We were lucky to catch up with Diane Pauley recently and have shared our conversation below.
Diane, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, let’s jump into one of the most exciting parts of starting a new venture – how did you get your first client who was not a friend or family?
It’s interesting to think of that first encounter that led you on the path you’re on as an entrepreneur. As someone who works in the digital space, I never thought of framing that first dollar I earned, but receiving it meant more to me than anything. It meant someone believed enough in the vision I had created, almost out of thin air, to invest in it, and it was my goal to deliver for them.
I didn’t start out as a copywriter; I started out as a life coach, and my message was all about possibility and finding a way to tap into your unlimited potential. I wanted to be there to support other creatives in finding the confidence they needed to pursue their passions full-time. I believed in the business model I created as a coach, but fully believing in myself as the person to lead it was a different story. So, as I was creating this coaching business, I started tweeting inspirational messages every day for a year. In a way, I was telling myself what I needed to hear and giving myself the encouragement to keep going. I also started a blog around the same time, sharing my experiences about transitioning out of a corporate job to start my own business.
It was from me sharing, not me trying to sell anything, that my message started to resonate with others, and I started to build a tribe. It’s also how I got my first few clients. And as I look back at every iteration of my business over the years, it’s in the moments when I was my most authentic self that people wanted to work with me. Several years later, I would write an article called, “WTF Should I Do With My Life…Again?” Little did I know that it would inspire a new wave of clients to come my way.
All this to say, every time I opened up and brought people on this journey with me, something would resonate, and connections would form. Connections lead to conversations that can lead to client relationships when you hold space for someone to be seen for who they are and hear what they have to say. If you know you can support them, you show how you can be of service.
Diane, 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?
My business today is called Gimme Sweet Words for a reason. Yes, I write copy and provide (sometimes) short and (often) sweet content for my clients to use in conversations with their clients and in their branding and marketing materials. But more than that, I believe in the power that words have, and I know how much I crave words of affirmation, which is my love language.
Having experienced what it’s like to be on the receiving end of words being twisted and used against you, I do everything in my power today to make sure that the words I use affirm and validate the people around me. Because when you are recognized and seen for who you really are within a safe space, you feel more confident in creatively expressing yourself with more of the world and sharing your message with people who are waiting to hear from you. When we share from this place, what we have to say lands, resonates, and connects with the people we’re meant to serve because we’re sharing the story on our hearts.
In a marketing context, I work with mission-driven businesses, often led by female founders, who are looking to grow, elevate, and expand their businesses because they’ve grown personally and want their businesses to reflect who they are today. But, more often than not, they’re too close to their business to write their own copy that will speak to their right-fit audience. So, we work together to develop their unique positioning and point of view that will help them stand out in their audience’s mind and connect in an authentic and relevant way. What we do is essentially create a brand presence they’re proud to show up for.
In a personal context, I work with these women in business who want to see themselves reflected in the stories they’re sharing and create real connection points, rather than just customer touchpoints, that will resonate with the people who need to hear these stories. They’re at a point in their businesses where they don’t want to prove, perfect, or pretend—they want to unmask, remove the filters, and strip off everything everyone is telling them to be so they can connect with who they really are. That’s the place we get to in our work together so we can find the right external language to match their true internal narrative.
Because when you are seen, heard, and validated for who you are, you can start to find meaning in your mission, strength to voice your vision, and a way to have an impact in your industry. And when you share from this place, people can’t help but find themselves compelled to reach out to you to learn more. It’s from this place, that you weave yourself back into the story.
While I’m a coach, content strategist, and copywriter, at the end of the day, I’m a storyteller, and it’s my job to help business owners believe in their stories enough to be able to clearly say how they do what they do, why they do it, and who it’s all for.
We capture the essence of who they are and distill it into a story that readers can see themselves in. We create a cohesive and compelling brand experience that fosters a space for conversations and connections to happen. And, more than anything, we say what needs to be said. We don’t leave the page blank for someone else to narrate our story; we write the story ourselves.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Pivots are more common than the majority of us in business will probably want to admit out loud, but it’s the nature of doing business and carving out a path all your own—sometimes it takes experimentation and taking detours to find where you’re supposed to be and the work that you’re meant to be doing in the world. Every pivot I’ve encountered has led me to where I am today—to a place where I can connect with people at different touchpoints and where we can exchange our lessons learned.
Within every lesson I’ve learned is a story that connects and makes my journey that much more relatable to who I’m talking to. I started out as a life coach, and then I morphed into a copywriter. And when I was struggling to find the words to articulate exactly what I did, my belief in myself wavered, and I found myself not wanting to run my business and needing to get a job—something I swore to myself I would never do again after leaving the corporate world behind. Over the last decade, I’ve been on a journey of discovering my worthiness with and without titles. I’ve been a business owner, I’ve managed communications in different organizations, and I’ve tutored English online, worked within nonprofit programs, and even worked at a flower shop.
Learning how to give myself grace on this journey hasn’t been easy; it’s actually been really hard to do, but I’m here back at running a new iteration of my business because I didn’t give up on the dream that I could one day find a way to do something I loved and get paid for it. Some days, it’s hard to realize that I’ve reached this point because of all of the struggles that it took to get here, but looking back, I’m grateful for the journey, and it’s why I share with others. I want other creatives, dreamers, and innovative individuals carving out a path all their own to know that it’s okay for your journey to take on its own look and feel.
It’s okay if you need to go back and get a job so you’re not putting unnecessary pressure on your passion or art to make you a living if you need more time to flesh things out. Even Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love and Big Magic, reminds us artists that it’s okay to disconnect our creativity from financial pressure. I believe she even kept her day job until she had written a few bestsellers because it’s that important to keep our art form intact and not tie our worth to the outcome it provides us with.
So, I believe the pivots in life are worth it, and it’s why I share the peaks and the valleys that I’ve experienced along the way that have gotten me to where I am today—I want others to know they’re not alone on this journey and that we’re in this together.
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
It’s one thing to create brand awareness for your business, but when you can create brand advocates and foster a sense of brand loyalty with the tribe you’ve built over time that lasts through all of your pivots in business, that’s when you know you’ve done something right. Doing this can look different for every business, but I do think there are a few key components that need to happen—you need to have an authentic approach and think about the person who’s consuming what you’re creating.
Over the last decade, ever since I was tweeting inspirational messages on the internet, I felt like I was writing to myself in a way, and I hoped that what I was saying would resonate with someone else because it would mean that I wasn’t alone.
Little by little, people started showing up, commenting, and sharing and it’s how I started to build a community. It didn’t mean that everyone who read what I had to share became a client, but that didn’t matter because they were supporting the message that I had to share, and that meant everything. It meant that even when I experienced pivots in my journey, they were still there because the heart of my message never wavered, and we had established a connection and trust that couldn’t be broken.
And even when I didn’t know it, people were reading the content I shared and watching the videos I recorded, sometimes without liking, sharing, or commenting—it just goes to show we never know who’s consuming our content and how much it may mean to them so we shouldn’t be spending so much of our time consumed by vanity metrics that may not even matter.
Case in point—I worked with such a wonderful client this year who came through a referral, but little did I know she actually did some research on me before we officially met, and she read an article I had written back in 2019 that I had forgotten about. And she told me that the truth I shared in that piece and the style I wrote it in is what resonated with her the most and matched the voice she wanted to write in. It’s what encouraged her to hire me to help her communicate her own brand story to the world.
It goes to show that what we put out into the world matters and speaks to people more than we may even realize at the time. Most of the writing I’ve shared out loud was for me, but it also connected with others, and it’s how a community was created.
Sharing, showing up, engaging, nurturing, and pouring into the community you’ve built and the relationships you’ve cultivated matters, and it’s what builds trust over time that does not waver. I’ve always brought people on this journey with me, and I’ve always shared openly with them about what was going on at the time because I remember how much it meant to me when someone I looked up to told me that we’re all just figuring it out. That person evened out the playing field and made me feel reassured that what I was doing then was good enough. It’s why I share the way I do and never pretend that I know better.
And even though I’m sharing again in this piece, it’s actually been quite a while since I’ve shared online. It’s almost unbelievable to think that I’ve finally reached a place in my business journey where I don’t have to market myself as much because referrals have become the cornerstone of my business today. This is a testament to all of the work that’s done behind the scenes that’s not promoted online—having the important conversations and pouring into relationships that have the potential to turn into business collaborations and partnerships. The making of this brand and business I have today started all those years ago.
Nurturing the tribe and community I’ve built over the last decade has been the foundation of everything, and even during the periods of time when I’ve been quiet online and navigating life offline, when I have come back and shown up again, I’ve been welcomed with open arms. The community I’ve built celebrates all versions of me, and I will never take that for granted.
It’s because of the time I’ve taken over the years to build up these relationships, and all of the work I’ve done behind the scenes, that I have the business I have today. And I love the opportunities I have to collaborate and create with others now. This has been a long time coming and a long time in the making, but we’re here, and I say “we” because we rise together—all of us.
I may not have written a blog post since 2020, and I may not have posted on Instagram since 2021/2022, but I’ve been busy working in my business. And writing this piece has been such a great way for me to reflect on the journey here, and it’s reminding me that it may be time to come back up for air and start sharing online again about all that’s been happening.
I’d love to shed more of a light on the fact that a lot of what you don’t see—what happens behind the scenes—is what often makes the sale. It’s sowing seeds, laying the groundwork, nurturing community, and pouring into the relationships you have.
So my takeaway on all of this is to have the conversations that foster real connection and share who you are and what you’re excited about working on because you might find that others are just as excited, if not more, than you are. And take the time that’s needed to earn someone’s trust because once you do, it’s there to stay, and that’s when everything changes for the better. That’s when people want to work with you, invest in you, and refer people to you, and that means everything.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gimmesweetwords.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diane.pauley
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diane-pauley-2050b575
- Other: https://www.alkimie.co
Image Credits
Beth Photography