Meet Kimberly Hogate

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kimberly Hogate. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kimberly, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

This past year has been an important practice in boundary setting. Finally, I realized that no one was going to look out for me – more than me. It sounds cryptic or maybe a little sad, but it’s totally the opposite.

I was doing too many things for too many people for too long. And one day, I really, really had had enough. Maybe this is the 40-year-old in me, but I was really tired of being under and devalued by clients (and my family – even though I love them so much and they didn’t realize fully they were doing it).

On the business side, I started being realistic with my clients. When they had an idea I knew would take more time than their budget allowed – or was actually possible – I started telling more of a blunt truth.

I started getting respected even more and more by giving them the full, honest scope of expert advice. And sometimes, they didn’t like what they heard. Yet, they are able to back it up through online research, and eventually come around to be grateful for the knowledge as it has changed the sails of my clients’ direction more than once – saving them from poor money decisions to mismatched partnership ideas and more.

As a people pleasure by nature, I always used to say YES to nearly everything.

I am learning to not only say no, and say less too. Once I hit my limit, that’s my limit. At that point, there either needs to be more time or money added to the project – and I’m not afraid to tell clients that anymore. Since digital marketing is rarely one of my clients’ specialties (that’s why they hire me at Faceted Media Marketing Agency) – they are fairly unaware of the time and steps for various projects. Setting a boundary with scope creep early on can avoid these issues.

On the personal side, I’ve been really conscious of not overbooking myself, but when it comes to family, the boundaries get blurred. It’s easy to accidentally do too much and get burned out. This continues to be a work in progress for me, but it’s absolutely true – boundary setting practice is like strengthening a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger you are and the easier everything is!

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

Faceted Media is a full service fractional marketing agency for tiny and small businesses to finally have growth in all areas that actually moves the needle.

We handle SEO (search engine optimization), Google Ads management, traffic improvement with high DA score PR features, portfolios & backlinks, SEO optimized website builds, Google My Business listing optimization and more.

Our Denver marketing agency is focused on transparent stats, as well as thoughtful and strategic marketing for service-based businesses. As a complementary service, we include SEO focused supportive social media, content creation, video editing, marketing materials creation, website site s speed optimization and a host of miscellaneous services.

We offer our services in a month to month basis for full white glove support, as well as one day intensives where our clients can tackle one topic at a time.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Early on, think long term. If you are still in business one year after starting – WOW. But you really need to get to 7 years to start thinking, okay this is my full-time job. From what I have seen.

And don’t let that discourage you! Work a part-time job, work a full-time job, work odd jobs, mix up your services, try new things, always be reading a business book, stay involved in industry Facebook groups and forums, stay in the loop of what’s happening in the community, teach a class, go to a class – just DO stuff. And don’t give up.

Toss what doesn’t work and do more of what does.

Take breaks.

If I could narrow it to three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in my journey, I would say:

– advice to write a book was instrumental as I became a published author (tip: start your book now!)
– practicing non attachment to any outcomes whether good or bad helps me continue forward
– simply believing that you can

You can do it too!

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?

Currently, the challenge is that I love working with tiny, new and small businesses, yet they often are on a limited budget. This is never a problem if I can educate them on the amount of time various accomplishments take (such as getting to the top of page one on Google for example).

If I’ve done a good job explaining and framing, I can always work on a small budget and timeline. Yet, if their expectations are off because they don’t have much experience in entrepreneurship yet, they can be disappointed.

I do my best to very quickly work to help them understand the connection between their budget, time and goals. No one likes a budget! But, it’s a reality for many brand new business owners.

One of my constant struggles is instilling hope for our efforts, with a strong dash of reality, so that they are aware, being a full-time (or even part-time) entrepreneur’ is not for the weak. And it is not quick. Nor is it easy.

Social Media has done a great job gaslighting people to think it is easy to make a business… Note that the people who make it look easy… are usually selling a program.

I have to counteract what they heard online and on social – constantly. It’s just not reality. Just like everything hard, it takes stamina, constant improvement, consistency, connections, education, and pure grit. Plus a lot of time.

Any business owner knows too – you can only push so far before you have to stop, break, regroup – that is, if indeed you want to succeed in the long haul.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Photo Credits: SD Brown Photo | Miracle Kisses | Faceted Media

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