was in the NICU for the 1st 3 months of her life. The NICU is the neo intensive care unit. And during that time, we were, we lost a bunch of clients, and so my Husband and I were paying for our payroll out of our own pocket because we had too many life priorities happening all at once.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:29:48]:

And when I tell that story and there are business owners who have also gone through either children with health crises or their own health crises Or simply have had to navigate things because of resilience. Like, it also is like a connecting point. And so I think that when When we tell those stories, we attract people who are like us or have the same values as us, And those are the kind of people that I wanna work with. The people who I don’t wanna work with are the people who are so oriented around business that they’ve elevated business and work above being human, and there’s no race for the fact that we are being human. So I think that that’s how stories, like, connect with each other like, Help us connect with each other, but then also have helped me grow business my business because so many of our clients have been through so many of those things That now they are like, oh, yeah. We know that, like, when we pay Julia, we pay Stratos, like, it goes to pay for, x y z that, like, is she’s passionate about or things like that. And so people get to see where their money goes. They get to see that they’re supporting People that they love.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:31:10]:

And I think that, in that regard, storytelling can really connect you with, like, the people who value the same things you do. So

 

Jennie Wright [00:31:20]:

Absolutely. It’s very powerful too.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:31:23]:

Yeah. For sure. I think so. And especially because I think We live in a culture where work has been elevated more than anything, measure ourselves or measure others based on our productivity. Oh, man. Totally. And and even myself, like, fully full honesty, like, when I spend the day with my daughter, who’s 18 months old We’re almost 2 years old. I have a hard time counting that as productivity, like, because it is not Work purse it is a lot of work.

 

Jennie Wright [00:32:02]:

Oh, it is capital w o r k. Hello?

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:32:06]:

It is. But it is not like what we’ve considered traditional. Yeah. And so I think that in my mind, I feel like a less productive person. And so I think that when we can start sharing these Stories about how we’re human and the things that are important to us. Yeah. It gives other people the permission to do the same thing, and it switches that, It switches the priorities on its head where suddenly us being people is more important than, like, us being productive. So

 

Jennie Wright [00:32:37]:

Yeah. I see a lot of that happening on TikTok. Mhmm. Right? So you see people banding together because, You know, they’re going through the same thing, and then other people in the comments are like, yeah. Me too. Right? There’s a lot of that, and I think that does create, a lot of, what is it? What’s the right word? Not followership. Loyalty. Yeah.

 

Jennie Wright [00:33:00]:

Mhmm. It can create some loyalty, either brand loyalty, personal loyalty for the person, you know, that’s having gone through the thing, and it does add a lot of context. Right? So I think that’s I love storytelling. I used to be incredibly afraid of it.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:33:14]:

Mhmm. Really? Tell me more about that.

 

Jennie Wright [00:33:18]:

I did not want, I thought the business was the business and I just was the person behind it. Yeah. Nobody needed to know the stories, but I mean, when I have opened up and I have talked about how I became an entrepreneur, and I was corporately bullied Mhmm. In a previous job, not the one that right before I left, but, one previous to that, and it had an impactful impactful sort of, thing. And then I had a Terrible botched surgery thing that, you know, even caused more trauma. I I was I was not able to work in a corporate environment anymore. So, like but when you talk to people about that, then you have people who are like, oh my gosh. Okay.

 

Jennie Wright [00:33:58]:

Yeah. Like, Yeah. Me too. Or, you know, I didn’t fit in either and things like that. And then you find you you kinda find your people.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:34:05]:

Yeah. Totally. Well and I, Yes. I I love that, and I think that those are incredible stories. And, I’m sorry, like, those things happen to you. That really sucks. And it also, like, brought you to where you are right now, and I think that that’s if we’re gonna call something a silver lining, that’s what it is. But I think that It can feel so intimidating, to tell stories.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:34:32]:

And I wanna encourage listeners, you don’t have to start with, like, the Hardest stuff. Like, you don’t have to start there. One of the people don’t think that think of this as a story, but, it is. So if you go to our website and you go to our about page and you scroll all the way down, we have, like, literally every pet that any of my staff owns It is on that page. And at first, I was like, this is dumb. This is silly. Like, we don’t need this. But I can’t tell you how many sales calls I’ve been on, and people are like, oh my gosh.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:35:09]:

I love your pets, and I’m such a dog person. That is like a story. Me being like a dog person is a story that is connecting with somebody else. Don’t know

 

Jennie Wright [00:35:20]:

if she’s a senior. Looking at it. I’m looking at it’s your Bowie’s team members, Lucy and Sushi and Moses and Arwin. Oh my

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:35:27]:

god. Oh, and so, instantly, that helps connect me with people who love pets. And suddenly, like, we are talking about how I have 3 dogs, and they’re all terrible, and it’s way too many to have. Like and so we we talk and we connect about those things. That is not corporate bullying story. It’s not like a surgery story. It’s not a NICU story. It’s not like a sexual harassment story.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:35:55]:

Like, you don’t have to start with, like, the most painful parts, and I think it’s better not to, because, you really have to find some healing to those things, like, Before you I love this quote. I think, I don’t know who said it first, but, you wanna you wanna share your Scars, not your open wounds. Oh, that’s So I think that that’s something that I think about is I don’t share, like, what I’m going through right now. No. I share about things that happened, like, a few years ago that I have processed, like, with my therapist, things like that. And so if you are, like, intimidated by storytelling, Start by talking about your pets, or your favorite coffee drink, or something that doesn’t feel emotionally invasive, but is gonna connect with other people, because chances are you’ll also meet other pet people or you’ll also meet people who love, like, the same chai latte that you love. Like, whatever it is, There are people that when you start telling these little stories, that like, saying a fact, like, I love chai lattes doesn’t feel like a story, but it is like a story in itself, or it is like the beginning of a story that people can ask you about. Like, tell me why.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:37:17]:

What’s your favorite one? Like, Absolutely. Where do you love to go? Things like that. And so I think that that’s where storytelling doesn’t have to be Intimidating at the beginning. It is intimidating. And, like, but I think that, Like you were saying, like, it takes a while to figure out what what stories you wanna share and which ones you wanna hold sacred to, like, yourself too.

 

Jennie Wright [00:37:41]:

Mhmm. Completely agree. Oh my gosh. It’s got me thinking about when I started doing some storytelling. I started with a post about spoons.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:37:50]:

Okay. You gotta tell me more about that.

 

Jennie Wright [00:37:53]:

I collect wooden spoons.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:37:55]:

Wooden spoons. Oh.

 

Jennie Wright [00:37:56]:

Wooden spoons for left handed people.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:38:00]:

Oh, that is like that if we’re talking about niching, that’s like a niche in itself. Like

 

Jennie Wright [00:38:05]:

Yep. And I have so I posted years ago on Facebook. I posted because I was like freaked out about trying to do storytelling and I’m like, okay. I bake because I love to bake. And my and the story behind that is my grandfather taught me how to bake, And he was a very important figure. And then I have these spoons, and they’re left handed spoons. I started collecting them. They were gifts, some of them.

 

Jennie Wright [00:38:23]:

And then I started collecting them because, They’re cool. They’re very like, they’re they’re artistic. The person who made them spend a lot of time on them. Mhmm. They look cool in the kitchen, like, in a in a in a, you know, holder and everything, and I and I love them.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:38:37]:

And That’s awesome.

 

Jennie Wright [00:38:38]:

Over the years, everybody’s like, wooden spoons are bad for your food. Meanwhile, they’re the actual, like, wooden spoons, Apparently, and I’m happy to be wrong, but apparently don’t hold the bacteria if you take care of them really, really well.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:38:49]:

Okay. I believe that.

 

Jennie Wright [00:38:50]:

Anyways, Long story short, I did a post about spoons. It went nuts. Yeah. It was the most viral thing I had done at that point, and everybody and and people started posting their thing and was Cool. So, yeah, I I’m I think you gotta start with something that feels good.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:39:04]:

And because Jenny, like, at that point, like, there’s, like, so many questions that I have, like, where it’s like, I didn’t know there were left handed spoons. Like, what do like, what’s the difference? Like Yeah. Oh, I also am thinking about here are all of my Like, these are the things that I love or, like, oh, I think about my grandmother and her wooden spoons. Like and then I think about, like, All of these things that create these connection points that suddenly, like we could be talking about wooden spoons and be like, how did we even get here? How did we even start this conversation? Absolutely.

 

Jennie Wright [00:39:39]:

Absolutely. I love that. I love that. Okay. So, I’m gonna put the our team, the extras, your bonus team, in the show notes because I think people need to see this. We gotta give Wally and Beans and Max and Greta some screen time on this. So In the show notes for this episode, I’ll make sure to include the link. But, let everybody know where they can find you, connect with you, get to know you better, and also what Stratos does.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:40:02]:

Yeah. So, Stratos, again, like, our goal is to, help business owners improve their relationships with social media, whether you’re DIY or whether you just don’t even wanna think about it and want somebody else to do it for you. So you can find us at Stratos Creative Marketing .com. Stratos is s t r a t o s. It is confusing because everybody says it differently. I didn’t think about that when I picked the name. So, and then we spend most of our time on Instagram, At Stratos Creative. And if you wanna come and find me and connect with me, I’m on Instagram at Julia Bloch Pearson.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:40:43]:

I post funny things about my kid, and that’s where I practice, like, my own personal storytelling, to figure out, okay. Like, what What do I wanna share? And, like, what am I gonna share and then delete later because that was too vulnerable. So

 

Jennie Wright [00:40:58]:

Oh my god. Yeah. I’ve done that. I’ve done a reel and gone, nope. Nope. That’s not staying up. Delete delete make a kitten. Get rid of it.

 

Jennie Wright [00:41:07]:

Yep. Done that. Oh my gosh. Awesome. We will make sure all that’s there. I’m actually gonna include the book. While we were talking, I actually looked up Susan Payton, The Business of Stories. So I’m gonna include the link to that as well because I I love collecting lists of books that other people love.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:41:22]:

She’s so good. I, she and I, I’ve been in a certification program together, and we came in together. So I’ve known her since, like, before she, like, wrote this book. And Her methodology, like, when I read this book, I read it in, like, 2 or 3 days because I was like, this is genius. And she walks you through, like, How to tell your personal stories, how to tell them in relationship to your business, how to tell your business’s story, how to tell your customer’s story. Like, All of these stories that we should be telling you, she makes it super, super practical.

 

Jennie Wright [00:41:56]:

So So cool. Yeah. I’ll get that in there. We’ll have all of your social links as well. Thank you so much, Julie. This has been fantastic and fun.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:42:03]:

Love it.

 

Jennie Wright [00:42:03]:

And gone on longer than I probably thought it would, but I I love every minute. So I really appreciate it. Thank you so much.

 

Julia Block Pearson [00:42:09]:

Of course, Jenny. Thank you.

 

Jennie Wright [00:42:11]:

Absolutely. And this is the Acquire podcast produced and edited by Jason Wheeler. If you found today’s episode to be helpful, Please don’t forget to subscribe. I’d love if you’d let me know what you think. Think about leaving a review and wherever you listen to podcasts. It’s totally fine. And if you wanna be part of my growing community, please consider following me on my social platforms. I’m always on Instagram and joining my Facebook group as well.

 

Jennie Wright [00:42:35]:

And I’ll put that link in the show notes, and I’m really excited to keep delivering great content with this, you know, with this podcast and everything else that I’m doing. And as always, the Acquire podcast is brought to you by the Odd Phonic Podcast Network. Thank you so much.