Unlock Creative Genius Now

Speaker 2: hi welcome to the sheu it experience with Melanie you're here because you want to scale and grow your business Master business strategy and learn about new tech Innovation join me and my inspiring guests as we dive into the topic of how how to create build scale and operate the business of your dreams in addition to being an entrepreneur I'm also a twin mom and Optimist who loves empowering you to experience the life that you crave Magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy so grab a coffee or cocktail get comfy and let's dive

Speaker 2: in today we're thrilled to welcome Chelsea pimenta Chelsea I'm so happy to have you on the show and we are excited to get to know you please tell our listeners who you are and what you do hi

Speaker 3: Melanie thank you so much for having me on this podcast I'm so excited to be here I have two jobs I am Senior art director at Time Magazine and then I have a side hustle that has turned into a little more than that over the years I think so which is called 23 and9 creative I design websites for women run

Speaker 2: small businesses nice well you do beautiful work and I have to say you built the sheb built it website so thank you and it's beautiful it was so fun to

Speaker 3: work on I love working with women run business owners and getting to empower them through website design and it's just a really exciting Adventure I'm

Speaker 2: curious how have you seen a shift in how you gain revenue or how your clients that are building websites gain revenue and have you seen any strategies that have been successful either for you or for them in this shifting environment

Speaker 3: this year when everything kind of started to happen a few months ago I was really concerned for the industry of not only website design but just I didn't know which way it was going to go I was very surprised and excited to see this huge shift into virtual and how important it was to have a web presence if you didn't have one already not only having a web presence but to be super clear and concise and have offerings that can be used in different ways across the board everyone was going from doing in-person workshops to all of a sudden being able to do virtual workshops which in some ways was really cool to see because so many more people were able to be involved and I think a lot of people's audiences grew tfold because of all these new people that they were able to reach because they had to change how they did their services including myself I saw a huge jump in website design and needing that service and I actually at the beginning of the year had launched a new product which was website templates and so they pre-design templates through Squarespace that are all set up ready for you to plug in your content branding and photos after coronavirus happened my sales went

Speaker 2: through the roof feeling you were going to say

Speaker 3: that and I I really wasn't expecting that but everyone all of a sudden was like I need a website right now I have

Speaker 2: to get online and so it was just really cool to work with so many huge spectrum of different kinds of people and services yeah because I know I reached out to you too um CH yeah yeah I think it kind of for people that have these service based businesses it was a possibly a good like kick in the butt to like get that thing going that you might not have been doing before or it's been on your mind and now you had the time it was all these things combined and so it was really cool to see that be able to come to fruition for a lot of people absolutely we're all kind of making these giant leaps into doing things that maybe we really wanted to do but we kind of haven't gotten around to do it yet and we're just putting ourselves out there and making it happen and you're right about the reap you know now more of a global reach can happen and I think a lot of businesses wanted that but this was kind of the push we really needed to make that happen absolutely you have a full

Speaker 2: schedule at at time and we'd love to hear a little more about what you do at time and running your own business can you tell us from a business management strategy perspective how you are able to stay organized and are there tips and tricks that you can give us for maintaining such a busy schedule a

Speaker 1: little about time I'm a senior art director there's a team of us that put together the magazine every week so my job is I am given the photos and the text and I visually tell that story in the magazine so whether it's a onepage story or a whole issue that's a dedicated special issue those are the range of things that I work on I work with amazing other art directors and my bosses are incredible and we have a really great team and of course that has changed too we all are working from home it's pretty funny just designing Time Magazine at my kitchen table um but it's worked out really well and we've all learned and been able to grow from that experience as well in

Speaker 2: time can you tell us about the Corona

Speaker 1: virus cover so I worked on a first few inside packages so like the pages inside the magazine my boss DW Pine is the creative director at Time Magazine and he works on the covers and he designs the all and they're all always incredible and he has an amazing process that he goes through with those but I did design a few of the first

Speaker 1: coronavirus packages and it was really crazy getting thrown into that because we didn't really know what was going on and information was coming constantly and new numbers were coming out every second and so the first story I designed was really kind we wanted like a guide to Corona virus like this is what we

Speaker 1: know these are the questions we have these are the answers and so so it was really great collaborative process to be able to work on that with the photo editors at time and the reporters that were doing insane work and amazing investigative work on what we needed to know and so just having all of those resources and being able to put them together in a way that is going to

Speaker 3: inform our audience and get people to know what they need to be paying attention to and what they can do to help themselves was really amazing it's an amazing thing and what an iconic moment to work on something like that and this is something none of us will

Speaker 2: ever forget exactly no as it relates to your business how do you manage that as far as business strategy staying on task you I have to say are extremely responsive and such a joy to work with also but what tips can you give us for

Speaker 3: staying organized I have a physical planner that I write down in still I've tried being the Google planner and it just I I need to be able to like physically cross things off and so that really helps me to be able to be like okay these are the tasks that have to be done today no matter what happens and so I am going to write these down and I got to get these done another thing that's really helped me that I've learned over the years just taking classes or whatever on time management because that is a thing that I need to do a lot of um is making exact amounts of times to work on each project so I'll be like she built it website I need to work on this today day for 1 hour and then I will not look at my phone I won't look at my email and I'll just have the things open the window open of working on that and that is a game Cher especially for people that are like me that have a million tabs open in my brain all the time brain and computer

Speaker 2: exactly and

Speaker 3: figuratively I have to close all the tabs everywhere and just focus on the one task at hand for that set amount of time and I'm so much more productive

Speaker 2: when I do that that is such great advice because we are all taking on more and more and more and even though we're at home it feels like we are busier than ever before so really taking that time to shut off and focus on the task at hand that's really good advice what's

Speaker 3: your strategy for management I do have a social media manager for 2039 creative that I just have hired in the past year another thing for time management is realizing when you can be better for yourself and your company by hiring out absolutely it was really hard for me to like make that decision that I needed to do that but I really did and I know you totally understand this yes because you're a creative and you take such pride and your business is your baby and you want it done the right way want your hand on everything and you want to make sure it's done your way so it's really important to find someone who you really trust in is really great also at what they do it's okay to be picky about that because again it is your business 100% they have to align with your voice and your vision and know exactly what you need and what you want hiring a social media manager was an amazing Choice my Instagram has grown a ton this year and I it has been all because of that because I just did not have the time anymore and I would sit in stress I would I'm sure we've all done this before I've stared at a

Speaker 2: caption for at least an hour and then be like whatever I'm not even going to post it and just close it yes

Speaker 3: yes I'm a super big supporter of hiring out for the things we either don't have time to do or that we don't want to do because that's really the way we're going to grow because we can spend so much time spinning our Wheels doing the things that either we're not good at which we could probably teach ourselves to do but should we really be spending the time doing that or focusing on the things within our business that really brings us joy it's freeing once you finally do it and you're like okay this is working you can close one of those tabs in your brain or on the compu

Speaker 2: exactly I don't have to think about that anymore yes so this is one of my favorite topics what are a few of your favorite tech innovations that have helped you streamline your business I mean we're all on so many different apps all day long but I always love to hear about new ones and learn about the apps that are really helping people to run their business efficiently or in a

Speaker 3: better way I have a few I have one that I use probably every day it's this app that's called Loom l o m and it's a screen recorder and so you can record a tab you can record a application or you can record your whole desktop and when I found app this was like a total GameChanger for me because I record so many videos and like people email me about how to do this how to do that and I can quickly show them by just recording one of these videos that just records and then it saves into your account and you can just send a link to the website and then they can leave comments on the video at certain points or record one back to you as well that is a super helpful tool I mean for anyone that is doing courses or teaching at any level that is a super super helpful app and I use that in my teachable courses for my website templates and so I really love that app

Speaker 2: that's a really great tip and I know as you were working on the shebu it website it was super helpful because sometimes it's hard to explain a creative thought or a creative process it's hard to even get it down in a Google doc yes it's too hard to write out sometimes and I just find it so much easier to be able to personally explain it to someone and be able to show and tell because a lot of that creative stuff you don't get it until you see it yes I mean I remember sitting there thinking okay how do I convey what I'm trying to say in a sentence or you know without saying it to you on the phone or somehow so that's a really really good tip do you have any

Speaker 3: other ones another one that I use all the time and I know this is pretty widely used but it can be used for a lot more things than people probably think about is canva so canva is this amazing website that has become such an incredible resource it's free uh there is a premium version if you want but you can design basically anything on it and it's super simple and they have Graphics photos you can use they have font Styles colors they have everything that you

Speaker 2: could need and it's a huge timesaver for social media I do make like all my Pinterest pins on there and they have pre-made sizes so you can go in and be like I want an Instagram story or I want an Instagram post or Pinterest whatever it might be I just got an email this week that they are actually now doing printing so you can get business cards printed through them now and a bunch of other pamplets or flyers or whatever it might be and they also have really great pre-made templates so that's a really great app that I think a lot of business owners could use it's also interesting how companies like canva have pivoted too and how all of sudden they're

Speaker 3: offering so much more can you tell us about your relationship with Squarespace

Speaker 2: and what you do I am an authorized trainer through Squarespace which means that they trust me in um teaching other people about the platform and they

Speaker 3: should because your work's amazing thank

Speaker 2: you last year I just had started getting into teaching inperson workshops which was really fun and I had a great time doing but that is now on pause but maybe

Speaker 3: it was something you didn't really want to do it was a lot of pressure and a lot of work um behind the scenes that you only do one time and so it's a lot different than being able to do a virtual course where you can do it for so many more people that have access to it which is really cool and I think that's important for everyone to know because if we start to do something and we start to go down a path and it's not right for us it's okay to not do it anymore or to shift even if we've put

Speaker 2: time and energy into it and you know I launched a children's clothing box business I mean I put so much time and energy into that and then I was traveling and I had two babies and I really wanted to grow she built it also and I had such a hard time letting that go but when I finally said you know what I give myself permission it's okay to let it go it's okay to shift and move

Speaker 3: and do something different absolutely so it's great that you said either it's not the right time now maybe it's later or maybe it's never and I'm going to focus on doing the other things that I love

Speaker 2: that's exactly what happen and because of that I was able to go into this new website template Endeavor which was really exciting so I have created this line of templates that people can use and I've really got to spend time on those and I think that for a lot of people that has been more beneficial oh

Speaker 3: absolutely I mean it seems like the timing was perfect for that I'm sure a lot of people are looking for for the website template yes since we are all dreaming of travel right now and I follow you on social so I think you've been taking I don't know if there's stations or short vacation but yes what is your favorite CHP that you've ever been on favorite place that you visited

Speaker 2: and why my husband and I got married last September and we went on our honeymoon we went to Italy and Greece and we stayed in IIA in Santorini and there's like no words to describe how magical that place is oh my goodness

Speaker 3: it's exactly everything you see on Pinterest and more it's like Pinterest came to life in front of your eyes truly I mean it's the most iCal place we stayed at one of these little cave Resorts and you're like in this cave in the hills and it's so beautiful and one thing that we did that was the coolest thing that I'll never forget was we did a cooking class with like a local family it was called Petra cuisina there were only like eight people per class and it was with this guy and his wife and they just did such an incredible job and it was such an amazing experience so definitely looking forward someday to going back there we were supposed to go to for our one year anniversary this year I know and yeah that's not happening but that's okay soon someday yeah somay soon we will be traveling

Speaker 2: again very soon magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy what is one tip you can leave with us today about how you find joy in your life and

Speaker 3: business the main thing that drives me is helping people I have always been For Better or For Worse of people pleaser because I love being able to bring joy and help people become their best selves basically and that's what I love so much about website design is being able to help women see their dreams and realize that they can create something and have the business that they've always wanted and like websites really seem to trip people up it's very technical and super confusing and so I love being that person that can come in and break it down make it less confusing and just really be able to help them Thrive and run the business of their dreams and have exactly what they had pictured in their minds come to life for them so that is one thing that I focus the most on when I'm working with people is just telling everyone's story and we're all connected in one way or another and being able to see something in someone else and be like I I can do that too you know it's it's really powerful and I

Speaker 2: really believe in that you definitely do that and it shines through in your work you are a joy to work with you are so responsive but you can also tell that you put that attention into detail in the work that you do Chelsea and 23 and9 creative is in our sheb built it shop so please find her on the Sheil it website or Linkin bio on our social thank you

Speaker 3: for joining us today thank you so much mie I had such a great time with you and I am so excited to be on the shiled podcast thank you for joining us and

Speaker 2: until next time keep building your business making small and Quantum leaps towards living your life dreams if if you are new to Sheil it we'd love for you to join us we offer Community memberships masterminds Innovative virtual events and meaningful connections to entrepreneurs and corporate leaders please also check out our sheb built it shop curated products from women-owned businesses who put their heart and soul into their beautiful and Innovative products we offer Sheil it business Consulting and the Sheil it blog thank you to everyone around the world who joined today thank you to my editor Rich stalino please please download And subscribe wherever you get your podcast and until next time together let's let nothing stop us from experiencing the life that We crave