3: From Product Manager to Brand Strategist w/Elisa Estrera

I'm excited to welcome my first guest, Elisa Estrera, a visionary brand strategist and the founder of Your Vivid Edge. With a rich background that includes launching products for giants like PayPal, JP Morgan, and AT&T, and co-founding social enterprises in the Philippines, Elisa brings a wealth of experience to the table.

Elisa shares her journey from a tech startup to consulting, revealing how she discovered her passion for brand strategy through several career transitions. We delve deep into the heart of brand strategy, exploring how it differs from marketing and why it's crucial for businesses of all sizes.  We discuss the importance of understanding your business's identity, differentiating in a crowded market, and aligning your brand with your personal values.

You will gain valuable insights into how to create a compelling brand strategy, whether you're a solo freelancer or running an agency. Elisa's story is a testament to the power of self-discovery in business and the importance of aligning your work with your core values.

Subscribe for episodes packed with practical advice, personal stories, and strategic insights that will inspire you to think differently about your marketing business. Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your brand, this conversation with Elisa Estrera is not to be missed!

 Connect with Elisa on Instagram and Linkedin. Get your free No-BS Guide to Brand Strategy for Marketing Freelancers here.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] I think when people are thinking about, Oh, who is my client? Who would I like to serve? It's who would you be a client to? I love and. Think so highly of my clients.

[00:00:11] I refer them out all the time. And in some cases I am my client's client too. So if you resonate with them, if they're into the same things that you like, yeah, go follow that.

[00:00:22] Welcome to The Marketer's Take Wing. The challenges and the setbacks, the lessons learned from failures, and the joy of overcoming obstacles. This podcast is a celebration of the marketer's journey. The highs, the lows, and everything in between. If you are a marketer looking for inspiration, or you just enjoy a good story about business growth and personal development, This podcast is for you.

[00:00:46] I'm very excited to introduce my first guest on this podcast, Elisa Estrera. She is a brand strategist with Your Vivid Edge, and she lives to empower your inner child.

[00:00:58] She is passionate about helping people feel truly safe. seen and valued for expressing their unfiltered self. This is the guiding force in her work as a brand strategist and encouraging people to get on the dance floor. For over 10 years, she has been launching products and brands for small businesses and giants like PayPal, JP Morgan, and AT&T.

[00:01:21] She created her own MBA program by co-founding Two social enterprises in the Philippines, which she'll talk about during this podcast. And this took her to the final rounds of pitch competitions at Harvard Business School, UBS and BPI. She created Vivid Edge to help overlook service providers define their competitive edge.

[00:01:42] Her approach to brand strategy is like cracking a 50 combination lock, where the right position, differentiator, message, and market are intricately aligned with their client's unique gifts and experiences.

[00:01:55] Unlocking this insight creates a profound shift in her clients.

[00:02:01] Welcome Elisa. Thank you so much for being on here. You are my first guest on this podcast.

[00:02:07] It is really an honor. It is such an honor. I'm already such a fan getting to know you at the Entrepinayship Toastmasters, hearing you speak, following you on Instagram. So this really, it really does mean a lot to me that you decided to have me on as a guest and the first one at that too.

[00:02:25] It is my honor as well to have

[00:02:28] you on.

[00:02:29] I'm

[00:02:29] curious, How did you get started in brand strategy and previously marketing in general?

[00:02:35] Ooh let's see, I have been in the workforce for gosh, 2008, my math, right? 15 years. Okay. So this is 15 years since graduating to trial and error, figuring out my path. It was not. Nice and predictable or linear at all. I started out in a tech startup that did AI back in 2008. It was a startup. So pretty much every position needed to be done. You had to do some marketing, you had to do some customer service, you had to do some back end, train the AI when it's wrong kind of things to, before the algorithms were perfected, we were the algorithm side.

[00:03:24] No, Google for a while before their search results were super accurate. They would hire people on the site. They get agencies to contract people to compare search results and pick the best one, based on it. And that's how they were. Yeah, it was all manual. And that's how they fed the algorithm.

[00:03:41] So you start in a startup and you don't know what you want. So you just try a bunch of different things. And eventually the startup grew. And I noticed that as with all growing pains, the startup didn't know what it wanted to become. Are we going to be a software company? Are we going to be software as a service company?

[00:04:01] Are we going to be consulting and subject matter experts? Those kinds of things. So that was my first glimpse into, Hey, positioning strategy. And I got the startup bug from there. The startup was acquired. We went from 50 people to 15, 000, and I was like, this is not me. I'm drowning in the bureaucracy, but it was cool because I got to experience working with big teams, different time zones, all that jazz. So I was like, what? I'm leaving. I rose the ranks to a product manager. I went from doing a bunch of different things for a startup to doing a bunch of different things as a product manager.

[00:04:41] Product manager is like a little business owner. They're like CEO of their products. So I think that's how I was like, okay, I'm making a product. I'm gathering customer requirements. I'm talking to the tech people to see what's possible. I'm looking at competitors. It's stuff, CEOs do, and you just figure it out as you go along. After two years of that product management. I quit because I vested in that company. And I was like, you know what? I can't do this. I vested, got my stocks. I'm headed out and making my own business. Let me start my own business now. I had no idea what I was doing.

[00:05:18] Tried to get into MBAs. Didn't get accepted, so I made my own. I'm a trial by fire kind of person, I don't know about you, but Oh, yeah. Yeah,

[00:05:27] that's how we connect as well, is I had a wellness center for five years, and I called that my MBA. I just jumped right

[00:05:36] in. I could do it and learn from that, or I could sit in a class and pay someone to teach me.

[00:05:43] I'm like, let's just do it. Let's just go for it. So yeah, launching your own business, that is an MBA, right? You're thinking of, okay who is this for? It was a financial services business, a FinTech kind of business. It was out in the Philippines. And basically myself and two other partners were like, Hey, there's this emerging middle class in the Philippines, and it looks like they could use help getting finances, whether that's loans or credit cards.

[00:06:12] The issue is they don't have any history. So why don't we help them create history? So we came up with this cool alternative way to. credit score people using Facebook and other social means because Facebook's big in the Philippines, right? We just wanted People to stop going to, what is it? Loan sharks, right?

[00:06:38] That's a big, people were going to loan sharks and we're like, no, we're going to offer sustainable financing. You'll, we'll help you build up your credit and we'll get you approved for a small loan.

[00:06:51] People would still go to loan sharks. We were just delaying it because we were treating a symptom, not a cause, right? The symptom was people don't have enough money because they don't have well paying jobs. How do we create better paying jobs instead of just giving money?

[00:07:07] People are getting money from nonprofits and their families and other kinds of things. They need jobs. I think that was a big strategy. Lesson was, am I? Solving for the right problem.

[00:07:21] That's a great question to ask.

[00:07:23] Yes. Yeah. And I hear the saying all the time, ask the right question, get a better answer, ask good questions, get even better.

[00:07:33] It's all about how do you. And that, I don't know anyone that starts their career or just has a natural talent for asking good questions. But I feel like that is a practice. You just have to frame the problem in a way. And attack it head on if it doesn't work. All right. Maybe I didn't, maybe I didn't frame my question correctly.

[00:07:58] How can I refine and continue to develop a solution for the real problem I'm trying to solve?

[00:08:06] Did

[00:08:06] you have a similar thing with your wellness center? Was it a constant refining of your problem or solution or who you were serving

[00:08:15] I had trouble with my business model because my clients were actually the practitioners who worked at the wellness center.

[00:08:23] That was something that I realized probably too late and was undercharging for my services for them. That was a big lesson with my wellness center was realizing who my real clients were. And then asking that question of am I solving the right problem? So I had a different question of who's my real client here.

[00:08:45] Definitely part of it, like whose problem am I solving? Am I solving my ego's problem of trying to help this country? Or am I really trying to help the people who need it? And what are they going to do? Yeah. So that, and then I was burnt out after doing that and another business. And I was like, I'm going to, I'm just going to consult.

[00:09:08] I don't know who, I don't know who exactly. I'm just going to consult.

[00:09:13] Here I am back to where I started, where I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just going to help people where I can. And I think I just said yes to opportunities. When I started consulting, a friend reached out saying, Hey, do you know anyone that knows websites or knows how to create a website?

[00:09:33] I was not a trained web developer, but from a product manager's experience and from launching businesses, I knew what a website needed. I knew what. Of content to put up there. I was very trained in the whole customer journey, customer experience of a website. So I was like, just drawing all these experiences.

[00:09:53] I said, you know what? I can do it.

[00:09:56] And that opened me up to a lot of the brand strategy, because when I started working with a client, websites are usually the first symptom. That there's some issue or not a solid foundation in the brand because you have to ask these questions. Okay. What is your service? What is your business about the first client?

[00:10:18] I had was a clinic down in LA pediatric clinic and The first thing I asked was what are your services and how is it different from other pediatric clinics that are here? And who are you? What are you trying to say about your clinic? What are your missions values? There's gotta be some way people you want, or there's some way you need to emotionally connect with people.

[00:10:46] So we got into a discussion about their values and then we got into a discussion. Why this color? If your value is community, then maybe a friendlier, more approachable, warmer color. would be appropriate. Maybe this font looks a little too old and traditional when you're so much more fun and young and vibrant.

[00:11:07] A lot of people are treating the symptoms, not the cause. So website big symptom. Just throw up Some logo just throw up color and fonts. You're just putting a band aid on it. The more I started? Asking those questions the more I realized I was getting to strategy and that client was so happy Referred me to another client and the same thing.

[00:11:29] They needed a new website. They had a logo They had the fonts, but other than that, it was who are you trying to target? You have such a big, diverse set of clients. We had to really narrow down the clients and they were trying to be so many different things because they had grown so big so fast.

[00:11:47] It was like, are we. Our clients, adults, kids, teenagers, it was really hard for people to pinpoint if they were the right service provider for them because they were just all over the place.

[00:12:01] If I hadn't mentioned this in the intro, at least I mentioned we had met through Entrepinayship Toastmasters and we're both on the executive committee. So we're doing some extra volunteer work to help. The club run and to grow. And Elisa is our VP of Publicity and just doing an amazing job.

[00:12:22] So amazing. You are just not only creating the plan, but running with it and implementing with implementing everything. You and your team and it's just taken our publicity of our club to a whole another level and really has made a difference in how we've created our vision for the club and shared that message and the message is working.

[00:12:46] The message marketing is working because it's attracting the right type of members or potential members that we want to bring into the club. So it's very exciting. Oh, thank you so much.

[00:13:00] And that's the perfect segue into why brand strategy, what I do has really helped not only entrepreneurship Toastmasters find the right people, but how it helps and influences marketing.

[00:13:16] A lot of people squish those two together, right? Branding and marketing, but it's so different. And I had to learn the hard way. So the

[00:13:24] find for me. And the audience. How do you define the differences between brand

[00:13:30] strategy and marketing? All right. To me, brand strategy is the spark of it all.

[00:13:36] It is the foundation that you build marketing on top of. So when people think of Brand, they think logos, fonts, colors, and it's wait no. What's before that. What's the company values. What are the mission and vision? What is it that this company or you as a service provider, what do you stand for?

[00:13:56] So to me, that dictates a lot of the brand, what it looks like, and then the marketing channels that you go out to. So for me, marketing is locate you have brand is like you birthed. This entity, this business, this is your baby. Now, marking is how do you make the announcement? How do you tell the world like, ah, this baby is born and this is what this baby is here to do its purpose in life.

[00:14:21] So then I think of more traditional things like ads and, what else content marketing, like writing blog posts and whatnot to get the word out to me. That's marketing. Whereas brand is the identity in essence.

[00:14:38] That's my philosophy as well is starting with that foundation.

[00:14:42] And then. Sharing that message, but you got to have the message first. I'm

[00:14:46] curious, do

[00:14:46] you tend to start with the business owner or the stakeholders first?

[00:14:51] Or do you look at the client or a combination to create that brand

[00:14:56] strategy? It's both. You can't have one without the other. One of the analogies I love to give is if I just started with the client and said, what are your values? What are you here for? What is your company's purpose? Especially if they're starting out.

[00:15:15] If they're just launching, those are big kind of existential crisis inducing questions. Who am I? What am I doing? And the analogy I wanted to give was that you're inside the bottle. You can't read what's on the label. And that's why you need to work with someone that thinks this way or can actually have a more objective standpoint, like myself, a brand strategist.

[00:15:40] And another thing people do is how do you know what you like and don't like until you bump up against other people or things that you don't like to further refine, right? So that's why looking at competitors as difficult as that is for a lot of people, a lot of my clients totally avoid it because it brings them into this death spiral of comparison and analysis paralysis.

[00:16:06] When you see what your competitors are doing, you can see, Oh, no, that's definitely not me. I don't want to do that. This is the lane I want to carve out. And then the third part of that, so you have yourself, you have your competitors and then of course it's the clients. It's who is it that you feel so drawn to serve and help, right?

[00:16:26] And it's like a Venn diagram, right? What's the intersection of all those three things? And that's your special sauce. That's your secret ingredient that lies in the middle of all that.

[00:16:36] How did you get your first clients? First as a consultant and then as a web designer.

[00:16:42] Ooh, my very first client as a consultant through networks, I just started emailing people saying, Hey, this is what I'm doing now that I'm back from the Philippines. I'm just going to be consulting. I think networking because I had been part of an entrepreneurial mastermind and just meeting with them on a weekly basis.

[00:17:05] We already had that rapport. So it wasn't out of character for me to just reach out and be like, Hey, do you know anyone that might need help with X, Y, and Z? And actually the first website client I got was me just circulating a farmer's market. So here's the thing. You go where you like, right? I was at a farmer's market because I was so happy.

[00:17:29] I met this awesome lady who made gluten free chocolate cakes. Who doesn't love chocolate cakes? And it was gluten free. I was trying to be more gluten free. And I was just like, I love this product. And I don't know how me and the lady got talking, but she needed a website. And I was like, you know what? I know how to it.

[00:17:50] I know how to roll up my sleeves and figure out Squarespace, or it was Wix at that time. I'll make you a website. And that's how it happened. And I think when people are thinking about, Oh, who is my client? Who would I like to serve? It's who would you be a client to? I love and. Think so highly of my clients.

[00:18:10] I refer them out all the time. And in some cases I am my client's client too. So if you resonate with them, if they're into the same things that you like, yeah, that's where go follow that. You might find your next connection.

[00:18:25] Yeah. I have a friend who has a web design agency and he specializes in making websites for wineries and B and B’s.

[00:18:33] I'm like,

[00:18:34] why didn't I think of that? Exactly. See, that's a beautiful niche. And that is people don't realize they're doing strategy when they're doing strategy. Yeah, I

[00:18:46] think for him, it also just fell into place was, yeah, just out of college and happened to know someone who needed a website.

[00:18:56] It's a self-discovery thing. So on that note, websites, I realized while it was fun designing and figuring out what to put on it, how it needs to be laid out, I was not the implementer. I was the bottleneck if

[00:19:14] I had been the

[00:19:15] implementer. So that kind of stuff Oh,

[00:19:20] I see what you mean now. Yeah. Yeah. I hear you on that.

[00:19:25] You prefer the visioning and the planning and then having someone else be the doer or the implementer.

[00:19:32] Or at least working with them to uphold that vision, right? Because I was dragging my feet and getting things done. And so these little signals, if I meditate. So I have some self awareness.

[00:19:46] I realized, Oh my gosh, I'm the bottleneck. I should not be doing this. There's someone out there who could do a better job and be faster. That's a lot for an ego to take. No, I'm going to do

[00:20:01] it all. I totally hear you on that. Like I used to have a social media management agency and I can still do some I can still do social media, but.

[00:20:12] I don't want to. You know what

[00:20:15] you want. I'll

[00:20:18] create the strategy and the plan and the content. Here's the messaging that we're going to put around this. And here's the look and feel and all this kind of stuff. And here's the calendar. But you can play on Canva. Not you. Someone else can play on Canva and make the thing.

[00:20:36] Exactly. Exactly. I do love Canva and makes it so much easier. Oh, it's wonderful. It's a great tool. Yes. But at the same time, is this the best use of your time when someone else can just so much faster? Yeah. Yeah. It's

[00:20:50] interesting. It's, I've, I was watching and listening to a podcast where they interview YouTubers.

[00:20:57] And it's interesting to hear which YouTubers have to do the editing because that's their art. And then other YouTubers Nope, that's not my art. My art is the message or the art is the final product or, whatever they choose to do So it's interesting to see that and I think in the past I did enjoy the implementation But not anymore and I think that's cool to evolve like you're doing so you were doing the websites you realize that you're the bottleneck in terms of the Implementation

[00:21:28] is that when you started making the change into strategy brand

[00:21:31] strategy? I wish it were that simple. No,

[00:21:35] I'll give you the

[00:21:37] SpongeBob thing. Five

[00:21:39] years later, 10 years later. I'm going on your 15. Yes. So 15 years later. Yes. I'll do a quick recap. You train up. In the startups, you start your own business, you don't know what to do, so you consult and you take whatever job is given to you based on your experience.

[00:21:59] In my case, it was websites. One website client was so happy, referred me to another client. That website client, and I was like, okay, Loved me so much. They're like, you know what? Can you do our newsletter? Can you do our social media? So all of a sudden websites evolved into content and content. How do you know what to say?

[00:22:25] What? Are the key messages you're trying to get out to people on a consistent basis. And then I had an, and then that client had me start Google ads and other types of another realm too, right? Exactly. Exactly. And that same client was like, we're doing book launches. We're having all these other marketing initiatives.

[00:22:51] So I'm very blessed that they liked me so much and that I was. So willing

[00:22:56] even

[00:22:57] though I'm like I usually work with other people doing this, but sure, why not? Let's figure it out. And I always found myself asking the same questions. Like, why are we doing this? Who is this for? What is the goal?

[00:23:13] What's the intention? And what really shifted for me when I discovered that brand strategy was my thing, I focused on the word intimacy. Yes. Every year I pick a word to focus on. And I thought intimacy for me would be with my family, with community, because I noticed that, Hey, I don't seem to be out networking or showing up as much as I'd like to.

[00:23:46] I got so busy with work. I need to work on my relationships again. What I didn't know or didn't realize was that it was being intimate with myself and really becoming aware of what lit me up. And what I totally dreaded. So it was a process of, okay, I'm great at designing, I'm great at visioning, not great at follow through, not great at implementing.

[00:24:18] Tough pills to swallow, right? You're like, no, I should be good at this. No. No, and things just started coming full circle once I started becoming more intimate with my likes and my wants and desires. And when I said, you know what? I took on a client and I was like, okay, I'm going to go for branding. I'm going to be this creative director because that's the trajectory I had been on.

[00:24:53] And I noticed that. Yes, that's still a big umbrella. I was able to find very specific things within creative direction that I loved. And I realized some light went off when I did a competitive analysis for a client. There was something magical that happened when we were talking and I was. Able to see their potential Oh, based on what the client, the competitors are doing based on your ideal clients.

[00:25:27] And based on your strengths, this is your lane. And funny enough, the signs were there ever since I was a little girl. this whole word intimacy just flipped my world upside down from a professional aspect and of course a personal, to me, they're both the same.

[00:25:44] Do you agree? It's like your personal can totally affect your professional affects personal. Yeah. I have two older brothers and they are twins and from a young age, ever since I had a conscious memory, maybe not even maybe unconsciously, I saw how they differentiated from each other.

[00:26:04] Yeah. Two kids vying for attention, and I saw how one became the studious one and the other one became the sporty, rebellious one. So I see how these things were simmering in the background. And as I went to school, I was transferred for. Five different times, different schools, and each time I would, I don't know why I think, okay, how am I going to present myself now?

[00:26:37] Who am I going to present myself? How am I going to establish an identity and set myself apart? So it's there are these natural inclinations that we've had since we were young. But we don't really notice until, I don't

[00:26:53] know,

[00:26:55] some midlife crisis.

[00:26:57] Into our wise ages. Yeah,

[00:26:59] exactly. Exactly. When things are not working, when you don't want to do websites anymore, and you hate the thought of having to do websites, and you realize, oh my gosh, yes, things have got to change.

[00:27:11] Yeah. That is the long story of this current evolution to brand strategy, where I feel that my secret power after this whole 30 plus year journey of living is really seeing my clients or anyone else's potential.

[00:27:31] Sorry,

[00:27:32] I felt that sneeze coming. I'm

[00:27:34] like, no, hold it back. Let her finish her sentence.

[00:27:39] That's no, that's confirmation right there. That's a synchronicity.

[00:27:42] But yeah, it's a sign, it's a sign from somewhere. It is. Yeah.

[00:27:46] But yes, brand strategy, like for me, strategy is how do we place you in a position for success? And for me, differentiation, that's really at the core, but you can't differentiate unless you know who you are.

[00:28:03] Yeah. So if someone is starting off on their own.

[00:28:07] They're leaving the company that they're working for. I'm going to become a consultant or maybe they're doing this as a side hustle. How would you recommend a solo service provider start into brand strategy? Should they brand themselves? Should they start a company and brand the company? What do you think?

[00:28:27] Ah, yes. One, you should always focus on your strengths. There's so many tests. Now. I'm such a big geek when it comes to personality and kind of aptitude tests, definitely a strengths finder. And when I used, when I use all the time, wealth dynamics, have you heard of that? It's really cool. Yeah. Bye. Yeah.

[00:28:50] Wealth dynamics is the one I go to the most because it just simplifies where your flow is and where it's not. So that makes things. Okay. These are the things I should avoid. Great. But in terms of branding yourself versus a company, it's really a personal decision for me. I branded my company vivid edge.

[00:29:12] Why? Because I didn't want it to be about me. I wanted it to be about something. Greater than me. And I anticipate having a team. So I want them to feel that they are part of this bigger entity. And secondly, my name is really difficult to spell and remember. It's not good people.

[00:29:35] That's another thing I really want to be memorable. You don't want to mix people up too much. But for me, that's what it is. Do you want to, do you want to put yourself as the how do I say it? The Marie Forleo leader or exactly the Marie Forleo, or do you want to be supported by this bigger vision or group behind you?

[00:29:57] And I guess it goes back to my values. So if you want to start branding yourself or your company, look at your values. People have different approaches to defining what their values are. I walk my clients through a very specific approach that works for me. We can always do it later. Gail walk through that demo.

[00:30:24] But values, my values are intimacy, joy, and freedom. And for me, there is a community component in those. So it didn't make sense for me to be this lone Ranger and brand myself as a Lisa Estrella. I needed there to be something else that represented what. I envisioned, so it became your Vivid Edge or Vivid Edge.

[00:30:56] I wanted to ask you just a fun question because I love apps. I love tools. I love gadgets. Do you have? Yeah. Favorite apps or software or tools that you like to use in your business?

[00:31:09] Oh, yes. Too many. I love Notion. Oh, you're a Notion girl.

[00:31:16] Yes. I do love Notion. There's just so much flexibility in it, which is a great thing and also a horrible thing, but I found that in terms of workflow and keeping track of tasks and templates definitely helped me a lot. Of course. Now

[00:31:31] do you buy templates or do you make your own?

[00:31:35] Bye. Bye. Because again, that's not my genius.

[00:31:40] That's not my thing. Somebody else is really great at organizing a woman I'm in community with at my entrepreneurial mastermind, her name is Kissa or it's just Kissa or Notion Mama. She makes Notion templates and she's the one that set it up for me and turned me on to Notion.

[00:31:58] Nice. Toggle. Oh yeah. For time tracking, because again, organization is not my jam. So if something can help me time track and help me see how much time I'm actually spending on a flat rate service. Then I'm like, Ooh, I should probably figure out how I can be more efficient or increase my price. And

[00:32:28] , I love using Toggl too.

[00:32:30] Yeah. I use Toggl. Canva always easy. Oh, because video is so important now. And a lot of the branding projects I do are video based frame IO for edits and feedback. Yeah. Do you use that as well?

[00:32:47] I've tried it. It's not something that I need on a consistent basis. So I haven't used it.

[00:32:54] I noticed that Dropbox is starting to create a service that's similar. So to be able to make comments at specific time stamps. Now I don't know if you know this is about Dropbox. They're always launching new Beta programs and it's free for a while, but then they charge so I was like don't know Yeah, I don't know if it's an it's going to be an added service We have to pay extra or if it's just included now, we'll see but right now.

[00:33:24] I'm just doing it since I don't do a lot of video, this may change next year. Or this coming year. I don't do a lot of video where I need to make a lot of comments. At this point, it's more manual of oh, at 1510.

[00:33:40] Edit this.

[00:33:42] Yeah. Or I'm using the script where I will. Edit the content myself at this point.

[00:33:49] My vision is eventually I'll have a content editor who just knows me so well and she'll know where to edit. But right now I'm doing the rough content edits and then I pass it on to someone for the technical sound and video editing. Aha.

[00:34:05] Brand strategy will make that easier. Gail? . .

[00:34:08] Exactly.

[00:34:08] The messages and the key points. I need to hit on . Yeah. Oh,

[00:34:14] if you want to get into more video, one app I'm just getting into, which I'm really liking is Video Ask. Oh, I don't know that one. It's really cool. Instead of having just a plain survey where it's like, Oh, ask question one, ask question two, ask question three.

[00:34:33] You can actually put it in video form. So you create this very simple funnel, but at each step, instead of just reading an explanation, you can have a video. So what I'm using it for. For our testimonials. So sending a video out of me saying, Hey, thanks so much. I would really appreciate if you could leave me a testimonial and you have the option to either write a testimonial or leave a video testimony as well.

[00:34:58] And then that's great. Yeah. And then the app captures it. So it's really cool. People use it for all sorts of things. Even customer service for some industries. Like I know real estate agents might use it for customer service. People might ask a question via video ask and you can respond directly into that.

[00:35:16] So it's pretty cool. Video ask, check it out. I don't, not affiliated.

[00:35:21] Yeah. We'll check that out. To close it out. If you were to go back and Be able to give advice to you to yourself when you were first starting your consulting business What kind of advice would you give to yourself

[00:35:36] be in community? Physically, I know it was hard during the pandemic where everyone was virtual but because I had been hopping around so much I was in Philippines and I was in California then I was in Vegas I didn't have a good anchor into the local community. And so I'm just branching out here in Vegas.

[00:35:59] And I feel like when you have good roots set down, then it's easier to get momentum. So I definitely, if I didn't know what I was doing, I would have just gotten involved and found my people, found people I love, in close proximity to where I was, right? Yeah,

[00:36:20] that's great advice. Thank you. I just moved to and I'm starting to branch out more people in our local area to right.

[00:36:30] And next time I'm in Vegas, I'm going to have to hit you up. And I drove through Vegas recently to the economy.

[00:36:39] Yeah. Okay. So

[00:36:41] you. Exactly. I was joking though. I, you're in a different life stage when you drive through Vegas and you don't stop to go to the casino. Exactly.

[00:36:52] Exactly. Don't try to get to a national

[00:36:56] park.

[00:36:56] I wasn't even looking at the casinos.

[00:37:00] Exactly. People are like, Oh my gosh, you must go party all the time. I go, No, I only go to the strip when people fly in. People like you who come and hit me up. No,

[00:37:09] the tourist thing. Yeah,

[00:37:11] exactly. Exactly. Yeah. But yeah, having a local community, very important. Thank you,

[00:37:19] Elisa, for being my first guest on our marketers podcast.

[00:37:24] So awesome to have you, and if people want to find out more about what you do, and if they're curious about brand strategy for their own business, how can they reach you?

[00:37:34] I am on Instagram at your vivid edge. Also my website, your vivid edge. com. And for people listening, cause I love Gail so much and I know you're going to create such an awesome community here.

[00:37:47] I'll be offering a brand crash course for people who are just launching because let's be real. Y'all can't afford a 50,000 branding agency and you shouldn't need to when you're just starting out, but at least something to get you going in the right steps. Check it out. There should be a link to at least get notifications when that drops.

[00:38:09] Thank you, Elisa. Yeah, I'll put all the information in the description and thank you so much for.

[00:38:17] Thanks so much for doing this, Gail. You're doing such a great service and adding so much value. It's beautiful.

[00:38:22] If you're ready to hear more conversations about the ups and downs of having your own business, especially if you are in the marketing industry, subscribe and marketers, let's Take Wing.