Alexis Rivera Scott is the founder of Verbatim, a digital marketing agency, as well as The Fairy Job Mom, a consultancy focused on helping professionals become Eternally Employable. She guides job seekers in their next career move, helps professionals build memorable personal brands, and introduces companies to amazing talent.
Throughout her career, Alexis has successfully navigated career change and adaptation, with a vast range of industry experiences from hospitality sales, to technology marketing, to recruiting, and partnerships. She is passionate about empowering people to achieve their goals and grow within their careers – whatever they might be! In her free time, you can find Alexis creating content on LinkedIn, traveling across the world with her family, and thrift shopping for treasures.
Questions and topics we covered include:
And more!
Connect with Alexis on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexisjscott/
Connect with me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto
Alexis R. Scott 0:00
There might not be the right job for you open. Right when you need it. You don’t control that timeline. I don’t control that timeline. The company has control this timeline, right? But what you can control is who you have built a relationship with who you are in front of consistently so that the minute that job opens, they go, Okay, I need an SEO person. Kenny, I talked to Kenny, I gotta reach out to Ken, and see if he’s interested. That is primetime.
Kenny Soto 0:30
You just heard a clip from our latest guest on the people’s Digital Marketing podcast. Alexis Scott. Alexis is the founder of verbatims, a digital marketing agency as well as the founder of the very job mom, a consultancy focused on helping professionals become internally employable. She guides job seekers in their next career move, and helps professionals build memorable personal brands, and introduce his companies to amazing talent. Throughout her career, Alexis has successfully navigated career changes and adaptation of a vast range of industry experiences, from hospitality sales to technology, marketing, to recruiting and even partnerships. She’s passionate about empowering people to achieve their goals and growth in their careers. And in this episode, we talk about how marketers, and pretty much any professional can grow and accelerate their career through their job searches. And we talk about how she’s scaled her audience on LinkedIn. The easiest way to scale your following, how to handle being laid off and what to do when it happens. The common mistakes Alexis sees candidates make when they’re applying for jobs, how to find unposted, slash hidden jobs, and much more. So if you’re actively searching for a job this year, this episode is for you. As always, feel visual marketing is a resource for marketers to impress their bosses and eventually become their bosses. But first, we need to make sure we get the right job. So let’s do just that. With the advice we get from Alexis, in this episode. And without further ado, it’s time to tune in. Hi, Alexis, how are you?
Alexis R. Scott 2:13
Hi, Kenny. I’m good. How are you?
Kenny Soto 2:16
I’m doing fantastic. It’s a it’s going to be an even better day because I have you on the podcast. And there’s a lot of questions that I’m going to ask you that I’ve always wanted answers to and before asking them, I’m teasing them right now. I really want to just get an initial understanding of who you are. As a professional. Could you share with the audience? What got you into marketing in the first place?
Alexis R. Scott 2:40
Yeah, so my background prior to my marketing career was a sales career. straight out of college, I ended up taking a sales job. And I was in sales for, I don’t know, over 10 years, I don’t know the exact number. But in my last sales role, I really felt burnt out selling and the CTO of the company at the time that I was working at, said to me numerous times, Alexis, you have such a marketing brain, you have such a marketing brain. And I’m like, that’s such an interesting comment, because to me, I’m selling. But I guess the way in which I was selling was a little bit different than what he had seen or experienced, largely, you know, via social media and really generating that inbound engine. Without even thinking about it. I guess I was just being myself. And when I decided that I didn’t want to sell anymore. I had a I was at a crossroads of what is it that I want to do. And we were just chatting before you started recording Jacqueline Mullen was actually the head of marketing when I was in that sales role. She and I worked very, very closely together. And she actually taught me a lot about technical marketing. And actually, you know, what are some of the real, real deal behind the scenes things that, you know, I would need to know and understand. And I ended up transitioning from that sales role. I had about six months of just kind of figuring out what I wanted to do. And I ended up taking a senior marketing manager role at a tech startup. And I thought that the role was going to be more of like a brand evangelism role based on what was told to me, it actually turned out to be a lot more of a content marketing role than I had anticipated. And so, you know, there was a lot of things that I didn’t know that I needed to quickly learn. But that was an intense period of learning for me. But I think that sales and marketing, you know, they go hand in hand, they have to go hand in hand. And actually, what was really interesting to me was when Jacqueline and I work together with me a sales on her as marketing, we were so connected and so in sync, that we could give each other unguarded feedback and really collaborate. Moving into a larger organization with some stakeholders that weren’t in alignment was really the first time that I had experienced sales and marketing kind of being at odds And so that was really interesting for me to navigate, as someone who thinks very sales minded, because that’s what I’ve done forever. But then all of a sudden, now I’m on the marketing team. So I’m having to think about things from a different perspective. So just a lot of growth and learning and understanding there. But yeah, that’s how I ended up in marketing.
Kenny Soto 5:18
And what are you doing these days, Alexis?
Alexis R. Scott 5:22
So I left that role. And I actually founded a company. So my company is called the fairy job, mom. And speaking of marketing, I help job seekers learn how to market themselves and really leverage LinkedIn alongside their resume and to land their next best job. So interestingly enough, my clients are not desperate for their next role. My clients are, I would say, probably 90% are employed but unhappily employed, and really looking for that next step. What is that next big step in my career? And how can I get myself there, because they recognize the market, they recognize that it’s not going to generally be just a straight application, it’s going to take marketing, their skills, their background, and positioning themselves to be ready when that next opportunity comes. And in short, the box, I’m kind of a career coach. I’m gonna say it.
Kenny Soto 6:15
Yeah, it’s always interesting to define a solopreneur business talent. When it comes to the services that you provide, I’ll be honest, and saying that when I, when I go through a job search, even to this day, it’s very chaotic. Because even with all the advice that’s already published online, like when you’re putting it into practice, it takes a lot of time. And I think that stress isn’t accounted for in the content that’s shared around job searching, and career advice, where like, sometimes you’re pressed to get a job, because you were laid off and you have to pay bills. And some people don’t have the benefit of getting unemployment, they have to get that job within two weeks, or many may not lose out on a home, but they might miss a car payment. And that just cascades down into all these other life issues. So I say this to say that finding a job, regardless of market conditions, is difficult. And there are ways to prepare ourselves for when we’re ready to do job searching. I want to ask you about your thoughts around personal branding. I’ve seen you grow your audience over time and your engagement over time. On LinkedIn, specifically, could you share with the listeners some of your advice and recount your journey? When you started posting on LinkedIn…
Alexis R. Scott 7:51
For sure. So you know, you bring up a very important point, which is this takes time, getting a job takes time. So the average job search takes between three to six months. That’s average, that’s an a bad day. And we are not in a balanced market. So when people are talking about, you know, I’ve been looking for three months. And yes, that’s terrible. I understand people have bills and this and that. But in the grand scheme of things, I think that there is a mental shift that needs to happen in a reconciliation of like, this is actually normal. And if you can calm that panic down, and just understand that this is part of the process, that can be very helpful. Now, with that said, I also have clients who started working with me and were employed. And thank God they did, because a month later, they are now unemployed, not by their choice. And they started planting roots. And they started doing the work. And their resume has already shined up and ready to be sent out. And so I think that if if you think about this, as really just part of being employed have a kind of being ready to go to market with yourself at any point, it becomes more of a consideration of planning than really when you’re in dire straits. So invest in either people like me, you know, my services, or just, you know, figure it out on your own, but do it at a time when you don’t need it. Because if you wait, that’s when you get into panic mode. So that’s that’s that. But as far as my story, my story really began in 2019. So in 2019, I was working as a sales leader at a travel tech company. I got promoted, I got a big team, I was managing 70 people. So I was a director, managing managers, that whole shebang. And I was really excited. And so I started posting I had always had a LinkedIn account, but I started posting on LinkedIn, because I was sharing what my team was working on. I was like, genuinely excited. And just posting pictures like oh, we had a training today or Oh, we hit our goal or you know, nothing too spectacular, but it was fun and I was excited and And, and as that team grew, I started posting more now, we all know what happened in spring of 2020 Winter slash spring. And so in March of 2020, I was laid off along with 95% of my massive team. And that was a big, pivotal moment in my career, and life, I think, like most people, but what happened was something inside of me. And I think that’s just like inherent, I just knew that LinkedIn was going to be the answer to me getting my next job. And so I decided to tell my story on LinkedIn, my story of unemployment, my story of the fact that, you know, the week that I got laid off, I actually had a meeting scheduled with the CEO that Monday to talk about my compensation, and about my title and all of this stuff. And that Monday morning, I got a message from him, saying, I’m so sorry, I know this meeting is really important to you. But I have to cancel. Because the COVID we were a travel company. So as you can imagine, everything was exploding. And because I saw the ramifications within my own team, I was like, no problem. I totally understand. And I did I mean, I really did based on business need. Two days later, I was like, Oh, so that’s an interesting story to tell. But I started chronicling my unemployment journey, from you know, what it was like trying to even get through to unemployment, to creative solutions to getting through to, you know, conversations that I was having with people and hiring managers, you know, back then, there were no jobs. This was like, early COVID days, and you know, one job would have a bazillion applicants. And it wasn’t even a great job, like, no one even really wanted the job. It’s just a job, right. And so, throughout the journey, and telling my story, I started to meet different characters along the way, via LinkedIn, I remember doing my first podcast, from, you know, these conversations that I was having. And I met my best friends from LinkedIn. I mean, it was just all of these incredible relationships that I was building. And ultimately, what happened was, I started to build a sense of community on the platform and build relationships. And I ended up meeting the founders of the company that I that I ended up getting hired with, really, that soul. So fast forward to fall of 2020, I started my new job. Now I was working at a seed stage startup bootstrapped. It was a company that trained people in SAS sales and help them get hired. Because throughout the process of 2020, COVID, I really learned how passionate I was about helping people get hired. That’s like a tenant of my mission, and really what brings me tremendous joy. So I was very much in alignment with the founders of the company to continue building my presence on LinkedIn, they saw the value that I was bringing to not only myself, but their company. And I just kept going, I kept going, I kept telling my story, I was telling the stories of the founders that I was interacting with, who are looking to hire, I was telling the stories of the job candidates that I was interacting with, who are, you know, trying to transition into SAS, and I was telling the stories about the relationships that I was building. And, you know, I think one thing is, if you look at my LinkedIn, I’m not an quote unquote, expert, like I don’t pretend to be, I’m just a woman who is learning just like the rest of us. But I’m sharing the lessons that I am learning along the way, the nuggets of goodness, the important things that are staying with me as I continue my journey, and I’m not afraid to try new things. So at this point, I’m at like, I don’t know, 48,000 followers or something like that. And you know, I get to work with brands now. And, you know, it’s been incredible. And also, you know, as far as being a job seeker, I’ve kind of stepped away a little bit for that to start my own company. And that’s not to say, I’ll never work for a company again, who knows, I might. But at this point, my goal is for people to understand who I am and what I stand for, via my writing and via my brand.
Kenny Soto 14:01
What do you say to the listener who wants to get started? Right after listening to this,
Alexis R. Scott 14:08
I think people get so caught up, they get scared. What do I say, I don’t know what to say I’m nervous. And I think number one, it’s not a dissertation. No one’s grading your paper, it doesn’t have to be perfect. And number two, if you feel like you’re not an expert, the one thing that every single person in this universe is an expert in is their story. So tell your story.
Kenny Soto 14:33
Hey there, if you’re enjoying this episode, and you’re a first time listener, when I hit the Follow button, my goal with each of these episodes is to introduce a new marketing concept, or dive deeper into one so that you can become a better digital marketer. Hopefully, through these episodes, you join me on this journey, the path to CMO. So I’d love it if you subscribed Thanks for listening so far. There you go. And if you are a marketer, telling the story shouldn’t be that difficult for you, even if it’s just one or two sentences a day. Totally,
Alexis R. Scott 15:15
totally. Yeah. And you know that the other answer is start commenting. Because ultimately, like the comments section of influencers, quote, unquote, posts are just a hotbed for connection. So get on there, find five to 10 people that you think are really smart, really brilliant, and start commenting on their posts and interacting with other comments from people. And you’ll find that sparks a lot of really interesting relationships.
Kenny Soto 15:41
Yeah, that’s something that I’m I’m attempting to do. I do it every Wednesday, so I have it in my calendar.
Alexis R. Scott 15:46
Oh, interesting. How’s it going? Yeah, like cool people.
Kenny Soto 15:49
I am meeting a potential podcast guests this way. I definitely helpful. Yeah. So instead of sending a direct connection is cold and hoping that they respond. I’ll do a comment first, though, like it? Comment on comments as well. And then eventually, I’ll send a message or connection in the accepted. So your
Alexis R. Scott 16:07
salad is what you’re doing. I hope you know that. Yeah.
Kenny Soto 16:12
I am. Yeah, I found that there’s two things that I have noticed with my own journey on LinkedIn one, sometimes even if you’re not getting an engagement, like a comment or like the impression still matter. Yeah, because at the very least, if they don’t remember everything you’re talking about, they’re remembering your face. So when you do send a direct message, you’re more top of mind, even if it’s like this person looks familiar, maybe let’s just check out what he sent. So there’s that. And then too, I find that if you really want to use LinkedIn, not just for networking, but for learning, you have to engage with the people who are creating content, just to dig a little deeper, because sometimes they’ll point you to a blog post they wrote, although or they’ll point you to a video that they posted a month ago. And then you get more clarity, you get more engagement with the people that you admire. And you’re part of the conversation at the end.
Alexis R. Scott 17:05
Yeah, definitely. There’s so many resources on LinkedIn. And what I’ve noticed from some big creators lately is, you know, everyone’s becoming a consultant, myself included, right? And so, you know, it’s like, how do you get customers and one of the best ways is to give it away for free. And so yeah, what I have noticed, particularly with carousels is people are giving away, quote, unquote, the most brilliant tips and information in their posts. I mean, my save folder is probably exploding at this point. But read, I mean, take the time to really ingest the information. Like, it’s incredible what people are talking about, and how you can use their tactical, it’s not just fluff.
Kenny Soto 17:52
Yeah, when it comes to, you mentioned earlier about being laid off, and I want double click on that, what advice you have for someone who’s been recently laid off? What should they do? What should their process be? When this happens to them?
Alexis R. Scott 18:09
Number one is closed mouths don’t get fed. So you need to try to and sometimes it is very painful. I had a client yesterday who I asked him, you know, how he was feeling he had connected with me, prior to the layoff. So he was just starting to look and then like literally a week later got laid off. And I was asking him, you know, how are you feeling about this? I knew he wasn’t happy before. But still, you know, there’s a lot to process with a layoff. And he used the word embarrassed, which I It really touched my heart because there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Like, I think that a big piece of being laid off is mindset. And sometimes we’re afraid that people will perceive us a certain way or a failure or whatever it is, and layoffs have nothing to do with us and everything to do with a company. And so reconciling that, and also reconciling that, in order for people to be able to help you they have to know you need help. So number one closed mouths don’t get fed. And number two, what is it that you really need help with getting very clear on that? What do you want to do? Think of a couple of titles, think of a couple of industries. And also having your kind of wins list really close by of like, Hey, I’m looking to do this. Here’s what I’ve achieved in my last role or last roles. And here’s why this is my next up. Very clear kind of mission statement of what you’re trying to achieve makes it a lot easier when you’re talking to people and reaching out to people. But you are going to have 8 million conversations about your job search. And so getting really comfortable in that is important.
Kenny Soto 19:49
What are some common mistakes you see candidates make when applying for jobs. I saw that you posted something A while back I can’t Remember when around the concept of being utterly in? Oh, yes, my brother, what’s the OP? What’s the opposite of that?
Alexis R. Scott 20:07
The opposite of that is being confused. Yeah, so and I did this, I live this I, everything I’m teaching is stuff that I have learned along the way, right. And so, in my job search for I was trying to move into marketing, I didn’t know immediately that I wanted to move into marketing, I didn’t know that I was trying to explore. And also I can do a lot of things, right, I have experience, in a lot of industries in a lot of different roles. I’m smart, I’m capable of a Swiss army knife, right. And that is not what a company wants to hear generally. And I will tell you that from experience, so the minute that I decided, I want to do X, I was hired in, I think it was like a week. And that’s not an exaggeration. And it’s because I got real clear, and real confident. And that is exactly what the company wants to know, they want to know that you know exactly what you’re getting into. And you are here for it. And you know, you are the person for the job. So, when you start out with your headline on LinkedIn, and it says, sales, marketing, account management, customer success, and you’ve got eight different things on there, they’re going okay, I have no idea what this person wants to do. Nor today. They don’t know, that’s the problem. It’s also a problem. When you are applying for roles, let’s say it’s a cold application, and you apply for like five roles at the same company. Bad idea. Not a good idea at all. One or two at the most. And it makes sure that those one or two are very related. Not, you know, customer success, and then account executive to different roles, very different profile, because you have to think about it, like your hiring manager is your buyer. What is it that they are looking to, quote unquote, buy? become that?
Kenny Soto 22:13
Yeah. Now, part of the challenge in becoming that is you, you touched on the headline on LinkedIn. But there’s also the I hate to say it’s outdated. I feel like it’s outdated, but it’s part of the process, which is the resume, it’s important. What makes resume sir? Oh, gosh,
Alexis R. Scott 22:36
let me give a laundry list.
Kenny Soto 22:38
That’s a landmine? Yeah. Well, first of all.
Alexis R. Scott 22:43
I have all my anecdotes, right. But I had one. I had one client who had paragraphs for his experience. And I’m like, no one’s reading this. Like, I don’t know what you’re doing right now. But like bullet points. Basically. If I cannot look at your resume, and immediately understand what it is you’re trying to say to me, that is a problem. That’s a big mistake. And also getting too creative. And looking like you are doing a school project on Canva. For your resume. Not a good look. Text. Yeah. Your business? Yes. Yeah, totally. And the other thing is data points. This is where a lot of people get hung up on the minutiae. And they say to me, Well, I don’t know, I don’t have the data around the numbers out. Okay. So if you’re telling me you got leads, how many? How many? But now, this is when things get a little fuzzy and people like, well, I don’t know, I don’t have the data. Okay, let’s talk about this. Is it 10 Plus leads? Is it 100 Plus leads? Is it 1000 Plus leads? Is it 100,000 Plus leads, can you pick a round number that you will eventually be able to speak to and that’s the second piece of the puzzle is anytime you’re going to put quantifiable data on your resume, you better have a plan of how you got there. Because the minute that you start putting that it’s amazing. It’s wonderful. It shows that you know what you’re talking about. But they’re going to ask you about it. Most likely, yeah. And so make sure that that data is pretty dang accurate to the best of your knowledge. The other thing, misstep that I know people talk about this a lot, but I still I would say probably eight out of 10 resumes that I see have this problem, but it’s very duty oriented. And what I tell people is, that’s lovely. I love that you did all this stuff, but how do I know you are good at it? 10 people could do the same job. How do I know you are good at this job? The answer is with impact and results with that data. So ask yourself for every single bullet point so what why should someone care about this? managed a team of five? Okay, how did your team perform erm, did they achieve quota? Did you exceed quota? What does that mean? Or designed templates for whatever? Okay, that’s what happened. What happened with those templates? What results created a process? Okay, what about that process is important for me to know? Did it reduce or increase ad revenue? What? What is it about those bullet points that make someone go, okay, this person was good, I liked this, I need to talk to them. Because ultimately, the resume the goal with your resume is to get someone to talk to you to start the conversation. And the other thing I know, I’ve been talking for a while, but I like I said, I have a laundry list. Yeah. You never want someone to look at your resume and be confused. Because I’m going to tell you right now, in this market, if a recruiter is confused, they will not take the time to ask you for clarification. They’re gonna put you in the no pile.
Kenny Soto 25:59
I saw this stat. I can’t remember the source. So unfortunately, I can’t cite my source. But I believe it’s about 20 seconds maximum, I believe that they’ll they’ll skin 20 seconds. If nothing stands out, then it’s gone as autopilot. Yeah. However, if you pass the 22nd list, or it sets 22nd test, then they go into each and every single bullet point within the role. So it’s important to think to yourself, if someone were to skin this within 20 seconds, do they understand what you’re offering? Yeah. While you’re trying to do exactly what you’re going to bring to the table? I do have a follow up question because I feel like this might be an assumption. But it’s an assumption for a reason, it may be easier to quantify your work as a performance marketer. What if you’re a brand marketer? What if you’re someone who’s more on the creative side? How do you present your resume?
Alexis R. Scott 26:55
So a couple things. It’s funny, I just had a conversation about this yesterday, I think that having a portfolio is critical. If you are in a creative role, that portfolio needs to be clean, it needs to be polished, and it needs to be easily accessible. So whether that be a website with your name on it, go to card, it’s like $5 a month, I don’t know super cheap, but have a way for people to access your work. Right there on your resume. Again, make it as easy as possible, no questions asked where they click on your site, and they can see your work. The other thing is creative roles, still have metrics, there is still an end goal with what you are trying to do. So if I’m a content marketer, that content is still ultimately resulting in X, Y, or Z. So try to think about and this is the other thing, a job description will tell you largely what the role will be measured on. So think about those metrics and how you affected those metrics in your current role, and how you can speak to them in your bullet points and with your data. And you know, a job description. If if well written write some companies don’t know what they’re doing. But if well written, that’s the key to the castle. That’s that’s what they’re looking for. So if you can tweak your bullet points to speak specifically to that, I always say recruiters are playing the Match Game. Anytime they can scan your thing and be like, yep, we need that. Yep, we need that. Yep, I need that too. Okay, this person, match, match, match? Yes pile?
Kenny Soto 28:32
What do you do if you have no prior experience as a marketer?
Alexis R. Scott 28:35
So this is where you oftentimes need to offer your time for free. I would say, get involved with projects and volunteer to help people for free so that you can start to build a portfolio, build your portfolio and network your buns off. And not networking. Like Hi, I’ve never had a job. Can you help me get one that is not networking. It’s the worst way, right. Networking is, Hey, Kenny, I see that you’ve been doing SEO for XYZ I just got out of school. I’m really looking to learn as much as I can so that I can get a job an SEO to like, if you had to give me one or two top tips or things that I could focus on or learn or whatever, like would love any feedback that you have of how you got started. That’s networking. I have a purposeful ask, you understand why I reached out to you, you understand my goal. And now when you write back to me, it’s gonna take you five seconds instead of people to go. Hi, um, can you tell tell me about your work? What the hell do you want to know about my work? My work is the same.
Kenny Soto 29:41
Can I get five minutes of your time? I can try over zoom. Right? Yeah, yeah, I get that sometimes. Now to what important here is, what I’m getting from this conversation is even if you’re a marketer, or regardless of whatever job you have when it comes to the Job Search, you got to start learning sales skills
Alexis R. Scott 30:04
100% 1,000% You are selling and marketing yourself into your next role. And the other thing is, I cannot get people a job. The people have to get themselves a job. But what I can do is teach you those sales and marketing skills because especially in this market, and this is this goes back to the three to six months they right like it’s gonna take time, there might not be the right job for you open. Right when you need it. You don’t control that timeline. I don’t control that timeline, the company has control this timeline, right. But what you can control is who you have built a relationship with who you are in front of consistently so that the minute that job opens, they go, Okay, I need an SEO person, Kenny, I talked to Kenny, I got to reach out to Ken and see if he’s interested. That is prime time. Prime Time. And it happened to me in my last search where I didn’t end up taking this job. I just made a post about this where I regretted it ever since you know, that’s not they’re not taking it. But there was a person at a company that I was super excited about. She had been following my journey we had interacted a couple of times. And they actually had an opening that they hadn’t even posted yet. And she’s like, Alexis, I think you’d be perfect for this. And was I actively pestering her about a job? No, she knew I was looking. But I had not messaged her and said like, Hey, do you have any openings. But because I had built that relationship, because I was consistently present, and building my brand. She thought of me. And that is your goal. Your goal is to be thought of to be top of mind. So that when that opening happens, you at least get a shot? Are you going to get hired? I don’t know. But at least you have an opportunity to talk to them about it. Instead of fighting with 1000s of people in an inbox.
Kenny Soto 32:00
How our communities an additional resource for finding jobs.
Alexis R. Scott 32:05
Oh gosh, brilliant. I love this question. Because I’m part of 8 million. Communities are an incredible resource because again, they drive on relationships. So I always tell people, I work with a lot of entrepreneurs too. And I always tell them, though, if I could give you one piece of advice, never go into a community selling anything. ever, period, exclamation point. And story. Right. that negates
Kenny Soto 32:30
I got kicked out of one five years ago. I was really junior, I had no idea what I was doing. And I was like, Hey, everyone, check out my blog, right? They took me out. Because I didn’t read, I didn’t read the guidelines. First of all you gotta read. There’s a thread, usually for self promotion, don’t post.
Alexis R. Scott 32:44
So that’s number one. Now when I take that, and I twist it to job seekers, again, it because you not going in there and selling yourself. That is not the goal. The goal is to have conversations, to add value, to ask questions to learn. What I promise you will happen is as you build these relationships, as people here have openings and understand that you are looking, they will make introductions for you, they become your sales team. And it’s the same thing when you’re an entrepreneur, all these people in your community become your salespeople, referring you introducing you sharing your product, news, all of that stuff where you’re like, all of a sudden you’ve got an affiliate marketing team, right? It’s the same for job seekers, as people learn your capabilities get to know you and like you as a person, they then become very willing to go out of their way to help you.
Kenny Soto 33:44
I want to deviate slightly. We’re still talking about job searching. But in this case, it’s client searching, if you will, I’ve always been interested in the concept of the solopreneur. And going out on your own and starting your own business. What unique challenges or unique marketing challenges have you been facing this year with your business?
Alexis R. Scott 34:05
Well, having been in a company with multiple people in different very specialized roles, the biggest challenge is doing everything yourself. But also because I know, it’s almost like you know too much like, because I know the capabilities and all of the things that I could be doing. I get very frustrated, because I’m one person, and I don’t have the skill set to be an expert in all of the things. Now I’m really lucky. I know a lot of experts in a lot of the things and so I am able to reach out and say hey, what would you do? Or hey, how do I do this? Or hey, can you help me? But, you know, even my website, like wouldn’t it be cool if we had a carousel? And wouldn’t it be cool if we had embedded videos and wouldn’t it be cool, you know, it’s like, yes, it would be cool.
Kenny Soto 34:53
But but that time that there’s so much time in the day and you can’t slice?
Alexis R. Scott 34:58
Yeah, exactly. And so it’s Really trying to identify what is going to give you the greatest ROI, for your time and for your energy. You know, with marketing efforts, what I try to do on a daily basis is make noise. What can I do to stay relevant to stay in front of people, and to get people to talk about me?
Kenny Soto 35:17
My mentor once told me back in 2016, his biggest fear was becoming irrelevant.
Alexis R. Scott 35:22
I mean, it’s a reality, especially when you have your own business,
Kenny Soto 35:25
I think about that every single day. And yeah, he’s taught me a lot. But number one thing, of all the lessons that I remember, it’s his number one fear becoming. I love that. I feel like as marketers, it’s the game we’re in, we have to be good at promoting a business, we also have to be good at promoting ourselves. And it’s hard to say this, but you need to find the time. Even if it’s five minutes before the clock starts every morning, you type out. Here’s what I’m learning today. Here’s what I’m reading today. Here’s a video that I saw that was cool. Or here’s a question I’m sharing with the community. And even if you get no no engagement, no traction, if the signal is nothing, at least you’re trying. And just for like five years, you’ll see results.
Alexis R. Scott 36:16
Just show up. Yeah. And that’s this is the other thing, I think, too, is you know, people. We’re all very impatient as humans. And people give up quickly, too early. Yeah. Which was interesting, because when I started this business, a couple of people told me, You need to give it at least six months, if not 12. To make an educated decision on like, is there product market fit? Is there interest? What have you? I’m about three ish months in? Am I making an actual live on? No. So what do I do I get creative. I think of other ways in which I can earn income, I think of other ways that I can help business owners, I think of what am I good at that other people maybe not or don’t want to do, and but not giving up is like truly the biggest piece of starting a business. It is hard. And it’s even harder when you’re an achiever and you want immediate gratification and income and all that stuff. So having to remind myself that things take time to build, and you start to see it, you know, all of a sudden, I started to see a big uptick in referrals. Why because I had to prove that I was good at stuff. I had to have testimonials and recommendations. And that takes time. So that’s another thing and some something that you just said that this is like totally random, but it’s it has to do kind of with job applications and personal branding as well. You know, as marketers, communication is of utmost importance. And so if you are applying for a job, and let’s say you’re gonna go the conventional route and write a cover letter, and the cover letter is stale, and let’s copy and pasted and super formal, and you’re applying to a tech company, the recruiter is going to take that as an indication of your work. So just remember that the way that you show up for every aspect of life is being looked at. And it’s really important. You’re marketing yourself. Even when you don’t think you are people are watching like you were saying the impressions right? My very first client I had never spoken to had no idea he’d been watching. Now, this is not a entry level person who’s like, I need a job. No, this is a senior director, level marketing leader, who had been following my journey. Saw me and trusted me enough to book time with me.
Kenny Soto 38:46
He went on. Yeah, yep. He went on. So just
Alexis R. Scott 38:49
always remember that. Like there’s always someone watching show up every day, consistently. And also, when it comes to social media, the algorithm is the devil. And so you can’t beat it. You got to join it. Yeah. And just keep going.
Kenny Soto 39:03
Yeah, absolutely. If I, if I listened to myself, I would not be having this conversation with you. I think the stat still is. Most podcasts don’t get past episode. 30 I believe it. Yeah. So many people give up right before Episode 30. And if you look, I think it’s listening notes.com I think it’s that website archives, all the podcasts since the dawn of time. Oh, wow. And I’m literally in the top 10% Even with a small audience, literally only because I kept going. Right? That’s incredible. So it’s a cool stat to say, but if you put it into context, literally 90% of other people just stopped at episode 30 And that’s why I’m in this Alzheimer’s. Yeah, so I think there’s a lot of similarities there where it’s probably look career that we all chose as well as market versus you probably are top percent talent if you just keep going. And now they’ll give surpassing and getting to like the top 9% 8%. That skill, right and intensity over time. But getting to the top 10% is literally just consistency, discipline over motivation, if you don’t feel like, and this has happened to me in the past, probably at least like 1213 times already where I would go into just keeping it to this podcast, I’d go into an interview, and I didn’t have coffee that morning, or I’m just not having a good day. And I think to myself, maybe I should just message this person then cancel, no, just go in. And it ends up being one of the best conversations I have that whole week. And that just goes to show that you just got to keep pushing, even if you don’t want to, even if you don’t want to if this is really a goal for you, if you want to get that director job, or if you want to work at that startup, or if you want to start your own business, keep going? Definitely. That’s literally half the battle. My last question for you, Alexis is hypothetical, because time machines do not exist. But if one did, and you can go back in the past about 10 years, only everything you know, right now, how would you specifically accelerate the speed of your career?
Alexis R. Scott 41:15
That’s a really hard question. Because 10 years ago, I was in the thick of parenting young children. And I do believe that that delayed my success or the acceleration of my career, Do I regret it? No, I am very grateful for the ability to raise my kids and what have you. I will say that any working parent mothers in particular, if they’re in a, you know, a relationship where there’s a spouse, you sacrifice, inherently, there were jobs that I couldn’t take, because they required a whole lot of travel, and I didn’t have people to stay with my kids, and I didn’t you know, and those are choices that I made willingly. And like I said, I’m, I’m happy with the way that I was able to raise my children, but, um, you know, knowing what I know, now, it’s like, I feel like I’m just getting started. Like, this is an entirely new chapter for me. And the one thing that I will say is try new things. Like, do not live in regret, if they’re, you don’t have to stick with a career, just because people are telling you, you have to or just because you feel like you have to. If you feel like that fascination and that burning desire to try something new, and why you really understand your why behind it, do it, it is never too late to start. And I guarantee you, if you started and you love it, your biggest regret is going to be not doing it sooner. So, you know, listen to that intuition. And, you know, for me, I don’t regret anything I learned. I’ve learned from every single role I’ve had, and continued to build and continue to grow. I guess one thing that I would probably do is worry more about finding a good mentor. I have in my early career, I didn’t really have any. Whereas now I feel like I do I have incredible mentors who I look up to and who I can go to for advice. And some are kind of peer mentors where we’re same career level, but yet they are advanced on certain things. So I look to them for advice and guidance and you know, kind of the same the same back where they look to me for stuff. So finding those people that you can really trust will absolutely accelerate your success.
Kenny Soto 43:32
Alexis, if anyone wants to say hello to you online, where can they go to say hi.
Alexis R. Scott 43:37
They can go to the ferry job mom.com. That’s my website. And they can always find me on LinkedIn. I’m on there all the time. But my profile name on there is Alexis J. Scott. I’m Alexis Scott, the founder of the theory job, mom. And I am on Instagram, but not that much. So don’t go there. Go to LinkedIn. Well, you could Yeah, go to LinkedIn. That’s where you’ll find me.
Kenny Soto 44:01
Thank you so much, Alexis, for your time today. And thank you to you, the listener for listening to this episode of the people Digital Marketing podcast. And if you haven’t done so, I just have three simple requests. Please subscribe to this podcast, rate this podcast and share this podcast with one co worker who you think would benefit from all of us learning together. And as always, I hope everyone has a great week. Thanks again for listening to Episode 138 of the people digital marketing podcast on the next episode, Episode 139. I will have Michael Kaminsky on the show. Michael built at the marketing science team at the men’s grooming brand called Harry’s before founding his new company called recast and on this next episode, we will be talking about marketing mix modeling and attribution to topics that have befuddled me for many, many years in my career and they still befuddled me. I’m trying The best to become a better marketer through getting a better understanding of attribution. And Michael was the best expert for me to have on the show to talk about this exact topic. So, if you want to get a better understanding, at least the high level of how attribution and marketing measurement marks, next week’s episodes for you, don’t forget to subscribe and tune in when we have Michael on the show.