EP17: Does Passion have to be tied to Profit? – TOP 3 BRAND ADVICE W/ PAULEANNA REID
From a Writer, Mentor, and Business Owner’s Perspective
- Listen in to hear Pauleanna Reid’s TOP 3 pieces of advice on branding and business and hear from her perspective. Pauleanna Reid is a senior contributor at ForbesWomen and founder of The WritersBlok, a full-service celebrity ghostwriting agency. A purpose-driven entrepreneur with a storied career, when she doesn’t have a pen in her hand you can find Pauleanna mentoring millennial women and delivering university guest lectures on entrepreneurship; fulfilling a passion to light up dull classroom curriculums with real-world experience. She is also a mental health advocate and public speaker widely known for using clever wit and candor to help young adults see beyond the limits of their circumstances. Pauleanna recently graduated from the Women’s Leadership Program at Yale School of Management. She is an active member of a chess club, has written two books, and loves to volunteer.
- TOPICS WE DISCUSS: The Path of a Writer, Finding your Passion, Passion to Profit?, Master a Skill, Mentoring Benefits, Profit Goals, Goal Setting, Profit as a Writer, Starting from Scratch, Collaborate Genuinely, Find your Business Bestie, Grow Together, Brand Growth, Getting over the Overthinking, How is Passion Found?,
TRANSCRIPTION:
First tip: 0:04:45.8
Second tip: 0:12:06.0
Third tip: 0:18:07.9
[0:00:00.0] Pauleanna: So if you just started that process and the first thing you’re thinking about is money and you look at all of your relationships as if people are ATMs, then you’ve already got it backwards.
[0:00:11.8] Peggy: You’re listening to the Branding Gems podcast, a podcast that’s not just interviews and conversations. It’s to bring you guys the best of the best women in branding and business to answer this question: What are your top three valuable tips and lessons that you learned along the way? And then, we discuss it. To fuel your passion-filled lifestyle business, I promise to bring you the best of the best women in branding and business and together, we can grow and learn from the extracted advice that they provide. I’m Peggy Bree, and let’s get growing!
Hi! Welcome to this week’s episode. I’m really excited to share this episode with you. I recorded this episode last year, and it’s still one of my favorite episodes, and I really love that we dove into passions and whether passion and profit are connected. I think it’s such an interesting topic because, let’s say, your passion is knitting and you love doing it, does that mean that you have to make money from it? Is that your calling? So it’s one of those discoveries and one of those processes that come from really discovering what you want to do, and if you decide that entrepreneurship is not the road that you want to go, but yet you still love doing the passion that you have, that’s okay too, but it’s all about discovering that and process. So I’m really excited to share this episode with you and such a lovely guest and I’m really, really stoked to share who she is. So before that, I wanted to quickly give a shoutout to, of course, our sponsor, which is Zencastr. So Zencastr is an amazing and powerful platform for you to record social audio content or even just audio content. You can use it for podcasts or even just your social media, and you can record from around the world, just like how I am right now. It doesn’t have to be for podcasts or it can be for podcasts. It’s totally up to you and how you want to showcase your voice. And Zencastr is a platform to do so, and you can use my code @PeggyBree to get 40% off for three months and two weeks free at the beginning. So definitely reach out to Zencastr for all your audio and social media needs. And oh, it’s time to dive in. Let me know what you think about this episode and definitely follow us on Instagram @blankroomdesign or @peggybree to stay connected with me and to share your voice. Let me know what you think, so be on that. Listen to this and talk to you soon. Bye!
Hey! Welcome back to another episode of Branding Gems. I have an amazing, amazing guest today to share her top three tips on branding and business, so make sure you listen in, screenshot this, share it on your Instagram or Twitter for feedback. So the amazing guest that we have on today is Pauleanna Reid. Pauleanna Reid is a senior contributor at ForbesWomen and founder of The WritersBlok, a full-service celebrity ghostwriting agency. A purpose-driven entrepreneur with a storied career, when she doesn’t have a pen in her hand you can find Pauleanna mentoring millennial women and delivering university guest lectures on entrepreneurship, fulfilling a passion to light up dull classroom curriculums with real-world experience. She is also a mental health advocate and public speaker widely known for using clever wit and candor to help young adults see beyond the limits of their circumstances. Pauleanna recently graduated from the Women’s Leadership Program at Yale School of Management and is an active member of a chess club, has written two books, and loves to volunteer. Welcome to this podcast, Pauleanna! You are amazing!
[0:04:32.3] Pauleanna: Thank you so much. I’m glad to be here.
[0:04:35.0] Peggy: Yes, this is so much fun. [Laughter] So let’s get right into it. What are your top three tips on branding and business? And let’s start with number one.
[0:04:45.8] Pauleanna: Top three tips on branding and business. I would say number one is to remain who you are. It’s interesting. I think people want to see you evolve in your natural state. And when I say that, what I mean is, I mean, I’ve been navigating social media and entrepreneurship for 10 years and so naturally, I’m a woman, I’m an entrepreneur, I’m a sister, I’m a daughter, I’m a friend, I’m interested in travel – there are so many different sides to me. There are so many different sides to you, as a listener, so don’t be afraid to show people that you are a full person. You don’t have to be a one-trip pony. You don’t have to just focus on your business, your service, or your product, right? You are someone who’s in full bloom, and I think it’s really, really important to show people that you don’t take yourself too seriously. You know what I mean? You work hard, but you also play hard too, and I think that humanizes you in a big way.
[0:05:55.3] Peggy: Mm-hmm. I love that you say “remain who you are” because when you’re on this entrepreneurship world and road, it’s so easy to, I guess, see what other people are doing and somehow be influenced in a way. But to remain who you are and sustain who you are throughout it all is so important, and it really goes to show how authentic you really are throughout this space, so I love that.
[0:06:23.3] Pauleanna: Absolutely, and I think you’ll also be pressured by the people who love you – parents, colleagues, friends, teachers, guidance counsellors, et cetera. You will be pressured to pivot because they may not see your dream, and so when you anchor yourself in your own belief system, it makes it a lot easier to stay the course.
[0:06:45.9] Peggy: Mm-hmm, that makes so much sense. So when it comes to staying the course and remaining who you are throughout that, any stories that made you think to pivot a certain way but you just ended up just remaining who you are and what you believe in?
[0:07:05.9] Pauleanna: Yeah. I mean, my journey as a writer is a great example of that. So I failed Grade 11 and 12 English. I dropped out of college my second year. Many of my teachers, my guidance counsellors, my parents, I had some friends, everybody asked, and mind you, this is back in like 2000, so I graduated high school 2005, I left college 2008. Back then, blogging was just emerging. It wasn’t what it is today. Social media, Facebook just emerged. I don’t think we had Instagram yet. But everything was relatively new, so when I told people that I wanted to be a writer, it was so foreign because people were questioning how I would make money. It was just a big question mark. So for me, I just am a big believer of following your gut and following your heart. I knew I wanted to be a writer, and that dream evolved over time. I thought I was going to be a spoken word poet, then I thought I was going to be a blogger, then I thought I was going to be a novelist, then I entered journalism, and now, I’m a celebrity ghostwriter. But I knew I just wanted to stay within the creative industry. And everyone told me not to, and so I pushed past that, and I think everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, but you don’t have to listen to it. So I stuck to my guns and for me, I’m a big believer in following your intuition because I don’t think it will ever lead you astray.
[0:08:39.4] Peggy: Mm-hmm. That’s so good and it’s so true. I loved what you said about how being a writer remains the core, so even if there’s so much evolution in this digital landscape on ways to portray your writing skills or to write in different platforms, at the end of it all, you are a writer, you’re sticking close to it, and there are so many avenues you could do. And I love the route of a celebrity ghostwriting agency. That’s the coolest thing! That’s so awesome!
[0:09:08.7] Pauleanna: [Laughter] I mean, it sounds pretty cool but it’s a lot of hard work behind the scenes, but I really, really love my team. I have nine women of color who are at the agency who are content ninjas. We’re the best at what we do. And I think one of the reasons I stuck with writing is because I think the world is built by writers. You literally cannot have a single thing on this planet without a blueprint, without a business plan, without words on a page to map it out. And so, I take that very seriously. You know what I mean? I don’t think that it’s something that anyone can just do, just pick up a pen. So I think that I have one of the most important professions in the world. [Laughter] I apologize.
[0:09:55.5] Peggy: You do! Yeah, I know. And that’s so good and it’s so true because I guess with entrepreneurship, people are so wanting to just pick up a skill and then going for it, but if that’s not really their core and what they really love to do and what they love to do from the beginning, it’s hard to maintain that skill and to uplevel your skill along the way, right? Like sure, you can do that, but at the beginning and the end of it all, if your core is that passion, it’s going to always remain that passion, and it’s so true.
[0:10:28.2] Pauleanna: I just don’t think people stick to anything long enough to master it. And so, for me, okay, what are we in, 2021, I’ve been writing as long as I could hold a pen, right? And I have some girlfriends, God bless them, but one day, they’re a photographer. The next day, they babysit. The next day, they’re a waitress. The next day, they’re an astronaut. The next day, they’re an engineer. And it’s like, “What the hell?” You know what I mean? Stick to one thing and stay the course. And I’m not saying that you can’t be multifaceted or multi-hyphenated, but you have to master one thing at a time. I wear a lot of different hats, but the thing about me, I don’t throw another ball in the air, I don’t juggle more balls until I’ve mastered what I have in my hand already. And so, once I have rooted myself in that thing and I’m known for that thing and I’ve mastered that thing, then I transition into another skill.
[0:11:30.7] Peggy: Mm-hmm. That’s so good, and you truly become an expert in that field and it’s not even just like saying, “Oh, I’m an expert.” You know, that word can just be thrown in the entrepreneurship world, right? But you truly become the master of your craft behind it all, and it will always show because you have, along the way, all this proof and the passion to showcase it. So yeah, it really shows the authenticity behind it all, so it’s so good. I love it. [Laughter] So what is your tip number two in branding and business?
[0:12:06.0] Pauleanna: Tip number two, not to overthink the process. So it’s been very interesting because again, I have to remind people like I’m mad young, but I’ve been doing this for a long time. So over 10 years ago, I was 21 when I started my first company, I was so, sometimes when you’re naive, it’s like the best thing that can happen to you because you don’t know any better and so, when I first had my blog back in 2010-ish, it wasn’t perfect. In fact, it was so hideous, but I was so proud of it. I didn’t pressure myself to get into a space where it had to be perfect before I hit Publish. I didn’t really care. I just wanted to write. I just wanted to get my work and my art out there. So it wasn’t sparkly and it didn’t have all the trimmings and all the ribbons, like you see all the pretty sites do, because I mentor a lot of young people and we have these honest conversations and you can tell that people like, “Oh, my site’s not ready yet,” or “I don’t have this. I don’t have photos.” And it’s like, a lot of people suffer from analysis paralysis. So I don’t know, that was just not me. If something was half-done, I was still okay with putting it out because I know that my idea and my design would evolve, right? And so, I think that the people who have been following me for a very long time, they’ve seen me evolve and I think that there’s something that’s beautiful about that process, right? Something that’s beautiful about being an organized chaos. So yeah, I don’t know, for me, I think the second thing would be just don’t overthink the process, just try to get out of the analysis paralysis, so do that thing. Take that picture, hit Publish, you know what I mean? Go on that stage, and just know that you’re going to refine your skills in the process.
[0:14:14.7] Peggy: Mm-hmm. I love that, and I love that you mentioned the evolution and the growth and people seeing it for what it is and seeing it grow because it’s so true, everyone at the beginning is so scared of what people would think of it, what was produced, at first. But then, I think they love it when they see it grow too. It’s not just you but they also want to support and see it grow, so it’s so nice to have that space and to remember that people are rooting for you that way too. It’s not like you have to put it out perfectly, so I love that.
[0:14:49.5] Pauleanna: I totally agree, yeah. And the thing is, once you get out of your head, you get out of your way. You get out of your own way and the world opens up for you.
[0:14:58.1] Peggy: Mm-hmm. It’s so true because I know that sometimes, especially in the beginning, I heard this quote, which is an awesome quote how if you’re not getting paid to do something, are you still going to be doing it? That’s such a good question because yeah, if your passion is there, is that what the core is? But I know that it is hard to hear because if someone’s not getting paid to do something that they love, how is it going to be sustained in their life? And I guess a question to ask you too when it comes to the beginning, when someone is at that beginning stage of producing something and are so passionate about something and they’re not making the means to sustain it, how do you navigate around that?
[0:15:45.5] Pauleanna: In the beginning? Well, I mean, I was a side hustler for 10 years. I was very patient with the process before I jumped into entrepreneurship full-time. So I just think that it’s really, really important to chill the fuck out. You’re not going to make money right away. When I mentor my mentees and I give them advice and they literally just started their brand yesterday and they’re already talking about making money. You have to establish roots. You have to establish yourself in the market. I think there are so many prerequisite steps before making an income. Mind you, it also depends on what your goal is, right? If you’re just making money just to make money, you just want to pay the bills, you just want to do whatever, I mean, your profit doesn’t have to be tied to passion. You could be a waitress and make money. You could be a dog walker and make money. You could sell shit on eBay and make money. But for me, I wanted to be a subject matter expert, right? I wanted to build a business, a profitable business, but it means that you actually have to be good. I think people forget that entrepreneurship requires you to be talented, requires you to be a problem solver, requires you to be a critical thinker, so if you just started that process and the first thing you’re thinking about is money and you look at all of your relationships as if people are ATMs, then you’ve already got it backwards.
[0:17:22.2] Peggy: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that’s so good. That is so good and so key. I hope that whoever’s listening to that part of what you said really takes it in because it is so important to be reminded of that, right? What you said probably doesn’t have to tie to passion. Of course, everyone in the world would love to be paid to do what they love all the time, but sometimes, life happens and you have to make those means a different way, but it doesn’t mean to stop your passion overall, so it’s so good. It’s such a good reminder, especially when your passion is tied to purpose because it really keeps you going, so I love that. And what is your last and final tip in branding and business?
[0:18:07.9] Pauleanna: Third and final tip will be around collaboration. I’ll say that because when I was in my early stages and I wasn’t yet making a lot of money, and I wasn’t yet known for what I did, nobody knew my name, I met other business besties, as what I like to call them, other people who are also in their scrappy years, also just starting. And we hosted events together and we did things together to help build both our brands in front of both our audiences. So I think when I hear a lot of conversations, I think a lot of people are set out to, like, they want to reach out to Nike or they want to reach out to the top motivational speaker in the world. You know what? There’s nothing wrong with having those big dreams, but instead of just looking up, you can also look to your left and to your right because there are probably people in your peer group that you can also partner with too.
[0:19:18.8] Peggy: Yeah, that’s so good. Collaboration is key, especially nowadays. For example, for that new social platform Clubhouse, it’s so new and so fresh, but you’re able to find a new group of people to collaborate with. And you can do that through finding a group of moderators that are around your community, and there are just so many ways that collaboration can be carried on the times of today or carried on in all these platforms. And it’s so fun too to make it so fun.
[0:19:51.2] Pauleanna: Exactly, exactly. I can’t tell you how many biz besties I have just from Twitter, from Facebook. And you’d never know what can arise from a simple hello, so don’t overthink that process either.
[0:20:09.9] Peggy: Mm-hmm. Well, that’s so good. I guess, how is collaboration, when you’re so long in the game, is collaboration still key later on too, or is it more established at the beginning, or is it just like along the way, as long as you meet the right people and you connect with them, that’s what matters?
[0:20:30.0] Pauleanna: Again, everything goes back to your objectives and your goals, right? You don’t want to collaborate with just anybody, but I think there’s something to be said about like, do you guys share the same value system? You know what I mean? Are there common areas of interest? Is the value, could it be mutually exchanged? Just like you would shop for a therapist or a mentor or a friend, there should be boxes that you want to check because remember, there’s a lot of smoke and mirrors too, right? So you want to make sure when you are partnering with somebody, that it’s not just something that’s transactional. It’s something that you can build on long-term.
[0:21:20.1] Peggy: Mm-hmm, and to be carried on long-term. That’s so true and so good. So what are your key tips on collaborating in general?
[0:21:29.1] Pauleanna: Key tips on collaborating, I mean, everything that I pretty much just said. I don’t overthink the process. To me, it’s like a vibe. If I touch base with somebody, you know what I mean? It’s a vibe, it’s chemistry, do I like this person, could they possibly be a friend long-term? And then honestly too, I will say this, not everything will be long-term, right? Some people are in your life for a reason and a season, but I do pride myself on, I’m really great on nurturing relationships, and so I have many, many beautiful friendships. So for me, that’s what’s most important. Can we get along? Do I like you? And can we have fun together?
[0:22:13.0] Peggy: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that’s so true, and it’s nice when you really have that genuine connection with people because obviously, in this huge entrepreneurship world in general, there are going to be people that are going to be just ingenuine and who are going to have the wrong intentions, so it’s so important to learn how to stray away from that and to tell who is real and who is fake. So when it comes to pointing people out or not pointing people out, when it comes to distinguishing them both, what are the key tips for people to look out for to stay away from people who don’t have those good intentions?
[0:22:57.0] Pauleanna: I think people just need to listen to their intuition at the end of the day. I think that you don’t have to look outside of yourself for the answers, and so by listening to your intuition, you will get all the signs that you’re looking for. So I could say the obvious, work ethic, obviously you want to do your due diligence and check their track record, you may want to ask a few people for testimonials, people who have worked with this person before, so yeah. You don’t want to get scammed, but you know within the first few minutes of talking to somebody whether or not this is someone that you want to continue working with.
[0:23:41.1] Peggy: Yeah, that is so true. That’s such a good reminder for everyone too because I feel like as this digital landscape is growing and growing and network in person, there’s going to be so much internet connections and internet friends, but at the end of it all, if you’re able to hop on a phone with them or even just talk to them, you’ll be able to tell, based on your intuition, if they’re good people or not, so it’s so important.
[0:24:10.4] Pauleanna: Exactly. Yeah, absolutely. But it will change the game for you, right? So collaborations are not just limited to business partnerships. Collaborations also look like just having a tribe, a community. It also looks like mentorship. It looks like an advisor. It looks like being part of different clubs, like a part of a chess club, part of a few mastermind groups. Just people you can talk with and people who can share your experiences and can relate to you.
[0:24:43.5] Peggy: Yeah, I love that. I love that it’s really so simple and it really ties true with yeah, don’t overthink the process of even collaboration. It could be so simple, just how you take it, and just enjoy it. So I love that! [Laughter] Amazing! So what’s happening next and what’s next for you?
[0:25:11.5] Pauleanna: What’s next for me? Honestly, the year just started, so I’m very excited but I’m also in the process of getting very organized. [Laughter] A little bit late to the game, which I think it’s totally okay, given the year that we had in 2020. So I’m in the process of getting it organized. I’m excited for that. I have a few big projects coming up in February and beyond, but I’m just soaking it all in, taking my time. I put up an Instagram post the other day and I said pretty much to my tribe that I’m still trying to figure my shit out, and I think that’s okay. Some people have it all together, but good for them. For me, I’m taking my time. I don’t like to rush into things and I’m just enjoying every minute of it.
[0:26:05.8] Peggy: That’s awesome. That’s so important to take your time and not other people’s idea of what your time looks like, right? So that is so important. And where can people find you?
[0:26:19.7] Pauleanna: So I’m pretty much everywhere. My name is very uniquely spelled, so if you Google me, I’m on every platform and I’m very accessible if you have any further questions or want to continue the conversation.
[0:26:33.1] Peggy: Amazing! Well, thank you so much for being a guest. This has been so fun, and you’re so great! [Laughter]
[0:26:38.3] Pauleanna: Thank you. I appreciate it.
[0:26:41.5] Peggy: And yes, everyone go find Pauleanna Reed online. She’s absolutely amazing. I remember hearing her the first time speaking and I loved her. And it’s so clear how genuine she is throughout it all, so I would say definitely reach out to her on anything mentoring or anything ghostwriting really, just all the writing needs that you need, go to her. [Laughter]
[0:27:05.3] Pauleanna: Awesome. Thank you so much.
[0:27:07.8] Peggy: Awesome, and let me sign off.
Welcome to the end! All in time, and then we’re going to say goodbye soon. I just wanted to quickly say please, please, please screenshot this and share it on your Instagram, share it with your people. Let them know what you think. It doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad. I want to hear it all. And of course I want to hear the good, but I want to hear you. I think that’s what I want the most. And I appreciate you, so thank you so much for just spreading the word about this podcast. I appreciate you for that. And last but not least, Zencastr, you’re awesome, they’re awesome, and you can use my code @PeggyBree for 40% off for three months and you get two weeks for free. So you can use it to record all your content, and that includes audio or video, and you can use it to record from around the world. They’re a powerful platform for you to do so, and you can definitely rely on them. I use them. They’re awesome. Use that code @PeggyBree. And I’ll keep you posted for the next time and talk to me! Okay, bye!
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