I Will Not Bullshit You, So Don’t Bullshit Me

How to Start Your Own Business Q&A with Social Hour’s Kristina Johns

Nothing makes me happier than featuring amazing women who are doing big things. This is Kristina Johns, we went to high school together at dear old Male High School in Louisville, Kentucky. Now, just 6 years later, she has her own business. If you know her, then you know that she is hilarious. I sent her some questions and her answers were literally perfect so there’s really not much for me to add besides the fact that I admire her so much. It’s really special for me to feature her on here because it’s really impressive to see people that you shared the hallways with develop into young professionals. I don’t know how to explain it but it makes me so proud.

“I own my own BIDNEZZ. It is a social media consulting and management company called Social Hour Marketing. While it’s headquartered in Louisville, KY, I have and can do work for people all around the country. My business has been established since 2017, but I stopped claiming it as my side hustle and started doing it full-time in 2020 when I finally realized I deserved it.”

“I decided to start my own business when I realized how much I hated working FOR people. I wanted to work with people, not for them. Even though I grew up in the literal birth of social media, and the birth of social media algorithms, every job I had I found myself reporting to someone, double checking that everything I did was okay by their subjective standards. I found myself having to prove my worth to someone with 500 followers and posts links in their captions why we should post certain content. And I just got really, really burnt out. 

I also realized how god-awful I was at playing politics. And not only was I bad at it, I didn’t really care to learn how to be good at it. Now,  I’m not knocking anyone that knows how to do that, because that’s a great skill to have, and a great way to maneuver your way through life, but I just honestly didn’t care to learn how to pose something as a questions versus just saying my opinion so someone didn’t get their ego hurt. I think life is just really too short and you just should say how you feel while you still have the time.”

As someone who works in the corporate world, I can attest that politics are a big part of that world. I’m like Kristina in the sense that I like to just “tell it like it is” and I believe that the truth should not be offensive (lol). So for me, the hardest part about work is not work itself, but the politics. Navigating the relationships and making sure you are respectful when delivering criticism or an opposing opinion is a bit of a struggle for me.

“Fear is a friend who’s misunderstood.”

- John Mayer

“I honestly didn’t really have any big fears, and I’ll tell you why. I was so burnt out of my current role, and what I had been doing for a while, that I knew I couldn’t keep doing this. I had also prepared myself enough to know I was going to be okay for at LEAST 6 months-1 year. I had budgeted correctly, I had enough clients signed on, I knew what I was getting myself into (roughly). I also had talked to enough people before I did it, asking them what it was like owning a business and picking their brains, to learn how to be okay with certain unknowns. Lastly, I had some good people in my life (one of my old bosses, included), encouraging me to do it. “

I would love to start my own business but I still have so much to learn in my corporate role. Additionally, I don’t think you can just wake up one day and decide to start a business. I mean this is going to be your livelihood and it takes a lot of time and effort to successfully run a business. This is why I really commend Kristina and her business because she really put some thought into this business. One of the smartest things that I think Kristina did was making sure that she was covered for at least 6-12 months so that she could try things out and if for whatever reason they didn’t, she had some sort of cushion.

Work life balance is a struggle in general but working for yourself, I imagine that must be impossible?

YES balancing professional and personal life is so hard, especially in my world where social media doesn’t turn off, contrary to the popular belief. Work life balance doesn’t exist unless you set those boundaries from the jump with your clients. All of my contracts include “working hours” for my clients. AKA - this is when I’m available for you, and when I’m off, living my best life. When clients know that upfront, you never have an issue. Seriously, never. 

Put working hours in your contracts. And don’t feel bad about it. Good people respect those hours.

I find that this is probably applicable to anything that we do. It’s apparent that a lot of us (myself included) struggle with setting boundaries. At work, I’m always saying yes to anything that is asked of me. My best friend, is always saying yes in her personal life that her days are jam packed with activities to the point that it can be draining. It’s important to set our limits and respect them, so it’s really clever to see that Kristina implemented this in her contracts.

When it comes to managing my professional vs. personal life, I think it’s actually kinda ironic. I love getting to know everything about my clients and their lives. I love getting to know not only everything about their businesses, but their personalities. What makes them tick? What do they enjoy? Do they have pets? How did they grow up? Great, how can we share that on social that looks good for their business!? But I don’t really like sharing things about my life. Hahah I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I work in a field that is so grossly open, 24/7, that I enjoy being private, and keeping parts of my life to just myself and my fiancé, Rudy. People always say “you’re so funny on social!!” and I enjoy that because I think we need more laughter on social media, but that doesn’t mean I’m like that all the time. I’m just really intentional about what I talk about and what I don’t, it’s kinda like I like saving a little piece of privacy for myself, and that’s how I do it, taking on a certain persona and just sticking with it.

What I was the most curious about was being your own boss and Kristina’s answer was amazing. I think that not everyone is meant to be their own boss but to those that can manage themselves are like superheroes, in my opinion.

Being my own boss is AWESOME. I love it. I set my own hours, I don’t feel bad for taking lunch breaks or finishing a day early because I can just do work later. I manage myself, and I love it. Cons are you deal with details like invoicing and little details you would’ve otherwise passed off, but in the end, it’s fine. I literally would not have it any other way. I come from a family of business owners, so I feel like it’s in my blood. hahah

To those thinking about starting your own business, do it. But put some thought into it and know that running a successful business takes time and hard work. I’ll leave you with a bit of advice from Kristina herself.

Words of wisdom to those thinking about starting their own business:

• Mindy Kaling said it best - “The word entitled is not a bad word in and of itself. Work hard, know your shit, show your shit, then feel entitled.”

• If someone, especially a dude, is making fun of you, he’s threatened of his job.

• People that talk like they have a lot of  money never do.

• Hire an accountant to manage your money. Just do it.

• Don’t take every opportunity just because you need it. Another one will come along.

• Get (and post) on social media. And make yourself a GOOD website.

• Raise your prices by 20%, now. 

• Listen to understand, not to respond, and you’ll get a lot farther than your competition.