We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Natasha Buffo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Natasha, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How do you think about vacations as a business owner? Do you take them and if so, how? If you don’t, why not?
Yes! I take at least one full month away from work each year. Fortunately, my partner has held onto an 11-month job in the ski industry, because travel is very important to each of us individually, and is a key quality of our relationship. I’m about 1.5 years into being fully self-employed, so I’ve gone through this one month off twice now. Both time were challenging, but this time around I felt more confident to carve out a plan that would make me feel more confident while away, and roll right back into the business when I returned. First of all, think about the ways you can keep your business moving forward passively. For example, I did all the paperwork and set an advertisement, in order to begin my “doing business as” names for Dirt & Tears and The Alpine Analyst prior to the month off. So, when I returned, it was done! Second, I scheduled heaps of writing assignments for due-dates when I got back, and Adult Mental Health First Aid courses. While I traveled, I tested out products that I would write about when I returned. Also, while traveling, my clients could advertise the course they scheduled with me, work with accounting for payment, and fill up their registration with their employees. Another key piece to remember is that some of the most amazing partnerships and business ideas come while traveling. As a writer, most of my article ideas come to me while I am away from the computer, interacting with the world, observing people and places, and often spending hours upon hours in my head while cycling or hiking. I’ve also made the effort to casually connect with current or potential clients, to maintain the personable aspect of our business relationship, or begin new ones. Lastly, everyone wants to work with someone who is interesting and inspires them. Jealously is a strong form of adoration that leads to wanting to interact and be around someone. It’s not easy to carve out a month off, a long weekend, or back to back trips (all things I am doing this summer) but I believe strongly that if we want to make it a priority, we can work extra efficiently in between trips to still achieve our business goals.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
How I got here? Wow, well probably first and foremost, being raised by a mom who never told me no – except for that one time I wanted to swim in the river. I still pretended to fall in. I think she learned early that telling me no would backfire. I grew up surrounded by boys, so I learned early on to do all the sports and outdoor activities that other people (like my grandma) thought I shouldn’t or couldn’t do. I’m currently in my third career, and I think this one will stick. After majoring in Mathematical Sciences and Sociology, I began as a business analyst for online advertising, with three years at Google, Inc. This turned out to be the wrong life for me, so I resigned to travel and explore other places (like New Zealand), careers, and people I connected with. During my travels, my beloved mom, best friend, and biggest cheerleader of my adventures, was diagnosed with cancer.
I returned home and commenced the most challenging, heartwrenching, and beautiful job of my life – being her primary caregiver. After she passed, my explorations continued, but this time, I was an entirely different person, navigating through a new life – one without her. After returning to NZ, I decided to pack up my 1998 Toyota Tacoma and move to Lake Tahoe for a few months, to be nearer to the granite mountains and alpine lakes I fell in love with while hiking the John Muir Trail less than a year prior (it was two months after my mom’s passing). Tahoe, and specifically Kirkwood Mountain Resort, was where I found a place, career, and person to love. After a few years of working my way through various functions in the ski industry, primarily human resources roles including teaching leadership development courses and launching programs for employee culture and events, I started putting more and more time into other passions, like non-fiction writing and being an advocate for mental health.
My writing interests began while in Uganda in 2013, less than a year before resigning from Google, where I realized our greatest experiences are best captured with words, rather than photos or videos. About a month into working at Kirkwood Mountain Resort, I was invited to take a certification course called Adult Mental Health First Aid. With all that said, the support of my local community, my close friends, and my partner, all helped me take the plunge into self-employment. Also, I had role models in my family for starting businesses, including my dad who started a computer business when I was very young, and my older brother who has run an incredibly successful audio video entertainment business for maybe two decades now. But the everyday push to go for it and to keep going all goes back to my mom. She raised me to know there was nothing I couldn’t do. Also, nothing will ever be as hard as the role of a primary caregiver for someone you love deeply. So, every trial and tribulation I face as a business owner pales in comparison.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
Word of mouth or meeting in person. There have been a few clients that came from an online post, but the most fruitful are from showing up at an event, or from connecting with one person who refers me to another business. This is something new and exciting because when I first began there were not as many in-person opportunities. However, this summer and fall of 2023 I am absolutely slammed with events so I have high hopes for drastically increasing my client reach. I’m always on the look out for unique events catered to my target audiences. I love meeting people, in structured environments like a exhibitor area, or by talking on a panel or running a workshop or seminar.
We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.
My favorite way to show my care for clients is to send thank you cards after we finish working together. One of the first pieces of equipment that I bought when I started my business was a printer, high-quality paper, and these large golden envelopes. I also love connecting with students over social media. I also like to track all my clients and watch what they are posting. If they share something that I find important for others to read, I love to share their posts. I also have a bi-weekly newsletter (although now it’s more once a month or every two months – such is business) and sharing more about the businesses I work with or write for there is also a joy.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dirtandtears.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dirtandtears/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natashabuffo/
Image Credits
Daniel Deemer Hayli Rudtledge