Brett Johnson [00:00:00]:
Welcome to Business Inspires where our goal is to inspire you to create the business you envision. I'm Brett Johnson, Tri Village Chamber Partnership board member and the owner of Circle 270 Media Podcast Consultants. Thank you for following and subscribing to the podcast. With me is Katie Ellis, president and CEO of the Tri Village Chamber Partnership and cohost of the podcast. It's great to be here with you, Katie.
Katie Ellis [00:00:24]:
Same. Great to be here. And we're so excited to have Laura with us from Starburst Media. It was really fun to kind of dig into your website and then learn a little bit more about you and your background. So you started out, being interested in being, a journalist. And can you just tell us a little bit about, like, how that developed inside of you? Sure. At a young age?
Laura Oldham [00:00:53]:
Yeah. Sure. I wanted to be everything. And so I I journalism, I ended up switching from English to journalism because I thought that was more realistic, than creative writing as a as a job path. And so I ended up graduating in 2004 when journalism was collapsing, throughout the world. Starting its collapse, I should say. And so I I wasn't able to get a job, And that's fine. So I I moved to Chicago and, I I walked up and down the street, got a bartending job the first day I moved.
Laura Oldham [00:01:26]:
And then just kinda figured I don't wanna go back to school, but I can learn things while I bartend. And so I ended up oh, my gosh. It's like so many different, like, serendipitous things. But I ended up, working for a small ad agency in Chicago because I was bartending at a night where, the Irish owner was at the pub where I was bartending and was happy to have a potential writer that worked at a pub. And so I ended up starting to work for him for free to kind of learn a little bit more about marketing, advertising, and all the things. And that happened to be around 2007, right when, social media was kinda becoming I think it was Friendster was the hot thing the at the time when I started with, with RAIN, the agency. And they were just kinda like, figure out how this can make us money. And so it became my job to just figure out how they could monetize social media.
Laura Oldham [00:02:21]:
And so as this was all starting, I was learning along with it. So, like, as Facebook went from college email address only to all of a sudden, you know, password to what it is today. Absolute awful monster. But, and so I worked all these different little jobs while I was bartending, and then I decided to quit all the jobs and just work for myself. And I when I initially started, I started as focusing on writing, focusing on social media because that's what I had a lot of experience in. But everyone that I worked with, had needs for their websites. And so I just started to learn a little bit more about, specifically WordPress, but, like, coding and everything in general. There were so many great free or really locate, like, low cost services.
Laura Oldham [00:03:08]:
And there there are some still exist, maybe not as accessible as they were, but, I was able to just, like, kinda teach myself all these different things. And so, you know, that was 14, 15 years ago. Fast forward, I'm very fortunate where I get to do, just all kinds of websites around the country. I have a few outside of the country, which is great. And just a a wide range of clients. And like I said, I wanna be everything and do everything, and this kinda gives me a chance to meet a lot of different people that do a lot of different things. And it's it's still pretty interesting.
Katie Ellis [00:03:42]:
Yeah. That's wonderful. And it also mentioned in your about page that you wrote and performed sketch comedy as well. Yeah. Like Yeah. During the time.
Laura Oldham [00:03:52]:
Yeah. That's one of the things I used to do, writing. I did a lot of different kind of, like, satirical and comedy writing, sketch performing, at at Second City and around Chicago. I I bartended at IO if you're familiar with the Chicago improv scene. So that was one of the great and I think they're bringing it back now. I heard, one of the great, improv places where, like, Amy Poehler and a few others got their start. But yeah. So just a varied background, all the interests.
Laura Oldham [00:04:20]:
I can jump around and do all these different things that I find, you know, interesting and entertaining. Super.
Katie Ellis [00:04:27]:
Do you feel that that experience with journalism and then the sketch comedy piece, do you feel that that really infuses, in your day to day and storytelling, creating websites for clients?
Laura Oldham [00:04:41]:
Yeah. Absolutely. And I think more than anything, not even specifically, like, the website portion or, or writing or anything like that, but just problem solving. Just being able to see a situation and adapt is, you know, like, that's what improv and sketch and a lot of those different things are about. And so being able to just kind of pivot as needed both, you know, on on specific projects, on specific with specific clients, but just as a whole. Like, I am at that point right now where I'm recognizing, all the things that AI is about to do. And so, I've been getting better about utilizing that so I can have a better understanding. Like, so for example, I have been blown away by how amazing if I just put I put a URL and then say, give me a video.
Laura Oldham [00:05:32]:
5 minutes later, I have a very creepy, very well done, well written voice over video. And, this was this week. I did this for a client and I so I was like, shit. This is terrifying. But, man, it's so useful if I know how to use it because it's happening regardless. Missus, like, can you make the tone a little bit friendlier, a little slower and more Midwest? 3 minutes later, I've got a great video with a Midwestern woman who's got a little bit of a Chicago accent. Wow. So be safe.
Katie Ellis [00:06:03]:
Like an assistant. Right? A very fast assistant.
Laura Oldham [00:06:07]:
That that has access to all the good and the bad information. But so, like, that's, I think, a good example of pivoting because I recognize that things are very quickly going to change a lot. And I would rather understand all of these tools that are about to completely overhaul not just digital marketing, but a lot of service jobs of any kind. And, yeah. So that's improv. That's being able to roll with it. Right?
Brett Johnson [00:06:34]:
Yeah. Wow. That's that's well, at least I understand what you're competing against as well too. That's all of a sudden, like, my the service that you offer, it's now a moot point. You can type it in and it's, you know I mean, I don't know if we got there yet, but it potentially if you're putting a URL in for the video, all of a sudden, it's, you don't need a video person kinda depending on the focus of the video.
Laura Oldham [00:06:57]:
Yeah. And I I mean, I just I think it's gonna be interesting for a lot of us. Right? Because I if I if I say, for example, and I'm less afraid of it now that I've spent more time with it, because I I I know I'm starting to see what my role is going to be because a lot of people are gonna be really overwhelmed by this technology. And if I can hold their hands to help them learn it. But, if I say build a website for me that looks like this website, it does it for me. Oh. So, but I mean, you you still need to know the right terminology. You need to know the right phrases to use and all these different things as far as design and layout and all of that, but, it's wild.
Laura Oldham [00:07:42]:
It's it's gonna get wild really fast.
Brett Johnson [00:07:45]:
Really fast. Yeah. Well, you know, as someone who clearly enjoys what they do, what what are some of the most rewarding aspects of running Starburst Media? What keeps you motivated in your entrepreneurial journey?
Laura Oldham [00:07:59]:
That is a great question. I so I will admit that I hit a bit of a rough, rut a few years ago. So I started a second business to help me be mentally well for Starburst Media, and that's helped too because I found that I needed to be training more with my hands and staring less at computer screens. And so, kind of, a little bit more energized for Starburst Media now. What continues to make me passionate about what I do with Starburst Media and, you know, things that I've been honing over the years is choosing the people I work with a little bit more carefully to make sure that it's things that I'm passionate about for the most part, where if it's something I care about, where if it's something specific to sustainability, the environment, you know, any one of my 20 different things I really care a lot a lot about. It's a lot easier to do the kind of day to day kind of, you know, not so exciting stuff when you know that the the end is is something that's, you know, hopefully something that'll that'll bring about good change. But Yeah. Yeah.
Brett Johnson [00:09:04]:
Yeah. I was gonna ask you if you've been gravitating over to the you know, as someone has done something for as long as you have, you know, and I'm talking 5, 10 years. That's where a thing. You start to gravitate toward certain clients that you'd rather work with, and you have the opportunity to be selective too. You can say no to some people because you're in that, I don't wanna call it comfort zone, but you know this, like, I'm better in this space for you, the client, and myself. And so you've seen that over time then.
Laura Oldham [00:09:31]:
Yeah. And, that's not something I've ever been good at. And I put down I it's been this year's the year. And I I've I've been good about it the last few weeks, and I will continue to be good at it. Because the first time you tell someone no, it's that's the hard one. But then it just gets a little bit easier every time. The thing that I found has really burnt me out the last few years is task switching. So when it's, like, 90 different emails from 90 different people from 15 years of work, it's a lot of and so I'm trying to cut down on those little, like, you know, trying and we'll see how it goes.
Laura Oldham [00:10:05]:
But those little changes that like, even if it's only 15 minutes of change on this website, but then being able to change gears completely to switching to this different website platform and needing to do this. So I'm trying to cut back on that sort of thing because that really it just frees you at the edges when you do too much of that. So trying to trying to get a better feel for clients that need maybe less small changes and people that are like, hey, we really need you to do monthly maintenance. We need you to help with, you know, the more technical aspects of hosting and stuff like that. So I just wanna trying to be better about shifting to maybe just like bigger chunks instead of a 1,000,000 small chunks. And like you said, I do I do have I'm very fortunate to be able to to be able to make those decisions and say, this isn't a good fit for me anymore. And I'm hopeful that I can continue to find people to send because that's always my big problem. I wanna help everyone, but that's not helping me or or really anyone as a whole because if I'm burnt out, I'm not doing my best work for anyone.
Laura Oldham [00:11:12]:
And so, like, just trying to, like, build up maybe people that are starting out in my, like, little library of context so that I could say, like, hey, I'm not the best person for this, but this person is learning more about WordPress and would be a great fit for you if you're willing to, you know, take some time. That that sort of thing. But, yeah, it is it is a very it's a fortunate position to be in to have the luxury of of being able to recognize what's a good fit and what's not.
Brett Johnson [00:11:37]:
Yeah.
Katie Ellis [00:11:39]:
I think it's really smart of you, to to play in it like that and also very wise, to recognize that burnout and mental well-being. And our our next question that really fits in well with that, we know that family is really a significant piece of your life, And how do you balance? I know you said just a few things, but how do you balance in other ways, maybe the demands of being an entrepreneur along with parenthood? And then, would you have any advice to the rest of us?
Laura Oldham [00:12:20]:
Whew. I don't know if I have any good advice to anyone, but, I there's no such thing as balance. I don't really think I mean, do your best and, like, I certainly try, but some days will be a lot more work and not great mom days. And some days, I'll have angry not angry, but, frustrated emails from clients because I'm trying to have more of a mom day, you know? And so, like, today was an early dismissal day. And that's a fun thing you learned once your kid starts school that there will be a random Thursday and she comes home at 11. And that's great. She's pretty much an independent adult, although she's 8. Like, she doesn't need me as much or at all really anymore.
Laura Oldham [00:13:00]:
But, still, like, it's good to be able to see that. And like, so I I after our podcast, the afternoon is off of meetings and it'll be a light work afternoon. I'm really grateful that I have that because even though maybe it's not a great work day, but maybe it'll be a slightly better mom day today. I don't know. We'll see. But just trying to recognize, I guess, for me, that not every day will be 5050 or 333333 or however you wanna look at it of trying to balance different things. But just trying to do my best to roll with it, and I guess that goes back to improv too. But just rolling with it and doing your best in every good any given day, and knowing that almost all of us are in a similar boat in some ways.
Laura Oldham [00:13:43]:
And even if you don't have kids, there are different things that you're, I don't know, trying to juggle as well. And so just giving it your best and assuming everyone else's too and, you know, rolling with it.
Brett Johnson [00:13:55]:
Yeah. When I started doing stuff on my own, I didn't realize that I was becoming I don't wanna call it a role model, but it's that your kids notice. Your kids notice how much time you give to work and you also give to them, And I think you're doing the right thing. If nothing, you know, clients will come and go, but your kids won't. You know, you've you've gotta give them the time that you can because they will be gone soon enough, as as, as empty empty nesters as as my wife and I are in that, in that situation. Like, okay. We we did what we needed to do. We were fine with it, but it's like, but you can't get that time back.
Brett Johnson [00:14:34]:
You cannot. And I think I think you're doing the right thing. That makes a lot of sense. Like, whether our clients like it or not, I'm giving a half day today to my daughter. I'm just doing it. Yeah.
Laura Oldham [00:14:45]:
Yeah. And, like, I'm really not great at it. I can I can say I have all these great plans of how to do it, but, you know, every day just try to get a little bit better at it? That's the hope.
Brett Johnson [00:14:55]:
What are, put you on the spot, put up, what are 3 pieces of advice? And maybe it doesn't have to be 3, but maybe a couple at least. But 3 is a nice number. Of of, what what would you give, an advice give to, someone starting out as an entrepreneur today? No matter what they're doing, but holistically, how do you do it on your own? What what what's the best way to start? What did you learn at the beginning? You're just like, man, I wish I would've done it that way, and that would've been easier. What what what advice would you give?
Laura Oldham [00:15:26]:
Oh, that's a very good question because I don't really know the answer to that either, but I'll do my best. Yeah. No. It's
Brett Johnson [00:15:32]:
all we can ask.
Laura Oldham [00:15:33]:
That's all we're asking him. I don't know if this was the best way to do it, but for me, because I'm not a good, like, I'm not a good self salesperson, I I don't like to market myself. So for me, a good way to kind of get in there when it's like, especially when I moved here to Columbus to Burlington specifically, was to volunteer with a lot of things I cared about. Because for me, that's a good way to find other people that are passionate about the same things I'm passionate about. And then, ultimately, that's how I built up my client base when I first started, was just a lot of volunteer work because I was not I'm not and that's why I don't I don't do a lot of great networking things because I'm just not I'm not good at it, and I'm not, like, I don't know. It's just not one of my favorite things. But I can go to, like, volunteer at events or be part of planning committees or boards, and that's a great way for me at least to have met a lot of people. And so I would say maybe if someone else is in a similar, shy and not great about self promotion spot, that's a great way to when you're starting out to to, you know, get get a foot into different, different businesses to figure out, you know, who you might be able to work with.
Laura Oldham [00:16:45]:
You know, I still haven't really gotten organized on this front, but when you start at the very beginning, if you can figure out and talk to people about things like, taxes and invoices and all of those things. Because I still have I've been using the same invoicing software since maybe 2013. And I, every every year I do my, annual cleanup of, you know, making sure everything checks. And I've still got some from 2013 and 14 that are adding up. Like, you know, at the time, I was like, it doesn't really matter. And then I had an account where I was like, no. No. This does matter a lot.
Laura Oldham [00:17:25]:
I was like, oh, well, I don't remember what that was from. I have no idea what that check was. Like, I don't even know what I did for that person. So trying to, like, talk to people and I getting a good base of, you know, tools and ways to stay organized from this very start. Because even if you're not doing a lot of invoicing, a lot of, you know, expenses or anything at the start, it'll be a lot easier if you have a good foundation of at least for me, that's that's the stuff that gives like, I don't like that part of the job. But if I can have it organized in a streamline and if I can have it, then it's more likely that I do an okay job of keeping up at it. So I guess just be organized is my useful. Be organized from the start.
Laura Oldham [00:18:11]:
And then I think, again, just just being flexible. And if you have an initial vision of what, you know, this is this is the job I want to do. This is, you know, what this business is going to be. And for some people that's more rigid. Like, if I'm opening a hardware store, that's a pretty, you know, specific thing that I'm doing where I'm not pivoting to becoming a yoga studio. But if I'm, like, a a consultant or something like that, it it doesn't you don't need to start with, like, this is the only type of work I do. Just just kinda notice the things and the trends around you and maybe be willing to, kind of, flow with what makes the most sense. If your initial vision maybe wasn't exactly spot on, just just kind of, you know, learn what you need to learn and and flow with what makes the most sense.
Laura Oldham [00:18:53]:
Like, for example, if Chat GPT is really good at Shopify websites, which it is. So, just like like, just be willing to to be flexible.
Brett Johnson [00:19:05]:
For not having the answers off top of your head, you had great answers. Those are perfect.
Laura Oldham [00:19:09]:
I love it. I love it. I've got words, a lot of words, but not just the answers.
Katie Ellis [00:19:14]:
No that was those were great those were great thank you so much and then looking ahead for yourself what are your goals and aspirations for Starburst Media in the upcoming years? And in addition to that, is there anything that's really exciting you right now, like a project or something on the horizon that you can share with us?
Laura Oldham [00:19:36]:
I have a lot of projects that are very exciting to me, but not within Starburst Media. Within Starburst Media, it's it's mostly just work, which is okay because what I've recognized is I can have, I mean, jobs. We get paid for jobs because it's work. Right? And so, I can have this job that is what pays the mortgage and, you know, for groceries and all of that. But I can also have passions that, A, don't necessarily need to be paying me money, but also, like, just find being paid in other ways. Right? So being fulfilled by a different so I've got, a few fun projects there. I don't know if it's relevant to bring up, but but I'm finding that those are what like, making sure that I have things outside of just work to keep me motivated and interested and, you know, I I very much just like to learn new things. And having things other than just work is very important to me.
Brett Johnson [00:20:32]:
I think that's wise because you become a very dull person because you have nothing to talk about but work. You have to have outside interest to bring to a conversation and home to significant others, to family. When you they don't wanna hear about work when you go to Thanksgiving dinner. I mean, they do, but it's like, okay. What what else are you doing? You know, that sort of thing. I think it's important to have that variety and place it in the right place in your in your life. That makes a lot of sense. It just does.
Brett Johnson [00:20:59]:
Yeah. Whether it's whether it's more exciting than the job right now, doesn't matter. I I I think it it it it forms us better. It makes us a better person. Sure. So we wanna this season end with a with a light question, a funny question. And and this one I thought would be appropriate to you, I think. So if you had to delete all but 3 apps from your smartphones, which one would you keep?
Laura Oldham [00:21:25]:
Oh, gosh.
Brett Johnson [00:21:29]:
Isn't that isn't that harder than you think? It's harder than you think, isn't it?
Laura Oldham [00:21:31]:
Yeah. Well, I I mean, I I've been, like so last year I wish I could flip switch to a flip phone and completely toss my smartphone completely. So does this include the Apple apps? Like, does this include text messaging or, like, outside?
Brett Johnson [00:21:45]:
I think I I look at it from outside apps. The ones you can delete easily, and it's, like, you know what? Goodbye. Okay.
Laura Oldham [00:21:53]:
What would
Brett Johnson [00:21:53]:
you what would you want a 3 that you'd wanna keep?
Laura Oldham [00:21:56]:
So outside of the basics, the foundation of text, call, you know, music and all that stuff, podcasts, I would keep there's a really pretty game called Monument Valley. I would keep that because it's very calming and very nice. Similarly, there is there are a couple like math and logic. I can I'll consider that one app that I find also good because, I'm trying to do as much as I can if I need. If I have the compulsion to look at my phone, instead of scrolling social media or something else, to try to mindlessly do math and logic problems seems better for me. So I I would put Monument Valley, math and logic, and the weather change. I would put that Sure. Because I think it's more accurate than Apple's Which is funny because it's powered by the same it's powered by the same information, but I swear it's so different.
Laura Oldham [00:22:49]:
And I I prefer the weather chain a lot. So those are the 3 countries.
Brett Johnson [00:22:53]:
Perfect. There's no wrong answer to that. I just I just I'm always intrigued by those that would be, you know, what do you wanna keep? But and and that says a lot of you. It just does. I think I think the 3 or 4 says a lot of the person what they keep on their phone and the rest would just junk. You know, and we all we all could do that. We should do that on a monthly basis. Just clean the phone out.
Brett Johnson [00:23:11]:
Clean it out. Start over and really think about what have you ever asked the phone you know, look at the phone. How often have you opened that thing?
Laura Oldham [00:23:19]:
Get rid of it then. I mean, that that proves that I can't switch to a flip phone because I do use the letter channel app True. Like, 5 times a day. So so there we go. I'll keep my iPhone, I guess.
Katie Ellis [00:23:31]:
Yep. Is there anything else that you would like to share to our members and the rest of the community before we hop off?
Laura Oldham [00:23:41]:
I don't think so, but this was lovely. So thank you for reaching out in such a funny, like, full circle moment to think that it was 7 years ago that we did the initial, first podcast of the of the whole series. That's great. Yep.
Katie Ellis [00:23:56]:
Yeah. Thank you so much for being a part of this. And, how can we get a hold of you? And we'll put those in the show notes as well.
Laura Oldham [00:24:04]:
Starburstmedia.com, which I have not updated for more than 9 years as of this week as well. So that's kind of embarrassing when you're like, I looked at your website. I was like, oh, yeah. That's a thing I should try to find time to update. But starburstmedia.com, has my email, [email protected], and those would be the 2 primary ways.
Brett Johnson [00:24:25]:
Great. Thanks, Laura. Listeners, thank you for joining us, and don't forget to check out our podcast page on the Tri Village Chamber website. Look for that podcast tab at the top of the home page. Tell us what you think about this or any of our other episodes at [email protected].