Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristen Laidig

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?

I started my entrepreneurial journey at the tender age of six when I saw the pet rock craze and wanted a piece of the pie. Having no business training or experience, I successfully drew faces on rocks out of my driveway with a permanent marker and sold several dollars’ worth to my friends before I was shut down by my father for “using up his driveway gravel.”

Seeing money-making potential, however, my parents then both encouraged me to be creative in any (legal) way I could think of to make money. From modeling homemade quilt dresses to designing stationary to turning my locker into a vending machine to creating and selling balloons filled with baking soda as “stress relievers”… I experimented with many money-making ventures even well into college when I created my first official registered business, Visions Stained Glass.

From there I met a gentleman who introduced me to the wonderful world of book publishing and I became the marketing director for my first publishing company. Over the next several years I helped people publish books under my own brand, then sold that company and moved on to Ghost Publishing, a term I coined to describe how I started publishing companies for existing coaches, consultants and entrepreneurs who were passionate about books and spreading their message via the written word.

Realizing I had a cap of how many people I could work with one-on-one (even with managing a team of 15 editors, designers and marketing experts), I then transitioned to the role of teacher and taught book writing, publishing and marketing to over 16,000 students around the world. I hopped on the speaker’s circuit and began speaking at business and marketing conferences around the USA and Canada, and even got the opportunity to do workshops in London and the Caribbean.

During the height of the training business I got the bright idea to pursue my childhood dream and my husband and I opened two retail toy stores and a boutique artisan marketplace… all in three years. We expanded to 18 different brands and I barely slept. In way over our heads, at the end of 2019 I realized if the stores were to be truly successful, I needed to get focused. So I sold my mid-six-figure publishing training business and brand, The Book Ninja, closed two of the stores, and focused on growing our single remaining pop culture retail store.

Two months later Covid shut us down. Thus began a pressure cooker of personal growth as I questioned my life choices for the rest of 2020.

Despite being shut down over 25% of the year, we had a 250% growth spurt and the store was in the black by the end of 2020. My efforts building the website, focusing on organic growth and building community, and other out-of-the-box marketing ideas paid off.

However, I wasn’t happy. During that pressure-cooker of a year my husband and I realized how much we missed travel. We’d met on the speaker circuit and my dream of owning a toy store became an unwanted ball and chain. So we decided to sell.

Over the next two years we decided to sell everything off that we could, including our house, bought a fifth wheel RV and hit the road full time.

We’ve been on the road for one year now, both doing training for his online training business Expert Media Academy and another large training company. The retail bug never left, as we also still have a metaphysical e-commerce store, Magickal Bear, that as of June 2024 has a physical presence in both Tucson, AZ and Hot Springs, SD. In all my spare time I’ve also started two new Etsy shops. One called The Owlings is under the brand of Magickal Bear and the other, Good Soup Co. is just for fun!

I’ve learned how to sleep (mostly), but we can’t help ourselves… we’re enablers of business ideas and just love what we do!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

Oh if only! I mentioned my “personal growth pressure cooker” and what a journey it’s been. From managing a virtual team of 12 people to 15 in-person employees, managing three retail stores, starting new e-commerce stores, playing around with brands on Etsy and all the marketing in-between… I’ve learned I have very little time left.

Time management and self-care have become a top priority for me, especially since I have goals of getting my Gemology Certification and making time for art. I haven’t used my art degree much, and in the process of running the retail stores and starting the metaphysical e-commerce brand, I also got four other certifications: Certified Play Expert (that was a fun one!), Certified Master Retailer, Certified Crystal Practitioner and Advanced Crystal Master. I’m a student at heart and I would venture to say I use more of my certification knowledge every day than I ever touch with my college degree.

Being a teacher, of course I’m a fan of education… but thinking outside of the box I’m an even bigger fan of self-education. But that path is not easy, nor is it very smooth. The more I’ve explored my personal blocks, the more I’ve realized I have a lot left to learn.

As you know, we’re big fans of Expert Media Academy. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?

Expert Media Academy is my husband’s business that I started working for a couple years ago when I decided to clean up his online systems and automate everything I could. We both contribute toward course content that specializes in emerging creative technologies and trends, including AI writing and art creation, book publishing, business marketing and more. We’re known for our down-home approach and expert knowledge to help solopreneurs expand their reach and leave their legacy.

Under the parent LLC Expert Media Group we also have our metaphysical e-commerce brand Magickal Bear. That brand specializes in partnering with artists around the world who prefer to work on their craft rather than market it. By combining our ideas, we’ve come up with unique products from jewelry to crystal grid kits to custom wands to oracle decks and more… and share those products with the world via our webstore at MagickalBear.com and our physical presence in Four of Wands in Tucson, AZ and Hot Springs Maker’s Market in Hot Springs, SD.

We’re expanding to other e-commerce brands as well and are still actively teaching about book publishing and publishing our own books. Since we obviously don’t have enough to do, we’re also branching out our metaphysical brand into a digital magazine, set to hit the virtual shelves with its first issue in late 2024!

Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?

If you’re an artist and want to expand or get into the metaphysical space, we’d love to have a chat about how we can help make that happen. If you want to learn about the awesome ways AI can enhance your day-to-day business needs, we’re the premier expert trainers in the industry. (Little known fact… my husband Tony was one of the first people in the world to embrace AI back in 2018, 3 years before ChatGPT was released. He’s a beta tester for every major AI platform and is one of the leading prompt engineers in the world. He won’t toot his own horn, so I’m here to do it for him. :) ) We’d love for you to reach out via our websites… MagickalBear.com or ExpertMediaAcademy.com!

Pricing:

• Expert Media Academy courses range in price starting at only $33

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.expertmediaacademy.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/magickalbear/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/151909231635839
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TonyLaidig
• Other: https://magickalbear.com/

Image Credits
Tony Laidig, Kristen Laidig