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

Carmen, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

The story behind my life mission is simple – it stems from one quote that has been life-changing for me, “Be who you needed when you were younger”. I am reminded of the importance of paying it forward. Along my journey, I have had help and would be remiss if I didn’t help others.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am Carmen, a social innovator, marketer, and millennial mama. I am originally from Los Angeles, Calif currently living life in Houston, Texas. My educational background is in marketing – I hold a B.S in Business Marketing from Johnson C. Smith University and an M.A in Social Innovation from the University of San Diego. In 2016, I began freelancing to offer small businesses marketing services, as a result, I have worked with 150+ clients on both one-off projects and retainers. My offerings include website development, social media management, content curation, branding implementation, and email/SMS management. My biggest client to date has been Warren G, yes the LA Hip Hop legend!

What sets me apart from other freelancing professionals is an interpersonal approach to better serves my clients. For me, it’s not always about the money (although I do not work for free), I am willing to work within clients’ budgets as my mission is to help better their business. I take pride in knowing that I have helped someone scale their marketing efforts. In addition to freelancing, I manage full-time employment where I am challenged daily by the ever-changing industry. I love to leverage my corporate career experience to elevate small businesses.

I am a new mother, and I must say motherhood has changed how I think about life and business. It is strange to say motherhood has become part of my identity, but it has. There is an unspoken connection that I have with other mothers, especially those who are business owners. Regardless if society chooses to recognize it, motherhood is literally a full-time job, with required overtime and very limited PTO. I have a soft spot for mothers in business and have decided to use my experience and skills to support them! With that said, I am in the process of becoming a postpartum doula to better support mamas in the ways that matter the most.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

In 2017, I was in a very transitional period in life and I had no other choice than to pour all of my efforts into my freelance work. When I first started, I would take on clients pro bono, to build my portfolio. With each client came referrals, because I was offering free services the demand increased significantly. I spent countless hours researching ways to structure my business and rates, once finalized I secured a DBA and business bank account through PayPal. Now that I was ready to start charging clients, I had to determine which clients were worth retaining, which was the tricky part.

All money isn’t good money, and I came across clients that were extremely difficult to please. To best determine which client I would take on, I offered a free consultation meeting to discuss goals and expectations. This process allowed me to showcase my portfolio and skills while learning about my clients before getting to work. Before I knew it, I had 3-4 consultations scheduled weekly strictly from word of mouth, but I knew I had to scale my business to capitalize on retainer oppurtnities. Through research, I decided to diversify my clientele by offering monthly packages to daycares, nonprofits, and boutique owners. By doing this, not only was I able to streamline my projects, I was also building a steady income. By 2019, I was freelancing full-time with six clients on a retainer. The best clients came from referrals and I continued to pick up smaller projects on sites like Fivver and Craigslist.

To date, the biggest milestone was securing Warren G as a client. Because of the work I did for a client, she recommended me and when Warren G called my cell, I thought I was being pranked. However, I learned with managing big clients, comes with high demands. As a freelancer, you have to make yourself available to each of your clients with the same level of dedication and professionalism. When you are self-employed, work-life balance is limited, and burnout is real.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social media has truly evolved over the years – the latest algorithms are insane with a heavy push for video content. There is a unique opportunity to build an authentic following if you know your niche. When Instagram first rolled out, you have to physically share your username to build your following, with virtual content you can increase your exposure across multiple platforms (Tik Tok, Twitter, FB)

My advice for anyone trying to build a following is simple, don’t get caught up in the follower count. The new algorithms praise video content with high engagement (comments, likes, and shares). Focus your efforts on creating relatable content, once you define a target audience this should be easy! Most people are attracted to content that educates or entertains, if you can produce this type of content consistently… start now and don’t stop. Showcase your personality and story, more often than not people with like-minds will support your efforts and share. Everything you do is content, set up your camera and get busy. Do not get held up by being a perfectionist, I have learned that people love to see the process.

I use my social media platform to uplift and inspire others, I rarely use it for business promotions as I take pride in building trust and relationships first – I find that this converts into great business partners for my brand in particular.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hellomissctk.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miss.ctk/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/missctk/