We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kim Brooks & Mia Bui. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kim & Mia below.
Kim & Mia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you have any thoughts about how to create a more inclusive workplace?
When we were building the foundation of our business, we spent a lot of time conceptualizing the work culture and all the values that were near & dear to us. In our previous careers, flexibility wasn’t accessible and ultimately made both of us really unfulfilled, leaving us fantasizing about what it would be like to have more flow in our lives.
On a personal note – Mia is a single Mom and always dreamed of being able to attend her son’s school functions, sports, and all the things when juggling an active kid’s itinerary. I myself have MS and my symptoms vary day to day. Even moment to moment, so having my schedule be malleable so I can rest if I need to, or go to weekly health-related appointments releases so much guilt and stress.
If we didn’t build flexibility into our culture, I don’t think Mia and I would have the success and happiness that we have now because we’d have to sacrifice one thing for the other. Instead, we get to be our fullest potential in various areas of our lives, and we extend that same philosophy to our team.
Most of them are mothers and we’re really proud to offer this type of environment so they feel empowered to exercise their creative talents while still being a present Mom. Having balance so they don’t experience burnout. Autonomy so they get plenty of R&R and feel lit up. Balance is a beautiful thing.
Kim & Mia, 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?
Haus of KIMIA is a boutique brand-building agency created by two besties, KIM + MIA (KIMIA). Our mission was built on the joy of helping entrepreneurs bring their dreams to not only a reality but a fully thriving successful company with beautiful branding and creative marketing initiatives.
Our collective experience is quite balanced. Mia has a background in operations, logistics, e-comm, tech, business dev and strategy implementation, while Kim has a background in product development, content creation, creative directing, writing, branding and marketing. Together, with our talented team, we really understand all facets of what it takes to make a business fire on all cylinders and light up the path in their market.
We take pride in our specialty- brand identity and brand voice.
What makes a truly unique brand is its “why”, and in order to convey that message to your audience efficiently and effectively, you have to create a really captivating storytelling experience. A brand without a “why / a story” oftentimes is just a business with a short shelf life, and we want to make sure our clients are set up for future growth and longevity.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
We manage many social media accounts, from budding businesses just starting from the ground up, to established accounts with large loyal followings. Our advice for anyone trying to grow their social presence is to create Community. You almost have to treat your platform as a storefront and there is an etiquette we see so many fail to adhere to and it’s quite detrimental to your customer return rate. But don’t worry, there are a few simple rules you can follow:
1. If someone comments on your post, you have to comment back. Nothing makes someone feel more unimportant than not being recognized for showing support to your business. We equate this to someone walking into your store and you not saying hi. It’s reflected as rude and you don’t care about their business. Ouch.
2. If someone starts following you, go to their profile and see who they are and follow them back if they look like they could be a potential customer. Relationships and loyalty never grow when it’s a one-way street. Again, social media is all about building community and you can’t expect people to invest in you if you don’t care to connect with your people.
3. Go find your people! Search relevant hashtags, find aligned businesses, and connect with their followers. You have to go drum up business and make some noise, otherwise, no one will know you are there.
4. Network – find aligned businesses and build relationships with them. You can become great allies and leverage each other’s audiences.
There are tons more tips and higher-level strategies to social media we mentor and manage for our clients, but these are some fundamental things that you can do that can make a major difference.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Oh, this is a good one! Respectfully demand your worth. Both of us had to shake out years of being undervalued and reestablish our boundaries. It’s part of evolving in your career and it’s ok to go through times where you may have given too much power to someone, or you undercut your work by not charging enough, as long as you learn from it and implement your self-worth bar, aka self-love, at a higher standard that you can be proud of and deserve.
Both of us hold self-development and self-care in great regard. In fact, it’s part of our agency culture. Staying mentally healthy is a big part of our success because entrepreneurship can be really challenging. Heck, life and adulting in general is challenging regardless if you work for yourself or for someone else. But if you keep your mind sharp, happy, and healthy, your capacity to put up with things that don’t align with you and adhere to your values and worth, becomes smaller. Eventually, you just attract and have space for opportunities that meet you at your sky-high bar you set for yourself.
Two Tips:
1. Affirmations are a fabulous way to keep yourself in check when your confidence starts to slip. Go back to those powerful words and give yourself a pep-talk. We all have bad days, so affirmations are there for you when you need that reminder.
2. Go with your gut! If you have to talk yourself into something, it’s a hard no. Only do heck-yeses.
Contact Info:
- Website: hausofkimia.com
- Instagram: @hausofkimia.com
- Facebook: hausofkimia