The deets
Name: Brigid Shivers, Marketing Specialist and Content Creator
Business Name: By Bitsy Co.
Follow on Instagram and LinkedIn
Describe your business.
I’m a marketing specialist and help my clients on various projects, such as email marketing, graphic design, social media management, content curation and copywriting. My imagination never turns off, so this is the perfect outlet. And I’m slowly working my way into the travel and tourism industry, which is my dream!
Tell us about your self-employment journey.
In a nutshell – COVID made me do it! I was laid off from a job I really loved in March, unexpectedly on a 2-minute Zoom call and our laptops shut off 30 seconds later (woof).
I poured myself into that job and loved my team. At that moment, I realized that as long as I am working for someone else, I can be dropped at a moment’s notice, no matter how hard I work.
I started networking on LinkedIn and my social channels and slowly found freelance projects and other ways to make money using my creative skillset. And then, tada!!! By Bitsy Co. was born!
I’m still working out the details of my exact offerings, but the goal is to work my way into the travel and tourism industry and focus purely on destination marketing. People are itching to travel again and I want to help in any way I can. Fun fact: Everyone I know has called me Bitsy from birth, which is where the name stems from.
What area of your business are you most passionate about?
Working with clients that align with my values – you can feel when a connection is right and that’s typically when a magical partnership happens! I also love connecting with people through the power of visuals and words: storytelling that hits a spark in the soul.
What’s the most valuable thing you learned early in your career that has contributed to your success?
I wish I had learned this earlier on, but if something feels wrong and you’re not valued for what you bring to the table, it’s time to find something else – and you can! For so long, I felt stuck in environments that just weren’t a fit for me.
How are you pivoting your business during the COVID-19 pandemic?
My first time being self-employed has truly opened my eyes to how much can be done online and how many opportunities are out there. Everything I find myself doing when I am not supposed to be “working” is what I want to make a successful career out of.
What’s a recent project that you’ve worked on that you’re really excited about?
Right now, I am working with a team and we’re focusing heavily on their employee advocacy. I’ve been working on different initiatives with the leadership to help employees feel more involved and recognized as valuable and in turn, become better brand ambassadors.
I’ve been gathering employee content to feature on social media and various outbound emails, posts, and newsletters that we send to their clients, and it’s getting such a good response! It’s exciting to see the employees open up more and more as they begin to feel like they’re really part of the team and recognized for their hard work. Sometimes they even feature me since I work consistently with their team, which is also cool!
What advice would you give other self-employed people?
Give yourself more credit than you do – doing all of the things on your own is a shit ton of work, and you’re doing a better job than you think!
How has starting an S Corp helped you level up your business?
I started very early, which makes me happy. I am TERRIBLE with taxes, accounting, etc. Collective helps me understand things and having a team of experts who helps me do it puts me at ease!
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