Nurturing a Resilient Mindset as a Business Owner with Grace Griffith | 67
This week’s inspiring teacherpreneur journey is with Grace Griffith. I loved chatting with her about the importance of resiliency as a business owner and exactly how her journey has helped her grow an entrepreneur and person.
Grace Griffith is a former school teacher turned copywriter and content strategist. Her mission is to help course creators, coaches, and consultants use words strategically to connect with their audience so they can get more sales. Grace is also a mom to her three-year-old daughter, an avid reader, and a passionate coffee drinker.
Grace and I chat about nurturing resilience as a business owner. She even shares some of her best tips like:
In order to build trust with your audience, you need to be confident, show up, and trust yourself. When you start seeing yourself differently, so will your audience.
How to not take it personally if you don’t immediately start seeing success. You need to stay resilient, look at the data, and start owning your challenges so you can move beyond them.
Connect with Grace!
Instagram: @gracemariegriffith
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Episode Transcript:
Jenzaia: Hey there, I'm Jenzaia and this is Market Scale Grow a podcast created for ambitious teacherpreneurs, looking to have a bigger impact on the world, achieve freedom, flexibility, and ultimately make more money. With weekly strategy sessions and inspiring stories from fellow teachers, just like you. My goal here is to help you create a customized marketing strategy so you can grow your teacher business beyond your wildest dreams.
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Welcome to Market Scale Grow today I have an exciting interview. I'm here with Grace. How are you doing?
Grace: I'm good. I'm so excited to be on your podcast. Thanks so much for having me.
Jenzaia: We did the interview for your podcast. Oh my gosh. It was like three weeks ago. Now this one.
Grace: So, it was, yes, it's coming up in there in the real, but I'm super excited to air that one. That was. great.
Jenzaia: Okay. So, do you want to just get started by introducing yourself a bit about your story and who you are?
Grace: Yeah. So, my name is Grace Griffith I am a copywriter and content strategist. I am a former teacher. I taught kindergarten for two years and second grade for three, I've been out of classroom for a couple of years now, but teaching is still very near and dear to my heart.
I work with lots of teachers and actually my, my business started focused on teachers and helping teachers build productivity strategies. And I'll share more about that in a bit, but now my business is focused on helping educators and teachers who are in the classroom and out of the classroom, but really the broad sense of educator, any business owner who spends time educating their client.
So, I help educators, coaches and entrepreneurs craft their message to help their audience get excited about what it is that they sell, whether that's, whether they're a service provider or they're a course creator, or they create digital products. I'm really passionate about helping business owners find their voice through words and make that reflect, reflect who they are, and what they're passionate about on their website and their emails. So yeah, that's pretty much the gist. I have a three-year-old little girl and she is just a hoot. She keeps me on my feet and are on my toes and it's a good life.
Jenzaia: I'm sure we will get into it more, but messaging is like the foundation of everything, and I think that it's so hard and we need more people like you making it easier for us,
Grace: you know, it's so hard. It's especially hard when you're crafting your message for yourself. Like even when I'm writing for my own business, it's more challenging than writing for somebody else. They're like we can get stuck in our heads and be so critical of ourselves that it’s hard to get what we're trying to say across sometimes.
So, I totally agree with you.
Jenzaia: So, how did this whole journey start for you?
Grace: So, when COVID all went down and, you know, March 2020, I started tutoring my, so my students over the summer, and then I realized I just love running a business. So it started with tutoring and then one of the things that helps me as a teacher, I experienced several different versions of burnout when I was in the classroom and that's another story, but I developed some productivity strategies and just some, I guess maybe you call it classroom management strategies, that crucial conversation strategies, but a combination of all of those two really helped me stay afloat as a teacher and become passionate about my job again. So, I wanted to empower other teachers in that way as well.
So that was kind of my first online business was teacher productivity and then I noticed the more, I started working with teachers and started selling my programs that the majority of my audience was teacher entrepreneurs, teachers who had their own businesses, whether they were selling products on teachers, pay teachers, or even if they had a business that had nothing to do with teaching.
So, I noticed that, okay, if this is the majority of my audience, maybe I can craft something that's specific to them. So, then I started focusing on systems for teacher entrepreneurs and there, you know, kind of the way that productivity plays in, in our businesses. I think that burnout is something teachers experience, but as you and I both know, I'm sure you've encountered this before, too.
Burnout is so prominent for small business owners as well and so the strategies that I was practicing as a small business owner, I wanted to empower other teacher entrepreneurs throughout those pivots and shifts because I would call it somewhat of a small pivot. There were times when I was a little bit discouraged because maybe when I was doing focused more on teacher productivity, before I had focused more on entrepreneurship, there were times when I don't know. I guess I just didn't feel as successful as I wanted to be. I was looking at vanity metrics. I was looking at my social media followers.
I was looking at, you know, all of those things that aren't necessarily an indicator of success, but I did start one of the things that was super helpful when I made that transition was looking at what I really enjoy doing and working with teacher entrepreneurs was kind of like that secret or this, the secret sauce that I loved in that part of the journey. And so I started paying attention to that. It was also where the money was. That's where people, when I started making those shifts, I started noticing, okay, more people are interested in this.
I'm getting a better response, which is so interesting when you start going towards something that really resonates with you more sometimes there is a reason for that. And people kind of can tell, and it's also because there's a need and there's just that sweet spot where your passion and the need kind of meet in the middle.
Jenzaia: And it referred to as like, what is its passion, purpose, and profit. So, you are passionate about it. There's a purpose. Like people actually need it and it's profitable. And that middle spot is like the sweet spot you're talking about.
Grace: Yeah, that's it. That is exactly it. I couldn't have said it better myself.
That's exactly it. Yeah. So, helping teach entrepreneurs, build systems and kind of avoid burnout in that way, because many teacher entrepreneurs are ready are they're doing it on the side. They're not full time yet. I started noticing that one of the biggest systems that we need as especially online entrepreneurs is content systems.
We need systems for our marketing. That was where I focused most of my time. And most of my content, and most of my marketing was talking about marketing and then I kind of paid attention to, okay, what do I really like about this? And that was actually doing the marketing and for those teacher entrepreneurs, not necessarily telling them what to do, but doing it for them and showing them, this is, this is what you could do to really help your messaging for your business.
These are the formulas you could use for this specific headline, or this is what your website needs to look like. And this is what your funnel needs to be in order to generate more leads. And so from there I started kind of focusing more on copywriting and content strategy, which is where I am now. So funny.
I sometimes actually, maybe this is the first time I've really talked about it. Like all these different steps that my business has taken. I think that it's so hard. I was actually reading this book recently, you've probably heard of it. It's called Influence The Power Of Persuasion.
Jenzaia: Yeah, I have yeah,
Grace: It's a classic. I mean, he talks about how there's just this natural resistance we have as humans to being seen as inconsistent and I didn't want to be seen as inconsistent.
So, every time I made those shifts. I was worried that, oh, what is, what is my teacher, entrepreneur community going to think? And I just started embracing it because Seth Godin talks about how you don't know what your next step is until you take the first one.
Jenzaia: Yes. Oh, that's so good.
Grace: Yeah, and so you have to take that first step sometimes the only way you can experience success is by failing first and by getting that experience. So, I'm an education nerd and not even just in the teacher sense, but in the learning sense, I will learn until as much as I can. and that will keep me from doing and actually taking action all day long I don't know about you, but I fall victim to that all the time.
Jenzaia: Yes. guilty. Guilty as charged.
Grace: Yeah so, I think that was probably when I noticed the most change and success was when I just started taking action and not overthinking about it too much and just seeing what happens because you just never, you just never know, but yeah.
So that's my story and now I've kind of expanded to working beyond just teacher entrepreneurs. I'd still work a lot with educators, but I've been helping course creators and education consultants and podcasts managers, and I'm excited to see what happens next, but also knowing that this is, is a step. and excited to see where it'll leave.
Jenzaia: Okay so I want to know how you kind of decided those next steps to take. What, like, was it your gut, you were feeling, were you looking at data? Like what made you go, okay, this is the right way for me to go. When you were in those moments of transition to like something completely different or pivoting your business.
Grace: That's a really good question. So as entrepreneurs, we need to be looking at data for pretty much for everything and we need to be looking at data for even small decisions. Like what do I need my email to be about this week? What kinds of posts, what kinds of things do I need to be posting about what kind of products do I need to be creating?
No matter how, if it's a big ticket product or, or a small ticket one and so I think it started with that as I was making decisions for each variation of my business, for those little decisions. Products, courses, I mean, those are big decisions obviously, but it wasn't the big business shift decision. And I started, so I was doing SEO research.
I was doing, I was having conversations with other teacher entrepreneurs and I just started noticing, I think that this part is something I'm more passionate about this and all of these other things over here, and then looking at the data, thinking and looking for the opportunities in SEO, but also even just in testimonials.
Grace: Like looking for my own testimonials that I received from my clients and customers, but also from testimonials, from other businesses. That is, that is something I talk about as a copywriters leveraging client voice hacking, because not even just your own clients, but the clients and the testimonials that your competition is receiving as well,
Jenzaia: Oh interesting.
Grace: Because they're there, they're just there on their website and their customers will tell you if their audience is similar to yours.
They'll tell you what they want, and it'll use the words that translate what they want even better than you could, because sometimes we just get so stuck in our so deep in our niche and in our industry that we focus more on jargon, which jargon has its place, but using the language and the terms that our audiences is using so powerful.
So, when I looked at all of that, and then I kind of, I did a lot of reflecting myself that happened with my project management, just looking at where I was spending most of my time. And that was obviously what I enjoyed the most and so those were, I just kind of started paying attention to those things.
And then looking for that alignment, like you said, the purpose, passion and profit, and I could see those things start aligning. Then I realized, okay, I think I am onto something this could be a good path.
Jenzaia: Nice yeah. It's so like, it's so cool. And those things all come together and it just all like make sense and the data saying the same thing as your gut saying as the bank account saying, and everything is like in alignment.
So, it's really good to hear that I also really liked the idea of taking testimonials from your competition. Never thought of doing that.
Grace: Yeah. It's just some treasure. There's some treasure there that you can find and it's super helpful.
Jenzaia: Absolutely. So, what are some of the big, like milestones or challenging moments that you've come into through this journey?
Grace: So, milestones. I think the biggest milestone I had was definitely each progression of my business. Each phase was a milestone
Jenzaia: Absolutely, yeah
Grace: But I think one of the biggest was, was when I sold my first program and that was for teacher entrepreneurs and I didn't think I was ready to do it. I had this idea and I was talking to my husband about it and he's like, you need to put that together tonight. Like you need to do that and get, get it out in the world and make it happen. Because that's just what you do.
And I know that that whole culture can be toxic, but this was, this was different. This was an idea that aligned with my passion and it's like, okay, something I could put together and it wasn't the course in of itself. That was something that took weeks and weeks and weeks to put together. But the content and the lead magnets that led up to it was something that I felt like I could just get out of my mind in 24 hours and just be done, you know, put it out into the world and see what happened.
And that's when I got my first clients, and they were really excited. It was the perfect match, I guess, with my course and what they needed and realizing that you don't always have to be ready or feel ready to start.
Jenzaia: So true.
Grace: You're never going to feel ready. So that was a huge milestone and I guess the next milestone would be probably starting my copywriting business.
I think that too, when I started calling myself a copywriter, there's so much power in your words. And not even, just, not even just like when you're talking to somebody else, when you're talking to yourself and, and like hearing yourself say, say things because it's so validating, and you need that kind of confidence and that kind of energy to convey what you have to share with the world.
So, I think like doing Instagram lives and showing up in my stories more often and having that confidence was really pivotal for me because I started seeing myself differently and I had to, in order to build trust with my audience, I mean, you want to be able to have that trust in yourself before you can ask for that trust from somebody.
Jenzaia: Absolutely. Yeah.
Grace: So I think that was a really big, a really pivotal moment too. And those are the two main ones.
Jenzaia: I went through a similar transition. I, you started running when I was in university and I ran my first half marathon, seven years later. [And it was after my first after I'd ran a half marathon that I was like, I'm a runner and my husband has said you have been running for seven years, but it took me complete and I'd ran five Ks and 10 Ks and like other things, it took me finishing a half marathon for me to say, I'm a runner, despite, like I said, every single day. Well, not every day, but like five or six times a week for seven years before.
So interesting how, and then my whole, my whole mindset shifted about it, and it was a total, like I looked at it differently. Right. Which takes me to my next question is, can you talk about some of those mindset shifts that you feel like you went through to like get there as a co to become a copywriter, to call yourself a copywriter to have that confidence in yourself?
Grace: Yeah, for sure. Because it was definitely all about the mindset shift. I think the first one was. I had to start identifying evidence in my, like in my memory of my qualification to be a copywriter.
Jenzaia: Which is huge, I hear it all the time from people. Well, I'm just a teacher. I don't have a business degree. I'm just, I'm just with these people who have successful businesses, but, and myself included, we don't necessarily have that business background, but we're running successful businesses. And so, switching and saying, okay, well, what evidence? So, I really liked that of saying like, that's something you consciously did.
Grace: Oh yeah. Well, because our thoughts are something that they kind of happen to us and you choose what thoughts you nurture.
And that's so important as a business owner because your mind is where is where it all happens. And so when I imposter syndrome, I guess, is what the term we're talking about here, when I would feel imposter syndrome, like, oh, I'm not qualified to do this yet. Or I can't call myself a business owner because it's only a side hustle.
You know,] all of those things I have to go back and think about, okay, now wait a second. I was a teacher for five years and when I was a teacher, I created curriculum. I designed curriculum that people now sell. I mean, use the same strategies and tactics to create products and sell and have flourishing businesses.
So, I had the same skills that these people have that are flourishing in their business. So, check that's something that is quality. You know, it's a qualification. I have, I was a team leader. I led my team through some really tough transitions. Okay. I have leadership capability to lead my clients and help them work through their transitions and their big steps in their business as well.
So those kinds of things to, to locate that, that evidence in my memory, I mean, some of that just, I had to write it down and like get it in a journal every day so that I could see it and hear myself. Like, think about that and remind myself, but that's what I'm capable of so that was big.
Jenzaia: Huge, yeah.
Grace: Yeah and then I think too, whenever they were times, because I mentioned earlier, there were times when I didn't see the progress or the success for lack of a better term for results. I guess that I, that I really wanted. And that I expected based on the effort that I put in to whether that was a campaign or a Facebook ad or an Instagram post or a product or whatever and I realized, okay, I'm not going to take this personal, I'm going to look at the data and kind of make it more about the numbers and think about, okay, this is a numbers issue.
This is not a capability issue. This is a numbers issue, and let's deflect this a little bit and make it a little bit less personal feeling. because that is something that you will encounter often as a business owner and that's that resilience piece. You just have to get good it's like a muscle you have to work at overcoming, not overcoming the challenges, but owning the challenges and then moving forward after them.
So, kind of having that process mentally and emotionally was a really big step in kind of building that resilience for myself.
Jenzaia: Yeah. Huge and processing right now. I feel like to the core.
Grace: Yeah. I mean, it's something that I have to think about and process daily, because while struggles and challenges come consistently as a business owner, they're all different.
You work with different clients. Everyone's personalities are different, every project is different. And so they're all going to have variations, but having that process like, okay, I'm gonna look at the data to reflect on what my action and I'm going to figure out the next action steps. That's been really helpful.
Jenzaia: And I feel like going back to what you said earlier, sometimes you just need to take that step and any step and figure out it wasn't that the right step to bounce back from the challenge or move forward from where you're feeling stuck. And if it was okay, continue, and if not, take a step in a different direction and just continue to like try different things.
Not like full pivots, but those little tiny tweaks that you were talking about to like, figure out okay, where's the what's right. And like to shift until you, you find that spot.
Grace: Yeah. Because sometimes you kind of have to create the data and to inform, to get that information. I think you were actually talking about that in terms of Facebook ads on our interview like finding, I hope I'm not quoting you wrong, but like kind of testing stuff and just putting it out there and being comfortable with the rich.
Jenzaia: Absolutely yeah and that's a huge part of it is sometimes you're just buying data. You can buy it with time and where you can buy it with money and so, but it's an either way, it's a risk, but putting it out there, seeing what works and then taking what doesn't work and fixing it and taking what does work and leaning into it more so, yeah. That's a really good point.
Yeah, so awesome. Oh, I'm so excited. I have some rapid fire questions that I ask at the end of all the interviews. So, okay. So, number one is not on my list, but what book recommendations, do you have either business or personal, but I'm always looking to use my audible credits.
Grace: Yes. I am always in the middle of like five books so bear with me for a second, but I definitely have some favorites, honestly, anything that Seth Godin writes, I devour. So yeah, anything that he writes, he actually, his most recent book, The Practice
Jenzaia: I haven't read that one.
Grace: It's really good and it's essentially everything that we're talking about in this interview.
Like the concept of just doing the work every single day and making it a practice. Not so much like you're working towards success, but it's something that it's something you do because it's who you are.
Jenzaia: That's very much the concept behind Atomic Habits changing your mindset of, instead of you're like, I'm a person who just lets my laundry sit for a week. Well, I'm not that person anymore. My laundry no longer sits for a week. It's only allowed to sit for two days. I'm that person that came out of that book for me, but like changing who you are as a person is like on a principal level.
I'm going to look at it. I'm going to look at this book The Practice.
Grace: Yes, yes. And then one that was really helpful for me in practical sense and also in a mindset sense, it's called Burnout. Something about can't remember the full subtitle, but something about, uh, overcoming or, or, or building something about the stress cycle.
So over breaking through the stress cycle, it's by two, two sisters who are they're scientists or psychologists, and they talk about how burnout there are some practices and strategies that you can do when you're feeling burnout and the stress that you encounter, physical things that you do, like even just getting up and walking around when you feel an overwhelming sense of anxiety and can do so much for you. So that was really helpful for me in every sense of the word that burnout can be a very subjective term. So it was, there was a lot in there and I think it applies to teachers and they had a huge section that focused on teachers.
Because everyone's talking about teacher burnout, but I mean, it applies to every area of your life too. So that was a really good one. Those are, those are the two. Oh. And then my last one, Adam Grant wrote a new book recently he's a psychologist and his new book is called Think Again. It's about resilience and it's about accepting the fact that you're wrong sometimes.
And moving on. He, he talks about how the most successful entrepreneurs are the ones that are willing to rethink their strategy. So, yeah, there's a lot of really good research in there. That's] especially interesting for entrepreneurs
Jenzaia: I'm excited to go look these up now. Thank you.
Grace: Oh yeah.
Jenzaia: Okay. Question number two, favorite tool or software that you use for your business?
Grace: This one's really, really hard. Can I tell, can I give you a couple?
Jenzaia: Absolutely.
Grace: Okay, so just super straightforward, Google Sheets has been a game-changer for me, like with my copywriting formulas and phrases and swipe files, I just maxed out every capability that Google Sheets has for that.
So that's been super, super helpful. Uber suggest the SEO there, lifetime membership is just the best deal. If you do anything with SEO. It's just a good deal. And then ClickUp. I used to be really loyal to Trello and I still use Trello, I guess, lots of project management tools. I told you, I like to get into the learning and then I want to figure it out.
And then, yeah. Anyway, but the one I've been actually using right now is ClickUp it just very, it's just really comprehensive as a project management tool, sophisticated tool.
Jenzaia: It really is yeah.
Grace: So those are the three main ones that I use on a daily basis.
Jenzaia: I tried ClickUp.. I really gave it a good try, but I like Asana. So.
Grace: I have heard if ClickUp doesn't work Asana is the way to go
Jenzaia: I feel like it's a Pepsi, or Coke kind of thing though, but they're very, very similar and you just have to find the one that tastes better.
Grace: You need to find the one that you'll use. If you'll use it then your good.
Jenzaia: So true. And then last question. What advice would you give to somebody who's just starting out on their teacherpreneur journey or entrepreneurial?
Grace: Yes. Yes. The first one would be start small. Don't be afraid to start small. Don't be afraid to let other people see you start small, because that is where that is, where you will find success and, and start getting achieving small success to create data and find, gather evidence that you need to reflect on later to start building up your confidence.
Jenzaia: I think that that's really good to remember because everyone started with zero clients, zero. I like Instagram posts, zero everything. And so often we see these businesses that appear to just like explode one day, they didn't, they started the exact same spot we did, and they built slowly. And it was like a snowball effect in your just catching on the snowball. Right? So remembering that there is that small beginning, and it's just as important as every other phase of your business.
Grace: Yes, and sometimes it's not even a snowball effect. Sometimes it is. You have to take a series of small steps and realize this isn't for me. I need to go in this direction and then take more small steps.
It's either way it's powerful. And then another one would be to talk about your business. That was something that I struggled with a lot 'because I felt like at the beginning and I still do. I still struggle with this sometimes because sometimes when I'm, when someone asks about my business or when I see an opportunity to talk about my business, I wonder if that person will understand and whether they will or what they'll think or what their reaction will be and whether that will just end up crushing my confidence and our energy is so valuable as as beginning entrepreneur. And so, there are definitely some times when you need to make decisions to protect your energy, whatever that needs to look like. But talking about my business, whether that was on social media or with my friends and family is what gave me confidence.
To start, I started hearing myself use those terms, you know, and that is what started building my confidence and It's where you meet those friendships. You and I were talking about how powerful business friendships are before we got on this episode. And I mean,that can be [what breeds life into you as a business owner and into your business.
I mean in so many ways, like in a mindset way, but also friends can bring you clients in many different ways through referrals or even they can become clients. I mean, there's just so many benefits of it. So it's just, it's so important.
Jenzaia: Yes. And I'm still not that like hide away from it in my. My everyday life. If somebody directly asks me, I don't, I don't lie about it, but I don't ever like, bring it up myself. So yeah.
Grace: It's tricky to navigate sometimes, but yeah, it's, it's important when you feel like the opportunity is essential and, and you feel like it's going to be a win for either you or the other person.
Jenzaia: So, I'll keep that in mind. Next time. I'm thinking, oh, I could totally easily mention, and it would make sense for me to push my business in here. Maybe I will challenge myself to do that
Grace: Funny enough. That's how I got one of my first clients was simply just saying, yeah, I'm a copy writer. Like, oh, you're a copy I need copy your the person I'm looking for.
Jenzaia: Serendipitous, I love it. Okay. So, I'm sure people want to find you, where can they do that?
Grace: You can find me on my website. GraceMarieGriffith.com and then on all social Grace Marie Griffith, Instagram, Facebook also LinkedIn. I'm trying to get a little bit more into that, but yeah, that's where you can go.
Jenzaia: I don't remember the last time it was on LinkedIn. In my head it's just like an online resume, but I've been hearing more and more about it, of how it's expanded since five, 10 years ago. Whenever the last time I was on was so cool.
Grace: There's a lot of buzz about it. So I'm, I'm trying to do some research. I'm going to take action.
Jenzaia: And do you have a freebie for our friends,
Grace: I don't.
Jenzaia: That's totally ok
Grace: but I'm working on it. So, if you are wanting to know about some copywriting strategies for your website or for your email list, that's coming down the pipeline.
Jenzaia: Okay. Thank you so much for being on the episode. It was such a pleasure talking to you.
Grace: Thank you so much for having me. This was so much fun.
Jenzaia: Yeah thank you for listening to this week's inspiring story. If you'd like to share your story with us, then head to marketscalegrow.com/journey and complete the quick application form then head to our community at marketscalegrow.com/community So you can join our group of inspiring teacherpreneurs who are working on growing and scaling their businesses to see you soon.