In today’s episode, Jeff interviews Heather Parady from Augusta, GA, the land of golf. In grad school Heather wanted to be a therapist because she loved psychology and helping people. But after starting a side hustle she learned that she had a natural talent for marketing. After graduation she decided to build her own thing instead of getting a job using her degree. Fast forward to today where she is a content creator, Web 3 community builder and digital marketer in general. It’s been a hard, yet easy journey but Heather is confident that she’s right where she belongs.

Heather and Jeff discuss:

1. Five years ago Heather was in grad school studying mental health therapy.
2. She started a side business doing photography to get through school and make a little extra income.
3. She grew the photography business a lot and enjoyed making her own money and making her own schedule.
4. She discovered that she was pretty good at the marketing side.
5. Heather began questioning school - asking herself what am I pursuing here?
6. Her classmates began wondering why she was in school and not out making money in her business.
7. After graduation she got her license and went on a couple of job interviews and cried.
8. She got the jobs then cried some more because she didn't want to take them. After a talk with her husband she turned those jobs down.
9. With a laptop computer and baby on her hip she needed to figure out how to make money and build something. She pivoted and turned quite a bit in the online space. Tried it all and settled into something recently.
10. Heather learned that there is a distinction between content creation & income producing activities. Content creation doesn’t always equal revenue.
11. Is the curiosity of the entrepreneurship journey going to phase out since people can work from home which feels similar?
12. What’s New? Hosting shows; last year started a show back in August on NFT's and Web 3 that took off.
13. Starting a new venture working with communities with Web 3 and expanded to digital marketing in general.

Fast Five Questions

1. If you woke up and your business was gone, you have $500, a laptop, a place to live, and food, what would you do first? “I am going to start going to local businesses and bring my camera with me. And I'm going to start asking to take free photographs of either headshots of them or their products. Gonna do as many free shoots as I can in a week. Then stay up and edit them and post on Instagram. Tag those people and tag the location and use the right hashtags and then start doing a bunch of videos and promo stuff about the importance of having good photography for your business.”
2. What is the biggest mistake that you have made in business? “Assuming that putting out more content would lead more people to my business.”
3. What is a book that you would recommend? “The 4 agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, The war of art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield and anything by Seth Godin.”
4. What is a tool that you use everyday that you would recommend? “Clickup.”
5. What is the best way to contact you? “Instagram: @HeatherParady.”

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