New Owner, New Projects, and Juggling Acts

Lauren:

Hey, y’all. Welcome back to the podcast. I hope that you’re having an awesome day. I am super busy today and it doesn’t stop, but I have a really great guest with you, with me for today’s episode. I have Noah, our new co-owner of Create and Go. Hey, Noah. 

Noah:

Hey, Lauren. How’s it going, guys? Happy to be here. 

Lauren:

So y’all, with these, all of these new crazy changes at Create and Go, I felt like it was really important to get Noah on here right away. And you know, you see him on the YouTube channel and you have me here, but we wanted to just really have a discussion today kind of about what’s going on at Create and Go. The first thing I want to talk about is really just Noah buying in and becoming an owner and Create and Go. And Noah, I want to hear from you what it was like to buy a blog.

I know a lot of our students and people in our community have thought about buying blogs. Some have sold blogs or thought about selling their blogs, so I think this is pretty relevant. So I wanna hear what more about your experience and what your thought process was about all of this and how it feels stepping into create and go.

Noah:

Yeah, absolutely. So for any of the students that have already taken the SEO course in there, I definitely talk about having purchased blogs in the past and you know, those were always kind of smaller scale, more niche blogs, and I’ve definitely done a fair share of that in the past and kind of acquiring blogs that people sort of stop.

You know, working on over time and things like that. But this was definitely a different one, right? Because this was something that was very much sort of centered around you guys, and, and you and Alex had sort of built this brand over the years and. Definitely been a centerpiece of it. And so I definitely had a lot of imposter syndrome kind of at the start of, if I bought this, would I be able to step into this role and provide something new and something that would be beneficial to the students at Create and Go.

I just, you know, it was scary, I guess in, in the beginning, because it was a lot bigger of a purchase and a lot bigger of a role than I traditionally had done when purchasing a blog and. Also having a business partner in you. It was definitely nerve-wracking but exciting nonetheless and it’s been really exciting since.

But it definitely, that imposter syndrome, I think from the start was kind of the scariest part of just being a face of something that already had such a big following and such a big audience and such a loyal following. You know, we already have so many students at Create and Go, but I do think the s e o course made that a lot easier in that people kind of already knew me and sort of had some relevance or there were some parallels between me and Create and Go, you know?

Lauren:

Yeah, for sure. And I love that you brought up imposter syndrome because I feel like I could talk about this every day, all day of my life because it’s just such a relevant thing. I was just doing another new lesson for the launch your blog biz course, and it was on, you know, imposter syndrome and trying to become an authority figure, but imposter syndrome holding you back.

Honestly, it really is one of those things that never, ever goes away. It doesn’t matter whether you’re buying into something like this. It doesn’t matter if you are me already in this. I feel imposter syndrome all the time. And you know, I was having a conversation with a couple of my girlfriends last weekend and we were talking about just general adulting stuff and how.

We always thought that our parents had it all figured out because they’re adults and they’re our parents. And the older you get, you’re like, when am I gonna get to this point where I have stuff figured out? Like I thought that it was gonna be, you know, when I was 25 and then when I was 30, and now I’m turning 35 and I still don’t know what, what the heck I’m doing.

And I’m realizing like, this is life. Like life is. I think a constant imposter syndrome of, you know, it’s like you just trade out different problems each, you know, every few years or so for newer, harder problems and responsibilities as you get older. And you’re always going to feel that imposter syndrome, you know, as it applies, I think, to everywhere in your life, unfortunately. So it’s just about recognizing it and learning to live the lifelong side of it, right? 

Noah:

Right. I mean, absolutely. It’s funny, you know, me and my friends, we kind of always have this talk of when was that moment that you kind of felt like you made it or whatever. You know, we, you kind of always have that feeling of like transitioning from, you know, of course having that initial stage of my life where.

We kind of had, you know, living more in poverty and then not so much having that way of life. My friends were like, what was your, I made it the moment and you know, it was funny ’cause it was like, I don’t even really think I had one because for so long it was like, I even kind of felt like. I was an imposter kind of in my own life.

Right. That it was just like, sometimes it felt like it took a long time to understand that the life that I have and the things that I have, the results I’m getting are a direct result of me. The decisions I make, the things I do, the business I partake in and the actions I take every day. Right. And it’s, it’s hard to just like take that strong.

Accountability for the negative and the positive, right? To even say that the good things you have are because of you and not just dumb luck or things like that. So, It’s very weird. Even I think of the YouTube video that’s coming out soon. I mentioned getting the Create and Go Tattoo and that was such a moment where I was like, it really shook me, you know, to be like, wow, all those years ago that I got this Create and Go tattoo and here I am on the YouTube channel that I watched Alex on and it just such, such a full circle moment.

And it was so strange because. Still, even now, after everything I’ve accomplished and everything I’ve done, sometimes it can feel scary. Like, what am I gonna teach these people? What am I gonna show them? And it’s just important, I guess, to always remember that these comments that people make, And a lot of the responses that people sent in the emails and we made our announcement and stuff, it really reminded me that there are people that are steps behind me and people that are wondering what to do next.

And it really is a cool feeling to get to know that I can provide some sort of information or education that can help them along in that journey. And sometimes it’s just better to focus on the things you can teach rather than trying to focus on the things that I don’t feel that I’m fully the best in the world or whatever. And just sometimes just trying to push that imposter syndrome down, you know, and just not let it win, you know? 

Lauren:

Yeah. We all gotta just roll with the punches and just keep on keeping on, you know, and trust that you’re on the right path. And thankfully, as you start building an audience, you do receive that feedback.

That lets you know that you’re on the right path. I mean, Noah, you and I have both felt a little bit of that as we’ve, you know, had this new shift in our business and trying to, I also feel like I’m stepping into roles in my business because we’re just taking it in new directions and, we’ve gotten a few positive comments.

From our audience. Just really happy that we’re back and we are producing all this content now and, and actually communicating with our audience again. And, you know, we’ve also had a negative comment. And, you know, I was telling you it was one comment and you know, we’re not perfect and we’ve made mistakes, but it’s not about that, right?

It’s about what we’re we’re gonna be doing moving forward and on that note, we just wanna talk for a few minutes about like kind of where we are at and we really are, as I said in the last episode, kind of rebuilding our whole foundation here at Create and Go. We’ve been cutting costs and you know, taking a hard look at things to see where we’ve been and where we want to go.

And really, Noah and I had taken on so much more responsibility lately because at one point Alex and I. Had, you know, a team of five, I mean, including he and I, and we had a lot of work being outsourced and done, you know, with the podcast and with the YouTube channel and SS e o and all this stuff and customer service.

You know, we had a lot of people helping us do a lot of different tasks and now that we’re kind of, we’re kind of like shrinking down to then grow again, you know, and Noah and I are taking on. All of this stuff. I’m doing everything for the podcast now. I used to just edit it and then pass it off to Hannah on our team to get it all prepared to go with the email and the blog, and I’m doing everything.

I’m creating the thumbnails and uploading the stuff and Noah is editing all of his YouTube content and it’s not perfect, but he’s just learning, right? And getting better at that. And so, you know, I don’t know. I feel like it’s relevant because we are kind of coming back to basics and you know, not outsourcing a bunch of stuff and we’re just relearning kind of what is really important and what we want to be doing, what’s important for our audience. And I don’t know, it’s pretty crazy, right, Noah? 

Noah:

Absolutely. And to touch on like what I, I really love that you said there was like relearning the basics, right? And that’s not just like strategies and things like that. Right. Of course, those things that, you know, as we’re updating the courses right now and, and things like that, that’s really important.

But it’s also like, A mindset thing, right? Because for so many years, I, I think you can speak to this too, is it’s like, you know, I’ve worked in a consultation kind of role over the past few years, especially with, you know, my biggest clients. It’s definitely been, you know, Hey Noah, can you look at this data and let us know what this means?

It’s like a three-hour thing, but it’s just like, Hey, we know. No one knows what this means, and so we’ll give him the big bucks and he’ll take a look at this and then that’s it, you know, or things like that, or it’s kind of. More using my brain and thinking about things and sort of working in projections and future things for companies and stuff like that.

And I think we are shifting down into, like you said, the basics again, where our audience is. We’re doing things at the basic level of learning how to manage our time. Again, learning how to do every part of the business again. And it’s honestly been, it’s been even hard at times I’ve noticed, like balancing things and having to come up with like, A better schedule and like batching things together and it, and it’s really funny because I’m like, wow, this is definitely a throwback right to those grind days and trying to just get back to that place where, like you said, we are growing this thing to what we.

Think will be most valuable for our audience. And we’re, we’re taking this foundation that we have with Create and Go and we are kind of starting at that small space again where we’re really doing everything. You know, we, we of course have Kathy helping, but it really is just me and you bouncing back off of each other.

Hey, can you help me with this? Or, Hey, can you do this? And it feels a lot like those early days and it, it really does make me, it gives me a lot of clarity and a lot of empathy and. You know, acknowledgement for what our audience is going through in those early stages and how easy it can be to get overwhelmed, you know?

Lauren:

Yeah. And I wanna say a couple of things there. First of all, shout out to Cathy Dean, our customer service manager and affiliate manager. ’cause I did make it sound like it was just all Noah and I, and Cathy has never left us. She’s been with us for years now. And yeah, she’s a core part of our team. So, sorry, Cathy – didn’t mean to leave you out there.

But the other thing I wanna say is that I think really to sum up, you know, what we were both just talking about is that as you grow, you always lose touch to some degree, and that honestly spans across all businesses. I know, I see it with my husband and the business that he works for. The wifi tribe that I used to travel with.

It’s his best friend that started the company. And you know, they’re seeing it in similar ways as they’re trying to grow too, is you always lose touch with certain aspects of the business as you grow and as you outsource, right? And it’s this mindset of I can always do things better, but you can’t do everything.

And that’s the point. Noah and I are really trying to think about where we’re going to take this business and where we’re going to further monetize, whether that be different courses or other aspects, we want to totally rebuild our community from the ground up. Currently, we have one that’s attached to all of our courses and we don’t have things set up in the best way, I think, to help people.

And so we really wanna revamp that, but we wanna first kind of go back to those basics and rebuild that foundation in order to figure out what we really. Need to do there and what would be better, right? Because we get in this mindset of like, oh, I think I know. I think I know. But I think neither of us felt like we had been really connected to our audience for a while, and it was important to do that.

So. Just a reminder to never lose touch or you know, to the extent that you can. I mean, we always will. Stuff is always going to fall off of your plate and that’s just part of growing. But it’s about kind of being aware of when those things start falling off and knowing kind of what to outsource. When to outsource it and you know what, to still obviously keep on your own plate.

And you know, I wanna kind of circle back to you for a second, Noah, because we use Slack to communicate within our team. And you know, I’ve been getting some messages from Noah lately about how he’ll just, he’ll have these deadlines for the YouTube videos and he’ll grind super, super hard and then just burnout and.

It reminds me a lot of how I worked in the early days of, you know, working nights and working weekends and you know, I had to kind of remind you, Noah, that like, Hey, by the way, I don’t work nights and weekends anymore. I did that grinding time. And actually, to be honest, I probably will work a few weekends while I’m trying to get these course updates out.

But generally, I’ve reached a place in my business and my life, you know, especially having a husband, that I have to have a work-life balance and I have to create boundaries there. And so, no, I just want to hear a little bit from you about, you know, some of your struggles. I guess it probably relates to getting into Create and Go and learning your role here and your workload.

And I know you’ve been struggling a bit with burnout, so I think it’s pretty relevant to our audience and them trying to kind of wear all these hats of being a business owner. 

Noah:

Yeah, and it’s funny because I think that. The thing that every student, the thing that every audience member or reader or whatever you wanna call ’em, you know, that they want to hear the thing that they want to know about the person that they’re learning from is that, Hey, I’ve, I’ve been where you are.

Right. And I think that what’s particularly cool or interesting about what is going on with us right now isn’t, is it isn’t just, Hey, I’ve been where you are, it’s, I am where you are. And it’s yes. You know, we’re lucky. To obviously be making a good income and things like that from it compared to students who are starting initially and things like that, but the workload and things like that.

Yeah, they’re very similar. You know, taking on blogging is. Is really taking, taking on a whole new career, right? It, it’s taking on all these hats and all these roles, and especially for me, I think focusing so strongly on ss e o for all these years. I don’t wanna say it’s stunted my growth or anything like that.

I feel grateful that I’m an expert in that, but it definitely has. It’s made it harder in a way, to take on these other tasks and do these things like flex these other muscles if you will. You know, where it’s like working on the YouTube videos where, you know, I used to really be able to kind of flex the creative muscles that I have and things like that.

Whereas now I’m like, oh my gosh, I am really burning out creatively, right? It’s taking all the creative effort I have to kind of get through this video and it’s interesting to take on these new tasks and things that – it’s not that they don’t interest me or that I don’t think they’re exciting or important.

And that’s something that I think was hard for me was that you know, just because you’re burning out doesn’t mean that the passion isn’t there or that the excitement isn’t there. It just means, as you said, that you need to, you need to find a proper balance. I think for me in particular, I’ve adjusted my screen time, right?

I don’t use my phone really or like watch TV in the morning times because I know I’m gonna be looking at my laptop and looking at my iPad a lot, doing the videos and doing the scripts and things like that because I really get burnt out on the screens and, or I’ll try and go outside to work on my stuff so that I get a little more out.

Door time instead of being cooped up. Right? Sometimes it’s just about balance. You know, I try and add in a lot of walks and things like that, but it really is just about finding what works best for you, batching things together, and just giving yourself a little grace. I, I think you told me the other day that it’s a lot of responsibility taking on so many new things, and that you have to kind of give yourself a little grace and give yourself some time, and I think that, When you feel the passion and you feel the drive, you know, you, you kind of hear and grind culture a lot, you know that, oh, you feel it and you, you wake up and you want it.

And I know that I just, I want our students to have similar success as us and, and I want them to have a similar life that I’ve had and experience those similar good feelings that I’ve had. And so I just, I wake up and I want to give that to them and I want to exceed these expectations that we have and just reach the potential that I know we have.

But you have to do it at the right pace and you have to do it in a way that is sustainable. It’s just something that I’m learning over time. And that doesn’t mean that you’re wasting your passion or, or you know, not putting enough fire in. It’s just about balance, you know like you said. 

Lauren:

Yeah, it’s definitely a learning process and we never have enough time, right? As a blogger or business owner, online creator, you never have enough time, and time is usually what you need the most of it’s often not money, it’s actually just time, and that’s just part of it. So I think really just taking a deep breath and like you also said, just being kind to yourself and appreciating that.

You’ve accomplished a lot, even on days when it feels like you haven’t. And even just struggling through that creative process and that grind, it’s something that puts off a lot of other people. So, you know, even just trying to muddle through it and do it on your own is a really big accomplishment in itself.

And it definitely gets better. I mean, the imposter syndrome of course, never goes away. You trade it out for new other imposter syndrome problems, but, You will get comfortable in areas of your business and find that confidence and you know, and find that groove really. I mean, sometimes it takes a while and we look back and we’re like, Ooh, we didn’t really do that the best way, but we’re gonna be better going forward.

Well, you’ll also get there, Noah, with time. I mean, I had to just kind of remind you that, you know, hey, you just bought into an existing business that is moving forward quite quickly, so. Of course, you’ve taken on probably a lot more responsibility than you realize. And that goes for everybody at any stage of their online business at all stages.

Every time you think that you have a breathing moment, it’s like, no, no, no, you better keep going. There’s always something to be done. Yeah, and I’ve realized that. I look back now in certain stages of, you know, multiple businesses that I’ve had, and I, I thought at the time that there was this plateau and this, this like time to take a break.

And then I realized that like, actually I shouldn’t have been taking a break there because I could have been doing other things. And I mean, I don’t know, you know, I don’t like to really call this a whole lot of passive income anymore. I think that word is deceptive because it’s passive in that. You can make money while you sleep, but you still have to work pretty hard to get it.

And that doesn’t really stop. You know, of course, you can build your business in a way that outsources everything that you do and, and this and that. We’ve created this business that is still very centered on us. You know, and maybe that will change over time as we grow. I, I’m not sure, as of right now, it, you know, it’s still gonna be focused on you and I and we’ll have to decide that direction, but, Anyway, I digress.

Let’s talk a little bit more, I guess, about what we’re focused on now. So, of course, Noah is working on the YouTube channel and I am reviving this podcast back from the dead. You know, those are kind of our front-facing content things right now. I know I’ve, I looked at Instagram a couple of days ago when I was writing an article and I was like, Ugh, I really feel like we should do something with this platform. But then I remind myself that I hate Instagram and I don’t know. What are your thoughts on Instagram, Noah? 

Noah:

First of all, I do wanna say, it sounds like the yard guys are outside weed-eating, so I don’t know if you’re picking up on it. So just in case you guys hear that. Hopefully, it’s not too loud. 

The thing with social media is, we’ve kind of been talking about this and throwing this around, right, that it’s like the increase in tools in the online world, right? Where it’s like AI tools and scheduling tools and just Canva, and it’s getting to this point where a lot of the things that used to be considered individual businesses, right, can now kind of be done as a part.

Of a business as a whole, right? As just part of being an online creator. And so it’s. Becoming this weird thing where it’s like, we really don’t like Instagram much, but then you have things like AI or you know, YouTube launch their shorts program, which we are kind of taking an interest in. And it kind of gets to this point where you’re like, oh, well I already have this content.

And it’s like I preach all the time in the courses and you know, on the channel and it’s like, If you have it, repurpose it. Right. I think that we’re kind of getting to that point where it’s, if you already have something of value, then there’s no reason not to use it. There’s no reason not to post it. And so I think we’re kind of getting to that point where we’ll probably start sharing a lot of our content from, you know, our YouTube shorts and things like that on Instagram.

And you know, maybe even start, you know, interacting with people kind of. Via those channels just from repurposing content. And so that’s kind of where I see those things going because we’re always gonna put our main focus now that we’re, you know, relaunching these courses. You know, we really want to focus on building a community and, and a core community where we can give the most help possible and see, you know, the most success possible.

And so, I know we’re gonna kind of see these platforms as like, secondary platforms for repurposing, you know, at least in my eyes. And that won’t be the same for every blog, every creator, you know, their audience is gonna be in a different place. But I know that’s at least the case for us. So I wanna bring up a point here because I think that I.

Lauren:

I agree with some of what you said with most of what you said in that if you have content, repurpose it, right? It’s easy, you’ve already created it, but, and I think that that works out better in some cases than others. So for example, you have a YouTube video and you recycle that for Pinterest or Instagram or TikTok because those are videos.

But at the same time, I don’t think that that kind of content alone really performs. Well on those platforms. I mean, you know, Pinterest of course is a whole different thing ’cause you need a bunch of other pins and different types of content. And YouTube of course, you have your shorts, which are just videos.

But, For Instagram and TikTok, for example, let me just speak actually mostly for Instagram because at 35 I am not on TikTok. I’m just gonna Right, throw that right out there. Follow somebody else to learn more about TikTok. That’s not gonna be me. But when it comes to Instagram, I don’t think that just recycling shorts and recycling content works.

I mean, we’ve done that in the past with podcast episodes and we can recycle shorts or you know, stuff from YouTube videos or even the podcast on Instagram. But I think really what makes Instagram special is the. Connection factor is people getting on stories and people showing, you know their lives. And of course, people do Instagram differently, but at least most of the businessy influencers or people on Instagram for their business and to make money.

They’re really leaning heavily into that connection factor. And I feel like if we did Instagram, I don’t think that these passive just uploading shorts and clips and things is going to cut it. I think it would need to be our faces talking about our day and what we’re doing or showing behind-the-scenes things.

You know, and, and that’s definitely a commitment in itself too, you know, it’s not that I mind showing that part of my life to everyone, it’s just that. I try to live my life off social media these days as much as possible just for my own sanity. And, you know, I, I have a lot of negative feelings about it.

In general, I think that everyone’s addicted to social media, so I don’t know. I think that it would require more than that, you know, so in my head I’m wondering, do we half-ass this thing? It doesn’t hurt to just post stuff, but I don’t know. It really, I guess then gives us a facade that we’re active even though we’re not actually putting our faces on the platform.

Noah:

Right, and it definitely depends on the type of content that you’re posting, right? Because it’s like if the shorts that you’re posting, for example, on YouTube are your face and they’re really personal and that kind of thing, then those reels on Instagram will be really personal and have a lot of connection.

Right. But. It largely depends too, on the niche, of course, because what people want to see on each platform is different. I see. That with TikTok and, and I spend a lot of time on TikTok. I mean, I only do an hour a day of social media ’cause I’m also an adamant believer that social media has gotten out of control.

I think that TikTok and Instagram have kind of become a little synonymous. Because of the reels. And I think that mostly what works for Instagram reels kind of works for TikTok. And so it seems like a lot of people seem to have success cross-posting those. And the same kind of with YouTube shorts at times.

And so it really just depends on the niche and it depends on what people are creating. But I do think that what you said kind of rings true for all of them is that we’re reaching a point where AI can do a lot of things, but it is very difficult to beat a connection, a genuine connection, and you know, that’s on every platform.

And when you are making a genuine connection with an audience that will largely work on whatever platform you’re on. And so, I do think that in this day and age it is almost better to kind of half-ass it and repurpose things rather than not at all because you know, you never know. Maybe that video that you cross-posted could get a hundred thousand views or you know, something like that.

It really is insane. I have seen friends just. Take videos from TikTok or take videos from Instagram and post them on TikTok and get 200,000 views and a thousand followers overnight. And you know, you really never know. And so it is kind of getting a little crazy in that regard. So I do think that the general rule of thumb of repurposing is that it’s always a good idea but you’re going to make the best impact by striving for the most genuine connection for the audience that you have on each individual platform. So, you know, I think that is always the best goal. We try and do that, but you know, we try and focus strongly on, on what is our. Strong suits, you know, with YouTube and you know, of course, our content on the blog itself.

And you know, right now with our courses, we’re even putting our faces and you know, I think that was you know, you suggested that, that putting our faces on the courses and kind of going that route just to kind of bring up that connection and, and make the quality of that feel a lot more genuine and just be a lot higher quality.

Lauren:

Yep, for sure. And you know, on that note, I mean that’s kind of what we’re doing right now. Y’all, you know, besides this new content and besides trying to figure out some of these directions that we want to go in, we’re. Spending a lot of time right now updating the courses. I mean, recording everything from scratch, like with your faces and, and all the editing that then has to go into these videos.

It’s a lot. Hopefully, it won’t be too much longer though until we get the first one out and we’ll be announcing that. So we’re pretty excited about that. And, you know, we really just try to be as transparent as possible with y’all, with our audience about everything that we’re doing and the struggles.

And the wins and everything in between. So right now we are focusing a lot of time on those course updates because that to us is the most important to make sure that our students and subscribers, really the most loyal people in our audience, have the right content in front of them that can help them grow and succeed the fastest.

And of course, we’re still trying to do the podcast and YouTube alongside that, but that’s really where the main focus is for us right now. And for the sake of transparency too. If y’all have any ideas or there’s some content that you want to see from us or some less of some content that you want to see from us, please do let us know.

I mean, before I started this podcast, I did it because we got a lot of feedback from y’all that you really wanted it. So if there’s something that you want to see, please leave us a comment on this episode. Or you know, write us an email and just let us know because we’d love to hear from you. Anything else you wanna add? Noah, we need to wrap up here.

Noah:

No, I’ll try and keep it brief and, and I’ll say, you know, it is good to have you back, Lauren. I am glad that the podcast is back. We did see a lot of people asking about it, and it is nice, I think to have this opportunity to kind of chat and address the audience and just let ’em know that like, Hey, we are.

We are getting after it. And, you know, we are focused on getting these courses, as you said to the best point that we can and updated to the best point that we can for the people that have been there with us from the beginning. And so, you know, hopefully, we can do that and then we’ll start focusing on some newer, more exciting things. But, you know, we’re grinding that out for now, so, yeah. 

Lauren:

Yeah, I was initially gonna wait to start the podcast back up again until I had these updates done and I realized, you know what? That might be a while. And I think this is important now, and to start showing that transparency and start talking about that process as we’re going through it.

So I’m really happy that we did it this way, and I definitely feel myself getting a lot of motivation for everything, you know, through this outlet, through podcasting. So thank you, Noah, for being here and for sharing your part of this journey as well with our audience.

Noah:

Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I’ll have to hop back on with you sometime and you know, we’ll have to do an update one day soon on how everything’s going. So thanks for having me on. 

Lauren:

Alright, well y’all, I will see you on the next episode.