EPISODE 85: Introverted Business Owners and Why They’re Successful with Casey Lightbody

Jessi:
Welcome to the copywriter collaborative podcast, where we're digging into how you can build a sustainable writing business. We're your hosts, Jessi...

Marie:
...and Marie. We're the co-founders of North Star Messaging + Strategy. When we started our business in 2010, we had no idea what we were doing. We just knew we wanted to write. Since then, we've learned a lot and we've grown into a successful multi-six-figure copywriting agency with a talented staff of writers and project coordinators. We've served hundreds of clients and we've seen it all. We wish we could have had a resource like this way back then. So we created it for you.

Jessi:
We're here to share our and top tips to help you achieve personal and professional success in the copywriting industry. Every week, you'll get valuable insights from us, members of our team, and special guests. Whether you wanna write better copy, create a stronger copywriting business that can support you financially or both, grab your earbuds.

Mary:
Well, hello everybody and welcome to another episode. And this is a really special one because we have a guest with us today and we are really, really excited to introduce you to Casey Lightbody. She's been a friend of Jessi's and mine and someone we admire and love to just cheer on for years and years now. I don't even know when we first met Casey, but it's been a little while.

Casey:
It has, quite a few years I think, yeah.

Marie:
Absolutely. But the work that Casey does is just so powerful for writers. So, the official bio is Casey is really just an excellent strategist for business and marketing. She really works with impact driven, introverted, sensitive women entrepreneurs. And through her process, she helps them start, build, and scale their businesses, but in their own way, without burning out, or really pretending to kind of put on this facade of someone they're not or following all the shoulds that you always hear. Casey is a creator of the quiet conquer code, which is an excellent framework that helps her clients leverage their introverted superpowers, which I think a lot of you writers have, and really market themselves in their own terms. So using this framework as well as her 15 plus years of corporate and marketing strategy and her own experience of launching and growing two six plus figure companies, she's able to guide her clients to creating successful sustainable six figure businesses and beyond. So welcome to the show, Casey.

Casey:
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me both. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you.

Jessi:
Is totally mutual. And I think that this is going to be a really special episode for listeners out there. We were talking a little bit before we started hitting record about how the idea of introversion and quietness goes hand in hand with writers often, with the career of a writer. Often people who are, who gravitate towards writing as a hobby and then look to monetize it, they gravitate towards those things because they have a natural tendency towards introversion, towards quietness. And it makes sense at some point to try and create a business out of that. But it also means that there are a few things that tend to come up over and over and over again that I think you can really help us speak to today.
It's really not unusual for business owners, particularly writing business owners to undervalue themselves. It's not uncommon to see writer who struggle a little with putting themselves out there consistently, either because they aren't really comfortable with that, or they burn out very quickly from it. They, you know, there's this whole like hustle and grind culture, and they don't want to be a part of it, or if they've tried to be a part of it, they've been burned by it. And so I would love to kick off today by pulling the curtain back a little bit and having you talk to us about the work you do and why you've chosen to focus on introverted business women.

Casey:
Yeah. Beautiful Jessi. I love this. I love the story. So, I'm gonna kind of take you back right back to when I was a little girl, actually. So I'd always had this dream of starting my own business. Dad was an entrepreneur and I wanted to follow in his footsteps. And I thought that, you know, I saw him having the freedom of flexibility to come home and have lunches with us after we finished school, I saw him napping on the couch in the afternoons and you know, it was a real freedom business for him and he loved it, right. And so, but life left as it does. And I followed the status quo and I fell into corporate. We moved from Africa to the UK and I worked my way up the corporate ladder in relationship management in my marketing, because that's kind of what I'd done cause I wanted to start my own business. I'd done a business degree. Right.
But then when we immigrated to Australia, I finally said to my husband, okay, it's now or ever, I'm going to take the plunge and take the leap into entrepreneurship. And so I started a marketing consulting business because that's what I knew. Right. That's what I had my degree in and that's what I'd been doing in my corporate life. And so I started this marketing consulting business for professional service businesses. And that quickly grew into an agency. We had a team of five, I hit six figures and I was like, wow, my dreams become the reality, right. But in fact it wasn't the reality at all. And I, it was my worst nightmare and it was, I just got completely burnt up in all honesty. I was literally working, trying, you know, waking at four o'clock in the morning, burning the candle at both ends throwing breakfast on the table for the kids. And I sat at this very desk one day and I was like, is this all there is to life. And, surely building businesses does not have to be so exhausting and overwhelming and just felt icky, right.
And so I sat here and I really started, it was really the moment that I started my own personal development journey and started to unpack what was going on for myself internally, because I knew, like I ticked all the boxes on the outside, like on paper, that business was successful, right. But inside I was just completely feeling dead inside. And so I started to unpack what was going on for me. And it was only, then that I realized how introvert I was. I'd actually been a pretend extrovert for all my life up until that point. And I realized how introverted I was and also how highly sensitive I was. So for the longest time, I'd be told Casey, get over yourself, stop crying, just, you know, each spoon of cement, it's not that bad. You know, I had all these stories that telling me that sensitivity was wrong. And it was only in those moments that I realized, okay, I'm highly sensitive, I'm introverted. And I need to make my energy management a number one priority as I build my business. And so I decided at that moment to actually burn that business to the ground and start from scratch. And that's how the Quiet Collective was born.
Really being able to, it was really me on my journey and now helping other women who feel exactly the same as me, making sure that they are really in tune with their introversion and their sensitivity of superpowers, and then being mindful of how you create your business going forward. So that's kind of the journey to this point today.

Marie:
That's amazing. Thank you for sharing that. And honestly, I don't know that I knew that whole story, so I'm glad to know it. So I think before we dive deeper into these subjects, it might be useful for us to define those terms of introversion and highly sensitive people. So how do you define those terms, Casey?

Casey:
Yeah, Marie. So for me, introversion is really how we process the world. It's how we actually recharge our energy and it's how we actually see the world. So for I think so many people and especially in my community where they self-identify as introverts, that's true for them, but oftentimes they're using it as an excuse to hide behind as well. Right. And so for me, you may be a shy introvert, but it's not nothing to do with your self-confidence and self-esteem. That is all around actually unpacking what's going on for you and how you're inner programming is actually running the show, right. And less about the actual true definition of introversion, which is what I see is really how we process the world and how we manage our energy.
In terms of sensitivity is actually how we feel. Right. And so, again, for me, as a highly sensitive person, I was actually on a podcast just yesterday. And I said, you know, I can hear the tap dripping, I can hear the fridge running, any loud noises. You know, I, it impacts me, any bright lights impact me. So I've gotta be really mindful of how I work. Cause you know, my husband and I both work from home since COVID, he's an extrovert and he loves having the music on and he loves working to music and I'm like, I need dead silence. Right? Like I need to focus.

Marie:
Same.

Casey:
Right? I can't do that. And so it's finding this balance of how do we work to show up as our best possible versions of ourselves too.

Jessi:
Love those definitions. And I particularly love the separation you make with introversion and this whole idea of like, okay, what's going on underneath the self confidence and all of that being a slightly different category from like, okay, but where is your energy coming from? I remember years ago in a different business, in a different life, I was teaching a workshop about introvert with educators. And I taught this whole full day workshop to a bunch of educators. And afterwards, one of the teachers came up to me and was like, this was great, but you're not an introvert because you just stood up here and gave this whole day workshop. And they actually like argued with me over a period of like several minutes where I had to like defend myself. I'm like, no, after this workshop, I am going home and I am taking like a three day nap just to recover. But I think that's a common misconception, right? This idea that being introverted or being highly sensitive means something about your confidence or your ability to put yourself out there or even how much you enjoy it that may or may not actually be true.

Casey:
Absolutely, Jessi. Absolutely. And that took me a long time to realize too, right. Because I think, even the definition, I mean, I was absolutely horrified when I went into the definition on the, you know, in the dictionaries, like a dictionaries of how they actually define introversion. And many of them say all flower, one of them even called us narcissists, you know? And I said, what?!

Marie:
What?!

Casey:
That's insane!

Marie:
It's not related.

Casey:
I know, right?! It was crazy. And so I was like, I'm on this crusade to talk about what inversion really is, you know? But yes, it really is around energy management, but I think what I love that you shared too, Jessi is how we actually show up we're on the spectrum of introversion too. Right. And for me, when I'm teaching and helping my clients actually find marketing strategies that feel aligned to them. For some of them, they may actually get their energy from being on stage, right.
This is, I mean, we can talk about that because this has been a whole journey in and of itself around my own public speaking. Right. But I remember Tara McMullin once saying and she defines herself as an introvert and she said she loved getting on stage. And the reason that she loved getting on stage is because she then positioned herself as an expert in whatever topic she was speaking about. But then she didn't have to engage in small talk afterwards because she had relevant topics to actually talk about off stage. Because one of the things that I think, I don't know if it's just me, but I, in fact, I know that it's not just me. One of the things that we really struggle with, introverts, is this idea of small talk, right. We like to get deep and have juicy, meaningful conversations. Right. And so I think one of the things that we struggle with is the small talk. And so the, one of the ways that Tara loved to market herself is to be on stage. And I think that really comes down to feeling into what feels good for you as an introvert. How do you show up feeling energized in order to put yourself out there for business?

Mary:
Yeah. Important point for all of us to reflect on. Absolutely. Thank you for sharing that. And I think, you know, one of the things that we really love about you and your approach is that you encourage people to really embrace who they are authentically as a superpower rather than, you know, as something holding them back. So what would you tell a writer who's maybe feeling a little bit anxious or overwhelmed about the idea of putting themselves out there, maybe because they have a bit of a narrow view of how they should be doing that or, you know, what might be involved in that process?

Casey:
Yeah, Marie, so I think these two points here, the first point is really leading in and saying, okay, what feels good to me? How do I want to market myself? Now what's gonna come up for you sometimes is this fear, right? It's like, oh, that's too scary. I don't like, is that really, can I really do that? You know, oh, I don't know if I can. And so it's really about, for me, and I'll share this story with you cause I think it's an important example of what happened.
For the longest time ever since, again, I was a little girl, I had this fear of public speaking worse than death itself. Like you would never get me putting up my hand in the classroom and even speaking up. And I remember being actually physically sick one time at university where I knew I had to present my thesis to the lecture theater. And I was like, oh my gosh, this is just beyond my comprehension of fear. You know?
But when I started my business and particularly the Quiet Collective, I started to lean in, and I was like, you know what, there's this niggle, when I think of the vision of myself, I actually see myself on stage. And I was, and I couldn't ignore this. You know, like that was what my vision was, that was pointing me towards. And so I was like, I have got to start to speak and get on stages. And so I stretched, I started to, I call it stretching my capacity zone, like actually building my courage muscle around this. Right. And so I love this. I learned this term from Beth Belo and she says, we don't talk about taking these giant leaps out of our comfort zone. It's about expanding our capacity zone to the point where we don't snap the elastic band. Right.
And so I started in rooms of five and then 10 and then 20. And then eventually at one point I was working at as a consultant and they flew me over to Chile and I spoke in front of 300 people. And when I reflect back on that journey, I was like, oh my gosh, I wouldn't have thought that that would've even have been possible when I was first starting out. And in fact I spoke on stage just two weeks ago and I was like, holy moly, I love this! That was amazing! And I like, what a change that has been for me and my journey, you know. But it's, again, it's about feeling and saying, okay, the way that I wanna put myself out there, is it the fear that stopped me from moving forward? Or is it something that I'm aligned to, but I just know that it's something new and that's why it feels scary? So I think that's the first point really important to consider.
And the second point I'm gonna share to really like, we don't know what we don't know. So if you are feeling the nudge to do something, do it, try it, put it on for size. Say, does this fit or doesn't this fit and give it some time to see whether it works or doesn't work. And you will love this and listeners you'll love this too, because for the longest time I thought as an introvert, I should, would be good at writing. Right. And so I would write my blog, but it took me forever and ever, and ever to write blogs, blog posts. Right. And I was like, oh, I don't know if I love this. I actually love to chat, so I thought, okay, I'm gonna start a podcast. And it was scary. It was so scary to start my podcast. But I started my podcast. We got amazing guests on the show. People like Jamie Masters and Tara McMullin and Carrie Green. And, you know, you both know the story around that, but that, that starting that podcast actually gave me the courage to then host my summits. Which keynoted Amy Porterfield and Jen Kim and Selena Soo, and the host of others. And you beautiful ladies too. Right. And so, you know, that was the journey for me around just trying to paint something on for size and then seeing, mm I'm not just, I'm not really a fan of that, I'm gonna try something else.

Jessi:
I love this idea of like not making it such a huge thing. You dipping your toes in trying things on and working up to something that feels comfortable, I think, you know, this kind of ties in with that whole idea of hustle culture and burnout where there's this narrative that's been put out there, especially in the online business world of you have to be all in and doing all the things all the time, which it doesn't matter whether you or introverted or not, that's a recipe for burnout. And then when you add in the introversion and you add in the fact that you may be getting messages to market your business or construct your business in a way that doesn't actually like support who you are and what you need, it's just like, it feels like it's just like a recipe for disaster. It's like too much too fast.

Casey:
Absolutely. Absolutely Jessi, I couldn't agree more. You know, again, we brought into this idea that we've gotta be on all the social media platforms. We've gotta be doing all the things and it's just not true. You know, it's just not true. And yeah, I totally subscribe to that same idea of try something on, get good at that one thing, if it's a fit for you, right. Again, it's all about experimentation. We all know that business is all around experimentation, try things on for size and see if it fits. And then if it does amazing, then you can scale and then you get good at that thing. And we can add different tactics on as well, which is really important, I think.

Marie:
Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that wisdom. I think it's so easy to go into burnout mode, unfortunately. When you listen to all the things instead of yourself, you know, and what's going on inside you.
So I wanna shift gears a little bit to talk about your business and your framework. So you've run the Quiet Collective for a long time now, have a lot of experience supporting your clients through this journey. And you've also developed this framework, the Quiet Conquer Code. So how did you come up with this framework? Were there sort of things that you were seeing in common? How does it support your clients? Tell us a little bit about it.

Casey:
Yes, Marie sure. So again, having been in the business for a long time, and I'll steal Jen's phrase about being a seasoned chicken, not a spring chicken.

Marie:
I love that.

Casey:
I know I love that too. Right. And, so, you know, I brought all my years of experience in corporate, my years running my first business around the marketing agency and then looking at what was coming up for my introverted, highly sensitive, intuitive clients. And I realized that there were key foundational aspects of a business that we absolutely have to nail in order to create sustainable success. So I brought that all together inside the Quiet Conquer Code and then each pillar we looked at and said, okay, let me put that through an introverted lens and make sure that we are actually putting our introvert, our energy management front and center of every business decision that we make.
So again, through that Quiet Conquer Code, we look at five key components. We look at courage, which is all around mindset. So really looking at, okay, who am I, what are my superpowers around my introversion around my sensitivity and how can I show up in the world?
The next step is clarity. So I think really getting crystal clear on how you position yourself in the market in a way that cuts through the noise and really honors your introverted superpowers, right?
Then we look at communication. So again, communication is your jam. Both of you, I just love what you do around all of this work. But I think the biggest, one of the biggest struggles that we have in starting businesses, we don't actually have a marketing or sales problem. We've got a messaging problem. And so really being able to leverage our introverted superpowers of introspection, of curiosity, of the ability to actively listen, allows us to intimately know our ideal clients, which allows us to then be able to communicate effectively with of them.
The next stage is the connection piece. So again, for me, I'm all about connection. For me, marketing and sales is purely relationships. And interestingly as introverts, I think we are amazing connectors. I think we are amazing at building relationships because we have these natural abilities to listen, to actually pick up nuances in language and tone, intuition, and voice and all that kind of thing. Look, we can actually pick up the nuances and really allow our prospects and clients to feel seen, heard and understood. So that's the piece around connection. That's really the marketing component, getting clear on what we need to be saying at each stage of the funnel to warm our clients up to paying clients.
And then the final stages collaboration. So looking at how it can actually collaborate with other people to leverage other people's audiences. Because again, through those channels, we can actually boost up ability. It's not about being on social media, 24/7. It's about actually how to find ways to collaborate so that we create win-win-win partnerships for everybody. And so that's kind of the framework in summary.

Jessi:
I love, oh my gosh. I feel like there's so much that we could unpack here. I really wanna focus a little bit on that last one though, collaboration, because I mean, for those of you listening, who've been listening to us for a while, we recently rebranded the podcast to the Copywriter Collaborative. One of the things we talk about a lot is the power of community and the power of collaboration, even when you are a copywriter or a content creator, which on the surface can seem like kind of a solitary pursuit. You know, there's this like image of the writer in their cabin in the woods, like scrolling away at a journal or some thing. And while those moments can be nice and refreshing, that's not the reality of actually running a writing business. And so I'd love to dig a little deeper into that collaboration component. And if you could tell us a little bit more about what that looks like for your clients and what you would tell a writer who's sort of struggling to get out of that cabin in the woods mentality.

Casey:
Yeah. Beautiful. I love that Jessi. So how I like to initially think about collaboration is this is an activity that I like to do right at the top of the funnel, right? So it's around visibility. So I think for so many introverts particularly, we have this fear of putting ourselves out there and we think that we should be dancing on TikTok or doing reels or being on, you know, being on social media 24/7. And the reality is that we don't have to do that, right. There are 1,001 different tactics that we can be doing to actually boost our visibility. And so where collaboration and partnerships fits in is right at the top of the funnel.
And how I like to split that up is we have an internal visibility and we have external visibility, right? So the internal visibility pieces all around us actually positioning ourselves as experts on our platforms, right? So that could be a podcast. It could be your blog. It could be your social media platforms, and be on media, wherever you choose to actually position yourself as an expert. That is how, that's the internal visibility strategy.
Then we look at the traffic strategy, which is your external visibility strategy. And we look at how can we actually leverage other people's audiences to build our own? And so, again, as you say, as much as copywriters would love to be in the woods writing, you know, writing feverishly on their own, we've gotta put ourselves out there and get visible. Otherwise we're not gonna get new business, right. So it's really important to find ways that feel good to us.
So how I teach this, in terms of external visibilities looking at, okay, if you are copywriter say, who are the collaborative partners that are working inside your target audience that you can start to build relationships with so that you can actually start to do some kind of collaborative opportunity with them? You know, so it could be for copywriters, it could be a business coach. It could be a web designer, it could be your content, right? Anyone that's working with small business, you could start to collaborate with and say, okay, Hey, this is something that I can come and teach your audience.
Again, one of the biggest objections that I share with my community is I've got nothing to offer. Well, actually you have your amazing expertise to offer, right? And so being able to come into communities and teach and just how I've invited you into my community and really offer this amazing, amazing expertise to my community has been such a beautiful experience for me. Right. And so it's really looking at how can we collaborate? And there's again, a host of different ways that you can do that. But I think it's actually finding strategic partners that one, are aligned to your target audience, and two are very values aligned too. So I think those two components are absolutely key when you're identifying collaborative partners.

Marie:
Could not agree more. And yeah, thank you for inviting us into those spaces, cuz I think the other side of that is it's win-win-win, right? Like it's a win for you because you're able to bring in somebody who can speak to that topic. It's a win for us because A, we get to talk about the thing that we're excited about. But also, you know, it's an opportunity for us to have exposure to your lovely audience and potentially find more relationships there. Who knows what they'll turn into. We don't presume that they're going to turn into clients, but like those relationships are always so valuable and rich and rewarding to have in and of themselves. And then it's a win for them, right. To be able to receive that. And so that shows that you're able to bring more value to them. So I totally agree with that.
And I think, gosh, I've spoken with so many writers who, they're scared of the marketing because they think it all has to be on their own shoulders. And they think that the only way they're gonna get clients is, you know, going around kind of like holding their hat out for change, you know.

Casey:
Mm-hmm.

Marie:
And not only does that put them in a position of sort of being in this position of desperation maybe a little bit, and also maybe not aligned with their energy or what feels good for them, but it's also just like a lot more work, you know, than actually leveraging relationships. And I feel like a lot of the people who are attracted to us and to you are not the type of people who are going to just take, take, take. They're gonna be giving just as much, if not way more. And so when you go to ask, Hey, would it make sense to work together other to maybe come up with a offer together or for you to come into my audience for me to go and do yours? That usually it's a big old yes.

Casey:
Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, that's what amazes me is that again, I a hundred percent agree, Marie, like one of my biggest values is reciprocity. Right? And so again, so that's, I feel like we've gotta find this balance cuz I think as givers, we've gotta tend to watch us not over-giving and really being able to receive at the same time, which is a big lesson that I've learnt in business. But at the same time, I think to your point around being able to reach out that, you know, again, when I think about the influences that I've managed to connect with where I was so nervous to actually put this pitch out and that I could see opportunity that there would, that there would be a good collaboration and nine times out of 10 people would say yes, because they're open to it. You know, because we have aligned values of reciprocity. People wanna be able to support each other. And so it becomes really easy.
And in fact, one of my clients has started an amazing, amazing podcast all around music. And for the longest time she was feeling really resistant to actually reach out for guests. And she just emailed me last week and she's like Casey, you're not gonna believe it. I'm jam packed with guests up into until July. And I'm like, this is amazing, you know, because she just was like, oh, she, the flick, like what's the saying, like it switched, you know, the light bulb came on essentially. And she's like, this is amazing. I'm loving getting on coffee chats, I'm having beautiful conversations. And now she's fully booked with amazing guests and getting clients as a result, you know? So it's amazing.

Marie:
That is amazing. And that's a really great success story for someone who's completely deserving. I love to hear.

Casey:
Right. Exactly.

Marie:
Another part of your framework that made me really excited because it felt like it dovetailed with the work that we do that I think of probably a lot of our listeners do too, was both the communication piece and the connection piece. And you were talking about how like that's when you're a good listener, and you're able to sort of hear the cadence. So you're able to read between the lines a little bit, right. Of those conversations that you're able to have those deeper conversations and you're maybe able to get to the root of things. And I think that's actually what a lot of what makes a really next level writer too. And especially when they're having those conversations with their clients. So, yeah, for somebody who's not sure about sort of how to tap into that or, hasn't really thought about that as an actual like asset or strength, do you have any thoughts or advice for how they could sort of reframe that?

Casey:
Yeah. So just to clarify, Marie, so it's just in terms of actually looking at how their superpowers around listening, around their curiosity, around their introspection allows them to intimately start to understand and read between the lines. Is that the question?

Marie:
Right, yeah. Like for their clients or maybe within a sales call or really any sort of interaction that they're having as a writing business owner.

Casey:
Yeah. Beautiful. So I think for me, this has been one of the biggest things is, and I say being in business has been one of the biggest personal development journeys of my life aside from parenting. Right. And honestly, when I realized, when I sat at the desk that moment and realized how introverted and highly sensitive I was, I actually felt like I'd been cut off from the neck down. Like I actually didn't feel any of my body. And like this might be getting a little bit deep for this, but I think it's really important to understand, because I think so often we are in our heads, right? We are in the doing, we are in our heads and again, as highly ambitious driven woman, I mean, that's who we are. We do it as we naturally get things done. Right. But it's not taking time at the time to actually start to sit and be, right. And so part of the work that I've done over the last six to eight years is start to really sit with, okay, what's going on for me in my body, because those are all markers of my feelings and emotions, right? And so when you can start to identify the things that are going on inside your body, you start to identify the emotions that you're having, because your body is actually a trigger of the emotions that you're feeling. Then you can start to get into your feelings and say, okay, what's really going on for me here.
When you can do that for yourself, you can naturally transfer those abilities into the conversations that you're having with your clients too. So again, for me, where it's really strengthened my sales conversations, the ability to be able to market myself the way to message myself is actually starting to think about, okay, I can actually now identify because I, I can feel this. I can actually identify the thinking patterns that are going on for my ideal client too, because let's face it, in a programmings running the show. Right? And so it's really important to say, okay, now I can start to identify what are the things that are really getting in the way for my client. And I can see the thinking pattern that are going on for them. Now my job as a business coach and a marketing coach is to actually start to help them shift those thinking patterns so that can actually make better decisions in terms of their business. Does that make sense?

Marie:
Yes.

Jessi:
Absolutely. Yeah. It reminds me of a conversation I had with Marie years ago, we were on one of our hiking, camping trips. And Marie, you said something along the lines of like how, one of the reasons you enjoyed those trips so much is because it reminded you that you were more than a brain and a pair of fingers. And like it allowed her and I think both of us to a degree to do the, exactly what you're talking about, like get back into our body, like step away from all the shoulds, all the things we're supposed to be doing and giving your entire self room to breathe and process and all of that. So that, that you can then internalize it and then apply it back to what you do on a day to day basis.

Casey:
A hundred percent. I've got goosebumps, as you said that Jessi, cause that is so on point, right? Like this is the message. And I think this for introverts is so key is building into your calendar on a weekly basis, thinking time. Like this is absolutely key because again, as busy business owners, we can get so busy in all the doing right. And so actually building in thinking time to really stop and listen and smell the roses is really important, you know? And then also because it's so important to build in thinking time, actually building in pre-charge and recharge time. So again, when we doing peeping stuff in inverted comments, it's really important to actually pre-charge and recharge because you'll start to notice what's going on for yourself in those moments. They're huge learning opportunities. Having that space to be able to think and feel and be, right.

Marie:
Yes. Right. Absolutely. I mean, I find, you know, you can actually even automate some of this. I mean, I'm sure you know this Casey, but if anyone's listening doesn't like if you have a Calendly account or something like that, you can set buffers so that after you finish your meeting, you have 30 minutes or an hour or whatever you need, to be able to recharge, get some water, process whatever just happened. Even if it didn't feel earth shattering, it still takes energy potentially. So what will fill it? Probably not more of the same thing that was draining you right in a row So yeah, absolutely. I totally agree with that. And I used to think that, oh, that's kind of an odd thing to like put a calendar block on my day for thinking time. But the more you do it, the more you use it, you realize how valuable it is. But even if a listener isn't quite ready to do that, or maybe they're, isn't quite that stable yet, just having those breaks between meetings or between projects can be super, super supportive.

Casey:
100% Marie, like, again, I absolutely agree with that. When I first started, like, I didn't have the space or time. So when I realized that I scheduled exactly what you said, that buffer, the time between meetings and have 30 minutes just to go and take a walk outside or have a drink of water and to process, right. I think that's really important for introverts is to have that time to process. And then gradually we've built up that now I have my CEO day that I actually have. I've built that into my calendar and that I have a day off a week that I can take time to really just process everything that's gone on for the week and really to think about, okay, what showed up for me? How can I strategically grow this business? What just feels aligned, like trying to get into alignment.
I think that's the biggest thing as well is, you know, there's so many moving pieces to business that we've got to master, right. In terms of, it's not just around our expertise that we've got a master, we've got to master all these other things that we've touched on. And I think as the more time that we can actually spend focusing on getting in alignment with those things, the easier your business runs. And so being aware of, oh, this feels a bit out of alignment. This feels icky. I can feel something's going on here. How can I bring this back into alignment? Because that is when everything floats. Right. It's amazing what happens, but it takes practice. It takes time. It takes experimentation. Believe me. We've been at this a long time. It does not happen overnight. Right?

Jessi:
Yeah. You know, it's so interesting because I think for the writers in particular out there, it's a part of all of the stuff we've been talking about, the marketing, the sales, the visibility, but it's also so important to have that recharge. And I love the term pre-charge, I'd never heard of that before. And I love it to death because it's like on both sides for the actual doing work, for the actual work. Because writing in and of itself is a creatively taxing process. And it takes a lot of process. It takes a lot of thinking. And we talk all the time on this podcast about how we reject the idea of just being a content churner, just turning things out to turn them out, just having content for content's sake. And as a writer, part of making that true for yourself is making sure you have that thinking time, not just for the operations of your business and your marketing or sales, but also for the content you're actually creating for your clients.

Casey:
Absolutely, Jessi, I totally agree with that.

Marie:
So going back to our writers thinking as business owners tapping into strengths, that they may not have even recognized your strengths until this conversation. I hope this has been eye opening for our wonderful listeners. You have a number of resources, programs, and support for introverted business owners, specifically women. But a lot of, I think the writers who listen to this podcast will fit right in. One of the resources that you have that I know you wanted to talk a little bit about or share with us was the Introvert Guide to Marketing. So can you tell us a little bit about what that is?

Casey:
Yes, sure Marie. So that basically unpacks the Quiet Conquer Code. So we touched on the five key pillars, but it actually has nine steps that I recommend walking through as an early stage business owner, and actually any business owner. Any introverted business owner, I actually think this would work with, because I think for so many business owners, we tend to wanna get into the doing so quickly and we miss the foundational pieces. And so it's like actually building a house on very shaky foundations, without that things can come down. Right? And so the guides that I've put together is the Introvert's Guide to Marketing. It's the nine key steps to moving from undiscovered to unforgettable. And it really itemizes step by step what you need to be focusing on a foundational level to really nail your business foundation so that you can actually set up, set it up for sustainable success. So more than happy to share that with the audience, I'd love for them to download it.

Jessi:
Wonderful. Yes. We'll make sure to link to that guide in the show notes so that everyone can get a look at it and download it. I've taken a look at it myself. It's wonderful. Really great resource for all of you listening out there. And then for those listening at home who want to go a little deeper, learn a little more about you, engage in some of that community that is available to them. Where can our listeners find you?

Casey:
Yes, come to my cozy sanctuary online. It's a cozy corner of the interweb so I call it and it's a community is the Introverted Woman in Business Facebook group. It's a beautiful, beautiful community. So if anyone's wanting to come in and connect, I'm sure there's amazing collaborative partners in that community already. And I'd love to see your listeners there. If that's something that they'd like to join, it's a beautiful space.

Marie:
Amazing. So they can actually go ahead and get a head start on those five points of the framework with connection and collaboration and do it in a really supportive environment. And do that with you, who is a total expert in this area and sort of one of us, right.

Casey:
Absolutely Marie.

Marie:
We're all very much wired the same way. Yes, all of those links are also gonna be in the show notes. So if anyone's listening and is feeling inspired by this conversation, please, please go check it out. And if you're like me and you're like never at a place where you can write things down or go check things out. If you just head to quietcollective.com.au/marketing, that's where you can go get that introvert guide to marketing.

Jessi:
And I just wanted to close out today with a huge, huge, huge amount of gratitude, Casey. I was so excited for the opportunity to introduce you to our audience. I know that there are so many introverted writers out there who are dreaming of, you know, this business that truly feels enriching to them. And I cannot think of a better person to help guide them down that path, especially if they are introverts and are highly sensitive people.

Casey:
Oh, that's beautiful. Thank you. Thank you so much. Gratitude right back to you both. I adore the work that you're doing. So thank you so much for inviting me. It's been an absolute pleasure.

Marie:
Thank you, Casey.

Casey:
You're most welcome, Marie. Thank you.

Marie:
Thanks for joining us for this episode of the Copywriter Collaborative Podcast. Make sure to visit our website, northstarmessaging.com/podcast, where you can subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify, and more.

Jessi:
If you found value in this episode, we'd love for you to leave us a review on your favorite podcast app and share it with your friends. Thank you, and happy copywriting.