Social Media Marketer Yolanda Sissing
About this podcast episode…
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETER YOLANDA SISSING
In this episode we chat to South African freelancer Yolanda Sissing.
From her base in the UK she explains how a near-death experience made her realise filling in KPI reports for a boss wasn’t what she wanted.
She’s now found her niche freelancing for purpose-driven clients and shares her strategies for getting clients through networking, content marketing, LinkedIn and Instagram Lives.
Yolanda discusses the importance of setting work-life boundaries, leveraging community support, and pursuing long-term goals (if you watch the video version you’ll get to see her actual mood board!).
We also get an introduction to the Anti-Social Socialites - the community which Yolanda co-founded to help people uncomfortable with traditional networking. And from that, the power of LinkedIn audio rooms.
She might not like small talk, but there's big things to enjoy about this episode.
Available as a video podcast too - Watch Yolanda here on the site, on YouTube, or Spotify. Enjoy!
Read a full transcript & get Links in the tabs.
More from YOLANDA SISSING
Pink Leaf Social website
Yolanda on LinkedIn
The Antisocial Socialites on LinkedIn
More from Steve Folland
Transcript of the Being Freelance podcast with Steve Folland and social media marketing strategist Yolanda Sissing
Steve Folland: As ever, how about we get started hearing how you got started being freelance?
Yolanda Sissing: Yes. Nobody in my family. Has set up their own business. So I was the first one to launch into the world of entrepreneurship. As you can tell from my accent, I'm from South Africa. So I lived there up until my adult life. I worked as a journalist, for print newspapers back then. And then decided, you know, I don't think I've seen enough of the world.
So I want to go and explore, which is what I did. So I came over to the UK. I found it quite a shift in my head. I had imagined that all of London, you know, spoke the Queen's English, that the roads are paved with gold, that everybody walked around in like old Georgian outfits, and that wasn't quite the case.
I had found myself living in Shepherd's Bush in West London and just fell in love with the grittiness of London. and worked, within a charity and I thought to myself, okay, there's something here about giving back to communities and just understanding all the complexities of what it is to like to live in the UK, help to set up loads of volunteering programs and was really, really passionate about that line of work.
Fast forward a few years after that, I had been working in the charity sector at the time for just over a decade and my family went over for a trip to Spain. And had a very horrific and harrowing near death experience. and I remember coming back to my desk on the Monday after that weekend, busy working on a KPI report
and I just thought, what the hell am I doing? I'm like, I'm in an office, like I nearly died. And I'm trying to pencil out data for a report that's due to go to the board. And I thought in that moment, This is not what I want to do. I don't want to work nine to five in office anymore. I want to be with my kids.
I want to have time that's mine. And so I left not having a clue what it was that I was going to do. Spent about two years just potting it out in social media. And my friends used to call me joking, like the reluctant social media manager, because I was the last of all of them to jump onto any sort of social media platforms.
But I had genuinely grown to love, Instagram at the time was my favorite platform to go onto. And I thought there must be something to this. Like, what is it that's working behind the machines that we don't see that's keeping people online. And I became really, really fascinated with the process. And so found a training program for mums.
You must've spoken to a few people who'd done the Digital Mums program and retrained as an advanced social media marketer and then set up Pink Leaf Social since then. So that was my route into it. It was, yeah, it was, it was... not planned, but I'm glad that I did take the leap. it's really changed the way that I see life and work and business just generally now.
Steve Folland: And how long ago was that?
Yolanda Sissing: So that was in 2019 that I launched, yeah, I launched. So just before COVID, but, but also I think in a way it was, it was good cause everybody was actually online. So it did help me kind of cement what it was that I wanted to do.
Steve Folland: And you went with a business name right from the start, did you?
Yolanda Sissing: I did, yes. I sat for a long time and I thought, what was it that I wanted to speak to people about like, what is the thing that I want to come across in the work that I'm doing that I think I can hold onto in terms of longevity. I think it was probably month three after I had spoken to a few people and I love the colour pink because it's extremely feminine and I'm all about girl power and I had a young girl at the time who wasn't into pink, but I wanted to also show her that there was, there was strength in, in being a woman in business and then 'Leaf' probably down to my roots in South Africa and just growing up in just the most leafy surroundings and understanding that there's growth that can happen within nature and being rooted in something that feels quite, I don't know, intrinsic to who we are as human beings. So Pink Leaf Social is the name that stuck.
So yeah, from the beginning.
Steve Folland: And how did you present yourself like as a company as in like 'we' do this or were you still despite using a company name still 'I' will..?
Yolanda Sissing: Yeah those early days When I look back at it now, I mean, I really didn't know what I was doing. I thought I knew what I was doing, but I really didn't know what I was doing.
And there was a lot of reticence, I think, because it was something completely new. And a lot of people who were in social media at the time were much, much younger than me. So you had all of these overtones about, you know, are you sure you're in the right place? So I wanted to present myself as being confident and not necessarily selling something that wasn't real or authentic. So I did do a lot of I's, not we's. Because I, I just thought I'm not, I'm not going to present myself as like a massive corporate business because I want people to invest in me as an individual.
And I went in, I think with the intention to speak to people's values as opposed to the numbers, because I, I think I, I struggle still with this with lots of people going, I made $20 million on doing this and I, I wanted to tap into what was it that kept us human, again, going back to that social media element, like why are people still on line? What is it that keeps them going here? So thinking more about the psychology behind it.
So a lot of my conversations with people at the time were around people's social media habits, the brands that they love, what is it that they think will keep them staying there? And also what is that they passionate about?
So, the social media usage becomes not necessarily a chore, but something that they genuinely love and enjoy doing. But that also took time because I was speaking that language and other people weren't necessarily, they were seeing algorithm reports and, you know, but I should be doing this and, you know, TikToks just launched and I should be going viral and I just kept on going, no, trust me.
This is, this is a good approach to take and so far, touchwood, it's, it seems to have worked.
Steve Folland: So how did you go about getting those first freelance clients?
Yolanda Sissing: So my first lucky break was a friend of mine who is a very successful property developer who didn't have a clue about social media. And, he said, look, you're doing this. You look like, you know what you're doing.
I trust you. Can you get me started? And so I got my first. job with him. He was very well connected within estate agents, art galleries and doing work internationally. And so word of mouth started spreading and that's sort of the sector that I lived in for a year and a bit. And then I became a bit more, confident about what it is that I wanted to do and who it was that I wanted to work with and because thankfully, it was a friend, I could test out things without feeling like I was letting people down.
So I could try the, the kind of frameworks that work and then speak with a bit more confidence to say, I think this is the method we should be following on this platform or that platform. And then I started spending more time on LinkedIn and actually LinkedIn for me has been a goldmine.
In fact, that's where we started meeting or chatting to each other. So I've always felt fairly comfortable there because it's something that I did, while I was working in the charity sector, but I just changed the conversation in the way that I shared and communicated what it was that I was doing.
And then my contacts or my network within LinkedIn obviously existed within the charity sector. So I started speaking to loads more people within the charity sector and got clients from there, which was again, fantastic. Cause that's right up my alley. I've started doing more networking events. And as a result of those events, I got, work sent in my direction, lots of, really interesting businesses, female founders, startups, people are really keen to kind of do good, you know, for the planet or for people generally.
So that's, that's what's worked for me. I've also now I think become a bit more intentional about what I'm doing in where I position myself. So I am a part of a number of directories where other marketers or other businesses might be a part of who could refer work or spot your work that you're doing.
And. I've also, you know, doing more, talks and conversations and workshops within membership groups, where I know people would be interested to find out more about how to do their social media better or more ethically. And that's worked really well. it's not, you know, I think when you're a freelancer, it's always a bit of a gamble where you punt yourself.
But I think as time has gone by. and being more intentional about, you know, how you use your energy and where you spend your time, I think it becomes a lot more easier.
Steve Folland: What kind of thing were you doing on LinkedIn then?
Yolanda Sissing: In the early days. I did more, what's the word I'd like to say, sort of probing posts.
So I just pose questions about things that people might be talking about, not having an express view on stuff. And I think that's probably because I am quite a, a thoughtful person. So if somebody will share something, I'll be like, Oh, why did they say that? What, what was sitting behind that bit of information they were sharing?
I wonder if there's more research that could back up what they were talking about or whatever. So I, I started posting more thoughts about topics that people were discussing within my sector. And then I had some really good advice from someone who's far more experienced than me, in one of the communities that I'm part of on LinkedIn.
And they were saying, you know, actually Yolanda, I, I love what you do, but I don't actually know what it is that you do. So you need to start talking more about what it is that you do. So I have started, you know, I then made it a conscious decision also to, to dot those, those little thought pieces with actual information about what it is that I can offer and the services that I deliver to people and that that's helped tremendously.
I also spend a lot of time on LinkedIn, not necessarily just posting. I'm a very firm believer that you have to be able to network with people behind the scenes because those conversations. don't always happen just from broadcasting what it is that you're doing. So, whether that's DMs or leaving voice notes for people or following up on emails and what people have been up to, or, you know, even simple things like
LinkedIn has now started introducing these little notifications around people's birthdays or, milestones that they might be celebrating. So, even little things like, you know, last week I sent a happy birthday wish to someone who I had met at a networking event years ago who runs her own, education, kids activity club.
And she's like, Oh my gosh, how are you doing? I've been meaning to get in touch with you. And, and then we started talking and now we've got like a discovery call booked in for next week. That wasn't my intention at all, but it is about nurturing those sort of relationships. in the longer term, which I think has worked quite successfully.
Steve Folland: Yeah. Interesting. And so when you went to networking events as well, were those like a natural place for you to be?
Yolanda Sissing: No.
Steve Folland: I wish, I wish you could see... Well, if you're watching on YouTube or Spotify, you did enjoy that face.
Yolanda Sissing: Yes, you know, I, I have to say, I, I love talking, but I don't love networking. It's a very strange thing.
So I, I think it's also probably the crossover from being networking as a corporate person, you know, so you, you have got a mandate to go out there by your boss to go and do something quite specific and you walk away with information. If you're a freelancer, it's almost like you have to kind of reinvent your persona as you're going out and about in the world.
And sell your wares, which I think for some people can be quite problematic. And I despise small talk a lot. So I find that quite, I don't quite feel like, Oh, how was your journey? It's a little, ah, you know, it's not my thing. So, so I did find that quite a struggle. So in the beginning I spent a lot of time in, sort of local networking groups speaking to local businesses, you know, decision makers, the councils and, and I loved it, but I just wasn't quite getting any value from it in the same way.
And then I launched into more sort of peer group networking events and more marketing networking events. Which was fantastic in terms of knowledge building and learning, but it wasn't necessarily, I realized not going to be a source of work in the same way.
And then I'm a founding advisory member of Female Founders Rise, for instance, which helps to promote women in business and make sure that we just amplify messages around to get funding or around their own business and any pitfalls that may come across. And that was quite a game changer for me, because I then started thinking about if I'm networking with people, I want to be sure that I am somehow part of communities that are making a difference.
And so going forward, I've now joined groups or gone along to events where I can see that... it's having some sort of impact, which, which I like. And again, that's helped with networking online as part of LinkedIn. It's helped with being part of the directories, being invited to master classes or as a panelist or featured in newsletters or whatever the case may be.
So I think that's, that's, that's worked quite well. And then to your point about, networking just generally, I am the co founder of a anti networking group. We call ourselves the Anti-Social Socialites, which is for people who hate networking and hate getting pitched whenever they go along to events. So, well, we purposely done myself and, my friend, Liz is, we've sought to make sure that when we do host events, that it's primed at people who want something different and want something that aligns with their personality traits or, you know, if they're neurodivergent, for instance, you don't feel like you need to present yourself in a completely different way. You can just show up as you are.
So we've done, gaming nights. We've had like, distillery cocktail making sessions. We've had, you know, all of these different activities. And out of those, come conversations because people are socializing, they're enjoying themselves. And yeah, as you know, Steve, and then, and then what happens is you then have a community of people who are happy, feel comfortable, they trust you, and they are willing to work with you, whether that's financially or collaboratively or whatever the case may be.
So yeah, I'm all for that form of networking. I've just had to change my mindset as the years have gone by. And I'm now comfortable just chatting. Let's just talk.
Steve Folland: Love that The Anti Social Socialites, we'll put a link at the website. you've just reminded me, I need to set up a Being Freelance mini golf game actually tournament.
There we go. Yeah. It's fun. The very first year we did it, there were genuinely deals being done on the golf course, if you see what I mean. It was, by the end of it, some people have work out of it. And it was like, how are we, we were just, I mean, I was just trying to win get it through that windmill. So.
One thing I kind of picked up on, maybe I'm wrong, is, so you, I know you started in prop, you know, helping property developers, because that's who you knew. It sounds like you've almost accidentally or followed into a niche of values, or am I way off?
Yolanda Sissing: Yes, no, you're right, you're right. So, so, So it was during lockdown, actually, when, work sort of slowed down for everyone but particularly that client and the industry that I was operating in, people weren't moving. Nobody was traveling. And I sat down, I just thought, you know, what, what is it that I'd like to do? And I was chatting to an author who I was working on his LinkedIn and his Twitter, social media platforms.
And I thought, you know what? I think this is probably. What I want to be able to do, because everybody was talking about niching down and I thought I don't want to niche down to a specific sector because I think people can add value in whatever industry they're in. What I'd like to do is to be able to work with people who are sort of... you know, purpose driven or mission led or they're heart centered or something.
And I then became intentional about who it was that I was reaching out to online. And when I was talking to people, how much value I could provide to them to help them just reshape what it is that they were selling. Cause I think part of the struggle that I was hearing from people is they didn't feel like they wanted to adapt all the time to the same sort of tactics that were used by, you know, larger companies.
And it was also during that time when I started working with a really wonderful independent business local to where I am, who made it her mission to only provide shopping space or retail space or outlets for people who were independent businesses where I lived. So in my personal time. Because I was at home during those two years, I had started a personal blog where I went around and just showcased Ealing, which is where I'm from, and spoke about what it was that I loved doing. And so that conversation led to me supporting her as part of her business. With her social media.
And I met so many fantastic independent businesses. So many people who were either working with people in South America who were making hand beaded, you know, craft stuff for black owned businesses who were taking their time, helping to, like train young people.
There were people who were repurposing, you know, recycled fabric and, you know, all of these really, really interesting projects. And then I was like, I found my happy place. This is, this is what I want to do. I want to work with people who've got really interesting ideas, who are out there in the world, making business.
And opening up opportunities and giving back to the planet somehow. And so that's been my, my purpose since then.
So it hasn't changed. It's given me space to work with really interesting charities who are working with people living with dementia or providing holiday opportunities for carers. Or, you know, one of my most recent clients that I've taken on is doing some really interesting things around renewable energy projects and sustainability.
So yeah, I think this is, this is where I, where I want to continue going. It just feels like the right fit.
Steve Folland: I like the sound of that because I've spoken to freelancers who have maybe got bored... not necessarily on this podcast, but just in general, who, who get bored in a, in an industry niche or only writing about one topic, for example, but actually, especially the sense that you're making a difference by helping these companies when they're, they're purpose driven.
Yolanda Sissing: Yeah.
Steve Folland: I like that.
Yolanda Sissing: And I think because, you know, like social media is quite a fast moving sector, isn't it? So you have to continuously adapt. And I think when you're working with brands that are inspired to keep doing what they're doing, it gets easier to then go, look, this is, this is part of what marketing can do for what it is that you'd like to leverage within your, within your work. So, yeah.
Steve Folland: Are you somebody who, who is doing the social media for people, or are you somebody who is, I guess strategizing and helping people then go and do it for themselves.
Yolanda Sissing: Yes. So when I first started. I was only doing the doing and it was extremely overwhelming because I had two young children and I couldn't switch off and I was constantly online.
And again, I think because I was trying to prove that I could make this work, I pushed myself quite a lot to do that. I did have a moment of clarity just as we were coming out of lockdown. So 2021 ish, it was, it was too much. Like I just wasn't paying attention to my kids. Like we were on holiday. I was on my phone all the time.
I was constantly checking, triple checking. And I did have a few clients who didn't quite understand the level of commitment that is required, like in their minds is like, Oh, the social media is done, but actually for me, it was like a 12 hour, 15 hour day and just wasn't sustainable. So I deviated from that and I've now got a combination of services that I offer, because I think that helps me to just have a normal, sustained level of time for work.
So I have got a few clients who I'll take through a process. I'll do a strategy. Cause I think that's important. You need to be able to start to understand what your why is when you're, taking on social media marketing services.
We'll go through three to six months of me helping to kind of facilitate the team or the individuals to then take it on and do it themselves, which has worked really well. So it's not me doing it all the time. I've also now helped to kind of give a surety to them that there is nothing in the world that's going to end if you don't post something that minute, you know, people are not online all the time.
So whether you're posting it first thing in the morning or late in the evening. Or the very next day, it's not going to have groundbreaking implications for you. Unless of course you like, you know, the president of the United States or something, it's very different. So I've helped to kind of manage clients expectations in the way that I work.
So I've got a combination of like standalone packages, which are fantastic. So I'll do strategy workshops or just give you the strategy and you could do it yourself. And then, I've got clients who need a lot more handholding. And like I said, they go through a process where I'll work with them to, to achieve it themselves. but yeah, I've had to come a bit stricter with my, with my time and set, set boundaries because it does become overwhelming if, if you're taking one too much.
Steve Folland: And of course, one of the reasons you went freelance was that life's too short, that work life balance be there for my family. So beyond that, that you've just mentioned, how, how are you finding that balance these days?
Yolanda Sissing: Oh, it's a lot better. I have had to be very honest with myself and also because I've got emerging teenagers now about social media use and we've had lots of long and frank and open conversations about, you know, how to manage your time and not being on your phone all the time. And so in a way I think they've helped me as well to be very clear about what the boundaries are that I'm setting.
So I've now got blocked periods. So I've got specific days where I'll do specific elements of my work. So it might be report writing on one day. It might be training set, watching another day. It might be creating, which is the part that I love, design work or captions. Cause I do enjoy writing. It might be going for walks, which is what I've started doing cause that's where I do my best thinking.
So. I'll use that time to come up with ideas for different posts and so I've, I've blocked out time to do specific tasks and that means that when they are home in the evenings after school, I've got four hours that are their bankable hours and that's like non negotiable so I won't do too much during that time.
I've also been a bit more consistent about the sort of events that I attend and not going to too many evening activities, for example, because even that in itself can become quite time consuming. So I'll have a balance throughout the month where I think about, having activities that are outside of working hours and ones that are during working hours.
And I've also reclaimed my Fridays. So, as a remote worker, you're on your own most of the time. So Fridays are what I call my socializing Fridays. So I'll try and catch up with friends or peers that I haven't seen for ages that I know online or, work locally and we'll go for walks or we'll go for coffee or we'll just sit and hang out or something, go to an art gallery or whatever.
So I've still got those moments where I'm actually interacting with other people, and not trying to, you bank it all in on the weekends, which, you know, can be quite difficult between kids clubs and activities. So, yeah, it's been good. It's been much, much better than those first two years where you're trying to cram it in too much.
I think I've got the balance right for now.
Steve Folland: I like a reclaimed Friday. That reminds me when there was one point where I was like, I'm going to go to the cinema on a Friday afternoon by myself. I did it one week. That was brilliant. And then the following week, we all went into lockdown and they closed all the cinemas.
It was a great idea.
Yolanda Sissing: Did you end up buying a mess of TV at home?
Steve Folland: Yeah, yeah, it's not quite the same.
Have we covered all the ways that you put yourself out there, like market yourself, because there was LinkedIn, networking...
Yolanda Sissing: Yeah, I'm part of a number of memberships.
I have done a series of Instagram lives with some really interesting people. I'm in, I think I mentioned some directories and people are looking for particular, marketers. And I've done some collaborations with businesses. That also I've just find interesting. So we'll just do some sort of prize giveaway of some kind, over the course of the years of a specific, awareness days or, charity drives or something.
I've also, you know, spent a bit of time doing some guest writing, like on blogs, depending on the sector. I'd add my two cents about how social media marketing, ethical marketing might be, might be good for that. Yeah. Networking, being part of memberships, directories, all of those things. I think as, as far as you can spread yourself, that's intentional, of course, not erratic or without any thought is a good way to at least get some visibility for what it is that you do.
The challenge of course is, you know, if you're in a, in a field of millions of social media marketers, like I am, how you end up sealing the deal on making sure that you attract the right people to, to work with.
Steve Folland: How do you?,
Yolanda Sissing: I think it's helping people to understand... that not everyone can do your job. I think the challenge that, that, you have as a social media marketer is that it's like, Oh, yeah, my cousin's nephew is really good at social media. So, you know, he can do it. I'm like hmmm, can he though? So I think, it, that the, the challenge is being able to help people understand that there is just posting and then there's what, you know, I do, which is being a bit more strategic about your content and your planning and your audience and, offering some longevity to the work that is, that you're doing.
So when I think about when you're speaking to individuals, there's something that I'm quite passionate about is, is storytelling. And I think that's probably from the work that I was doing as a journalist. So I'd, I'd ask them loads of questions, probably like what you do, Steve, when you're talking to people.
And then I'm like, Oh, so it sounds like you're saying this... and then they'll go, Oh yeah, I didn't think about it like that. And then we'll put together some sort of a creative spiel to go like, what if this was the big word that people remembered you for, or, what it is that, you know, that people come back to you for, because it's quite important for them to be able to feel like they can be loyal to you as a brand.
So that's helped. And I, and I think when I get to the technical language. Sometimes people are like, Oh my gosh, I didn't realize that that's what it involves. I'm like, yeah, it's, it's a lot of work.
Steve Folland: And you do something, it's not quite a podcast, is it? But you do an audio thing with the Anti Social Socialites as well, right?
Yolanda Sissing: That's right. Yeah. So every month. We host an audio room on LinkedIn. So we'll choose a topic that comes up quite a lot, in our community. So it might be, you know, networking if you're neurodivergent or if you're introverted or you're not quite sure what to say when you're doing small talk. And so we'll do a half an hour audio room.
People can come up on stage and ask questions. We often have guests that come along and share their experiences as well. And for the most part, I think it's been fantastic because we've had last year, probably 2000 or so signups, and really, really lovely packed rooms, which is always nice when you're trying to have these conversations.
And it also meant that it encouraged us to look to do more in person events because people wanting to chat more than the half an hour time that was allotted, every month. So that's, that, that's how we started, and then moved on to the in person events, and now I've got a combination of the two. And yeah, it's going really well.
It's fantastic.
Steve Folland: Have you noticed a difference that it's made for yourself in doing that? I know you're helping others, but either for yourself or for your business in doing those things?
Yolanda Sissing: Yeah, I think at the start of this conversation, I said, I love talking, but not necessarily the small talk. So I think it's, it's helped me certainly show up as an expert.
I think that's difficult if you're Online and trying to get that to come across in your social media posts that you might be sharing. There's something about people hearing your voice or seeing your face that I think translates much better often than, you know, when you're reading messaging on social media.
So for me, I think it's helped me personally in being able to kind of refine who I am, like what I do and how I work with people. Cause I have to say it every time, and that takes a lot of practice. It's also helped me, network more widely with people who aren't in my original network because audio rooms are open to absolutely everyone.
So you could research events. And so I might come across people who aren't within my network coming along to those events, which have been fantastic. It's also been a great opportunity for, I think I mentioned, you know, sometimes I'll go along to panelists, as a panelist to events that might be taking place or, host masterclasses.
So from that perspective, it's been really good. And, my co founder Liz this year, we're really looking to kind of move towards public speaking opportunities because the world is moving back into working in person and people have been called back into the office and not everybody has flexed their networking muscles in the same way.
So I think there's space for those conversations to take place where we kind of just help others to feel more confident in how they show up and what it is that they, want to do, whether that's in an office environment, you know, even talking to colleagues, we used to do that all the time. And now people, because they work from home might not be able to... to stir up those conversations, which could lead to other opportunities.
So from that perspective, it's been, it's been really, really helpful. And I think working alongside someone, so having a co founder in a completely different sector has helped to kind of put some eyes on gaps in my own business that I'm not focusing on because this almost feels like a pet project.
So I'm handling it like it would be a client, which feels very different to my own business. Where, as you say, like a lot of time you spend in the doing and not necessarily in crafting what it is that you'd like to deliver. So I think it's, it's helped kind of shape how I think about my own business and what it is that I'm delivering.
And I love it. I love, I love. I love hearing people's stories. I love understanding, you know, what makes people tick. And, you know, there's something fantastic about being part of community. You know, you're, you're so involved in working with loads of freelancers as well. That's less isolating, but also there's a camaraderie there that starts to grow.
With people just being willing to kind of share and yeah, just be helpful.
Steve Folland: I'm glad I asked. There's obviously a lot of strategy involved in the work that you do for your clients but it sounds like there's a lot of strategy perhaps to the way you think about your business and the intentions. Like, are you somebody who has goals and checks back in on them? And if so, how do you work that?
Yolanda Sissing: Yeah. So I'm going to do a quick little swizzle. I don't want to go in. So that's my vision board there. Can you see that?
Steve Folland: Ah, we're looking at .. so is that permanently on your wall?
Yolanda Sissing: It's permanently on my wall.
Steve Folland: Describe a little bit of it for those who are, who are listening.
Yolanda Sissing: I can. So every year I do a vision board and I split it between things I want to leave behind, things I want to get better at in business, in relationships, in family life, and then just for me. So my words for 2025 are Power and Purpose. And last year it was Gratitude. And that was because. I was like, thank God I'm still here.
Like everything's really up in the air. I needed to figure out what the hell I'm doing. More for my, my personal life as opposed to like the business stuff. So, so that's worked. Thankfully it's all fine. And so now I think I'm, I've, I've gone through almost like the dormant period, if you think about nature. So that was like the winter and now I'm stepping into spring. So I need to be able to. Start to blossom, you know, bask in the sunlight as it happens.
And so Power and Purpose is behind, the vision board. So I thought about things like, you know, how do I want to show up at networking events going forward? I've even thought about things like my wardrobe. So what, what are the colors that are, that are standing out for me?
So at the moment it's pink and red. And then I've also spoken about sort of reclaiming my financial independence. So thinking about how do I make that a longer term objective? So the first few years. Again, I was thankful I had good steady income coming in. Didn't really give much thought to it, to what I want to do into sort of three to four to five years.
And then this year I thought, no, I need to start planning beyond just this year. And I had a really good conversation with a coach, I don't know if you've heard of, Laura Brunton, and she asked some really, really good thought provoking questions. And it got me thinking as, okay, right, I'm going to think beyond just the money.
Cause there's something else behind the money. It's like, what, what is it actually that I, that I'd like to achieve? And actually what I want to do is be able to spend more time, quality time with my kids. helping them to kind of realize the genes that they have, which at the moment are miniscule things like, Oh, I want to go to Disneyland.
I want to... you know, those sorts of things. So that's sitting behind the money question was before I had like a specific number, I still have that number, but there's something else behind the number that's going to help sustain that goal going forward. I also have, included things around fitness, obviously, and then I've put down specific clients that I want to work with.
And I've got great ambitions around writing a book this year. It's not going to be a complicated book, but I think it'll be my passion project that will, that will keep me going and make sure that I sit down and I, and I continue writing.
So it's a collection of recipes, that my mom used to make.
And I've just realized that I haven't cooked a single thing for my kids from South Africa for a very long time. So I need to be able to capture all of those items and then there'll be an heirloom that we can start to carry on through the generations. So, so yeah, that's, that's on, that's on the vision board.
It's my, it's my Dream Big Board. And then I, I whittle down from there and work out the specific goals that I'd like to achieve sort of every quarter and I'll look back on them at least at the, every holiday and say, okay, where are we now with this? Did I do this? Did I not do that? I don't achieve all of them, but there's enough of them there to feel like I'm, I'm on the right path and things are working.
Steve Folland: And it's literally in your vision every time you walk in that room.
Yolanda Sissing: Exactly, exactly.
Steve Folland: And what is that? Is this your office or is this?
Yolanda Sissing: Yeah, this is my office, yeah.
Steve Folland: And is that a home?
Yolanda Sissing: It's at home, yes.
Steve Folland: I love it. Okay. Now, Yolanda, if you could tell your younger self one thing about being freelance, what would that be?
Yolanda Sissing: So. I was pondering this question for a long time, and I was listening to, Mel Robbins podcast yesterday, and she was talking about goal setting. And there was something that she said that just struck me, and I thought, you know what, this is something that I probably would have told myself when I was younger.
And she said, stop letting the fear of judgment hold you back. I think when I first started, and possibly I think, you know, as you get older, this is something that happens quite a lot. I was reluctant to ask for help. I wanted to kind of go my own way. Which is something that I've done all my life. but in doing so, I probably slowed down the success I could have been achieving because I was so stubborn.
So what I would tell my younger self is to ask for help and advice, because there are lots of people out there who, Are willing to support you and they're not your competitors. They're not out there to kind of, rival your business, but rather to help and support what you do, what it is that you're doing.
And I'd probably also say that it's important to take the leap when it feels right. So trust your judgment. What I tend to do is take a long time cause I'm milling over things. I'll ask loads of questions, as I mentioned before, but if you're a freelancer, the pitfalls often come with loads of good benefits because you've decided to do something that nobody else is brave enough to do.
So, yeah, I think that's the advice that I'll tell myself.
Steve Folland: Yolanda, it's been so good to talk to you. Go to beingfreelance. com as there are for all of our guests. I'll put links through so that you can find Yolanda online, go say hi, find her on LinkedIn, for example, if you're an Antisocial Socialite, you know where to join.
And of course, speaking of community, if you fancy coming and joining us, go to being freelance. com, click on community and I'll see you in there as well. But for now, Yolanda, thank you so much. Thank you. All the best being freelance!
Yolanda Sissing: Thank you so much Steve.
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