Leslee Owen: A Journey of Transformation
Leslee’s story is one of resilience, innovation, and dedication. She narrates her transition from a corporate marketing role to launching her own business in 2021, amidst the challenges of being a full-time mom. Her journey is a testament to the power of determination and the importance of taking control of one’s future.
The Catalyst for Change
The pandemic of 2020 was a turning point for many, including Leslee. Faced with the unsustainable demands of managing a marketing department and homeschooling four children, she decided to reshape her career path. This bold move was fueled by the realization that waiting for opportunities to come would only limit her potential.
Launching the Business: Challenges and Triumphs
Leslee’s venture into coaching and consulting was not without its hurdles. She faced the universal fears of failure and financial insecurity but overcame these with a steadfast belief in her abilities. Today, her business, inclusive of coaching, consulting, and a web design firm with her husband, has achieved multi-six-figure success.
The Power of Instagram Stories in Business Growth
A significant part of Leslee’s success can be attributed to her strategic use of Instagram stories. She emphasizes the importance of this platform for connecting with her audience in an authentic, human, and helpful manner. By sharing her day-to-day experiences and professional insights, she has built a strong community of engaged followers.
Leslee’s Approach: Human, Helpful, Heartfelt
Leslee focuses on three main aspects while engaging with her audience:
Being Human: Sharing real-life experiences and challenges, breaking the facade of a perfect life.
Being Helpful: Offering valuable tips and insights beyond just her services.
Being Heartfelt: Maintaining authenticity and connecting with her audience on a personal level.
Building Trust and Community
The essence of Leslee’s approach lies in building trust and community. She underscores the importance of not just appearing during sales cycles but maintaining a consistent, genuine presence. This approach has enabled her to nurture leads effectively and convert them into clients, directly through platforms like Instagram.
Conclusion: Embracing the Dual Role of Mompreneur
Leslee Owen’s story is inspiring for anyone juggling multiple roles while pursuing their entrepreneurial dreams. Her journey highlights the importance of authenticity, strategic planning, and the courage to step into the unknown. As we wrap up this episode, we’re reminded that success is not just about financial gains, but also about the impact and empowerment one can bring to their community.
Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and comment on the Growth Ventures podcast to help others discover this valuable content. Special thanks to Leslee Owen for sharing her inspiring story and insights. Stay tuned for more empowering stories and tips on business growth!
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
SPEAKERS
Leslee Owen, John Paul Mains
John Paul Mains 00:01
All right, welcome to another episode of growth ventures where it is our goal to make your business better. I have a very special guest with us today, Mompreneur, Lesley Owen, and she coaches, other moms and businesses on how to grow their business and rich woods. So welcome to the podcast. Leslie,
Leslee Owen 00:43
Thank you so much, JP, for inviting me, I cannot wait to get to speak to you and get to learn more about the audience and share what I’m doing. Cool.
John Paul Mains 00:51
That’s great. Because we’ve been on we’ve worked together on a variety of different things over the years. And so yeah, and I knew that you had launched your businesses as like, you know, enough. Keep watching and seeing Okay, how’s it going over there, you and your husband? What are y’all doing? And yeah, it’s been neat to watch the growth and see the kind of the progression over this last couple of years. Yeah,
Leslee Owen 01:13
I know, You’ve definitely kind of been witness to this whole evolution of me going from kind of doing my consulting and coaching on the side for a while and then fully launching in 2021. And you were there. And honestly, you know, if it wasn’t for your insight, your wisdom, your encouragement, this way you have what it takes, you can do it. I don’t know if I’d be sitting here talking to you. So
John Paul Mains 01:42
let me kind of walk me through I mean, what made you even what made you decide to launch your business and help other mompreneurs out there, cuz I know you’re a full time mom full time business. So what kind of motivated you to do this and get into it?
Leslee Owen 01:56
Well, you know, many mompreneurs stories probably started in 2020. I am one of millions of women that exited the workplace during that time, because it simply just was unsustainable. I have four children. At the time, I think I had four children under 10. One of them my youngest was two years old. So I had three that I needed to homeschool all of a sudden, one was three years old that I couldn’t even tell you what she was doing half of the time. And I was also helping lead a marketing department in a corporate setting. You know, unfortunately, the demands that were required of me in the office really didn’t change. Like I would say they actually demanded even more just because of the circumstances that we were all in. You know, we needed to get things out faster, we needed to be the first to communicate, you know, certain thought leadership to our audience. And it was just extremely difficult to do both. You know, I began to question my ability, my talent, did I even have what it took to do any of this i at the time, I was on track for marketing director, but then that kind of felt like it was slipping through my fingers as they began to take reports away from me, so I could focus on my family. And I just realized, you know, if I don’t do something now, if I don’t take control of my own future, I will continue to have people tell me, okay, this is the new seat that you’re going to be in. And I didn’t want it I you know, I didn’t want anything that they were kind of offering to me, that would be a little easier. And so I just decided now is the time and in May of 2021, I left and decided to take my on the side coaching and consulting business that I had had at that point, maybe for five years. That Hey, what if I went all in? What if I bet on myself and just did thing? Good. I went full time, may 2021. But here’s the thing. Okay, when I left, kids were getting out of school. And so I decided I’m not about to start my consulting business in this. Not like that will not work. So for the first time in my motherhood, I actually became a stay at home mom, I had always been a working mom always, for the first time. For about two and a half months. I was a stay at home mom. My husband was traveling crazy. He was a part of a nonprofit that had to go across the country. So I was solo parenting as well. And I realized, oh my goodness, this is also not it. I had always wondered, maybe I just need to dump the whole working mom thing maybe that’s why I’m so stressed. Maybe I just need to embrace being at home. And that wasn’t it either. Like that was a very, very difficult summer for me as well. And I, I realize mothers go through this like mommy whiplash, I call it really, really hard at work and in our career, and then we look behind us and we see our families that are like, what about us? Come back. So we slam on the brakes. And we believe you know what, nevermind. I’m going to give up all the career. And I’m going to stay home. And I’m going to be Laura Engel, and I’m going to bake bread, and I’m going to knit. And that’s not good either, because then we end up being resentful, and bitter and bored. So I was determined, you find a way to do both without putting out a mission, but then to also,
John Paul Mains 05:42
that’s hard. It’s both ways. Both ways. Both ways are hard. But you made the leap you made you took the leap of faith, definitely.
Leslee Owen 05:52
And and so what really, kind of makes me extremely passionate about why I want to create a roadmap, if you will, for other women, I never want women to feel stuck. I never want a woman to feel stuck in the way that I was. And I couldn’t take a leap to do anything. I was too scared. I felt like what if I? What if I caused my family to go homeless? What if I don’t make money? What if I fail at this, I want to create a roadmap for women that do have onto entrepreneurial aspirations. And to lay out here’s point a point B point C. And this is how you do it. And so now there’s not a reason why you can’t.
John Paul Mains 06:30
Hmm, very cool. So how’s it going?
Leslee Owen 06:33
It’s going really well. So I would say last year, between the coaching, so I do coaching and consulting. And then my husband and I also own a web design business. And so between all of that, definitely hit multi, six figure business. And so that’s been amazing, awesome, in really being able to take that like that fear that I had of like, are we going to be can we pay our mortgage? Those are the things that we’re seeing, okay, this is working. You know, people want our services, women want this type of coaching. And so it’s always so nice to get that affirmation, that we’re in the right spot. And now we’re now we’re scaling. So we’re not in the startup mode anymore. We’re certainly in the scaling mode. And it’s an exciting time.
John Paul Mains 07:24
Very cool. I mean, it’s great to great to hear yeah, great to see you. It was it’s been a journey, obviously, taking it through, you’ve had the challenges, you’ve had ups, you have the downs, course ups and downs are going to continue to happen. But you’re making it happen. And you’re coaching other women to make it happen as well. And so one of the things that kind of been watching is you’re way more active than I am on social media. And you brought up an idea the other day that I haven’t even explored yet. So yeah, I call myself a laboratory. But this is one area I haven’t even explored, which is stories. You talked about how to utilize Instagram stories to build your business and coaching others to build their business. So walk me through I mean, for those that don’t know what an Instagram story is, can you define that? And then maybe walk us through? How you use that for growing a business? Yeah. Your business? Yes.
Leslee Owen 08:20
So I know that my target audience audience are they are on Instagram, that’s where that’s their platform of choice.
John Paul Mains 08:26
Of where your audiences I mean
Leslee Owen 08:30
Platform of choice is Instagram. And so stories are essentially, they’re about a 15 second to a minute video that you can record. And it only lasts for 24 hours, but it shows up. And so Instagram has really designed their platform to highlight stories. So when you log on to that app, you’re gonna see these multiple circles. And it’s typically of the people that you engage with their account the most, they’re going to put that circle in front of you of their face. And it’s really just this more authentic kind of day in the life, oh, I have a thought I want to share it. The stories that are most successful, really utilize it as a way to take their audience along with them. And I think the way that I use it in particular, I’m not even thinking about taking my audience, all of the people that follow me, I really see it as I’m taking that one woman I’m talking to that one woman, like I’m talking to my best friend. And that’s how I show up on these stories. And because I am so familiar with the way she thinks, you know what her big pain points are, what her challenges whatever objections I’m so familiar with it because that was me. That was me. And so all I have to do is really talk to Lesley five years ago, and utilize this feature called stories that makes it feel Like she’s FaceTiming with her best friend. So I want her to feel that way I want her to lean in and think, oh my gosh, how did she know that? I wrote that down in my journal last night? And stories allows me to do that.
John Paul Mains 10:13
So is so I mean, obviously, Instagram, you’re not abandoning all the other features of Instagram, this is a way to connect with your top followers, I guess.
Leslee Owen 10:24
Yes, yes, that’s a great distinction I create reels on the regular reels is really my strategy to attract a new audience, because reels does have the ability to go wider, right. And so if you’re looking to grow your following, utilizing your feed with reels, and really, your posts, your static posts are coming back on the scene, in comparison to like early last year, those really kind of attract newer audiences, your stories is your strategy to go deeper with who you already have as existing followers. And so especially if I’m in like a launch mode, like if I know, I like right now I’m selling group coaching, it launches January 22. I don’t necessarily, and although I am putting content out there to go wide, I really want to just continue to talk to the women who have already been following me, you know, for the last three months, six months, maybe a year, and I want to go deeper with them to really like kind of stir within them that maybe this program is for me, maybe it’s time for me to jump into this program. And so that’s why stories are really effective.
John Paul Mains 11:34
So those are gonna be you know, when you really think about it, those are your top leads, but leads and quotes, but those are your top leads, because the ones the most engaged with you the most likely the most likely the ones that are going to convert, yes, that’s how you’re using it to connect emotionally with these individuals, one on one, so that you can end up a course selling helping them I mean, isn’t just Oh, come buy my stuff. It really is geared towards helping them in some form that with the product that you’re selling. Yes, base coaching. Exactly.
Leslee Owen 12:05
And you know, a lot that you talked about an engaged lead. I mean, not only are they engaged, but in your DMS. I mean, so many people nowadays are utilizing their direct messages to sell. So, you know, maybe before we would think, Oh, okay, they sent me a message. Now I want to transfer them off immediately into my CRM, or maybe I want to get them on a call, there are more and more people are nurturing that lead in their DMS to the point where they can sell it and close it in the hands. I’ve closed workshop tickets before, you know, in my DMs I’ve closed strategy sessions where people want to jump do want to jump on a call, but they want to pay for an hour of my time, I’ve been able to close that in DMS. And so they’re, especially for the woman that’s just so used to this platform and this dynamic. It’s very, it’s a comfort for her. Versus let’s jump on a call right now. And let’s talk about that may be a little bit too much of a.
John Paul Mains 13:08
Yeah, I mean, you’d go where your community is, and you’ve got people that yeah, they want to work over email, or I’ve got an audience that wants to work over phone. I’ve got an audience that wants to work over direct messages. Absolutely. You go where you’re paying it go where your audience is, and work with them there. It’s where you build your community. So I totally get it. I mean, I’m not one I’m not going to pick up the phone. I think a lot of people don’t pick up the phone these days. So and I don’t know, I don’t want to bother them. So phone is out. Me my default is email or slack, man, but yeah, that’s fantastic. So you’ve been able to grow a lot of your business over this channel?
Leslee Owen 13:45
Very much. So yes. And you know, it’s a channel that you can’t all of a sudden, like, let’s say you have a product that is launching, and you’re like, Okay, now’s the time for me to show up on stories. It is something that need honestly just needs to be a part of your life day to day. Like it’s it’s, we always know about consistency. But for me, it’s not just consistency, because I’m checking a box for me. I’m showing up and I’m talking to my friend, like have I talked to my friend today have I
John Paul Mains 14:16
gotta have build the community in order to be able to do that. So yeah, you’ve got to plan an early to build a platform.
Leslee Owen 14:23
You’re right, I have to build trust. And so if the only time I show up on my stories is to sell something, yeah, then they’re gonna be like, bye i I’m not interested in this. And so throughout the year, in between launch cycles, I am focusing on three main things when I show up I want to be human. So I’m not going to always show up perfect, you know, with the perfect outfit the perfect hair makeup done and showing my perfect life. That’s not human. I’m a human being I have really bad days, I have days where I dropped my kids off and pajamas like, and those are moments that I intentionally share. Because I want my audience to connect with me as a human being, I want to be helpful. So I can’t just be I’ll only give you help. If you buy my service. If you buy my product, I will always be sharing things that hey, did you know I came across this XYZ, and it helps me with this. And I want to share it with you now. And it’s not even my product or service. It’s somebody else’s. And in especially in stories, stories, you can really, like even talk about things that are outside of maybe what your scope or your brand is, like I can talk about. I love this new glass mug. I think it’s beautiful. My friend got it for me for Christmas, you know. So there’s this sense of being, like helpful content that my audience begins to lean in. And it was like, Oh, my gosh, that was right. I do want to get that Leslie did say, and I know I want to try it. And then the third thing has been heartfelt. People know when you’re authentic, people can sense if you’re being fake. Or if you’re if you’re being guarded. If you’re holding something back all the time, and I really do try to show up authentically, and you really do want to see that.
John Paul Mains 16:23
I’ve seen some great stuff on there from you, though. Oh, yeah, she looks like she’s having a down day I can see it. I can hear her voice. She’s bit your authenticity is absolutely key people do not like the salesman on their one. So even though we’re on here selling, it’s still a personal relationship. And you know, in our industry, my in your industry, everything is about the relationships, it’s about trust. So authenticity is very, very key. Very good. Great. All right. Well, we’ve kind of reached the end of our time here. And you know, obviously, we don’t want to keep people around for hours and hours, but we could probably talk for hours and hours. Very cool. All right. Well, everybody, thanks for joining us today. Be sure to like and subscribe and comment. Help other people just like you find this great content. I really hope you found this useful and in your business and that it will make it better. Leslie, thank you very much for joining us and hope to see you again soon.
Leslee Owen 17:22
Thanks so much, JP It was great to join you.