Redefining Success and Reclaiming Your Confidence Without Burn Out ft. Elyse Conroy (Copy)

Listen on Apple Podcasts / Listen on Spotify

Sick of feeling like marketing is just another thing draining your energy? You’re not alone—and this episode is a must-listen.

I’m joined by Stephanie Munson of Moxie Creative Solutions, a marketing pro on a mission to make marketing simple, sustainable, and actually feel good again. We talk burnout, boundaries, and why everyone seems so damn tired of social media (especially Instagram 👀).

Here’s what we cover:

• What marketing burnout really looks like for small biz owners

• Why simplicity > strategy when you’re already overwhelmed

• The unexpected power of Threads (and why we’re both lowkey obsessed)

• Why Google My Business might be your secret visibility weapon

• A spicy rant about cold DMs, AI art, and showing up where you actually like being

If marketing feels more like a mental load than a creative outlet lately, this convo will help you take a deep breath, simplify the chaos, and reconnect with your “why” for showing up in the first place.

✨ PS — Stephanie also drops a Google visibility tip that could change your local SEO game, and I may have given her homework to write a whole blog on it. Stay tuned. 👀

🔗 Links + Resources:

• Stephanie's Website: https://www.needmoxie.com

• Connect with Stephanie on Threads, Instagram, and more via her website

• Want to be part of my upcoming Podcast Summit? Details below!

About Stephanie Munson

I'm Stephanie, and I've been exactly where you are. Staring at my computer at midnight, wondering why your "brand" feels like a hot mess of random colors and fonts that don't match anything.

Here's what I know: You didn't start your business to become a marketing expert. You started it because you're damn good at what you do.

But somewhere between client work, family, and trying to keep up with Instagram, your online presence got left behind. Now you're stuck feeling like everyone else has this figured out while you're still Googling "what makes a good website."

Follow Stephanie: ⁠ Website | Instagram | LinkedIn |

Tired of chasing trends and feeling like marketing is just another full-time job? You’re not alone. In this episode, I’m joined by Stephanie Munson of Moxie Creative Solutions to talk about marketing burnout, sustainable visibility, and why simplicity is the secret sauce. We dive into social media overwhelm, the unexpected magic of Threads, and why Google My Business and Apple Maps might be your most powerful (and most ignored) tools for getting found.

📍 Want to level up your local SEO without losing your mind?
Check out Stephanie’s blog posts:
→ How to Set Up Apple Maps
→ How to Get Google Reviews + Boost Local SEO

Do you have anything to add?
Drop a comment below…

RELATED POSTS:

Ellyn Schinke (00:00.866)

Hello, Stephanie, welcome to the Burnout Proof Podcast. How are you doing?

Stephanie (00:04.835)

Great. Thank you for inviting me.

Ellyn Schinke (00:07.414)

Yeah, absolutely. I'm so excited to dive into this conversation today. It's funny, the last two interviews I've now had on here are people talking about marketing related things. And I love your take on it. And I feel like this is going to be a really, really powerful conversation for everybody to hear. But let's go ahead and kick things off with who are you? What kind of work do you do? And maybe even how did you get to doing this work?

Stephanie (00:30.703)

Hi everybody, I am Stephanie Munson. I own Moxie Creative Solutions. It's, you know, another marketing agency. But why this one? I just wanna make marketing simple. We are overwhelmed with everything, especially business owners. I hate to be a mother who's a business owner. respect.

Ellyn Schinke (00:39.638)

you

Ellyn Schinke (00:46.894)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (00:59.435)

Yeah, right.

Stephanie (01:00.951)

You just want to make it simple for everyone so your business can be seen and, you know, help small businesses.

Ellyn Schinke (01:08.888)

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, and I will like, I know you're like, I'm not her marketing agency. Like you literally hit the nail on the head already about why we need you. Like we're all overwhelmed. We're all wearing 80,000 hats. We're going to talk about how people feel about marketing and business generally speaking. So like make no mistake that people need you and they need what you do. And that's why it's another marketing agency, right? Because everybody has a unique spin on how to market. So how did you get into marketing?

out of curiosity.

Stephanie (01:40.307)

My background is graphic design and how business is evolving and the creative field. Just marketing just seemed natural.

Ellyn Schinke (01:49.89)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. How long have you been doing graphic design?

Stephanie (01:56.443)

Oh my God, here, I think we put some numbers up.

Ellyn Schinke (02:00.44)

Curious.

Stephanie (02:02.651)

plus 15 years.

Ellyn Schinke (02:04.878)

Wow, that's awesome. I'm jealous of people who have that skill. wish I was, you know, I wish I was a graphic design literate, I can use Canva, but that's about the extent of my graphic designing abilities, though maybe I need to not sell myself short because I did make my own website. But anyways, anyways, super okay, so 15 years graphic design, marketing feels like a natural extension to that. I'm curious.

for you and this is something that I always just like to touch on with my entrepreneur friends. I didn't tell you we were gonna talk about this. I hope you're okay with me asking. What is your experience with burnout been like as you've transitioned into having your own business?

Stephanie (02:35.451)

Go for it.

Stephanie (02:43.001)

That is a good question. I have thought about that. I think I am burnt out.

Ellyn Schinke (02:50.948)

really? Okay.

Stephanie (02:53.243)

But it's weird because I love to work.

Ellyn Schinke (02:57.226)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that I feel like is something that a lot of people who are listening to this will resonate with because I feel like so many of us go into the work that we do because we have a natural inclination toward it. We have a natural love toward it. And you when people say you need separation between your work and your life, it's like, but my work is me. Like my work is the things that I love. My work is a natural extension of who I am. was talking with somebody recently about how

It's often really, really hard when there's rejection in business and you are such a big part of your business because it doesn't feel like a rejection of your business. It feels like a rejection of you. Like I could go on that for so long. And if you don't mind my asking, I can like a mini coach you for a hot second here. What is the burnout feeling like for you right now?

Stephanie (03:44.527)

Well,

There is so much going on in the world.

Ellyn Schinke (03:50.912)

God, yes.

Stephanie (03:51.995)

We'll narrow down. So many tools, information for business owners. Do you go left, right, up, down? What is the right thing to do? And I can't do everything at once. So I'm going to go right.

Ellyn Schinke (03:54.678)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (04:00.225)

Yes.

Ellyn Schinke (04:03.885)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (04:10.957)

Yeah.

Yeah, they just have to like pick and hope you chose right, right? Yeah.

Stephanie (04:16.239)

Yeah. And that goes with my philosophy with my business. Just keeping it simple. don't need to do the flashy stuff, the dance videos, unboxing, jump on the latest trends. I just need to tell my story, have clarity, and put it out there and make it easy for people to find me.

Ellyn Schinke (04:23.981)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (04:27.726)

Mm-hmm.

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (04:42.85)

Yeah, I feel like you and I are kindred spirits in that sense because I always tell people and I'm really, I think this is another reason why I'm very excited to pick your brain a little bit today is because I always say I look at marketing in particular through the lens of a burnout coach. I'm not necessarily thinking about it as a marketer. I'm thinking more about I'm gonna do what I can sustain. And if that means I'm gonna post more static images, even though static images don't do well on social media, like,

I'm going to do that because that is what I can sustain and maintain. I'm going to potentially repurpose an old trend instead of hopping on a new trend because it's so relevant. My ICA still cares about it and it's what I can maintain and sustain. Like whatever makes my life simpler, that is what I'm going to do. And I will tell you right now, I was literally talking about this with some of the people who are inside of my Burnout Proof Business program yesterday. We are all either really interested in tech and really interested in the systems that drive our business.

Or we are people who are very tech literate and really excited about technology. And we were literally talking about yesterday about like, AI agencies have become a thing. And there's always like a new AI tool popping up in the background that you could use. And I literally, I'm not even shitting, I'm looking at it right now. I have a list of three that I already need to look into and want to look into. I just followed two new people who are AI people on social media today. There's always new shit. And

they were laughing at me. They're like, Ellen, you must feel this. And I'm like, I absolutely feel this. But I also just sometimes have to strategically make the decision of it is not the time. It's cool. I want to check it out. But it's not fucking right now. Ellen, you got enough shit going on. So I feel that and I know you're so not alone and feeling that how do you manage it? Or do you feel like you're still figuring out how to manage it? Like, is it like a work in progress for you?

Stephanie (06:34.991)

Well, first off, it's kind of weird, yesterday on LinkedIn, I followed a few people because they had AI in their bio.

Ellyn Schinke (06:40.248)

Mm hmm.

Stephanie (06:44.155)

Well, kind of going back, my first signs of burnout was last fall with the TikTok shutdown. And like Instagram rolled out a bunch of like new features and I'm like, I don't care anymore. Like Instagram was...

Ellyn Schinke (06:48.131)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (06:55.637)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (07:02.648)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (07:08.002)

So real.

Stephanie (07:10.137)

was like a nice haven. was pretty pictures that I can scroll. Now it's like, I don't want to look at that. I want to somewhere else, like a quieter place.

Ellyn Schinke (07:19.724)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. my God. Okay. So I feel like we're already getting into then why you like some of the systems that you like. Yeah, no. Like if we were to have a poll, maybe I should do this on this episode of how many people are burned out by Instagram. I feel like it would be the vast majority. I really, really feel like it would. And that transitioned super nicely into, we already feel this burnout from just like our social use of Instagram. Ty being a business owner into that.

People kind of hate marketing right now, especially social media marketing right now. So let's speak a little bit to that. Do you feel that a lot? Do you hear that a lot from people? And why is it that you think that is?

Stephanie (08:04.251)

We're all burned out. And it's just not a lifestyle that we can maintain. We just got to keep it simple and sane. I don't care about these new features anymore.

Ellyn Schinke (08:06.092)

Ha ha ha.

Ellyn Schinke (08:12.654)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (08:21.432)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (08:27.934)

Yeah, yeah. Where do you think that ties into though the hate for marketing? Like as business owners.

Stephanie (08:35.887)

We're tired of learning new things.

Ellyn Schinke (08:37.774)

God, yes, I feel that.

Stephanie (08:41.687)

Nobody should be saying that. We should love learning.

Ellyn Schinke (08:43.48)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Stephanie (08:48.773)

But we're all burnt out.

Ellyn Schinke (08:51.392)

Yeah, it's like every single time I hear what you're saying. Yeah, absolutely. It's like every single time there's a rollout of a new thing. I think with business owners, mean, shit, I'm a systems person. I want to be able to create a system for something and just be able to lean on that system to do the damn thing. But when social media marketing in particular is changing all the fucking time, it is really hard to then create a system that you can lean on.

And I feel like what you are, and that's my perspective perhaps on why people hate marketing is it feels like it is evolving and it is changing all the time. Whether you're talking about the algorithm or the next big app that comes out, or now we're talking about like AI agents and whatnot, you can't ever feel like there's a system that you can lean on because the systems are always changing. So that must be then where your whole simple, simple, simple comes in, right?

Stephanie (09:45.241)

Yeah, and then I'm thinking what my business was without AI. my God, it's like night and day.

Ellyn Schinke (09:50.062)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, in good ways and bad ways, I'm sure. Yeah.

Stephanie (09:55.995)

Yeah. And I am focusing more on AI for my business and for my clients, instead of like, hey, you need to focus on social media.

Ellyn Schinke (10:01.304)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (10:07.49)

Yeah, yeah, do you use AI for marketing?

Stephanie (10:10.372)

Yeah, I do.

Ellyn Schinke (10:11.746)

You do? In what ways? I know we didn't plan on talking about this, but I didn't realize this something you were doing. In what ways do you use AI in marketing?

Stephanie (10:19.681)

well, it's kind of a nice sounding board. Stephanie with ideas.

Ellyn Schinke (10:23.427)

Mm-hmm.

Stephanie (10:30.127)

help flesh out idea, copy. I am not a writer. Sorry about that world. If I could, all my posts would be like two words.

Ellyn Schinke (10:31.724)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (10:42.892)

write or like a sentence. Like I feel like I forget the call to action and my AI reminds me, Ellen you need a call to action. And I'm like, thank you. I like that, I like that. Yeah, and I think that's the, can see where the simple comes in again, because that is a simple way to use AI. I need to bring AI people into the podcast because I feel like learning all of the tools and the way to use AI is awesome.

Stephanie (10:49.103)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (11:09.378)

But honestly, I like this perspective as well because sometimes that simply can be the function of AI in your business. It doesn't have to be beyond that. Let's just use it as a sounding board. Let's use it to vet things. Let's use it to remind us of the things we need to make sure we have in our marketing and in our social media and in our copy. Yeah, I love that. I love that.

Stephanie (11:28.613)

But I'm not a fan of it doing art. You can definitely tell. It's not there yet. I'd rather people go back to Canva. Stay there. Don't go, we'll use AI for art yet.

Ellyn Schinke (11:33.334)

Mmm

Ellyn Schinke (11:40.642)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (11:46.24)

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. also find, mean, actually, I find that it's, yeah, it plagiarizes, frankly, when it comes to art. I don't think it's good enough at creating unique art yet and unique graphics yet. So yeah, I completely agree with that. Let's go ahead and go back though to some of those simple marketing strategies. Because like we've talked about, people want a system. They want something that's easy to maintain. But I think that is what people are running into is that

a lot of these strategies are not easy to maintain and or they're just more hassle than their work, or than their worth. One of the core pillars I think of having a burnout proof business is having sustainable marketing strategies, which you may have heard me talk about when it, because I know you were just saying that you were listening to some episodes prior to this. And I know that's something that Camille and I talked about in our Pinterest episode. Actually, fun fact, as we're recording this, she's literally coming into my burnout proof business community later today to talk on Pinterest and Pinterest marketing.

But what are some of the strategies that you really like from a simple, easy to maintain, makes marketing more sustainable perspective? What are some of your favorites?

Stephanie (13:00.279)

Going back to like the hell fall of TikTok Remember our followers on social media are not ours When they close down these apps You can't take these people with you So email marketing

Ellyn Schinke (13:03.31)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

okay.

Stephanie (13:18.489)

That is very important. And well, but let's go back to social media.

Ellyn Schinke (13:20.547)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (13:25.688)

Yeah.

Stephanie (13:27.975)

I love threads. It's like old school Twitter. It's simple. But then I recently found out they have a new feature. I'm like, don't give me features. It's basic, man.

Ellyn Schinke (13:40.622)

Yeah, what are their new features? Now I'm curious.

Stephanie (13:46.465)

Like, if you're going to spoil something, you can cover it up. yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (13:52.342)

like Reddit kind of. Yeah, okay. Okay. The fact that I even knew Reddit did that. Go me. okay. So I mean, at least it's a simple feature. I feel like that's not something that would massively change the way that I use threads. But in what ways has threads impacted you or impacted like clients of yours?

Stephanie (14:13.679)

Well, it impact me because I have connected with a lot of business owners through that very positive community on there compared to.

Twitter, it is Twitter to me, not the other.

Ellyn Schinke (14:30.25)

Yeah. Yeah. We're all like that. I refuse to call it X or whatever.

Stephanie (14:36.795)

Yeah, it just makes me happy when I'm on there and it doesn't require a lot of work compared to other platforms.

Ellyn Schinke (14:46.286)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

You know what? I really like that perspective. It makes you happy when you're on there. And one of the things that I immediately thought of is I've said for years, Instagram in the grand scheme of things is not a great place for me to be looking for business. It's not a great place for a lot of us to be. There's very few businesses I think that thrive on Instagram because the fact of the matter is Instagram is where people go to escape. I think LinkedIn is where people go to make professional connections. I think YouTube is where people go to learn.

For the most part, I go to YouTube for entertainment as well. But like, what would you say threads is? Like where, what do people go to threads for?

Stephanie (15:31.173)

to me it's more of a connections like a like an easier LinkedIn.

Ellyn Schinke (15:34.862)

That's what I was thinking.

Yes, actually, yes.

I agree, I think people go there to connect.

Stephanie (15:45.851)

was really on the bandwagon of LinkedIn last year, but then I got burned out and went to Threads, jumped on that bandwagon and didn't require a lot of work from me. it was nice post. Everybody's in a nice positive mindset.

Ellyn Schinke (15:55.298)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (16:00.59)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (16:08.137)

Mm-hmm. We connected on threads, didn't we?

Stephanie (16:11.351)

No, maybe

Ellyn Schinke (16:14.626)

I feel like we initially connected on threads. And then we started seeing each other in various networking groups, because I know you were in Aligned AF. I know you were going to Jillian's Calls. Was it Jillian's Calls where we connected? It was Jillian's Calls. For whatever reason I had that we connected on threads. I've connected with a lot of people on threads. Like, for as inconsistent of a threads user as I am, I've connected with a lot of people on threads. Yeah, in what ways do you think that is important from a marketing perspective?

Stephanie (16:27.685)

Jillian.

Stephanie (16:45.775)

being direct, straightforward, that's my bread and butter and me is personally. And I think that fits well with marketing because we don't have time and attention span.

Ellyn Schinke (16:46.904)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (16:51.465)

Mm. Mm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. It's like you don't beat around the bush with some sort of trending audio or dancing video or even a graphic. It's just, here is the thing I wanted to tell you. Enter.

Stephanie (17:09.199)

Yes.

Ellyn Schinke (17:10.798)

You know what I also really appreciate about threads? I just thought of this. There's not an inbox.

Ellyn Schinke (17:19.48)

Why do I love that so much? I mean, I know why I love that so much. It's a one less inbox for me to check. And I think it cuts down on like cold pitches.

Stephanie (17:31.036)

yeah. I like compare to LinkedIn that is more refreshing.

Ellyn Schinke (17:34.83)

Yes. LinkedIn. I know I should be on LinkedIn. I get burned out on LinkedIn so, so quickly because it is cold DM city. I actually also think part of what burns me out on LinkedIn, and this might be a really dumb perspective, but the fact that I constantly have to go in and approve people who want to connect with me or follow me or whatever. I know people can follow me without me needing to do anything, but like.

It's just more shit for me to check. And I think maybe that's what I like about threads is like you said, it's direct, it's straight to the point communication. And it's like, it's so simple. I don't have to check DMs. I don't have to like approve or disapprove of followers.

I kind of like it. Simple.

Stephanie (18:23.693)

And is it for you on LinkedIn? No, Instagram, the DMs, just too many of them.

Ellyn Schinke (18:27.309)

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah it is. Though I definitely feel like I am pretty, I'm pretty good with my like boundaries and monitoring my boundaries on Instagram. It kind of depends upon like how I'm using my stories. I also, I will say one thing I like about Instagram and I know you can do this on Facebook as well is I'm a big fan of chat funnels.

from a marketing perspective, like being able to just have somebody comment something and then you send them the information that they need without you having to necessarily actively do it. think it's frankly more convenient for them. It's certainly more convenient for me to just be able to give them the information they want, like when they want it. I do like that, but I think that yeah, the cold DMs on LinkedIn and Instagram absolutely killed me. Like I got one yesterday.

that was actually I got one the other day that was just like, we love so much your interest in fishing. And the outdoors, was like, when the fuck did I post anything about fishing? Riddle me that. I don't think I fished since I was 12. Like I was dying when I got that message and I just deleted it. But then I got another one and I think these are the ones that we all get. I didn't even go look to see what this person did, but it was, I see that you're a coach.

How long have you been coaching? I'm like, honey, I know exactly where this conversation is going. know it's like the sheer number of people, like who is teaching? If they're a coach, ask them how long they've been coaching or ask them how they got into coaching. Whoever is teaching that, we know your method. Stop, stop. Because like it's not, I can sniff out that is about to be a cold pitch in about three messages. I know exactly what you're doing.

Ellyn Schinke (20:18.337)

I didn't even respond to them anymore, but I'm on a soapbox. I'll shut up now.

Stephanie (20:21.079)

What, like, who clicks on those? Erler replies.

Ellyn Schinke (20:24.855)

I used to be like, I'm gonna give them the benefit out. Maybe they really do just wanna connect. No, at this point, I delete it. I delete it and I don't accept the request. We, I think we are at the point where we can sniff out a cold DM from a mile away, but I'm totally off topic. That's one of the things that I love about threads actually is the fact that there is not a fucking inbox. If we wanna connect, we go to a place where we can connect, usually Instagram. And honestly, I like that.

need another fucking inbox to check. I'm a big, I like, I like threads as well. And I think you're spot on when you say that that is a place where people want to connect and find like like-minded individuals to connect with as well.

Stephanie (21:07.139)

It was so hard, online.

Ellyn Schinke (21:09.047)

Facts, facts. The threads algorithm is very dialed in. Like whatever they're doing, they need to bring that shit over to Instagram, please and thank you.

of gods, bring it over to Instagram. Okay, what other platforms do you really like for simple, easy to maintain marketing?

Stephanie (21:26.299)

I feel that a lot of business owners are neglecting Google.

Ellyn Schinke (21:30.317)

Hmm, specifically what about Google? Because when we say Google, we could go in a lot of different directions.

Stephanie (21:36.943)

Well, I think business owners got burnt with Yelp.

Ellyn Schinke (21:43.028)

Yeah.

Stephanie (21:44.763)

And when there's an alternative, they're like, no.

Ellyn Schinke (21:49.067)

Yeah, been there, done that, don't want to do it again.

Stephanie (21:53.281)

There is a lot of free tools on Google and I'm not sure. No, I'm betting business owners just don't know they're there. And I went to a new store, like clothing store, and I said, you guys are not on Google. And they're like, I just entered it on the Google maps. And I knew they did it wrong because I couldn't find

Ellyn Schinke (22:02.029)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (22:08.961)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (22:21.375)

Yeah.

Stephanie (22:23.109)

But the missed opportunities there, that their business is not being seen.

Ellyn Schinke (22:25.474)

Yeah.

Yep. Yep. Absolutely. like, we've got maps and then what are the other things that they, mean, obviously they need to make sure they're entering it correctly on maps, but what else should they be on on Google? And like, how is that different than them being on maps?

Stephanie (22:45.647)

Well, it's just that they should have a Google My Business page, brick and mortar and home based. With that, you should, you know, add your contact info. You should post updates. you have events, webinars, workshops in person online.

Ellyn Schinke (22:50.476)

Yes, okay.

Ellyn Schinke (23:06.155)

I'm really bad at that.

Stephanie (23:16.332)

And photos. They gotta get to know you.

Ellyn Schinke (23:18.07)

Yeah.

Yeah. So almost like how should we think of Google My Business? Should we think of it like a social media profile where we are like, what's the consistency, I guess, that we should be sharing updates and photos and like this is what's going on on Google My Business? Because I think for anybody who's thinking about Google My Business, it's like if you were to Google Coach Ellen right now, you would see something come up on the right side of Google. It's got a picture of me. It's got like people who've given me ratings. It's got my business hours.

But like there's so much more than you can do with Google My Business than just that.

Stephanie (23:53.827)

Yes.

Stephanie (24:03.779)

I totally forgot and I'm like, fuck, what was that question?

Ellyn Schinke (24:07.149)

Well, you were just saying it. So like the stuff that you were just saying is what I'm referring to. Like the posting updates, posting pictures, like break down why that is important for us. yeah, break down why that is important for us. And like, what's the frequency that you should be posting that stuff. Because I think that's what a lot of people who maybe they have a Google My Business account, but maybe they're like me. And the only time that Google My Business account gets any action is when somebody happens to post a Google review, you know?

Stephanie (24:35.429)

But then I just remembered, like if you go on Google right now, there's the AI mode and your social media posts are on there, on the short video.

Ellyn Schinke (24:37.581)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Stephanie (24:56.803)

I'm sick.

Ellyn Schinke (24:58.541)

You

Stephanie (25:04.111)

With Google My Business, I, people, I have had this debate before. Is it a social media platform? Is it something else? It's a gray area for me, but it's a great tool and it goes back to my philosophy of keeping it simple. Basic information, all in one platform. Like who doesn't use Google?

Ellyn Schinke (25:11.029)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (25:18.797)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (25:23.981)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (25:32.258)

Mm-hmm.

Stephanie (25:33.621)

and just can't like it's like a plant you keep watering it.

Ellyn Schinke (25:40.046)

So I actually really like that analogy. So it's like, you don't want to drown your plant. You don't want to water it necessarily every day, but maybe like weekly. All the people who have plants are like, no, you need to water it more often than that. And I'm like, I don't know, I kill plants, sorry.

Stephanie (25:55.236)

Well, it depends on the business. If you have something to share, let Google know.

Ellyn Schinke (25:57.357)

Okay. Okay. Okay.

Stephanie (26:03.065)

That's the philosophy there.

Ellyn Schinke (26:04.941)

Gotcha. like, oh, okay. So I maybe, maybe the way to think about it is actually almost more like an email list. You want people to know, like I send out a weekly email to my email list. Maybe roughly that is the aim, but like also maybe if you're not sending out an email newsletter every single week, you are communicating with your email newsletter when you have a masterclass or a webinar coming up. You are communicating with your email list when you just launched something new and like, hey guys, check it out. Like maybe that's more of the way.

to think of it.

Stephanie (26:36.559)

That's a great way to think about it.

Stephanie (26:42.191)

just water your plants when you need when you get some water.

Ellyn Schinke (26:47.489)

Yeah, yeah, whether you think about it like an evil marketing, you just water your plants. I like that, okay?

Stephanie (26:52.571)

And like if you're networking and somebody forgot your business card, they're going to Google your name and you want some content up there. You want some photos. I don't know if people notice this, but there's an AI mode and well, if you see there's a short videos, you're grabbing your social media content on there and

Ellyn Schinke (26:58.925)

Mm-hmm.

Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Stephanie (27:21.263)

You gotta make sure you got some photos of yourself, your business, your products, services.

Ellyn Schinke (27:27.978)

my goodness. You are so right. Okay, actually I am going to share my screen because I think I see what you're talking about here. Let's see if it works. I've literally never done this on a podcast before. So let's see if this works. So like when I Googled mine, God, this is going to look bad for hot second. When I Google mine, I mean, yeah, it's got my Google My Business. It's got my, it's actually not pulling up my Google My Business, but it's pulling up my profiles. It's pulling up my like,

videos from Instagram, it's pulling up all of these things that I think we don't necessarily appreciate. Now, when I click into this, I'm trying to figure out where we get my Google My Business.

Stephanie (28:11.12)

it was right there. That box. Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (28:13.247)

was it? What box?

Stephanie (28:16.377)

the box to the right.

Ellyn Schinke (28:19.841)

there isn't a box to the right. Are we talking about this?

Stephanie (28:22.651)

No, other page.

Ellyn Schinke (28:28.533)

This? But when I clicked on this, it took me to my website, I feel like.

Ellyn Schinke (28:37.771)

So like.

But when I do, I think this might be the difference. When I just search Coach Ellen, it doesn't show up. But when I search Coach Ellen LLC, it does show up.

Stephanie (28:43.867)

We'll be right there.

Stephanie (28:49.849)

and you see your products are right there.

Ellyn Schinke (28:52.821)

Mm-hmm. That's awesome. And then you can send it to your phone. You can write reviews and then profiles. Okay. And then so this is, think the thing that we're talking about right now is view the previous updates. Look at the last time I posted an update. For those of you who aren't seeing it, it's February 3rd, 2023. It's the last time I posted an update. So do as I say, or do as Stephanie says, not as I do. Why is it important to post those updates?

Stephanie (29:23.513)

Make sure that Google knows you exist.

Ellyn Schinke (29:27.053)

Yeah.

Stephanie (29:28.203)

And think of this, reviews. know that is really hard for business owners to do, to ask for them. You know, on Yelp, can't ask for it. It has to come organically. With Google, you can just send the link.

Ellyn Schinke (29:34.285)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (29:44.398)

Yeah, I actually made it a how I do mine and I'm not great at this. This is actually reminding me that I have two reviews I need to request today. So we're probably going add that to to do list as we finish talking. But like how I have it on mine is you can map URLs on your website. On Squarespace it's called URL mappings and I have it set up for coachella.com slash review sends it straight to my Google.

Stephanie (30:13.113)

Yeah, that's another thing business owners need to make sure that Google knows you have a website.

Ellyn Schinke (30:14.231)

So I recommend doing that.

Ellyn Schinke (30:22.413)

Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah. All of that I think is super important. I've been told to before that with Google My Business that it's not just so like Google knows you, but like what do people do when they've heard a new business owner? They look them up. They might go to your website to look them up. But I actually think sometimes I trust like a Google review more than I trust a review that's on somebody's website, because when somebody's website has reviews, those are curated. Like those are the ones you've chosen to display.

certain of the reviews that are on your website. But when you have Google reviews, that's from the mouth of your clients. So Google reviews and stuff like that can often be more trustworthy. And if you've got active updates and recent reviews on Google, I think it also tells your consumer that you are an active business, not just a hobby business that somebody started back in COVID and hasn't actually been doing anything with.

Stephanie (31:19.941)

Do you judge businesses if they're not active online?

Ellyn Schinke (31:25.678)

Like online in general, yes. I don't judge them if like they've chosen to not have like a Instagram presence or they don't have a, you know, they don't have a, like a LinkedIn presence or threads presence. Like individual platforms I understand, I think are personal preference and I wouldn't judge somebody for not being on a particular platform. I do judge.

certain businesses buy their Google reviews like restaurants and apartment complexes. Whenever I'm moving and going to a new apartment complex, I'm looking at the Google reviews. It's actually funny where I live now was a brand new complex when I moved in. So they literally had zero Google reviews, which was nerve wracking for me. So I toured my apartment like multiple times before I actually committed to moving here. But yeah, I do think I actually feel like I'm very judgmental of people's websites. But that's that's a story for another time.

Stephanie (32:16.704)

Yeah, I can be on that boat too.

Ellyn Schinke (32:22.861)

Okay, I love this. So I want to jump back to the maps thing. So I know you said the one example that you talked about with maps, they had just set up their maps wrong. How is it? Because this is actually something I just don't know. I would have assumed when you have a Google My Business that the address that is associated with your Google My Business, unless you've hidden your address, will show up then on Google Maps. Is that not the case? Do you have to go down a different path to set yourself up on Google Maps?

Stephanie (32:48.768)

you're the cities and areas you service.

Ellyn Schinke (32:54.495)

okay. So in your Google My Business profile when you set that up.

Stephanie (32:57.979)

very helpful for the people who are home-based and who don't want to use their address to be seen.

Ellyn Schinke (33:02.391)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (33:06.061)

What about a brick and mortar place? Like is just setting it up through Google My Business enough for you to show up on Google Maps?

Stephanie (33:14.051)

It should be.

Ellyn Schinke (33:15.744)

Okay.

Stephanie (33:17.046)

End.

Ellyn Schinke (33:18.807)

I would assume if it works for home-based businesses, it probably works for brick and mortar, yeah.

Stephanie (33:22.423)

Also make sure Apple Maps.

Ellyn Schinke (33:25.975)

Yeah. How do we do that? I don't even know that. I'm not on Apple Maps. I'm on Google My Business.

Stephanie (33:33.707)

Yeah, everybody doesn't know anything about Apple Maps.

Ellyn Schinke (33:38.485)

Yeah, so how do we go about getting on that?

Stephanie (33:41.133)

It's like a create account, claim your page, kind of like Google, but Apple.

Ellyn Schinke (33:47.989)

Okay, do you have resources on that? Because that's something we could absolutely link in the show notes for how to show people how to do.

Stephanie (33:54.178)

No, I don't.

Ellyn Schinke (33:55.885)

okay. Well, I could give you a little, I was gonna say I can give you a little time before this episode comes out. And yeah, if you send that link over to me, that I think would make great blog or content for you is how to set up your Google My Business, how to set up your Apple Maps.

Stephanie (33:57.923)

You just gave me some homework.

Ellyn Schinke (34:13.005)

That is stuff that people are searching for. That is absolutely stuff people are searching for. Okay, because I don't have that, so I would totally look that up.

Stephanie (34:14.703)

Yes.

Stephanie (34:22.467)

On my personal Google accounts, I am a local guide because I upload photos from businesses. And I love looking at how many people view my photos. And I started doing this hardcore in fall. And I look like by the end of summer, I'm going to have 2 million views of my photos of all the businesses I've.

Ellyn Schinke (34:24.717)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (34:30.347)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (34:37.506)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (34:42.551)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (34:48.554)

Mm-hmm.

Stephanie (34:52.057)

documented by doing videos and photos. And it's fascinating, my local area, what's poppin' and what isn't. It's it's unofficial analytics.

Ellyn Schinke (35:05.321)

Yeah. Yeah.

Is that like a way that you get Google to trust you? I don't actually know if this is a thing, but.

Stephanie (35:16.621)

I think because I'm a high level local guide, they trust me more than others.

Ellyn Schinke (35:20.909)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (35:24.555)

Some rando, yeah.

Stephanie (35:26.803)

and like the big store photos get little views and then the little mom and pop places get like thousands of views.

Ellyn Schinke (35:32.909)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (35:37.322)

Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (35:41.646)

Yeah, yeah, I love that. And that's like a, you know, side tangent, not necessarily talking about simple marketing practices, but like, I know there's so many people out there who are like, buy local, buy local, buy local. That right there is a simple way that you can support and promote your local businesses is by being a guide on Google, reviewing, posting pictures, sharing that content, like unrelated to marketing, but almost like you're supporting your local small businesses, which is maybe an

unappreciated side of what you're talking about right now.

Stephanie (36:13.209)

Yeah, in a fantasy world, I like to give everybody positive reviews, but I don't have time for that. But if I a quick photo, that's my way of like helping them. And I also, going from another perspective, I'm Googling local pizza restaurant and I find one in my area. Thankfully somebody, Eve.

Ellyn Schinke (36:18.54)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I love that.

Ellyn Schinke (36:37.503)

Mm-hmm.

Stephanie (36:42.267)

photos of like great looking pizza and I would go in there. So it works both ways.

Ellyn Schinke (36:45.151)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, I love that. I definitely think, you know, from a consumer perspective, I mean, I've gotten a lot of benefit about just having SEO. I think there's a reliability-ness to having a Google My Business account. I think it's hit or miss for people who are online business owners just from my own, like, personal usage of it. But if you are a brick and mortar, I think it's a non-negotiable. Like, having a Google My Business, that is how, like, we were talking about. That is how I vet people.

And honestly, nothing pisses me off more when I go on somebody's Google My Business profile that is a brick and mortar and their hours on Google My Business don't match their hours that are actually like they are actually open. There's a boutique that I like to go to in my area. It's like my favorite place to go like get clothes for like speaking or if I'm like going on a date or going to a wedding and I need something cute to wear, that's where I go. And there have been multiple times now and I've complained to them about this where

their Google My Business hours don't match their actual open hours. So I go down there because it says they're open at 10, and then they have a stupid little paper sign in the front window that says, don't open until 11. And I'm like, well, then update your fucking Google My Business because you just pissed me off. And now I'm probably not going to come back here to shop this week.

Stephanie (38:03.875)

And it's funny because Google sends you emails like, you open on Christmas? Are you open on this holiday? And you just say no, yes, it's so easy.

Ellyn Schinke (38:09.013)

Yes!

Ellyn Schinke (38:18.037)

Yeah, or though they literally also email you and be like, you haven't updated your hours in a while. Are your current hours still accurate? So it's like every like, I'm pretty sure last time I brought this up with this particular business, they were just like, yeah, we just don't know how to update it. Bullshit. Google emails you. Google literally emails you they know people are tech illiterate, which is a conversation you and I have had before about technology and how people just hate it and fear it and all of the things.

Stephanie (38:33.498)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (38:45.357)

They know people are tech literate, so they try to make it really, really easy for you. So once you get it updated, which Stephanie has homework and she's going to write blogs for us for how to do these things. Honestly, that could be your lead gen right there. If you don't have one on your website, or you feel like you need a new one, I feel like people would be all over that. Like how to do a Google My Business page, like step-by-step walkthrough. I actually have a tool I can recommend for you for like how to easily build.

a step-by-step walkthrough of a Google My Business setup and had to do it on Apple Maps. A thousand percent people would love that. People would be all over that.

Stephanie (39:22.361)

Yeah, I think I know what I'm doing this weekend.

Ellyn Schinke (39:27.698)

I love it. love it. Well, thank you so much for having this conversation with us. I feel like we went on some some tangents, which my bad. We talked about threads, we talked about maps, we talked about Google My Business, we talked about the importance of just finding simple platforms that you can sustain and maintain. I think all of this is super, super relevant and super important to all of us who have said before that we hate marketing and marketing is the first thing that we would offload in our business. But which again, it's why we need

agencies like you. It's why there's so many marketing agencies out there because there is that tremendous need. So if people want to learn more from you, if they want to get that, that lead gen, you know, that you're going to make that, that blog that you're going to make for Google My Business, where, can they find you? And I am going to drop all the links down below everybody, but where can they find you?

Stephanie (40:14.361)

You can find me at moxiecreativesolutions.com or needmoxie.com. It goes to the same place. And I'm on all the social media platforms.

Ellyn Schinke (40:27.277)

Can I venture to guess that threads is your favorite?

Stephanie (40:30.955)

It is, it's more relaxed.

Ellyn Schinke (40:35.019)

Yes, relax is good. We like relax.

Stephanie (40:38.307)

I would like to remind everybody, just keep it simple and feel good about it. And most important, you just got to get your business seen. You don't need to reinvent yourself. You just need to get your story online and your hours.

Ellyn Schinke (40:43.789)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (40:50.861)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Venture hours online. Yes, yes. I love that. I love that so much. And I love the re-emphasis of just keep it simple. Like, I would venture to guess, are you somebody who, when people are coming to you about trying to figure out where they need to be, you're just like, be where you enjoy being? I like that. I kind of figured that would be the end message. Yeah, be where you enjoy being.

and that's all we need to worry about there. Love that, love that. Thank you so much for talking about this with us. I am looking forward to these little guides that you are gonna create. I love that you're like, that's what I'm doing this weekend. But we're gonna link everything in the show notes. We're gonna link your website, all of the things. I really appreciate you being here. Guys, we had some tech issues that we had recorded this conversation before and Ellen's audio was crap.

So Stephanie was patient enough to re-record with me and I really, really appreciate you doing that. Thank you everybody for listening. Check out all the links in the show notes and until next time, stay relentless achievers and I will talk to you soon. Bye.