Live in Rhythm, Lead with Heart

Speaker 2: one of the biggest pieces ADV advice I'd say to any brand is don't be everything to everyone there's a lot of pressure right now to do that when you Niche down and you find your people and you double down on that your brand is so

Speaker 3: successful hi I'm Melanie bar welcome to the sheb builted experience with Melanie join me as I talk to women who have successfully built it a career and business that they love we dive into the topic of how they built it and talk about everything from Having the courage to make career leaps to the details of how to lead effectively create successful teams Implement strategies for growth and infus Tech Innovation magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy so let's dive in thank you for joining us Heather you are the founder and CEO of clover PR tell us about the moment when you decided to create and launch your business that was over a decade ago

Speaker 2: which is wild to think I was good a Crossroads I went to school for PR I have done social media marketing and PR all of my career this is what I thought I was going to do and I was a director of marketing at a firm and I just wasn't feeling good about what I was doing and I had this moment where I thought I need a career change this is not working for me and I really dove into why what is going on and I realized no I'm actually good at PR I love it I love being on the agency side of it one day I was a tech company and then I was a spa and then I was a national park and my brain just couldn't handle it and I realized that was the problem I needed to Niche down I needed to be doing things that I was excited about that I liked that I knew I felt confident in and that's where Clover was born I decided to take the leap and just focus on beauty health and wellness things that I liked I did in my life regularly I understood and I was really passionate about and so it was terrifying because I launched with one client in my back pocket and the agency was like what are you doing and I was like I don't know but I'm doing it and they were like build this with us and I'm like I I know it's not going to change to what I want I really respected the agency I worked for but I just knew I didn't have that control to completely change and I also wanted to undo the corporate structure that I was experiencing not to say that I don't think you shouldn't be very business minded and have professionalism but there is a way to have it all I was starting my agency when it was that girl boss hustle mentality and I was like I'm tired there's a lot when I was in my early 20s no kids no boyfriend I had no commitments and so I decided to make the launch to bring a different agency experience and a different experience to PR publicist have such bad raps and there's incredible publicist out there but if you ask people stereotype it's not that great and so there were a few reasons why I just decided okay I'm going to to try this I'm at a place in my life where if I fall flat on my face

Speaker 3: okay I move home with my dad with my dog I'm not going to really suffer too much so I didn't have any responsibilities at the time in 2013 that's when it all started I see how working with all those different brands would be challenging and how finding your path would lead to success and make you happier in what you're doing yeah remote working wasn't really a thing back then and I had the chance to be in and out and was technically a contractor at that agency and so I got the taste of being on my own a little bit even though I was being treated like an employee and it was an agency where you dressed up you wore heels every day like your hair better be done and I'm not always that way and yeah it was the corporate structure that did make me want to do my own thing and I think it was the challenge of not feeling good every day and how I was showing up and the work I was doing because I was not loving I just wasn't personally connected with every brand I'm an empath I'm a feeler I got to dig in and relate and if I can't relate I have a hard time I never was like I'm going to be an entrepreneur but looking back my one of my really close friends who's worked with me for many years like you've always been an entrepreneur I'm like what do you mean so funny when you don't see it within yourself yeah I really didn't I always was doing garage sales as a kid and like making money I look back now I really was the selfstarter I was making bracelets and doing all these things and actually through college I started a company called scrap monkey and it was a scrap booking company and I literally became a Creative Memories consultant so I could sell all the product to these moms that wanted their scrapbooks for their kids which now as a mom of to I totally get why they paid me to do this I'm like I should have kept this buiness going but I would scrap all these family photos for these moms and we pick out themes and this whole situation but I put myself through some of my college with the scrapbooking company and I started it to get through college and I had all these clients and then I ended college and the business ended and I moved on but my girlfriend always reminds me of that I would hire someone for that I may bring it back it

Speaker 2: is a passion you work with beauty and health and wellness Brands so they can be seen and stand out in a competitive market if a company whether they are a startup or they've been in business for years wanted to increase their visibility from a PR perspective how do

Speaker 3: you suggest they do that I love this question there's a few things I think you can do even if you're doing PR it's something that you can look at one PR is a marathon it's not a Sprint I will say that so anyone looking to invest in PR it's important to have as many ducts in a row as you can especially because it's such an awareness first marketing tactic the sales can come and I've had great success with clients in building actual sales in that Roi but it really is an awareness tactic one of the biggest pieces advice I'd say to any brand is don't be everything to everyone there's a lot of pressure right now to do that when you Niche down and you find your people and you double down on that your brand is so successful you identify your unique story yes you may be another hair clip company on the market or another skincare brand on the market but they're not you so the more you just hone in and focus on who you are what you believe in who you're serving and why they need your product that in itself is going to be something helpful for your brand make you stand out and be open to Pivot you may learn things about your brand and maybe you're doing p and things aren't really sticking because you're not standing out and then you realize like oh my gosh this one product is actually taking off I'm going to focus on this and then things can go Gang Busters that would be one thing I would think of and then make sure you have your systems in place because I've definitely had clients that we've really had to push to have their email funnels and we're like we'll even take that if you want to bring us on for that if you have all this traffic coming to your site and you're not capturing them you just shouldn't even be doing PR especially now we'll not take budgets if we don't understand that those things are in place because I'm like you're going to waste your money you're going to lose this opportunity that we're creating because again PR is awareness building so we're driving people to where you want us to take them and then from there your website your email systems your retargeting your ads that all has to do their job to get them to convert PR isn't they click the link in the article and then they're buying they've got to work through your systems too the last one be have proof so even if you're a new brand and you're like I don't know if I'm ready for PR should I do pr what do I need to do a lot of times just good testimonials is really amazing to have to go out to editors for when people are coming to your site and understanding your products social proof definitely ask people so whether it's your personal Network through social emails that you have just ask them for that testimonial ask them for that share and I think that will be helpful as well because people love to hear what other people think but again it's like you get them to that through PR and then these pieces are what will help make it successful it's

Speaker 2: so true and so much of it is listening because your clients and customers will tell you what they want and what they're looking for more of a lot of the times as long as they resonate with the story

Speaker 3: around that product yeah a story is so key it really is tell your story with so many Founders that we work with they're just so passionate about what they're doing that's one unique thing about Clover is we pick out those pieces that are making them stand out it is their unique story their passion their background their why is really what

Speaker 2: makes them stand out what do you believe is the most important element of leadership when scaling businesses and building successful teams and Company

Speaker 3: cultures communication and authenticity authenticity is something that I really pride myself on with my team I wear my heart on my sleeve they're my people I'm so connected with them I'm talking to every layer of the team and I feel really honored with Clover because we've had multiple employees come back like they've worked with us early in their career gone off for a little while come back again and said oh my gosh the culture is just so different and I want to be back at Clover I know I need to be there and that's something that makes my heart so happy and when I had the vision of clover and what my agency would look like I wanted it to deal like a close-knit family and a lot of you people would try to separate me when I would talk to them about business oh business isn't personal business isn't personal I'm like business is so personal people are spending more time with me at Clover than with their families and they're leading into my dream and working for me and I'm responsible for their livelihood this is very personal and that's where communication comes into I want to understand what you're feeling I may not always be able to go in that direction but let's have a conversation those are the two things that I've always gone back to even when things start feeling a little oh what's happening we're going so fast let get back to being real being you listening to your gut I started our agency remote in 2019 and people thought we were crazy we actually lost business people were like oh you guys aren't together yeah we're not going to sign with you we need someone in office and I was about to have my second child and I was like I'm taking my company and going into maternity leave this is great I was so stressed out and then ironically Co hit and we had remote in place but there was something telling me do it try it if it doesn't work you can go back and we were one of those newer companies to try it and it worked really well and it ended up being a selling a point but it was one of those things be authentic to the experience you want everyone to have if I feel this way I'm sure people driving into my office feel this way so let's go for it and that has happened at she built it too with team members leaving and coming back and that's just a testament to your culture and communication too is so important because if someone doesn't know what is expected of them how do they know if they're doing a good job yeah always remembering we're all human we all have our own lives we're all trying to do what we can do yeah life happen yeah exactly I try to make room for Life happening even if I am frustrated like hey this isn't working or we need to address this we're all people trying to do our thing and let's have that conversation and figure out how we got to get back on track or how people are feeling it's always worked out really well to just have those open

Speaker 2: conversations you are the founder of Rhythm care what led you to start it and how are you helping women it came around

Speaker 3: so organically after my second child my periods were out of control literally my body was rejecting tampons I had a moment where I was like oh my gosh okay I've just had two kids I don't know what's happening with my body like total self shame what did I do and then I realized my body was trying to tell me something and I think I was honestly having toxic shock syndrome I had so much pain and it was just one of those things where so many things added up to where I needed to have different support systems and so I heard about cups I tried it I got into it the pain went away you only have to change a cup once every 12 hours I was like this is magical so I immediately fell in love if anything even came up about a cycle or period I was like oh my gosh have you tried cups do you even know what you're missing and I didn't have stock and salt or anything so like I was just obsessed and it was really funny because like oh my gosh you're so obsessed with cups I'm like I can't stop talking about this because literally has changed my life so as I started trying the different brands I just noticed certain things that I wasn't loving and it really is personal preference everyone's different so you got to figure out what works for you and so for me I felt like we could support the entire experience and not just like the week Administration I had a friend that I was talking with and they were kind of like why don't we try to do it and I was like really I just went from there so we made like a super ultra soft silicone medical grade no microplastics did some revisions on the pull tab and just made it so comfortable I don't even feel ours when it's in and that's what we've gotten a lot of feedback on so that was like the biggest thing for me and then with the different products there were other things that I look back on being a woman and my experience and the things that I was challenged with and that's where like the supplement

Speaker 2: came into play and you also offer comfort in a capsule tell us about the products you offer and how they help

Speaker 3: women yeah I know I love that phrase that our marketing team created comfort and capsule because that's really what we're trying to do I grew up with take a my all put a heat pack on your stomach you're going to be in the fetal position for 3 Days move on you're good and that's your life every 21 days I was just like okay cool there wasn't something like hey think about the material you're using in your underwear because that's actually breeding bacteria you didn't go deeper than this just is what it is from our attitude adjustment which is the saffron extract which really helps with mood balancing you can soothe these hormonal reaches and that's what was happening to me it was like I knew the week my period was coming cuz I was like don't mess with me and it was like why am I doing they probably got to know where when it was

Speaker 2: coming to but I completely hear you with that yeah and if my husband was he would never even mentally are you about to start your period because oh really just because because I'm mad like I'm

Speaker 3: starting my period in my brain I was like I know I'm not this mad about that I'm not so upset that he bought 2% milk instead of fat free like I really don't care because I don't even drink milk that was where my brain was and I'm like why do I even care what he bought I don't drink milk but I'm mad there is a lot of natural things that we can do and this is something too that came from like digging in on my hormones after kids because I felt so off and was like there are serious things wrong with me and there really weren't my body was just shifting these are things that we were dealing with as women that people don't really talk about it's uncomfortable people think it's weird or gross but really it's super natural and even kuha undies I don't know if you know that brand or not but they same thing around U realized like the fabric in our underwear and I was like oh my gosh like why are people not talking about this because this is such an easy switch to really help us just be more comfortable in all the things that our bodies are going through so that's where all of it came about it really was a personal these are the things I struggled with these are the things I hear other people struggling with I selfishly want these things around being a woman and Womanhood is such a beautiful experience you manage a busy

Speaker 2: lifestyle as a business owner and mother how do you manage it all and what motivates you to keep going I will be

Speaker 3: the first to say I have helped and I love when people are so transparent about it that you look at their life and you see their snapshot on Insta where they're just like always with their kids and it's so magical and they're never having a tantrum and they're traveling the world I'm like you probably have a nanny can we just be honest because there's no way help is the first and foremost thing and even my friends and people to vent to my business coach I have helped in so many areas of my life to help me stay balanced because there's so much going on after I had my daughter ditch the balanced mindset because especially with parenting nothing feels balanced I was constantly striving this balance and I'm like nothing feels even I I'm either crazy over here in motherhood or something's going on over here in work and or I'm trying to do this in my marriage it just didn't flow for me I replace it with rhythm which mind you this is before I started the brand Rhythm but this is how the name came about I started replacing with rhythm and I'm like I'm just going to find my flow I'm just going to get my rhythm and that mindset I would actually in the day feeling good I wouldn't in the day feeling def defeated and just like I completely bombed in one area it was like oh no today like the flow was more in work and I'm going to come back in parenting tomorrow I'm going to get my rhythm in this area because it feels a little off and that was an absolute game Cher in my life and I think as far as the motivation piece definitely I'm motivated by the goals that I've just set and wanting to achieve them I'm definitely competitive but also I'm motivated by the freedom that entrepreneurship has given me for my family for myself I have fallen in love with building things and I think it's something that Clover fulfills because I'm helping so many people build so many

Speaker 2: different things and I love that you say Rhythm because balance seems like a structured thing but rhythm is really personal and it's whatever our rhythm is whatever that means to us definitely

Speaker 3: honestly when I say it I always want move oh okay like I'm in my rhythm everybody has a different one yeah 100%

Speaker 2: magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy what is one way that you

Speaker 3: make sure to find and live your joy oh I try to not take things too seriously trust in who I am have fun I come from a very long line of should ofes and in the past four or five years I never want to say I'm thankful for covid because there's so much that came from it that was just devastating but it really did open my eyes to be in the moment we don't know the time we have we don't know what's coming next life is really just too short on Saturday I was at this like massive bounce house it's this little pop-up thing that's going around it's called funbox if anyone wants to Google it it was the funnest thing I have done with my kids in a really long time they're four and six so they're still super young but I was with my girlfriend and and the husbands are there too and we're all just in there like in this giant bounce house and we're bouncing and see and I'm laughing and I'm like biding myself my girlfriend like bouncing around and the kids are cracking up in that moment I was so reminded of just being present and fun is the goal just enjoy yourself and I literally had so much joy in that moment it was like 90 minutes of pure fun and laughter and happiness and it really reminded me too it really can be that simple life does not have to be that complicated go in the Bounce House have fun be with your kids turn your phone up do whatever makes you feel good and don't feel bad about it for one second because again life's just too short so that bounce house actually taught me a lot this weekend that was just such a good

Speaker 2: reminder just have fun you have been so much fun to talk to today and you're building an incredible business with Clover PR and I can't wait to check out Rhythm please tell us how and where we

Speaker 3: can find you yes so Instagram is great Clover PR or Rhythm care. those are our two Instagram handles website Wise It's we are Clover pr.com or Rhythm care. and then if you want to hang out with me personally my Instagram is it's Heather

Speaker 2: Lavado thank you for joining us today I'd love to hear from you reach out to me at hello Sheil it.com on our Sheil it website or at Sheed on social thank you to my editor Rich draino who always makes us sound good until next time let nothing stop you from experiencing the life and business that you crave