🎤 Speaker 1:
I’m angel tussy from media Firestorm and excited to Showcase another one of media Firestorm clients in this fantastic case study and today we have ché with us ché how are you doing today I’m doing well Angel thanks so much for the invite excited to be chatting with you I’m excited Jimmy and I have been watching your success and we are just really just just over the top over the moon excited to feature your s your success right as a as a case study so before we get into it just give us your name your business and tell us where you’re coming from absolutely so I am ché Hayes originally from Houston Texas but I live in the Atlanta area and I am the founder and CEO of career stward where we help mission-driven creatives and orgs tell stories that win jobs clients and influence I love it I love it so I don’t know if it’s going to be easy for you but try to go all the way back before you joined media Firestorm tell us a little bit about your business and what you were doing to grow your business and how that was going for you yeah so my story is that I actually had been thinking about this iteration of my business I think it’s an extension of the work that I’ve been doing for a number of years and I would say that I’m probably like even on my third career at this point but I was still in Corporate America as of January 2024 and like we’re in the end of August now and so I had just actually left I had um I was the VP of a programs team at a nonprofit and really worked in Workforce Development for quite some time and sort of grew tired of the way that Workforce Development programs work and that it’s always about the employer in my opinion and I often saw folks who are like looking for the next thing but sort of trying to make these jobs fit that weren’t them and I just hated it so much so the top of this year I officially officially left Corporate America to do it my own way and so before this program you know I was I’ve been trying to like figure it out you know I’ve done tons of programs in the past even like as I’m in Corporate America to sort of learn what I need to know and get the tools I felt like I I I thought I needed and yeah I’ve just kind of felt like cloudy and sort of yeah just kind of like fumbling my way through whatever this like the the Journey of this new Venture was I think that’s pretty common right when you especially you’re stepping into something you never even knew existed before um yeah what is that going to look like and I think for so often we tend to stay in something because it’s familiar even if we’re not happy but it’s familiar and so stepping into something new takes a lot like takes a lot of guts takes a lot of Bravery how did you find how did you find us media uh or how did you find media Firestorm do you remember I it had to be my goodness so one of the gazillion programs I’ve done before someone I’ve made lots of relationships with which I really treasure even though maybe the results of those programs weren’t what I was hoping for but I keep in touch with lots of folks cuz I love having conversations and someone had to have said oh if you’re looking to be on a podcast or something like that there’s this group on Facebook and so I’m not even a frequent I don’t frequent Facebook or social media often I have to it takes intention for me to like seek out social media it’s not my first go-to so I join the group and gave my email and looked in the group maybe like twice but I’m getting all these emails all the time and I remember thinking like who is this that’s emailing me like every single day and I had like tons of emails and it just so happened that one day and I also have like a a gazillion email boxes so one day I was just like I’m going to sit and clean up this one particular inbox where these emails were going and I’m just like kind of cleaning them up and then I started to like click on them and like read them and say like oh actually this is where I am and this is what I need and so by happen stance I don’t know how many emails I received but I can guarantee that I read maybe one if at all like if any and then when I started to clean out the Inbox and started to really like resonate with what was there I literally booked a sales call and then the rest is history so I feel like it was yeah sort of like a fate like meant to be kind of thing cuz I wasn’t really checking for you all at all it just kind of like appeared from as if from the heavens right and then I was like oh yeah I do need this and so I love that I I think that’s that’s such a fun story because we were there but when you were ready it felt like oh my gosh like we just showed up so shé did you have any doubts and fears about signing up and enrolling and if you did what made you say yes even if you had those doubts yeah I definitely did one because I’m not an Impulse buyer so even though I sought out you know the call to learn more information and even though super super excited like by the end of the call there are something are still kind of like uh am I going to do another thing right I’m just starting this this business I need to be smarter with my finances I’ve already invested what feels like a million dollars in programs over the past couple of years am I going to do another one was my hesitancy and I even asked for a beat to think about it which is just true to who I am and so I asked for I think a day um to sort of process it cuz yeah I just kind of had to talk myself through okay how would I feel if I don’t get the return you know what I mean like sort of the same thing that I felt in other programs like how quickly do I feel like I’m going to get this off my credit card like those types of things and so for me and it’s just is how I live my life the idea of staying stuck in a place scares me more than trying the new thing so I figured might as well you know take one more leap of faith right and say yes so where are you at now shé like that was that was a big decision you know something you had to overcome how quickly am I am I going to get this off my credit card am I saying yes to another thing that might not work tell us now like how does it how do you feel what success have you had and what do you think that you’re able to do now that maybe you couldn’t do before yeah that’s a really great question I definitely feel like like it was so I’m glad I took this additional leap of faith this other one cuz now I feel like I have so much more clarity and so maybe less than 60 days in it’s really been about like I’ve been challenged in a number of ways to sort of um get out of my head do things that feel a little uncomfortable to me like the idea of emailing my list every single day was like oh snap and like even if I could share this one of the main shifts in perspective for me is like um the fear of losing subscribers from my list you know what I mean like I was holding this list so dear and it’s just kind of like oh well it’s a good thing if they’re not on my list if they don’t you know what I mean if they don’t want what I have to offer that’s actually better so I’d say in terms of my wins for me personally the alignment piece is probably the biggest thing like I’m actually running my business in a way that feels good to me and authentic to me whereas I realized very early on in this program that I was doing doing other programs based on what I thought those people could teach me but they weren’t necessarily in alignment with who I was as a person now I couldn’t articulate that early on or maybe they weren’t as clear about their process early on so media fire you all did a really great job about talking about the process like this is exactly what we’re taking you through you’re not just learning a bunch of things and so I could really see myself in the doing of this process whereas before I think there was probably more sales around the outcome and not about the process of like how you’re going to get there so the pro this process works for me someone who loves having conversations and connecting with people and telling stories and right and so now I’ve been on what I think I’ll be on my 13th or 14th podcast this week you know I’m writing my email every single day and actually like looking forward to it the other thing for me is like it’s like the daily emails have given me ideas for other ways to sort of grow my credibility and like how can I repurpose these emails to like a real even or to a blog post or to something on LinkedIn and I am still figuring out how to grow my list in a way that works for me but even now I’m kind of like okay I can I think I can post on social media and ask people if they want to sign up where before I would have been like just no absolutely not that feels really sleazy I’m not going to do it but you know it took me some time but now I’m kind of like okay let me let me you know like my list doesn’t have this elusive power over me now let me just try some things and see what works oh I love that oh I love that ché why do you think that this was in such alignment for you um compared to what you’ve done in the past I love the fact that we’re doing and not just learning a bunch of things so there it’s a real application there’s content to learn and consume yes but it’s like I’m learning learning with people I’m learning from people I’m learning from people’s questions and stories but I’m actually required to be like doing something and then there’s so like just practical tactics of like what to actually do I’ve done so many programs where they’re like you could do it this way you could do a thing this way and I finally I’m just having someone saying like no open up your email this is how you write it this is how many words it should like how long it should be this is what you should talk about like I I’m not a person that necessarily needs the accountability it’s nice I just need someone to tell me what to freaking do you know what I mean and I finally I’m in a program where someone’s just telling me what to freaking do and so that is just like a breath of fresh air and it’s not that someone’s telling me what to do and I just have to do it I get to like investigate that interrogate it figure out how it works for me what kind of stories do I want to tell you know what I mean what kind of podcast do I want to be on what it’s and it’s also kind of given me permission to sort of be more of myself in all of the areas of my business like I don’t have to I was looking around like oh this person does their business this way and this person does their business this way and oh they they charge this much should I do all of those things and it’s sort of given me permission to be like nope this is how I’m doing my business authenticity and Alignment feel great to me and that’s what we’re doing you know I love it we often say right it is a it’s a it’s not a learning program it is a doing and the fact that you’ve like kept you know kind of cut on to that like we are out there we’re making practical progress every single day um so that that feels really good to Jamie and I and we love watching the success that happens when you actually go out and road test the system like we just figure like the the best way for you to learn it is to go out and and do it for yourself so what would oh thing in my win I completely forgot so I mentioned content and emails and podcasts but I like made sale too that’s huge like in less than 60 days of a program who does that right and so there’s so many other stories in the group about folks making sales within you know their first 60 days and so that that’s also really powerful to like kind of go from not just not necessarily making sales but almost like undercharging lowballing myself and to hear from you all like I think you’re you’re not charging enough you know you need to like work this out and then also this is how you can sell it like like that’s that’s pretty Priceless so definitely want to make sure we capture that oh yeah for sure we love it when you make sales that’s the whole point of all of this I think Jamie and I every time we come up with something like the point of this is to help you monetize right it’s not just to be busy it’s not for something to do how do we actually help you grow your business in the best way right more leads more sales at the end of the day so I’m glad you brought that out that that was a biggie that was super exciting okay so ché if um what would you say to somebody who might be watching this and is unsure about enrolling IM media Firestorm what would you what would you want to say to them yeah what you waiting for that’s probably what I would say I love that there’s so many different types of businesses in the program and it’s so interesting even across all of these in Industries how we are all having the same questions sort of the same wondering same insecurities and just to be in this group and be kind of learning together and very unexpected ways just to kind of like watch someone else’s feedback and a thread you’re like oh yeah that helps my business too or like you show up to a call and you might not have any questions and like the conversation is just like exactly what you need in the moment and so yeah what you waiting for is probably that’s the thing that’s coming to mind for me so I’m going to stick with that well we stick with that yes go with your gut right trust your intuition always all right sh I know that our audience and our anybody listening is going to be really interested in connecting with you following up what is the best way what step do you want them to take next yeah I mean speaking of stories and alignment and authenticity like that’s exactly what I’m all about and like what this program has sort of helped me uncover and remember and like you know run run with and so I’d love to help folks tell their stories in a professional way so they can win you know their next job or their next client or influence so that they can have careers that they love so I’ve got career resources and behind the scenes of career fulfillment story is at light MyCareer match.com light MyCareer match.com I like it right like a little Matchbox light MyCareer match.com well should say thank you so much for just being just so special right you’re just such a just such a bright light every time you show up on screen every time you show up in the community and so Jamie and I are just super excited to to highlight you and to Showcase you but congratulations on your success and thanks for being with me today thanks so much Angel such a pleasure and an honor thank you you byebye bye