We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Heidi Priday a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Heidi thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

As a small business owner of multiple side hobbies, (hair styling, handmade Etsy items, etc) I have always had a passion for the entrepreneur life. I have so much respect for self-made, family-run businesses.

I found early on the importance of having a social media presence for marketing purposes. I spent hours and hours researching different SEO methods, digital marketing techniques, the ins and outs of the different social media platforms, and the basics of photography and photo editing.

I had always ran my own social media and website for my own shops, but hadn’t had the confidence to offer to help other businesses until I had a friend reach out. She worked for a local, family-owned orthodontist in the East Valley, Judd Orthodontics. She said they hadn’t had good luck in the past finding someone to help with their marketing and needed some help revamping their social media presence. I was surprised she asked me but decided to take a chance.

I didn’t know much about the industry or target market, but quickly got excited and jumped in. I loved exploring a new industry and being able to experiment with graphic design, photography, and overall marketing strategy.

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

As I mentioned earlier, I have ran an Etsy shop and hairstyling business for about 10 years. I love creating in any form! When I got divorced about 3 years ago, I realized I needed to turn this hobby and side income source into something more full time and profitable enough to support my 2 young kids.

Creating social media content and marketing strategies for local businesses fulfilled all my needs, both professionally and satisfying my creative itch.

I feel I am able to provide genuine, outside-the-box ideas because I, myself, have ran a business. I’m also a mom, native Arizonan, and consumer, so I feel I know kinds of content residents of the East Valley are looking for. I ask myself “if I saw this post as I was scrolling Instagram, would I stop and click on it?”. This is HUGE to helping businesses make sure they get the most out of their digital marketing budget and their social media presence.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

I now manage 3 local business social media accounts and one world-wide account. For my local clients, I have found it absolutely critical to be present with them, both physically and communication-wise. I like to stop into these businesses at least once a month to record/photograph real clients and get authentic content for social media. I think this is important. Personally as a consumer, seeing general stock images on websites and social media doesn’t strike a cord with me as a consumer. I want to see real and raw so I know I can trust the company.

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

I feel so blessed to have found my way into the marketing niche over the years by having business owners take a chance on me and show me what they know. I now am a full-time, freelancer for the locally operated Building Kidz Schools of Arizona, Judd Orthodontics, and Let’s Play Music.

I have been blown away by the business models established by Let’s Play Music owners, Dave and Shelle Soelberg. They truly took a passion for children’s music education and created jobs for stay at home moms to teach out of their home and run the business side of the company. They do so with open communication, integrity, and professionalism. I have learned so much about business organization, goals, and accountability from their example.

Local franchise owner, Meaghan Sherwood, has opened 3 Building Kidz School locations in the East Valley to provide safe, clean, quality childcare. She took me on to manager her social media when I didn’t have much formal marketing education or experience and taught me the value of hard work and a work-life balance, as she has young kids of her own at home.

Contact Info:

• Other: HeidiLshields@gmail.com

Image Credits

Kelsea Jones Photography