We were lucky to catch up with Tara Hayes recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tara, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright, so we’d love to hear about how you got your first client or customer. What’s the story?

I published my first book in December 2019. My books are about my experience with anxiety and natural solutions to overcome it. I posted about being a new Author on my Instagram account. A friend of mine was gracious enough to share my book with her audience. Once she shared it, I gained 6 new followers immediately from her audience. One of the people that she shared my book with was dealing with anxiety herself. She read the book and she loved it. Then I offered to work with her one on one with her anxiety and she became my first client. I was so happy that she agreed to work with me. At the time, I was so new and didn’t know my worth so I charged basically nothing for us to work together. I really enjoyed working with her and I learned a lot. I learned the importance of accountability. I had to hold myself accountable as well as my client who was depending on me to help her. It was truly a healing experience for the both of us. She learned how to feel confident again with just a few action steps and support from me.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Tara and I am an introvert. I help introverted female employees create and use low content, no content, digital products( e-books, journals, planners) and self-publish. I do the same for female business owners who are looking to add a digital product to their marketing strategy.

Prior to publishing my first book, I was in a really low point in my life. I was laid off from two full-time accounting jobs within a 10-month period. Part of the reason that I was laid off was because I was too anxious to perform the jobs due to lack of sleep. Also, both jobs just weren’t a good fit. As a result, my confidence was shot and I had no desire to look for another full-time accounting job.

Then I ran across a self-publishing course. The course just appealed to me as the shift that I needed. At first, I had no idea what I would write about, but I soon narrowed it down to anxiety. I wanted to write about a topic dear to me that would also inspire other women. I used myself as a vessel by sharing my story.

From that point, I decided to become a Life Coach with a focus in Anxiety. Soon after helping my first few clients, imposter syndrome set in because I was still healing myself. From that point, I determined that I didn’t feel quite aligned with anxiety coaching.

Then I had my aha moment. I could show working women how to share their story via digital products and self-publishing. That’s when Tarafied Publishing, LLC began.

All of my products have a self-love, self-care focus because I had to embrace self-love and self-care on my entrepreneurial journey. I provide journals, planners, cheat sheets, and checklist on my website. I also provide done-for-you digital templates to help aspiring authors on their journey. I have a masterclass that shows women how to build their list with digital printables.

My business is unique because it started with myself and my own problems. The name of my business is Tarafied Publishing which could have a double meaning. You could be terrified(tarafied) to start your journey or you can have my stamp of approval, follow my blueprint and become “Tarafied.”

My business helps introverted women, like myself, share their story and encourages them to do it with fear. If you are in need of a self-care routine, I offer self-care focused digital journals and planners. If you need to develop a consistent journaling routine, I host live journaling sessions.

If there is a business, such as a medical practice, that needs help with lead generation, my team and I create a digital printable, license it, and brand it to their business to attract leads to their practice.

I am most proud of myself for pushing through my own anxieties and fears to help other women do the same. I want potential clients and fans to know that if I can put myself out there and share my story, then they can also. Just make your fears small enough so they don’t stop you from working towards your dreams everyday. The road gets rough but always remember your Why. That’s what keeps me going when it gets tough.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

On this entrepreneurial journey, you will here “no” a lot. If you are an empath like me, it will sting, you will question yourself, and feel disappointed. I had to learn how to not take things too personally. The rejection stings at first, but then you just keep going. For example, I made a post in a Facebook Group to help women looking to get started with creating digital printables online. The post got a great response rate, with about 50 women raising their hand. How it works is out of the 50 women, you may get one or two serious inquiries. There was a woman interested in working with me so I messaged her on FB messenger. She asked me the next steps and I told her it would be a phone call. Prior to the phone call, she wanted to know the price and I provided that information for her. Then all of a sudden she wasn’t interested anymore. I learned that objections from others are apart of the journey. Even if people raise their hand for your help, they have to be committed, clear and confident that you are the best help for them. When this happened, I just moved on to the next person because the right person is out there that needs me and my service. This illustrates my resilience. The more nos I hear brings me closer to my yes.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I built my audience on social media by posting regularly for about 2 years. I shared entrepreneurial tips, self-care tips, self-love tips. I was also very transparent on my socials, sharing both of my wins and my frustrations. People began to notice and I was invited to do lives and speak on a select few podcasts. I really loved Instagram, creating Reels that told my story. I would advise anyone just starting out on social media to be patient and consistent. Also have a content marketing strategy so that your audience will be clear on who you are, what you do, and how you can help them. And don’t worry too much about how many likes you get. The right people will like and engage with your posts. Also remember that followers do not automatically convert to clients. I wish it was that simple but it’s not. I’ve used Instagram to get followers to know, like, and trust me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://panictopicnic.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/tara_martina_?igshid=ZDdkNTZiNTM=
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tarahayesauthor
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tara-martina-359bb739/
• Other: Etsy Shop https://tarafiedpublishing.etsy.com