Meeting Grandma Mary has been a dream of mine ever since I was a social media intern at Adventures Within Reach, scrambling to learn everything I could and impress my new bosses. I remember poring over the Social Media Examiner, then logging onto Facebook every Friday to make sure my company’s page got a chance to post on Grandma Mary’s ‘Follow Friday,’ stream. It took me quite awhile before I realized my two favorite content providers were one and the same, and let me tell you, I was shocked. I was even more surprised to learn that Grandma lived in Boulder, Colorado, right down the street from our door on Pearl St.
Walking in the door of the Brewery Market this morning I was all nerves. I couldn’t even sleep last night, imagining all the questions I had for this woman. Andrea has put her heart, soul and mind into her work, and whether she was on Facebook or Saturday Night Live (it’s hard to tell which sometimes from her Youtube interviews), I think she would be a raving success. My goal was to uncover what is it that makes her hit the target when I, and so many other social media consultants, have missed the mark.
Is it that she has a brain for business? Or that she’s just a digital genius? Well, maybe, but I think she has something even better going for her. She keeps it simple and makes bold moves.
There is nothing fancy about Grandma Mary. While I always imagined her hiring a skilled cameraman to conduct her interviews with some of the industry’s top stars (like Guy Kawasaki), I found out today that she just grabs the nearest bystander. I love it!
The woman, like her elderly alter ego, is practical. When I met her she had just gotten off crosswalk duty, volunteering to make sure her kids and their friends are safe from Boulder’s iPhone obsessed drivers. My first thought was, “You have kids!?” The woman seems to do it all.
Sitting down with her I whipped out my little yellow legal pad, prepared to ask as many questions as my courage could stand. Instead, she thoughtfully asked me about myself (every Boulderite’s greatest weakness). She seemed genuinely interested in hearing my story, which went on just a bit too long due to my tendency to talk a lot when I’m under pressure.
One of my most pressing questions for Andrea was how she got started in this industry. It turns out, she was a wine and vitamin seller, earning commissions and learning just a little bit about sales along the way. When she finally got into social media, it was her first business and she went to the bank for help.
Do you see what I mean? Simple. She got Escorp status right away, since she knew she would eventually grow to that size (and bold!). However, she suggested just starting out with an LLC., since you can eventually change your business to an Escorp if it grows later on. With an LLC., you can issue business checks, which give your business an air of professionalism. Plus, every time you get a new client you simply issue them a 1099 tax document with your spiffy new tax number. I can already feel the oDesk shackles loosening their hold!
Here’s an interesting aside. Businesses without an LLC are susceptible to being sued. Moi? Well, as Andrea pointed out, if I posted a comment or tweet that the company could blame the loss of their business on, all of my possessions (which would be my computer and my ukulele at the moment) could be seized. An LLC prevents this from happening. My ukulele is safe (for now).
She also recommended using FreshBooks, freeware to track expenses and the business version of TurboTax when you first get started. She admitted asking all of her clients to pay with checks, since she wasn’t sure of the best way to track cash and knew some of them were not tech savvy enough to figure out PayPal.
Ah, finally, information a freewheeling freelancer like myself can use! So, I jumped into the nitty gritty and asked her how much I should charge. Dun dun dun.... Immediately, I apologized, “Oh, I am so sorry to ask you this, is that too personal?” She smiled, warmly, and assured me it was an important question. This is one I simply have not been able to find a straight answer to on the Internet, despite searching feverishly for years. Some sites suggest $15 an hour, others suggest $1000 per day or more, and I have absolutely no idea where my skills fall into the range.
She told me not to work for less than $35 per hour. Relief. I think I heard birds start singing. She went on to say really, $50 per hour is a decent rate. She pointed out that I am paying for my computer, supplies, health insurance, shelter, taxes, training... and coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. The business who is hiring me isn’t paying for any of these things. She brought up meeting John Marrow, who works for CopyBlogger and charges $1000 a day for his consulting services. Of course, my eyes turned into dollar signs and I had to ask her for more information.
One thing I have faced in this business is several clients asking me to ‘just do it for them.’ This approach is dead opposite of what consulting is all about, and Andrea agrees. She said that she is shying away from the ‘done for you’ method herself, however if she does make time for it she ensures she is paid adequately.
For those who want to pay $250 a month, she suggests providing something like a post or tweet a day. It takes time to research content to post on a business’ page and time to get to know a business enough to take over their voice online. So, this is the bare minimum. For those who want to pay $1000 a month she suggests 10 tweets a day and LinkedIn management.
At this point, Andrea is an angel in my eyes. While we are talking about relatively insignificant numbers, she is pulling back the curtain and revealing that this is not nearly as complicated as I was making it out to be.
Of course, there are some clients who balk at her rates. Small brick and mortar companies don’t want to spend $25 on marketing, much less five times that. So, she asks them to consider how much their time is worth. Andrea readily admits that everything she teaches is freely available on the Internet. The question is, how much time does a busy entrepreneur have to teach themselves social media? Well, she assures her clients that she can save them 10 hours of time learning techniques with a 45 minute session. How could they refuse? Well, some do.
In this case, I personally tend to get a little steamed. Don’t ask me why, I just get miffed when anyone tells me no. Andrea on the other hand takes it in stride. She actually refers them to blogs and sites where they can access some great social media information... and she’s not surprised when the come back feeling daunted by the task.
So, how do her sessions run? Well, she starts out providing everyone with a complimentary 15 minute session. She had one woman fire one question after another at her for 15 minutes solid and then hang up. Others try to push the session, either e-mailing more questions or asking, “just one more.” She politely cuts them off and tells them that if they are interested it might be time to schedule a consultation.
Sitting across from her, it’s hard to imagine anyone saying no to such a pragmatic, sage countenance. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask her if she does these fifteen minute consultations as Grandma...
What does she offer to those who jump in. Well, you’ll have to book a session to find out.
Working in the industry does give her the most current, up to date information to then give her clients directly. She has some great posts explaining the most recent Facebook frustrations for business page owners, and immediately provides solutions to tackle the issues head-on so that businesses can keep seeing profits from their pages.
Spending nearly a year to set up her business, taking the occasional client but rarely getting paid she advised working on developing a strong e-mail list and blog first. At this point much of her work is marketing itself.
At this point, Andrea states that she is free to redirect much of her time to focus on delivering her latest income sources: products like books, webinars, speaking engagements and social media manager training courses. One of my favorite things about Grandma Mary is how much time she spends actually promoting herself, instead of continually focusing her efforts on the businesses she’s paid to promote. From the outside it looks like a lot, but it turns out she guest blogs a bit and sends out a once-weekly newsletter, but otherwise her business comes to her, not the other way around. She also gets paid for her 6-7 hours a week as the community manager of the Social Media Examiner.
She did take the time to address the difficulty of ‘saying ‘no.’ Basically, you need to focus on what is going to be the most profitable for your business, even if that means letting some clients go, including those who are requesting anything ‘viral,’ big bucks or not!
Finally, I had to ask her, is this worth it? She told me the truth. “It’s tough, so you really have to love it.” When she goes on vacation, which is more often than her husband with his allotted days off, she can schedule a few Tweets a day or unplug entirely. She is free during the day to watch her “kids’ mid-afternoon concert or go to a school Halloween party, even if that means staying up at night or working over the weekend.” Andrea did confess that she has her moments of self-doubt, hard to believe from the creator of such a tough bird as Grandma Mary. “Somedays you just want to open a shop,” particularly when clients don’t appreciate your intangible service, but she still puts in at least eight hours a day.
One of my favorite videos by Grandma Mary is the one she delivered at the Fort Collins Ignite presentation night. She started her presentation by telling the audience to “let their light shine,” and reminding them, “it’s okay to be different.”
Here is a woman who takes her own advice. Daring to be different, creating an opportunity to use her love of teaching and knack for tech has made her business profitable. Her ability to simplify, yet make bold moves, is admirable.
One of my favorite quotes is by Mark Twain, who said, “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” Walking away from Andrea, I truly felt I could stand taller and be greater at what I choose to do.
You can find Grandma herself on Facebook or at www.andreavahl.com. Let me know what you've done to get creative with your business!
Walking in the door of the Brewery Market this morning I was all nerves. I couldn’t even sleep last night, imagining all the questions I had for this woman. Andrea has put her heart, soul and mind into her work, and whether she was on Facebook or Saturday Night Live (it’s hard to tell which sometimes from her Youtube interviews), I think she would be a raving success. My goal was to uncover what is it that makes her hit the target when I, and so many other social media consultants, have missed the mark.
Is it that she has a brain for business? Or that she’s just a digital genius? Well, maybe, but I think she has something even better going for her. She keeps it simple and makes bold moves.
There is nothing fancy about Grandma Mary. While I always imagined her hiring a skilled cameraman to conduct her interviews with some of the industry’s top stars (like Guy Kawasaki), I found out today that she just grabs the nearest bystander. I love it!
The woman, like her elderly alter ego, is practical. When I met her she had just gotten off crosswalk duty, volunteering to make sure her kids and their friends are safe from Boulder’s iPhone obsessed drivers. My first thought was, “You have kids!?” The woman seems to do it all.
Sitting down with her I whipped out my little yellow legal pad, prepared to ask as many questions as my courage could stand. Instead, she thoughtfully asked me about myself (every Boulderite’s greatest weakness). She seemed genuinely interested in hearing my story, which went on just a bit too long due to my tendency to talk a lot when I’m under pressure.
One of my most pressing questions for Andrea was how she got started in this industry. It turns out, she was a wine and vitamin seller, earning commissions and learning just a little bit about sales along the way. When she finally got into social media, it was her first business and she went to the bank for help.
Do you see what I mean? Simple. She got Escorp status right away, since she knew she would eventually grow to that size (and bold!). However, she suggested just starting out with an LLC., since you can eventually change your business to an Escorp if it grows later on. With an LLC., you can issue business checks, which give your business an air of professionalism. Plus, every time you get a new client you simply issue them a 1099 tax document with your spiffy new tax number. I can already feel the oDesk shackles loosening their hold!
Here’s an interesting aside. Businesses without an LLC are susceptible to being sued. Moi? Well, as Andrea pointed out, if I posted a comment or tweet that the company could blame the loss of their business on, all of my possessions (which would be my computer and my ukulele at the moment) could be seized. An LLC prevents this from happening. My ukulele is safe (for now).
She also recommended using FreshBooks, freeware to track expenses and the business version of TurboTax when you first get started. She admitted asking all of her clients to pay with checks, since she wasn’t sure of the best way to track cash and knew some of them were not tech savvy enough to figure out PayPal.
Ah, finally, information a freewheeling freelancer like myself can use! So, I jumped into the nitty gritty and asked her how much I should charge. Dun dun dun.... Immediately, I apologized, “Oh, I am so sorry to ask you this, is that too personal?” She smiled, warmly, and assured me it was an important question. This is one I simply have not been able to find a straight answer to on the Internet, despite searching feverishly for years. Some sites suggest $15 an hour, others suggest $1000 per day or more, and I have absolutely no idea where my skills fall into the range.
She told me not to work for less than $35 per hour. Relief. I think I heard birds start singing. She went on to say really, $50 per hour is a decent rate. She pointed out that I am paying for my computer, supplies, health insurance, shelter, taxes, training... and coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. The business who is hiring me isn’t paying for any of these things. She brought up meeting John Marrow, who works for CopyBlogger and charges $1000 a day for his consulting services. Of course, my eyes turned into dollar signs and I had to ask her for more information.
One thing I have faced in this business is several clients asking me to ‘just do it for them.’ This approach is dead opposite of what consulting is all about, and Andrea agrees. She said that she is shying away from the ‘done for you’ method herself, however if she does make time for it she ensures she is paid adequately.
For those who want to pay $250 a month, she suggests providing something like a post or tweet a day. It takes time to research content to post on a business’ page and time to get to know a business enough to take over their voice online. So, this is the bare minimum. For those who want to pay $1000 a month she suggests 10 tweets a day and LinkedIn management.
At this point, Andrea is an angel in my eyes. While we are talking about relatively insignificant numbers, she is pulling back the curtain and revealing that this is not nearly as complicated as I was making it out to be.
Of course, there are some clients who balk at her rates. Small brick and mortar companies don’t want to spend $25 on marketing, much less five times that. So, she asks them to consider how much their time is worth. Andrea readily admits that everything she teaches is freely available on the Internet. The question is, how much time does a busy entrepreneur have to teach themselves social media? Well, she assures her clients that she can save them 10 hours of time learning techniques with a 45 minute session. How could they refuse? Well, some do.
In this case, I personally tend to get a little steamed. Don’t ask me why, I just get miffed when anyone tells me no. Andrea on the other hand takes it in stride. She actually refers them to blogs and sites where they can access some great social media information... and she’s not surprised when the come back feeling daunted by the task.
So, how do her sessions run? Well, she starts out providing everyone with a complimentary 15 minute session. She had one woman fire one question after another at her for 15 minutes solid and then hang up. Others try to push the session, either e-mailing more questions or asking, “just one more.” She politely cuts them off and tells them that if they are interested it might be time to schedule a consultation.
Sitting across from her, it’s hard to imagine anyone saying no to such a pragmatic, sage countenance. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask her if she does these fifteen minute consultations as Grandma...
What does she offer to those who jump in. Well, you’ll have to book a session to find out.
Working in the industry does give her the most current, up to date information to then give her clients directly. She has some great posts explaining the most recent Facebook frustrations for business page owners, and immediately provides solutions to tackle the issues head-on so that businesses can keep seeing profits from their pages.
Spending nearly a year to set up her business, taking the occasional client but rarely getting paid she advised working on developing a strong e-mail list and blog first. At this point much of her work is marketing itself.
At this point, Andrea states that she is free to redirect much of her time to focus on delivering her latest income sources: products like books, webinars, speaking engagements and social media manager training courses. One of my favorite things about Grandma Mary is how much time she spends actually promoting herself, instead of continually focusing her efforts on the businesses she’s paid to promote. From the outside it looks like a lot, but it turns out she guest blogs a bit and sends out a once-weekly newsletter, but otherwise her business comes to her, not the other way around. She also gets paid for her 6-7 hours a week as the community manager of the Social Media Examiner.
She did take the time to address the difficulty of ‘saying ‘no.’ Basically, you need to focus on what is going to be the most profitable for your business, even if that means letting some clients go, including those who are requesting anything ‘viral,’ big bucks or not!
Finally, I had to ask her, is this worth it? She told me the truth. “It’s tough, so you really have to love it.” When she goes on vacation, which is more often than her husband with his allotted days off, she can schedule a few Tweets a day or unplug entirely. She is free during the day to watch her “kids’ mid-afternoon concert or go to a school Halloween party, even if that means staying up at night or working over the weekend.” Andrea did confess that she has her moments of self-doubt, hard to believe from the creator of such a tough bird as Grandma Mary. “Somedays you just want to open a shop,” particularly when clients don’t appreciate your intangible service, but she still puts in at least eight hours a day.
One of my favorite videos by Grandma Mary is the one she delivered at the Fort Collins Ignite presentation night. She started her presentation by telling the audience to “let their light shine,” and reminding them, “it’s okay to be different.”
Here is a woman who takes her own advice. Daring to be different, creating an opportunity to use her love of teaching and knack for tech has made her business profitable. Her ability to simplify, yet make bold moves, is admirable.
One of my favorite quotes is by Mark Twain, who said, “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” Walking away from Andrea, I truly felt I could stand taller and be greater at what I choose to do.
You can find Grandma herself on Facebook or at www.andreavahl.com. Let me know what you've done to get creative with your business!
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