Strive For Good Life Podcast Ep 26: Building a Marketing Agency from Scratch with Kristen Kubik

Introduction

In this episode of the SFGL Podcast (Ep. 26), we sit down with Kristen Kubik, the visionary entrepreneur behind Business Unfiltered, LLC. Kristen takes us on a journey through her inspiring story of building a successful marketing agency from the ground up starting with just a Facebook page and a PayPal link!

Learn how Kristen turned her passion for marketing into a thriving business, retired her husband, and created a legacy of value-driven leadership. If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or someone dreaming of starting a marketing agency, this episode is a goldmine of actionable insights.

Kristen shares:

✨ The secret to understanding your ideal client

✨ Why leading with value is essential for success

✨ The core principles to build and scale a business

Connect with Kristen here: ⁠

https://www.instagram.com/kristenunfiltered⁠ ⁠

https://kristenunfiltered.com/⁠

Listen to this Episode Here:

Watch this Episode Here:

Strive For Good Life Podcast Ep. 26 Transcript:

NOTE: This transcript was computer generated and likely contains errors

Nino Pingera: Welcome everyone to another episode of the strive for Good Life podcast. My name is Nino pingera and I'm here with Kristen cubic who is the founder and CEO of business unfiltered LLC, which is a marketing agency super excited to have her on the show. So welcome Kristen.

Kristen Unfiltered: Thank I'm super excited to be here and have the conversations today.

Nino Pingera: Yeah, the last conversation we had was really good. So I'm excited for this one. But let's just go ahead and jump right into it. So maybe tell the audience kind of those early influences in your life and why you decided to get into entrepreneurship?

Kristen Unfiltered: my gosh one of my favorite influences that I always talk about is one of my dance teachers whenever I was growing up. I did competition dancing for 16 years and my favorite teacher ever. She actually owned her studio and I think it was my six or seventh grade project. I actually got to interview her and I asked her all about her business and how she ran it and why she did it and all these things and it struck such a nerve in me to just want to have my own business and it was so fun just to watch other people around me.

Kristen Unfiltered: whether they were in corporate or ran their own businesses or maybe had a side hustle and why they did the things they did and made the choices they did and it really influenced kind of how I did things and why

Nino Pingera: Okay, so you had an interest really early on then and just business in general and wanting to Be Your Own Boss. What was kind of the Allure of that for you? Really? I mean, what was it just having Freedom over your own time what were the elements there that Drew you to it?

Kristen Unfiltered: I think it was more along the lines of not just the freedom of my own time, and this sounds so ridiculous sometimes but it's kind of not having to answer to anyone else. I was one of those people that while I was fine working another job for somebody else I grew up waitress saying I worked in food service for a really long time and I did so many different things. I really hated having a boss. I just wanted to be able to have my own clients have my own buyers. I had a product based business at one point. I have always had clients for marketing. I've done so many different things and so many different Realms that I just always knew. I wanted to be like, I guess the boss.

Kristen Unfiltered: And I hated that kind of like you have to work up. The ladder in the corporate world is a really good way to put it.

Nino Pingera: Right, right. That's not a model that I personally like so I can understand that completely. So let's talk about some of those things that you did early on you mentioned waitressing, but what was kind of your evolution in terms of the jobs you had to then going into business yourself.

Kristen Unfiltered: Yeah, so my very first job I was a Hostess and that same restaurant. I ended up kind of working my way up to waitressing. I was a milkshake bartender. We didn't serve alcohol, but we did serve a ton of different milkshakes and anyone who listens to this and kind of knows what the restaurant is. They're gonna get it without me actually saying it so we had a ton of different milkshakes. We have one pound burger that people had their pictures on the wall for it was so much fun to just be around people all the time for me. And that's when I knew I wanted to just work with people and I didn't just want to sit behind a desk and when I graduated college, I actually graduated with a marketing degree, but also a business degree and the Business Degree was just because I didn't really know.

Kristen Unfiltered: What else I wanted but I had some extra classes I had to take and when I did that I hadn't moved to the Baltimore DC area. I got a job in marketing. It was the most boring thing. I think I'd ever done in my life. I was so bored. in just sitting behind my desk and answering emails creating PDFs for people and I was so just blah and I missed that people aspect honestly and one of my favorite things I revert back to was an internship that I'd actually done while I was in college and undergrad and I was in the sports marketing team for it's Reese's the Senior Bowl.

Kristen Unfiltered: And so I got to do a ton of college football stuff. I got to do a bunch of with the NFL. It was so much fun. But again, it was like that being around people right? So it was such a big driving factor to just wanting to make sure I stayed around and working with people versus being back behind that desk and that corporate world that I almost ended up in

Nino Pingera: Yeah, So you just got sick of not having that kind of interaction that really got you inspired and that you enjoyed is that what led you to just saying, what screw this I'm gonna go out on my own or how did that transition happen?

Kristen Unfiltered: So the transition actually happened unwillingly. at the time I had quit my marketing job and I started working with a small business and it was just like a local veterinary hospital. I was doing their events management. I was doing their social media their emails things like that and I actually got fired and it was something completely out of my control. It wasn't anything insane, but at the same time I didn't really want to go back to work for anybody else. So I was just kind of like what if I just throw myself into this full time I can do it. I know I can and then this I refuse to lose mentality and it is easily become like

Kristen Unfiltered: Almost like my motto, I guess because it's the thing. I always revert back to and that was definitely the thing that kind of drove me into going full-time in my business and it's kind of that hidden blessing I guess.

Nino Pingera: Yeah, that's interesting. Okay, let's talk about that refuse to lose mentality. how did you build that because a lot of people, they'll maybe leave their job but they have a hard time fully committing and so in the back of their mind, they're like, this doesn't work out. I'll just play it safe and I'll get another job. So tell us about the mentality of refusing to lose.

Kristen Unfiltered: It's so funny because every now and then I still have that I guess that thought process of it's fine. If this isn't work, I'll just go to McDonald's and get a job. Right and I feel like you're not an entrepreneur if you haven't ever had that thought process at least once. and the refuse to lose mentality It really came into play during my divorce because my ex-husband and I we were not on good terms. we had a really messy divorce. We were doing really everything we could to not only separate but to also throw each other under the bus, I won't even blame it on just him like we were both really awful to each other and it's one of those things. I look back now on and I just kind of cringe.

Kristen Unfiltered: But it came to a point where I had so many bills that I could not fathom not being able to pay them. I was 42,000 in debt between school loans lawyer bills regular bills credit card debt that I hadn't even known about and that was a point where I just went. No, I'm making this work. I refuse not to and I just kept saying it over and over like I refuse not to make this work and that's the only mentality I've ever kept since

Nino Pingera: Wow, it sounds like it's really served that's interesting. So out of necessity kind of had to develop that mindset. It sounds like because the situation you were in that's pretty tough to be in a divorce and also not have maybe a reliable source of income a lot of people, it's so easy to just say I'm gonna play it safe. Right, so that's interesting and I always wonder what sets these type of people apart. Is there something that you think you could point to aside from just being able to tell yourself? that you refuse to lose or I don't know. Is there something else that separates you?

Kristen Unfiltered: I feel like what separates not even just me but people who become successful in that position when you have nothing else to lose right is number one, you have nothing else to lose and number two. I feel like if you have that mentality of it's fine. If this doesn't work I can do something else. Then you're already banking on that plan but if you don't have a plan B, then you're gonna put all your eggs on plan A. You're going to put all your eggs in that basket. You're going to make sure that you're doing everything possible. To make sure that something works and something sticks and I feel like when we're talking about.

Kristen Unfiltered: maybe people who make it in our successful maybe when they've actually had really awful things happen to them not even just me, but other people in a lot of different situations They are so in as much as I hate this word, I'll use resilience in the amount of things. They are not willing to settle for and they just keep going and it's because you really know you don't have a choice. Otherwise

Nino Pingera: Yeah, So there's this element of refusal to settle. that's interesting. it makes me reflect on my own life and where I've refused to settle very cool. So let's talk about actually, getting your agency off the ground then did you just jump into alright, I'm Gonna Be My Own Boss. I'm gonna get my own clients, or how did you Go about that.

Kristen Unfiltered: It's so funny because I actually started it not even just as a full-on marketing agency. I started it as graphic design. So I started it with just offering logos to kind of friends that I had that I knew had businesses, but maybe they had their logos done on Microsoft Word, right we all know those cute little word done and they're like the clip art things like that. No, they looked so bad and we all know that now but everyone thought they were so good a few years ago.

Kristen Unfiltered: But then I started because I was self-taught in Photoshop and a few other things like Adobe Illustrator and things like that. I started actually just offering logos to people and they were cheap. They weren't even maybe a hundred and fifty bucks and the graphic design Community cringed at what I did and they hated me for it and I was fine with that because my bills were getting paid. I didn't care and When I did that I created a Facebook page and I was like Yeah, I guess I'll like to this and then I had a Paypal link and that was it and if people messaged me then I just sent him a PayPal link and then I built my reputation on that and I built referrals and community and things like that and that was it and it just went from there.

Nino Pingera: Yeah, I think that's so interesting. I remember this from our last conversation that you didn't start with much. So it was just the PayPal link Facebook page. But let's dive into the strategy a little bit more because you mentioned community so the community element so for anyone listening out there that is starting a business or considering doing what you're doing right that think they need a website up. They need I don't know all these complicated funnels, let's break down. was Facebook groups. I think that you mentioned where you just dming people or walk us through that a little bit about how you were actually getting clients.

Kristen Unfiltered: Absolutely. First of all, I hated dming people. So I didn't even touch for the longest time. Unless people deemed me first and said, how do I work with you? or can you send me some samples or things like that? What I would do is I would find entrepreneur Facebook groups or local Facebook groups and things like that and I would see people talking about business stuff or graphic stuff or logos or things like that. And I would find where my expertise was marketing wise or logo wise or whatever. It was and I would start commenting on their stuff and I would say hey.

Kristen Unfiltered: I know Here's what I think might actually be a better option for you instead or I would answer their questions straight up and I would tell them look. I'm not trying to sell you anything. Here's just what I think is going to work really well for you, and then I would always follow it up. You're more than welcome to message me if you Talk further. And I would give them that option but then I back off it would be like nothing like there's no strings attached basically. And that was my favorite part about it is people were able to create that conversation. I went in and I would just answer it, but then I also left with no strings attached. Because I didn't care right and often times what we'll do and it's funny especially female entrepreneurs will do this a lot is we'll put our emotion into it so hard and we'll internalize whether people answer back or not.

Kristen Unfiltered: And I had to really remove the motion. And when I did it made it so easy to just have a conversation with somebody very similar to this for example, and it was so nice just to be able to have that. You're more than welcome to message me if you want not a big deal like I would even tell some people no strings attached and I do it to this day. It does not bother me.

Nino Pingera: Yeah, okay. I love that. You set a couple really key things there. So first off you would just go and add value you would just share some expertise give advice freely without any expectation and then you just left it open for the conversation to continue. I love that because so many people attach themselves to I just need to get this sale. And so they go in kind of with this high pressure actic. Of really trying everyone's got those DMS in their inbox right where people are messaging them trying to essentially start a sales conversation and you see right through it, but your approach is completely different in that you just say, hey, here's some advice if you want to keep talking great. If not, no big deal, is that more or less what it is or

Kristen Unfiltered: Absolutely, that's what it is sometimes and I've done this probably even a couple weeks ago. maybe I have an Instagram post that I know the person's Really Gonna Get value out of that's gonna answer their question even further. I'll drop the link and I'll say look no pressure here is a link to a post that I know that's gonna answer your question further. Feel free to take a look if you want and then often times what they'll do is not only will they go look at it and engage with it. They'll also end up following me or end up dming me and say thank you so much like that and I think that alone because you're completely right A lot of the times like people just want the sale, but we forget that these are human

Kristen Unfiltered: Things like they're not just numbers and a lot of what I talk about. It's human first marketing and that's the key is making sure that you're just building Community First by treating people like human beings.

Nino Pingera: Absolutely. I mean everything in business is about relationships. And if you view customers as people you actually want to build relationships with right it changes the Outlook and obviously changes the results. I think that's amazing. I like the idea of so you are creating content for your own channels and then If it's relevant, you'll drop the links in for those people that I think that's awesome. That's some great advice. So let's talk about building it up because I know you took it to some awesome numbers, right your agency and so what was that process like and what had to evolve in I'm assuming you started offering a lot more services besides just logo design. So let's maybe dive into that process what you kind of changed about your business to grow it.

Kristen Unfiltered: Yeah, absolutely. So for context I have grown my business to seven figures I Actually ironically no longer offer offer logo design. I will offer ing brand voice services to kind of help you dive into your messaging and actually get a Clear Vision on what you're doing and who you're talking to but a lot of what I focus on now is making sure that you're building a community based on your actual ideal customer your ideal buyer your ideal client. However, you want to phrase that just depending on who you are and a lot of what we'll do is

Kristen Unfiltered: and we may do things like social media Audits and I have things priced maybe from $200 like 18,000. So it goes from very accessible to a little more premium and in doing that I feel like I've learned so much long the way that it makes it so easy for me to sit back and look at it and go. Wow. These are the things I shouldn't have done maybe work 24 hours a day or try to hustle my way to a hundred K or I really want $30,000 a month. Let me

Kristen Unfiltered: me just not sleep and try to do everything myself versus delegating and hiring an assistant which is probably been the best higher that I've ever made and all of these things like they were such learning curves that I had the hardest time getting over because I had such a hard time just like releasing the reins. That it was I don't know how to put it. it was very very challenging.

Nino Pingera: Okay, let's talk about that a little bit because you're right every entrepreneurs they want the quality control, So they want to do it themselves. They have this ideal, image in their mind of what it should look like and they don't trust other people to recreate that or be able to live up to that expectation. So, how did you get yourself over it? Was it just the fact that you got to a Breaking Point realizing you couldn't work anymore hours what degree to the conclusion that you need to make that first hire.

Kristen Unfiltered: No, it's funny because it was actually a fight I had with my husband and he was just like I never see you anymore. He was like unless I had put In my downstairs office. I have an upstairs office which is for context for listeners where I'm at now so I can do calls and interviews and things like that so know it'll bother me, but then I have a downstairs office to where I can actually see things and it's right by the door and the dogs and things like that. I put a couch there because that was the only way my husband could come talk to me.

Kristen Unfiltered: And my husband was like this is nonsense. You have to stop this and I was like, but why there's a couch and he was like, are you kidding me? And he was so irate about the fact that the only time he ever saw me was right before bed or if we went out with our friends on a Wednesday night. and I eventually had to back out and look at it and I was like I don't think I can keep working like this especially because right now I'm also getting my Master's Degree. So it's like double whammy and he's just over here cool. I love this for you and Something's got to give right. So yeah, I think it was mostly about life balance which

Kristen Unfiltered: I toss up on whether it's actually real or not. But it was definitely a big conversation.

Nino Pingera: okay, that's interesting because a lot of people struggle with that I personally know so many people that are Workaholics and just completely throw themselves into whatever project they're on and it is detrimental to family relationships right and then obviously getting enough sleep is important to be able to function so, Because it sounds like you got a divorce was that mean did that contribute to that or? I don't know, where have you gone with that since now that maybe I don't know if you're single. I don't want to assume anything right but maybe talk about that a little bit.

Kristen Unfiltered: So I'm actually married again. Thanks. So my new husband is actually the couch husband.

Nino Pingera: Okay, great. Congrats. All right.

Kristen Unfiltered: He loves the fact that I have my own business.

Nino Pingera: Okay.

Kristen Unfiltered: I actually was able to retire him in a sense. So he didn't have to go back to work and 1,000% while he supports what I do here. that was the big conversation we had to have was definitely if you're gonna do this I also would like to have maybe this amount of time that you dedicate to maybe just home life and I went. cool. I can do that. And that was when I went. All right, so let's find an assistant. Let's see what they can take over and things like that and It was one of those things where I had to really learn boundaries.

Kristen Unfiltered: And when we're talking about work-life balance, the reason all of us struggle with it, I feel like it's because we don't want to put those boundaries in place because we feel like we're gonna lose out on money. We feel like we're not going to maybe be seen on social media

Kristen Unfiltered: We feel like maybe we have a client that maybe pops up on Boxer and we have to answer it right this second or an email or whatever it is and during this podcast interview. I've seen my Voxer go off about four times and you still sometimes have that I should answer that but then you're like no I'll get to it when I get to it because you have to train yourself that way because we're such people Pleasers and the instant gratification society that we have is so I want it now and I need it. when in reality nothing is that urgent if it's not detrimental to your actual Being it's not that urgent.

Nino Pingera: Yeah, Absolutely. It sounds like your mindset is really shifted and you've learned a lot in the process of building your business are there. Resources or things that help you develop your mindset around all this stuff or is this just all trial bear error for you?

Kristen Unfiltered: 99% of it is trial by error. A lot of it is life experience whenever I was the reason I started my business obviously was because I went through a divorce. During one of my biggest launches my mom died in the middle of it. And there were so many other things that have happened along the way but those are the two biggest ones and it's been such a big lake. do this? Can you not like trial error? Cause effect type thing then you just kind of learn as you go and whether you choose to learn is going to be a whole lot different than if you just actually see it and deal with it and then just move on.

Nino Pingera: Yeah, that's Okay, so choosing to learn. That's an interesting conversation to have because I mean you're right. We all go through different things and the way that we internalize kind of the lessons will completely change the outcome for different people right? So, I don't know.

Nino Pingera: I guess I'm curious as to how you've been able to really draw lessons from it. I mean, whereas other people they go through the experience and don't learn. if that makes sense.

Kristen Unfiltered: No, it makes total sense. I feel like I'm always been one of those people who just in general looks at things and goes. What can I take away from this? And that's just a part of me that's always asked questions and I've always wanted to learn and I've always wanted to expand my knowledge and there are certain people and they don't want to do that. And that's fine. I don't have anything against that I honestly can't fathom not wanting to learn from an experience or something. Right and my second husband. he's one of those people to where he'll go through something and he might see something in it and he might not and that's fine with him. it doesn't bother him.

Kristen Unfiltered: But then later years down the road. He might come back to it and go that's probably what I should have seen in that versus me where I will over analyze it to the point where it's maybe I tore it apart and then I tore it apart again and it's like Legos and I just put it back together and then I just tore it apart again and I'm looking at each piece because I want to know everything about it and what that means.

Nino Pingera: Yeah, that's interesting. So just a desire to learn and I mean, it sounds like you've really made that a focus of your life if you were, studying for your master's degree and all that. Let's talk about something you said earlier about really focusing in on your ideal client as a way of growing your business, maybe get into that for people listening. Practically for people? What does that look like in terms of how you hone in on that and how you use that in your marketing?

Kristen Unfiltered: Yeah, absolutely. So when I talk about looking at my ideal clients, and I'll say ideal client, but I interchangeably use client buyer and customer and When I look at honing in on your ideal client, I'm looking at are you talking to the most empowered buyer? Who's 1,000% ready to hand you their card? Because if you're not you're consistently going to wonder why people are coming to you and saying yeah your content's great and I can't afford that or your content's Whoo good for you and then you never see anything else. It's like that woo girl syndrome and

Kristen Unfiltered: Then you also get those people who say I would love to work with you. Maybe now it's not the right time and I don't hold anything against people who have objections. it doesn't bother me. It goes back to that removing my emotion out of it. But when I'm looking at creating stuff whether it's content and offer anything like that for my ideal buyer, then I'm looking at the highest version. So I'm looking at how is my offer going to look at or effect? I guess is a better way to say their lifestyle. What is the transformation that I want to help them hieve? How is that transformation going to better that lifestyle that we've looked at already?

Kristen Unfiltered: Because when we're looking at all of those three things then we're seriously able to look at all different aspects of people's lives and we're not assuming anything about their lives because that's another mistake people make but we're really able to just look at it and say if you're going through this, here's a way I can help. And I think that's A lot of people miss.

Nino Pingera: Okay, that's really interesting. So looking at your ideal client. their lives kind of from a holistic level and not just how much money do they make or I don't know because so many people, Even before they get to this point, they like one of the objections that I hear for even wanting to create an ideal client and something to aim for is that my business is for everyone and they feel like they're leaving money on the table if they narrow in on one type of person, So maybe speak to that and why That's a red herring.

Kristen Unfiltered: it's so funny because I've talked so much with so many different clients about why the quote anybody who can buy is absolute bull. And it is so detrimental to your business because you're actually think you're leaving money on the table by iching down and we've actually villainized niching down a lot and actually creating an ideal buyer in reality. You're actually leaving money on the table if you don't Because then you don't really know who you're talking to and if you don't know who you're talking to. Then how are you supposed to actually create an insanely tangible transformation?

Kristen Unfiltered: How are you supposed to create content that makes people go and I don't even just need for your website for email marketing for a flyer you're handing out on the street. How are you supposed to create stuff like that that speaks so directly to someone and makes them say, I cannot fathom not participating in this not buying this product not having this I don't know Friday the 13th tattoo deal in my life. So it's so wild to me every time people make the argument for not creating an ideal client because when we think we're relieving money on the table, we're actually doing the opposite and then vice versa.

Nino Pingera: Yeah, that's so interesting. I think. There are a couple things that I think about when this subject comes up. First off. I think there's this misconception that if I mean we've already talked about maybe I shouldn't rehash All we can is this I love marketing. So this conversation is really interesting to me. And so I picked this apart why people think the way they do about niching it's just so fascinating to me and I've worked in positions with people where this is the piece that they get wrong and if they could figure this out then it would completely change everything else they do and their business would take off easily, but because they're not specific enough and because offer, when you're unspecific

Nino Pingera: you can't like you said put together a no-brainer offer that people will raise their hand for and buy every time right? So I love this conversation and in this topic and for anyone listening out there, if you don't have this piece right put all your time and effort into getting this figured out so that you can actually create the right offers and start growing your business because without it you're gonna be stuck. Let's talk about Some other pieces of marketing that people commonly get wrong that you're helping them with what would you say to that?

Kristen Unfiltered: Absolutely, and honestly, I feel the part too coming on already. let me just go ahead and say it.

Nino Pingera: Yeah.

Kristen Unfiltered: Because I agree it's one of those things where I could talk about this forever because there's so many different parts of it when we're talking about things that I feel like people get wrong or maybe just aren't hitting the mark on right you don't even have to completely get it wrong. But maybe you're not hitting the mark on I was actually having a conversation with someone earlier today and I mean maybe a couple hours ago about how We want to hold maybe hard conversations and I have a lot of clients who have harder conversations. Maybe some of their buyers are.

Kristen Unfiltered: About maybe the education system emotional eating or things like that or maybe anti-racism trainings and things like that. I mean we have hard conversations everywhere all the time and if we're not facilitating those in a inclusive way and in a safer way and you're just broadcasting everything out to the public. That's not going to work for anybody. And that is one of the hardest things that people are not getting is Facebook groups.

Kristen Unfiltered: They cannot be public Facebook groups are not working anymore like public profiles. Sometimes also don't work, but you have to know when you have to know your audience and that goes back to the ideal client conversation. You have to know who you're talking to do. They want that quieter or maybe a little more inclusive tighter space or are they fine just commenting on your public Instagram account? If they're not you're not going to get engagement, you're not going to get it all the things you're hoping for. And then I think another piece of this that is insanely important is we're focusing a lot lately and I say we use the collective we're focusing a lot lately on virality. And that is the wrong place to be looking.

Kristen Unfiltered: Because when we're looking at virality, we're not paying attention to who is in front of us already right now. and I was telling this story yesterday of I had a client who was upset that she only had 5,000 people in her Facebook. And we had grown it from 500 people to 5,000 people. fairly quickly

Kristen Unfiltered: I just looked at her and I said I want you to think of 5,000 people in your house right this second. could they even all fit and she was like, no, and I was like 5,000 people is a lot of people to even remotely sit there and talk to And she instantly kind of snapped back from wanting that virality from looking to reach Millions at once. versus focusing on who was in front of her to buy and then also maybe getting some reach and then looking at other ideal buyers and then other ideal clients to bring in but those are two really really big ones for me lately.

Nino Pingera: Okay, so Just to recap a little bit. So you talking about building community and doing that in a format that isn't just your regular Instagram page right creating something a little bit more intimate where you can have deeper conversations with your crib. I guess if you want to call it that right the people that follow you and are interested in what you do and you would recommend probably doing Facebook groups or other types of groups like that. Is that…

Kristen Unfiltered: I think there are definitely a couple different ways to do it and…

Nino Pingera: what you would say?

Kristen Unfiltered: I've seen I'm loving the different ways that even Instagram is coming out with right now to where they have their channels or a lot of people are using Discord lately and…

Nino Pingera: Yeah.

Kristen Unfiltered: I'm in love with it. I think it's beautiful even some people are using slack for a community and I think that's wild but I'm here for it. So I think Facebook Groups are great. If that's your jam, I think discord's a lot of fun. I think whatever you want to do. The mighty is always fun. It's not really my thing, but people like it. And I think it's just about not just relying on just that public face, right you just want to also have a way to just bring people in to your world.

Nino Pingera: Instead of just go follow me on social media, right?

Kristen Unfiltered: That's exactly.

Nino Pingera: Yeah, I love that the other. Piece that you were talking about earlier, which I think is really interesting. Is this idea that you can better leverage the audience you already have and where my mind goes is that probably means in the form of what are other products and services that you're already buying audience would be interested in that you can add on Whereas. Yeah, I think so many people are caught up on continually chasing more clients when in reality, they wouldn't have to grow their business if they just did it, The other thing too is you can leverage the current audience you have to

Nino Pingera: Get more clients. If you do that very well in strategically, You don't have to go find new people that have never heard about you because if you think about the client Journey getting them invested in you there's a huge process to that and so to start with scratch with new people and bring them along for the ride and in a sense, expose yourself to them. I mean, that's a process and so you might as well expedite that and start with the people that already know you that are already fans of you that are already bought into what you're doing. Is that kind of fair to say as far as summing up what you were talking about.

Kristen Unfiltered: Absolutely. I feel like any successful business and honestly, mine is no exception here Real Lies on repeat buyers. And when we're talking about repeat buyers, that's why I love focusing on community versus just new eyes.

Kristen Unfiltered: Community is going to honestly do so much more for you. Because like you exactly said they already know you don't have to nurture them as much and that nurturing is not important. It's just that There's a level of nurturing for new people that people in your audience don't require because I could go in and post a picture of my dog and the people who know me are going to be like, my God stormy looks so cute in this little picture and they already know who she is. people who don't or you have a hand tattoo and I'm like, yes, if you've seen You've seen it. So there's just that different level of nurturing where you just

Kristen Unfiltered: If your community is there, why wouldn't you just keep selling to them because they're already your ideal buyers.

Nino Pingera: Yeah, I love that. That's a great reminder for anyone listing out there. Let's talk about maybe the current phase you're in with your business and where you are trying to take it.

Kristen Unfiltered: Man, I love this. Okay, so my current phase that I'm in is I just hit. This past summer. the Seven-figure cash mark, and it was probably the coolest Milestone. I think I've ever done. I am officially financially free until I am 85 and I am 33 now. So that is probably the coolest thing. I think I've ever done in my life and…

Nino Pingera: Yeah. Congratulations on that.

Kristen Unfiltered: Thank you, and I honestly. the way I want my business to even remotely go in 2024 is so crazy that I say it sometimes and it's very wild to me. So I've already accepted a couple of guest speakers thoughts. For 2024 I'll be doing an in-person event in Boston in February and that'll be a lot of fun. But I want to start taking that a little more in person. I want to do in person brand voice workshops. And then I want to bring my clients along for the ride. So I have recurring clients and then I want to

Kristen Unfiltered: A big portion of probably the second half of 2024 is going to be bringing in a lot of what I call pay which clients. So it's a lot of people who normally wouldn't have an opportunity to work with someone who can really take their business to that next level and I really want to give them that opportunity.

Nino Pingera: That's amazing. So it sounds like you're finding ways to give back. Is I asked my guess what some of the unintentional benefits of Entrepreneurship would you say that that is one being able to give back?

Kristen Unfiltered: That is absolutely one of my favorite things. I at least monthly.

Kristen Unfiltered: every other month if I try to every months couple of weeks something give a portion of my profits to a local or at least Regional charity. So a lot of what I've done October was dedicated to domestic violence the November. I'm still researching a little more but it looks like a lot of it is going to be going toward a lot of the conflict we're seeing right now. So it's definitely been a really really big Plus for me is to be able to take a lot of what I've made and help give it back to people with nothing expected because it's

Kristen Unfiltered: I had so many opportunities that people extended their hand to me that that was the big thing I wanted to be able to do was to do that back.

Nino Pingera: I love that, the show. I mean again the goal for me the aim is to highlight how entrepreneurship creates freedom in your life, but I think the aim of living a good life is to be able to also give back and do good in the world and Entrepreneurship enables that not just with the business that you create You can if you're doing it, right you're serving people and solving problems that need to be solved but then obviously being in a position like yours where you have, the income you need now you're able to pass that on as well and I think that's amazing. So thank you for being someone that gives back to the world in that way. I really appreciate that. I just realized that we're kind of coming up on our time. Where can people go to connect with you and work with you?

Kristen Unfiltered: Absolutely. No, thank I appreciate that. I am notoriously more active on Instagram. So while we were talking about not just sending people to Instagram. I love hanging out on Instagram, but I don't just post and ghost. Please. Feel free to come I am at Kristen unfiltered and I adore interacting with people. I am not scared of Arms are as long as people aren't just sending me obnoxious photos. I'm good with that.

Nino Pingera: Okay, we'll have the link to that in the show notes. So anyone listening can go there to check that out and then What is your website again?

Kristen Unfiltered: It is Kristen unfiltered.com.

Nino Pingera: Okay, so just like your Instagram tag again, we'll have that in the show notes. Thank you so much. What's your final message to the audience out there?

Kristen Unfiltered: My final message would probably be to be patient with yourself because there's so much constantly happening and you are constantly evolving so much that patience is the only thing that in gratitude like they are they go hand in hand and you cannot be angry or anxious if you find something to be thankful for because you have no choice but to be patient.

Nino Pingera: Okay, that's interesting. I love that reminder to be grateful to be patient. I think those are key virtues for anyone trying to be successful out there. Thank you so much for being on the show. It's been an awesome conversation for anyone listening out there, make sure you subscribe to whatever Channel you're listening to this on and share this with others that really helps us out a lot. Thank you so much for listening and for being here. And again, thank you Kristen for being an awesome guest. I'll see you guys in the next one. Okay.