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Episode 023: Kaitlin Holland - Choosing Educational Experiences
137 Plays6 years ago
Today’s guest is Kaitlin Holland of The School of Styling, and more recently, the McAlister-Leftwich House, which is a wedding and event venue located in Greensboro, North Carolina. Kaitlin, like so many of our guest, is one of those multitalented people. Her entrepreneurial journey started with a vintage rental company called Simply Put Vintage, which she eventually sold in 2015, but not before starting The School of Styling, a workshop that provides creative women education and inspiration for creating beautiful work, events and spaces.
In today‘s episode, we’re chatting about choosing the right educational experiences for your business, whether it’d be in-person, or online, a conference, small group setting, one-on-one, or a mixture of those things. Kaitlin shares five steps for choosing the right education and we also share what we’ve learned from our own educational experiences.
Before we get to the interview, I want to mention that tickets are currently on sale for The School of Styling, and Krista and I will be leading two sessions during the January workshop. If you can’t make it to the January workshop, there are also workshops in March and July of next year, but you want to hurry and grab your tickets soon since they’re only on sale until October 3rd, or until seats sell out. You can find more information using the link below.
Kaitlin Holland is the Founder of The School of Styling, a creative business mentor, and the Marketing & Venue Director for her family's business, the McAlister-Leftwich House. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, Clay, and baby girl, Lucy. She was saved by Grace and she's on a mission to extravagantly love and serve those who are put in her path. After starting a successful vintage rental company in 2012 (and later selling it in 2015), Simply Put Vintage, Kaitlin saw a need for a training environment that served the creative entrepreneur as a whole. So, she created The School of Styling to provide creative women, no matter their field or profession, with the education and inspiration they need to create beautiful work, events, and spaces. She is a cultivator of community, and the heartbeat of the workshop is found in the relationships built amongst attendees, speakers, and staff. With a background in art, she derives much of the inspiration for the workshop structure from a technical art setting. Including demonstrations, hands-on learning, and critique sessions with a like-minded group of women.
For more informations and resources, check out the show notes at https://daveyandkrista.com/btb-kaitlin-holland-episode-23
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Transcript
Life and Business Seasons
00:00:05
Speaker
We're all going to experience seasons of business and life that will look very different. Our businesses and our lives are always changing, and so it's good to try to prepare ourselves as much as possible for those season changes.
Brand Building for Creatives
00:00:22
Speaker
Welcome to the Brands at Book Show, where we help creative, service-based businesses build their brands and find more clients. I'm your host, Davy Jones.
Meet Caitlin Holland
00:00:33
Speaker
Today's guest is Caitlin Holland of The School Styling and more recently, the Pecalister Leftwich House, which is a wedding and event venue located in Greensboro, North Carolina. Caitlin, like so many of our guests, is one of those multi-talented people. Her entrepreneurial journey started with a vintage rental company called Simply Put Vintage, which she eventually sold in 2015. But not before starting The School Styling, a workshop that provides creative women education and inspiration
00:01:01
Speaker
for creating beautiful work, events, and spaces.
Choosing Educational Experiences
00:01:04
Speaker
In today's episode, we're chatting about choosing the right educational experiences for your business, whether it be in-person or online, a conference, small group setting, one-on-one, or a mixture of those things. Caitlin shares five steps for choosing the right education, and we also share what we've learned from our own educational experiences.
00:01:23
Speaker
Before we get to the interview, I want to mention that tickets are currently on sale for the school styling, and Krista and I will be leading two sessions during the January workshop. If you can't make it to the January workshop, there are also workshops in March and July of next year, but you'll want to hurry and grab your tickets soon since they're only on sale until October 3rd or until seats sell out. You can find more information in the show notes.
00:01:45
Speaker
Be sure to check out the show notes at DavianChrista.com for the resources we mentioned during the episode, and I'd like to hear from you about what kind of content you'd like to see on the Brands That Book podcast as we move forward. I'd also like to know what episodes you've enjoyed most so far and why. To leave your feedback, head on over to the Davian Christa Facebook page and send us a message. Now on to the episode.
Caitlin's Career Path
00:02:12
Speaker
All right, we have Caitlin Holland here with us from the School of Styling. And I'm so excited to chat with her because as so many of our other guests, she is multi talented. And so I'm excited to dig into her story and all of the different things that she's had going on and going on right now. So welcome, Caitlin. Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here.
00:02:32
Speaker
So, you know, I don't even know where to start really with this interview, because I mean, just to go through the list here, currently, you are the marketing and venue coordinator for the McAllister Leftwich House, which is a venue that you, your husband and your mom own together, which is your newest venture. Then, you know, before that, a few years ago, you started the school styling, which is an educational experience, just teaching people how to create beautiful venue events and spaces.
00:02:59
Speaker
And then before that, you owned a vintage rental company, which you eventually sold. Yes, yes. I mean, there are just so many things that I want to dig into. And then, you know, on top of that, something that I hope that we touch on sometime during this interview is just, you know, you have a two year old right now, and then you have one on the way. And as a new parent myself, we've definitely been wrestling with how to make it all work in this season of life. So I'm excited to touch on that with you as well.
00:03:28
Speaker
But we always start with just your, you know, our guest story and how they got started. So can you explain to us how you, you know, got started with this vintage rental company and how that eventually led to becoming a venue owner. And then after that, we're going to dig into educational experiences, how to decide on educational experiences and the importance of education in your business. Yeah, definitely. I'm excited to be here and talk to you all about this. I'll try to
00:03:52
Speaker
keep each section, you know, concise because I know that it's been it's been quite the journey over the past five or six years but so I was a senior in college actually and I graduated with an art degree from Elon University which is in North Carolina and my dad is an entrepreneur so he started an online ticketing company called eTix.com a long time ago like 20 years ago maybe
00:04:20
Speaker
And so growing up, I always saw that like that was normal. You know, my dad would work until six a.m., come home and shower and leave and go back during busy seasons or busy times. And so that to me was normal. And in my mind, I always thought, well, I'll be my own boss. But I didn't really know how that would play out.
00:04:39
Speaker
And then, you know, you're a senior in college and you realize, okay, I have to make a decision. What is, what am I going to do when I graduate? And the summer before senior year, I sat down with my dad and I just started talking to him about this idea I had of a vintage rental company because at the time it really combined a lot of things I loved. I wanted to enter into the wedding industry. I obviously was, you know, love design. And at the time I was working at a furniture retail store and I loved
00:05:09
Speaker
you know, setting up the vignettes and picking out the pieces and things like that. So we decided that I would pursue this vintage rental company. So I actually started that business my senior year of college.
Styling Passion and Business
00:05:19
Speaker
I graduated, walked across the stage. We took a couple pictures and I walked right to my first wedding.
00:05:26
Speaker
Well, so you started this your senior year of college. Yes. How did you start acquiring the furniture? Did you like was that a gradual thing? I'm sure on some scale, it was like, over time, you gradually acquired different pieces of furniture. But at first, like how did you even, you know, how'd you even start just determining what you needed for this business? Yeah, well, so I really example that I looked up to a ton, which was cool, because then she later was the speaker at the School of styling.
00:05:53
Speaker
is Jenny Moss of Found Vintage Rentals out in California. And so she was kind of like my inspiration, you know, like I loved her collection. I loved the way that she curated pieces. And so just being kind of like thrifty at the time in college, and I still enjoy it, but you know, I would go to antique shows or go to different consignment stores.
00:06:18
Speaker
And it was kind of a family affair. Like my dad would go with me and haul the trailer. My mom would help me redo pieces, repaint them, recover them, things like that. And so we really, we kind of honed in. My focus became vignettes, lounge, furniture, that kind of thing. And so that's what we started with. And I actually started with a storage unit that was, my dad at the time was living in a condo in Raleigh and it was one of those multi units just in a big room.
00:06:47
Speaker
and his was filled with vintage furniture because that's where I stored everything. Eventually, we moved up to a warehouse and things like that. My last name at the time started with a B, so I was one of the first to graduate and I just left graduation and we went and I was styling that wedding as well and providing furniture. By that point, I'd fallen in love with styling and I always say that I
00:07:14
Speaker
came to styling accidentally. I was creating lookbooks and photo shoots for the vintage rental company to show brides. This is how you could use these pieces. This is, you know, help them envision that. And I realized very quickly, my favorite part of the company was creating those vignettes and those photo shoots and designing that. I've learned since then about myself, I
00:07:39
Speaker
I'm not the person who can sit behind the computer and do tons of contracts and delivery schedules. That is not my specialty. That is a lot of what running a vintage rental company is. Once you have the pieces, the creativity does have its limits in some ways because then it's a lot of just processing orders, booking clients, that kind of thing.
00:08:02
Speaker
So yeah, I did that exclusively for about a year. And in that time period, I realized very quickly while I had a lot of skillset and knowledge when it came to design, I did not know how to run a business, even though my dad was an entrepreneur and was helping me. I mean, there was just so many things I didn't know.
00:08:23
Speaker
And so I began to look for some sort of education experience conference. And this was back in 2013. So it was a very different climate then, educational climate then. And I began to look for something to help me, to equip me. And I don't think I would have been able to put it in these words at the time, but now looking back, I can tell this is really what I wanted. I wanted
00:08:46
Speaker
to learn what I needed to learn about business while still being inspired as a creative. Like I didn't want to sit there and just consume tons of information.
00:08:55
Speaker
because I also had this whole other side of me, which was creative and a designer, things like that. Sure. So basically, you didn't want to be sitting in a college business class or something that would resemble a seminar on business, rather something that you could contextually learn what you needed while at the same time enjoying that creative outlet of yours. Yeah, exactly. And so I did attend the conference the fall of 2013.
00:09:22
Speaker
And I'll touch on this a little bit later when we talk about educational experiences, but I think my expectations of what I needed and then what it was providing were very different things. And so I left feeling like I didn't really get what I needed. And so that's kind of where the school of styling became this dream. And I looked around and I looked for an experience that served both the creative and the entrepreneur that exists within the creative entrepreneurs and couldn't find it.
00:09:52
Speaker
My husband, who was my fiance at the time, told me that I should probably wait a couple of years to have more business experience and then I could start it. We weren't married yet, so I didn't listen to him. And I didn't anyways. And I really, there was a big snowstorm in Raleigh about February. I'll never forget. And I just sat there and like build out my website, plan the first workshop. And I was just so excited about it, but I didn't know what was going to happen with it. In no way did I think it was going to be a separate business.
00:10:22
Speaker
It was just kind of like, let me put this out there and see if this serves other people and the way that I think it would serve me and meet those needs that people are having. And sure enough, I mean, we had 17 attendees at our first workshop, which was August of 2014, which is still blows my mind because I think if those 17 people hadn't come, school styling may not exist. Like I was kind of testing it, you know, seeing if it was viable. I really didn't have plans for a second one. I knew I love to do it, but
00:10:52
Speaker
I didn't know what it would look like and then we started getting tons of emails about future workshops and that's how it kind of became a business. So November of 2014, I think we filed for the LLC, all that good stuff.
00:11:07
Speaker
So you still have the vintage rental company at this time, right? Correct. So as that's going on, and you had already hinted, I think through the vintage rental company, what you really figured out was that you liked the stylist side of things. So I imagine styling the furniture and everything that comes along with that. So what went into the decision to sell the company?
00:11:31
Speaker
Yeah, so like you said, I had fallen in love with styling and that was something that I felt like I was really equipped to do and knowledgeable about, even though I didn't know what it was when I kind of accidentally became a stylist. So I was taking other styling projects at that time for brands, for weddings, events, kind of had my hand in a lot of things, realized pretty quickly I didn't want to style for weddings and events. So I focused more on brand and business styling
00:12:00
Speaker
And that was one of the reasons why I started the School of Styling was because I come from a technical art background. And so for me, I was looking around and I was looking at what was being created and everything was very trendy. And I was thinking if the trends were gone, would these compositions, would this work still stay strong? Would it still be good quality work?
00:12:25
Speaker
you know, 50 years from now. And so I wanted to help educate the creative community on how to do that how to create strong compositions that exist kind of beyond trends beyond just what we're in right now. Can you tell us a little bit about what technical like what a technical art background looks like? Yeah, definitely. So I graduated my concentration was actually digital art, which is
00:12:50
Speaker
similar to graphic design, but not quite graphic design. I went to a contemporary art school, so it's a little bit different. They didn't have a lot of like the graphic design type classes. That's what I probably would have done if I had decided to be an art major prior to attending college. But so I graduated with digital art, but in that we had to take classes in just various mediums. So I had to take drawing and art history and different composition classes and
00:13:20
Speaker
Painting and so you're in this setting where you're learning the fundamentals of design the principles of design which Sound basic, but they're not basic. They're just that they're fundamental and then how you execute them You know, that's where like the artistry comes in and so I was having to do that and all these different mediums and different platforms
00:13:43
Speaker
And it really informed me as a digital artist when I was drawing on paper, even though I'm terrible. But I was sitting there drawing with charcoal and I'll never forget.
00:13:56
Speaker
working with charcoal. And I remember thinking how much it was like working with pottery. And then I was thinking about these different elements that I was struggling with with a digital project I was working on and just all kind of clicked. And so having that background and that training, not just in one medium, but in multiple and kind of seeing what that play how those fundamentals of design
00:14:18
Speaker
layout, which is a big part of why the school of styling is structured the way it is. Sure. That's awesome. So, you know, what goes into selling a business? You know, how is that, you know, like, yeah, I gotta imagine it's not just simply putting a for sale sign up and right.
Launching McAllister Leftwich House
00:14:34
Speaker
Yes. Well, really, it was kind of a really, I feel like the Lord just orchestrated everything perfectly because we at that time, my husband and I, we were grow, I was growing the business in Raleigh because our plan was
00:14:48
Speaker
to move to Raleigh. I graduated a semester before him. I'm a year older than him. And our plan was he goes to seminary in Raleigh. I grow my business in Raleigh. That's where all my family is. Like that's where we're moving. Well, then my husband got a job at our church that have recently planted in Greensboro, which is, if you're not familiar, about an hour and a half west of Raleigh.
00:15:10
Speaker
So when you have a business that is a very physical product based service business, it's hard to be an hour and a half away and still run it effectively. And so our, our options became, do we try to sell it or do we move it to Greensboro? And I knew at that time that like my heart wasn't really in like restarting that business in a new city. My mom did run it for a while in terms of like, you know, deliveries and,
00:15:39
Speaker
scheduling and all of that. But it just got to the point where we were like, we can't serve our clients well. So around that time, I can't even remember how all this happened. But basically, I think I reached out to Paisley and Jade Morgan Montgomery. I love them. She's one of my best friends because she because of what she did. And I reached out and I said, hey, we are we're going to close like we're going to close simply but basically and
00:16:06
Speaker
I would hate to just close it and not have the opportunity to like give all of our collection and all of our contacts and resources and everything over to you. So we did sell it, but it was more like it became absorbed into them. Sure. Like more like a transfer of assets. Exactly. So when you went to our domain name, it still had our logo and things like that, but then it directed you to Paisley and Jane. So okay.
00:16:33
Speaker
They showed up at that time. We had moved everything back into my mom's garage. They showed up with a massive truck and took it all away. And we breathed a very deep sigh of relief and it was just perfect. I mean, it ended up working perfectly. And it's so fun because we did a workshop there last year and it's so cool to like go back and see so much of our collection still living on and still serving the purpose that we had intended for it.
00:17:02
Speaker
Yeah, that is awesome. So eventually, though, you went back to having a very physically based business in buying or purchasing a wedding and event venue, which the McAllister left which house and if you haven't seen the McAllister which left which house you should go on their website because it is a beautiful, I think everything you kind of picture about a southern urban
00:17:23
Speaker
wedding venue, I think that McAllister Left Witch House captures. So go online and check that out. I'll have a link in the show notes for sure. But what spurred this on? Yeah, so this also felt kind of crazy. And this is one reason I love talking to, specifically talk to women, but women and men about starting families while they're running businesses because the timing of this probably seems crazy to most people.
00:17:51
Speaker
I, you know, I, we were here in Greensboro. We're very invested in Greensboro. We love this city. We don't foresee moving anytime soon. My husband at the time was working at our church sale. So he worked there for about four years. He stepped down while we closed last year on the venue and I was doing the school of styling and we, one night we were sitting on the couch. I was very pregnant, 37 weeks pregnant and it was very hot in August. And he said, or this was two years ago.
00:18:18
Speaker
And he said, so what's next? And if you know my husband, my husband is the one, when I have a new idea, he normally is like, I cannot handle it. Do not tell me, like, go talk to your dad first and then bring it back to me. Like when you were in college and he was like, hey, yeah, you should probably, or when you started to simply put vintage. Yeah, exactly. He's a black and white by the books kind of guy. And I just thrive in the gray area and sometimes it stresses them out.
00:18:46
Speaker
for him to ask me that was huge. And I was like, well, I really think Greensboro needs a wedding venue. Like I just kind of, you know, had a pulse on like the market and the industry here while I'm not in the wedding industry or wasn't in the wedding industry in Greensboro prior to the venue. I just, I really felt like Greensboro was growing. There's so much opportunity here and it's, that would be a great place to invest.
00:19:11
Speaker
And so the next day I had like five online listings printed out and showed him and he said, whoa, I didn't mean right now. This moment, but obviously he forgot who he married because I took that as license to look and tour and all that good stuff. So most of them were very, you know, urban kind of like industrial type settings, which is just not my personal style.
00:19:39
Speaker
and not what I felt like we could do well. But then there was the McAllister Leftwich House and it was very unique and online. It was hard to kind of tell exactly what it was, how many houses, like there were two houses, but it only showed a picture of one. So we didn't really have an idea of what it was like, but my mom was prior to Lucy being born and we were talking about it and she was, she was like, you know, I've been thinking about what's next and I've been thinking about what, what do I want to do and what do I want to invest in?
00:20:08
Speaker
and let's go tour it." So, Lucy was 10 days old and we went and toured Macalester, Leftwitch, and we fell in love. And we just saw so much potential. We also saw a lot of obstacles, but we saw so much potential. And so, that kind of began the year-long process of ice
00:20:29
Speaker
Figuring out if it was even going to be a viable business, if it was even going to be possible, we had tons we had to work through. Both homes are on historical registries. Which I feel like complicates everything from just renovations to permits and so on. Yes, everything was hard. Unfortunately, the city of Greensboro wasn't super easy or great to work with all the time.
00:20:53
Speaker
It took us, you know, once we actually closed a year later in July of 2017, it took us about three months to even start construction because it took us that long just to get our permit. So yeah, it was a process and a lot of people were like, hey, this is gonna be really hard. And y'all need to know, like, I mean, we invested a lot of money upfront before we had ever even closed.
00:21:16
Speaker
We had to hire an attorney to help us get through zoning and help us come up with a private agreement with the neighborhood. I mean, there were so many things that came up, but all of these big, big mountains that we would run into are these big walls we'd run into. And it felt like, okay, this is it. Like we're done. You know, we're going to just cut our losses and pull out because clearly we can't get past this. It was just amazing. Every single one of those things was resolved.
00:21:47
Speaker
In 1 way or another, I mean, even my very 1st meeting with the city planner, he said, well, for venues, you're required to have 1 parking spot per 100 square foot of space that you have. Well, we had 12,000, which means we need 120 parking spots, but we're also in a neighborhood and our parking lot can only hold about 15 cars.
00:22:09
Speaker
And so we're sitting there and I'm like, well, this is it. It's over, you know, don't have enough parking spots. This was back like a month in and somebody read this obscure exception exemption for a historic venue or for a historic building that said, well, if it's on the registry, then that doesn't apply. And so we got through, you know, it's just one thing after another. And so it really just felt like, it really felt like the Lord orchestrated everything so perfectly for us that we
00:22:39
Speaker
We definitely doubted and we're scared and didn't know what was happening a lot of times, but it was just so cool to see like sometimes when we have these big dreams, like if you have an idea to launch a course or to host something, it's pretty quick. You can pull it together quickly. Maybe it'll take you a few months. This took us two years. And I think that for me and my love of instant gratification, it taught me a lot and building something that's
00:23:09
Speaker
sustainable and that really is going to outlast us. Like I think about simply put or the school of styling. Well, these businesses be around when Lucy is 25 or 30 and she's going to like start if she wants to take over that. Probably not. But will McAllister left which? Yeah, it could be. And if she wants to, it's hers. You know, it's cool to build something that we can pass down.
00:23:34
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome. And, you know, one of our Chris and I's dear friends, the powers, they own big shrink farm in Lexington. And so I got to chat with Buddy about starting a wedding venue and another episode and just, you know, seeing the behind the scenes with that, I know how much work goes into it, even when things work out relatively smoothly.
00:23:54
Speaker
I mean, it's just an immense amount of work and a lot of upfront costs, like you mentioned, unlike, you know, the buried entry for, you know, being a stylist or being a photographer, even, you know, you're talking maybe a couple thousand dollars, right? Whereas with a venue, it's it's
00:24:10
Speaker
Yeah, 10s of minimally, I would think so. Yeah, so that's awesome.
Upcoming Workshops
00:24:15
Speaker
Well, you know, one of the things that I'm excited about is that the school styling you have sessions in January, March and July, next year, and they're all being hosted right at the McAllister leftwich house. Yes. Yep, which is awesome. So I'm excited to actually be there. And we get to teach at the January session. So if you're listening to this, tickets are still on sale until October 3. So I encourage you to, you know, if you're interested to go and get tickets,
00:24:36
Speaker
you know i would like to meet you also get tickets for january but i'm sure any of the sessions are going to be awesome they're all going to be great but i will say january is filling up really quickly it's in yeah soon as soon so yeah yeah that's right so so get your tickets but you know one of the reasons that i wanted to chat with you is because it's a talk through education you know i think
Investing in Education
00:24:57
Speaker
When I look around at my friends in the industry, especially those who would be considered really successful, a lot of them invest in education in some way or another, or they invested in education at one point. A lot of them are working with coaches or mentors, and that's a priority in their business. Krista and I have made that a priority in our business, and we put aside money every year for education. But
00:25:23
Speaker
It can be hard. I mean, there's so many options out there, you know, and you had mentioned so I want to get back to this how you were looking and didn't quite find what you need and that's always kind of a bummer when you invest in something and it doesn't provide the return that you thought it was going to
00:25:39
Speaker
So, could you speak to why it's important for business owners to invest in education? Yeah, definitely. So, actually, I had an attendee this past July workshop who said to me, she said, you know, if I expect my clients to invest in me, then I need to be willing to invest in my business too. You know, I think that there's
00:26:01
Speaker
There's a level of seriousness that comes when you're willing to put money into investing in your business and yourself. And I think that oftentimes we're hesitant to because of fear. Either we feel like maybe we're not ready or we are fearful that, well, what if, you know, what if I put this money in there and then I don't get what, like you said, that return on investment? What if I don't get what I need out of it?
00:26:27
Speaker
But it is so, I would agree with you. It is so important to invest in education. And I have done it myself. Like I mentioned that conference I attended and that kind of spurred on the creation of the school of styling. And again, in 2013, it was a very different world. I think there's way more options out there now, which means that you have to be a smart consumer of education. But I've also invested in an online program, which at the time for me, and that was back in 20,
00:26:57
Speaker
2014 yeah 2014 so again a while ago But at the time for me that was the right move because of where I was in my in my business I was running the school of styling and I was nanny part-time because basically clay was like if you were gonna do this you have to make a little bit more money sure and So I was nanny as well and I would watch these classes while the baby napped and at night You know things like that and so online education fit
00:27:25
Speaker
where I was and what I needed at that time. It was I could consume it in little small increments and that's just what I needed and it was a great investment for me at the time. But I will say that I think the most significant investment and also the one that has paid off the most is when I've invested in working either one-on-one or in those and so I would say I kind of combine like a mentorship and then an in-person experience
00:27:54
Speaker
I think they're similar in a whole lot of ways. So I've worked with a business coach pretty frequently, regularly, over the past two years, but I did a 90-day intensive program with a business coach that was one-on-one. And what I walk away with when I have those, and this is what we build into the School of Styling too, but when I have those sessions, you walk away with an action plan that's personalized for you, where you are, and there's also a lot of accountability.
00:28:23
Speaker
And so I found for myself personally that I, and I've, I've purchased some other online programs here and there over the years too, but I find that when I'm working either one on one with somebody or I'm in person with somebody, I am so much more likely to get that return on investment because then you can say, Hey, this is what I need. And this is what success would look like for me in this.
00:28:47
Speaker
And then they can respond and give that to you. It's not like walking in and just kind of absorbing and sitting there and then saying, well, that didn't meet what I need. It fits what you need better, I think in some ways.
00:29:01
Speaker
Yeah, so I love in person, I'm a huge advocate for in person, I can talk about that more later. But I've done yeah, a combination of different things. Yeah, and I think I would agree with you. We've done combinations of different things as well. There's conferences that we attend each year that we really enjoy.
00:29:18
Speaker
And I think that one of the biggest benefits of a conference or something where you show up in person with a lot of other people is just even the networking and the friendships and relationships that are formed from those experiences. And those are always, I mean, they're not only helpful from a business standpoint in the sense that now you have a community of people that maybe from that you start a mastermind or maybe it's just a friend who you can call and say, hey, this is what I'm struggling with right now, can you help?
00:29:45
Speaker
But just, I mean, just the relational aspect to some of our good friends have come from, you know, just people that we met at different conferences, in addition to the education that's provided. But I would totally agree that I think I find the biggest return on in person stuff, but then especially one on one type stuff, you know, something that I invest in now is and have in the past, but currently I'm doing so now is one on one business coaching.
00:30:14
Speaker
because you can't hide in a sea of people as you can online. If you buy an online course and you don't complete it, most likely somebody's not going to check out and be like, hey, why aren't you doing this? They're not going to call you out. Exactly. They're not going to call you up. They're not going to call you out. But when you're working one-on-one with somebody or you're working in as like, even if it's group coaching,
00:30:36
Speaker
you know, if you show up to that next meeting, and you haven't started implementing the things that you that you've been implementing or you that you said you would or that you plan to, that person is going to ask why. And that's a much harder conversation, I think to have. And the other aspect of that is one on one stuff and group coaching stuff is generally a little bit more expensive than the conference stuff.
00:30:59
Speaker
So, if you're not doing what you're talking about doing, you're going to feel that more on your wallet. Yeah. I think that's one reason people have come back and they're like, oh, I just wish your prices were lower and I wish this and I wish that. But really, the people who are willing to take it seriously enough to invest in themselves are the ones who are going
00:31:23
Speaker
to show up who are going to do the work, who are going to be engaged, who aren't going to hold anything back, and then who are going to go home and actually implement the things that they've said they're going to do.
Benefits of Workshops and Coaching
00:31:36
Speaker
Yeah, and I totally agree. I want to go back to the relational thing for a second because one of the things I love most about hosting in-person workshops, obviously, we work really hard to create a speaker lineup that is wonderful and trustworthy so that our
00:31:53
Speaker
audience and our clients, our students can trust the people we're putting in front of them. But we're so, and that's where a lot of the business change happens. They'll learn things and they'll say, okay, I'm going to go and we had an attendee say, I'm going to double my prices tomorrow. You know, they're, they're great things that come from that. But the life change that happens that we see that happens in the in-between moments, like over conversations with coffee and breakfast, you know, and during, we always on the third day, we have this two hour time period where
00:32:23
Speaker
Everybody gets their hair and makeup done and their headshots done. We have a mimosa and breakfast. And it's just a great time for people to just kind of hang out and talk and having speakers work one on one with someone after the whole workshop is done for the day. You know, like that's where the life change happens. And you don't get that when you're online because you're just physically not together. Like there's just something so, so sacred about like bringing a group of people together who
00:32:51
Speaker
are going to not just share ideas and share business, but they're going to share life together. And we've seen just amazing things happen post-workshop. Like you said, friendships are formed. We actually had two attendees who came to July who are both from Boston, didn't know each other, and are coming back together to July 2019.
00:33:12
Speaker
because they're great friends. And we've had people hire other people out of that community. We've had, in terms of like employees and then also services, we've just had great friendships form. There's a whole friend group in Raleigh that kind of started at the school of styling. So it's so cool to see those things. And that's why, you know, I have, we have three pillars, the equipping to educate creative entrepreneurs and encouraging people to
00:33:41
Speaker
style intentionally. So we, you know, obviously talk about design, but then also cultivating that life-giving community, which we really strive to build into all of the different moments because it is so, we really that it's life changing. That's where the life change happens, which is cool.
00:33:57
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome. So I think we're on the same page. I think people listening who have gone to an in-person conference probably, you know, would probably agree with a lot of that too. Hopefully they had a good experience. But I do want to talk about online education here for a second as well because I think it has value for sure. I've taken online courses that I've gotten a lot of value out of. It sounds like, you know, you took an online course in a season of life where that was the perfect thing for you because it was something that you could do in your own in-between moments, right?
00:34:25
Speaker
And, you know, but I do see occasionally people who they consume a lot of online education, but they're not necessarily implementing that, you know? And this kind of idea is like, well, this, you know, online courses are going to promise a certain result, right? But it's provided you do the work. And I think some people, they consume a bunch of education, but they never get around to actually doing it. And I would love to talk about
00:34:53
Speaker
trying to decide what to invest in, what that looks like. And I know a lot of probably what you're gonna say could apply to in-person workshops as well. But before we get there, what do you think about online education in general? Like when is it appropriate? Yeah, well, so I definitely think online education serves a purpose and I've created courses before. We have one that's available right now, Styling 101.
00:35:21
Speaker
And I think it's great for people who are in a specific season of business or life where either number one, they cannot step away for three days or four days or whatever that time commitment is, or they just financially really don't have the money to make it work. Maybe they haven't started their business yet or just funds are really tight, things like that, because you get online education and
00:35:47
Speaker
it doesn't matter how much you invest. If it feels costly to you, you're going to be willing to put the work in. So like for me, when I invested in that online program, you know, it was about $2,000. Well, that was extremely costly to me. And I mean, that's costly, I think at any point, but that was very costly to me at the time. And so I did the work, you know, I showed up for the small group meetings, and I did that work. But
00:36:15
Speaker
Most recently, when I worked one-on-one, that cost me $5,000. And that's costly to me. And so I'm going to do the work. And so I think if you're willing to take it seriously, if it doesn't just feel like a drop in the bucket, oh, maybe I'll get around to it, then whether it's online or it's in-person or it's coaching or whatever it is, I think you're going to see great results. But like you said, you have to do the work.
00:36:41
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
Maximizing Educational Investments
00:36:42
Speaker
And I think especially for online courses, it's so easy to get one and then just have it, you know, life takes over. And it's kind of on the back burner and you're like, when I have time, I'll get to it. And like I said, there's no one there. So it's important to schedule time. I think if you're taking online course to schedule time in your day and say, you know, just as you did when you while you were nanny and like when the baby goes down for a nap, I'm going to I'm going to do this even if I can only get to, you know, 30 minutes of it or 45 minutes of it or whatever. Absolutely.
00:37:09
Speaker
the case may be and the other thing I think is just asking like what kind of return if I put in the effort here you know what kind of return on my investment am I going to get and you know certain things they may seem costly like for example that I mean $5,000 for coaching that's that's expensive but
00:37:25
Speaker
you know, what is what is the result of that coaching, if you implement what you work on with your coach, it's probably a return that's that's greater, maybe significantly greater than that $5,000. Right. And yeah, and like financially, it was, you know, for me, and I could see that play out. And one of the things she said was she said, I want you to make your money back what you invested in the first 90 days, like of us working together. And that's an awesome thing to hear to going into it, knowing that
00:37:56
Speaker
there really is a tangible return on investment. And I think tracking that and looking at that and just being, like I said before, being a smart, aware consumer of that is really helpful. And then the other thing I'll add, if you know you're somebody who needs accountability, find accountability, even with online programs that maybe don't have it built in. Maybe there is like a Facebook group or you know somebody else who's taking it, just go ahead and
00:38:24
Speaker
take the initiative to set up like a weekly meeting or something that can help as a checkpoint for you, especially if that isn't included in the course. But I think that does help you. Like you said, you're not going to show up to a meeting and not be prepared and not be ready. So it does help you work through the content.
00:38:41
Speaker
Yeah, and I think, so Kristen, I actually had something like this with books, you know, I was guilty of, you know, I love reading, but I would pick up a book, read a little bit of it, put it down, get another one, and then I never get back to the first one, you know. And so it's a very simple rule, you know, it's like, hey, you buy it, you need to finish it, you need to complete it, you need to implement at least one thing from it, you know, and then you can go and get your next one.
00:39:02
Speaker
It sounds so simple. But yeah, I mean, it really keeps me from, you know, say like that, that shiny object syndrome that I sometimes have, you know, especially when it comes to ideas and content. Another guest who was on back in, I think he was episode two, or three of the first three get Graham Cochran. He talked a lot about, you know, making sure you're not consuming too much content to Yeah.
00:39:24
Speaker
Because it's really easy to just there's especially on an online world. There's so easy to get information from so many different places stifling. Yeah, you know, it's analysis paralysis. If I'm like constantly listening to business podcasts and reading business books and taking an online court, like if that's all that's coming into my brain,
00:39:45
Speaker
then I'm so much less likely to actually implement or take action or see change. It's just overwhelming. Oh, for sure. So you have five steps for us on how we should decide what to invest in. Yes. Let's start with step one. What's step one? So step one is asking yourself, what would success look like for you?
00:40:09
Speaker
I think going into an educational experience, whether it's online, in-person coaching, it's good to know what your goals are and what you're wanting to get out of it. Are you looking to grow in a specific area of your business, just one small area? Is it more that you are feeling just uninspired and you need to be refreshed? Are you needing development in many areas or in your craft and it needs to be hands-on? I think knowing
00:40:38
Speaker
what you need and really being able to identify that for yourself will help you when you're looking at all the different options, all of the different ways you can consume information and choose the one that's going to best fit what you need right now. I really like that one because I think sometimes we use education to fill the gap. We're really confused and we feel like
00:40:59
Speaker
And we're not really sure and we think, okay, well, maybe if I buy this, it's going to. But I think getting super intentional about saying, okay, what do I need to learn in order to achieve this result? And then going to fill the gap in education that way instead of just thinking like, if I buy this course, magically results or ideas or whatever are gonna come. It's gonna fix all my problems, yeah. And people are great marketers too.
00:41:25
Speaker
they're going to make it sound like it could fix all your problems most likely. So it's good to just know what what do you need going into it? Awesome. So what's step two? Step two is to create a savings plan to invest in your education. So like I said, there are two big things I hear either people don't think their business is ready, they don't feel ready, they're not confident enough, there's fear around investing, or they just feel like it's too much money.
00:41:52
Speaker
But when I look at educational experiences and obviously there's some that are on the lower end and then some that are higher than this, but generally I think between $2,000 and $5,000 a year is a good amount to save for your experience. I know you mentioned you and Christa do that, so that way when an experience comes along,
00:42:14
Speaker
or a class or whatever it might be and you feel like it is the right fit for you at that moment, you're prepared to make the investment, whether that's a deposit or that's a payment plan or that's the full amount. That way it doesn't catch you off guard because you're going to enter in seasons of your business, whether or not you're in one right now, you're going to need that. So just to prepare yourself for that. And when I broke down the two to 5,000 a year, it's 166 to 416 a month.
00:42:43
Speaker
which for depending on your business and where you're at may seem like nothing or it may seem like a lot, but I think there's always ways we can look at our business and we invest in a lot of things, whether that's our Starbucks drinks, you know, multiple times a week or different online services we use. And so I think just prioritizing and taking education seriously.
00:43:06
Speaker
And I want to say, you know, even though you're somebody who offers education, as do we, we are also people who invest in education. So we're not just putting education out there and saying buy it, we're people who also know the value of investing in education. And I'll say that since Kristin and I have been in business, on average, we've done probably at least two things a year, I would say.
00:43:29
Speaker
that are educational based for us, you know, where we go and we seek out, you know, and for us, it's a lot of it's been coaching, mentoring, and yeah, so coaching, mentoring, primarily, but then also, I mean, even recently, you know, joining a mastermind group, you know, and some of these, some of them are paid, some of them are not.
00:43:48
Speaker
But I'm so glad that you talked about that. And I think that's just such a helpful number, the two to 5000 mark, you know, because you can attend a great in person conference, like the school styling, you know, if you save that much per month, right? So what's step three, that the speakers and the host of your workshop, this is something I become very, very aware of recently, just in things that I've seen online, people I've met,
00:44:15
Speaker
conferences, my friends have attended things like that. And we live in a wonderful digital age, but also unfortunately people can market themselves however they'd like. And so sometimes it, you know, you really have to do your homework and your research to make sure that the people that you are learning from are legit and are credible. And, and so I really, I think that
00:44:42
Speaker
doing your homework, embedding the experience itself, talk to past attendees, hop on the phone with the host or with the speaker, you know, really take your time. I offered 10 minute phone calls during early bird week and it was awesome to talk to people, but I also think it allows this level of transparency that maybe you went and get through an email or an Instagram post. So yeah, just be sure the people that you're learning from know their stuff.
00:45:12
Speaker
and are actually going to do the things that they say they're going to do and teach you the things they say they're going to teach. Absolutely. Especially since, as you mentioned earlier, there's a lot of really good marketers out there. That's important. That was step three, so step four. Determine what works best for you and your specific season of business and life.
00:45:33
Speaker
We kind of touched on this before, but if you are in a season where in-person or one-on-one coaching just isn't possible, then consider online. Again, if you're filtering it all through, what does success look like for me? What are my goals for this? And you're willing to take it seriously and implement it. It doesn't matter what you invest in because you will see change come from it. So yeah, just kind of determine what fits best for you right now.
00:45:58
Speaker
Yeah, and I love what you said there about, you know, it kind of, basically what you put into it is what you get out of it. That's probably more true for online education, because when you're in person, there might be other people around that kind of encourage you to take part. And there's some built in accountability there for online education, it's a little bit more on you. But if you put the work in, oftentimes, you'll get results out of it. Absolutely. Yeah. And what about step five?
00:46:23
Speaker
Yeah, so this kind of goes along with what you were just saying, but figure out what motivates you and your learning style. So one thing that I learned about when I started working with my business coach is the four tendencies. I don't know if you're familiar with Gretchen Rubin's four tendencies, but it's basically the four different ways that people are motivated to complete something.
00:46:46
Speaker
There's the upholder, obliger, rebel, and questioner, and you can take the quiz and figure out what you are, but basically it talks about how you meet expectations. Are you going to uphold something that both someone else has expected of you and you've expected of yourself? Are you going to resist both?
00:47:05
Speaker
are you more likely to uphold something if there's an external accountability? So knowing who you are as a person, as someone who works, I think that also just helps you in your work life in general. And then also how you like to learn. So for me, I'm very visual. I'm very hands on. I love to actually get in there and do it. If I'm learning about it, I want to do it with my hands. And so that I know for me is just a better
00:47:34
Speaker
learning style that works. And yeah, so know what motivates you in your learning style. Yeah, I've never I don't think I've ever heard of the four tendencies. I feel like usually I have a pretty good grasp on that stuff since I have a master's in education too. So I'm so interested in hearing about or learning more about that. I'll have to get a link from you so that people can take that quiz. I know I'm going to do that probably right after this this call here.
00:47:57
Speaker
But I'll put that in the show notes. So if you're interested in taking that quiz, figuring out which tendency you are, I'll make sure that that link is in the show notes. So check that out. So that's also, I really like how you broke those five steps down for people because education is an investment. I think regardless of where you are in your business, you kind of always have that question like, okay, if I spend the money on this,
00:48:20
Speaker
you know, it can make things really tight. Am I going to get the return on it? So, you know, I think that going through these five things will really help people figure out what's worth spending money on and what's not and give people a good guide for, you know, even how much they should spend on a given educational experience. Absolutely. And one thing, I mean, I tell people, you know, like you mentioned earlier, we both are educators, but
00:48:46
Speaker
I never ever want someone to attend the workshop who I don't feel like is a, I don't feel like the workshop is a good fit for them because if I'm just gunning for more ticket sales and I just want to fill up seats and they come and it is not the experience they needed. It's not, I've actually told people before, I don't think this is for you at this time. I don't think this is going to serve what you need.
00:49:12
Speaker
And I think it's really good to just have a good handle on all these different elements about who you are as a creator or an entrepreneur and what the experience or educational program is offering and what you need. But yes, education is so important and I hope that this encourages someone to go and, you know, either buy a book they've been meaning to buy or invest in that class or whatever that is.
00:49:36
Speaker
Yeah, it can be just such a really, really powerful tool. I think especially the in-person stuff. And I think ironically, you know, when online education started becoming a thing, people thought, oh, is this going to kill, you know, is this going to kill off all those in-person conferences? But I think we found the opposite is true, that people value the in-person experiences so much more.
00:49:57
Speaker
you know, after taking out online education, because there's just something about an in person experience that online can't quite replace as valuable as online experiences can be. You know, one thing I definitely want to touch on here as we wrap up is something that I talked about at the beginning of the episode here, you have a two year old, you have one on the way.
00:50:20
Speaker
Your lives are busy. You know, something that I didn't realize was going to be such a change was... And maybe this sounds ridiculous to some people but just having a kid, especially initially like, you know, Kristin and I are pretty disciplined people and I just kind of thought to myself, you know, you know, we're gonna have a baby and what's really gonna change? I mean, the baby's gonna sleep, eat and things, you know, and we're gonna change through diapers and that's what it's gonna be and that's fine and we'll just kind of go on living how we've...
00:50:48
Speaker
you know, usually live. And I just realized through the process that there's this whole demand on you now, you know, like your total self, especially for the women, you know, who are breastfeeding, just because there is, you know, like literally, that's how Jack our boys is, you know, his life is being sustained. Yeah, exactly.
00:51:07
Speaker
So I would love if you have any advice on just kind of what these transitions and different seasons of business, as you know, especially in light of becoming a parent, do you have any advice for people out there who are navigating through that?
Handling Life's Seasons and Self-care
00:51:21
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. So I think that we're all going to experience seasons of business in life that will look very different. So whether or not you are entering into parenthood, or you're, you know, you don't have kids, and you're, you're an entrepreneur, I mean, I think that there's
00:51:36
Speaker
Our businesses and our lives are always changing. And so it's good to try to prepare ourselves as much as possible for those season changes. And one thing, you know, even more recently, we've just hired somebody to do sales for Macalester Leftwich, which I have been doing up until this point and with the new baby coming and all of that, it's just, it's just too much with everything. And so I've, I've kind of like thought through what, what are things that I've done that we're trying to do?
00:52:06
Speaker
in order to prepare for these different seasons and shifts. And the first one, first thing is to have systems and processes in place for your business so that if someone needed to take over your role or the majority of your role, they would be able to, your business wouldn't stop. And I think that's one thing with the venue, especially I've realized like, what if we had a family emergency or what if something happened in all three of us, my mom, my husband and I all needed to be gone for two weeks, you know,
00:52:36
Speaker
What happened to the venue? Well, it could crash and burn, not literally, but you know, because we are the ones that everything is depending on. And so having a business that has systems in place that is streamlined will help you, especially if you were entering a season where you're like, you know what, I need to hand off these tasks. It will help you know what tasks to hand off, but it will help you
00:53:01
Speaker
when you need to hand things off, whether that's entering into maternity leave or whatnot, and then your business can still go on and function as normal. And it saves you time, like an interesting. And then I think also just being mentally prepared for seasons that, you know, I think there's a time where we are
00:53:19
Speaker
creating new ideas and then there's a time where we're investing them and then there's a time where we're seeing the benefits, we're reaping those benefits and the harvest of those and then there's a time where we have to prune back again and everything feels empty and we're like, what did I just do? How am I here again? But what's important to remember is that everything is just a season. If it's a season of crazy, it's just a season.
00:53:45
Speaker
And if it's a season where sales feel slow, like that's a season. And so having the right mental shift and expecting those different times where there's going to be great growth and there's going to be times where you prune back and you're wondering what's left. And I think that's okay to have all of those things. And then finally, taking care of yourself, which I'm not always the best at, but when I do things that are not work and not
00:54:12
Speaker
mothering my child that helped me stay creative and inspired. I have so much more to pour out because I have poured in. And so just even fighting for that in times where it does feel overwhelming or like you have nothing left to give. Maybe that's like a house project you've been wanting to do that would be really fun for you or
00:54:35
Speaker
going like I had to go to Target for two hours the other night by myself because I needed to get out of the house after Lucy had been sick all day and I came back home and I just felt like I had so much more head space and mental energy than I did when I left. So whatever that is and just taking care of yourself and trying to fight for space to be creative.
00:54:57
Speaker
I think that is just some sage wisdom and something that we've learned especially through becoming parents. Hiring somebody for instance, we've been talking about that for almost two years and Chris and I, we love what we do so we spend a lot of time on it and we consider ourselves pretty capable so we're able to get a lot of work done. But I think especially moving into the season of parenthood, any of those cracks in business that were just kind of cracks before.
00:55:25
Speaker
You know, now all of a sudden they seem a little bit greater than they were or a little bit more magnified. But I think, you know, what you're saying about seasons too, just so important and resonates and even in seasons of pruning, you know, you prune so that there can be greater growth, you know, down the road. I'm really glad that we had an opportunity to chat about this and I have a feeling that we could have spent the entire episode of just chatting about that and the different seasons of business and navigating that.
00:55:52
Speaker
I do want to mention for everybody listening that as we mentioned earlier in the episode, tickets for the school styling are still on sale. They will be on sale through October 3rd. You can go to the school styling website to purchase those tickets. Each workshop is going to be hosted in Greensboro.
00:56:09
Speaker
at the McAllister Leftwich House, and there are sessions in January, March, and July. And Chris and I will be speaking and leading two workshops at the January session. So if you sign up for that one, that's awesome because we'll get to meet in person in January at a beautiful venue. So be sure to check that out. But Caitlin, where can people learn more about you and follow along
00:56:36
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. So you can find us on Instagram at the school of styling and that, you know, there's links to all the workshop pages. If you have questions about the speakers or who the workshops are for, if it's a right fit for you, things like that, you can find a lot of that information there or on our website, the school of styling.com. And then I personally am at Caitlin K A I T L I N underscore Holland.
00:57:03
Speaker
And then the venue is McAllister Leftwich. And if you go to one of those places, most likely you'll see the other ones too. So everything, it's wonderful that we have this space that we can host the school of settling at, just having kids and growing our family. Made traveling for the workshops more and more challenging each time.
00:57:24
Speaker
We're excited to have them in Greensboro and welcome people at the Macalester Electric Child. So yeah, you can find me a deer. Yeah, well, thank you so much for sharing your time and your expertise today and talking through, I think, a subject that can sometimes be so complex for people trying to figure out what to invest in. So thank you for simplifying that for people. Oh, absolutely. I enjoyed it.
00:57:49
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in to the Brands That Book Show. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving a review in iTunes. For show notes and other resources, head on over to devianchrista.com.
00:58:12
Speaker
you