Not Nice. Clever.
Not Nice. Clever. is for the introverted entrepreneur looking to level up in mind, brand and bank account.
If you’re ready to finally stand out, find your people and build business in a way that feels good to you, you’re in the right place.
Join Kat and Candice as part of the #CleverCrew, where this dynamic duo shares their journey, stories and strategies on how introverts can thrive and build successful businesses.
Feeling like your introverted nature is holding you back? Tired of being described as “shy” just because you’re an introvert? Well, you’ve found your people. From navigating awkward situations to making a lasting impact, they'll guide you through it all with a bit of not niceness and a whole lot of clever.
With exciting guest appearances, each episode is packed with inspiring stories, valuable insights, and practical tips to help you leverage your introverted strengths. It's time to step into the person you're meant to be, introvert and all.
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Not Nice. Clever.
Growth Strategies for Long-Term Business Success
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In this episode of Not Nice, Clever, we’re talking all about the beauty of slow and steady growth—because let’s be real, the overnight success story? It’s a myth.
Real success, happens over time with consistent effort and sustainable practices. We're discussing the dangers of burnout that come from chasing quick wins and explore how to redefine success beyond the usual numbers.
It’s all about appreciating the journey and celebrating those small, incremental wins that add up to something incredible.
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Hi, I'm Kat, marketer turned brand storyteller. And I'm Candice, educator turned entrepreneur. And you're listening to Not Nice, Clever. As CEOs and leaders, it's your job to always have the answers. But sometimes you need a little help. Leverage, if you will. We get it. This is the place for you. So wherever you're listening, 530 AM Club at the gym, on your way to your next meeting or putting out today's fire, let's get into it.
In today's episode of Not Nice Clever, we're talking to you about slow and steady growth. Yep, I said it, slow and steady growth, okay? Because in a world like today, where overnight success and instant results are the shiny object that everyone is chasing, I want to remind you that slow and steady does win the race. Real.
lasting success is not built in a day. It's built through consistent intentional effort over time. And I talk about this to my clients all the time. Kat talks with our clients about this all the time. It's that idea of going viral is the thing. That's what you want. That's how you become famous and really collecting a library of content that tells the story of who you are and who you help.
and how you can help them is the real thing that's going to allow you to serve in the way that makes the most sense to you. Not going viral, okay? So today we're gonna talk about what to look for, how to make something really meaningful, and if you have been feeling the pressure to rush or to get instant results and you're not seeing that right now, then this episode is for you.
So the first thing we want to talk about is that even though going viral or growing really quickly seems cool and seems sexy and is the shiny toy of today in like the era of digital and us having our smartphones in our hands, like the world at our fingertips, it is often not sustainable. And it can lead to burnout. It can lead to exhaustion, fatigue, poor decisions.
You lacking like systems to feel organized, like frazzled in your day to day. Like it's not the outside looking in might look great. you go to your profile and you see a viral piece of content or you got featured or this or that, but it's like, how are you actually in your day to day? How are you feeling? How are you operating? And we always want to make recommendations and build a life that is sustainable, that is built for the long term because.
Candice and I have noticed like the people that we admire, that we look up to, that we partner with, that we collaborate with, they did not become successful overnight. And I'll even use a recent example. I can't remember who had shared it with me. But they were talking about Sabrina Carpenter and how it seemingly all of a sudden
she is successful and she's getting featured and she's on SNL and it's like espresso and all of this and blah, blah, blah. Like that song, right? Guys, she's been making music since 2014. Right. 10 years. 10 years y'all. And it's like, she just came out of nowhere. Be like, no, bitch. It finally came together. It finally happened. But it's 10 years of
trying and showing up and experimenting and learning and failing and all of that. All you see is her on SNL now. There's plenty more that has happened before she was even on your radar that contributed to her success, isn't it? Yeah. And this reminds me of a story to Giselle Ugardi. She's a good friend of mine. We had her on our podcast a while back. We'll link it for you. If you haven't listened to that episode, you need to. It's great episode. It's so good.
She posted on LinkedIn recently and she got to share the stage with Trent Shelton. I don't know if y'all are familiar with Trent Shelton, but he's incredible. And so is Giselle. And so she shared the stage with him, posted pictures about the event that they were at together. And it was amazing for her to be able to be on stage with someone who's built such an incredible brand like Trent. And...
In this LinkedIn post, she shared screenshots of DMs that she had sent Trent five years ago. Five years ago, she sent him DMs that were like, you know, this was incredible. Like, you know, I listening to this or whatever. Like this was great. Can't wait to share the stage with you one day. Five years in the making before that ever happened. And maybe even at a time when Trent
I don't even know if he responded to that DM. But she knew she had a goal, she had a vision, she had a focus. And then people will say, look at all of a sudden here she is doing all this cool stuff. No, not all of the sudden. Okay. Because this is something that she has been working on for a really, really long time. And I think that it's easy for people who are trying to explore personal branding or trying to get into the social space.
be like, well, it happened overnight for that person. And the reality of it is it's pretty rare that it happens overnight. And even rare that it lasts from that overnight success, right? one of another analogy or like example I'll share before we share the other two tips here is people saying that Ryan Serhan, right? Who we work with, he's famous and successful only because he was on a TV show. And I think that
to how many reality shows there are, how many seasons those reality shows have been on for, and the dozens of cast members on each season of every reality show that there has been since even real world, right? Like I'm so dating myself there. And how many of them have been able to leverage that and really amplify it into the multi-million, billion dollar multi-industry business that he has and that other notable former
reality TV stars have done. it is that that is definitely a leg up. is not the thing that created long term growth. And also he got that role. Like he was able to obtain that position to put himself in a place to be in front of people. I think recently someone, someone on the team had mentioned that he has more views on YouTube than he ever got on million dollar listing. Yep.
And those early vlogs are the things that I hear people talk about, the people that have been following him for years, right? That didn't just hear about him, you know? So it's long-term people, which takes us to the next step. Candice, what's this next one? This next one is to focus on consistency and not speed. Consistency is key because when our clients come to us and they want to focus on speed and they say,
we're gonna post every day, Candice. We're gonna post three times a day, Kat. We're like, wait, what? Because what's gonna happen is three weeks in, you're gonna give up and burn out. And we'd rather you post consistently two or three times a week and just start there, then burn yourself out and go all in and not be able to make it sustainable. So progress over perfection, the tiny steps add up to something huge.
We say it all the time, but social media and showing up online is like working out. You don't want to do it seven days a week. You do need to take breaks. You need to allow for rest and you're going to see results with consistency, but consistency doesn't mean every day if that doesn't make sense for you in your life. Yeah.
that the need to rush the arbitrary pressure or arbitrary goals or the comparisonitis that you're putting on yourself, that you're experiencing, it's not going to help you. Consistency doesn't sound sexy, but the results are sexy over time. You not being burnt out and hating your day to day is also fantastic. We want that for everybody listening and watching.
Okay, the last tip, and this is one as canned as it sounds that I have heard so many people that I look up to say, one of which was Chris Doe, who we had on a prior episode, where I was talking about like reaching an end destination. And he was like, well, let's not just think about that. Let's think about enjoying the journey as much as we do. He's like, but because who's to say there even is an end destination.
Yeah. I was like, In my experience, there's never an end destination every time I reach that thing that I think I want. There's the next thing or new idea. There's always something. So in order to stay motivated, right? And interested and excited, right? Keeping your energy up along the way, we like to remind you to not just look at and measure success.
based on like the on paper metrics, the typical business metrics like revenue generated, cash collected, email list subscribers, social media following, right? Those are like the on paper hard metrics that you should track, but there's other ones too, like off paper ones, right Candice? Yes. So an off paper metric might be something like how confident you feel in front of the camera. Maybe six months ago, you didn't feel confident at all.
and now you just pick up your phone without even thinking about it and record a segment for your Instagram stories. And it's not even a second thought. Or maybe an off paper metric is I used to take an hour to record and edit a reel and now I take 10 minutes. Right? So there are things that you might not be looking at. It might be that you go into a conference or a meeting
And someone says, I see your content. Maybe they're not liking, maybe they're not commenting. There's no number that you can actually measure with ease, but they're talking to you about their content. That means you're in front of them. They're seeing you. And those things are the beginning metrics that will allow you to know that you're on the right path. That maybe they're not the sexy metrics that you want to track because you do want to see it impacting your follower count.
you do want to see it impacting your revenue. But those signs, the off-metric signs are telling you that the other things are coming. And that you are actually making an impact. Because to make money, yes, we all have to live, we all have to survive, we have bills to pay, families to provide together with. the thing that does keep me going on the days when I'm not so feeling great or I don't see income coming in or
I have a client leave or I have to fire a client, the things that keep me going and really like light me up and lift me up are those are is that anecdotal data of people like hopping on a client session. The clever crew sliding into our DMs and saying, my gosh, this really you you talked to the thing that I'm struggling with right now. Thank you. Right. Or I said this episode to my friend because it was so helpful. Or maybe that's not,
doubling or tripling our follower count, but that is letting us know that we're doing work that's making an impact and makes us want to do more. The follower count will rise by a byproduct as long as you are focusing on the things that will help you sustain and build long-term success, which is why we wanted to record a mini specifically on this for you guys.
Last thing, if you haven't already leave a five star review. What are you even doing if you haven't? Okay. And then send this to a friend. Thanks.
Thanks for joining us on Not Nice, Clever. Remember to follow Not Nice, Clever wherever you listen to audio. And if you haven't already, drop that five star review. Share your takeaways. Tell us your story. We love to hear it. Signing off, you're not so nice, but so clever besties that mean business. See you soon.