Becoming a Badass Business Owner with Julie Cortes

there, Business Animals. It's Kim with Be More Business and welcome to the Business Animal podcast. Today, I am here with my dear friend and badass entrepreneur, Julie Cortes. And it's even a hashtag. So if you're watching this in their video, actually, here at my desk, I have my own, my own hashtag be badass sticker.

yes!

I love it.

Absolutely love it. So Julie, you are, I know you as the copy diva, which I don't think you're going by them that moniker any longer. The Freelance rock star and a big part of the organization, the Kansas City Freelance Exchange. So would you introduce yourself to the business animal audience and tell us a little bit about who you are and your arrival where you're at today?

Gosh, sure thing. Hi, Julie Cortes, copywriter by day, Freelance rock star by night. I live, breathe, teach, speak and coach on all things freelancing and self-employment, specifically for the creative types out there. I have run my own self-employed business for more than 25 years and probably best known as the founder of the Freelance Exchange of Kansas City, which is a not-for-profit

professional trade organization that offers continuing education, community, and even respect for the self-employed. And yeah, my journey has been pretty wild. You know, I started out on my own pretty young, had to figure it all out because there wasn't much training out there. And so apparently I've made it my life's personal mission to do something about that and created a college level course, Freelancing 101. I taught that for several years as an adjunct.

and now I'm also serving as a business coach for my fellow freelancers and professional speaker. And that brings me to how I met you.

Get

So, goodness, how did we meet? Was it through Score or was it elsewhere? It was through Score. So, yeah, we both met. We were sometimes the youngest people in the room at Score, I think. But now I feel like I've earned my senior status with all the gray hair. so that's all cool. And Score has gotten younger as well. Like there is younger and younger people involved.

It was through score. Uh huh.

This is true.

So the thing I love about you, Julie, well, I love your enthusiasm, but I love the professionalism that you bring to an industry that a lot of people struggle with the professionalism in. any time, and I know from my perspective, I work with a lot of baby entrepreneurs, people who are in the startup phase, and that's...

Yes.

Mm-hmm.

That's been my career all along. Most of my clients, my goal and hope, even when I was a marketing consultant, was that they would outgrow me in about three years. So I'm used to working with that baby entrepreneur. And a lot of times, I think baby entrepreneurs really struggle with the whole concept because there's not, I don't care if you have a business degree, I don't care if you have a master's and an MBA or a master's

Mm-hmm.

and business administration in any elk, you're not prepared for what you meet when you meet things out here, right? And I love that your courses and training and consulting is in the trenches with people helping them develop professional business practices that are very much needed. So how, I'm curious, like you started out as a copywriter, is that

Hmm.

correct was that that's how that's basically kind of where I met you sort of in the the more metamorphosis from like maybe full-time Freelance copywriting into the business and consulting thing. So how did you become a copywriter? Like what what got you into that?

Yes.

Yes.

So I loved advertising when I was young, believe it or not. I was the kid who was recording the Super Bowl just to fast forward through the game to watch the commercials. I just, always loved it. Instead of tearing out pictures of cute boys in magazines and putting them on my wall, I would tear out really good ads and put them on my wall. So I've always kind of been an advertising nerd in that respect. And then went to college, I'm like, all right, I'm gonna study advertising then.

Yeah, I love it.

you you have to choose your path. Well, I've always been good at writing. So that's how I ended up on the writing side. and of course I've got that creative streak in me. I just, you know, didn't have the design skills. So yeah, I ended up being a copywriter and, know, again, I've done that for more than 25 years. I did start out on the agency side, corporate side as well. I have experience in all of that. And like many people in the advertising and marketing industry, I lost my job.

and it was very unexpected and it just threw me for a loop. And so of course I started freelancing, you know, to run my own business, as you call it, a baby entrepreneur, right? When I was pretty young and I just was not finding what I wanted. And so I was like, you know what, I'm going to try this full time and see if I can make it work. And here we are, you know, more than 25 years later and apparently I made it work.

Nice. I am in the company of a sister. No job fits me, so I'm going to make my own. Yeah.

Yes, exactly, exactly.

And that's essentially what I did in somewhat of a similar type story, except I was more on the graphic side of things. I had a corporate job where I helped with a lot of graphic administrative stuff, which I was not that good at. But it did pay the bills. And then I was involved in a downsizing. And that initiated my first business experience, which I did bankrupt and because I didn't understand how to run a business. And I find it

interesting that both of us went down that path and then created businesses that help other people avoid the giant gaping spiky hole the paths traps on that path.

Because I dread to think of how much time and energy and money I wasted not knowing what I didn't know. And there was no one around to tell me. And I don't know if you had a similar experience, but sometimes I felt like the older entrepreneurs kind of sitting on the sidelines waiting for me to fall into the trap so that they could go, yeah, that's what happens.

Exactly.

Well, exactly. When I started, like I said, I was young and I only knew two other people who were doing this on their own. And of course I sat down and talked to them. Like, I didn't even know how do you put together an estimate? How do you price your services? Like I had so many questions and I hadn't been in the corporate world or agency world for all that long. So I didn't really get all of that training.

But yeah, looking back, there were no courses. They didn't teach this stuff in school. There were no books or coaches or anything. And to your point, like, yeah, now I want to go and help other people get through those hurdles and not make the same mistakes that I did and help them find success much sooner than I did as well. So you're absolutely right. There's so much too that you get out there and it's like, you don't know what you don't know. And so you kind of need somebody to tell you this is what you need to know.

Absolutely, absolutely. And your program, so I've been the privilege to sit in on several of your talks. And the one that really is the catalyst for what I would like you to talk about today to my listeners is the one where you talk about your three T's. Would you give us a little rundown of that? Because I think this is an encapsulated wisdom that if you as a small business owner can really wrap your head around and put into practice.

Sure, absolutely. So I think to start off with, we have to wrap our heads around the fact that mindset is everything when it comes to running a business. And if you don't have that in check, you're just not going to succeed. And there's a lot that comes with the territory. We get scared. We don't know what we're doing. It's that whole, don't know what you don't know. And we're unsure of ourselves. I don't know about you, but I didn't take business classes in school. I'm totally making this up as I go.

And so that's kind of the whole thing is getting in the right mindset of being humble, knowing that you don't know everything and being very, I guess the word would be, you know, just proactive and going out there and getting the education that you need. And so the three T's, my program that you talk about, wraps its head around that mindset concept. And that is to train yourself, train your clients, and then also train your family and friends.

And you can't train anybody else until you yourself are trained. And we can get into the details here in a minute on each of these concepts, but you got to start with yourself. Again, mindset, right? You've got to set these boundaries and then go forth and say, okay, clients, I have these boundaries. I have these rules. This is how we're going to play. And then that third part of the equation that not a lot of people talk about is training your family and friends.

and yet it can have a huge impact on your business if you don't train them as well. So yeah, that in a nutshell is what the three T's are.

Absolutely. So let's break that down a little bit and in training yourself. So you talked about mindset and I, I'm in this stage of my life where I do a lot of speaking engagements again to those entrepreneurs who are brand new and talking about what this experience is going to be like. And one of the things that I tell them is that entrepreneurship, if there is a hole in your personal growth or something that is uncomfortable to you, your business will somehow find

a way to push on that button or lean in to whatever is open. so in training yourself, what advice do you have for people to start to parse through that and actually create maybe some concepts around getting themselves straight? I mean, for me, I would encourage you to do your personal work. Like any place that you feel uncomfortable in your business, find somebody, whether it's a consultant or therapist or

coach, whoever, to help you work through that situation. But what other advice would you give there?

That's an excellent question. So I've got a few tips that I want to share underneath the train yourself part of this. And the first of which is to get educated, right? To your point, get a coach, get somebody to help you along the way. Because so many of us have these great ideas where we're really good at our craft. But if you don't know the business side of things, again, you're just not going to get ahead. And so you've got to learn like, what are business practices? What are industry standards? What are legal issues or your legal rights?

You know, all of these things and there's a ton of great resources out there. You don't have to, you know, pay for a business coach. Of course we would love that. However, you you can go to the library, you can go to your local small business administration or score or whatever, you know, resource that you have locally. But getting to know all of these things is so empowering. So that's number one is that, and that's to get educated. The second one is to create policies and procedures. All right. Again.

We have to make this up as we go along. mean, that's one of the best things though about being self-employed is that you get to make the rules and it's so empowering. However, the trick is, is not only do you need to make them, but you also need to stick to them. Right. Exactly. You know, and there's so many things, you know, setting office hours, you know, your contracts, your payment terms, your deposits.

That's my problem right there.

what you're gonna do about non-payment, the list goes on and on. And you get to, yeah, you get to determine all these things. It has been a journey for me as well, I'll be the first one to admit, but once I wrapped my head around this, I was like, you know what? There's really some truth to this psychology and we just have to get into our heads and trick it, trick your mind. When I say office hours, mean,

work whatever hours you would have worked at a regular full-time or part-time job however you're running your business and I don't care if it's the same hours every day I don't care if it's traditional eight to five or noon to six or whatever you do I don't care you know and they may be different every day but as long as you stick to some sort of schedule I kid you not like it's it's just a huge like you know like that happens I would hope and everything because it trains you

Yeah, yeah.

hey, listen, I have work to do. Or if you wanna shift the narrative and flip it around to a positive and be like, I get to do work. I have this silver lining. Even when there's no paid work to do, there's always work to do, right? And I know that this is one of your favorite topics about working on your business versus in your business. And it's one of those things where it's just like, okay, working.

Absolutely.

Working in your business is doing the stuff that's going to pay the bills, the client work, you know, all of that stuff. But working on your business is really going to set you up for success in the future. And that's why we need to dig into that.

Absolutely, absolutely. And, you know, there's a lot of things that I've learned to help myself be more successful. One of them was I learned how I prefer to work. And that is the cool thing about being self-employed, because you do have some autonomy over how you show up. As long as it is acceptable with your industry standards and with what would be expected of that, you can show up as you would like to. I know, okay, so one other thing I want to mention here is

this is the business animal and we have a lot of animal based businesses that listen to this podcast and those that aren't animal based, a lot of the people have animals in their lives. So it's like getting your dog house trained, right? It takes time and effort. takes consistency. It takes repetition and it takes a lot of really staying coloring within the lines, at least until you have all of that set in place. And then maybe you can't

fudge the schedule just a little bit every now and again and it is totally fine. But it's creating that within yourself. Your dog learns the routine. Your dog learns, okay we go out for a walk every morning when my person gets up and that's when and I can hold on and expect to go on that walk then and I know what's gonna happen. I'm gonna get fed when I get back.

And that creates this comfort level. And then it also creates the system with which to lean on when there's problems. So when there's things that rise up in your business that are stressful or that are unusual, it's the support system underneath that you can go ahead and lean back into. think it like dogs are den animals and their crates are so important to them as their dens. It's kind of like our little den to go into.

Thanks.

to be able to work on, to have our business and to work on our business and be comfortable with it again.

You know, and I feel as humans, we're creatures of habit as well, you know, and to your point, you know, setting these routines and setting these schedules is so very important. And, you know, you just got to treat it like you would any other job, you know, and take it just as seriously. And, you know, there's this whole thing about, you know, treating your business like a business and not like a hobby. And I feel like that's exactly the mindset that you've got to have, you know, sure.

you can take off and you can go shopping or go out with one of your girlfriends or do whatever it is. And again, once in a blue moon, that's not gonna hurt you, but if you make a habit of doing that, it is going to hurt you.

Absolutely, it's going to affect your ability to be successful. so another thing having a system or training yourself does is it helps you set expectations for your clients, which this is something that you talk a lot about. And this was something I had to learn the really, really hard way. Like very painful bruised lessons came along with learning how to set expectations and teach my clients how I do business rather than modifying

everything I do for each specific one all along. And it was crazy making to do it the way I started out in my business because I was modifying all of my systems for each client that I had in order to meet what their expectations were rather than taking the reins and saying, this is the way that I do business. This is my contract. This is what we follow. This is my estimate. This is what you

sign on and on and on and all of those things to me in the beginning, Julie, I am not the person who likes paperwork. I don't like rules. I really much prefer to color outside the lines and make my own artwork and having contracts, which I still don't call contracts. call them letters of understanding. But

It is written down and it says, here's what I am responsible for and here's what you are responsible for. And if we aren't agreeing, here's a path that we can take in order to resolve that. yeah, what, what other advice? know I probably talked way too much about that, but it's a big soap box that I get on for people because it's so, it's so hard when client expectations start to overtake your entire life.

Yeah, I think it's important to recognize too that for whatever reason, you know, whether it's on purpose or not, but some clients out there take advantage of the self-employed. Like they, they think, or they know that we don't know what we're doing. And so they try to be the boss. They try to act like they get to make the rules. And so that's where, again, we've got to go and get educated and learn all of these things, how to put together.

a contractor agreement or whatever you want to call it, all of these things so we can be empowered enough so we can guide the way and say, listen, I am a professional business owner and this is the way that I work. And again, if somebody doesn't like that, you can totally walk away. You know, that's very empowering as well, but there's a lot that goes into training your clients. And I think it starts like right off the bat. When you have that first discovery call, when you're first talking with them, you've got to set the stage. Here's how I work.

Here's what to expect, here are my policies and just be very, very upfront with them. I'm gonna use this office hours example again, because I think it's just so applicable to everything that we do. You could have a client who, thanks, Kimberly, you work from home and therefore I can call you at 10 o'clock at night and we can have a conversation and that's okay if I ask for some sort of meeting then, but it's not. Or I can ask you to get something done.

But it's not, it's not okay. And so I just, we've got to set the rules ahead of time and be very good about that going into it. And I know some people will put together like a what to expect document or a working with me page on their website. You can have the conversation with them as well. And then also you could even like put things in an email just as long as it's communicated to them. I think it's so very important.

to put everything in writing and instill those boundaries right off the bat and ensure that they understand that you are, you have equal footing in this partnership and it is a partnership. They do not own you. They are not your boss. It is a partnership and you've got to come across with that same confidence in order to get them to respect you and abide by your policies.

Absolutely. it's, it's, I believe having those in writing is really, really important, like being able to put them in writing, have them in writing so that you can refer back to them and say, Hey, I, this is what we agreed upon. This is not the way things are going right now. And we need to go back and like clean this back up. And you're right about the scheduling, like the boundaries. I, I get texts from clients in the middle of the night, because I work with

with people in Australia, I work with people in the UK. I get text messages at really odd hours. And I am very clear with my clients right up front. I don't answer text messages after 5 o'clock central time in the United States unless we have arranged otherwise ahead of time. And if your message comes in, I'm not going to respond to till morning. But here's the key for the business owner.

Mm-hmm.

you will teach them how to break that rule. So if you respond at 10 o'clock at night when they text you.

Mm-hmm.

they will start texting you at 10 o'clock at night because they got a response. So you have to be just as staunch at holding that boundary to say, okay, I'm going to I'm going to text back at 6am. And if you are compelled, like me, I am a people pleaser. I have some I have some family trauma that I am still working through. But if I do answer, I usually caveat the answer with along the lines of I don't normally answer texts at this time at night, but it looks like

this is a rather urgent situation. So I will make an exception this one time. I don't want people to think that they have access to me 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And another thing that I've learned personally in my own coaching business is that if people try, I do a lot, I answer a lot of technical questions. I don't know how I managed to be everybody's geek squad, but.

Somehow I've set myself up for that, even in things that I don't necessarily am not an expert in, but there are contract clients and they pay me to take care of them and I'm happy to provide that customer service. But there needs to be a limit and it needs to be a way that I can deal with it. If I have to type out a great big long answer, it takes me forever. So I have people, I get make them get Voxer. And it's a literal make for most people. They're like, I don't want another app on my phone. And I'm like, I'm sorry.

this is the way I do it because I can walkie talkie you and answer your question. So feel free. That's what you can use. It's a clear separation from personal communication. And it's made a huge difference in my ability to communicate with my customers because it works really well for me. And yes, some of them have had to make adaptations in order to utilize it. But at the end of the day, they get a faster, better response. And so they're happier as

as It's all about setting those expectations and being very, clear in your communications upfront and making sure that you have things written down, even if it's just an email correspondence back and forth to just, hey, to just confirm our conversation. Here's what we discussed. So yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. And you make a good point. mean, communication is so key as well when it comes to these boundaries. And I think you heard me tell the story in my last presentation. Like I had this client who had traveled overseas. Like when we first started working together, she was in California. We understood the time zone differences. And then she's like, all right, I'm traveling overseas. I didn't know what time zone she was in or anything, but I just figured we would continue communicating via email. I prefer email, right? You prefer Voxer. It's all good. You communicated that.

So the next thing I know, she's sending me messages on this WhatsApp. And I only had the app because my nephew had traveled overseas like the summer prior and I hadn't used it since. And all of a sudden my phone is blowing up in the middle of the night and she's one of these people who hits return after every sentence, you know? And I'm like, what are you doing? But she had never communicated to me, is it okay if we communicate via this app? Or this is how I prefer to communicate while I'm overseas.

Yep.

said any of that and and of course then the stuff that she's sending me like I needed to have it on my computer not on my phone.

Yeah, yeah. So that's an important distinction too. mean, so the bottom line to what we've discussed so far is you need to know yourself, you need to create systems, and then you need to teach your customers how to work with you within that system. And if you're trying to modify your system for customers that you have, most of the times what I found in my own business was those weren't my customers.

Yes.

Those weren't the people that were getting the best of me because that they needed the people that really work well with me are the people that my system really dovetails well nicely for them. So it works with their temperament with how they show up. And that's great. They we have a great synergistic relationship. They're extremely happy with me. I'm extremely happy with them. And that goes back to my tagline, which is to create a business that supports the life you

want to live. The life I do not want to live is a constant life and fear that clients are unhappy with my work, leaving bad reviews, not getting the full effectiveness of it, or are dissatisfied with what I do. Making a difference is my number one value and that just grates against every little bit of it.

So it's important that your systems, that you realize your systems also support the people that are the best for your business. So you'll be happier overall, right?

Yes, exactly. And again, it's training yourself to get into that right mindset so you can go and train other people. You know, we talked about the clients and then also, you you've got to consider your family and friends as well. And again, like I said earlier, not a lot of people consider this, but and I don't think they mean to do this intentionally, but they can really distract you from your dreams, from achieving your dreams. And that's what this is all about, right? When it comes to business. And so

Everything that you set yourself up for in the beginning, when we talked about training yourself, getting educated, setting boundaries, setting policies and procedures. Yes, you share those with your clients, but share them with your family and friends as well. Your office hours, your communication preferences, all of these expectations. And I'll tell you, especially for those who are self-employed, so many of us work from home and there's a lot of pressure on us because...

whether you've got a spouse or a partner or kids or what have you, like inside the home, there's pressure, outside of the home, there's additional pressure and misunderstandings, if you will. They think, you work from home, you're not working. Like it's just this weird subconscious thought. And so they think they can call us all the time, you know, or, hey, drop what you're doing and go do this. Or, you know, if that's somebody outside the home, if it's somebody inside the home, it may be pressure to do chores.

right? Laundry or grocery shopping or cleaning or cooking or whatever like, why didn't you get this done today? I was working. You know what I mean? Like you've got to set those boundaries and I feel like they're so important. And again, I don't think our loved ones like do this intentionally. Yet we have to train them. Please treat this like any other job. Please. You know, if I

was working at a traditional full-time job, you know, at some corporate office, would my mom be calling me in the middle of the day to talk about nothing for 45 minutes? know? She would.

Yeah, exactly, exactly. No, she wouldn't unless she's that type of mom. And, and I also so one of the interesting things I've done in my life is of course, go get a certification in Gestalt. So working with people's family issues, and in association with their business has become a great

Ha

a great amount of my life of these days. And oftentimes when people come here with big business problems, when we take a look at it, it susses itself back to childhood experiences, or even generational trauma that's passed down generation to generation or cultural aspects to it, or the relationships that they're currently in, that all of those things affected and now

they're in the relationships that they have and it's creating a lot of understanding in the individual about how those things actually came to be and how they can reconstruct, reimagine, re-engage with for a much more positive future.

the things that are holding them back or obstacles in their path or causing big problems. So I can think of people who have come here that have

have like, I think of one instance of lady who came here who's like, my husband is always telling me to quit my business. Like, she's like, he's just like, why are you doing this? We're well off. We, you don't need to work. This seems like it's a really stressful thing for you. You should, you don't have to do it. You should just not do it. It's not a big deal. Or go get a job somewhere. And she, cause I just don't understand why he doesn't support me. And I'm like, back that up a second. So what exactly is happening? Well, I come home, you know, I come, he comes home,

And I tell him all of these things. I'm like, so, so let me get this straight. Your husband who wants to loves you and wants to listen to you is loving and listening to you. And you're basically telling him every horrible thing that happened in your business all day long. So, and, and, and she's like, I do that. And I'm like, is it because of your business? She's like, no, it's because I want somebody to tell all those things too. can't say those things.

huh.

and my client, I don't have a good girlfriend, I can tell that stuff to you. So he's my spot. He's my person. He's the person I dump all this stuff on. And so when we got to talking about it a little further, I'm like, what's a strategy that you could use to maybe disarm this situation, right? She goes, Well, I think one thing I could do is I could tell him what I want his advice and when I just want him to listen.

huh.

And when I have something I just want him to listen to, I'm just going to say it up front. Hey, I just need to get this all out. I had this experience today. I just need to get it all out. want to just, can you listen to me for the next five to 10 minutes? And I don't want any advice. I don't need you to solve the problem for me. I just need somebody to hear. I just need somebody to witness and to hear. And I don't know how that worked out for her.

but I'm assuming it worked out a whole lot better than her wandering around feeling really bad about conducting her business and then her husband being like, this looks like it's just not a good thing for you. And I honestly believe from the experience, I'm shorthanding this, that her husband really cared and just wanted his wife to be happy. That was his number one goal, but because he perceived...

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

of what it was like. So I'll have to find out from her how that turned out. yeah, I mean, it's more than just setting the boundary at the door that this door stays closed from 9am to 5pm or, you know, when I'm on a podcast recording, don't flush the toilet kind of a situation, which happens here because my, my office is like right next to the hallway bathroom in our home. So it's like, okay, if

Exactly.

Kim is recording podcasts. know not to flush the toilet during the podcast. Not that I think the microphone would pick up anyway, but it's that kind of courtesy all of the way down to, you know, how are you showing up and how is your family showing up for your business? So, yeah.

Yeah, that's an excellent point. And again, I don't think people intentionally mean to derail us or distract us from our dreams, but they don't understand either the boundaries or the policies that we've put in place that we need to adhere to. I'll tell you even, it's been a long journey for me. My current husband is very supportive. My last husband was not.

And it's made a huge difference. So having that support from your friends, your family and whatnot, inside and outside the home is important. And to your point, I don't like to complain to my husband about all of my business stuff. And part of that is because he just doesn't get it, right? He's not an entrepreneur. He doesn't get it. And so I feel like community is so important. And that's one of the reasons why I developed a Freelance community for those.

seeking that, know, not only is it continuing education, but it also has that community aspect. So we have those shoulders to cry on, you know, and people to complain to, people who get it, you know, and it's just been so wonderful. Yes.

Yeah.

And people, you can ask questions. Like you can say, hey, this is my problem and I don't know how to solve it. And that's a group. I do agree with you. Community is really important. And since you brought up the Freelance exchange, do want, so the freelancers that work, or the freelancers in the Freelance exchange and work for it, but the freelancers that are members, they work with people like all over the country or world, right? I mean, it's, most of them are true freelancers.

Yes.

They'll work with anybody, anywhere. So can you tell us a little bit about how somebody might find a freelancer inside the Freelance exchange and a little information about that? Because I can guarantee you there's a lot of entrepreneurs listening to this podcast that are like, I really need help with my marketing, or I need help with graphics, or I need a video professional, or I need a copywriter. So let's tout those folks up. Because trust me, they're professionals.

They are professionals. And I'm so glad you brought that up. And the fact that, you know, we can work with whomever, wherever. I've got clients all over the world. And even though most of us are based here in Kansas City and surrounds, you know, yeah, we have clients all over and we are all in the advertising and marketing industry. So you can go to our website at kcfreelanceexchange.com and do a simple search from there. We're about to launch a brand new website. It's going to have super slick search features.

But right now, you can just go and search the portfolios, search the member directory, use the drop down menu, find a graphic designer, find a copywriter, a photographer, whatever it is that you need. And then with the new search features coming, you'll really be able to drill down, okay, I need somebody who has experience in business to business or business to consumer. I want to work with a minority owned business and the list goes on and on. So that is coming soon.

Super easy. If you go to the website and you find yourself a little bit overwhelmed because we do have, I don't know, like 80 graphic designers in the group out of our 150 membership, and you don't want to take the time to look through their portfolio samples and read their bios and resumes and go to their website and all of that. I get it. You can simply send us a short help wanted ad and we're happy to share it with the membership. they can, and just tell us what you're looking for and tell us how they should contact you.

and we can send it out to our members and have them respond to you. Otherwise, if you are local to Kansas City or surrounding areas, we do host an annual showcase for our members in which we invite the business community to come out and meet us and see our portfolio samples and talk to us one-on-one so you can meet the talent behind the work and see if it's gonna be a good fit because that's super important. It's not only...

Do they have the skills and the talent to do what it is that you're needing them to do? But also, are you all gonna gel? Or are you gonna have a conflict? So that's important to understand as well. But for right now, you can go to the website, kcfreelanceexchange.com and it's totally free. We keep our hands out of it. You contact them directly and go on your merry way.

Absolutely. love the work. went to the meet and greet this last year and had a great time meeting everybody and it was fantastic. So five stars, highly recommend all of that. And I want to get into my two questions, but since we're on the topic of sharing information, if somebody listening to this is a self-employed individual who really feels like they need some help organizing themselves, getting that education piece that we talked about,

and learning how to train their customers and their family. You are taking clients? Yes? Yay. And so how would somebody find you and take partake of your consulting coaching services?

I am.

I'm so glad you asked him. So they can go to my website, juliecortez.com. Just keep in mind that's Cortes with an S at the end. And go and learn more, click on the coaching page, learn more about everything that I offer, between one-on-one coaching, group coaching. I even have a private Facebook group as well.

for self-employed individuals that is not connected to the Freelance Exchange of Kansas City. This is my Freelance Rockstars group that's open to anybody and everybody around the world. So you can check that out as well, poke around, read everything that you wanna read. And then if you're interested, fill out the little intake form and we'll get you set up with a discovery call and see if we're gonna be a good fit to work with each other.

That is awesome. So to everybody who comes on the business animal, I ask two questions. So the first one is, how does your business support the life that you want to live?

I love it. You know, I'm a big proponent of finding your joy, right? And living your passion. I, my career path has taken me on all sorts of twists and turns. I like to call them plot twists. Because I am not at all anywhere where I thought I would be, but I got to tell you, I am 110 % everywhere I'm supposed to be. And so my, thank you.

My goal now in life is to help others get there as well. Like you may end up in a position that you didn't ever dream of or think of, but it may be so much better than what you ever wanted to begin with. So that's just, you find your joy, live your passion and go on and be badass.

There you go. love it. And then the last thing I want to ask you, as you know, we're the business animal. Do you have an animal in your life or group of animals that has inspired you or helped you as a business owner and a person?

Absolutely. Well, I think every pet that I've ever owned has really had an impact on me. You know, from the dog I had growing up, I'm a dog person, from the dog I had growing up helping me through tough times, you know, in my teenage years to, you know, to now, you know, I've got this dog, she just turned eight years old. And when we first got her, she's just, she's so resilient. We rescued her from the shelter.

She was just over one, had already had a litter of puppies. We have no idea what the backstory was, but it was one of those situations where she chose us, right? Instead of us choosing her. But just a few years later, she was diagnosed with cancer. And we've been to hell and back with her. fortunately, we were able to get her treatment for her cancer between chemo and radiation and surgery and all of the things.

but she is just one strong pup. And she has maintained her positive outlook on life, I like to say, and she's so loving and gracious. And I feel like that's a lesson we can all take away, that even through tough times, like it's going to come out better on the other end. And we just need to stick through it and go through the medicine, if you will, the prescribed treatment and get there on the other side.

I love that. Would you share her name?

Sure, it's Bailey. Yes.

Bailey lovely and I'm not on Facebook anymore. I have like taken a sabbatical from Facebook, but I enjoyed going on her journey with you and and sent her lots of love and light in her cancer journey and was so happy to see that she was out of treatment and back with her family and just feeling all into it. And I think you definitely represent that same spirit out into the world.

So that is awesome that you're carrying Bailey's light as well as your own. So great. Thank you so much, Julie, for hanging out with me today. And I will see all of you guys next Tuesday.