977: Showing Up Mid-Shift & Getting Consistent with Your Content

Summary

Strategy Hour | Episode 977: Showing Up Mid-Shift & Getting Consistent with Your Content

Host: Abagail Pumphrey, CEO of Boss Project
Guest: Latoya Chanel McCrary, CEO and Principal Event Strategist of Chanel and Company
Release Date: August 5, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode 977 of the Strategy Hour, host Abagail Pumphrey engages in a comprehensive live coaching session with Latoya Chanel McCrary. Latoya, an experienced event strategist transitioning her business to cater more towards small businesses and entrepreneurs, seeks guidance on enhancing her online presence and content consistency during this pivotal shift.

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Business Transition: From Corporate to Small Businesses

Latoya begins by outlining her extensive background in managing corporate events and her motivation to expand her clientele to include entrepreneurs and small businesses. She emphasizes the desire to leverage her 20 years of experience to help smaller entities create immersive brand experiences.

• Latoya (04:34): "With me having like 20 years experience with managing corporate meetings and events, I'm now translating that to work more so...with entrepreneurs and small businesses."

Key Points:

• Dual Clientele Maintenance: Latoya plans to continue servicing corporate clients while introducing specialized services for small businesses.
• New Service Introduction: Launching "Brand Experience," a service designed to help small businesses immerse their audience into their brand through strategic, multisensory events.
• Website Relaunch: Announcing a new website to unveil these offerings, slated for August.

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Defining the Target Audience and Pricing Strategy

Abagail and Latoya delve into identifying the ideal client profile and establishing appropriate pricing structures to attract businesses that can afford and benefit from her services.

• Abagail (06:17): "I want you to not waste your time attracting people that aren't. It's just not going to be a good fit for you."

Key Points:

• Client Financials: Target businesses making between $264,000 and $792,000 annually to ensure they can comfortably invest in Latoya's services.
• Service Tiers: Offering full event management alongside consultation services like "Brand Power Hours" for businesses needing strategic guidance without full-scale planning.
• Avoiding Needy Clients: Focusing on clients who are organized and ready to invest, rather than those who are overwhelmed and require excessive support.

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Enhancing Online Presence and Content Strategy

A significant portion of the discussion centers on optimizing Latoya’s social media presence to attract her new target audience effectively.

• Abagail (25:50): "It's not you. So often, especially when what we're selling is visual, we have to worry less about what we're saying and worry more about showing people what we do."

Key Points:

• Show, Don’t Tell: Emphasizing the importance of visual content that showcases ongoing projects, behind-the-scenes activities, and completed events to demonstrate expertise and attract clients.
• Platform Prioritization:
  • LinkedIn: Primary focus for networking and engaging with corporate clients and serious entrepreneurs.
  • Instagram: Ideal for visual portfolios and showcasing event aesthetics.
  • TikTok: Leveraging for short, engaging clips that can be repurposed across platforms.
• Content Consistency: Regular posting to maintain visibility and ensure Latoya remains top-of-mind for potential clients.

Notable Quote:

• Abagail (39:27): "If no one saw it, then no one saw it. And so, like, if you said the wrong thing and it didn't land, then no one saw it."

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Implementing Effective Social Media Techniques

Abagail provides actionable advice on how Latoya can create engaging content without overwhelming herself or diluting her brand.

• Abagail (42:31): "Here's three different brand events that I've seen in the entrepreneurial space and this one did a retreat and this one did an in-person conference and this one did a one day..."

Key Points:

• Content Buckets: Organizing content into categories such as past event showcases, current trends, testimonials, and storytelling to streamline content creation.
• Collaborative Posting: Tagging vendors and partners to expand reach and tap into their audiences.
• Interactive Content: Engaging the audience through polls and decision-making scenarios (e.g., choosing venue setups) to foster community involvement.

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Overcoming Content Creation Barriers

Latoya expresses concerns about maintaining authenticity and consistency without overcomplicating her content creation process. Abagail reassures her that imperfect but consistent posting is more beneficial than striving for perfection and avoiding posting altogether.

• Abagail (39:40): "So just say something else. Keep showing up. Like in two days it's going to be buried and they're not going to see it anyway."

Key Points:

• Focus on Action: Encouraging Latoya to prioritize showcasing her work over crafting perfect messages.
• Real-Time Sharing: Utilizing live events and behind-the-scenes glimpses to provide genuine and engaging content.
• Content Repurposing: Maximizing content utility by adapting it across multiple platforms to save time and effort.

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Streamlining Event Platforms and Focus

Towards the end of the episode, Latoya discusses managing multiple event platforms and the challenges of maintaining consistent engagement across diverse audiences. Abagail advises focusing on platforms that align closely with her primary target audience to prevent dilution of efforts.

• Abagail (54:37): "There's a movement away from people having pages that are specific brands and there's a movement towards people being people."

Key Points:

• Platform Consolidation: Suggesting Latoya narrow her focus to platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram, which better serve her entrepreneurial and corporate clients.
• Selective Engagement: Advising against spreading resources too thin across unrelated platforms and audiences.
• Quality Over Quantity: Emphasizing the importance of meaningful interactions over maintaining numerous community events that may not directly contribute to business growth.

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Conclusion and Takeaways

Abagail wraps up the session by reinforcing the importance of consistency, authenticity, and strategic focus in content creation and audience engagement. She urges Latoya to continue showcasing her existing work as a testament to her expertise while gradually integrating her new offerings to attract the desired clientele.

• Abagail (59:37): "Let's do it. Show more of your work out loud."

Final Insights:

• Visibility Equals Opportunities: Regular and authentic content increases the likelihood of being top-of-mind when potential clients seek event management services.
• Balance Creativity and Strategy: Allowing creative freedom within a strategic framework ensures both brand integrity and effective audience targeting.
• Community Building: Engaging with the right communities on LinkedIn and other prioritized platforms fosters trust and positions Latoya as a go-to expert in the event management space.

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Notable Quotes:

• Abagail (00:00): "You showing proof of your work and the quality of your work is going to hold as much weight as someone saying they liked working with you."
• Latoya (14:33): "I feel community is huge. So in order to connect to your audience, your community, you, I feel you should be in person."
• Abagail (27:00): "You're not trying to sell your services, stop trying to abandon corporate."

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Through this insightful coaching session, Latoya gains clarity on refining her business strategy, enhancing her online presence, and effectively targeting the right audience. Strategy Hour Episode 977 serves as a valuable guide for entrepreneurs navigating business transitions and striving for consistent content engagement.

Transcript

[Abigail Pumphrey]

You showing proof of your work and the quality of your work is going to hold as much weight as someone saying they liked working with you.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Welcome to the Strategy Hour Podcast brought to you by Boss Project. I'm your host Abigail Pumphrey and I'm dedicated to supporting online businesses. I don't believe in one right way.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

To build a business.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

I'm here to help you build business your way, one that supports not only.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

The life you have, but the life you want.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

I'm on a personal mission to help you become financially free.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

I'm taking all the lessons learned as.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

I turned a layoff into a seven figure online business. I'm here to help you prioritize your life every step of the way. Whether you're creating your first digital product, growing an email list, or scaling an already profitable business.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Settle in.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

It's time to talk strategy.

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[Abigail Pumphrey]

Today'S episode, I am live coaching Latoya Chanel. She runs an events company where she produces both small and large scale events for primarily corporate clients. But she's looking to transition and add in more small businesses to her clientele base. So in today's episode, we're talking about how to show up and what it looks like to continue to bring people along with how you are evolving as a small business. I really think I gave her some tough love, but it is going to be such a good reminder for those of you who are feeling like you're not consistently showing up online and you know that you want to be more visible, but you're just not sure where to start. I am confident today's episode is going to give you so many ideas, and I cannot wait to see the results of you implementing those. Latoya, Latoya, welcome to the show.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Thank you, Abigail. It's a pleasure to be here.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

I am looking forward to diving into the behind the scenes of your business. This whole episode started because I had taken another member of our community and brought her on the show to kind of dissect and work on a specific topic behind the scenes with her. And at the time, we were talking specifically about ultimately all the things I would do if I was growing her podcast. And I popped into the group after I recorded it, and I said, is there anyone else who's interested in this sort of kind of coaching forward episode? And you raised your hand and specifically mentioned that you wanted to dive into how to show up when you're in the midst of transition. But I'd love to hear from your perspective what's going on behind the scenes with your business and, like, why are you feeling disjointed from where you want to go next?

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Sure. Okay. So my name is Latoya Chanel McCrary, and I am the CEO and principal event strategist of an event management and marketing agency called Chanel and company. So we manage events, conferences, etc. For mostly like corporate events and conferences. And then also we're really delving into the brands like entrepreneurs and small business owners. So with me having like 20 years experience with managing corporate meetings and events, I'm now translating that to work more so, not more so, I'm sorry. To work with entrepreneurs and small businesses. So how do you do that? Transition, how do you show up without alienating one of your audiences is kind of has gotten me stuck. I'm also bringing these new services for small businesses and entrepreneurs called the Brand Experience. So with that new service is like rolling that out, launching that out. How do I do that? How do I show up? So that is the reason for me, like, kind of just needing guidance on how to show up, why I'm still evolving. I will also say really quickly that I have a website that should a new website that is launching. I want to say in August that is, you know, revealing these new brands options that I have or offers rather.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

So tell me a little bit about why you want to work more with small businesses and does that mean you want to stop doing altogether working with corporate, do less of that or maintain that and then add this on?

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Definitely maintain that. I absolutely love working with corporations and organizations for their various meetings and conferences. But why not utilize that experience and knowledge to help the small business owner who is struggling with truly immersing people, their audience into their brand. So the events that we do are not standard, they're strategic and they're very multisensory immersive experiences. I feel that will by having a immersive experience for your brands you're really connecting with your audience one on one. And what we're talking about are in person events. You can show up online all day. I totally get that. But it's nothing like connecting with that audience one on one. So I would definitely maintain it but I just really my background also since 2008 has been hosting like these networking events and building about three different type of communities that focus on entrepreneurs and I just really want to help them from that aspect of let's market your brand with an experience, you know.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Yeah. So how is that process different than your current process? Like are you thinking it's a different scale, a different process, a different price point? What's different?

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

All of the above is definitely like me really showing up more myself to buying these different small business owners and entrepreneurs that are serious and ready to scale their business I guess. But more so not scale but more so promote their business in a unique way. It'll definitely be a different price point for sure because I do, I understand that everyone can't pay 30 to $50,000 etc because it's not a corporate event. We have, there's different budgets I guess if you will. And then I am also I'm doing these consultations that I don't typically do with corporate. So a lot of times business owners, they don't know where to start. They maybe they've never created an experience before. They maybe they've never had a retreat, a conference, etc. A workshop. So I'm doing these clarity, I call them brand power hours. So they're clarity calls about around any topic that involves events. Events is a wide gamut as you know, different elements it takes to put that together. There's different processes, different steps rather so some people, they might come, they have no idea, they maybe never thought of doing experience. Okay. Let's just sit down for one hour, power hour, and talk through it. So there's different techniques for sure versus corporate. Like they usually know exactly what they want and we're sitting down and it's not really even a sit down for sure. It is like objectives and all that. But I'm really going, you know, I'm just getting right in there with creating the conference. And they already kind of have their experience. So it's about teaching one audience while the audience like the other audience already has like the knowledge, if that makes sense.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Okay, sure. How are your current clients finding you current clients?

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Well, a variety of ways. One from website, of course, word of mouth. And then also I work with third party agencies that connect corporations with a, what is called we are a supplier. So I work with a third party word of mouth and I would say social media to a certain extent as well. So direct website or social media, what.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Percentage of that is coming from the third party recommendation?

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

I would say a good 50 to 60%.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Okay, that's kind of what I expected. Okay, well, you have a lot of balls in the air and I think there's a lot of directions this could go. And ultimately I want to help you define like not only a path moving forward, but mostly a framework for you to continuously revisit to make sure things feel in alignment and that you're moving in the direction that makes the most sense for you and your goals and how you want to continue to show up and help people. I totally get the passion for small businesses. I obviously share a very similar passion in a different way. But I'm curious why you felt this call to serve a different audience in a different way. What about it was attractive to you? And is it because you think there's a growth opportunity there or is it because you felt like there was an underserved market or what? What's the motivation?

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

I would say both. Again, I do think there's a growth market for it and I do think it's underserved. I feel like that something that does and can set me apart because so not only do I plan events for clients, I host events, so which I kind of already touched on with the networking. So when I'm having these conversations with these entrepreneurs, they are telling me like, you know, I'm doing the same old, same old social media, etc. But it's not really bringing about. I'm not really able to connect to my community. I feel community is huge. So in order to connect to your audience, your community, you, I feel you should be in person. And now, you know it's post pandemic. Right.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

People are craving that.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Yes, they're craving that connection. But it's also a way to build trust and credibility. So I feel that. No, I think it's definitely untapped. I don't feel that other event agencies go after or try to help, I guess entrepreneurs. And I also, as I put in there, influencers and content creators as well. That's a huge, hugely growing, growing market.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Yeah. To kind of get a better idea of who you're ultimately going to be able to serve, tell me a little bit about location and price point. Are you one, serving clients like very locally to you or are you serving people all over the country? What does that look like? And then two, if you were to do an event that's somewhere between 20 to 100 people, I realize that's a large gamut, but if it was a one day event, what is sort of like the average cost not for your services but like for all the other rentals and location and food and that kind of thing, what is sort of the average price point for that?

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Can you repeat that first question, please?

[Abigail Pumphrey]

So the first question is where, like are you doing it all in your city or are you serving people all over the country? Like, what's your location?

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Yes. Okay. So my experience is worldwide. However the main focus is nationwide. Now that's again with corporate, but even with entrepreneurs. When I do host these various events, specifically of course virtual, it is a nationwide outreach, I guess you can say. So I am planning to continue that as far as attracting clients nationwide as well. Travel wherever, wherever they are hosting. And I can't just say a workshop with like.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Yeah, there's lots of different types of experience or what have you.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Right. It just really. Yeah, like again it's like more so of the immersive experience. Experience. So a 10, a 20 to 100 person, like I would say to your budget for event management needs to be at least $3,000. I would say three to five thousand actually.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

But not, I'm not talking about your services, I'm talking about the cost of the event. How much does the event cost on the low end at say 20 people and on the high end it's a hundred people.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

That varies. It really does because it depends on what the type of it it is. That's why, you know, pricing always is tricky. I would say for immersive of this scale, I would say between 5 to $10,000.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Okay. On the low end, yes. Okay. And then if you were to do a hundred people. What's sort of like your typical costs look like? Is it 30, 50?

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

No, I would say 10 to. Again, depends on the experience.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Oh, totally. I'm not. This is not you quoting somebody.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Right.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

This is just to understand how much people have to be willing to spend.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

I would say 10 to 20.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Okay. 10 to 20. Okay. So I think conservatively, just to make sure that you're attracting the kind of clients that can actually work with you.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Right, right.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Because I guarantee you there's going to be a whole slew of people that would love to work with you but cannot afford to put on an experience like this. And so regardless of your services, I think it sounds like they need to be willing to spend at least 10 between a low cost of. If we did like the least expensive event possible, plus your services, I would say at least 10 and then probably upwards of 30 if we did conference. Right, right.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Retreat, et cetera. Yes, right.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

So if we're looking for someone to spend between 10 and 30 as a kind of goal, we need to understand what level of business can afford that. Right. So a good rule of thumb is people tend to not want to spend or they can't comfortably spend more than 15% of whatever their income is during a given time period. And so let's say they are going to do the low end. Right. And they need to be able to pay this and I'd say like three payments. Okay. So let's just assume 3333. Right. $3333 a month for three months. So to reverse engineer how much they need to be making, you could take that number and divide it by 15 and then multiply it times 100 to understand that that business needs to be making $22,000 a month to be able to reasonably afford to invest in your services. And that's assuming they're breaking it in payments. If they were going to pay that all at once, the math on that is closer to $66,000 a month. So we're wanting someone who's making at least 22 times 12, someone making between 264,000 and 792,000 a year. So this is really. You're not. You're not talking to someone who is running a newer business. They need to be making at least a quarter of a million dollars, ideally well on their way to half or three quarters of a million. On the low end, like the clients that are going to do the really kind of like outlandish fun events are probably a small business that is making two, three, five million dollars a year, which is a dramatically different person. And so how you have to show up for that person is different than showing up for someone who is interested in dabbling in events and who like, is curious about that and would love to include that in, in their future. Because a lot of those people that are newer than that or have a business that's smaller than that, realistically, they're going to have to completely handle event management on their own and get really scrappy with costs and all of those things. And so I want you to not waste your time attracting people that aren't. It's just not going to be a good fit for you and it's ultimately going to cost you more to like take on the leads that don't really do anything. And then you're just like wasting a bunch of time. So I want you to be thinking about how can I, instead of like abandoning corporate.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

No, not at all.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Right. How can I talk to someone who is either in a corporate position or is treating their small business like a growing company? Because those are not the same thing as like someone who's running a hobby and is interested in growing a community and all those things.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Exactly.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

They are actively growing a company and adding a one on one experience is gonna like up the ante in terms of community connectedness and it's going to help them get reoccurring clients and potentially they could use that as a stage to sell them on something if they wanted to. So with those kind of things in mind, I think that's really going to affect the language you use. Right. Because you are going to not want to talk down to these people. It's going to be really important that you're talking with confidence and that you're talking to someone who knows an event is on the horizon for this year and they've already got the plan in place and want to do it, but don't know when they're going to have time to manage putting together all the logistics. You want to talk to someone who's ready to be doing that kind of thing and the only reason they haven't pulled the trigger is because they don't have the time. They do have the financial resources. So when you're talking to someone who has a lack of time versus a lack of money, the way you talk to them is really different. And so when you're speaking to that person, you want to speak to the things they already know that they want and just continue to highlight that you understand that they want them and you're the shortcut to that kind of end game. But I think the misnomer is, in terms of how you show up is that you aren't necessarily waiting for a perfect website or a perfect kind of pitch deck or the whole vision cast it. Because if you work with a business that's of a smaller scale, that's in that, you know, half a million dollar to a million dollar range, they are going to have different needs, they're going to have different ones, they're going to have stars and like want an amazing experience, but also have no idea how much that costs. And so your goal is to show up as the expert that's kind of like leading them forward. Right. And so you don't have to have a website put together. The thing that's kind of different about 2025 versus 2015 is 2015. People would search and, or ask friends or colleagues, hey, who do you know? And they would then go, and first stop, stop number one would be your website. Does your website professionally represent you, the kinds of services you offer and what you're ultimately putting out into the world? That is no longer the case. You could have literally no website and still get hired on a regular basis in 2025, as long as you're taking people along the journey. And so you need to consider your social media, a combination of things. It is going to be the behind the scenes of how you're running your business. It's going to be the inspiration to get people excited about investing in this opportunity. But it's also your portfolio. And so you're, you're going to have to really showcase your work on a more regular basis. I was recently having a conversation with a brand photographer about her social media presence. And I was like, you know, I went to your social and looked around and I could tell like you cared about brand and you cared about business, but I couldn't tell at all that you were currently taking photos for your clients. And she was like mortified. I was like, I'm not, don't, don't be upset about it. I said, how many shoots have you had this year? And I think she said 40 or something like that. I was like, you've done 40 shoots and I have no idea that you're even actively shooting on social. And she's like, I see the problem. And so I think in a very similar manner, if you're a booked and busy event planner, people need to see you booked and busy. And so it's less about what you're Even saying sometimes as much as you're showing that you're doing the damn thing and so you showing even if they're not fancy photos, just like behind the scenes of like we're setting up for 150 person event today. We're in X city. We're so excited to be in X venue. These are the partners. Like you might mention some of the other vendors and tag them in it. I would be doing a lot of collaboration posts with those partners to get in front of their audiences. If someone's getting linens from one place and then they see you're an event planner, the next time someone's looking they might be like, oh wait, I think they worked with an event planner. We should like check into that. So I think that's a really big opportunity. But going to your social. I bopped around and I could tell you were doing networking events because of some of the posts that were up there. But I looked at the frequency and.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

It was like it's bad, it's. Oh it's bad.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

It's not great, girl.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

I mean I'm not on there at all, you know. You know, focus on corporate. Corporate does not care about Instagram for real. But I know like if I am being more focused in a way, right? Small businesses, etc. Then I have to show up way more. And on TikTok is what I'm looking at as well.

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[Abigail Pumphrey]

There.

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[Abigail Pumphrey]

Yeah, I mean, to an extent, yes. And to say corporate's not looking at it isn't totally true. Like I'm sure you're busy, but you could be busier than you can handle if you were consistently showing the quality of events you're already doing. And so I think the problem is when you're going to look at social, you're thinking about what do I need to say? You're thinking about how do I sell my services. Stop. Like, it's not you. So often, especially when what we're selling is visual, we have to worry less about what we're saying and worry more about showing people what we do. And so it could be a shitty iPhone video of you just walking through a conference room that's got the flowers and the setup and the conference book and the whatever and that's, that's enough. Like it doesn't, you don't have to say the right thing. You can say something as simple as we're in X city and we just put together an event for X number of people and it's going to go great and then like do like a recap after the fact. And if you have, if they had booked a professional photographer or something like that for their event, you showing several images from that photographer and tagging the photographer and mentioning what you're doing, that's going to get you way further faster. And it's also less.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Less effort.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Like I think we think we have to put on a show. We have to say the thing polished, right? We have to like put ourselves out There in a way that works. And the businesses that are going the fastest are the ones that are building out loud. Like, they are showing their process, they are showing the end game. They are showing all of the steps in between. They're vulnerable. You could even talk about. And it's going to be easier to do it kind of like in real time. But like, oh my gosh, our caterer is sick. Like, we're scrambling and like, I gotta figure out how to feed a hundred people in three hours. And like, that kind of shit, people are gonna gobble it up. Like, I know that sounds goofy, but people are here for the drama.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Yeah, no, you're right.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Right.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Think about it like that.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

And so showing your process. Like, maybe you're gonna go venue shopping for a client and be like, okay, we're, we're gonna go look at five venues today. I brought my client with me. Here's like a little snippet of what it is and their goal. And then have the people vote. Like, which venue do you think they should book? And having them feel like they're part of that process, even if you already knew which venue you're going to pick, that doesn't even really matter. You're just trying to give them a little bit of a say. I think giving people choices that they don't actually, they're not actually making a difference in the choice, but making them feel like they're part of it is going to make your content more fun. So it could be. Here's five different place setting options. Should we pick this napkin fold or this napkin fold? People don't fucking care. But like, people love to vote on that kind of crap. That is. It's not crap. It's fun.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

It's engage them.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

We have to be thinking about when we're showing up on social, what is the kind of stuff we actually like to consume and how can we create more content that we like to consume? And if you find yourself scrolling and you're like, you see a graphic and it has 100 words on it and you're like, scroll. Okay, well then maybe that's probably not the kind of content you got to put out there. But if you see an image and it makes you feel like you're part of something, you're probably paying attention. So one of my pieces of homework for you is going to be taking note. Like, go spend 25 minutes on social and try not to edit yourself. Just try to use social the way you would normally use it. And then when you click into something or when you find yourself swiping through and like consuming something or reading the caption, I want you to write down why, like, what made you participate in that post? Was it the hook? Was it the image? Was it something they specifically said? Is it because it's someone you really enjoy following? Why do you enjoy following that person? Really kind of breaking that down? It will help inspire you to be less worried about how you look and more worried about being consistent. Because consistency right now is more important than ever. Like, you have to be visible, you have to keep showing up. And if you haven't posted in months, people aren't like looking for you. They just think you fell out of their feed. And so if you're consistent though, you're way more likely to consistently show up in their feed. So the next time they do need something, you're there for them. But I think you consistently showing the caliber of events you're doing for corporate is going to make it easier to land the growing small business. Because they're going to think I'm a cakewalk in comparison to your other clients. Right? And so you showing that as part of it, but make people aware that it's an option. Like, I loved wrapping this up for a Fortune 500 client. I'd love to do the same kind of event for your coaching business. Or like, get specific, like whoever you want to target. But try not to say it in a way where you're implying that, like, they're just getting started. Like, it's going to be really easy to take it too novice. Talk to them like they know what they're doing.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Oh, that's gonna be so challenging. I'm not gonna lie to you. Because a lot of times they do not like. Well, let me. Can I go back to what you said earlier about audience? However. So now with these new packages, right, this whole brand experience, again, this event strategy hour is 60 minutes, right? So this is. This could be. But I want your opinion, right? This could be for someone who is newer, right. And they just want to talk strategy to understand the possibilities of what type of events. That really. That's. I'm sorry, that's really an event ideation call. They might want to explore what type of events that they should even host for their brand. Then you do have the strategy power hour, which is focused more on. Okay, now I know what I want to do. How do I get this done? How do I find the right venue? What budget should I have? And I feel like those, that type of, like those strategy calls, that service could be for Someone who is managing their own event, but they just need some type of help with these different aspects of events. But then what you were talking about earlier is more so for the full service planning. Right. So what are your thoughts on having these different types of audiences or having these services, I guess, for these different type of audiences, depending on where they are on their event journey.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

So you're still going to be talking to them like they know they're putting on an event. They're confident that that's going to happen this year. They're looking forward to selling tickets for it. They're feeling out of time. All of those things are still true. The difference being that it's sort of where they're stopping in the line of things. And so what you might do is present this call as like the stepping stone, like step one for all my clients, or you have to be clear on who it's for. But like step one for all of my clients is to go through this specific call in the call we're going to walk through, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Now, the exciting thing is for those of you who want to do full management and I take on your whole event, you could take the cost of the call and apply it towards your deposit.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Yes, that's exactly right. Yes.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

But you need to market it that way. And so I think that is going to make your life a lot easier. But I think it's going to be easier to try to attract people that want full management and then downsell them because they realize they can't afford it than it is to come up with someone who, like, just wants your help and they're scrambling. And, like, those are going to be needier clients versus the people who are like, I know I want to do this. I would love to hire an event manager. Like, I want to, blah, blah, blah. And then they, like, bit off more than they can chew and they realize, okay, I do have to manage this myself. That person is going to be more equipped to doing those things than someone who's already frazzled.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Yes, agree. I definitely get the frazzled clients. And yeah, they're definitely more needy. Yeah. A little bit more challenging as well. I'm just saying they are.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

And so part of, part of you getting the kind of clients you want is talking to the kind of clients you want. And the other ones are going to still show up, like, they're still going to come. But if you're more consistently talking to the ones that got their shit together, the. The percentage of your clients that are that way is going to grow.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Okay. I want to focus on the clients that have their shit together.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Yeah. So talking to them like they already do is going to be helpful.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Okay, will do. My other question, in regards to showing up, you're a thousand percent right. I just, I'm like. Like a deer in the headlights. Like, I. Let me just not show up because I don't want to say the wrong thing that's going to, like, dilute my brand. Okay, here's the thing.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Here's the thing. If you say the wrong thing and the post doesn't perform, it's really easy to think that that's embarrassing or it didn't work or didn't land. But if no one saw it, then no one saw it.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Oh, are they going to say delete it?

[Abigail Pumphrey]

No, if no one saw it, then no one saw it. And so, like, if you said the wrong thing and it didn't land, then no one saw it. So just say something else. Keep showing up. Like in two days it's going to be buried and they're not going to see it anyway.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

So in regards to showing pictures and all that, how do you feel about me showing password? I have literally tens of thousands of past event work. It's not even funny.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Please do the stuff in real time as it's happening. But in the meantime, you can totally and don't even necessarily, like, teed up as like a throwback, but so much as like, here's an event I did for this kind of client for this many people in this city. Like, you want to give people an idea of, like, if they see the images, is this way bigger than they were thinking or smaller than they were thinking, or it's going to help them, like, get a frame of reference. And so I would show images every single day. I'm sure you have enough old clients that you could just go through back in time and show all sorts of different things. But I would consider, like, maybe to kind of give you a frame of reference to get a flow going. Do something that's sort of like three posts in a row where one's like, what was the vision? What was the thing that they came to you for? What were they hoping to get? Maybe they had pulled some inspiration images or maybe you did or whatever. Like kind of show the behind the scenes of what it took and then show something that's sort of like the decisions you made. Here's what you actually chose, here's what you actually picked, here's where you chose to put the event and how many people you decided on and the more of the like finalized plans, so to speak. And then one that's like, this is it, we put it together and this is how it turned out. And this is the magic that like came together. And maybe your favorite thing about the event or your favorite like micro detail, like I loved how we added this gift here or we did this backdrop over here or we did whatever it is you sharing something that was your favorite little piece of it. But then all of a sudden that's three posts for every past project you got. Even if you decided I'm just going to feature one new project a week, that's, that's a big step in the right direction from where you've been.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Yeah, of course, of course. There we go. So I wrote down some like, ideas for content strategy. Like we just talked about past work. How do I feel about current trends? So me getting on live and talking about, you know, the various event trends. Right. My offers, of course, testimonials. And with these testimonials, obviously if I can get someone to do a video testimonial that would have carry a little bit more weight. You think then.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Yeah, I think. I, I think it sort of depends. But you could make a part of your process because people are going to be the, especially in the events, people are going to be most excited the day of rather than afterwards.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Yes.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

And so you mentioning, hey, I'd love to pull you and like warn them in advance. Like, hey, I would love to pull you for just a couple minutes as the day kind of wraps up to get your reaction, like how you enjoyed your day and what was your favorite little detail and what would you do again and, and kind of interview style, ask them a couple of questions and even if you only use like a clip of it, you have a video testimonial for every event as a result of that process. I wouldn't worry about it as much right now. Like you showing proof of your work and the quality of your work is going to hold as much weight as someone saying they liked working with you, at least for now.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

And then I just thank you for that. I just had, you know, going live while I have events, while I'm at the event, obviously event style, which is really like, you know, decor, etc. Yeah, like that, those elements, I guess. And then my history slash background. I feel like. So I'm relaunching this brand in so many words. Right. And that's going to be August, September, Max. But I feel that I need to give a background kind of like what I did earlier, but just how I kind of got started with events, just basically storytelling of our brand and the evolution of that brand. So there's really not a real question with it. It's just me telling you. But I do think I need to do lives more, which I don't know.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

I don't know if your ideal client is even paying attention to lives.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Okay, see this is what I've been saying to my coach.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

I mean if I it's not to say lives don't work. You have to be paying attention to who you're targeting. And if they're a corporate client, they're their job, they're not going to open your life. If you're speaking to somebody running a half a million dollar company, they're probably on a coaching call with a client or like doing their own shit or on their own life. Like they're not, you know, I'm saying. And so I would say you having a clip from the day of or you talking about your trends recording that is going to be better.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Thank you.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Than you doing it live and making it short and like consumable. So like, you know, you could do a green screen video on TikTok and like repost it to Instagram and LinkedIn. That's like, here's some current trends and you're like walking through and like showing things behind you. I think that kind of thing would work well. But it's easy to think to do well at this. I have to become a content creator. And you don't have to be a content creator. You don't have to have this commentary on every single thing that's happening in your industry because that's not your goal. Your goal is to get more clients. Your goal is to get more events. And so if all you did, if all you did was show your process, show your decision making and show the end result of what you're doing that is going to get you clients. You having commentary on trends and stuff is going to be interesting and people might enjoy consuming that, but it's not necessary if the goal is clients.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Makes sense, totally makes sense.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

And as far as where you spend your time, I think LinkedIn is probably your biggest opportunity.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Yes, 100%, period.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Even for the small businesses that you're talking about, because the ones that are of that size, they're spending less time on Instagram and TikTok. Well, to kind of reiterate your content buckets a little bit, we, we spend a lot of time talking about the behind the scenes of current Events and recapping past events. Okay. But I would sort of share just sort of those bite sized thinking and instincts around brand strategy or experience design. So rather than commenting on, you know, what's happening in your industry, you saying like here's three different brand events that I've seen in the entrepreneurial space and this one did a retreat and this one did an in person conference and this one did a one day, blah blah, blah. You having commentary on like the benefits of having this kind of event versus this kind of event versus that kind of event I think is going to pull more weight than you saying something about the color purple or.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

I was not. No, but I get your point.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Like helping them make decisions that are relevant to both.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Right.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

And then the last piece being storytelling. So your instinct around sharing your story I think is big. But do it again and again and again. Like you can do a post that's about what your company has looked like over the years and where you're going and pin that to the top of your profile, but on a regular basis. Talk about why you're passionate, talk about what you want to see more of, talk about what you think is missing, talk about who you care about and where they're going and the kinds of opportunities that are in front of them. Speak to that ideal client and call her in, so to speak.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Okay, that sounds amazing. I believe my last question. Although I kind of have one more question. But I would like to touch to go back to these main platforms I should focus on, of course, like you said, LinkedIn. Can you do an order? Would you say LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

I mean they're, they're different. So I think I would be cross posting. So I think you could spend a lot of time trying to make all of these distinctly different. And I don't necessarily think that's super helpful. I think Instagram is going to be a great way to house portfolio of images of your events. I think that's going to be really huge. It's going to be way easier for someone to look at in that way versus like TikTok. You might do like the tour like hey, I went to three venues today, choose which one that would do well on TikTok. But then you could repost that TikTok to Reels. But you're prioritizing it first on TikTok, if that makes sense. You could again repost that to LinkedIn. Will that post perform? It's sort of hit or miss, I don't know. But you're not like not utilizing that content that you put time into. And then LinkedIn, it's going to kind of be a mix of you trying to figure out what's going to land, but you having commentary on how people should make decisions is going to be really big. So how to decide how many people to have at your event, what kind of event they should have, how much to be budgeting, if this is something they're planning for this year. Those kinds of things I think will perform well on LinkedIn. But again, if it performs well, you could very easily take that narrative and put it over on Instagram with a few images. So it's less about where you're putting the content, it's more about where you're putting your time. So I would spend the most time on LinkedIn.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Time, time, time.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

I would spend the most time on LinkedIn specifically because there's more community happening on LinkedIn. So you can post content, but you can also participate. And so if you want to use, you could use LinkedIn, the sales navigator, do the pro version to get the sales navigator and you could identify businesses that are the kinds of people you want to be working with, of the size of business you want to be working with, and then make a part of your routine. Regularly commenting on their content, that is going to get you way further than you realize because they need to know you exist and that's the best way for them to know you exist.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

I'm here.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Yes. Is to actually consume and participate in their content.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

So my last question is in regard to again, me planning events and me hosting events. And you would see again, I post more. So when I'm hosting events and I'm trying to market that event. So these are all three different types of communities. Right. Event Pros unplugs. I plan on bringing back Event Pros Unplugged targets, event professionals. So it's networking events, workshops, etc. Then you have listened to Boss Roundtable, which focuses on entrepreneurs that is having our annual summit and it's networking as well, finally, which I have more brands than that, but I put those on ice because I'm doing too much. Finally, it's called Self Care Social. That's our signature event and that's what I help to showcase to other small businesses that you need a signature event. So this focuses more so on wellness. So it's a wellness event that happens during Self Care Awareness Month. So these are distinct audiences. Right. How. And I'm thinking about giving their own platform, specifically Self Care Social. How do you incorporate that without Again, kind of confusing people. But I do feel that it's a way. It's like, hey, come on and network your entrepreneur. If you know one of these platforms fit, you come out and network, promote your business.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

One, I would really make sure it's something that you want to do and you're excited about doing it and you're not just feeling like you have to maintain something you've already started. Because if you're feeling like you have to maintain something you already started. No, you don't. No, you don't. You can walk away from whatever you want anytime and you can also come back to it if you let it go for three years and then you're like, I really miss that. Okay, revive it from that.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

I did, to be honest.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

And so you don't have to keep doing those things. 1 But I think as far as your platforms go, I would really only it's a little, it's a little tough because I think there's a movement away from people having pages that are specific brands and there's a movement towards people being people. So you being a person that has these other interests, the problem is you being a person, you're going to attract a consistent type of person. And so the two entrepreneur based events I think are going to perform better than the wellness. The. No, the ones for other event professionals, I think, I think the one for other event professionals feels like it's the most unrelated to what you're currently doing. But the wellness one you talked about on like why they need a signature event, your ideal client doesn't need to be sold on the idea of a signature event. Your ideal client already wants to do it and they don't have time. And could you go out and convince people they need to do the thing? Sure. But the majority of the people that need convincing are the people that can't afford your services. So I've just let that marinate.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

That was a little gym right there.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

So wow, you can do less. You're already doing so much and the reason you're not posting is because you're doing so much.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

You have uncovered the real reason. Thank you.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Yeah. I'm not saying you're lazy. Lord, no, no, I know, I know. I know what goes on behind the scenes. I, I've been in your shoes and I get passionate. It's, it's against, it's so, it's so hard. And it's not to say you shouldn't take those wild hairs like do what feels right. I'm not saying don't because you also don't want to shut off your creativity. Like, if you're feeling a huge pull. Follow your intuition in that regard. But also know the more things you add on, the more your focus is diversified and it's going to make hard for any of those one things to grow.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

You sound like my husband.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Your husband's right.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

He really is.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Not going to lie. So I. I know you're going to do great. I'm not even worried about it at all. I think it's literally about slowing down just enough to show the work you're already doing that'll take you further, faster than anything else we talked about. And the great thing is that's not you trying to invent content or come up with sexy carousels. That is literally you just showing what the hell you do for work, period.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Okay. This has been eye opening, and I feel that I have. I don't know, I just definitely feel like I have more clarity.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Good.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

And you gave me some tough love that I appreciate.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Yeah, I. I knew it was going to be a little necessary, but I.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Mean, keep it real. Always.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Well, thank you so much for being here. If someone is interested in booking their own signature event and they're ready and they got the budget.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Yes.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Where can they go find you online?

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Sure. So they can find us on listchanelco.com that is L-S-H-A-N E L L Cole dot com.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Awesome.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

And we'll be willing and ready.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Amazing. Well, I can't wait to see what happens. Definitely keep us updated inside the community. And if you guys enjoyed hearing coaching episodes like this one, please let me know in the DMS over on Instagram or LinkedIn, because if you like them, I'm going to do more of them. If you're like, this is not for me, please tell me. I would love to know. All right, everyone, have a great day. Show more of your work out loud. That is the takeaway from today. I hope all of you feel empowered to continue to show up and make a difference, because your work matters. And we are often so quiet about the incredible things we're doing.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

So love it. Thank you. I will not hide anymore.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Thank you.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

I'm showing up.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Let's do it.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

Hey, a few quick favors before you leave. I'd love if you'd share today's episode. Send it to a friend who needs to hear it and post on social. You can show us where you're listening from your favorite takeaway or why someone else should listen. Be sure to tag me at Abigail says and OSS Project so we can share it. Okay, Second favor to get podcast updates and all the behind the scenes news from Boss Project. I'd love if you'd join my VIP list. Just head to bossproject.com signup to make sure I have all your contact details. Really love this show. It would mean so much to me.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

If you'd leave a rating and review.

[Latoya Chanel McCrary]

It not only helps more listeners find the show, but allows us to bring on quality sponsors so we can keep bringing you this valuable content for free. Thanks so much for listening.

[Abigail Pumphrey]

Until next time.