Invisible to Invincible Podcast: Marketing and Branding for High Achievers

Imagine packing up your life and moving
to a new city every few years with

your family and potentially having
to reinvent yourself every time.

Sounds daunting, right?

I know.

Now, imagine building a thriving business
out of your passion for crafting, only

to pivot completely into an entirely
new field of digital marketing.

Can you imagine that?

Because that is exactly what
today's guest, Bonnie Conrad, did.

In this episode, you'll hear how Bonnie,
a military spouse, went from creating

farmhouse tables in the middle of the
Mojave desert to becoming a sought

after digital marketing strategist.

She's here to share her secrets on
balancing a thriving business while

constantly moving, understanding the
importance of flexibility and how to

turn every challenge into an opportunity.

If it sounds inspiring, you
are absolutely right, it is.

Because Bonnie's story was
definitely one that I loved

hearing about and you will too.

Stay tuned as we uncover Bonnie's
incredible journey and our actionable

tips for anyone looking to pivot
their career, get a fresh start,

or even start your own business.

You ready?

Let's dive in.

Hello friend, I'm Kendra and you've
tuned into the Invisible to Invincible

podcast where passionately driven
business owners share their journeys

from hidden gems to industry leaders.

Together, we'll uncover the secrets,
mental shifts, and visibility in

marketing strategies that turn these
hidden gems into undeniable forces.

So hit that subscribe
button and let's dive in.

Bonnie, welcome.

Thank you so much for being here.

Thank you so much for
having me as a guest.

I'm super excited.

Absolutely.

I was just so excited because there's
a lot of things about your background

and what you're doing now that I
think really resonate with a lot of

people, specifically military spouses.

So can you talk a little bit about
your business and what you do today?

And then we'll back up and
talk about how you got there.

Yeah, absolutely.

So currently I am a social media
and digital marketing strategist

with Innately, and I help our
clients grow with digital marketing.

And that can be anything from
email marketing, social media,

their website, any of those.

facets within digital marketing.

That is what we do for our clients.

it's always so impressive because
there's so many people that do digital

marketing, but they don't always look at
the pieces of how they all work together.

they only look at it in a silo of
like, Oh, I only do SEO or I only do

PPC or paid search or what have you.

So as a business owner, being able
to look at the bigger picture and

help others I think is really key.

Can you talk a little bit about your
background and how you got there?

Absolutely.

I am a military spouse,
like you mentioned.

I have been following my husband
around for 14 years now and

it's been a super fun journey.

I originally started when, my husband
and I met, I was in the medical

field and thought, this is what I'm
going to do for the rest of my life.

I'm going to work as a medical assistant.

every time we move, I'm going to get a
new job at a clinic or a doctor's office.

by our third move, I got
sick of being the new person.

And I finally, our previous studio
station in California, I found my

passion of building and crafting.

I actually started a really great,
successful business in our house I

would build furniture like big farmhouse
kitchen tables and entryway tables

and five foot signs I would paint.

it became the joke that I was the
Hobby Lobby of the desert because where

we were located, there was nothing
around us I realized how hard it is

as a small business solopreneur to
figure out your marketing on top of.

Building your business.

it became a solo passion of mine.

when we moved this recent time, I started
as a virtual assistant and thought

I could do this as my own business,
marketing really became a passion of mine.

I, was awarded a full ride scholarship
to finish my bachelor's degree at

Southern New Hampshire University.

So I'm almost finished with that.

I want to move on and get my master's,
my number one goal is to help my fellow

military spouses teach them how to market
their small businesses in a way that

resonates with their target audience.

Also what a target audience is.

If you're not familiar with marketing, you
have no idea that that should be a thing.

In a way that fits in with your schedule
and your family, because we're so busy

and usually we're the ones that are
99 percent of everything at the house.

having a business, but also
maintaining the household and making

sure that everything's kosher here.

So our service members can
focus on what they need to do.

it just came to me like a
really big passion of mine.

And so I started with that.

And then, James, who I actually kind
of merged with, with Innately, we

decided, Hey, let's grow this together.

He has 40 plus years of marketing
experience and I have the passion and

energy to do all these fun things.

I feel like I've learned more
from him than I have in college.

I joke it's a paid internship because I'm
working, but I'm also helping our clients.

So it's been a fun transition And so
I absolutely love it and I cannot wait

to help more people along the way.

I love that.

And your energy and passion just comes
through when it comes to the topic.

I was saying earlier to a business
owner that I always feel bad for them

because exactly what you said, like
a lot of people start their business

now because they love what they do.

And then all of a sudden
they find themselves deep in

conversations, trying to figure
out what SEO is or how to apply it.

And all they want to do
is do what they love.

my goal was to figure out how to do
that in a way that's easy for someone

who was like, I don't know what digital
marketing is, but I know I need to do it.

And this is how I can do it in an easy
way that can still work for my business.

For people who might not be familiar with
what it means to be a military spouse,

can you talk a little bit about that?

Because I think it's a really unique.

Position to be in.

Yeah, absolutely.

So I didn't know what I was getting into.

my husband and I actually met.

Yeah, we met, 15 days
later we were engaged.

So we did the whole like, what
you don't do in the military.

And then, like a month and a
half later we got married and I,

moved from Michigan to Georgia.

Six months later with our first duty
station and I remember pulling into

Fort Stewart in Georgia and we got to
the hotel and I sat on the bed and I

just started bawling my eyes out and
I'm like, had a pity party of like, I'm

not going to have any friends and I'm
not going to know anybody my husband

still laughs about it now because I'm
the friendliest person that you'll meet.

Oh, you talk to me.

You're my friend now.

we joke about that as military spouses
that we speed date our friends because

we're like, you're my neighbor.

I also need you to be my
emergency contact for my child.

we've got to fill out these papers and
we just got here and I know no one.

it's an interesting lifestyle.

we get to meet so many people and
learn about different, cultures and

ways of life as we move all over.

it's a huge advantage to be a
military spouse because we get

so many cool opportunities.

But on the, career side of
things, it can be really hard.

that, really resonates with me
because I saw this need to fill my

bucket, but also to, bring in a little
bit extra, like, shopping money,

but extra income into the house.

And it's so hard when you move
so often to keep a career alive.

I have friends that have their doctorate
and their lawyers and their nurses and

they have all these high performing
degrees that they can't do anything

with because of licensing the military
has gotten really great with helping

military spouses with their licensing and
all of that, but it's still a struggle.

And so my biggest passion, right now is.

having the conversation with other
military spouses or stay at home

parents It's those parents that
have stayed home for 15 years

with their kids who used to work.

And now we're like, I want to go
back into the workforce, but I

don't have any job experience.

I always want to shake them and
say you do, you just have to look

at the things that you are good at
and passionate about and turn those

into something that you can do.

so it kind of has became like
a little pet project of mine of

Pulling that out of people being
like, what do you really want to do?

And how can you do that from home or
in a way that fits with your family?

Absolutely.

I saw this a lot when I was teaching.

I taught undergrad and graduate
marketing classes at a local university

most of the students were military,
either active duty or veterans.

sometimes spouses would come in, but
I even saw it with, military people

who were getting out after five years.

After 10 years and they were
in the military and then trying

to figure out what to do.

a lot of times they were starting
their own business because that's why

they were trying to get their degree.

and it was looking at, there's so
many good ideas, but they were really,

really good, like with anything, right?

Like you're really, really good with this.

And then when you try and pivot,
there's a lot of mindset challenges

and knowledge, because it can be so
overwhelming how much there is to learn.

Yeah, I feel like you have to
think about growth being messy.

It can't be perfect and
you just have to try it.

I said this yesterday to someone, just
because you make a decision on something

doesn't mean it has to be permanent.

I thought I would be in
the medical field forever.

I thought I was going
to go to nursing school.

I thought I was just going to follow up
with nurse practitioner school or PA.

I realized I hated working
in the medical field.

doing such a huge pivot is
scary, but also, freeing.

I remember the last, Office I worked in,
I walked out cause I was so unhappy and I

called my husband and I was like, I just
quit my job and he was like, thank God.

that's a big mindset thing just
because you make the decision

does not mean it's permanent.

You can always change your mind.

It's funny how much ego and worry
about what other people will think

can get wrapped up in that decision

Yeah.

I ask questions about risk taking and how
you felt about starting your own business.

what was the mindset and the decision
you made to start your first business,

which sounds really impressive and fun.

And then shift into the virtual
assistant and now your current role.

it became, out of opportunity.

I wanted a farmhouse
kitchen table for our house.

I went to all the different furniture
stores and I was like, this is crazy

expensive I could build this myself.

So I built a kitchen table
and it was beautiful.

I built the benches for it.

I had someone come in my house and
she was like, where did you get this?

and I was like, oh, I built it.

And then she's like, how much would
you charge to build this for me?

And I was like, I don't know.

I've never done that.

And it went out of control.

I started building.

I would build things.

list them and they would
be gone within an hour.

I told, new neighbors, I
was like, I'm really sorry.

I get lots of traffic during
the day because I have people

just picking up orders.

I was very conscious of not turning the
table saw on at 10 o'clock at night.

Cause we're very close to each
other, but it was kind of like out of

opportunity of like, I love doing this.

And the community loves it too.

So I just did it.

when the army decided to move
us from California to Texas.

I knew I wanted to do something that
I could move with me, but also, that

was flexible enough to where if my
husband has to go somewhere or I

want to go travel, I can literally
just take my laptop with me and go.

And so I loved the virtual side of things.

And I tried working for a company
as a virtual assistant I am very

quick to be like, let's do this.

I was like, I could run my own business.

It can't be that hard.

And I loved it.

I think the military has given
me the opportunity of having that

mindset of I'm just going to try it.

See what happens.

I also have a super supportive husband.

he's like, yeah, you should do that.

Let's just, let's figure this out.

So I feel like that is
a big part of it too.

It's always interesting hearing
all the different Mindsets

and shifts that can happen.

and that's part of why
I love this podcast.

So I get to meet so many people that have
interesting insights and interesting,

just like the ability to take action.

Because there's so many people and I've
been in those stages myself, right?

Where you're like, I think about it and
then I get stuck in analysis paralysis

I had parents who were business
owners and they really struggled.

sometimes there's a danger in knowing
what the negative side can look like.

I've also seen a lot of military
spouses struggle because they

don't have that adaptability and
flexibility and they, not fully

realized what they were getting into.

And then when they got into it really
struggled because they didn't know

what they didn't know, and didn't know
how to respond to it in a way that

you have, which is really admirable.

Yeah, and my goal is to like, I love
sharing my story because I want to

inspire other people who have said
like, Oh, maybe I should do this.

And I'm like, do it.

What's the worst that could happen?

It doesn't work out,
then try something else.

But you have to easily pivot.

I'm working on a book about this for,
I want to like, I need to finish it.

As a military spouse, it's not just
follow your spouse around, take care

of the kids, take care of the house.

It's like you can do anything,
reinvent yourself every time you move.

I've joked that last time we moved, I was
going to sell used cars you just never

know what you want to do or how great
it's going to work out until they try it.

What a freeing ability to be whoever
you want to be when you move, right?

Like a lot of people, I like a
fresh start and being able to be

like, okay, this is who I was.

Now this is who I'm going to be.

for people that might not be moving and
getting those fresh starts, do you have

any advice for someone who might want to
figure out how to create one, even though

they're staying put, they might be stuck
where they're at or love where they're at.

They are tired of, doing the
same thing over and over again.

I always say, look at your skills
that you've acquired along the way.

Look at the different things
that you know you can do.

Also look at the stuff
that you hate doing.

Like me personally, I
don't like accounting.

It's just not my thing.

And I know that I will
never want to do that.

So looking at the things that you
really like to do and the things you

don't like to do, and then looking
at what skills that you've acquired

along the way, like, do you know
how to do all the Microsoft stuff?

soft skills are huge.

if you have worked in, Retail.

You have great customer service.

That's a huge thing.

If you're just a nice person
too, that goes a long way.

you can't teach anybody to be nice and
you can't teach them to be responsible.

I feel like that's two great things
that you have to push forward and

put those number one, because you can
teach anybody how to use a program.

You cannot teach them to be nice.

so looking at all those things
and kind of looking within you

what are you passionate about?

Do you really love to cook
and want to share that?

i've seen so many People that are like
I love to bake and I want to share it

with the community they start Baking for
everyone and it could go either way.

But just figuring those out for
yourself and really taking that

deep dive, I think is huge.

And along your point, you actually
represent that when you said, I

want to be able to be flexible and
travel and do things with my family.

And you can't do that if you're
trying to lug a table saw.

I love woodworking and
I still do it sometimes.

I'll pull out the saws in the driveway
and apologize to my neighbors.

There's just sawdust everywhere.

but that's not portable for me I needed
something that was portable that I could

still do if I want to jump on a plane
and go to San Diego for the weekend.

I want to be able to
still take that with me.

And so this was what I wanted to do.

And it's not for everybody.

But it's an option.

it comes down to what are your values
and our values change, like your values

when you're living in the middle of
mojave might be different than when

you're living in texas or Kentucky or
California being able to shift and hold

true to those values, because if you had
moved and tried to keep doing what you're

doing, because you knew you were good at,
you would have felt stuck and probably

started to resent it at a certain point.

Yeah, I feel like that was a big
part of not doing woodworking

anymore it started out as a project
and became a career for five years.

when we moved, I was, highly requested.

I do really custom work I
still do it now for presents.

I would take handwritten recipes
from like family recipes.

I actually just did one for
my, cousin for her wedding.

It took her grandmother's handwritten
recipe and put it on a cutting board.

those are such a cool gift.

And they're timeless.

I was highly requested for those, but
it kind of became a Like resenting,

like, I don't want to do this right now.

so I knew that wasn't what I wanted
to do when we moved to Texas.

And the fact that you were able to
quickly identify that you could start

your own business and help others
is really important and impactful.

starting a business, sounds scary.

you just gotta be messy with it.

You'll figure it out.

Like my thing was, I'll
figure it out along the way.

I'll make my mistakes.

learn from it and then move on.

But you can't dwell on the mistakes.

I think that's a huge piece of advice
yes, you make your mistake, figure

out what went wrong and then move on.

don't do it again.

Learn from it.

It's easy for people to forget that
starting your own business and doing

anything we do is not a straight line.

it's not always going to be that
cool chart, increased revenue

that everyone wants to see or
increased happiness or success.

We all define success differently.

We all define what our
goals are differently.

and it's never a clear
path It's always messy.

I've had messy interactions
the past two years and I

learned from them and moved on.

Yeah.

So what is it when you're able to work
with clients, in digital marketing

capacity, what is it that you love
the most with working with them?

I can easily answer this.

I love being able to take the idea
they have and connect that, in the

digital world most small businesses
or even bigger businesses, can't

afford to hire huge chief marketing
officers or anything like that.

So I love being able to connect
that and then have the clients

see that and be excited with
them when it all starts working.

Yeah.

It's funny you say that because I've
worked with clients in the past where

Put the strategy together, get them
started, train their team And there's

just no energy or excitement about it.

They're like, cool.

Now we can check this box

And I have found that that energy
exchange of like, I spent so much

time on this and I got you the perfect
solution to start out with, and it'll

evolve as your business evolves.

But like, aren't you excited about it?

Let's do this.

And when they're not, I'm like,
we're getting smarter about

who I bring on as clients.

That excitement and that energy
can go a long way and it goes a

long way towards their success.

I have friends that have small
businesses within the community

and I tell them you can say no.

If you feel like this client isn't
for you, then you say it in a

professional way, but you can say
no, you don't have to do everything.

it's hard as a small business owner
to say no, because you're like, I

don't know when the next client's
going to come through the door, or

I don't know when the next person's
going to reach out to me for an order.

But if you don't say no, You're going to
burn out faster and you're going to start

resenting your business or what you do.

not only am I working for this client
I don't love I'm doing things that take

more out of me than give back to me.

Setting those boundaries is huge.

Absolutely.

Are you working primarily
with military spouses?

Are you working with, like, what
kind of businesses do you work with?

we have a huge facet of different
businesses that we work with.

we offer services that are 49 a
month for a business to have a

professionally designed website, that
is actually going to work for them we

take care of the backend of things.

We maintain it, we secure it.

If plugins are not working.

We will fix it, we answer the phone.

So I think that's huge when it comes
to a website company if you need

help, we are there to help you.

seven figure companies that have very
large websites that are very intensive.

It's a range of different clients
and I love being able to just help

whoever comes through the door.

I've had clients come to me in the past
and they're like, we got this website.

It was built by this company and, pick a
country and they're not doing it right.

then you're trying to get ahold
of somebody to figure it out.

And then they're trying to
hold the website hostage.

we actually answer the phone.

We have amazing content specialists
that know what they're doing.

and are friendly.

they are really great at what they do.

And we love being able to help
everyone that we can and help

them get a professionally designed
website within their budget.

Cause sometimes you can't afford a
huge, Budget, but that's why we offer

the stuff for the smaller businesses
what is your role in the organization?

So I help with the digital
marketing, social media strategies.

and when it comes to sharing their
message on their social media and

building that strategy and kind of
helping communicate the fact that,

Social media is not your business.

It's just a tool and
figuring out how you use it.

I love the reference of like Target
has a cash register to help me spend

all of my money Social media is just a
tool just like the register at target.

Getting that through and fixing the
misconception is, 50 percent of what I do.

Because that can be a hard thing of
also taking off that overwhelm of

like, I have to be on social media,
I have to post every day, and making

them realize You need to do what
aligns with your goals, not what

the influencer is telling you to do.

I think that I personally love the
sigh of relief when you're like,

you don't have to be everywhere.

Don't try to boil the ocean.

Pick one.

Let's focus on that.

where your audience is,
is where you need to be.

if your audience is over 40 or
over 60, they're not on TikTok.

you don't have to be there, even though
everyone's like, you gotta be there.

They're probably not there.

So finding your audience and being
present where they are is big.

it's been so fun to watch the evolution of
social media, and it's really challenging

to see how it's going and how people
are using it and what's happening next.

you can see exactly who's
using AI for their content.

I love using it, but don't copy
and paste straight out of AI.

you have to edit and then edit
and then edit the crap out of it.

use it as a brainstorming, not
as the final, And I've managed

to develop some pretty amazing.

prompts, which will get it close.

But even with all of my testing of prompts
and trying to figure out what's going

to work best, you still have to edit.

we got really deep in a rabbit hole one
day building a custom GPT on chat GPT

that will only pull content from our blog.

it will prompt specific questions
for our content specialists

like, what are the keywords?

What are the topic?

What's the goal of this?

Like, is it going to the blog?

Is it to download a freebie?

What's the goal?

And then it creates a great caption but
you still have to read review and edit it.

I love being able to use it for
specific things, but like you

said, it's the brainstorming.

It's the outlining and
even that you need to edit.

And then it's like, okay, what can
you do and how can I help others

use it more effectively as well?

it does save a lot of time.

Absolutely.

sometimes my brain is fried and I'm
like, I need another word for struggling.

Please help me.

I need to double check to make sure I
didn't miss anything in this process.

it's been amazing.

Bonnie.

It's been such a pleasure.

I love that our conversation's
been kind of all over.

Cause I think that it's very indicative
of how more and more entrepreneurs are.

Creating their businesses, right?

Like creating on your passions, creating
on what you're good at, focusing on

what you want to be doing and looking
at how to set those boundaries.

You've given a ton of great advice.

Do you have any last words?

I do.

when you're starting out with your
business, involve your family.

If you have family at home,
involve them, talk to them about.

Like this is my idea.

This is what I want to do.

maybe they want to be involved.

when I was building, my husband
was my sanding specialist.

He would come out and he
would sand stuff for me.

He knows how to build and he knows
how to do all that, but he would

come out and do sanding and my boys
would come out and they'd help out.

Make it a family affair because
then they're more supportive and

they're going to be more excited
for you share your goals with them.

If you are like, I have a goal
of building 10 tables this month.

They're going to hold you to it,
especially when they're younger.

If I grow up being like,
mom, did you do that today?

It says on the fridge,
you're going to do that.

setting your goals, but like sharing
them with your family because they're

going to hold you accountable.

And if you don't have that, your friends.

Share your goals with your friends
and be like, I need you to hold me

accountable because sometimes my ADHD
lets my ideas just fly out the window.

Yes, exactly.

It's such a strong, powerful example
that you're setting for your kids.

That's huge they see that you're going
after your goals and it helps them kind

of open their eyes to like, what can I do?

Yeah.

No, it's funny.

I was talking earlier that my parents had
a lawn and garden business for 26 years.

They kept it open for that long,
but it was constantly a struggle.

A lot of times it felt very resentful.

It was, seven days a week,
all hours of the night

And day, I've had my business since 2016.

to this day, they still say, I can't
believe you have your own business.

it's the opposite of what
I want to hear sometimes.

Me trying to explain to my mom what I do.

I was like, Oh, I do digital marketing.

She's like, I don't know what that means.

I had an aha moment when we were
in Michigan a couple of weeks ago.

I saw her scrolling on her phone.

And then I saw her stop on a video.

And I was like, mom, that is what I do.

I figure out why you stopped on that
video and do the analytics on it.

I help my clients figure out
Why their audience stops on a

video and then replicate that.

She's like, Oh, okay.

I get that.

Cause still digital
wasn't even on her radar.

It was like, do you see that billboard?

I put that there, that
TV ad, I put that there.

If you use the internet invoicing your
clients, And now she's better, it's

so funny trying to explain some of
this stuff to people, because you're

like, we're just starting small, she's
like, that's a perfect explanation.

And then my husband's like, wow.

That's a really good explanation of that.

I was like, it came to me
when I was just sitting here.

That's amazing, Bonnie.

It's been a pleasure.

Thank you so much for joining us.

I'll put all of the links so people can
find you in the show notes, but just in

case, if anyone's tuned in and they don't
have the show notes in front of them, can

you tell them where they can find you?

they can find me on LinkedIn.

Just search Bonnie Conrad and
my smiling face will be there

or you can go to innately.

com and we will be there to help you out.

And those of you tuning in, I can't wait
to hear back from you about this episode.

And remember, we are all about
helping you manage your career and

business and not the other way around.

Till next time.

Thanks.