Stepping Fully Into Your Genius Zone with Rachel Huff
You’re an expert at one thing that you know the market needs, but you’re feeling tugged to do something else—something that just might be in your genius zone. Do you go for it? Communication maven turned agency matchmaker Rachel Huff did—and she shares her experience.
We discuss:
The challenges of starting a new business on the cusp of a global pandemic (with two tiny children and no day care).
Generating the courage to pivot from what you’re very good at to your genius zone.
The importance of building a new pipeline after a pivot—and allowing enough time for it to jell.
Giving yourself permission to lean into your genius—even when other “experts” try to change your mind.
Why creating and sharing your point of view is so critical for soloists.
LINKS
Rachel Huff | Website | LinkedIn | Rosie’s Place
Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram
GUEST BIO
Rachel Huff, President and Founder of Victoire & Co, sits at the intersection of great companies and great agencies. Her passion lies in building brand-agency partnerships that drive long-term success.
With a keen understanding of clients’ communications and business needs and a network of trusted agency connections, she specializes in guiding companies toward their best agency fit.
Rachel previously led business development and agency marketing at Weber Shandwick and 360PR+ and has consulted for agencies of all sizes, drawing from a decade on the account side developing integrated communications campaigns for brands including John Hancock, Verizon, Ocean Spray, DraftKings, CVS and Life is Good.
Rachel extends her professional expertise through her nonprofit involvement. She serves on both the Board of Directors and the Marketing & Development Committee for Rosie’s Place, the nation’s first women’s shelter and a sanctuary for poor and homeless women.
RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS
10 Ways To Grow Revenue As A Soloist (Without Working More Hours): most of us have been conditioned to work more when we want to grow revenue—but what if we just worked differently?
The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).
The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.
TRANSCRIPT
00:00 – 00:28
Rachel Huff: When I started off on my own, I actually always did have this idea in mind of being an agency search consultant and that that was somewhere that I wanted to get 1 day in like 5 years or so. But I was so used to doing certain work and I was, I just sort of had, I don’t want to say pigeon-holed myself, but maybe. And I think, I just think it’s really important. It’s something that I learned. And I think this was part of my making that pivot was just because somebody didn’t listen to your expertise in
00:28 – 00:34
Rachel Huff: the past, or just because somebody didn’t necessarily empower you to be an expert on something, it doesn’t make it true.
00:39 – 01:07
Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women, where we’re all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I’m Rochelle Moulton, and today I’m here with Rachel Huff, who serves as a matchmaker for brands and agencies through her firm Victoire & Company. And her background includes over a decade inside an agency developing integrated communication campaigns for brands like John Hancock, Verizon, Ocean Spray, and CVS. Rachel, welcome.
01:08 – 01:10
Rachel Huff: Thank you so much for having
01:10 – 01:38
Rochelle Moulton: me, Rochelle. Well, 1 of the reasons that I asked you to join me is that you started your business right smack dab at the beginning of a pandemic with 2 tiny children. But, but I’m also planning on picking your brain for an idea or 2 on PR and thought leadership for soloists. So let’s dive in. I guess let’s start with what made you decide to start your business. Maybe you could set the stage for your first few days and weeks as a soloist.
01:39 – 02:09
Rachel Huff: Absolutely. Yeah, as you alluded, I spent my really whole career in agencies working on communications campaigns and my last few years in the agency world, I had transitioned into a business development and marketing role. So I was really responsible for helping the agency that I was working at to bring in and onboard their new clients. And I had this idea that had been sort of percolating, you know, I had kind of always had it in the back of my mind about going out on my own and continuing to do that work, which I really did enjoy
02:09 – 02:36
Rachel Huff: that work, but to continue doing that for a number of different agency clients. So either agencies who were smaller size, who didn’t necessarily have their own dedicated business development person or, you know, sometimes midsize or even larger agencies who just needed a little bit of outside perspective and help to really help those agencies with their marketing and growing their business. So that was really what the idea was when I went out on my own in March 2020. I had set the ball in motion.
02:37 – 02:40
Rochelle Moulton: Let’s stop there for just a second. March 2020.
02:41 – 03:14
Rachel Huff: Yeah, I had really good timing. Impeccable. I had kind of like set this ball in motion already to leave this, you know, the so-called real job and start my own consultancy. But yeah, then this little thing called COVID happened, worldwide pandemic. And yeah, my 2 kids were at the time 6 months old and 3 years old. And suddenly we no longer had full-time childcare for them. So yeah, this vision that I had for launching my own consultancy, it definitely was a little different from what I had initially anticipated. But I did pretty quickly start to take
03:14 – 03:29
Rachel Huff: on new clients and work. It just for that first year, really a little more than a year, it really was my workday consisted of really nap time and nighttime after the kids went to bed. So yeah, a little different from how I thought it would have gone.
03:30 – 03:38
Rochelle Moulton: So given that and you’re trying to squeeze this in between nap times, how long did it take you to hit your first 100, 000?
03:39 – 04:09
Rachel Huff: So that first year was, like I said, it was like part-time, part-time, right? And then it took me about a year to really officially then I said, you know, I’m really committed to doing this. My, my kids were now in full time childcare. So I established my LLC. I launched Victoire and co in 2021, you know, officially now had my own business and felt a little more real. And then really in that second year, it took me, it took me that second year to hit a 100 K Mark. And it was interesting because even then I
04:09 – 04:30
Rachel Huff: was still part time. I still wasn’t working full time. And I had this, I guess I had a moment of shock when I was crunching the numbers after 2 years in business and I realized I had made as much money working part time and doing this for myself as I had made in a full time salary job before that. So that was really exciting for me. So yeah, yeah.
04:31 – 04:41
Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, that transition. I mean, that moment when you really realize, oh, I can make money at this. And when you realize that you can make more and work less.
04:42 – 04:44
Rachel Huff: It’s wonderful. It’s freeing.
04:44 – 04:56
Rochelle Moulton: Exactly. So what’s your viewpoint on hiring employees or contractors inside your firm? Like, do you have a point of view about that or have you kind of moved off employees, no employees?
04:56 – 05:25
Rachel Huff: Yeah, I’ve had some subcontractors on like project basis, but it’s really interesting because I have a friend who owns her own agency. And I feel like every time I talk to her, she’s like, just wait by the next time we talk, you’re going to have your own employees are going to start growing soon. I’m always like, oh, no, no, no, thank you. That’s actually I really enjoyed listening to your podcast and how some of your guests are like, no, I know that I’m a soloist. I’m fine with that. I’m cool with this. So that’s really how
05:25 – 05:45
Rachel Huff: I feel. I mean, I never say never, but for me, it is very freeing not having the responsibility of mentoring people, coaching people that need to really always keep them busy, you know, make sure I can deliver a paycheck to them. It’s really I really like having accountability to myself and only myself. That’s part of why I’m doing this.
05:45 – 06:09
Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. And isn’t it funny how the outside world just puts that expectation on us? Oh, you’re going to get employees. You’re going to be fabulous. It’s like, well, I’m already fabulous. It’s kind of your response, right? I love working this way. But yeah, it takes a little getting used to, to being counter the prevailing quote unquote wisdom, right, of starting your own business.
06:09 – 06:23
Rachel Huff: Yes. But yes, I’ve been very happy being a soloist. I loved working on big teams. I used to work on big teams. I used to mentor people and manage people, but I’m pretty happy working on my own and I still get to work with great people, just not within my own business.
06:23 – 06:35
Rochelle Moulton: Yes, exactly. So how did you land on your current specialty where you’re basically matchmaking brands with agencies, agencies with brands? How did you get there?
06:35 – 07:03
Rachel Huff: I sort of took this parallel path. So when I started, I was really focused on consulting for agencies. And then I would get requests from time to time for people I had worked with in the past who are now in-house and needed help with running a search because you know They they were now in-house and needed help getting an agency and didn’t even know how that process necessarily worked so I it started as me just sort of helping a few folks and then had a number of these searches under my belt and continued down that path.
07:03 – 07:34
Rachel Huff: So I had these parallel paths where I was doing the agency consulting and then helping companies run their agency searches. And I really just enjoyed that work so much. I don’t know if I wanna say so much more, but I felt like that’s really where my expertise, like I could really shine in my expertise and take all of my knowledge from having been agency side and bring that to in-house teams and helping them find the right agency partners for whatever their needs were. So I did make the decision at the end of last year, so the
07:34 – 08:01
Rachel Huff: end of 2022, to pivot with my consultancy and really double down there. I just felt like I, it almost was a little bit like the Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day, where I just was like doing the same work over and over. I’ve been doing it for so long with the agency, you know, the agency side work. And I knew how to do it. I was really good at it. I was helping people with it. But I was just running into the same things over and over. And I really am enjoying this new avenue for my business.
08:02 – 08:13
Rochelle Moulton: Well, it’s I don’t want to put words on your in your mouth, but it almost sounds like you went from your zone of excellence to your zone of genius, like that there is a line that you crossed. Somehow.
08:13 – 08:40
Rachel Huff: Yes, completely. That’s exactly right. It’s my zone of genius. And then it’s also, it’s work that just really energizes me. And it’s very intentional. And I’ve really enjoyed doing that. And I think 1 of the challenges that I found, I’ll be, I’ll be transparent about this. 1 of the challenges that I found in making that transition was that the agency work that I was doing was either in some cases retainer based work or a lot of recurring project work where I do a project for a client and then it would lead to another project and then
08:40 – 09:09
Rachel Huff: it would lead to another project. So it was a lot of that. This work isn’t necessarily like that because if I run a search for a company to help them find a external marketing or communications partner. I set them up with a great agency, and then in some cases they’re done with me. Obviously bigger companies have a number of agencies that they work with, so I have done some recurring searches for companies, But it is definitely a different model. And so, and it requires like a really pretty steady pipeline and a constant pipeline. So the first
09:09 – 09:26
Rachel Huff: half of 2023 was a bit slow for me as a result of making that pivot. And I just spent a lot of time marketing myself, networking, really putting myself out there and it’s definitely been paying off. I would say the second half of this year has been, I quickly ramped up and it’s been very busy
09:26 – 09:55
Rochelle Moulton: again. Well, it’s funny you mentioned pipeline because that’s the first thing I was thinking when you said, oh yeah, I have a client once, right. And then we’re done until they need another search. And hopefully, if you’ve done your work, well, they don’t need another search. Yeah, for quite a while. Yeah. So how long did it take you to really get traction? I mean, I know you said 6 months, like, what was that like? Because what you did is you faced the fear that a lot of us have when we do a pivot. Yeah. There’s still
09:55 – 10:07
Rochelle Moulton: people that you know, but the way that you work is changing and the way that you market and sell yourself is changing and the way you set up your pipeline is changing. So I just, I would love you to walk us through a little bit of that.
10:07 – 10:32
Rachel Huff: Yeah, that’s true. You know, it’s funny because when I first started out on my own in again, March, 2020, I had a friend and a mentor who had said to me, you know, really prepare yourself. It’s going to be like 6 months for you to ramp up. It’s going to take a while for you to really get to a place where you have the steady stream of work. And I think part of it honestly might’ve been the fact that I, like I said, I only had so much time in the day that I could work. But
10:32 – 11:02
Rachel Huff: I think part of it was also that I did, I do have a really pretty incredible network and pretty large network. I think part of that is just the nature of the agency world. You have fantastic, people don’t stay in agencies or in any specific agency for very long. So a lot of wonderful people who I worked with either as my colleagues or as past clients had ended up in a lot of really interesting places. So I was fortunate to get a really steady stream of work from the very beginning and kind of thought that was
11:02 – 11:32
Rachel Huff: going to be like continue for eternity. But it’s funny because it then ended up happening, right? When I finally made this pivot at the beginning of this year, those first 6 months of the year were pretty quiet. And that was a little scary. But I think what was interesting about it was it’s not like I was sitting there twiddling my thumbs I was working a lot and I think this is something that happens a lot as soloists we do a lot of unpaid work marketing ourselves networking And obviously we have to factor that in when we’re
11:32 – 12:00
Rachel Huff: thinking about our time. But I felt like there were a few months there where I was like, I’m working so hard, I have nothing to show for it. Like I don’t have a paycheck that you have when you’re in a salary position, that’s like constant regular paycheck. But I just kept at it and I had a lot of meaningful conversations. I think part of it You know, the economy has been kind of tougher just weird the past year or so No people a lot of stops and starts right people who were excited to work with me
12:00 – 12:13
Rachel Huff: and then oh, sorry Like our budget isn’t approved Not sure not sure if we’re going to make an agency change and we need your help with that or not. But it all ended up, you know, a lot of great work has come. As a result, it just, you know, I just had to be patient, but it has paid off.
12:13 – 12:47
Rochelle Moulton: I think you’re being modest because, yeah, you had to be patient, but you were also working your system. And I love how you describe the agency world where people are constantly moving, but you stayed in touch with them. Not everybody does. I think that’s, that’s this key. And when you start a business like ours, if you’ve got this existing network of people, and I mean network in the best possible way, right? People you actually know and where you appreciate each other. It’s an asset that you take into the business. And I think it helps you get
12:47 – 12:50
Rochelle Moulton: off the ground a lot faster than if you didn’t have that.
12:50 – 13:20
Rachel Huff: Absolutely, yeah. A lot of the people who I’ve worked with, again, as a client, as a colleague, bosses of mine, people who reported to me, I feel like when we do interact with each other, even if it’s been 10 years, we just immediately have that connection and trust, like inherent trust in the way that we work. So I’ve had a lot of people, a lot of my clients, pretty much most of my clients have been former, people I’ve worked with in some capacity in a past life and just like inherently trust the quality of the work
13:20 – 13:23
Rachel Huff: that I do because they are part of that network.
13:24 – 13:46
Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, that reputation value from actual experience with you is huge. You know, when We talked offline, you had mentioned a scenario, and I’m trying to remember if it was before you made the pivot into what we might call your genius zone about kind of doubting what your next move should be. Could you talk about that a little bit more?
13:46 – 14:18
Rachel Huff: Absolutely, yeah. I think it’s actually both. I think it was, I think this is something that I’ve experienced both when I was in the agency world and then also when I’ve done consulting for clients of mine. We’ve all had clients or bosses who are the expert at everything, right? It’s like their way or the highway. And I’ve had this with a number of clients that I’ve worked with where they bring me in because I’m the so-called expert. They want my expertise, they want outside perspective, and they’ll take that advice up to a certain point, but there
14:18 – 14:49
Rachel Huff: are a lot of people who just, even though they maybe say that they want some external perspective, sometimes they just want external validation of their own way of doing things. I think we’ve all encountered that. And I do think that I was experiencing some, you know, there’s this term imposter syndrome, we hear it about it a lot, but it really can lead a little bit to imposter syndrome where you start to doubt your own expertise. And I think it’s something that I encountered. And I think when I started off on my own, I actually always did
14:49 – 15:17
Rachel Huff: have this idea in mind of being an agency search consultant and that that was somewhere that I wanted to get 1 day in like 5 years or so. But I was so used to doing certain work and I was, I just sort of had, I don’t wanna say pigeonholed myself, but maybe. And I think, I just think it’s really important. It’s something that I learned and I think this was part of my making that pivot was just cause somebody didn’t listen to your expertise in the past or just because somebody didn’t necessarily empower you to be
15:17 – 15:43
Rachel Huff: an expert on something, it doesn’t make it true, right? Like they don’t know. You know what you’re good at. You know what you’re capable of. I don’t even know what caused this aha moment for me, but I definitely had it really at the end of last year and realized that trying this new thing that I had done and I was fully capable of and really doubling down there, this is something that I’m really good at and that I can excel at. And I just had to own that and take that leap.
15:44 – 16:15
Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, I mean, I feel like so many people will resonate with that. And sometimes I call that a form of gaslighting where like we have a boss or a particular client and we do something for them that they appreciate so much. And then they try to make sure that you only do that thing. And it’s not even that there’s ill intent. Sometimes there is. But mostly it’s just, hey, this is what we need to get the job done. And we can start to doubt ourselves through whether we can kind of push out of that comfort zone
16:15 – 16:32
Rochelle Moulton: and do something else. And I just love that you told yourself, Hey, I kind of don’t care what anybody else thinks. I care what I think what I know about my expertise. And I think that’s part of the transition from working for somebody else to really doing your own thing.
16:32 – 17:02
Rachel Huff: Absolutely. I think the other thing is for me, it’s sort of this path of execution or strategy. And I have always been really good at execution. And because of that, especially in the agency world, I was often put in a role where I was executing on plans and I was put into that role because I was good at it, but I also was good at the strategy piece of it. And I did have a fantastic boss and mentor over the years who did always encourage me to like level up my work and to step a little
17:02 – 17:28
Rachel Huff: bit away from the tactical and the day to day and in the weeds and to go up a level and to really focus on the strategy. That was more when I was doing the communications work for my clients, but that was sort of that moment that I had where I realized again at the end of last year where I was doing a lot of that execution work and I was getting really in the weeds with my clients and helping them with proposals and just these very tactical things. And for me, what I get excited about is
17:28 – 17:34
Rachel Huff: that strategy work. Just because I’m good at the execution work, like you say, that doesn’t mean that that’s all I’m capable of.
17:34 – 18:00
Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, and I feel like that’s like a logical way that most of us grow, right? We start out in our careers and we need to get good at execution, right? We need to understand what all the pieces are and how to put them together. And then some of us say, Oh, I want to see the next step. I want to look at the strategy. And then you start working at that. And it’s, it’s kind of like we can always fall back on execution. And it’s sort of tempting to do that. But I love that you pushed
18:00 – 18:31
Rochelle Moulton: yourself into strategy. And in this case, a real differentiator for you and a zone of genius. Yeah, I love that. So let’s shift just a little bit. Let’s talk about how soloists can own their own, I don’t know if I, I guess I maybe I don’t want to call it PR. It’s communications. It’s maybe thought leadership. I can never decide if I like that term or not. But when we spoke offline, you talked about giving yourself permission, right? So talk some more about that. Would you?
18:31 – 18:59
Rachel Huff: Absolutely. Yeah. My background is in PR and marketing, so I get really excited about this stuff. And, but I think you’re right. I think a lot of people grown at the idea of thought leadership or being a thought leader. I do sometimes use that term, but to me, it’s really just about having and sharing a point of view. I think we’re in the expertise business, so we think of ourselves as experts. But when you think of putting yourself out there as a thought leader or really as an expert, it’s not enough to just be an expert,
18:59 – 19:33
Rachel Huff: it’s about using that expertise to say something that’s interesting, that’s different from what other people are saying, that’s insightful, and that other people can really get excited about and rally around. And what I’ve found, like clients that I’ve worked with in the past, but for myself as well, the more that I’m out there sharing some of that expertise, it actually helps me build my own confidence and sort of combat some of the stuff that we’ve been talking about around gaslight, posture syndrome. And if you’re open to I can share like a few, I think there are
19:33 – 20:02
Rachel Huff: a lot of different ways that soloists, you know, places and ways we can express our thought leadership. For me, 1 of the biggest and I think most obvious ones is LinkedIn. When I talk to people, It’s really funny. A lot of times, whether it’s other soloists or people in agency leadership positions, I can’t tell you how many times people say, I should really do a better job at LinkedIn or, oh my gosh, I have to spend more time on LinkedIn. Everyone knows that this is something that they should be doing, But I think a lot of
20:02 – 20:31
Rachel Huff: people don’t carve out time for it. And I think it pays back. Like it’s, you’re gonna get the ROI on it, by being active on LinkedIn. But it’s really about building your own professional brand. Thinking about what you have to say and putting that out there into the world. And in a B2B business, it’s just 1 of the easiest ways, again, to stay in front of your network, right? So you talked about like my staying in touch with this big network that I had. I didn’t necessarily like have regular coffee meetings with those people. In many
20:31 – 20:59
Rachel Huff: cases, I was just connected to them on LinkedIn and they were seeing some of the content that I’ve put out there. And so a number of times I’ve actually had people who I’d worked with in a past or, you know, cross paths with in some way, reach out to me, like send me an email or reach out to me via LinkedIn and say, hey, I see your content on LinkedIn. I’m now in an in-house role. I’m looking for an agency and I feel like you do this. Is that right? And it’s so funny because these aren’t
20:59 – 21:23
Rachel Huff: even, it’s often not the people who engage the most with my, it’s not the people who are liking, it’s not the people who are commenting on my posts, but they’re clearly seeing it, right? It’s working. So for me, I try not to think about what I would call a vanity metric, something like the number of likes that you get on the post, because if I just see somebody, you know, run into somebody and they say, oh my, like how many times do people say, I saw your post about blah, blah, blah. It was so interesting. I
21:23 – 21:51
Rachel Huff: shared it, like I shared that with a colleague of mine and it might’ve been a post that I got 4 likes on. I don’t really care, because it’s clearly resonating with people beyond likes. I try to post a couple of times, for me it’s 2 times a week, but also beyond that, just following other people, engaging with their content. People tend to reciprocate. So finding people who are in sort of like work in and around the areas that you work in. Don’t feel like, you know, it’s okay if they compete with you because there’s enough business
21:51 – 22:21
Rachel Huff: to go around. But, you know, just being active on LinkedIn and not, but not being salesy, offering advice, I think is really important. And I guess 1 other point that I’ll make is I kind of had this weird feeling early on when I started being more active on LinkedIn and elsewhere where I was a little bit worried that I was giving away too much for free. And I think other people struggle with this too. But I quickly realized, you know, if I can only go as deep as the content, the posts that I post on LinkedIn,
22:21 – 22:33
Rachel Huff: then that says a lot about my business. So I’ve kind of moved past that fear. I think, you know, we all have plenty to say, don’t worry about giving away your expertise for free, because it really, for me, at least, it’s really led to some real client work.
22:34 – 22:54
Rochelle Moulton: I’m pulling several things from what you just said that are also interesting. And 1 is that you’re doing this by just checking into LinkedIn a couple of times a week. So I like this idea that I think Sometimes people think this has to be this overwhelming, all-consuming thing, like you have to be glued to your LinkedIn feed. And you can do this very thoughtfully and strategically.
22:55 – 23:12
Rachel Huff: Absolutely. Yeah. And you can even carve out time in your calendar, like an hour in your calendar to just brainstorm some topics that you’re passionate about it just start, you know, sometimes be on a walk or, you know, jot something down on my phone and then post about it later. It’s just, yeah, it doesn’t have to be a huge time suck.
23:12 – 23:45
Rochelle Moulton: Exactly. I think the other thing too, is that I found this for myself and some clients is that when you start to put your point of view out there, sometimes it changes. Like you, maybe you shift a little bit or you start using a set of words to describe certain things and they become part of your vocabulary. And you know that it’s starting to get traction when other people repeat it back to you. Yep. So you use a special word for X and you see it start to socialize and it comes back to you. And it
23:45 – 23:57
Rochelle Moulton: feels engaging, you know, like it’s not a 1 way, let me tell you how brilliant I am and you sit and listen versus, you know, a 2 way or multiple way street where you can share expertise.
23:58 – 24:26
Rachel Huff: Yeah, that’s a really good point. And I think something that I’ve just because of my, you know, my past role in PR and communications, I’m really focused on positioning as well. That’s something that I was always interested in. And so I would say that, yeah, my positioning for my work, and my website positioning has really shifted as I’ve seen things resonate on LinkedIn or even in the conversations that I’ve had with other people and I’ll constantly be tweaking it based on what I what I see other people picking up on. But then I guess the other
24:26 – 24:56
Rachel Huff: point that I’ll make is beyond LinkedIn there’s a lot of other things that you can do. And I think it depends on your comfort level. So, you know, maybe LinkedIn, sure, like for some people, maybe LinkedIn isn’t right for them, or for whatever reason, they don’t get excited about that. There’s, you know, you can do contributed articles or op-eds. Think about what are, you know, your potential customers? What are the publications that they’re reading? What are the newsletters that they’re reading? What are the podcasts that they’re listening to? Think about things like that, and then start
24:56 – 25:25
Rachel Huff: putting yourself out there in those places. So just depending on your comfort zone, If you feel more comfortable talking about your work and your expertise in front of an audience, you can do speaking engagements. If you’re more of a writer and you wanna write long form content, write an article and try to place that in a publication. There’s a lot of different options for getting your voice out there. But again, I think and I do think that the more that you put yourself out there, the more you’ll start to realize, oh, I actually know what I’m
25:25 – 25:34
Rachel Huff: talking about. I actually have a point of view and I have things that other people are interested in hearing. And it can lead to some other exciting avenues and hopefully potential client work.
25:35 – 26:07
Rochelle Moulton: Yes, I have something to say. And then the other piece is having the confidence to use your voice. And I think sometimes as women, we don’t always step into that breach. And I love it when we take charge and have something to say, I would like to get your opinion on something. There is a conversation that’s been rattling around in my solo swimmin community like the past few weeks around social media. And there’s an opinion that there’s absolutely no reason to be on any social media platform that just turns you off. And so there’s been pros
26:07 – 26:16
Rochelle Moulton: and cons of people on either side going, oh yeah, I have to be on X because what’s your opinion? If I’m turned off by LinkedIn, Do I need to be on there?
26:17 – 26:47
Rachel Huff: I mean, for me, I love LinkedIn. So it starts saying you shouldn’t be on there. But at the same time, I’m a big believer in being authentic to yourself into what feels comfortable to you. So if posting on LinkedIn just feels really uncomfortable, Like it just doesn’t feel authentic to you and to your professional brand. No, I don’t think you should be doing it. That said, there are ways to, you know, there’s a lot of great content that’s on there and there’s a lot of good connections that can be made on there. So maybe just rethinking
26:47 – 27:08
Rachel Huff: how you’re interacting with that platform. So maybe it’s more engaging with other people’s content, following other people and connecting people with that way instead of putting yourself out there. But yeah, I guess it goes back to what’s authentic to you. We all know those people who put out like really salesy content on LinkedIn and that definitely makes me cringe. I try never to be that person.
27:08 – 27:42
Rochelle Moulton: I should have used a different example than LinkedIn because I think most people in our kind of worldview are pretty comfortable with LinkedIn. It’s very professional, but you know, TikTok, Instagram, some of those platforms make people uncomfortable for different reasons, not the platform itself, but about how they can be authentic without creating like a whole part time job for themselves about being represented. So I’m with you. I think it’s about where you can be authentic and be yourself and be of service to people. It’s that combination.
27:43 – 28:10
Rachel Huff: Well, and the other thing is, I think there are definitely, I know of a number of social media experts out there who would say, Oh, you’re leaving money on the table. If you’re not on TikTok, you’re leaving money on the table. If you’re not posting X number of times a day on this platform or that platform. But again, this goes back to being soloists and really prioritizing our time and what we want, what growth looks like for our business. So depending on where you’re looking to take your business, you may be okay with that. I’m not
28:10 – 28:13
Rachel Huff: on TikTok, I’m not active on TikTok. I’m totally fine with that.
28:14 – 28:35
Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. Okay, So let’s say, let’s imagine that I’m a soloist and I’ve either been in business for a couple of years or I’ve been in business for longer but I’ve recently niched down more tightly and I wanna get my message heard. So where should I start in terms of getting my message in front of my ideal clients and buyers. What’s a good starting point, do you think?
28:35 – 29:03
Rachel Huff: I think a good starting point is to really crystallize your message for yourself. And maybe you’re thinking this is somebody who’s already at that point, but I do think that that’s really important to think about What is the story that you want to tell? What is your message? What’s your offering? And really crystallizing that and being confident in how you’re going to start talking about that. And then what I would do is think about who your audience is that you’re trying to reach, who your potential customer or client is, and what are the topics that they’re
29:03 – 29:39
Rachel Huff: interested in, what are their pain points, and how does your expertise in your business and your work intersect with the things that they care about. And then think about the places that they are. So again, maybe it’s LinkedIn, but maybe it’s maybe there’s some publication or some newsletter that they’re that you know that that audience, you know, your potential clients read or listen, you know, podcasts again that they listen to. But it’s really less about promoting yourself and selling. And it’s a lot more about really thinking about the topics and the point of view, the advice
29:39 – 29:50
Rachel Huff: that you can provide to them that’s going to help them and their day to day jobs. And oh, by the way, then they’ll they automatically are going to think of you as the expert and the person that they have to work with
29:50 – 30:16
Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, it’s authority positioning really is what you just described. We don’t really sell that way we sell through Demonstrating and being generous. I mean everything you just described I think is part of generosity. It’s kind of like you said earlier about am I giving too much away for free? The answer is almost always no when it comes to publishing things. Sometimes it can be one-to-one but that’s more of a situation by situation.
30:16 – 30:43
Rachel Huff: I agree with that, yeah. I’ve gotten stuck in that situation for sure, where people who I really like and keep coming back to me for advice, and I give them advice and then I’m like, what am I doing? I’m not getting paid for this. This is my job. I can be getting paid for this. Yeah, so sometimes I’ve had those tough conversations as a result of that. But yeah, I think I’m definitely 1 to offer, you know, for anyone who follows me on LinkedIn, you’ll see like I have no problem taking a contrarian point of view
30:43 – 31:12
Rachel Huff: or putting out things there that a lot of people wouldn’t necessarily agree with, or calling people out, not necessarily individuals out, but behaviors out, we’ll put it that way. But I think that people like that, it’s authentic, and it’s interesting and different from what else is out there. So that’s part of it, I think, is thinking about, and maybe even looking at your competitors and the kinds of content that they’re, you know, or your peer set, the kinds of content that they’re putting out there and making sure that you really have your own unique stamp on
31:12 – 31:14
Rachel Huff: what you’re putting out there into the world.
31:15 – 31:44
Rochelle Moulton: Excellent. So I’d like to talk about impact for just a second because the podcast, I mean, you heard the intro. It isn’t just about money, free time and flexibility, but impact. And I know we tend to talk so far on this podcast about impact in terms of clients, but you who has small children, a busy business, you are also doing something really interesting in the community. Do you want to talk about sort of the idea behind your support of Rosie’s Place?
31:44 – 32:17
Rachel Huff: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, Rosie’s Place is an organization that is definitely near and dear to my heart. It’s the country’s first ever women’s shelter. It’s based in Boston and it’s an incredible organization. When people think of a women’s shelter, they think of shelter, right? They think of a bed to sleep in, they think of meals to eat, and those are certainly a piece of what Rosie’s Place offers, but it’s so interesting. The organization, and I’ve been involved for 20 plus years probably, the organization has really transformed to meet women in all the areas of their life where
32:17 – 32:50
Rachel Huff: they have need. So everything from advocacy work, helping women get sober, helping women get their kids back, helping them get jobs. They offer so much support to really meet women wherever they are in their journey, whether they’re homeless or just a poor woman who just needs some support getting back on their feet. So it’s been a really fantastic organization to be involved with. And the fun 1 for me, because more recently I became involved over the past few years, I’ve been on the marketing committee, marketing and development committee at Rosie’s Place. And that’s been really enjoyable
32:50 – 33:08
Rachel Huff: to me because I’m able to take my professional expertise and help an organization, a really fantastic organization that I believe in to really up their game when it comes to their marketing. And then more recently, I also joined the board of directors for Rosie’s place. So I’m just really excited to become even more involved with them.
33:08 – 33:10
Rochelle Moulton: Execution to strategy.
33:12 – 33:12
Rachel Huff: Absolutely.
33:13 – 33:24
Rochelle Moulton: It just made me think of that. And I actually took a look at the website and what they’re doing is amazing. So if anybody’s so inclined, I’ll put a link up on the episode so they can do that.
33:24 – 33:25
Rachel Huff: Thank you for doing that.
33:25 – 33:38
Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. So 1 last question, which is if you could go back to who you were when you started your business. Luckily, that’s not too far back. What’s the 1 thing you’d advise her to do?
33:39 – 34:08
Rachel Huff: I would give myself permission to really be expert. And I think this goes back to what we were talking about. It’s not just about what I’m good at doing. And we talked a lot about this, right? It’s not just about doing the day-to-day work that you know you can do and you continue to deliver, but thinking about where can I add unique value? What am I uniquely qualified to do? Where am I truly expert and leveling up to that and really telling, like reminding myself that I know what I’m talking about, I know what I’m doing.
34:08 – 34:23
Rachel Huff: And again, just because people didn’t necessarily listen in the past or give me permission to do certain things doesn’t mean I’m any less capable of them. So to really just lean into that and and feel really comfortable doing what what I really can do best
34:23 – 34:25
Rochelle Moulton: Write your own permission slip.
34:25 – 34:26
Rachel Huff: I love
34:26 – 34:36
Rochelle Moulton: that. Right Awesome. So Rachel will be putting all sorts of links to the content that we’ve talked about in the show notes, but where’s the best place for people to learn more about you?
34:37 – 34:59
Rachel Huff: So my website is victorco.com and I recognize that my company name is the French word for victory. That’s a whole, you know, whole other story behind that. But yeah, so that might be difficult for people to find. But anyways, my content on LinkedIn, you know, you can definitely find me on LinkedIn, Rachel Huff. I also have a company page. Find me there. I’d love to connect with people. And those are probably the best pieces to find me.
34:59 – 35:12
Rochelle Moulton: Well, Rachel, thank you so much. I appreciate not only that you shared your expertise, but also your story and how transparent and inspiring you are. So thank you.
35:12 – 35:14
Rachel Huff: Thank you. It was really fun to do
35:14 – 35:18
Rochelle Moulton: this. So That’s it for this episode. I hope you’ll join us next time for Soul.
