Rachel Leslie is an advertising expert and founder of Rachel Leslie, LLC, a “copywriting and storytelling studio based in Portland, Oregon.”
At the company, Rachel Leslie takes on “impact-driven brands” and helps them “define and amplify their business with compelling copy and purpose-led storytelling.”
Rachel Leslie began her eventful career after booking a one-way ticket to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, just one year removed from journalism school and with just “an unpaid internship from an indie newspaper” to her name.
Way out of her comfort zone, Rachel Leslie worked hard and ultimately started working in “writing, marketing and PR for tech startups, five-star luxury hotels, internationally recognized food and beverage brands.”
Likewise, Rachel Leslie landed a gig with Nike, “the largest sportswear brand in the world, as one of two digital copywriters in all of North America.”
Rachel Leslie makes sure her company stands out by focusing her services on storytelling.
Whether writing a “brand messaging guide, website copy,” or “ongoing content for a client’s blog, newsletter, or social media posts,” Rachel Leslie approaches each task “through the lens of telling a story.”
Through this approach, Rachel Leslie “attracts a unique roster of clients across multiple industries.”
Rachel Leslie has worked with clients who are on Amazon, or who head Fortune 500 companies.
Check out more interviews with leading copywriters here.
The one aspect I believe helps me and my business stand out from other agencies is that my services are rooted in storytelling. Rachel Leslie
Jerome Knyszewski: What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Rachel Leslie: The one aspect I believe helps me and my business stand out from other agencies is that my services are rooted in storytelling.
Whether I’m developing a brand messaging guide, writing website copy, or developing ongoing content for a client’s blog, newsletter, or social media posts, each service is driven through the lens of telling a story, all with compelling and conversion-focused copy.
This alternative form of service attracts a unique roster of clients across multiple industries.
Whether one is starting an inclusive travel brand, building a motherhood platform to connect mothers of all different stages with alternative providers and health experts, writing a book about the secret to let go of your shame, and the list goes on.
They’ve come from Amazon, they’ve headed up fortune-500 companies, they’ve taken risks, and they’re changing the future.
Many of my clients can explain what they do, but when it comes to explaining it through words and fostering a connection with their readers, there’s a disconnect.
I focus on getting to the root of why a brand or an entrepreneur does what they do by extracting and uncovering their story, and I focus on how they can share that with the world.
A former client of mine was a graphic designer seeking help in developing his personal brand messaging.
He had decades of experience working at various creative agencies, planning design-driven events, and even product management and technology.
He had difficulty understanding how his experiences related to what he was doing now as a creative and graphic designer.
I worked with him to define a brand story to tie everything together. It helped him look at his experiences in a whole different way.
Not as years of work that felt disjointed or unrelated to what he was doing now but as a unified story of merging functionality with design to drive consumer experience in a whole new way.
He no longer felt stuck in how he communicated his services or offerings, which gave him a whole new way to speak to his expertise and share a compelling story.
Jerome Knyszewski: Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
Rachel Leslie: In my first year of business the most important thing has been striving for balance. When I was first starting,
I kept having an unhealthy thought that, “if I’m not working, I’m not making money.” I even felt guilty at times for not working on the weekends and opting to take breaks.
This thought is not true at all.
As someone who’s livelihood thrives on being creative and letting that come through in my work, finding a balance has never been more critical for me and my business to thrive.
I realized when I do take breaks and step away from my business, my work and my client’s work benefits.
I feel more creative, refreshed and that’s exactly how I want to feel when I start working on a project.
Another tip I’d recommend is to outsource early. I didn’t realize how much I needed to do this until I was drowning in work trying to wear all the hats.
I’d recommend other entrepreneurs and business owners to make a list of all of the tasks they do on a day-to-day basis and weed out the jobs they hate doing, the ones they can handle on their own and the tasks they love.
This will help them identify better where they can stay in their zone of genius in their business and where’s best to hand over the reins to someone else who can keep the needle moving better than you.
Another tip to help you thrive? Track your time in your business.
When it comes to time tracking, I think it’s essential to understand where you’re spending your time in your business and understand where your burnout may be coming from.
If you tell yourself, I have the whole day to develop an editorial calendar for my business; you’ll take the entire day.
But if you give yourself an hour window to create that editorial calendar, you’d be surprised how much you can get done.
Start by timing yourself to see how long tasks are taking you. Then, set some limits and boundaries by setting timers and sticking to them!
Jerome Knyszewski: None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
Rachel Leslie: In starting my business, I’ve been able to meet a handful of talented entrepreneurs and business owners along the way who’ve served as mentors and a guiding light as I’ve navigated the ups and downs of owning my own business.
I’m grateful for all of their support and positivity, and I’ve been genuinely amazed at the mentality in this online space in how we can all rise together.
When I think of one person, in particular, my husband, Andy, immediately comes to mind.
We met several years ago (in Vietnam of all places!) when I started my career and expressed desires to have my own business one day.
He’s been my rock and my support system through it all. He’s represented the perfect balance of empathy while pushing me when I needed it most.
When I brought up the idea of leaving my 9–5 to go all-in in my copywriting business, I was worried about his reaction.
But instead of questioning how we would manage the ups and downs of my first year in business during our first year of marriage, he responded, “it’s about time!” without hesitation.
That confidence and positivity have been a driving force for me throughout all of this.
Jerome Knyszewski: Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. The title of this series is “How to take your company from good to great”. Let’s start with defining our terms. How would you define a “good” company, what does that look like? How would you define a “great” company, what does that look like?
Rachel Leslie: I would define a “good” company as one that ticks all of the boxes.
They have consistent branding, marketing, messaging, they’re showing up in all the right places and they know how to solve their customer’s problems, whether it’s through a product or service.
They’re doing all the right things. But they may not be as willing to take risks, take a stance, or react quickly to stand out truly.
Now, a “great” company has all of those elements, too, and more. They’re able to thread their core values with their product or service successfully.
What I mean by this is that they communicate what they stand for.
And in doing so, they attract people who not only want to purchase a product or service from them, but they want to be a part of that belief, too. “Great” companies are not afraid to speak their mind or to break the status quo.
They stand wholeheartedly in what they believe and in what they offer, too.
This not only makes them a great company customers want to buy from, but a company that employees want to work at, too.
Additionally, I believe customers can tell a lot about a company by how they respond to problems and their approach to customer service.
A good company may resolve an issue by accepting a return or offering a refund.
But, a great company takes it a step further and does everything in their power to resolve the customer’s issue by responding with empathy and creating an unforgettable experience so that the customer will tell others how seamless and enjoyable that process was, and they’ll come back again.
Jerome Knyszewski: What would you advise to a business leader who initially went through years of successive growth, but has now reached a standstill. From your experience do you have any general advice about how to boost growth and “restart their engines”?
Rachel Leslie: Initially, I would encourage them to step away from what they’re currently doing, switch up their environment, and network around them.
I’d recommend making an effort to connect with other leaders and businesses outside of their industry, look at how they run their business, what they do differently, and why.
Outside of the professional realm, I’d encourage them to pick up a new hobby or interest and challenge their mind differently.
This can help them see things differently and open up a new pathway for thinking, processing, and creativity.
Another critical piece of advice I’d recommend is for them to take a trip (once it’s safe to travel again). I’m not saying to book a yoga retreat in Bali.
I’m talking about an experience that takes them to a place they’ve never been and forces them to do something they’ve never done before.
Whether that’s learning a new language in the country where it’s spoken, scuba diving for the first time, exploring ancient ruins — anything to help them get outside of their comfort zone.
I believe travel can be so transformative.
It can help us to look at the world around us in a whole new way. Not only can it be so influential on a personal level but on a professional level, too.
I believe travel can be so transformative.
Jerome Knyszewski: Generating new business, increasing your profits, or at least maintaining your financial stability can be challenging during good times, even more so during turbulent times. Can you share some of the strategies you use to keep forging ahead and not lose growth traction during a difficult economy?
Rachel Leslie: I use these strategies, whether it’s a good season for business or a more turbulent one. I’m constantly providing value to my community first.
Whether that’s through my weekly newsletter sharing what’s new in the studio, blog posts covering industry trends, educational topics, interviews or social media posts showing more behind the scenes of my personal story, my business or quick tips.
This strategy of serving and providing value to my community never stops.
Another strategy I continue to instill in my business is fostering relationships.
This can include forging new connections on social media posts and sending messages to other users asking them genuine questions about their work, where they live or a topic I felt inclined to comment on.
This also includes continuously asking my audience and community how I can better serve and help you now? What do you need?
Through my learnings, I focus my energy on creating specific products and services that my community needs from me now.
Lastly, being open to creativity and new ways of working.
If this pandemic and 2020 has taught us one thing, it’s that anything can happen.
As a business, how quickly you can react to these types of situations, assess your audience’s needs, and show up with a product or service to meet those needs, is crucial.
Jerome Knyszewski: In your experience, which aspect of running a company tends to be most underestimated? Can you explain or give an example?
Rachel Leslie: The importance of having processes or standard operating procedures (SOP) from the very beginning is one aspect of running a company I underestimated.
In the early stages of running my business, I wore all the hats. Plus, all of my systems and processes were in my head.
I knew what I was doing, so why need to write it all down step-by-step?
When it came to creating those SOP docs, they always seemed to fall to the bottom of my to-do list, and they became something I thought I could get to once I had my first official hire.
Before I knew it, that official hire came through, and I had little-to-no SOPs to show her the ropes, whether that was onboarding a new client, developing an editorial calendar, or even something as small as scheduling a newsletter.
As I quickly created those SOPs from scratch, I began to realize how important and much more effective it would’ve been for me to develop these at the very start of my business.
Creating them also helped me catch specific tasks in my business that were taking much longer than they needed to and to come up with alternative methods to streamline processes across the board.
Jerome Knyszewski: Great customer service and great customer experience are essential to build a beloved brand and essential to be successful in general. In your experience what are a few of the most important things a business leader should know in order to create a Wow! Customer Experience?
Rachel Leslie: Treating every interaction with someone as if they already are a customer is crucial. This can apply to online businesses as well as brick and mortar, too.
For example, let’s say I walk into a luxury jeweler to purchase a gift for a family member, and I ask about customizing a piece of jewelry.
The sales associate makes an assumption and says, “you can’t customize a piece of jewelry under $100,000.”
Not only have they assumed that I’m unable to pay for that service, but they’ve also offended me and made an impression on me to walk away from their service.
Additionally, next time I go to purchase a piece of jewelry or customize something, they’ve lost my future service.
Plus, I’m going to tell my family and friends about that experience, too, so they’ve lost them as potential customers as well.
I share this to remind readers that you never know who will be one of your customers at some point in your business, so I urge other companies and leaders to treat everyone like they already are. 🙂
It says a lot about a business in how they handle a customer’s problem.
One brand that comes to mind that instills a positive customer experience is home goods company, Buffy.
They’re business is built on creating sustainable products that don’t harm the planet. This belief is weaved in everything they do.
For customers who are unhappy with their product, instead of sending back the product for a refund, to reduce their carbon footprint with shipping, they offer full refunds for customers who donate their product to any local charitable organization.
A final tip is to make it easy for the customer to get in touch with you and have more than one contact line for them to reach out.
Whether that’s having a chat option on your website, a contact email, or a support line — give your customer multiple opportunities to get in touch.
The last thing you want is a frustrated customer trying to get in touch with customer service, and all they have is an email they’ve tried multiple times with little to no response.
Jerome Knyszewski: What are your thoughts about how a company should be engaged on Social Media? For example, the advisory firm EisnerAmper conducted 6 yearly surveys of United States corporate boards, and directors reported that one of their most pressing concerns was reputational risk as a result of social media. Do you share this concern? We’d love to hear your thoughts about this.
Rachel Leslie: There’s always a risk in showing up on social media. But social media is a must in today’s digital world, especially as a business.
To help mitigate the risk, I’d recommend bringing in PR and social media experts to help your company and your employees better understand what’s appropriate to share on social media and what’s off-limits.
Developing a cohesive marketing strategy with your team, including best practices on how to respond to comments, political events, and what your approval process is like before you hit “publish,” can help reduce that reputational risk, too.
There’s something unique and special about sharing what’s behind the curtain of a brand or business and seeing what makes it tick.
I think that’s the beauty of social media in itself. We no longer have to rely on print ads or commercials to showcase our businesses anymore.
There are so many more opportunities to peel back another layer of our business and tell a story. It’s just a matter of how you choose to do just that on social media.
The last thing you want is a frustrated customer trying to get in touch with customer service, and all they have is an email they’ve tried multiple times with little to no response.
Jerome Knyszewski: What are the most common mistakes you have seen CEOs & founders make when they start a business? What can be done to avoid those errors?
Rachel Leslie: I mentioned this earlier, but it’s so important, so I’ll mention it again.
When first starting, I see many CEOs and founders get caught up in making a profit, and on the money that’s not coming in right away, they lose sight of why they started their business in the first place.
If they’ve done their research ahead of time to find a need for their product or service and prove that their product or service solves that problem, then the profit will come.
I’d recommend focusing on the impact they can make and the people they can help first before running around focusing on the revenue that’s not coming in just yet.
Another common mistake is paying too close attention to what the competition is doing.
Scoping out the competition is healthy, but all in moderation. In those early stages, it’s essential to stay in your lane, focus on why you started your business in the first place, and keep pushing forward.
Another common mistake I see is CEOs and founders burning out too early.
This goes back to the topic of outsourcing where you can so you can spend more time on specific areas of your business to keep the needle moving forward.
CEOs and founders will wear many hats in the early days.
But running a successful business also comes with knowing when it’s time to hand over the reins to other team members who are more skilled in that specific area so that you can focus on your zone of genius.
I believe our minds and the way we think about ourselves is extremely powerful. Rachel Leslie
Jerome Knyszewski: Thank you for all of that. We are nearly done. You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Rachel Leslie: It would be a movement of self-care and helping others understand the power of a healthy mindset.
I believe our minds and the way we think about ourselves is extremely powerful.
Having the ability to understand ourselves better and foster a positive mindset can do wonders for our world.
Jerome Knyszewski: How can our readers further follow you online?
Rachel Leslie: Follow me and Rachel Leslie, LLC on:
Website
Jerome Knyszewski: This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!
Rachel Leslie: Thank you so much for this opportunity! 🙂
