It’s that time again – where I introduce (or reintroduce) you to an amazing woman absolutely killing it out there on the entrepreneur train. This week is one of my FAV small business owners, Claire McKeen.
Claire is the owner of The Keen Collective, a marketing agency that helps other small business owners create and implement pretty creative and practical strategy. If someone asks me for marketing advice, I’ll spend the next 15mins chewing their ear off about how amazing Claire is at what she does. I personally use Claire’s services so I know the type of invaluable advice she has on just about any marketing query you might think up. Better than that, she seems to pull these little golden nugget ideas from no where that leave you scratching your head thinking, “well I’ll be….”!
If you want to know a little more about the woman behind the TKC machine and garner some little golden nuggets for yourself, then read on, friends!
Tell us a little about yourself:
My name is Claire McKeen and I am the owner of The Keen Collective! I am a British born, Canadian sounding, Australian who lives in the best street in North Brisbane 😉
I guess this is the part where I am supposed to list all my hobbies and exciting things about me, but aside from dabbling in cooking/baking occasionally – I really do live and breath my business haha.
To wind down I generally get wined and dined by my boyfriend, Jack and find daily happiness in the simple things, including coffee – I genuinely look forward to my morning coffee as I got to sleep the night before!
Tell us a little about your business:
On the day I type this I am celebrating my first birthday of The Keen Collective! What a year it has been. Essentially, I empower, educate and support passionate business owners to achieve more with their marketing. I do this via 1:1 consulting and online group training.
Because there was such a huge demand for taking my services past just the consulting level, I have recently brought the fabulous Georgia from @hellopressco on as a Marketing Assistant and is my first official #TeamKeen member! So excited to grow with Georgia and be able to offer more than strategic consulting.
What inspired you to start your business?
Well I have ALWAYS wanted to own my own business, what the actual business looked like over the years in my mind has drastically changed (I do NOT want to own a restaurant haha), my passion for business in general hasn’t budged.
As I built a career in advertising and marketing – I suddenly had a ‘I can do this myself’ moment – so I did!
How did you make the move from part time to full time?
Well, I started my business officially at 10pm one random night in on a whim in May 2018, a few weeks later my employer found out what I was doing (hello, breach of contract)… so with no clients on my books I resigned on the spot instead of getting fired and losing my holiday pay haha!
That was the universe giving me a huge kick up the ass into full time self employed world. I signed my first retainer client in the first week and never looked back. I still work closely with that first client and am so lucky they came into my life at that time.
What’s the dream? What’s the end game?
Well this changes month to month! To be honest I don’t really know at this point in time. I would love to build out a team to cover the areas I just don’t work well within/are experts in their own areas and offer more to my clients. However as my online courses grow, I would love to have a focus on that format so I can reach more people and really build a fabulous community of business owners, and make a difference to their lives.
See I just changed my mind mid sentence – all in all – I am working on the big dream, whatever that ends up looking like lol.
Who inspires you and why?
Erin May Henry is a big inspiration for me, I have followed her for quite a while and done a few of her coaching programs. Another massive inspiration is Emma Issacs – love what she is all about.
Best piece of advice?
Stop looking for more inspiration and stop second guessing yourself, the best way to start marketing your business is to start marketing your small business. You have to try things, even if they are not perfect – just START
5 things small biz owners should utilise in their marketing strategy:
- Humanising your brand
- Video
- Consistency with whatever it is you are doing
- Collaborations
- The Keen Collective 😉
3 ways to better spend $500 than on facebook ads:
I am a BIG believer in building your foundations. Often business try to run before they can walk, which makes them trip up. I often stop my clients from spending money on paid advertising until we have a few bits and pieces done first. Some other ways you can spend that cashola:
- Graphic design – I personally use King St Creative 😉 [editor note: I swear I didn’t ask her to put this in haha]
- Quality photography – this does NOT need to cost the world
- A copywriter – again, QUALITY
- Marketing consulting/coaching – not trying to toot my own horn but sometimes you do need help!
By building a quality brand FIRST, you will in turn make your investment into paid advertising SO much more effective.
Quick Questions:
Podcast you’re currently listening to: Ohh I have been super off podcasts lately but the last one I listened to was Jenna Kutcher’s The Goal Digger Podcast
Last book your read? Seth Godin – This Is Marketing
Last movie you watched? Sherlock Holmes – the first one with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law! Love that movie haha
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