4 Steps to Get Started Freelancing with Aubree Malick | 87
There is a lot of talk about freelancing and starting a freelancing business. So much talk, that you might have wondered how to start freelancing yourself!
Recently, I chatted with Aubree Malick about exactly that. How do you get a start with freelancing? Aubree is a freelancing extraordinaire if you will. She’s built several successful freelancing businesses, and now she helps moms and teachers do the same.
Aubree Malick is a boy mom, former teacher, and host of the Freelancer to CEO podcast. Recognized by Yahoo Finance as a Top 10 VA Coach, she helps overworked and underpaid moms and (soon-to-be former) teachers experience the freedom and joy that comes from designing a freelancing business with the skills they already have. After taking her own leap of faith over three years ago and replacing her teaching income within two months, she became passionate about helping other women start and grow their own businesses from home. When she’s not supporting her own freelance clients (still walking that walk!) or members of her programs, you can find her looking for her next DIY project, binging her fav reality TV shows, or snuggled up on the couch with her boys.
So, how do you start freelancing? There isn’t one path to success, but Aubree had several helpful tips to get you started.
Step #1: Face Your Fears
Whether you just want an extra 1K in your pocket each month, or you're ready to ditch your 9-5, being a freelancer is not for the faint of heart. Aubree and I bonded in this episode over the mental blocks that can come with leaving a traditional job, especially if you are a teacher.
There can be lots of guilt and fear that comes up. What will people think about me? Is it worth leaving behind my pension and health benefits? Ultimately, only you can make that decision. But something Aubree and I discussed is that lots of these things are replaceable. You can still save for retirement and have health insurance without a 9-5.
Step #2: Getting started
A common question on how to start freelancing is, “What services should I offer at first?” Aubree recommends just starting where you feel comfortable! If you don’t ever begin, you won’t find out what services you like and don’t like.
Once you learn more about the work that lights you up, you can finetune your services. For instance, you might start doing admin work, and then realize you love writing blogs or emails. You can shift your business to focus more on writing. Nothing is permanent - it’s your business, after all.
#3: Lean Into a Speciality
Over time, you can start to lean into a specialty. If you’ve been scheduling pins, and find you enjoy it, start to learn more about Pinterest strategy. Upleveling your skills doesn’t just mean doing more of what you enjoy, it often means more money as well. An important thing to remember though: don’t ditch old clients when you pivot. Slowly replace old clients or get them on board with your new services. This ensures you still have a steady income as you grow and pivot.
#4: Market Your Business and Speak to Your Value
Marketing is a big part of attracting new clients to your business. You need to come up with a plan for how you will market yourself. Then, really think about the language you are using. When you are posting on social or writing a services guide, you want to speak to the value. Sure, it’s great to know what you’re getting with a service. But how does it help your client? How does it make their life better, simpler, or easier? That’s the key to attracting clients.
If you want to hear more of Aubree Malick’s freelancing advice, you can follow her on Instagram @aubreemalick or on TikTok @aubreemalick.
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Episode Transcript:
87 | 4 Steps to Get Started Freelancing with Aubree Malick
Hey there. I'm Jenzaia and this is market scale growth. A podcast created for ambitious teacher entrepreneurs 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.
Okay. So before we hop into the episode, I just wanna remind you to download my free guide to Facebook targeting audiences. It has been created specifically for teacher business owners, and I go through the warm lookalike and cold interest based audiences that you need to have set up to be running Facebook and Instagram.
There are checklists and brainstorming pages so that you know it, you have everything. As an exciting, special I'm opening up some audience audit calls where you can hop onto a 15 minute zoom call with me and you'll get my eyes on your audiences so that you can make sure not only you have all of the audiences, but they truly are.
Perfect for your business. So head to marketscalegrow.com/audienceaudit to book your free audience audit call today. Okay. Now into the episode today, I'm talking with Aubrey. I'm super excited to have her on the show. Aubrey, do you wanna say hello and introduce yourself?
Hello. Thanks so much for having me.
I'm super excited to be here. So my name is Aubree Malick. I'm a wife and a boy mom, and a former elementary teacher turned. It's so funny, like to think about like, you know, I, when I say former elementary teacher, I always think like, that's, gosh, that feels like decades ago. Like, it feels like this former life, but, um, it was only three and a half years ago, but I am an online business coach for freelancers and service providers who are looking to start, grow and scale their own business so they can have more choice and freedom in their life.
And the reason. I made that pivot because I was exactly at that place three and a half years ago. I was looking for a way to have more freedom, to be able to make my own schedule. And I love what I did as a teacher. But even though you go into teaching, it's like, oh, it's great. Like you have the best schedule and you get summers off.
It's not like that when you really, you know, working, you know, staying late, going in early. Going in over the summer break. And so I just wanted, while my kids were young, I had, um, at the time I had a, almost two year old and I was pregnant and I just wanted more time with them. I didn't wanna have to think about my upcoming maternity leave and think about, um, oh, I only have 12 weeks.
I know you get like a whole year and then you can extend that. I'm so jealous. So yeah, I really just was looking for anything that I could. Could make money from home enough to not necessarily replace my income, but just make money from home. And so I started freelancing and, um, set a goal for myself. I had like two months before my son was born and set a goal for myself that I would be done with the classroom.
And then I would take this long extended maternity leave or just extended time off. And I would have this business that would provide money for my family. And. The first month I made $800 and I was like, okay, I'm onto something here. And then my second month made like $1,500. And I was like, all right, this is enough.
I made a goal. My first big income goal was a thousand dollars. That's how much my big student loan payment was. And I'm like, okay, if I, if I can take care of that, we'll be okay. But my business just really took off and just organically had people coming to me. Just that I had met online, um, or who just had started, like following along and wondering how I grew my business, how I got started and all that stuff.
So I decided to start a podcast just to kind of share what I had done and kind of like, almost, almost in a way of like a diary, just kind of like documenting what I had done and sharing. Like, I. I did not feel like an expert at all, but just sharing what I had learned along the way and the, the episodes that were doing really well were the ones about freelancing.
So I was like, I probably should follow the bread that comes here and, you know, like to listen to what people are saying. Um, and so yeah, it made that pivot and. Launched courses and programs that help women to get started freelancing and then to grow their business so that maybe they can step away for their full-time job.
Just again, I like to have more choice and freedom. And I, my big mission is really just opening mom's eyes to the fact that they no longer. Have to feel like it's one or the other, like it's either my job or it's either being a mom and I can't have both and I'm on a mission to help them see that they can live both and life.
And yeah, that's what I'm really passionate about. So hopefully that wasn't too long of an introduction. That's perfect. Correct me if I'm wrong, you started, um, helping other teachers with blogging, right? Yeah. Well, at first I just kind of started. Anything you want me to do, anything you'll pay me to do, I will do it for you.
And then solely like, like kind of realized, okay, this is not going to be the best way. Number one for my sanity, my time, or like to actually scale this. So I had one client that I was working with wanting to grow her blog. And she's just like, do you think you could do this? I was like, sure. I'll give it a whirl.
I enjoy writing. And once I found it. Realized that I loved that and then really started helping teachers with their blog content because they were doing so many other things. A lot of the people that I worked with were teachers and authors. So they were trying to create the products to sell.
And they knew in order for this to do well, like I have to be marketing on the other side of it. I don't have time to sit down and write a whole blog post and do all the uploading. So I really found my niche, my niche. I never know which way to say it. Um, Both I found my niche there and really just kind of let that take off.
This is not relevant at all to the conversation, but I find myself saying niche, but kneeling down. So like , I don't know why, but like, those are the ones that come outta my mouth, but I, I have no idea and I don't think anyone knows how to say those. No. And I feel like it's like, I always like to run through it in my head.
Like before I say it, I'm like, what, what way do I wanna say it this time? And you're like, you pick one and you're like, oh no, I, I regret my decision. Right. . Um, okay. So, you know, what I love about your journey is that you have made some really intelligent marketing choices in following the breadcrumbs, as you said, like pivoting where you need to lean into what was working and taking your business and just like letting it flow naturally.
Um, how do you like, is that a good description of what you feel like you've done? Yes. Yes. And like I say, that kind of like, sometimes it will pain me cuz if you knew me like, and I'm sure you probably will be able to get that from talking to me too, your listeners as well too, is when I set my mind to doing something.
So like starting my business, uh, replacing my income, starting my podcast. Growing my, um, like course creator coaching side of my business. Like if I set my mind to something, I want it yesterday, I have allowed it to grow organically, which now looking back has been a really beautiful process and I've learned so much along the way, but begrudgingly I'm like.
Yes. That's the way that it grew. And it was slow and it was hard sometimes. And sometimes I'd be like, I don't even know what I'm doing. Um, but yeah, like I said, looking back now, it's been a really beautiful way to grow it because I truly feel like I've. Just like the people who are in my community have grown up with me and they've got to see the real authentic side of growing a business.
Like I don't try to sugarcoat it and be like, it's all rainbows and butterflies. Like I tell them, like, it has been hard and it has been a long time coming. Like I started my podcast so much, three years ago. Um, so it wasn't an overnight thing for me, but yeah, it's it. It's been a natural way to like progress from one thing to the next and really just listening to what my audience needs.
And instead of trying to think like, oh, I have to create all these things, just to have things to sell, to like to offer to people. It's like, let me really get clear about what my audience needs and what's really gonna help them so that when I do bring something to them, they're like, oh my gosh, she's been listening to me all longer.
She's in my head. So yeah. Yes. It's been that way, but it's like also at the same time, it's like, oh yeah, it took me a while to get it here. So talk to me a little bit about all of the feelings that go with, like choosing to leave the classroom or your job and those pivots that you've made. Like, cuz I feel like there's some really big feelings that can happen.
Yeah, the classroom specifically. Um, I knew it was like the right move for me. I don't regret it, but it took me a really long time to actually talk about it. Publicly again, like it's it, those things like, feel weird to me to say because, but like to share about it on my podcast to share about it on Instagram, when I'm talking to people to write content about it, it, that was really hard for me because I had a lot of guilt around that.
And I think for a while, I still always kept it in the back of my mind, like, oh, I'll, you know, I can always go back to the classroom. That's always there for me if this doesn't work out. But at some point in order for my business to really. To allow my business to grow into what I was envisioning and what I really felt called to do.
I had to close that chapter. And when I did that, I decided like, okay, now I feel ready to talk about it. Now. I feel like I. Have the confidence to articulate how that felt and just to share that it's okay. Like, you know, I just felt like not a lot of people in my quote unquote, real life. Got it. Got what I was doing.
Like, I, I think some people that I see out there, like what, what are you doing? Like, you know, they have no idea? Um, and so I just, I felt like that was actually a really big turning point for me when I. Started to open up and share about it. Because what I found was that a lot of people were like, I feel this way too.
Um, I felt this way for a while. I'm so afraid to close that chapter because I'm afraid of what people are gonna think of me. I'm afraid people are gonna judge me. I spent all this money on this degree. Um, so there was a lot of guilt around that, but when I actually just started sharing for my heart and sharing.
You know, being a teacher was great for me at the time when I, where I was at in my life, but I've gone through some things in my life. I became a mother. Um, we lost both of my in-laws and I've just gone through some things that just opened my eyes to that. Like, there is another way to. Live my life and that's okay that I've decided to like pivot and move to where I'm feeling called to be, which is at home with my kids and having this job that is just making a bigger impact than I could do inside the classroom.
So, um, yeah, a lot of guilt, but then relief. When I finally could share about that. And then just anytime I've had to pivot. There's a ton of resistance. Like half the time I get knee deep in that pivot. And I'm like, I just wanna go back to safety. I wanna go back to where it was easy, but I also remember that nothing great is going to happen.
And, these visions and these goals that I'm setting, not only for myself, but what I really want, um, to accomplish and what I want my community to experience and know won't come if I stay at that place. So, um, I always try to see it as like a really exciting challenge, as opposed to like, this is so hard, I'm never gonna make it out of it.
And that helps me to keep moving forward. When like a lot of times you wanna feel like giving up mm-hmm I so much of what you said just totally resonated with me. Um, I was in the classroom two days a week, this year, and then home three. And I just recently started. Telling people and like letting the world know, because it, I felt that exact same resistance of like, there is definitely guilt on my part that like I'm Canadian and I have that Matt leave piece and there's tons of guilt about that, but then there's also like people in the real world not understanding and all like, so totally.
I totally understand. So if anyone's listening and you're like, yes, this is how I feel too. You're not alone. I feel like a lot of us teachers. Feel that way and probably other ways too. Yeah. Moms and yeah. Any, I think anybody who's in that kind of service type field where it's not just about you, it's not just about you and your cubicle in this corporate world.
Like there's other people involved. Like I've had a lot of teachers and a lot of nurses come to me and it's like, well, I feel. Like I'm letting other people down, but one thing that I can say, and it's kind of the silver lining and all this, like I had mentioned, we lost, um, both of my in-laws. So about six years ago we lost my mother-in-law and then just past September, we lost my father-in-law and.
As hard as those things are. It always reminds me that life is so short and I don't want to get to the end of my life and think, well, I kept doing this because it made other people feel better. Like I wanna do things because it makes me feel good and I'm truly living out what I'm supposed to do. And I think too, like, We go, we, we decide at 18 that we're, you know, like picking our career for the rest of our life.
We go to college, right? Like we have no idea what life is gonna throw at us. I don't know what the next day is gonna bring. So it's okay. That 10 years have passed and you've realized like, Okay. I'm ready for something different. I'm ready to move on and experience something different. I think you owe it to yourself because life is so short mm-hmm and we never know when, when it's gonna be our time.
So I think just like living for you and what is valuable to you and what you hold near and dear, as opposed to trying to. Please other people do not ruffle any feathers. Um, because it's what society says we should do. I'm like, I'm such a roll break and I'm such a go against the grain person that I'm like, no, we should not, we should not be living our lives for other people.
We should not do what everybody else says. Just because it's like the way that it's always been done. I'm like, I'm gonna go in the opposite direction and figure out what's on the other side because it's probably really great. I get a lot of comments like, you're walking away from your pension. I'm like, you know, there's other ways you can save for retirement, like a pension, isn't the only option.
Oh, you're walking away from your health benefits. I can buy into health benefits. As it's, I can't only get those from work. Another guilt point of being in Canada too, is the difference there. But, but like I can, the extended health I can get, like I can, is not a well paying job, which I love is not my only option.
So. I know. Yeah, I get that. I get that a lot too. Um, and I get that a lot from people who are like considering starting freelancing while I have, you know, my health insurance, I have this and I think. Being an entrepreneur like there, like up until this point, there haven't been a lot of people who have done that.
And a lot of people who are thinking about getting started, haven't seen that in their real life to know that yes, other people are doing this and yes, there's other ways to, to have retirement, to have health benefits. So it's foreign to them, but like, that's what makes me so passionate about it. Showing up and talking about what it is cause it's like, yes, there are other ways to do this.
There are other ways to have a job. There are other ways to earn a living that don't include you being unhappy or you just working for the rest of your life, or, you know, having a job that no longer serves you, there's other ways to do it. And I think the more that we get this message out there, like more women are specifically cuz I speak to women, but I don't, you know, men, women, whoever are gonna know.
Going to college, getting a job working for the rest of their life is not the only way anymore. Um, which just makes me so happy, like, I think about my boys. Like they're gonna see somebody who literally created something from nothing and grew it to this amazing thing and the impact that it has and how fulfilling is that?
And I'm just so excited for them. Like if they can come to me and they're like, Hey, I wanna start a business. I'm like, great. Let's do it. Cuz I know that there's so many resources out there now for them to be able to make that happen. Absolutely. Yeah. So we talked a little bit about fears of people who are wanting to step into this role as a VA or a freelancer.
So another big thing that would come. I find is who to serve, what kind of offers to have finding clients the first, like that first little piece. So, um, I know that that's one of your expertise. Yeah, I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to have it right the very first time, like the very first time we ever put something out there or say, we're gonna do something, we have this, this instinct in us to be like, well, it has to be perfect.
And I can't release it until it's perfect. And honestly, like I had mentioned before, like when I first got started, I was like, I'll offer anything to anyone. And while I'm, I think that there is, is a little bit more strategy involved with that. What that did show me very quickly is who I liked working with and who I didn't like working with and what services I liked offering and what I didn't like offering.
And I wouldn't have known that hadn't I, I went through that, that try almost like that trial run to kind of figure that out. So what I say to people who, like, I'm not sure what to offer, or I'm not sure who I should work with. You don't have to get it right. The first time you just have to get started. And you, I think the best clarity comes from taking action.
So start where you feel comfortable. That's usually what I tell my students. So where do you already feel comfortable doing things? It's not like you have to take on something like, oh, I have to learn how to do Facebook ads because I saw somebody else doing Facebook ads, like start where you feel comfortable and allow yourself to grow into this.
Allow yourself to figure out what you enjoy and what you don't enjoy. Um, because you, sometimes you don't ever know. I have people who come through my course and they start out like doing general admin and maybe adding in Pinterest or something like that. And then they have one client that, like I said to, you know, offered me to write a blog and they're like, oh my gosh, my client had me do this.
And I love it. And I, I, would've never even known that this was a thing. And because I was open to just allowing myself to go through this process, it opened my eyes to that. And now I. Specialize in this. So, um, that's really like, what I would say is just to get started to get a good idea of who you wanna work with, you know, what type of industry is that?
What type of business owners do you wanna work with? Is that online business coaches that podcasters, is that, um, brick and mortar? I think we, like, we think. Oh, it has to be online, but I have a lot of students who are like, we have a booming local business area and I really wanna support them cuz I'm really passionate about local and small businesses.
So they go in and instead of, um, that local or small business hiring a full-time employee to run their social media, to do, um, their website or whatever, they can bring on a freelancer, they're gonna save a lot of money. They're gonna have somebody who knows what they're doing as opposed to like the cashier that they're.
Hey, you're young. You're on social media. Like, why don't you just take this over? So, um, yeah, so just getting started, getting that general idea of where you feel comfortable, what type of business you like working with and allow that process to happen organically. And I think you'll find that you'll be way happier as opposed to like, I have to figure everything out right from the get go.
I have to know exactly what I'm gonna do. And my business has to be that way forever. Allow it to have that natural progression for you. I also just wanna add, I, when I first started with not knowing who you wanna work with, I had some clients that were like, Nope, like this is not okay. And the really great thing that I found about.
World is that when the contract comes to an end, you don't have to resign. It's a hard conversation, but you can say, I wanna terminate the contract. Like there is, you do have that ability because you're your own boss and you like, it's your business. So when you find things that you don't like, you can.
Actively avoid them. And when you find things that you do, you can actively lean into them. Um, and because you're in control and you're in the driver's seat, so just right. Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, what's the difference between having a regular job? Like, I'm sure there's parts of your job right now.
If you have a full-time job that you like, I really don't enjoy doing this, but I have to do it because it's a part of my job description. And it's like, you know, I have students who are like, well, I have this one client and I'm offering this to them. But you know, they're the last client that I have. Like I no longer offer that service.
Like only I only offer this one and it's like, well then why are you still offering that service? Like. This is the beauty of being, having your own business. Like you get to call the shots. You don't have to do anything that you don't want to do, and you get to do more of what you love to do. So that's another thing that I'm really passionate about is doing more of what you love and less of what you don't mm-hmm
And when you find something, what are your tips for leading into that expertise? Um, as far as like, like you find you lose sight. Okay. I'm gonna do Pinterest. So like, what are the next steps when you you've decided maybe you're gonna start to let go of some of those clients who aren't Pinterest and you're looking for more, um, figuring out, I guess, like packages and services and upleveling, your prices and that kind of, that kind of piece once you've found what you love doing.
Right. So I, I would say too, like, let it, let it be a natural progression as well, as far as like, You don't have to let every single client go. That's no longer filling that, that service that you're gonna be offering. I say like, okay, if you have a client or two that you really like, you don't love working with them.
Like maybe they're the one that you've just kind of been like keeping on because the work is easy. Like it. Fine, but it doesn't really light you up. Like maybe start to like slowly let some of those clients go and then to lean into the service that you wanna offer. Like, I would definitely say upleveling your skills.
So, and maybe investing in some type of program, or course, that's going to teach you more about that so that you really can become the expert in that and really get great results for your clients that you can. Raise those rates. Um, so then I would slowly do that and it's like for every client that you're ready to let go on your current client roster, I would wait until I have a new client.
So say I have a new Pinterest package that I put out. I, you know, started out. And of course, when you're offering a new service, like if you're, if you're up leveling, of course you can. Raise your rates, but I always say like, you could, you can always go up. So start getting those couple clients at maybe not necessarily a beginner package rate for what's industry standard, for whatever your service is, but start kind of a little bit above that and then bring on that client.
And then you can let go of a client that is no longer selling that. Or you can even. Say to your clients that maybe you're not offering that service, but you love working with that client. So you could say, Hey, I'm making a pivot in my business. I'm gonna be offering, um, Pinterest services or web design services or whatever.
I would love to offer that to you as one of my clients, um, to see, I mean, if you enjoy working with that client, that might be something that they want to add on as opposed to doing the other stuff too. So, um, and then as you start working with clients and as you start gaining those new clients with that service that you.
Um, increasing your rates with them. So there's no real hard and fast way to do this. Some people say like, oh, every three clients, you can increase your rates again, your business, you get to decide. Um, but making sure too that like you are there, the value is there and that you are speaking to your expertise too, and that's where upleveling and investing and learning more about your service is gonna come into play.
Mm-hmm . And what about tackling? One of the biggest mindset struggles. I think people are faced with pricing like, nobody's gonna pay this price. Well, I would say it doesn't ever really go away, especially when you raise your rates to say you have clients that are on your current package and you want to raise your rates.
I usually recommend it. Raising your rate with a new client, as opposed to a previous client. Of course, if a client is paying a lower rate and you go to raise your rates, like you might have some clients that are like, oh my gosh, yes. Like taking my credit card. No big deal. But you might see some resistance.
Right. Cuz they're a lot of us creatures in habit. Right. Like we were used to paying a certain amount. So even when my Netflix bill goes up, I , I'm like, Ugh, like I'm gonna keep paying for it. But you know, like I'm upset about it. Uh, so I would say start. New newer clients at your new rates.
And it's easier to book somebody newer than to raise your rates on an existing client. So starting, starting number one, where you feel comfortable, but where you're not like undercutting yourself. And again, like I said, too, you can always go up. So the prices that you start with do not have to be the end, all be all.
But if you have a new client that books your new rate, it's gonna give you that confidence to say, okay, there are people who are willing to pay this rate for me. Um, and I think it's really just you speaking to the value, not necessarily like, oh, here's, what's included in my package. Like, what's the value that I bring.
Um, and also from a freelancing standpoint, too, you know, it might look like it's a higher or a premium package, but if you take this off, that business owner's plate, or you add this in. What is the ripple effect of that going to be for the business owner? So even if it's things like you're a VA and you're taking, you know, you're working with a business owner for 20 hours a month, um, you know, in that time, like what could that business owner do?
Like an hour to them might mean like I get, they get to book a coaching client that's, you know, way more than what they're paying you per hour, too. So I'm really thinking about it. If I'm able to do this for your business, what could that mean for you? What would you be able to do if I'm able to drive more traffic to your website using Pinterest?
What could that mean for you? Could you sell more of your programs? Could you book more podcasts and interviews? Like what could that mean for you and really speaking to that and coming at it from that place, um, and really opening their eyes to the value that your package brings? Not necessarily the, just the price attached to it or the what's included piece.
Mm-hmm I like that coming from a point of like a place of service. Like providing for your clients and not just greedy selfish, obviously that would never be a good mindset to have. This is a marketing podcast. I would love to know about how you market your business. So what are some of the big platforms that you've decided, how did you decide to, like you have a podcast?
I know you've mentioned it a couple times. Like, how did you decide that that was what you wanted to do over blogging? Yeah. So I think it really started from when I first listened to my first podcast and became obsessed with them. That was, that's the one thing that I miss about having. Regular job is commuting.
So I, at the time I didn't have that long of a commute, but I knew that I could get like at least an episode in, on my way to work and on my way home. And so I was able to just soak in so much and now it's like, I don't always have that time to do it. So I've gotta, you know, get out, get up before everybody is up so I can get out for a walk so I can listen to my weekly podcast.
Um, but I, when I was listening to a podcast, I'm like, I can totally do it. I love to talk clearly. , that's all I felt. And I just was like, right. Um, and I just. This is kind of like, that was my start into the business world. The only other podcast that I had listened to, and I think this was before podcasts were even a thing, um, was serial and it was like a true crime podcast.
And my husband and I listened to it on one of our road trips, but that was even before, like there were a lot of other people doing podcasts and my first real podcast or a business podcast, I was like, how cool would it be to, you know, show up and just talk from my heart and share what I'm doing? And I.
Maybe because I was doing so much blocking for my clients. I was like, uh, I need, I need a break. I need to change the scenery. So starting there and. Though it was, you know, this is an easy way for me to show up and start sharing my expertise, which at the time I really didn't feel like I had any, I was just sharing what I had learned.
Um, and of course, like I was on Instagram, like a lot of people too, but what I found was that I was, I started to get sick of Instagram in the sense of like, I just didn't feel like I was getting any traction and I really wasn't excited to show up on the app. So after. Eight months of convincing myself that I am talking myself up to trying TikTok.
I finally posted my first TikTok and that's when really everything changed number one for my business, but also just the way that I showed up, I felt like it was almost like I was the new girl at school and I could, you know, like all those like preconceived notions that people might have had in me before.
Like I could just show up and be who I truly was and started to slowly build that confidence. I think. Naturally a confident person in what I do, but business was so new to me and showing up online was totally outside of my comfort zone. And so going over to TikTok, it was like, nobody knows me. Like I get to just be me.
And it just kind of opened my eyes and refreshed my sense in marketing my business and showing up. Um, so that's really like. TikTok is one of the main social platforms that I really market my business on. I've solely started to show back up on Instagram. They've kind of, you know, they're getting back in the mix here, but mainly TikTok and my podcast.
And of course they have, you know, Pinterest and other things like that too. But those are the big ones that I really like to spend a lot of my time doing. And I just think there's so much value in video and you're able to connect with your audience way faster than. An Instagram post or, um, I mean, blogging, I think is great too, but there's just something that's to be said about showing up on camera and people getting to see you without, um, you know, the editing and the perfectionism.
It's just like show up and show up as you are. So I've really loved my time over there, which I never thought I would say. And how do you like repurpose content between your podcasts? I assume it would like to start at your podcast and then trickle down to TikTok. Yeah. So at first, yes, because I already at the time had my podcast for two years when I really started ONAC.
So I was able to take a lot of the stuff that I had and just break it down into smaller pieces. So even though an episode didn't necessarily mean one episode per one video, I was able to, maybe I had an episode with like four tips. And so maybe I could break that into four different videos and have a part, one, a part two.
Um, but then. What I realized from, you know, creating that content was that I was giving a lot of questions and the comments and a lot of people. Sometimes we think as the business owner, like we know what people want to know. Like we know what they wanna hear, but then when we actually start to listen to 'em, they're like, oh, wait, They wanna know this, they want this, they want this process breakdown.
So a lot of times the questions that I was getting asked were fueling podcast episodes. Yeah. And it was a really great way to move people from just being a TikTok follower to the other things that I had, because they would ask a question, I'd be like, Hey, I just did a whole podcast episode on this, go check it out.
Um, and it was able to move them from just being that follower to, to the other things that I had. And then they could work through my funnel too. So it started with a podcast. To TikTok, but now it's just kind of like an ever growing thing. Like sometimes I'll be struggling with content. I'll be like, okay, let's go back to the podcast and what I've created already.
But then other times it's like, I can't get enough. Like, I can't get enough episodes recorded with the ideas that I'm getting from my comments and from what people are saying and just from being on the app, I think it just. Like sparked I, and I just look at marketing differently too. Like I thought, oh, I need to cover this, this and this in my business.
And this is what people need to know. But being on there, I'm like, oh, like I, they need this and they need this piece and oh, I can create this for them. And it's just like, it has allowed the ideas to just flow from my head where sometimes before it felt a little like I was working at an uphill pace, that's something that I really like the feature on TikTok of responding to people's comments.
I think that is a feature. Pushes people to comment more because there's almost like more of an open dialogue. Um, plus is it stitching when you can cut someone's video off and then respond that one too is like another really good way of. Like building more of a community, more interactions, more conversations that are really happening.
So, yeah, I love the comments and I also love the live feature last summer. I made it a goal. I went live Monday through Friday, every single day. Um, which is another thing that really helped to build that community and really kind of, I just, I just, I didn't really have a plan for my life. It wasn't like, oh, here's the topic that I'm gonna talk about.
It was basically just like free coaching. Like, bring your questions, bring as many questions as you have, because of course, like, you know, you would get some people, which it's a good and a bad thing with TAC, cuz people will tell you how they feel and they're not afraid to do it where I feel like on Instagram, they might have a little bit more of a filter to them, but they'll tell you, like, you're not responding to your comments.
Um, and that was a really great way to just also get more ideas, again, like get more content like, This question was coming up a lot. Like, let me go create a full video on it. So then I can have that, that lives on my page and people, new people, old people can come and binge that content. Mm-hmm.
awesome. Um, thank you so much for joining me. You've given so much. Amazing value that I think anyone who's in the process of starting their business will take something from, but then also people who are in the middle of their business. I mean, I think we're always in the middle of our business. Um, but those who are more established will also get something.
So it's been a really good balance. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks so much for having me. Um, do you wanna share with the audience where they can come find you and hang out with you? Yeah, absolutely. So it's pretty easy, pretty much on every platform. It's just my name, my Instagram and TikTok are both at Aubree Malick.
My website is Aubreemalick.com. My podcast is called Freelancer to CEO. And if your audience is thinking about maybe getting started with freelancing, but they're not really sure what goes into it or what it's all about, or maybe this is their first time hearing it. Which again, always shocks me too.
Cause it's like one of those things where it's like, doesn't everybody know about this by now, but I'm, I'm happy to share. So, um, I have free training that I would love to share with your audience. It's at aubreemalick.com/freetraining. All of that will be linked in the show notes. And thanks again for joining me, Aubree.
Yeah, thanks so much for having me. 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 for then head to our community at marketscalegrow.com/communtiy. So you can join our group of inspiring teacher entrepreneurs who are working on growing and scaling their businesses too.
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