The Road Less Traveled: Marketing Paths for the Modern Age

Join hosts Kristy and Anna-Lynn as they explore the unconventional journeys that led them to success in the marketing industry. In this inspiring episode, they share how their diverse skills and experiences across various careers eventually culminated in thriving marketing roles. Listen as they discuss overcoming fears about career changes, pursuing passions that diverge from their academic backgrounds, and leveraging innate abilities to achieve success.

Episode Highlights:

Pursuing Passion Over Expectation: Both hosts emphasize the importance of following their passions and interests rather than what others expect or dictate.

Unconventional Career Paths: The episode highlights how both hosts took non-traditional routes to discover their true callings.

Importance of Trying Different Things: They stress the value of experimenting with various jobs and hobbies to find what truly resonates.

Adapting and Pivoting: The necessity of pivoting careers and adapting to new roles when previous ones didn’t align with their passions.

Overcoming Fear and Doubt: Emphasis on pushing through self-doubt and societal expectations to pursue what they genuinely love.

Mentorship and Leadership: The role of having supportive mentors who see potential and provide opportunities for growth.

Validation Through Work: Finding personal and professional validation through the success and recognition of their work.

Creative Fulfillment: The importance of creativity and how it plays a central role in their job satisfaction and career choices.

Encouragement to Keep Exploring: A motivational message to listeners to continue exploring and not settle until they find work that brings them joy.

Whether you're contemplating a career switch or just starting your journey, Kristy and Anna-Lynn offer valuable insights on following your potential and defying the advice to play it safe. Tune in for an engaging conversation about discovering your true calling, embracing unexpected opportunities, and finding fulfillment in your work.

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Chapters

• 0:00 How We Got Here
• 2:04 Anna-Lynn's Journey Into Marketing
• 7:16 Anna-Lynn's Shift to Creative Director
• 14:34 Kristy's Journey into Marketing
• 22:57 Kristy Pioneers Matterport
• 25:56 Trying New Things
• 27:56 Video The Moment
• 29:36 Chase What You Enjoy
• 31:51 Use Your Skill to Make Money
• 34:46 There Is Hope For You

Transcript

0:27

welcome aboard free dive with cpoint digital your goto podcast for deep dives into the world of digital marketing I'm Christie and I'm Anna Lyn your host navigating through the currents of growth strategy and innovation in the digital realm we're going to talk we're going to laugh it's going to be a good time let's dive in here we are again hi CH welcome back this is fun it is we were made for this I think I love this we were made for this my true purpose is being fulfilled I feel like this is going really well I hope so I think it is I have no we're also slightly delusional people so I don't know but I feel like that helps I feel like it helps I have no evidence that this is going well besides the fact that I'm having fun I feel like I've worked really hard this week um if that's all in vain I don't know same I know we have we go through periods where we're working a project and it's like 3 months of intensive 10hour days and it's just crazy yeah so it's nice to have a side project where it's just fun and relaxed and and we're still working we're still working we're still talking marke it is it is so we we we how do we cram this topic into like 20 minutes it feels like I could talk about this for hours I know so maybe it's going to end up being part one it could be let's just preface it by saying this is part one yeah maybe it is can always cut that out after we could always cut it out after that's the best thing about this we can always cut it out after um today we're talking about how we got here uh meaning to these to these jobs so the roads we traveled to get here would you like to go first sure um I'm trying to think how far back to go we only have 20 minutes so I'm going to try not to be super wordy yeah but um so I have always been um very keenly interested in writing and it was something that always came naturally to me um and through throughout my public school years um anytime there was any um testing my scores were always off the charts for Grammar and Writing and English and comprehension of English and all of the language arts um and like when I was in e8th grade um I was in the gifted and talented program I know I'm aging myself there um it's not around anymore but um it's not I didn't even know that no I think it's an Imaging myself there we're in the everybody gets a trophy era so yeah yeah but back then it was like all the students that scored in the top percentile um they were moved into the gifted and talented program for whatever subject they were really good at and so for me it was language arts and English and my scores were in the top 1% um for the country and when I was in 8th grade um John Hopkins University sent somebody to our school to offer me scholarship and to come live on campus and just deep dive into language arts yeah I was 13 and my CS were like uh no hard pass still impressive though it's like a big honor but it was like that was that was just me in public school but as I um went through High School uh my English teacher was like you're going to write a book someday you're going to write a book someday MH um and so it was something that always came naturally to me I was also drawn to photography and while I was still in high school uh we had a really cool vocational um building attached to our school and so like my last couple years of high school my days were my really beloved English class and my graphic arts and media class where I did Dark Room photography and learned about uh printing brochures and laying out print and graphic design and stuff like that and then while I was doing that then after school I would go to my college class for photography uh because I was just like this is what I'm going to do and I'm going to do something with this because I love this yeah so words and pictures like something I'm going to do something with that um but then what I ended up doing right out of school when I graduated and finished my college courses then right when I was done with everything I started my own photography business and I was doing all the marketing for myself I made my own website I made my own business cards I made my brochures you just taught yourself yeah I well I learned some of it in my graphic arts Vocational School okay um learning how to design was a big part of that and then just my natural love of Photography and um making things look good yeah it just kind of all came together and I did all the copy content that I needed so so I was marketing without really putting a name on it like I didn't realize I was marketing I was just trying to grow my business and so I always did something like that all through my adult life yeah um and even if my photography business I did a lot of time in partnership with other jobs that I had cuz artistic jobs didn't always pay the bills yeah and so I got into like I worked at a bookstore again my love of writing um that was amazing um I worked for a camera company um on the coast of Maine and um then I worked for one of my favorite jobs and I still am in touch with the owners they're like a second family I worked for like a mom and pop camera store print shop um in Waterville Maine and I still keep in touch with them I love their family so like it was just such a cool job and while I was there they had a studio that they weren't using and I was like let me at it put me in there like can I open open this back up for you can I run it and so I built up a clientele there um and so it I I've done all these different pieces of what goes into being a creative director or like marketing yeah sounds like it um and then when I started here it just like creating content and being an editor and I I feel like we have innate abilities and then we have learned abilities and for me language was always that innate ability yeah of mine and being able to convey how I was feeling or what I was thinking or a concept and using words as the vehicle for that yeah that was what I was always good at yeah um not so much speaking like I'm so much better when I'm like put me in the corner with my little notepad and or my laptop and just let me get the words out like being put on the spot and having to speak so like this podcast you you really pushed me to do this and it's good though I growth this is the year of grow gr it's year of grow for you you're wearing Sparkles this year and um I'm really going to push you to your limits so it's true you have and um but that's been really good too because um this job has taken what I'm good at and then pushed me farther than I would have gone on my own MH so I really love that and I love that um you know we' we've won awards and I've contributed to the copy for you know what won that award yeah and we have clients that are just calling out the writing and being like this is really great you've really made my website come alive and you totally get it you got the point like you were able to Define what we do yeah and that is tremendously gratifying because I feel like you get there are so many different ways you can get validation for the path you choose and what work you decide to do it's it's extremely validating for me every time I you know get correspondence from a client that we have and they are so happy with what I've done or I've contri I've helped contribute to the success of a project where we've had a full team on it um where I have one extremely gratifying thing was training new writers to write insurance writing yeah that felt so cool like andess and right and they're successful and they're turning out fantastic copy and there people who didn't come on come into this company thinking that they were going to be able to do that so it just seeing them realize their proficiency at writing when they didn't have any accredit accreditation I'm I can't speak today when they didn't have any um validation from any school or anything that they could be a writer right but they just had those gifts and find seeing it and helping that to grow that is just like the coolest one of the coolest parts of my job yeah because I am such a big proponent of doing things a different way that's like defined my whole life so and so and I love um I love the other people in our that come into our company that are like I don't know if I can do it and like Bill's really good at seeing that spark in people yeah finding where they fit and seeing like you would be really good at this you may not have had the training yet but you will get it here right and I think we all um the opportunity in this agency to come in almost like an intern you know and just try out it it's basically like real world development of skills that maybe have been hiding MH and he's just he's kind of a wizard and that he can see see that in people and then he has people in place to kind of help pull that out and it's just the coolest thing yeah no he he has always done so well in that department finding finding people and finding where they fit what their talents are and using that in whatever job works well for them and helping them them thrive in that role yeah like pull out that hidden talent but then make it grow and then build up your confidence and just cheerlead you on to International success you know it's just like or national success it's it's it's such a cool unique concept for an agency and it's not to say that there's that everybody here doesn't have it like there are people here who have gone through typical channels to get into this industry yes yes that's not to say you know every but so what if we were we're doing the work we're producing the results it doesn't matter when you get right down to it how you get from a to right because if you're able to put out that kind of quality work and um and get there it doesn't matter how you get there yeah I think and that's validating for anyone else especially anyone listening who feels like they don't have enough background in something that they want to do but they want to try it and I think too many times like some people hear or believe that they hear like a how dare you when they want to get into something that is brand new for them or just something that they have an interest in and thinking that they're hearing that from other people like well how dare you I did I went to school for six years or four years or two years to get into this job what makes you think in no no you just look at them and you say I dare I do yep watch me yep I'm doing it yep so see where it takes you yeah why not why not sometimes you succeed yeah yeah I think a lot of times you can I think we just get tripped up by what we think we're supposed to do what we think we're supposed to follow and fear stick to big big part of it I think yeah just no no more of that yeah no more of that no no we past that so what's your story Christie I I kind of grew up feeling like I was never good at anything and always felt like my siblings were all really good at something and I wanted to find the thing I was good at your thing and I couldn't find it you know my siblings were so talented at music and I never was good at that so I just like was always my whole life chasing like what what the thing I was going to be good at couldn't find it and then when it came to the time point in my life where it was time for me to get a job I'm like okay so what's going to be the thing that I do to make money and like because I didn't want to hate working yes but I was surrounded by people that were like working is a drag except for my dad who loved his work he did flooring and he loved working and he worked very hard so I tried working with him for a little bit but I just enjoyed spending time with my dad I didn't enjoy the hard labor of working and so I was like well I know that I don't want to be doing hard manual labor um but also on brand correct correct that's men's work um where's Tim where's Tim that's men's work um but my whole life my mom was always like you love kids you want to be working with kids you need to work with kids and I'm like oh I guess I love children and so I went to school for early childhood education for um like through high school and then I went to to um College after to work with kids and then I worked for many years in early childhood education and I was never happy I hated it and I it never occurred to me until I don't know 10 years into it I don't like children I don't I really don't lovingly I say that so lovingly as lovingly as possible it's here's what it is it's like I I like kids to a degree where it's like I like them over there like pat pat on your head yeah now goodbye yeah um you know I raised not to be responsible for them in some way I I raised my my nieces and my nephew and you know so I've had I've had my kids I raised them their whole lives um so it you know but at the same time I'm just like working every single day as a career taking care of I did infants for many years I did I did preschool age I did toddler age I did Kindergarten and the closest I got to enjoying any of it was infants but I was never happy and it's because my mom just was like you love this you love this it was someone else telling you what your thing was and I'm like you love this she was like you're so patient I'm like I've never been patient a day in my life that's that is the last quality that I possess it's the worst quality I have I'm not patient person you you think that and so when I finally realized that yeah but through all that like I enjoyed photography my whole life um and at a certain point I pursued photography I thought maybe I can be a wedding photographer I did portraits of my friends here and there I bought my my own first camera when I was I don't know 20 years old and I shot my first wedding when I was 21 and it was just very nerve-wracking um and precious moments that can be recaptured yeah that's what it was unfortunately I didn't enjoy that either and that was so disappointing to me because I thought I really wanted to like this because I love photography but shooting weddings man yeah it's not fun I did it for years and it was great but it was also not it's it is it's it's a lot of work both while you're shooting and then in po I hate editing photos editing photos is one of my least favorite things and it's so much of that um dealing with the the you have to be an certain type of extrovert you know and and I do consider myself an extrovert but interacting with strangers and the family and being so charming and on and at that point in my life I I think I wasn't as matured confidence wise and and interacting with strangers wise as I am now and so it made me very anxious and um it was just so much pressure and I hated it and I was so disappointed that I hated it and so I gave that up um but that was like a little piece in the back of my brain where I'm like that's something I I like but um yeah for years I just kept chasing after what it is that I liked and and not really finding it um and it sounds like what other people thought and what other people told me I should be doing right and so at a certain point I went to school for um reflexology because I realized one day uh working on someone's hands that I had a natural talent for that and so I went to school for a year for that and got a got a certification doing that and so I pursued that for a a time and then I realized it is deeply um unsettling to get jobs uh to go to strange men's house to work on their feet um getting paid to go to strange men's house to work on their feet that wasn't a uh instant Epiphany that took you a while it it did take me a second to realize I would hate that also on I very uh that is Christy core to the core um so that was disappointing um I thought it would be more medical than it was it is a very medical thing um and I was so I am so naturally talented at it but separ from it being creepy um my chronic illness kept escalating to the point where my hands would give out out and I couldn't make it be full-time work I my body couldn't do it it's a very physically any kind of Massage Therapy is very very physical on your body and so the worst my physical my chronic illness got the harder it was the more eventually one day I realized I I couldn't I couldn't do that as my as my work and so that dream died as well and so one day I just landed here it's just I feel like it was just like what did you initially come here when I started here um Bill offered me work doing community management and so initially I was just he was just kind of like let me just throw find something throw random stuff at you and so for a while like I was only working five to eight hours a week um doing social media for us social media for certain clients uh Pinterest was really big back then so I was doing a lot of random pins making pins and um taking care of one of the chambers for Commerce and uh he was like I'm going to I'm going to throw you into analytics cuz you seem like the type and um that's the one time Bill was wrong whoa was he wrong because he was just like I'm going to teach you all about how to run reports and write reports and because Bill and I had no Rapport at the time I was just like yes sir I will do what you say um thanks for the job sir thank you for the job I I need this job and I was like I don't picture myself staying here at all cuz this is horrible um and so I did reports for a while until like other things started to morph in I think he realized I was so charming and funny and I was definitely becoming the personality higher um that he just started to find other things for me to do that's when mport came into the program super quickly cuz Courtney was doing it uh a little bit Gretchen was doing it a little bit bill was doing it a little bit none of them really enjoyed it um and so they threw it at me they were like you seem here you need tasks do this and I I really enjoyed it it was brand we were the first in New England to be doing it um the only people in New England to be doing it it was brand new it was a brand new business um and so um I I I really enjoy doing it I didn't enjoy um traveling to strangers houses that took me a long time to get used to but I thought this is an Avenue of Photography that's very different that I feel like I can kind of grab a hold on to and make mine no one else is doing this and I love that for me like I am the only one you were so intense saying that to me I was just kidding in my interview that I'm coming for your job I feel like there was some extra feeling behind that you know there's there is something to be said and for my personality you know what it is it goes back to Childhood trauma to my siblings having their special thing and me not having a special thing and I was like oh I grabbed onto matterport with a death grip because it was like you get your fangs in it nobody else not one other person in all of New England is doing this and I'm doing it yeah and so that that made me feel like top of the pyramid babe like I'm going to take this and flag in it yeah and I I realized that there was some skill and strategy to it it's it wasn't it wasn't it wasn't super difficult but it wasn't just anyone could do it per se you did have to learn the you know the nuances to it um and especially as as the camera upgraded and and all the things upgraded but anyway I took the mport program and made it mine and so that's when like over time I just started being like hey Bill this random reporting stuff it's not for me like go give it to someone El and he I think he kind of agreed with me like yeah let's pass that off to whoever um and so slowly certain tasks I had I would gain new ones that were a little bit more me and then other ones that were not me would get handed off to someone else and so I kind of just kept slipping into the things I do here and uh get handed things that felt like they fit me yeah um especially um you know all the video stuff I realized over time I am I enjoy more video than I do photography my whole life I was like I love photography I love videography because you know and you wouldn't have discovered that if you hadn't been in this job like it wouldn't have occurred to you to like go to school for that to get a degree for that right you only found it because you just landed in this job and came at it a different way which I think is what we're trying to talk about to it just goes to show you have to try many different things before you find what you're good at sometimes you like some yeah because it's like you just kind of have to like step into something and be like nope that wasn't for me nope that wasn't for me oh something about this I liked but maybe not quite this like working on feet of creepy men that's a no something about it getting paid money to touch this guy's feet at his private house I don't love it but I am good at it that's not your takeaway kids okay let's not make that your sound bite but like droning I would have never in a million years ever never yeah pursued that unless bill was like you're doing this yeah and um which is a total other kind of photography yeah and I it's like such my passion now and I and I enjoy it so much and so it's like some things I just fell into like most things I just fell into and I feel like they were like like a lifetime coming um from Little interests I had to like finally making it there I like I always I always my I love taking videos on my phone anywhere I am out and about and everyone in my whole life would always be like oh can't you just like enjoy the moment you have to video everything and I'm like this is my way of enjoying the moment exactly like you ever actually G to watch that video yep I am sure I am yeah I can't keep enough storage on my phone because of the actually 2000 videos that are on it and people are so offended by that by like G can't you just like live in the moment instead of videoing it absolutely not I love videoing this is you living in the moment it I enjoy it and so it that translates to work I just I love videoing things I love I love the process of capturing this moment that's making me happy and letting it live eternally yeah and getting to watch it again and sparking that feeling of how happy that moment made me again and again and then sharing it and making other people sh look at this look how happy I was and I like watching other people's videos you know I think that's why Tik Tok does so well because you know it's just like look at all these just silly window into somebody's life and into their personality and into their experiences and we're all a little bit voyerism of MH yeah and so finding my realizing I didn't have to feel sorry about that was a big part of it and that I could translate that into work that I love MH such a relief and like makes me really happy so my message to the to the people would just be keep chasing what you enjoy because it may not I I just think that you can enjoy your work I do too that was my big thing too like my parents when I graduated high school they were like go work at the bank MH and I was like I knew I knew with every atom in my body if I worked in a bank or for some kind of corporate entity traditional corporate entity I would self-destruct yeah I could not do it yeah and it had to be work for me and maybe it sounds entitled I don't think it is because I came from a poor family it wasn't like I'm just going to chase my dreams while someone funds them right not at all yeah not at all my car broke down every month yeah you know and I ate noodles for years yeah it was if I am going to have to work mhm to make my way in this world yep it will be on my terms right and it will be something I want to do M if it's not that it's going to be a no y I don't care I don't care how desperate my situation gets that is going to be the one thing MH that bends to my will you know especially you're giving over your time you're giving over years of your life yeah to someone else so they're going to be aan day every day hey it's your life they're going to be a company I that aligns with my my goals or my whatever like it's going to be it it's going to be mine I'm going to take ownership of it yeah and my parents didn't get it they hated it well everybody everybody has some kind of skill yeah everyone's different in their skills but I think you use them to your Advantage if you are if you like driving go be a FedEx driver go be a bus driver you know what I mean like whatever it is right and and just figure it figure out what you are good at figure out what you enjoy and figure out how that translates to work yeah find a way to make it happen too like I think don't be scared don't be scared I think and we were talking about it earlier like fear is such a big mind killer and it it just and it kills your your spark it kills everything yeah and allowing other people to tell you that's what it is what you should and shouldn't do that's what it is yeah it's like um whose life is this whose work life is this yeah um it's yours so guess what you get to decide yeah what your work life is going to look like yeah I mean maybe that still sounds entitled but we've lived it you and I have both been like I'm going to do this yeah and it hasn't been all puppies and rainbows right yeah that's not to say that every aspect of our jobs is nothing but fun and Giggles oh goodness we have what yesterday was I not literally screaming into my hands at my desk literally so many screams in me I was screaming into my hands at my desk I was so frustrated so it's like it's not like all of it is just rainbows and I had several moments when I was like I'm quitting I'm leaving you know there were there were like bills like oh is she quitting again you know I went through some growing pains for real and was like I don't know if this is for me until I found my thing yeah but um yeah so it's not it's not always like committing to that making that choice and then committing to it and following through and not letting anybody disrupt that I think is it's a conscious decision you have to make and you have to give yourself permission yeah and then just do it mhm I hope this inspires people I hope so I hope I I hope I haven't said anything too cliched and cheesy I feel like I do yeah well I'm sure there's some I hope it doesn't come across as like may you be as Happ as we are chase your dreams listen listen I don't mean to keep going back to the the foot fetish thing but you are but again some of us were working jobs where we touch man's feet for money and then then I got here so if you are still in your touching feet for money phase of your life There's Hope there's a for you I feel like we need to make a t-shirt or some kind of I I don't even know if that I don't think that was my word I cleaned bathrooms on a beach for a summer when I was 21 that was pretty rough because it was pitched to me as like oh do you want to just get like paid to sit on the beach for the summer and then like every hour go in and just like make sure the bathrooms are clean and at the time it I thought it was big money I think I was getting paid like 12 bucks an hour yeah and I was like oh my word I'm going to be rich sitting on the beach getting paid to just like go check and oh my word was that not the situation not even a little bit and people treated me like I was trash and they were so mad at me if I tried to jump in front of them to clean a stall they were about to use sand everywhere it was the women's roomm was always nastier than than the men's Believe It or Not wow surprise me and then I'd have to travel to other beaches and I'd always ride with this man who would smoke in my car and roll his cigarettes in my car wow it was just like it was a bummer I feel like we could do a whole other episode with the men of your of your past a cautionary tale listen some of my stories are not podcast appropriate and so these are just the ones I feel like I can share to the public so um for the nonpublic ones hit up my DMs how about that that will just invite new bad experience oh that's a good point don't leave my DMs alone we're going to get kicked off we're going to get kicked out of this let's not lose our funding like we said yeah we have to wrap this up this is longer than we normally do I feel like w worth it good I feel like it's a good subject like we both are very passionate about doing things in a different way and I want other people to feel like you do it too yeah yeah not like a you know Filly full of sunshine delusional kind of yes live in the clouds way like we both had very gritty yeah gritty determined we had gritty determination what I'm TR to yeah we do need to wrap it up I'm my train of but um yeah I think it just encouraging people to find their way to where they want to be regardless of what other people say and how they're told they need to get there yeah because we're both thriving in this industry y we've reached and surpassed goals that we've set for ourselves we learned new skills and none of it would have happened if we had limited ourselves to that scared little voice that told us we were doing it the wrong way yep yep we didn't stand our comfort zones yeah so may you not either may you get something out of this and we appreciate you and come hang out with us again oh no okay well that's all for today yeah that's that that should be enough I hope I think so okay don't leave us now come back yeah make sure you come back we need to not sound desperate at the end of every podcast pleas please come please be our friends we think that you're going to leave please hello to our one listener just come back if you want like whatever we don't we won't even we won't even care just just going to sit here and talk anyway it would be cool if you came to like whatever you can hang out too but but do it come back yeah do it okay friends till next time it's the end no it's not there's more there's always more don't be sad you can catch our full video interviews on our YouTube channel come find us and don't forget to subscribe like and share with your friends so that we're not sad and follow us on Tik Tok and Instagram it'll make your day happier promise and we'll know if you do it until next time