Making An Impact One Visual Content At A Time

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Making an impact one visual at a time

Joanna Sherrow is a visual brand strategist that helps define an amazing identity for businesses, coaches and educators. She is a wife to a great husband, a lover of classic rock, Disney or Theater soundtracks and loves anything arts and craft projects. Joanna creates stunning graphics, websites and more that create a splash in the online world helping you step out into your passion and get recognized among the masses.

Let’s get you rocking too: https://laurarike.com/pinterest-business-challenge

Interview Transcript: 

Laura Rike 0:01
Hey, everyone, I am so excited that I have Joanna here with me today. So we are doing I do a lie. Yeah.

So just to give you a proper introduction, my dear Joanna here is a visual brand strategist that helps to find and then losing identity for businesses, coaches and educators. She has a wife who a great husband, a lover of classic rock, Disney, Avon or theater soundtracks, and she loves anything’s arts and crafts project.

I’ve caught some of your live streams for

projects that you’ve done in the past. And Joanna creating studying graphics, websites and more that create a splash in the online world, helping you step out into your passion and getting recognized among the masses. So welcome, welcome, my dear.

Joanna Sherrow 1:00
Hello. Hello, Laura. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited to actually join you into the whole world of Pinterest. You’re the Pinterest expert, and I just love learning from you. And I’m so happy that we’ve connected as well.

Laura Rike 1:16
Yes, absolutely. Why don’t you tell me a little bit more about your background, and then we can kind of lead into how we got connected and things like that.

Joanna Sherrow 1:26
Yeah. So just like what you’ve said, or Laura said, so my name is Joanna. I’m the creator and founder of savvy shake design. I specialize in website and graphic design. And we’re in I help coaches, educators and businesses kind of through their visual vision into a visual creation that can really help them, have your brand stand out and showcase your skills online.

Laura Rike 1:50
Yeah, and we got connected a couple of different ways. There were a couple of different Facebook groups that we started kind of chit chatting in

you. And I then actually started working together and you started helping me with some of my graphics. And then it just kind of kept going from there. And then I joined into my boot camp. Yeah. Yeah. So why don’t you tell me kind of what types of visuals and things that you work on on a day to day basis, and kind of like the things that you provide? services, products, that kind of stuff?

Joanna Sherrow 2:28
Okay, yeah, so, um, so besides the, the main service that I offer is basically a website. So I also support the visuals graphic, especially for social media. Because a lot of entrepreneurs right now, especially like coaches, or educators, provide content or give out content to their audience, and they kind of want something that would really represent it in really much more, right away appealing to the eyes. Because like, as you all know, right, we are both in social media, we’re in both doing this live on Facebook, on Instagram. And the shorter, you know, the the attention span of the audience right now is really just like, hey, the quicker the better the direct messages. And sometimes the visual really helps convey the message more, you just want to highlight key words, with your branding with the brand identity that you have. So that’s basically what I do. So when it comes to social media, I support social media posts, social media graphics, just like what I do for you customize, as well as different products that has to do with marketing materials that they actually need. So we have a wide array of services that could really focus more on the visual aspect of your brand, as an entrepreneur online or even offline as well.

Laura Rike 3:48
No, that’s awesome. And I know that with different graphics we’ve been doing, it’s been kind of a godsend to be able to be like, Hey, here’s my brand that I had pretty much much done, like put together and things like that. But I didn’t put that to what I needed in a graphic. So it was it was really nice to be able to just be like, hey, Joanna, I here’s my idea of what I want in my head, like, help me kind of put that into play. So,

Joanna Sherrow 4:18
yes, because I mean, there has really been some challenge of busy entrepreneurs that, you know, they tend not to focus on their business money making activities, because they get sucked in and like, Is this my brand? Or is this you know, does this work good? Or does this look good and everything and so, so you know, outsourcing it, or having someone we’re in, I turn the just a vision into a creation really just helps a lot?

Laura Rike 4:41
Yeah, and that’s really where it was. I mean, I went to school years ago, I don’t know if you knew this, I think graphic design, and like, I can look at something and visually be like, Oh my gosh, that’s awesome. Like, yes, we’re running with it. But for you to get out of your own head, it can depend on the mood that day, if your brand is on point, it can depend on if you saw somebody else’s brand that really resonated with you, and then you can kind of go down different paths. And it’s not all the same. So to be able to have someone like you to be able to say, like, I need it to be on point and I need it to be, you know, representative of who I am and my quirky side and things like that. It’s just been amazing in terms of the ease of not having to really think about it as we’re kind of going through things with the fact that yes, it is we are all busy, it is crazy busy. As an entrepreneur, we’re doing all the things all the time. So

Joanna Sherrow 5:44
we want to make sure that we’re productive, not just really busy. And, you know, that’s why as well, right when I’m doing this while and just so funny thing that you’re kind of mentioning as well, like, you know, busy entrepreneurs, especially when it comes to learning. And I think there’s a reason why as well, we got put neck dead. And I also dived in to what you’re actually offering because I was really like, you know, okay, I want to build my business now, where can I expand my visual aspect? Where can I put it more? And of course, Pinterest is one thing that I really, really kinda like, hey, I need to go with this. Because this is visual. This is visual branding. And I found you and it’s a day, yay, I have someone that I can run in and just ask or, you know,

learn from so that’s just so amazing as well.

Laura Rike 6:27
Yeah, absolutely. So let’s dive into that. Like what was or one of or a couple of the problems that you were hoping to try to solve. When you looked into joining the boot camp?

Joanna Sherrow 6:39
Yes. So. So for those of you are actually especially for my audience. So one thing, one thing that I was 2019 was really more of an intentional path for me, because I really want to be able to reach more, because I do believe that I researched I mean, you know, you the content that we put out is something that we really put our heart and soul into it. You know, we study, we research and everything. So I was thinking like, okay, where can I go more and expand more? Because at the end of the day we’re showing up on social media is because we want to be found. So I said, Where can I be found in a sense that I’ll be giving out more of the content that I have. And Pinterest was one thing that I really set really know, that could really help me because the first thing I know, rather than doing to direct Google, I go to Pinterest, like research or this or meal plan or like for example, exercise or decoration. So I go there right away. So I said like if I have someone like you know, doing this right away, and I’m a visual person, I bet a lot of visual person also goes there. So I said, Okay, this is something that I want to learn. I have Facebook, I have my website. Pinterest is the right direction. I even deviated from Instagram. I said, I want Pinterest more. And so I was really searching. We talked about it right? we kind of talked about it your plans, you have like some a lot of things going on and said boot camp, I said, sign me up, like right away. I said, like, Hey, I saw where’s the PayPal link Laura said, because I want to learn I want to learn. And guys, if you haven’t really follow Laura one thing that I’ve really, really learn is that Pinterest is not a social media platform. I said, Wow, really, after all this dinosaurs really thinking like, I think it’s, you know, like Facebook, like Instagram, and it’s not. And it’s really something that is more of a visual research platform that I can repurpose my content. So my problem actually initially is that where else can I put my content? I distributed them to YouTube. And it’s really the repurposing of it. And I learned from you because I’m I I’m part of your community, which is the awesome the rock star, right? So I was part of that. And you always really, peach and you always share the repurposing tool. Because it that’s one thing, I mean, I cannot really provide content 24 seven, but when I really learn about that, it really just helped me. So that was one of my, my my problem or let’s just say my my challenges, where can I go more and make use of the content that I have.

Laura Rike 9:17
And so that’s really hitting home two parts of it, because we have people who are on here and watching and I’m if you’re joining us, feel free to give us a shout out. You know your name and what you do whether your product based or service based, because we touch on that as well, too. But the biggest thing that people always say is I don’t have time to learn a new platform like I just don’t like we were just talking about how busy it is. Even for someone who knows graphic design to do her own graphics. Like that’s just the name of the game, right? So give me your honest feedback, like how much time do you feel you actually had to put in? And what we were working on? Did it overwhelm you? Did it take up so much of your time you were able to work on other things? Do you feel like it was that type of needle moving activities where you are getting results from it for your business? So it’s worth it on the ROI side?

Joanna Sherrow 10:18
I really nice. How’s the boot camp of Pinterest? And one that you have is that it’s a section in a sense, like, okay, let’s start from the basic, you know, you even give like, prior like preparing how to go about it. And then I do love the zoom. I do look as I did have a you know, I? I had online courses that is pre recorded as well. I do that myself. I mean, if I provide content or courses, I also do that one, there’s live but that zoom call was more intimate in a sense that it was really like, hey, what is going on? And the question right away, and I do like the pace, the pacing of it like okay, start from here, this section, it starts with your profile. So key words, and you’re really so accommodating and really answering questions, because because just like what you said, I am a service provider, a lot of other people are product provider. So some people just think that well, I’m just, you know, I’m I’m a coach, I cannot do that. Or maybe I must service X, Y and Z or maybe I can do Pinterest. Not at all. I mean, it is an open book for everyone who basically have content and your pacing on your on your bootcamp is really step by step. I really love the introduction, how to navigate that water, the proper techniques to you know, keywords where to put your logo and I’m such a visual and the first thing I really said like how can you make a thumbnail or where do you put my logo or what type of like text should it be like within the design. And it’s just really helpful and, and just like what you said, as a busy as a busy person who creates graphics for clients. I do not have time, through really like really like self research, you know, YouTube X, Y, and Z or grab free resources X, Y, and Z. If I can really just learn from someone who’s an expert. I mean Laura, you have been doing this for years right now, how long have you been serving your clients again?

Laura Rike 12:19
Yeah, so I’ve been in this for eight and a half years or longer. Now I’ve been saying eight and a half years for a while. So I should probably actually it was before my first son was born. And he’s 11. Now, so. But I really started just focusing on Pinterest in the past three to four years. And so that’s been super fun to see the changes in even finding what you truly love. Like even yourself, like doing just focusing on the things that you love, which is visual branding, and graphics and websites like that’s like to be able to say this is what I love. And this is what I want to do is been really fun. So

Joanna Sherrow 12:59
yes, you So yeah, I mean, it was no, I mean, you’re the expert, and your boot camp has really everything that is needed. And I see a lot of changes. I was talking, you know, we were talking a while ago, I started like four months since I opened Pinterest, I just have three or five monthly will let me open my Pinterest, right, just like views or something. Monthly views. I mean, it from the dime, I’ve actually signed off for your boot camp. I had like, you know, five, or there’s an increase again, there’s an increase, like it might not be in thousands or hundreds yet, but there is growth. So once I put everything into action, if I know that I’m in the right direction, I can end this is what I want. I could always go back, you know, I can always go back,

I can always go back. Oh, what was that keyword again. And guys, one thing I also love about what you do is that I love like, you’ve noticed that there was a change? And what was the latest change that you’ve tried with your client and you right away? peach it on the bootcamp I said, This is amazing. We real time discovery real time teaching. That is very worthwhile for me who signed up through boot camp. So that’s why I was like every night. Pinterest Laura go with the Laura

Laura Rike 14:13
Yeah. And it’s been super fun to have you in the group to to be able to ask questions, because that’s really what’s fun for me is to have that interactive side and have the people ask the questions. And that’s why I do it this way, and launch it in certain ways. So that we can do instead of just people taking another course, like it actually is an interactive boot camp where we will get on cameras like this and look face to face. Because I feel like that means more. It’s more accountability. It’s more strategy and like hand holding and making sure that you’re actually getting what you want to be getting from the investment that you’re paying, right. Like, I’m not just here to make money. I’m actually here to see you guys succeed as well, because I love it so much. And I know it can be be so helpful for other people. So one of the other things that I know a lot of people question too is like, what is there’s, there’s a number of mindsets. I will say I shifted the way I say these normally I will say their excuses, right? But it’s the way we think their mindsets, right? Yeah. So what is the biggest mindset block or hesitation that you had about jumping into the boot camp?

Joanna Sherrow 15:30
Well, initially, it’s just Will I be able to really like implement everything you know how it is when you would go into an investment, you kind of think like, hey, will I be able to do this will I be able to catch up and everything. But because of how you really formatted it in a way that you know that let’s have this start with this one, you have a worksheet which I love, you have a worksheet, and then you started with an introduction, then you start that with, with all the content step by step and then go through if you have any question and adapt, I think is it adapt to, to each and everyone who’s part of the boot camp? Because that’s always you know, how many people sign up? Will she be able to really address my concern? Or you know, some answer some of the things that I have, and it’s really just, you were able to really address those concerns, and it’s really worth an investment. So I think moving forward, you know, whatever it is still that upgrades or anything that you have in your in your bootcamp because for me, it’s really valuable. As an entrepreneur, whether even you’re starting, whether you’re made, you’re a professional Pinterest is something you can always dive in no matter where stages you are in your business, if you have content that you would like to put into a certain place and redirect them in the other sections of your business, Pinterest, your website, your Facebook, your Instagram, there’s a lot of possibility, which I really loved.

Laura Rike 16:55
Yeah, absolutely. And let’s just dive into that too. Like if you have a business, you you have content, right? Like, you are going to have content and we were talking about this before we started, we’re kind of mutually on the same page about some of the platforms versus others. Instagram,

hate relationship, it really is. But for those who love Facebook, or love, Instagram, or love doing live video, maybe they’re on Facebook Lives or YouTube or wherever they are, like we were talking about how many versatile ways this could help a business owner and repurpose that content, not just if you have a website, like you can still be on Pinterest, even if you don’t have a website. I mean, you and I were even talking about how we could build a graphic design portfolio or a website design portfolio. And that could be a board for you. Were you send it off to a client and be like, Look, they were asking for examples. And here’s the bored of how many different pins leading to thousands of different examples over the years that you’ve probably done.

Yeah, it is. I mean, it can exponentially grow. So why don’t I’m going to put you on the spot here for a second. But why don’t you tell me a couple of things that you learned that you are working on or have implemented in terms of the strategy for, like boards that you are going to be utilizing for your service based business. Let’s just tackle that too, because you have products that you started, but you’re also a service based business. And like how that’s really, the boot camps really helping you kind of shift into more strategy mode behind it and not getting sucked into all the pretty things on there. Right?

Joanna Sherrow 18:48
Yes, yeah. But you can really be into the rabbit hole of Pinterest, right? Because I’m such a visual person and everything like, Oh, this is so fun. I mean, one of the things that the first thing is that how I was able to present in terms of all, like the text that I have, I even didn’t know like how the hashtag key hashtags that you can actually do that can help the categories and how I can really concentrate more and the more I dive in into the bootcamp that you have, I kind of gave me the direction. Okay, I am a service for service provider. My one of my problem or one of my pain points is actually how can I repurpose my content. And then you’re really pushing it Hey, not because like, for example, even though I’m a web designer, but if you have like, you know, you have content, you can always put them into wherever your main content is, because Laura my very first, this is one, I really thought that Pinterest, you need to have a website to put them through your blog, to turn it to your blog. And that’s the first thing strategy that I really learned, hey, I can actually make use of my live video on Facebook like this one, I can then right away a graphics pointed into Pinterest that gets into Facebook, use the categories. Put it again on you to repurpose it, guys. You see how it’s mind blowing. And of course, that this is this is it. And Laura one thing I’ve also learned from you from the boot camp is that we’ve used a certain tool to schedule our Pinterest, I always get, you know, we always think when we are starting as an entrepreneur, we always think that we should do everything ourselves, right? There’s a lot of ways you can do automation content. So those are basically what I’ve really learned. And I really liked when they implemented it. Okay, really. So this is how you do description. This is how you could put hashtag, this is how you like you do your image, all of this simple strategy really help really help and just understanding that this tool is very powerful. And you know, and I did message here, right? I didn’t hear hear anything. Has the IPO already went live.

Laura Rike 20:54
Yeah, it did.

Yeah.

It it wasn’t publicly. No, they did go publicly. It wasn’t as publicized as I was thinking they were going to do it. But it they did. Okay.

All right. So it’s a different conversation. You know how I am right. Oh, yeah, we could go off and a whole tangent about that. Let me started here.

Joanna Sherrow 21:24
Yeah, I mean, for you guys who haven’t follow Laura Go ahead. And, you know, follow her page, she goes live, there’s a lot of content out there. And Pinterest is very powerful. That’s one thing I’ve really realized. I mean, I’ve put my content in one basket, just to be honest, I put my 2018 I put it all in Facebook. That’s where I build savvy shake design. You know, I grew and branch into focusing as well on my website, other platforms. And I really realized Pinterest is something that could really help me repurpose my call. It’s that main purpose repurposing the content that I have, and really help out as well. And all the strategies that I’ve really learned from the boot camp has really helped me a lot.

Laura Rike 22:07
Ya know, and that’s so awesome, because I love I love seeing you guys, like one of the things we do in the boot camp to is seeing those accomplishments and those wins. And so I love seeing you guys post in there, like, hey, these aren’t big numbers, but like, everybody starts somewhere. And so like, we all have different goals. And we all have different things that we’re trying to achieve with our businesses and with the strategies that we’re implementing. And so to be able to have, not just me, but that group of core people in there that are all learning at different paces. And helping and providing that support is also really fun to see with you guys as well. Like, it’s not just you. And it’s not just me. There’s other people in there that I think even you’ve connected with in the group, too. Yes.

Joanna Sherrow 22:54
Yes. And this is something that that’s so funny, I think you did to zoom call to batches of like for the best afraid the premier right of the boot camp, and I was there

for two times. I was like I’m here again. Yeah, yes,

Laura Rike 23:09
yeah. Because when I lunch, you guys in the boot camp, get access to the previous ones. And you’ll see the new ones as well. Because if anything changes, obviously I’m in real time, like you said, and we’re updating those changes. And the benefit of being in the boot camp is being able to come back like you said, it’s just like videos, right? We go and we watch a movie once in the movie theater, and it was awesome. And then it comes out and DVD and we watch it again. And we’re like, where was that part when I was in the movie theater, like what? What was going on? Like, you know,

Joanna Sherrow 23:43
I remember even doing one time when you did the categories and the boot camp and everything, there’s a lot of secrets and bomb and the boot camp guy. So do

check it out. I’m not going to give

everything but I had to tag myself. I said, Okay, tagging myself on this one, because I have to review about it. And then that’s a fun thing about learning. I mean, the social media world right now. I mean, social media and platform. Again, Pinterest is not a social media platform. So that’s one thing. So Pinterest is really growing, it’s really been growing, it’s in spending with them going public as well, with our business, there’s a lot, there’s, there’s a lot of things that you can really do about it. And you know, getting it from an expert, like you have been doing and using Pinterest for three to four years has really helped as really helped. So that’s why I’m so happy. I’m so happy that we’re doing this. And we’re sharing the goodness of Pinterest, the sharing the goodness of your bootcamp because I know a lot of entrepreneurs can really benefit from it if they dive into the understanding on how Pinterest really works.

Laura Rike 24:42
Yeah, absolutely. And it’s been an absolute joy to have you in there as a graphic designer as well, just for the visual side of it, helping field questions and talk to people and really keeping my head saying to in terms of other graphics that we’re creating for the business and stuff like that. So, um, well, I will not take up too much more of your time. I truly appreciate you being on here. I love if there was one piece of tidbit in a

tidbit of information that you learned or something significant that really resonated with you that you want to share with both our audiences about Pinterest, I will let you go ahead and do so.

Joanna Sherrow 25:25
Well, I think I think that’s one thing I really really one thing if I have to, would all the things that I’ve been learning and the techniques that you have shared, I think one thing is that Pinterest is really something that you can really use. I think I repeated it repurposing your content. Because sometimes us entrepreneur we provide content really would give everything that we have on the street then and you kind of make you kind of want to find other ways on where you can actually distribute that one so that you can be found. I always, I always say this one even like, you know, the reason why you’re going social media is because you want to be found, you want your content to be found. And I really realized how powerful Pinterest is, and investing on your bootcamp really made it worthwhile. Because now I understand that I don’t have to complicate things I didn’t have i was i was really complicating things a lot. And but going through your process going through the understanding. And it’s not even that I mean, you know, we all have our different, you know, learning curves and everything. But it’s really just how you simply teach it. And when you have a good teacher who really teach it and is an expert for that what it makes it easier, and the community that you have is just amazing the support system that you have. And I love how it is. So please, guys, please do check out Laura’s boot camp, the boot camp Pinterest, if you’re interested. I I believe I’m one of the first who has been part of that boot camp. I’m learning and implementing it. And if you have any question, Laura is amazing. I’ve worked with her side by side with her graphics and also learning from her. That is just so amazing as well.

Laura Rike 27:05
Awesome. Thank you so much, my dear. And yes, you guys if you have any questions, or if you are looking to learn some of the fun secrets that Joanna and I both were talking about earlier, I do have a master class coming up. It is a free master class. And we dive into the three undeniable reasons as to why you should be on Pinterest for your business. So the link is scrolling across the screen right now. I would love to have you guys join. You can also go ahead and give us a shout out and say masterclass, and I will get you the information. So anything else that you would like to add Joanna, anything going on in your business that you want to highlight and tell people about?

Joanna Sherrow 27:50
While Yes, um, thank you. Thank you so much Laura again for doing this. So I have thank you as well for letting me share what’s going on in our business. So as far as me of being a designer, as well as being a web designer, one thing I also offer for DIY entrepreneurs, for those who would like to do it themselves, but still have the quality of design, I will soon be launching my branding kit, branding kit collection that you all can actually check out. So that is something that I’m really working on. And each camp will only be sold once for an entrepreneur who likes that one. And once that is sold, that will be put down. So I’m so excited. It all, it all boils down to your brand identity. So for my logo, colors and everything. So I’m so excited to give all the new soon. So do check out savvy shake design on Facebook, and also our website, I’ll be happy to help you out.

Laura Rike 28:42
That is so cool. I knew that you were doing that. But I didn’t know that it was going to be for one person individually only because you can go to other places online and you see these things. But they’re for the masses. They’re not customized for that individual. So I think that’s something that’s super cool that you’re doing for your audience. So if you guys have any questions about branding, like I mean, I’m very transparent about it. She helps me with my graphics, she does an amazing job. So if you guys have any questions or need any help, definitely check her out. And is it? Will you give the Facebook link in the comments for me. And you can just click through and then be able to get to your page as well. And I will post it up above in the description for you guys too. If you guys have any other questions for Joanna and I feel free to let us know we will always come back and help you out. And thank you again Joanna so much for being here with me today. Thank you.

Joanna Sherrow 29:43
Thank you Laura for inviting me.

Laura Rike 29:45
Yes, no problem. All right, everybody. We will catch you all later.