We recently connected with Charryse Berry and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Charryse, thanks for joining us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

Being a small business owner is difficult. You must remain creative at all times. What was effective at year one won’t be effective at year three, five, or ten and burn out is a reality. In 2022, I felt much burn out with Academic Writing Consultants, LLC (AWC, LLC). I felt exhausted with what I believed weren’t quality customers – not that there is a bad customer. All customers are profitable whether they result in monetary gain or teach you a lesson. Well, I believed I’d reached a space where I was learning more lessons than profiting. I asked God, “What needs to change.” Though I believe He is still answering this question, His immediate response was “You need to vet your customers better and you need a website.” For the first 8 years of AWC, LLC, I did not have a website. I relied heavily on word of mouth and social media to promote my business and grow my customer base. I was receptive to the voice of God and created the website and tools to better determine inquirers’ needs – service questionnaires. Both have been helpful, but have resulted in a decline in my customer base. However, this is a matter of quantity, not quality. I have experienced a small number of quality customers whom I was able to help and who were able to communicate their needs and were forthcoming with their payments. I much rather have a few good customers than many headaches. However, a few good customers were not enough for the budget I needed to live well. Therefore, I started a part-time “regular” job. God showed up then, too. I went to God and said, “If I go to work at a real “regular” job outside of the home, I need several “things” to check off. God granted me favor. All the things I needed and wanted in a position and within a company, I have, because God saw fit to answer my prayers. I work for a culturally-rich company that loves having fun, honors my skill sets, and values my input. I am blessed beyond measure.

Charryse, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am the Owner of Academic Writing Consultants, LLC. I have been consulting for almost 10 years in the areas of job seeking, academics, and small business ownership. My clients include adult learners at various stages of their higher educational careers, job seekers of all ages, and new and seasoned small business owners. I have worked with both for profit and non-profit organizations. Specifically, I have collaborated with non-profit organizations in the submitting of proposals to various local, state, and federal grantors.

I obtained degrees in Human Resources Management (MA), Legal Analysis (MA), Psychology and Communications (BA), which I obtained from Webster University- Kansas City, Missouri and William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri.

AWC, LLC was established out of assisting my classmates at Webster University with their research papers and resumes.

The core services include resume writing, book editing, business plan formatting, and APA/MLA research paper editing. These services and fees can be reviewed at www.academicwritingconsultantsllc.com.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The lesson I unlearned was wasting time on unintentional clients. They are the clients who have not done their research, do not know what they need, do not understand their own vision, are not prepared to pay their fees in full upfront, are not available for follow-up questions, do not trust my judgment, and truly do not understand their assignment. They will talk to you for years about their business plan or book and then string you along for weeks about about paying you only to never get started. They will bounce from messenger to email to texting to social media platforms communicating with you about their service need. They will contact you at 1:00 am in the morning, because they have had some epiphany and for days after, there will be radio silence. They will go back and forth with you about their form of payment – cash, Cash app, and back to cash. Intentional clients are the exact opposite. They have direction, know their assignment, have set deadlines, pay in full upfront, and are decisive. Intentional clients have a plan of action and execute it!

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

I chose this question, because personally I struggled using social media. I struggled knowing what to post and when to post it. I had people tell me I posted too much. I ignored it. If I am in the early stages of my business and up against algorithms, I figured I better post as often as my time allowed. As years passed and my customer base grew, I didn’t post as much. I didn’t need to. I was doing community events as well. Also, I started selling Avon and doing pop-ups/business markets. I’d use that avenue to talk about AWC, LLC. I’d put my AWC, LLC business card on my table as well as in the Avon bag. Sometimes, you have to add a totally different stream of income to take the pressure off the other one. It worked for a while. This goes back to what I was saying about what worked in year one won’t be effective in year three, five, or ten. You have to remember not everyone is on social media. Many left social media. You have to figure out how to reach them. As far as staying relevant on social media, 1. take breaks. People are always happy when you come back. 2. rotate around your material (quotes, poems, scriptures, pics, videos, etc.) 3. be kind, not critical, and 4. use good grammar. I know many people don’t care about #4. However, as a matter of your brand, when promoting your products, your spelling should be correct and you should use subject-verb agreement. Lastly, use punctuation. Putting a period at the end of a sentence is not the same as saying, “Period.”

Contact Info:

• Website: academicwritingconsultantsllc.com
• Instagram: @cberry22
• Facebook: @charryserberry
• Twitter: @berrycharryse