Business Blasphemy
Sarah Khan, Chief Ease Officer, is calling B.S. on the hustle-focused status quo of online entrepreneurship and getting real about what it takes to grow a business that doesn't become a statistic. In each episode, Sarah helps navigate the rampant B.S. that permeates business strategy, marketing, operations, and mindset that has business owners hustling and pivoting themselves into burnout. She cuts through the noise and gives you guidance on how to view the status quo with a more discerning eye. If you're ready for success without the B.S., buckle up for hard truths, fun rants, terrible puns and (more than) the occasional curse word.
Business Blasphemy
EP64: Web Wisdom: Building a Business Website That Converts with Kelsey Romine
Your website into a powerful piece of your business puzzle. Join me and Kelsey Romine as we dive into why your site should do more than just exist—it should tell your story and entice your visitors to act.
We’ll explore how the right images, fonts, and colors can make your website a magnet for your ideal audience, and we’ll tackle the typical traps that many fall into when designing their online store front.
In a more personal segment, I open up about my own shift from being a teacher to becoming a business owner. We’ll walk through my journey, discussing the challenges and victories I encountered along the way, especially how becoming a mother influenced my career path and pushed me towards seeking that ever-elusive harmony between work and life. This is for all you fellow women entrepreneurs out there: remember, don’t let where you are today limit where you can go tomorrow.
To cap off our conversation, Kelsey and I pay homage to the unsung heroes—teachers. We share our own experiences and the profound impact educators have on shaping futures. It's all about being true to yourself and using that authenticity to thrive both in the classroom and in business.
So, whether you’re here to gather some pro tips for your next website or to find inspiration in our personal tales of growth and resilience, this episode is for you.
GUEST BIO:
Kelsey Romine is mom to 3 littles and a website designer. She's a former teacher turned entrepreneur helping create websites for busy coaches and service providers that have a strong strategy and a custom design to attract your ideal clients and get them taking action. Your website can be one of the best marketing tools for your business with the right strategy behind a beautiful design to get it working for you and help you book out your services.
Connect with Kelsey:
https://kelseyromine.com/
https://instagram.com/kelsey.m.romine
https://www.facebook.com/kelsey.m.romine
Kelsey's Gift for You:
https://kelseyromine.com/web-design-mistakes-checklist/
Website design tweaks you can make to your website that can help land you higher paying clients or fill your inbox with new leads.
Connect with Sarah:
- Tired of being the "best kept secret"? Download the FREE Thought Leader's Playbook for 5 essential steps to to ignite your influence and get noticed! Get Your Playbook HERE
- Follow Sarah on Instagram (instagram.com/corporate.rehab)
- Learn how to work with her HERE (getcorporaterehab.com/services)
The Business Blasphemy Podcast is sponsored by Corporate Rehab® Strategic Consulting.
Welcome to the Business Blasphemy Podcast, where we question the sacred truths of the online business space and the reverence with which they're held. I'm your host, sarah Khan speaker, strategic consultant and BS busting badass. Join me each week as we challenge the norms, trends and overall bullshit status quo of entrepreneurship to uncover what it really takes to build the business that you want to build in a way that honors you, your life and your vision for what's possible, and maybe piss off a few gurus along the way. So if you're ready to commit business blasphemy, let's do it. Hello, hello blasphemers, welcome back.
Speaker 1:Today I am delighted to have an old and dear friend. Kelsey Romine is here and we're going to be talking all things websites, motherhood, business. You know the drill. Hi, kelsey, hi, how are you? I'm good, I'm good. All right, I'm going to very quickly tell everybody who's listening a little bit about you. Kelsey is mom to three littles and an incredible website designer. Kelsey is mom to three littles and an incredible website designer, a former teacher turned entrepreneur, helping create websites for busy coaches and service providers that have a strong strategy and a custom design to attract your ideal clients and get them taking action.
Speaker 1:Your website can be one of the best marketing tools for your business, with the right strategy behind a beautiful design to get it working for you and help you book out your services. There's so much here. First of all, we are both former teachers, which I love. Second, like yeah, how many people have developed websites just because, well, you need a website, but there's no strategy behind it, there's no cohesiveness to it? We're jumping ahead, but tell me a little bit. I'm diving right in. Tell me a little bit about how you serve your clients. Like, what do you do? What's your favorite part of like what you do for clients?
Speaker 2:I really like designing from scratch. I love having like a blank slate to do the best job for somebody. While there's great templates and everything out there, I don't always like trust the strategy behind it. I want to lead potential website viewers exactly through the website. How I want them to get to the main call to action. Right, if we want them to book a call or to, we're going to assume your main call to action is to book a call, right, it shouldn't take like 20 pages to get to that point. Right, like we want them to like land on your page and then that's where they go, right.
Speaker 2:So I love coming up with ways to lead them through the website. That makes sense. And it depends on the market. Right, if I'm appealing to you know, trying to attract moms, right, we're not gonna put tons of stuff for them to read through on a website. Right, we're busy. We don't have time to read a thousand paragraphs on a website to end up booking a call to then talk more about what you do. We want to make that a really short user journey to get to that place where they would book that call. So I love mapping that out and figuring out the best way to get them to that call to action.
Speaker 1:And that is such a unique take Like I've. It makes sense when you say it, but it's not something I've ever heard before and it's certainly not something I've thought about consciously this idea that you know, depending on who your target audience is, you're going to want to have a page that serves them in the way they consume information. Like so many times and I've worked with a number of website designers on my own website because, well, that's what you do and that's never been the question it's always like, okay, tell me your story, let's focus on you, let's make sure that this is showcasing your strengths and your ability to serve clients. But really it should be the other way around.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, and it's important to make sure your website's about you, yeah, for sure, especially about pages.
Speaker 2:Yeah, You're supposed to connect with your audience, but how they consume it. You're right, it's like, I would almost argue, like a lot of moms are on their phones all the time. I mean, like, who's not on their phone? Like you know, pick up or whatever? You know, we're a million places. We're always on our phone clicking through things. It's like, if you even think about what your website looks like on a mobile view, like how much do they have to scroll to get to the point of okay, let's work together. You know, like, can you make that a simpler process for your target market?
Speaker 1:Oh, I love that. And actually this kind of leads into my second question what is something about the way people view websites that annoys you or that makes you want to pull your hair out? How people see websites as part of their business ecosystem?
Speaker 2:I think they see it as like oh, I should have one because I'm at this stage of business and this is when I'm supposed to have one. But it should be. If you are spending so much time sending people to your website, sending them to a landing page, it should be converting for you, right? It shouldn't be just like there because I should have one. It should, it should have purpose behind it. And that's where, like, the strategy comes into play is making sure that when they land on your website, they, they know what to do, they know how to get to the next place, like they shouldn't be confused going through your website, right, and that's I mean, that's what I would. I just think that some people don't think of it as a marketing tool. It is a marketing tool. It's not just a place to land, it's supposed to do something for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's supposed to move forward for you.
Speaker 1:How do you feel then? Because I know that when we were starting out way back when in the online space, there were kind of two schools of thought. Number one was yes, you absolutely need to have a website because you need somewhere to send people, and number two was no, you don't need a website right now. A PDF is fine or a portfolio Like. At what point do you think it starts to become critical for a service provider or a coach to have a website, or is that something they should have, like all the time?
Speaker 2:You know, I don't know if it's something they need all the time, because so many people change, especially service providers. They change routes on you know what type of services they're offering, who they're marketing towards and, like all of that comes with the strategy behind it. Right, if you're trying to change who you're marketing towards, you're going to be constantly changing a website. So I feel like once you feel like you are in the zone, right, you've specialized in a particular service or services, you are constantly marketing towards the same group and you're sending people your portfolio constantly, like you're always sending somebody to your portfolio and it's like becoming really annoying to link. That was when I was like I am tired of copying and pasting this like ugly URL, like I want to just put my name in there because I was sending it to so many different people. So when you get to like that point, all those pieces- oh, you had a link.
Speaker 1:I had a PDF that I had to keep downloading and sending to people Like I used, like the, like the Google share link or whatever.
Speaker 2:But then if you ever wanted to change stuff on the PDF then you had to like find a new. I mean, it's just like it's kind of a pain in the butt, but it's a lot of work and you're putting it places. You want it to stay consistent, right, but if you are marketing towards different people, then it's it makes it more challenging to link it everywhere. But once you have a specialty, you are marketing towards the same group. I feel like you're kind of ready once. You're kind of like ready for that next step.
Speaker 1:So what do you think people need to have in place in terms of like assets or content before a website is really impactful and effective?
Speaker 2:Again, making sure that you know who you're marketing towards. What services are you providing in terms of like? What goes on a website, what's like? You know? People talk about storytelling, right. What story do you want to tell? Who are you trying to provide a transformation for? Do you have I would say you would want some images for a website too.
Speaker 2:They don't necessarily have to be like professional brand, but like you know, have some images, because that's going to break up your content on a website and it's going to make it easier for that person to consume on a website and it's going to make it easier for that person to consume, right? You can have some sort of fonts or colors that kind of speak to your audience and if you need help with that, then certain people can help with that. I tend to help with that, probably more than I necessarily need to, but, well, that falls under the design piece, right? Yeah, yeah, and some people come with that already.
Speaker 2:Like you know, they've already worked with a branding person and while I do branding, a lot of people actually come with, come to me with their branding already done. So they'll come with a logo and you know, but sometimes they we don't need to use all of the font burner in a logo, we want to just use something simpler on a website, you know. So I can kind of help with that design aspect of those types of things. And maybe they come with like two colors that they've used for everything and I'm like, well, maybe like a third or fourth would be helpful here, you know, and we can kind of talk through what, what would make sense there. I don't know if I answered your question.
Speaker 1:No, absolutely. Yeah, Kind of went rogue a little bit, but we like to go rogue here, it's okay. What I guess? So, because there, I mean, there are so many people who offer website design and me I've worked with, like I said, a couple of people. I've also, through clients, worked with some website designers for their stuff, and it's always been a mixed bag. It's really hard to, I guess well, it feels hard to vet good website developers. So, from your experience, are there any red flags or anything that like? Oh wait, a second, I've got a question about that. What should people be aware of or asking when they're ready to work with a web designer, to make sure that they're actually going to get what they need? And then I guess the follow on from that is like what should a good website designer be giving you as part of like the delivery, the deliverable?
Speaker 2:I would say make sure that there's strategy behind it. We're going to keep that nice and simple there. Another thing that really bothers me and it's a red flag for me, is when clients come to me and they're like I don't know how to update anything on my website, and I'm like what? Like no one showed you how to like edit your pricing, how to change an image. I'm not talking like let's build new pages, by all means. If you want to do that, go for it, but you should be able to edit the stuff that's there, Right, I'm like I am very passionate of.
Speaker 2:If you want to keep me on for maintenance, great, but I want you to feel confident going into the backend of your website, being able to change out. Oh, I want this to say this instead. Or I want to to feel confident going into the back end of your website, being able to change out. Oh, I want this to say this instead. Or I want to up my pricing at the beginning of the year or whatever like that. You should be able to do those things, and so I always record like a tutorial, like showing you exactly how to do these things. Not everybody wants to do it, that's fine, but you should be able like whoever's making your website should be able to offer you that, and it drives me crazy when that's not included or they say oh, you have to come back to me if you need any of these changes made Like that doesn't? That feels icky to me in the website world.
Speaker 1:This might be a dumb question, but I'm going to ask it anyway, cause you know that's what I do. I ask all the dumb questions for people who have questions. If so, how do you, short of asking for a portfolio which I mean most? I guess good web designers would have, or they'd have examples of pages they've done in the past? How do you vet whether they are good, if that makes sense?
Speaker 2:You have to like their work right, so you have to see their portfolio. People are going to have reviews, you know. You know there's, there's testimonials out there and they're not. I mean, ideally they're not making those things up, right?
Speaker 1:You can go find that person.
Speaker 2:That's true, that's true. But like, like, if I saw a review somewhere, I'd be like, oh, there's this person's name and they run this business. Let me go check out their website and see what their website's like. Maybe you know it's not in their portfolio, but I would like to go see it and you can like scroll down to the bottom and sometimes it says you know who designed the website or whatever, so you kind of know that that person actually built that website, that type of thing. Those, I feel like, are the big things that are going to tell you, but you also, I'm also very passionate like hopping on a call with somebody and having, like this, face to face, rather than doing everything through emails or DMS or anything like that, because it seems like that person is real.
Speaker 2:Then and they're not going to just run off, right? So I I, I personally like to hop on a call. If they're like not wanting to hop on a call, that might be like a little bit of a red flag for me. You know, if I was trying to hire a web designer, be like can we just like talk this out, you know, actually see, you know your face would be good. Yeah, I've only had one client ever not like want to do a call with me. But really, yeah, everything through emails and I was like this is it was hard for me as, like the designer, I was like I would prefer to like talk through all this stuff, but yeah, I have to share.
Speaker 1:So one of the hardest, I guess, questions I've had to answer when I've I've done website redevelopment is, um, giving examples of websites that I like. Yeah, and I don't know why it's so hard, but I I'm sure there have. There have to be other people who feel the same way. So when you, when you ask that question, are you looking for like what we like, aesthetically, what we like like, what exactly are you looking for as a web designer, and how does that like? How can we make sure we're giving you examples that will help you do what we've hired you to do?
Speaker 2:Well, I don't actually always ask for examples. Honestly, some people like to give them to me, which is great. I'm like, okay, tell me. And then, if they do, I want to know why. So I actually ask them why do you like this? Is it the flow of the website? Do you like the colors? Do you like a certain section that's speaking to you, or something like that? Because there's a lot of different things that you could. Yeah, there's a lot of different things that you could say about liking a website, right, yeah. And when someone says, oh, I just love everything about it, well, actually to me, that doesn't help me. I'm like, well, let's go more specific. Do you like that? You know that they have like a menu that's scrollable, that scrolls with the page. There's a lot of pieces to a website that I would want to know. Why do you like this website? So I don't actually always ask. If they offer me websites, great, but I don't always actually ask.
Speaker 1:Where were you two years ago? Because I know I was a baby, probably. That was honestly. Yeah, well, that was honestly. The hardest thing for me was like does it make me a hypocrite that I don't actually pay attention to people's websites, which is not true, right? Because, like, when I hear about someone or when I investigate someone, the first thing I do is social media, the second thing I do is website.
Speaker 2:I would almost say more often I find websites I don't like. That's true, yeah, you know. Like what don't I like about this? Oh, I don't like that. I can't scroll on it For some reason. It's like stuck and I'm like why is this not scrolling? Or I looked at it on mobile and everything's moving and I'm like what's with all the animation? Do we need all this animation, can we?
Speaker 2:like a little bit, yeah, you know, like every section pops in and I'm like what do we? This is for emphasis, we're not emphasizing anything anymore because it's happening the whole time. People just get really happy with.
Speaker 1:Like it's like when power remember powerpoints, when some you know, you had that one colleague who finally discovered animations and like. So everything was like flipping in or fading in. Or there was me. I had a colleague once who discovered that you could add music clips to things like sound effects and music clips. Oh my God, those were the worst presentations ever, simon. If you're listening, I hope you've grown out of that, my friend. So tell me a little bit about your origin story. How did you come to entrepreneurship? Because, again, you were a former teacher. What was it that drew you to entrepreneurship? Why did you leave teaching? Because we all know it's a hugely lucrative career. Come on, it has issues.
Speaker 1:Not me being facetious at all, oh gosh.
Speaker 2:What's your villain?
Speaker 1:origin story.
Speaker 2:I actually will go real far back. I actually grew up saying I was never going to be a teacher because I came from like a family of teachers. My mom was a teacher, my uncle was a teacher, my aunt was a principal, like everybody I knew was a teacher and I was like so good at math, whatever there was like, oh, you're going to be a math teacher just like your mom. I'm like no, I'm not. So I go to college for computer science which kind of ironic full circle a little bit and I just couldn't keep up in the classes. I could not keep up with everybody who had done something before and I'm like, well, this is brand new to me. So I ended up having to switch just because I couldn't do it. And so I was just like, okay, I'm already in all these math classes for computer science, I might as well just roll with it. So then I just was like, fine, I guess I'll do math ed. And then I became passionate about it.
Speaker 2:Right, you become passionate about teaching. You, you know you enjoy the idea of like impacting the younger generations, you know all the things that come great with teaching. And found my first job, loved it for a long time. Um, still love and miss teaching kids. You know I taught high school math so I had some fun challenges but I actually taught an all girls school and I felt really passionate about you. Know like being a math teacher like a woman math teacher in an all girls school and like impacting. You know like being a math teacher like a woman math teacher in an all-girls school and like impacting. You know the thoughts of yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, especially considering how hard it is for for women to be seen as good at math, Right yeah.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, and and like just hoping that they would latch onto some sort of I don't know aspect of you can do this too, yeah, but you know, then, teaching had all of its fun negatives too that everyone knows about. But like, the biggest part of it is I had my first baby and I was obsessed with him. I loved him so much and I went back to teaching after maternity leave, like right after like Christmas break, and, of course, like the first two days he was in daycare, he got RSV and I'm like, okay, cool. And because I had used every ounce of sick day, personal day, whatever I couldn't even be home with him when he was sick and you know he's like begging for his mom and I couldn't take off a single day for the rest of the year. So that was super fun. And I was like, well, this is not going to work. And I had already been questioning whether teaching was like for me anymore Even before he was born. I was just kind of like annoyed at all of the crap that comes with it. So I was like, well, this is, this is a sign, this is a big time sign.
Speaker 2:So I found a course to take to help me start a freelancing business from home and started at spring break and didn't quite get. I wasn't one of those people that got like instant success, right. I was slow moving, so I actually didn't like land a client until summertime. At that point I already signed a contract and I was like, okay, I'll just teach one more year, ended up teaching that whole year and working on the side and COVID hit and I'm trying to do teaching online from home through Zoom with a one and a half year old climbing me while also trying to run a business after I quit. I mean it's just like a hot mess, right.
Speaker 2:But I kind of haven't looked back. I started doing, you know, social media and Pinterest work for a while and then I built my first website and I was like this is, this is where I belong. This is like full circle of like this is the computer science piece to it that I kind of loved and I got to be creative, which I still like to do, you know. It was just like this is perfect, and I think it was also like people are kind of a little bit scared of websites where I'm like I love to like play with tech tools and and figure out things, and like I even did a master's for educational technology, like I was in it for like the technology piece, yeah, so I kind of just ran with it and haven't looked back at anything. And I've had two more babies since then and it's served me all super well to just be able to be home with them. And now that first little baby is going to be off at kindergarten in the fall and I'm like, oh my gosh, that's a huge milestone.
Speaker 2:Congratulations. I'm very excited. I love him, but he is ready to flourish outside the home.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely, and you know what? It's such a nice feeling to have them, kind of you know, to see them as little people, because when they're home with you they're, they're still babies, no matter how. And then they go off to kindergarten and you're like, oh my gosh, they're little people interacting with other little people and it's, it's adorable and, yeah, it's, it's loads of fun. Tell me a little bit about how entrepreneurship, like how have you managed, then, to balance that? Because I have a teen and it was it was so much more alliterative before when I could say I have a tween and a toddler, but I don't anymore. I have a teenager and I have a six, a six-year-old, so they both go to school full-time. But even that, like just having the two kids being at home myself, like having time during the day Entrepreneurship is hard, dude, like it's.
Speaker 1:It's not easy, especially when you have to factor in like pickups and drop-offs and dinner and like all of those things. So you have three little ones, you're at home. How are you balancing? And I want to caveat this by saying that I honestly don't believe in work-life balance. I don't think such a thing exists. But how are you finding work-life harmony? How are you balancing everything that your business demands with everything that your family and your children demand?
Speaker 2:It's a lot Spoiler alert. Yeah, I just start with thing. Two of them go to preschool. One goes two days and one goes three days a week. So they are out of the house for a few hours a couple of days a week, which is like seems great, but it's not that much and baby still naps really well, so that's really helpful too, especially on the days they're gone, but they're still home a lot and they're very loud. So I would say I just do the best I can. That's about it. Oh, I love that.
Speaker 2:Almost every new client I talk to you know we do a Zoom call I've got a baby or a child on my lap. That's just how it is. Yeah, and I've even had a client tell me she's like you need to have a child with you on every potential client call because if they care that child's there, they are not the client for you and I just take that to heart, like if you can, I mean I focus better when they're not with me, you know. So I try not to, but like a lot of times they are because there's somebody always awake bothering me. That I just I do the best I can and if they don't love that kid there, then I kind of just know that we're not meant to be, we're not meant to work together.
Speaker 2:I also don't take on 30 projects at a time. Right now I've decided like it's going to be like one project at a time. We're not. I mean I'll do like other little projects here and there, but one big website full design project we're doing one at a time because I want that person to have my focus. I want my family to still have my focus. So I just try to balance that the best I can. And yeah, every now and then I work an evening, but I try not to work evenings. I try not to work weekends, but every now and then I know it'll help me the next day. You know like we've had a million snow days, so kids have been home longer. So I'm like okay, well, I guess I'll do a little bit of work tonight so that you know we don't have to worry about that tomorrow type of thing. But I really try not to do those types of things. I just make sure I'm very intentional about who I'm working for and with first, and then everything kind of falls into line with that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's. I think it's important to, like you said, to also be vetting the people that you're working with. Like one of the earliest lessons I learned as an entrepreneur was, yeah, if there's same thing with me. Like I had both kids home during COVID. She was little and was two at the time and constantly wanting to sit in my lap or sit next to my desk or whatever, and you know I've had those potential clients that you can see in their face like they are not having it, and there was a part of me and this is the corporate throwback of like, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1:Like I got to hide my kids and I made a very intentionally conscious decision when we were in the throes of COVID and lockdown that like you know what? No, I'm not doing this. Like I've had to hide so many aspects of my life throughout my career. Now that I'm home as an entrepreneur, I'm not going to do that anymore and I have it in my and I think I've spoken about this on the podcast before I have it in my contracts. Like I have kids. They will be in the room, they are my priority and if that's a problem, we need to like consider not working together, because I mean that's, that's who we're doing this for Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2:I've almost made myself promise and I know I do it sometimes still but I almost made myself promise not to apologize for my kids being around. You know, like be, like, oh I'm so sorry I have my baby with me today. Oh, I'm so sorry I have my baby with me today. No, no, like my baby's with me, like that's just, that's just life. You know, I try not to apologize for those things because I shouldn't be, I don't, I don't know, maybe that's just me. I shouldn't be sorry that I have kids no-transcript.
Speaker 1:Then there is less of the sorry my kids are in the room today, or sorry my kid's sick, like I really think there's something to that. Having to apologize for a really like prominent aspect of your life just seems ridiculous, right? No one apologizes for having a dog in the room. No one apologizes for you know the doorbell, like it. No, like I'm not apologizing for my kids anymore. Yeah, so how, how do you feel like your personal values and the things that are important to you? How have they shaped how you approach your business, and has that evolved over time, or has it remained pretty steady?
Speaker 2:I think it was almost exactly that. I think I used to like hide my kids. You know, like I would only take calls when they're asleep or when somebody else, by somebody else. I only have my husband around here, so I don't know who I'm thinking is around, but when he could be, you know, with the kids or something like that. And now I'm like, well, if kids, like kid, just got up, like here we are, let's have a call.
Speaker 2:You know, like I just don't hide that part of my life, I guess, and I that's the clients I'm going to take on is the ones that don't care. So I kind of just I guess I put a family first, in a sense, like I still want business and I still want it to be. I want my business for me personally, like it's my next baby, current baby I already have I have too many babies, I guess but like I like it for me and so I don't want it to dwindle off because I'm also focusing on family, like I should be able to be able to do both, and so I kind of just shape it in a way that I'm not putting my kids in a corner hiding, but I can still have time to focus and still have time to be with them, and so it's just trying to make sure that there is harmony between all of the worlds that I'm in, I guess.
Speaker 1:One of the best analogies I heard and I can't, for the life of me, remember who I heard it from, but it was the idea of work-life harmony and this idea of like, if you imagine an orchestra playing a symphony, not every instrument is going to be playing at the same time, nor is every instrument going to have the same amount of time, but when you allow every instrument to play what it has to play, it's a beautiful outcome and I think that that's kind of the that everything is going to have the time that it needs and nothing more Like.
Speaker 1:It's like we get to shift our focus and our priorities and, you know, in a way that serves us best. And I think that there's just such an overwhelming sense sometimes in business in general that, like as a woman who has also chosen to have children or to be a mom, we have to apologize for that. Somehow we pay the motherhood tax right, and I'm definitely doing an episode on that but it feels like there's this extra sort of hurdle we have to climb in order to prove that we're reliable and professional and capable, just because we have children. It's stupid.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So tell me what? What is one? Maybe not one piece, but like what? What advice would you have for women out there who are maybe in the early years of their business or thinking of starting a business, if you could go back and tell Kelsey five, six years ago, this is what you need to know or this is what you need to do. What would it be?
Speaker 2:I mean first, I would be like, because this is how I felt, you are not like, we are not stuck in the whatever life we've chosen, we're not stuck. You can make a change at any point. Like I thought, teaching, that's all I've got. I'm stuck in that for however many years I can't even begin to think about now. We're not stuck. We can change our course.
Speaker 2:And while that feels scary because I felt very scared I didn't know any entrepreneurs before this I was kind of like the first one that did it in our family Maybe not the first, but like close to the first, but it felt. It felt very nerve wracking to make such a big change. That didn't feel safe. I guess I don't know how else to describe that, but like, teaching is not safe, no, and it's not a great moneymaker here in America. So I just want to make sure that people don't feel stuck.
Speaker 2:That's what I would have told past Kelsey for sure. It's like you are not stuck in the life and people could tell me that, but like I for some reason couldn't convince myself of that. On top of that, it's okay to keep changing your mind until you find what works for you. You know I started off with doing this or that, the other thing, you know, service wise and it didn't come to me that this is where I belonged until I tried it and I was just like this is it, and I just love it so much. Now I love taking on new projects. I don't get bored doing the same, you know, because I don't know, when I was doing Pinterest or social media, I got bored constantly doing things, and I know people love that, so great for them, absolutely. I just I couldn't keep doing the same thing over and over. So I think once you find your passion, you'll know it really, and I think that that's important to know too Awesome.
Speaker 1:If you could be remembered for one thing, what would it be?
Speaker 2:Business or life. Business or life, you pick. Remembered for one thing, oh, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Plot twist.
Speaker 2:Sarah didn't prepare her for this question at all. It's going to be kind of broad, but I want to be known as reliable.
Speaker 1:Like.
Speaker 2:I'm not somebody that will disappear, and that I feel like goes for both family and business, you know, like you can trust me to build your website I'm not going to disappear, you know. But also like my kids can rely on me to be there for them too, and in any state of life I'm there for them.
Speaker 1:I love it. I love it. Kelsey, my friend, where can we find you on social media? How can we find you if we want to work with you? All the good things.
Speaker 2:All the good things On Instagram is where you'd find me the most. That is at kelseymromine, and my website is kelseyrominecom. Romine and my website is kelseyrominecom.
Speaker 1:Amazing. Thank you so much for being here. I love talking to you, know, I love talking to people, but former teachers who are also entrepreneurs like we just have, and moms like we just have this kind of special thing. So thanks for taking the time. There's so many more of us. Every day, there's more of us People, a great resignation still happening, no matter what LinkedIn tells you. So you know, I know.
Speaker 2:I know. I hope that there are still teachers who love it for my children.
Speaker 1:You know, and I think that's I mean, this is going back to what we were mentioning before but you really can't be a teacher unless you're passionate about it. It's just, it's not possible.
Speaker 2:It's not. It's not. And I did love so much of it. I just ended up, I think, loving my kids, just like wanting to be home with them, just that much. And some days I questioned that decision. I'm like what am I doing here with?
Speaker 1:these kids. There's a reason I didn't teach little kids.
Speaker 2:Oh hey, that's why I taught college level, because, yeah, yeah, I have so much respect for like daycare teachers and like kindergarten teachers.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you my six year old teacher. She gets a thank you note for me at least once a week. So there you go.
Speaker 2:I do that once a week. I always try and do like major days and stuff for them, but I'm like we have a little back and forth book.
Speaker 1:We have a little back and forth book where she tells me how the day went and I get to write it and every Friday it's like thanks so much for like not killing anybody this week. No, I don't say that, but you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:So, but like can you imagine having? I only have three littles in my house and I can't imagine having like 16 in the same room.
Speaker 1:Oh, they have 21 in ours.
Speaker 2:Well, a little bit older. Yeah, I guess I don't even know how many is in my five-year-old's room, but it gets bigger as they get older, for sure. But I can't.
Speaker 1:They're saints. That's all I'm going to say.
Speaker 2:So, teachers, if you're out there listening, you're a saint.
Speaker 1:Thank you for your service and what you do. We do appreciate you because we also know how freaking hard it is. But thank you so much for being here. It has been such a great conversation and for all of you out there, remember that you can do hard things and you can change your mind and you can have success without the BS. You've just got to keep you and what you want in mind. I'll talk to you next week. No-transcript.