We were lucky to catch up with Candice DeRiso recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Candice, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
It’s a bit of a story behind my purpose. After turning 30, I decided my opportunity to find love, get married and have a family were not only dwindling but unlikely. This shifted my purpose to making other people’s lives (specifically through their businesses) better. My strength was in connecting people and guiding them to wisely delegate marketing tasks. Since building relationships was one of my “super powers”, I attended a ton of networking events.
Everything changed when I decided to check out a new freelancer networking group meeting up in East Austin. My expectations were that I would make a new friend or maybe a new strategic partner. I met a video editor / producer who was the perfect fit for at least two of my clients’ needs. We didn’t meet again for another month or so, but that second time he asked for my number.
Fast-forward to two years later, we were married. Better late than never, right? But now I was in my mid-thirties so the idea of having children still seemed risky and even slim. Well, we decided that AMA or not, a baby would complete our family.
We bought a house in a northern suburb of Austin, and found out I was pregnant a few days before closing. It was like all of the blessings in the world wrapped up together. However, this was in January of 2020. And we all know what happened in the following months. The new world situation shifted business and our lives dramatically. My husband lost some huge opportunities and my business was booming.
In September of 2020, we were blessed with my purpose. His name is Vincent. I guess, deep down I always knew that becoming a mom was my bigger purpose, but after so many years of being focused on business and survival I was in a loving shock. It’s so cliché, but it’s my absolute truth. Every morning I wake up knowing that the most important thing for me to do that day is be the best possible mom I can be.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about your business before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Beckmann Collaborative has been around for 8 years as of September 1, 2023. It started out as a content marketing consulting firm where a big part of what I offered was to train existing staff (often an assistant, intern, or marketing manager) best practices and processes for generating and managing marketing content. I was (and still am) a strong trainer.
About 6 years ago, I was searching for a CRM solution for my business. I had temporarily landed with Insightly, but wasn’t terribly happy. It was minimal. A content client asked if I could check out his Zoho CRM, “since you’re so tech savvy” he said. Compliments + Curiosity are a powerful combination for me.
Before I knew it, I was in love with this software system and bought into the full suite of Zoho apps. Over a year of time, I taught myself about 85% of everything I needed to know about Zoho CRM, so I decided to get certified in it and become a Zoho partner.
This all came in very handy in 2020 when COVID hit and everyone was looking for a way to optimize their sales and marketing efforts. By then I had already begun training two contractors on my team to use various Zoho Apps.
In 2021, we realized that the consulting firm was becoming more about marketing operations and how it empowers content marketing. If you have a great writer on your team, but don’t have a smart strategy for implementing it then the efforts are useless.
Nowadays, our clients are small businesses with fairly small teams (50 or less) who usually need support with marketing automation, content writing, or optimizing their marketing operations. Often, it is a combination of all three.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1. Self-awareness.
Self-awareness is the most important thing any of us can have going on. While I’m still on the journey of truly knowing myself, I am aware of my true strengths and weaknesses.
When I began hiring other people to work for me, it was in areas that I had admit I was not as fast or strong as they were. While I love to organize things, I tend to get lost in the weeds of details. For example: I needed someone who loves the details and can quickly get a handle on things, without getting distracted or side barred by a client.
- Hire slow and fire fast.
This speaks to having a good eye on the qualities you really need in your team to succeed, and recognizing when that person is not a fit. - Delegate to scale.
If you ever want to grow your business beyond being a solopreneur, you’ll need to trust others and bring them into your business. Delegating means clearly documenting your processes, and knowing which ones should be delegated.
If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
My current challenge is the battle between being a business owner and a mom. I work from home, splitting my day with my husband as we watch our three-year-old son. Working from home can be noisy and full of distractions when there is a kid in the house. It’s even harder when deep down you want to be playing with your kid instead of in a meeting.
This year, my approach has been to examine the strengths of my team members and identify items I can delegate that perhaps I had not previously given away. My goal is to be less a part of the day-to-day workings. Instead, I aim to be more of the “back office” person who makes sure things are chugging along. Hopefully, this approach will work out.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.beckmanncollaborative.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Beckmann.Collaborative
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beckmann-collaborative-llc/
