How Have You Made It Work for You?

Krystle Church joins us for the 271st episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast. A former Accelerator member, Krystle is a business mentor and runs a boutique copywriting studio. Krystle is a borderless entrepreneur who runs her business on the island of Mauritius. This episode is a must-listen if you’re curious about running a business abroad and balancing business endeavors all while keeping your mindset in check. We chat about: Transitioning from traveling elementary school teacher to borderless entrepreneur. Creating a healthy working atmosphere and getting to choose who you work with. Retiring your partner and defining freedom in your own terms. The illusion of choice and how it can impact business decisions. Utilizing the freedom you have to make CEO decisions. (because you are the boss, afterall.) How to unbox the narrative and stories we constantly tell ourselves. Overcoming cycles of burnout and soaking up the big milestones you reach before jumping into the next thing. Rewiring your mindset and figuring out what you want from your business. The biggest mindset blocks for copywriters and navigating them. How to work as a “workaholic.” Mindset and journaling practices for both business and personal growth. How to manage two aspects of business: mentorship + copy studio. Managing multiple team members who support the growth of your brand. How to train your team to provide the same white-glove experience you provide your DFY clients. Is it time to hire contractors or full time employees in your business? What processes need to be in place before making your first hire. How to raise your prices – Which marks should we be hitting? How to structure a high-ticket day rate. Copy chiefing and how to work with a junior copywriter. Hiring for your business from a financial perspective and stacking revenue. The secret to creating demand in your business. The struggles of a 6-figure business – Does it get easier? The impact of community and leaning on others for support. Grab your headphones or check out the transcript below.   The people and stuff we mentioned on the show: Kira’s website Rob’s website The Copywriter Club Facebook Group The Copywriter Underground Krystle's website Erin's website Aly's website Episode #207 Episode #245 Aly's episode    Full Transcript: Kira:  Mindset and pricing go hand in hand when you want to raise your prices. Getting over the fear of charging what we're worth is something so many copywriters struggle with in their businesses. In the 271st episode of the Copywriter Club Podcast, we're joined by Accelerator alumni member Krystle Church, who is an elementary school teacher turned business coach who also owns a boutique copywriting studio. Krystle walks us through how she's been able to raise her prices, build her team and increase her confidence over the last few years. Before we jump in, I have some introductions to make, because in this interview, I was actually joined by a co-host, I kicked Rob out of this show completely and Erin Pennings joined me. Erin is a Think Tank member and a B2B copywriter who focuses on brand messaging, website copy and visibility strategies. Erin also has an awesome program called Womp Womp to Wow, which is my favorite title for any program. And it's a 21-day web copy intensive. So Erin actually join me for the initial interview. You'll hear her asking questions. And I have another special guest today, Aly Goulet, who is also a Think Tank member. And Aly, thanks for being here with me today. Can you introduce yourself? Aly:  Yeah, absolutely. Thanks so much for having me. I'm Aly Goulet. I'm a B2B SaaS and IT copywriter, and I also create resource for freelancers, including Genius Portfolio for WordPress. Kira:  Very cool. And before we dive into this interview, you know we love to have some sponsor action. And our sponsor today is the Think Tank, our mastermind. I know it's shocking that the Think Tank is our sponsor today. So Aly, as a member of the Think Tank, you are in your second year in the Think Tank. Can you share a little bit about your experience in this mastermind and maybe just how it's helped you the most? Aly:  Yeah. I think what really makes the Think Tank special when I compare it to even other offerings that I've been a part of in the past is that the community that you and Rob have created there is so special and it's really about learning and listening and reflecting off of each other so that we're all encouraged to move in the directions that we really want to lean into as opposed to doing things one right way or following the same program. We're all doing so many different things, we're all accomplishing so much. And it's just nice to be in a room with other people and really bouncing those ideas off of each other instead of operating in your own business vacuum. Kira:  Yeah. And you are such a great example of a writer who has done your own thing entirely and created your own plugin. Can you just talk a little bit about that because I do think you're such a great example of writer who's building a business your way? Aly:  Well, thank you. Yeah. The plugin, it wouldn't exist without the Think Tank, right? So I have to give it that. And really it came out of a concept that we talk about a lot in the Think Tank that's come up in a lot of conversations where the scraps of what we create are really things that we can repurpose and used to take our business in a different direction. Maybe that's creating a course, maybe it's co-creating a plugin like I did, maybe it's something else, but it's going beyond what we can offer in terms of copy deliverables, and really looking at where else our skills lie and what else we have to offer to the world. Kira:  All right. Cool. And if you want to hear more from Aly, you are in episode 249 of the podcast. I had to look that up, but check out and listen to Aly's interview 249 of the podcast. So let's jump into the interview with Krystle Church. Krystle, let's kick it off with story. How did you end up as a copywriter and a course creator and a mentor? Krystle:  Well, it is a long winding story as I feel like most guests on your podcast have. I in a past life was an elementary school teacher and I loved it. I thought it was my calling. I took international school jobs in various countries around the world. And I had a lot of fun for about eight years, I traveled and hopped around to a different country every year or two, taught third, fourth, fifth grade, and just enjoyed life and travel and that sort of access that gave me to the rest of the world. But there was this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that at the end of every holiday, every school break, I had to go back to work. And while I loved teaching, the work environments in most of these places always had a catch. It was either really toxic or the policies were absurd or you didn't actually have enough time to teach the curriculum. There was always something that caused an extreme amount of stress and pressure on educators. And over the course of these eight years, I felt this thing building up. In the background of my mind, something was percolating, something was bubbling to the surface until I landed my last job where I was at my "nine-to-five". And there, it was kind of like the needle on the haystack, you had to sift through some things to find what was wrong. From the surface, it looked wonderful and it looked like I was traveling every holiday, I had a great salary, I had all sorts of choice or the illusion of choice, I might say. But really when you dug down deeper into the work environment and the culture, and specifically the team that I was assigned to, there was an extreme issue with a boys club atmosphere. And there was a lot of toxicity. And it broke me. I got to the point where I was like, "Why am I here? And what does the rest of my career look like?" Every job I've gone to has had some sort of big, negative impact that takes away from the joy of education and having your class and your kids. And I felt like I couldn't see doing that for the rest of my life as much as I love teaching. And it's so funny because I literally Googled, I loved writing in my spare time. So I Googled like, how to get paid to be a writer. And I found a blog that talked all about copywriting. And I was like, "Wow, what is this interesting and weird, strange niche area?" And I dug into it and I started learning and practicing. And I just decided, you know what? I'm going to quit my job. And I'm going to figure this out and make this my dream and build an entire business that operates how I want in a healthy work environment where I get to choose the team members that I'm surrounded with and really gives me just the flexibility, the freedom of time, finances, choice to do what I want in both my business and my life. And so I did put in my notice and that was with the goal of then retiring my partner from his teaching job. And I was able to do that within 14 months of starting my business and launching this copywriting coaching courses business. And here I am today about year and a half in just loving life. And currently living in an island in the tropics, have retired my guy, and we are just figuring out what freedom really means to us. Erin Pennings:  So that's amazing, Krystle. And I've been following you. I've been following a lot about where you've landed and some of your travels, but something you just said, the illusion of choice is something I think is really powerful. And I think how has not having a choice, how does that impact the way you run your business and the people you choose to work with? Krystle:  Oh, that's such a great point to talk on because I think we can keep ourselves inside of these boxes and sometimes not even realize that we don't have choice,