Work With Your Business: Systems That Actually Support You with Eden Lovejoy

Welcome to Wickedly Branded: Marketing, Magic, and The Messy Middle, the podcast where real conversations meet real strategies. I'm your host, Beverly Cornell, founder and fairy godmother of brand clarity at Wickedly Branded. With over 25 years of experience, I’ve helped hundreds of entrepreneurs awaken their brand magic, attract the right people, and build businesses that light them up.

What if the reason your business feels heavy isn’t a lack of effort, but a lack of clarity and systems that actually support you?

In this episode of Spark & Ignite Your Marketing, Beverly Cornell sits down with Eden Lovejoy, founder of Your Virtual GM, for a powerful and honest conversation about leadership, systems, and what it really takes to move from overworked operator to empowered leader.

Three Key Marketing Topics Discussed:

1. From Overworked Operator to Empowered Leader

Eden breaks down why most entrepreneurs stay stuck in the weeds and how true leadership begins when you stop doing everything yourself. This shift creates space for growth, clarity, and sustainable momentum.

2. Systems That Create Freedom, Not Control

This episode reframes systems as tools for empowerment rather than restriction. Eden shares how clear systems support teams, reduce burnout, and allow business owners to step back without losing confidence or control.

3. Visibility, Confidence, and Leading Authentically

Beverly and Eden explore the pressure to “show up” in business and marketing and how letting go of the “shoulds” leads to more authentic visibility. When leaders show up as themselves, trust and connection naturally follow.

Dare to be Wickedly Branded

Transcript

Beverly: 0:11

Did you know that building the right systems and your mindset could be the key to unlocking the freedom and growth that you've been dreaming of in your business? Today's guest knows this intimately because she's dedicated her life to helping overwhelmed entrepreneurs step into leadership and reclaim their time and energy. I'm your host, Beverly Cornell. Founder and fairy godmother here at Wickedly Branded. We've helped hundreds of overwhelmed overachieving consultants, creatives, and coaches awaken their brand magic and boldly bring their marketing to life so they feel more confident and attract their absolute most favorite and profitable client. Welcome to season seven of Wickedly Branded Podcast. I'm so excited about this season. Today, I am thrilled to be joined by Eden Lovejoy. She is the founder of your virtual gm. Eden is a powerhouse at transforming overworked operators into empowered leaders. Through her unique approach, she helps entrepreneurs streamline their systems, build teams, and finally step out of the daily grind to focus on what matters most. If you're feeling stuck in your business, this episode is going to inspire you to break free and take your leadership and your business. To the next level. Welcome Eden.

Eden Lovejoy: 1:26

Thank you, Beverly.

Beverly: 1:27

I'm so glad that you are here with us. Building a system is one of my favorite terms. I'm excited to talk about systems as far as a business is concerned. Let's go back and look at your entrepreneurial journey and what led you to start your business was there a spark or something that actually started the business for you?

Eden Lovejoy: 1:45

I've been in business more than once and I think it's a non uncommon journey. I just have always been driven to do my own thing. I have spent a lot of time in jobs and ending up in a place where, the owner of the company or the leadership of the business is making a decision that's it's not the right decision. I finally realized, you know what? If I wanna stop being in environments where I don't agree with the decisions that are being made, I should just do my own thing. And then I get to be totally responsible for all the decisions. I like it. I'm driven to do that.

Beverly: 2:13

I was an accidental entrepreneur. A similar situation happened where somebody was making some decisions where I was like, that's a bad decision for the company. And when I got married to my active duty Army husband, I had to take my show on the road. I said, okay, I'm gonna do some freelancing. But then I got overwhelmed by all the decisions. Eden.

Eden Lovejoy: 2:28

When you have something that's important to share. The importance of keeping the eye on the ball that's bigger than me, right? So what makes me comfortable? Doesn't serve the bigger picture that my spirit is drawn to. Sometimes it's harder to make the big decisions but there's autonomy and there's freedom, and there's choice and there's learning. So how am I gonna look at that? Do I wanna look at it as pain point or as an opportunity? And I lean towards, let's look at it all as an opportunity.

Beverly: 2:53

Even the mistakes are opportunities. Like even the bad choices, the bad decisions I've made, have been opportunities.

Eden Lovejoy: 2:58

Every time I had a manager that I was supervising come to me with a problem or a challenge and I started to respond to that and he stopped me. He said, sometimes Eden, it's not always an opportunity. Sometimes it's just a problem. And I said, ah, no, I disagree. It's always an opportunity. It's to learn to do something different.

Beverly: 3:15

I believe that's where evolution happens, right? That's the opportunity to level up sometimes. If you wanna just stay at the same level, then fine, it's the problem. But if you wanna level up, it's the opportunity.

Eden Lovejoy: 3:25

It's all unfolding perfectly on my belief system.

Beverly: 3:28

You gotta just keep trying. So when you first started the business. How did you develop your brand and how has it evolved from that very first logo or the very first outward appearance of what your business was gonna look like?

Eden Lovejoy: 3:41

When I first stepped out, I didn't even know what I wanted as a company name. I chose something that really was maybe more reflective of more corporate-y. I started off as access management. And I ran with that for a few years. And then I was in a workshop and really started looking at what I really do. My actual corporate name is your business lifestyle.com. I'm about helping people discover how to be in business and in their life in a way that really works, right? How to live a life you love running a business that you care about, that you're inspired by. Your virtual GM is an evolution of that. My internal vision has always been how do I get what I know I'm good at, which is general management and operations management in the hands of as many business owners as possible. I wanna make a change in the success rate of businesses in this country, right? The percentage of companies that go out of business in the first five years, it's 70%. And I think a lot of that's because people don't know how to manage teams, how to build systems, how to put organization in place to support their dream, your virtual GM is the name of my book, activate Your Virtual gm. That is the system that I have designed to really translate what I know I do well into how we implement that in other companies.

Beverly: 4:59

I had the same thing. Three years ago, just totally changed my perspective of who are we? I started doing the things for us that I did for my clients all the time. Then I decided that I needed to make us the best case study. For my clients. So if you are the best case study for your clients, what have you done? What are some of those big decisions that have worked for you?

Eden Lovejoy: 5:18

My system really falls into the three keys, right? There's three keys to how it works, right? And one is to, create an engaging culture. So I hire people not necessarily I bring people on board, skills are important, but we can teach skills. They have to have the right mindset for what it is that I'm up to, the right framework to work from. And then I am a big believer in delegating authority. Give people the authority and the accountability to do their work and make sure they know. The third piece is really having metrics in place or feedback. I currently, own actually four businesses. The reason I'm able to do what I do and teach people how I do it is because my other businesses operate on the system. Those are my proving grounds. And I put that in place so that I trust my team. They know what we're up to. They know what is important for achieving company goals. And I get the feedback so that I can make sure there's no mid-course corrections required.

Beverly: 6:15

So over the last couple three years, I've been scaling my business as well, like preparing it for scaling and systems. Systems have been so critical to removing responsibility off of my shoulders, specifically with my team. I created my own methodology so that other people could execute the system of my methodology on my team. And when I was growing my team, was a huge decision because, I was easy to hire a bookkeeper and a CPA because I hated doing numbers. That was like. A first outsource, from a business perspective, for myself, a lot of times marketing is one of those things that people outsource pretty early on as well. That first hire that's gonna be on your team and then that system's gonna have to start to be created. Whether it's co-created with that person or you have a system and you're able to bring that person on, can be very scary.

Eden Lovejoy: 7:05

Yeah. My first hire and my first business where I hired someone was terrifying. I was at a place where I was either going to need to let go of a client that was a key client that was growing. I needed to either write that off and move away, or I needed to hire somebody to help me because it was very clear that I couldn't do it all myself. I was just so fearful of how do I grow? I was working from home, I was working myself do I wanna grow it? And then a business owner that I knew, said to me bottom line is if you can handle having somebody do your work to 80% of how you would do it. Then you can have team members. If you can't do that, then you would better always stay a solopreneur. And I thought about it and I was like fearful, but I also, wanna be engaging with people and humans. So that's a good benchmark. The mistake that I made was, I hired a really good friend and I've done it a couple of times in my career, and if you hire a really good friend and you have to fire them because they're not doing the job, it just doesn't go well. That was the first big mistake that I made. But I learned a lot from it. And one of the things I learned was. A month or two in from having her on board. And I'm sitting at my desk, and I realized I didn't have any mindless left I had delegated all of that. I had realized that I had created a little bit of a challenge for myself to restructure my workflow.

Beverly: 8:24

In my experience I've worked with a lot of subcontractors'cause we hire out graphic designers, we hire out web developers that work on our team with us, really smart people. And I've learned a couple things. That has been really fascinating. And the way I hire is very unique. I feel like I've become a better leader because I'm clearer on what I want to do with the business and where I wanna go and what the role is for this person. What I just simply started doing at that point was like looming everything that I did so that I had a recording of everything that I did every day. I didn't do any special trainings on it, but as I was doing it, I would talk through it on Loom. And then I had this library, repertoire of videos of almost everything that I did in a day. And then when I started removing these drainers from my list, I now started having some SOPs and some different things that I could use. I got really good at delegating because now it's so clear. I don't like to do that thing. I have this video, I can give it to this person and I can even now with chat, it's amazing. You can put the transcript in. It creates a step by step process. It's freaking amazing. I can edit it, make sure it's good, and my own little flare if I need to. When I do that, I also think about this and then I can hand it off and it's replicatable to the team and the expectation so much clearer. I didn't have any of that and I was like, why would you do this thing? There was no system, no constraints. I didn't even have a project management system. I don't even how we functioned.

Eden Lovejoy: 9:46

I will tell you I love your strategy because you captured in Loom, because I just don't think, what business owners have been told since the eighties, right? Starting in the eighties with the E-Myth, it was that owners should work on their business, not in it. So my strategy and what I teach people is how to work with your business, not on it. People don't wanna be worked on, they wanna be worked with.

Beverly: 10:06

I love that. Reframe. Work with your business. On your business.

Eden Lovejoy: 10:10

Business that has real high intention is an entity of itself, right? Working with it and inviting other people to contribute and play the energy gets magnified and multiplied. Operations as a skillset and management, is something that can be outsourced, can be invited in. So that owner can be the creative or the driver, the visionary the rainmaker, depending on where you like to be. Unless you're a person who really does love the operations the systems, really think about how you can delegate work either a vendor or a team member.

Beverly: 10:45

Love a good system. Love a good checklist. When I work, I'm very systemized about the process. I love doing the looms, I didn't like anything else with it. I have gotten the point where my team knows how create a system now out of my looms. Amazing. I think it's maybe a muscle delegate and that you have to practice and that you get better at And feel like I can go to the things that I actually really love to do when I have that time it has created space and breath in my business to be able to do those things.

Eden Lovejoy: 11:12

I had a team. And I had grown my business, the role I was in was with the staff of about six. And you mentioned building that delegation skill. Delegation is not abandonment. It is an active process and it's an active dialogue between two people. That is absolutely a skillset to develop. Then I wanna tell you, how I really got focused on my passion, which is teaching people how to work with teams and develop them I was running a business, had a staff of six, I was the founder and I had an advisory board. I went on a trip and I came back from that trip and one of my staff had written a letter to my advisory board characterizing me as abusive, unprofessional. it was a long inventory of the experience this person had of working with me. one of those advisory members went to the rest of the staff and asked if they were having a similar experience. And one of them characterized me as being abusive. to our members, to students we had in a training program and to staff that is not my heart. never, to be characterized as an abusive person was like I was mortified, Come back from a trip and I walked in'cause I liked to go in on Sunday and get myself organized for the week. So nobody else was around, thank goodness. When I came in and I found these documents on my desk, these letters were on my desk for me to find. And it was like, I'll lose your breath and just and but I had a chairman of that advisory board who said to me, he said, you're really great at your operations. It's very clear from the success that you're having, but it's also very clear that you suck at HR and he hired me a coach, and that coach in that conversation, I got this tone in my voice. And it's like that tone of thinly veiled rage where we're just barely controlling our frustration and she said that right there. Like that, you never, ever get to do that again. Not with another person on your team, whatever it takes. And at first it took me walking away, right? What I learned was that if people aren't doing what I want them to do, it's for one of three reasons. One is that I've not clearly communicated the expectation. The second is that I have not given them the tools and resources they need to be successful at the job. And the third is they're quite simply not a fit for, the position that they're in. And that anger is not an appropriate solution to any of those three challenges. that, anger is appropriate for identifying a problem, but fails miserably when used to address a problem. And two of those three things are me that I have to look at first, right? And so I'm very invested in really looking at that piece of, have I clearly communicated, have I provided the tools and resources? the magic that happened there was three years later, I got so excited about what I could learn, about how to motivate and inspire people that I'm like, I wanna explore this differently. and I had an idea of what a job might look like, where I could practice my theories And I didn't find the job. So that was one of the times that I went into business for myself. I said, okay, I'm so focused. On what I wanna do, and I'm so clear on how I wanna be leading people. I hung my shingle and stepped out on my own. And then That former chairman of the advisory board, like three weeks later, called me and said, Hey, I just got told that I need to hire a general manager and I wonder if you're available. And I was hired from the largest team I'd ever led was seven people. And I was hired to general manager of a 90 employee company that I was at for six years and was very successful in practicing but it was like magical because I was willing to see the opportunity. Because I was teachable and because I learned and got excited about, it turns out a great characteristic as a general manager is I don't actually wanna do anything. I love getting things done through the efforts of others. I absolutely love that.

Beverly: 14:48

I love that too. And I love, when I give others opportunities to do things and be successful. I help them shine. And that to me is extremely rewarding. And when I push their skillset or I challenge them and give them opportunities for growth, and I see them evolve and develop and really become these amazing contributors, whatever that looks like for them. That is the icing on the cake Eden. It used to scare me to be a manager or a leader. And now it's probably my most favorite thing because of those moments, like you're talking about, like the willingness to try and play and grow and make a mistake and not be perfect, but try again and I love that This is so good'cause it leads it to the next part of the question and the season's big question. Because when we don't show up for our business, when we don't show up visibly or with authority. Are we keeping our business small and not maximizing the reach, right? So this season's all about visibility and confidence and showing up as a business owner, showing up as a leader in front of your business for so long, I'm guilty. My listeners listen, this is the truth right here. I thought that my work should speak for itself. Like I should do the work, keep my head down, do the work, and it would just be fine. And I did, I was growing and I had referrals and all those things, but the mission and the why and the passion for my business wasn't in front of my business. And I wasn't able to magnify the reach and the ripple effects that we could create. When a business owner understands their why and their passion and who they are uniquely in the space, and how they show up specifically are our favorites, which are the female founders of, consultants, coaches, and creatives. When they can step fully into who they are authentically and show up as them online, fully with the brand that they have, they can step more visibly into their business. So what does confidence mean to you and how have you shown up or been more visible on your marketing journey to expand your reach? And what has been some of the results of that? Because clearly podcasting is part of that.

Eden Lovejoy: 16:51

It's interesting. I've spent the last year. I did a lot of things right. I did a lot of things trying to reach out to be out, in front to do those things. what I found is that I was trying to be out there performing to some other people's idea of what I should be doing and crafting messages I was modifying my true message in order to try to be successful in places.

Beverly: 17:15

Many people do this, the comparison trap of what society, I call it the should suitcase. Everyone tells you should do and should be like, and how you should show up. And so how did you put the should suitcase down? Like what changed for you?

Eden Lovejoy: 17:26

With everything in my business, if I get to a place where I realize I'm not having fun, then what do I wanna do differently? And I went internal a little bit and I, really thought about it and I realized I had invested in trying to promote a brand and I'm comfortable with who I am and how I present in the world My way without trying to have it be something else that's flashier or whatever. And what I came to, an understanding that I came to years ago is that there's a lot of ways to be right in marketing. And I just need to find the way that's right for me. And I feel like I forgot that for a minute. I published my book and I was like, okay, I gotta go out and do this, be this, whatever. And I lost sight of myself. So what I circled back around to is, why would I do that? I would do that because I'm coming from a place of fear And so the shift for me, the mindset shift is I only wanna be out in the world being who I am, telling the truth about what I've got. And if that's truly helpful in the world, then I will find a way to navigate that. But I don't wanna try to be performing to somebody else's story of what it should look like. I just need to do what's right for me.

Beverly: 18:29

I went from 3:00 AM stress wake ups of oh my gosh, I have to do this thing to the shoulds, right? To three ams of, oh, I get to do this thing. When I fully showed up as myself, magic and all it changed. And I do, my brand is physical. Like I have pink in my hair and when I go out, I have like sparkles that I put in my hair. And when I started to have fun and play in my business with my brand and everything, it changed. Everything. It changed my creativity. it was like a big deep sigh of relief. And big excitement of what's possible now. And that's freeing

Eden Lovejoy: 19:08

Yeah. two things. One, my brand colors are the orange and the blue, right? is a very traditional business, and I'm business minded and come from, business operations. But the orange is life, right? your business lifestyle, right? that's what I'm up to is supporting both of those things and that brand piece. Each one of us is uniquely created as a unique expression of whatever your terminology, universe, power, love, the only thing that's really interesting is who you are, right? through all of this marketing chatter and everything else what really drives you? what's your story and what's your passion? so I just get to tell the truth about that, and then we'll see where it goes. if it's a small group of people that I get to help deeply, or a big group of people that I get to help, I get to trust that outcome too.

Beverly: 19:50

And the right people will come to you because they'll know that's the kind of person who they need to guide them because you are showing up exactly as you. I have a lot of trauma in my background and a lot of stories. And I built this business in the messy middle of life, what it taught me is all the things that are important, right? About my business, about my relationships, about connection, all those things, informed who I am as a person and how I run my business and what matters. So I went from being a fairly private person about who I am to actually like this is who I am, and this is what matters to me. People are drawn to your humanness, they're drawn to your story, and that you've turned them into opportunities. And for the listeners, Eden's a great example of this. So many of us, tamper ourselves down thinking we'll be too much, or maybe that we're not enough, like the imposter syndrome, and we don't fully just embrace who we are. The other day I was talking about how you can be a masterpiece exactly as you are and still growing. Like you can do both things at the same time. You can be exactly who you're supposed to be right now and also be growing. I am a firm believer of when you let the shoulds go and you fully just be who you are, it's far less stressful and far easier just to show up as who you are That's just. It's a gift when you can get to that point and have that gift. And when we do like our brand Spark blueprints and we do those calls with people to get to their why and get to understand that clarity for them for their branding and their marketing it's pretty vulnerable.

Eden Lovejoy: 21:19

I've always known that my mission is to bring success through clarity. I was the oldest of four children in a very chaotic environment where things were changing all the time. It was pretty chaotic but it's not unlike how many employees feel in their employer's business, right? Where the rules are changing, the systems are changing. It's a different decision every day. And then I know what that feels like and I wanna bring clarity to those environments where people are coming together in a unit to accomplish a goal, which is not unlike a family. I'm like, oh yeah I get to take that lesson of my childhood and say, here's some tools that can help bring people outta chaos and into clarity. And I love doing that.

Beverly: 21:59

So good. Lean more into who you are. Always. You're beautifully made. And if you can fully embrace that for yourself, you will save yourself so much stress and burnout in that too. Going back to your why is always very powerful. When I was hustling and I was burnt out and I was almost gonna give up, and when I took the time to go back to my passions, my purpose, what I actually love, and I've stayed the course with that, that has been my guiding North star. changed everything for me. And it bleeds into every aspect of your work and in your life. you focus on transforming overworked operators into empowered leaders. what's the most common mindset shift in clients that need to embrace this transformation? Is it fully embracing just who they are? Is that like the mindset shift,

Eden Lovejoy: 22:44

I think we've talked around it, but maybe to sum it all up is that how do you really move from overwork to operator? What happens for people who are overworked operators is that even if they do have a team, they've set it up so that their team is always coming to them for an answer to every question. people aren't empowered to find the answers to their own questions when we delegate responsibility, we have to also delegate authority to be able to complete it. the piece is to really learn to trust that other people can do it without you having your hands on it. when you begin to do that, other people can begin to perform and contribute to your company with you.

Beverly: 23:20

So good. I know we've all worked with people who we've had to like. We've been micromanaged like we've had to report to, and it doesn't feel very fulfilling when you work for someone like that. When I empower people on my team to do things, I want you to try to figure it out. And if you make a mistake, I don't want to encourage them to make a mistake, but I also want them to not be stressed about possibly making a bad decision. We'll figure it out. I have all these 13 years and we'll figure it out again. there's been a couple people specifically who are so afraid to make a mistake that I've literally been like, you need to make a mistake now. Get it over with. it's gonna be fine. even the older team members who've been with me for longer are like, she's really, she's you the truth. No one really believes that's actually like a thing. You can make a mistake and no one's gonna die. And so they have to convince them it's okay to do the thing, to take the authority, to make the mistake to also get the success.'cause what they start to see is, that's a great idea. I wouldn't even have thought about that. I love that you took that risk. Like they start seeing those moments and then they get more empowered to do the thing and take the risk possibly, and have the success or maybe need a course correction, which is pretty simple. It's not usually that difficult to do. Team members bloom with that. It's not only do they have personal pride in their work, they have pride for the business that we work for.

Eden Lovejoy: 24:35

When you're clear on your why, then they can get clear on it too, and have that buy-in and sometimes it's just really helpful just to tell people, it's within the scope of your authority to make that decision. I'm open to hearing what's your best idea about how to solve it? And we have to prime the pump a little bit. I trust you with this. It's within your, just to say it very clearly and then, be willing to be a resource when they check their ideas, if they're uncertain, and eventually they'll look like, oh, it's really within my scope. I'm gonna make this decision. And like you say, sometimes, I remember one time where I assumed something was in my scope and I made a decision and my boss said, oh, that area's not yours. Oh, okay. Now I know that area is outside of myself.

Beverly: 25:13

It is magical. It is absolutely magical. I had a previous employee, Eden, who I met up with just a few weeks ago that I had not seen in probably six or seven years, and I'm a very different leader now. And she was like, Beverly, I just want you to know that I wouldn't be where I am without you. And it made me very like. That's so nice for her to say that. I think even if you try hard and you believe and you are a human and all of this, Even as my best leader, I still was, helping and trying my best in the process. And I think she saw that. But totally different now experience and so many more systems so I learned a lot from her, but I thought that was just so sweet that even when I was messy she still thought there was value

Eden Lovejoy: 25:53

Sometimes people learn from our transparency. and here's another tool that I've found very helpful in the past. When I know that I'm not doing as well as I like, and I'm trying to learn in a new direction, I can ask my team and give them the authority to reflect back to me. If I find myself going in that space again, could you just remind me, Hey, remember you didn't wanna do that anymore give people the authority to help me continue to grow as a leader when we recognize those things that we wanna change in ourselves.

Beverly: 26:19

If this conversation is resonating or if you know somebody who's struggling with this, I would love for you to share this episode with'em or to leave us a comment and let us know what is actually resonating, what bits of magic you've heard from Eden's story or some of my story that have been powerful. this could be the exact spark that your friend or you might need to make that change to become more of an empowering leader for their work. It means a lot to us that put together the podcast when we get feedback and what really resonates for us. And then also what you share with people. It's, magical for us. Speaking of magic, I do have a magic hat round. It's sparkly and purple and it has all kinds of questions in it, and we let the universe decide what this rapid fire section's all about. How do you want your clients to feel after they work with you?

Eden Lovejoy: 28:17

Is all about freedom to be in the life that you want to be able to sleep well at night, take a vacation and trust that their company is running smoothly and without them.

Beverly: 28:27

How has running your business changed you as a person?

Eden Lovejoy: 28:31

My business is a reflection back to me of how I'm doing. So I get to watch myself grow through the evolution of my business. more confident, more effective, and more courageous.

Beverly: 28:42

What's a common misconception about your industry that you'd love to debunk?

Eden Lovejoy: 28:46

That an owner's responsibility is to work on their business. It worked great in the eighties and the nineties in today's world, working with the next generations we really have a responsibility and an opportunity to work with our business and with our teams to see what we can co-create together.

Beverly: 29:02

I love that change. I'm gonna use it from now on. So you've got a convert here, Eden What's a decision that completely changed the trajectory of your business?

Eden Lovejoy: 29:11

I decided that I didn't wanna be a consultant. So consultants I think come in and tell you what's wrong and then leave you to figure it out. And so when I switched from my first company name in that consultant mindset to your business lifestyle.com, I shifted into done for you packages of I wanna come in and be a part of your team and play with you while we're working together. And I love that. So it was a huge trajectory shift and a mindset shift for me.

Beverly: 29:36

What's the worst advice you've ever received? Business advice. Oh, worst business advice,

Eden Lovejoy: 29:41

I think. It is a quasi business in a business environment, but to be willing to be house poor and to tie up resources in my home rather than freeing them up to be investing in other things. Real estate's a good investment, but being willing to be house poor means too much gets left off the table.

Beverly: 29:58

What do you think sets your brand apart from others in your industry?

Eden Lovejoy: 30:01

I have developed a system for business organization, but it is gonna be different for every company because it always pivots off the owner's why their mission, their values, and their vision. It's not like a cookie cutter have these kinds of meetings with these kinds of agendas, but it's have this architecture so it's completely customizable, again, designed to your business lifestyle, support you and your business that is going to be unique to the owner. It's very owner centric rather than system centric.

Beverly: 30:31

Okay, so that is the end of the magic hat round, but now we can move to the magic wand round we're gonna wave it and we're gonna go back in time to 18-year-old Eden. And what advice would we give her that you wish you'd had that you know now?

Eden Lovejoy: 30:44

So you have to know that 18-year-old Eden in her very first business adventure was living in a small cabin with no running water or electricity in this tiny town in Alaska, selling firewood for a living. But it is where I developed my love for small business, right? the advice that I would give is advice that I got midway in my career and didn't follow, which is don't sell yourself short. Be willing to charge for the value of what you contribute, not what you think the market will bear.

Beverly: 31:11

Yes. You should definitely charge for your services. Oh my gosh, yes. We're not here to do this for free. We all have to live plus the thing that most of my clients struggle with is they feel like if they raise their prices that. It makes them feel, seem greedy or something. There's a lot of money mindset issues, but what I say all the time is if you have more money, you can give your team, you can grow your team that gives them opportunity to feed their families. You can donate to your community. There's all kinds of things that can happen with the power. When you are given a true salary for yourself, that can happen. Which is true.

Eden Lovejoy: 31:42

No, no one has served when you make yourself small.

Beverly: 31:44

So what would 18-year-old Eden in that no water cabin in a very small town in Alaska, say about where you are now? Eden?

Eden Lovejoy: 31:52

Probably just you go girl.

Beverly: 31:54

Is it bigger than what she would've expected for herself?

Eden Lovejoy: 31:56

No. I think she wouldn't have known what she expected for herself in that moment. But by the time I was 19 or 20, I knew I wanted to be in small business and that I wanted to make a difference. And I've had a very consistent internal messaging for a very long time about what it is that I'm up to and why and how. And so I think maybe what she would say is, oh my gosh, celebrate, just celebrate'cause you're doing good.

Beverly: 32:19

So you need to go celebrate after this podcast.

Eden Lovejoy: 32:21

Okay.

Beverly: 32:22

All do toast to her or whatever you would do to celebrate that would be amazing. So I'm gonna wave the wand again and I'm gonna go far into the future. And we're gonna be at your funeral and your eulogy is being read. What do you hope that people say about your work and your impact in the world?

Eden Lovejoy: 32:39

She helped me discover what my real passion was and gave me the freedom to explore it, to be who I am in the world and to have my business or my life depending on my mentoring The consistency is that, she helped me discover my true voice and where I really wanted to be and helped me get there.

Beverly: 32:57

I'm gonna wave the wand again and we're gonna come to Present Day and your business, Eden. What is one branding or marketing challenge that you would like me to wave my wand over and fix today? Is there something that maybe you're struggling with right now that maybe I can help you with?

Eden Lovejoy: 33:11

I think the controversy between multiple plan channels and platforms or really digging deep into one.

Beverly: 33:19

My advice is always to go deep on the place where your ideal target hangs out. So where are your people? If your people are on LinkedIn, You need to own that platform. You can have a very light presence on the others and repurpose some LinkedIn content there. But I say there's too many. Platforms. Now it's a full-time job just to be on every platform. I really suggest you spend as much time on LinkedIn that you're active you're commenting, you are, they say you should comment for like 10 to 15 minutes before you actually post anything. Be active and human on that platform that's gonna get you the most benefit out from the algorithm. Then if you try to spread yourself and do the same thing everywhere. this also comes down to with the drain and the driver, right? So maybe there's one platform that you love as well, stay more on that one.'cause you love people can see through that. they know if you love it or not. So if you love Instagram, there are people who are in your space there as well. Be true to you in whatever platform you choose. And then I always say, you need to also spread yourself to other things. Don't just be a social media manager. So go in on the one that you love, that your niche is at, and do it genuinely, and you'll do very well. Thank you. That's a great question. And a lot of people ask that question about there's so many tools, what do I do? There are things like aggregators, like Metro Cool, and Hootsuite Metro Cool is not very expensive. And I oftentimes recommend it because you can post on one and post on several, it reformats and you can post at different times and different things. If you really just wanna have a presence on them, those that will serve you well. But I would organically go onto the tool. And post and engage on the tool of the one that you really want to be active on for your people. Perfect. Good question. what do you think it means to be wickedly branded to you? What does it mean to you? How do you show up wickedly branded, and what advice would you give our listeners to be more wickedly branded?

Eden Lovejoy: 35:18

I really, to be wickedly branded is to be recognized, understood, and known as the expert in exactly what I do, right? To have people know without confusion. Oh, you wanna do that? Talk to her.

Beverly: 35:30

Yes. To be known as the person who does the thing that you wanna be known for, and be genuinely authentic in that. Absolutely. what would you give advice would you give to our listeners to be more like that?

Eden Lovejoy: 35:43

Oh, I think we've touched on it. Know your why, find your own style. Don't be afraid to be goofy or different. Goofy and different is totally stands out. Be yourself. Have fun, be con, just get out there and do it. When I started in business, marketing was just the thing that was the hardest for me. And I had a mentor say, just do one thing every day. Yeah. One thing every day. And really the lesson for me was just do it. The only thing I can absolutely do a hundred percent wrong is nothing.

Beverly: 36:12

Yep. Consistency and persistency is half the battle for sure. Eden, this is so good. Thank you. Where can our listeners connect with you and find out more about what you do?

Eden Lovejoy: 36:21

Your virtual gm.com. Activate.

Beverly: 36:24

There's also on LinkedIn, you are Eden Lovejoy on LinkedIn too.

Eden Lovejoy: 36:27

Yep. So listeners can find me, Eden Lovejoy on LinkedIn. If you'd like a copy of my book as a gift to readers on this podcast, go to free business book.com and feel free to download a copy of my book, it's my gift to you, and learn more about my philosophy, my system, and my style and what I teach.

Beverly: 36:45

wonderful gift. You guys. say that address again for the free book.

Eden Lovejoy: 36:48

business book.com.

Beverly: 36:50

Free business book.com. Wonderful. Take advantage of that. My listeners, I would love for you to get all the free advice you can get and then, if you find something that you're really connected to, reach out to Eden on LinkedIn or through her website and see if maybe it makes sense for you to work together to help get those operations and systems in place so that you can enjoy vacations and breathe and do things that you might not even think were possible because you're burned out and hustling. I really hope my listeners have found some tips today. Some new ideas and may most of all feel inspired to take some level of action, whether it's to download the book or to maybe lean more into their why. Or maybe it is to hire that first employee, create some systems and hire the first employee. Because here's what I know for sure, that every single one of your messages matters. That your business and work matters. And the world needs to hear what you have to say because marketing isn't just about visibility. It's about the impact that you make in the world, the ripple effects into your community. It's about connecting with the right people and the way that feels absolutely 100% true to you. So keep showing up, keep sharing your brilliance and keep making all that magic in the world. And hey, if you ever feel stuck, you don't have to do this alone. We are here to help you turn that spark into a wildfire. But until next time, I dare you to be wickedly Branded.