IAM1084- Founder Helps Wedding Vendors to Enhance their Social Media Presence

María is a 24-year-old from Puerto Rico currently living in the DMV area. She always knew that social media was the key to helping small businesses thrive and grow but never got a chance to explore it. That’s why when she discovered Social Media Management she went after it and shortly after, launched SMS Media. She has a Bachelor's in Advertising and 2 years of experience as a Paid Ads Consultant. She is now the CEO & Founder of SMS Media, LLC, a social media management and coaching business for wedding vendors. She's passionate about helping wedding vendors save time, money, and stress & get booked out months in advance by enhancing their social media presence.

• CEO Hack: Doing affirmations
• CEO Nugget: Don't be afraid to invest in your business
• CEO Defined: Being determined and going after it

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sms_mediapr/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smsmediapr

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Transcription

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00:11 – Intro

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.

00:38 – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Maria Oliva of SMS Media. Maria, it's great to have you on the show.

00:48 – Maria del Mar Oliva

Thank you for having me.

00:50 – Gresham Harkless

Super excited to have you on. And before we jump into the interview, I want to read a little bit more about Maria so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Maria is a twenty-four-year-old from Puerto Rico, currently living in the DMV area. She always knew that social media was the key to helping small businesses thrive and grow, but never got a chance to explore it. That's why she discovered social media management. She went after it and shortly thereafter launched SMS media.

She had a bachelor's in advertising and two years of experience as a paid ad consultant. Now she is the CEO and founder of SMS Media LLC, a social media management and coaching business for wedding vendors. She's passionate about helping wedding vendors save time, money, and stress, and get booked out months in advance by enhancing their social media presence. Maria, it's great to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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01:38 – Maria del Mar Oliva

Yes, sir. Let's get started.

[00:01:39.79] – Gresham Harkless
Let's make it happen then. So to kinda kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit and hear a little bit more about how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

01:48 – Maria del Mar Oliva

Yes. So I have always liked social media since I was in college, not just because I'm young, but I've always been, like, drawn to marketing. And, I started with photography, and cinematography, and just ended up going to, like, the advertising route. And I just never had the opportunity to pursue anything social media. So it was always in the back of my head. So I had jobs at, like, Kmart. I had a job at a UPS store, and I always wanted to be that social media person for them. Even though I had no idea about the strategy or the marketing of it because everything is different, I always wanted to be that person. And so I knew I always wanted to work with social media.

I just never knew I could do it as a business. So last year when COVID hit, the culture of my past job was the best, like, one of the best that I've ever experienced, and that changed because we were working from home. So I started losing that aspect that I loved about my past job, and I found myself stuck. I felt like I was absolutely stuck and that I didn't wanna do that anymore. So I started searching for months. I once thought of doing, like, photography again. I thought I threw out a bunch of ideas, and I never wanted to do a podcast. Actually, I bought the microphone and everything.

03:13 – Maria del Mar Oliva

And I just never started it. I was like, this isn't this, isn't it? This isn't it. And, eventually, I was about to head on, and I was in an airport about to, like, leave. And I'm searching, like, reading a blog post, and I read social media manager. And I was like, wait. This is what I've always wanted. So I started following people. That same weekend, I figured out, like, my logo, my page. I created everything, and I just haven't stopped since.

03:43 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. So I definitely appreciate that, and your sharing, especially the journey as well too. Because I think so many times along the journey, we forget that part of it is sometimes trying on different pairs of shoes and some of them fit perfectly, some of them don't fit as well, and it's just kinda going through that process till we find what ends up being, like, that thing that, we can kinda lean more into.

04:01 – Maria del Mar Oliva

Exactly. Yeah. And I think that sometimes we're too hard harsh on ourselves because we haven't figured it out yet. Like, maybe I just figured it out at twenty-four. Somebody else could figure it out at forty. It doesn't matter. Yeah. I figured it out.

04:18 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. And I feel like that's part of the, you know, the journey. And I think even too, like, the part I love about you, you know, coming to, you know, being the social media manager is it sounds like it also merges in a lot of your interests as well too. Like, you can't really excel really well at social media if you don't have really good photos or you're not writing. There's so many parts that kind of, go into that. But I think, also, as time goes along in our lives and in businesses, we have to evolve and change, and sometimes those shoes don't fit like they used to.

04:46 – Maria del Mar Oliva

Absolutely. Absolutely. And we grow out of things. We like, I like my job in the beginning. I never wanted to do anything else. But as time progresses, you like, we change, our interests change, and I was just like, it's time to move on.

04:59 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And there's this, little slash big thing called the pandemic that shifted a lot of things for a lot of people as well too, which also has a lot to do with change.

05:07 – Maria del Mar Oliva

And, you know, it's funny too because when I moved to the States, I moved because of Hurricane Maria that happened in Puerto Rico. My goal had always been to move to the States, but I didn't do it until I was, like, pushed against the wall, and I had to figure it out. The same thing happened with COVID. So I don't know why when disasters happen, I find, like, the best out of it and just make it work for me.

05:30 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Well, I appreciate you for sharing that because it's so funny, like, during the economic crisis, I was reading that a lot of times people don't realize some of the top businesses were started, like, during an economic crisis. I think so many times you can look at, you know, disruptions, crises, hurricanes, or pandemics, and we obviously see a lot of the hurt, the pain, and the negative aspect of it, but there's also a lot of opportunity to reinvent yourself and change. And I think that's also something that we don't always sometimes see on the other side of the coin.

06:00 – Maria del Mar Oliva

Absolutely. And I feel that it is kinda gruesome or, like, some people may say, like, oh, it was bad. Like, hurricanes are bad and, like, the pandemic is bad. I don't take away from that, but I have gotten more good out of those situations than bad. I don't know if it's because of my personality or how I was raised, but I always somehow like don't even realize it the moment the best steps that I've taken in my life have happened in moments of crisis or disasters. So that's a little bit about how I work, I guess.

06:30 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. No. I think that's huge, and it speaks a lot to to mindset. And I think it's something we all can kinda realize that we can change our perspective and kinda see that no no amongst the darkest times. I myself started the blog and the podcast because I tore my Achilles, and it wasn't a great time. But a lot of good came about it because we're getting to have this great conversation, now. And so I know I touched on it a little bit. You know, when I read your bio, I wanted to drill down a little bit more and hear a little bit more about how you work with your clients and what that process looks like.

06:56 – Maria del Mar Oliva

Absolutely. So what I do, there's two different verticals. So, actually, now three that I do. So I can either take over my client's social media management profile well, my client's social media profile, sorry, and I manage it. So I implement the strategy and, like, drill down into, like, what do they actually wanna see come from this, and I implement it. A lot of my clients don't have the time, and they know how to use social media, most of them. They just don't wanna spend the time on it or just don't have the time. So I just create a strategy, do, like, the hashtag research, the caption writing, selecting the pictures for them, scheduling, like, all that stuff I do for them. The other thing that I do is I teach them if they have the time and they just wanna learn how to do it better.

I just teach them and guide them through how to do it properly, what they should be doing, what they shouldn't be doing, like, how to look at the analytics and understand what they mean, all that good stuff. And I recently added another service to my service guide, and it's pretty much wedding behind the scenes where I go on-site with my vendor clients, so, like, a photographer, a wedding planner, a florist, etcetera. I go in with them to the wedding and I take behind-the-scenes pictures and videos of them because they're so busy during those times. They usually cannot have, like, five seconds to just record themselves or, like, behind the scenes. So I like that service a lot because I can just make that so much easier for my clients.

08:32 – Gresham Harkless

I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce, and this could be for yourself personally the business, or a combination of both. But what do you feel kinda sets you apart and makes you unique?

08:42 – Maria del Mar Oliva

I would say, obviously, because I'm Latina. That is a little bit of my secret sauce because my personality and perspective on a lot of things are very different to people in, like, the main island, the US, and the DMV area. But, also, I feel that my background in not only, you know, my upbringing, but also my experience in, like, advertising and going to school for that and being a paid ads consultant, there's a lot of and I'm not taking credit of anybody, but there's a lot of social media managers out there. And a lot of them are not don't have any marketing background

09:19 – Gresham Harkless

I love that you mentioned that, and, that that definitely came back to you as well. So, I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

09:35 – Maria del Mar Oliva

Something that I discovered right when I left my full-time job to become a full-time entrepreneur or business owner was affirmations and, like, mindset work. It really has helped me guide myself through all of this journey. Like, you know, being an entrepreneur and a business owner is a lot, and there's a lot of ups and downs, which I call, like, the role like an entrepreneur roller coaster because it's hard. Like, one day you feel good, the next day you feel bad. But I've really leaned into, like, affirmations, like, doing affirmations every morning and every night just to keep me grounded as in me reading, like, mindset books. That's what I do to actually get myself in good habits and think positively.

Because if not, there are so many things that happen as a business owner that you will, like, quit. You would quit, like, within two months. You're like, I'm done. There's there's a lot of work. It's very stressful. However, doing, like, that mindset work can just be more positive actively, but also, like, catching my thoughts and doing those affirmations, like, as to, like, where do I wanna be? Like, I have a check here. Let me show you. I'm not gonna show you the dollar mark, but I have a check here, like, with my goal of what I want in twenty twenty-four to see my bank account. So I just do those it sounds like woo-woo stuff, but, actually, it works. We are doing the work, obviously, to get there, but having, like, your mindset in the right place actually helps everything just go by smoothly and just much more, e like, it's just easier.

11:13 – Gresham Harkless

I love those, hacks, and I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client or if you hopped into a time machine, you might tell your younger business.

11:25 – Maria del Mar Oliva

So don't be afraid to invest. Investing will make your business journey just skyrocket faster.

11:35 – Gresham Harkless

I'd definitely appreciate that, Nugget. And now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quotes, unquote CEOs on the show. So, Maria, what does being a CEO mean to you?

11:49 – Maria del Mar Oliva

I think being a CEO is you kinda have to be a badass to be a CO. You have you don't have to have your shit together. I don't know if I was able to curse but Go for it. You don't have to have your together, but you have to be determined. You have to know what you want and go after it. A CO can just be having a side hustle. Like, you're still a CEO because you are you make your own like, you have your own business, you have your own product, you have x amount of things. I don't think it takes a lot to be a CEO. I actually talked yesterday to somebody, and I was saying, oh, you know, when I worked in the corporate world, I would see the CEOs and founders of, like, these scary people, like, they're so successful and, like, so scared of them.

And now when I think about it, I'm actually a CEO myself myself now, and I just realized we're just normal people. You're just one person who decided to step out of your comfort zone and do what you're passionate about and make money with it. That's all. It doesn't have to be getting ten thousand dollars a month or having ten employees under you or a hundred or having a million dollars in your bank account. Simple as you went after what you wanted to achieve and your goal, and you just made it happen and somehow are making money with it. Or even if you just give a service for free, that could be a CEO too. If you have, like, a foundation or something where it's not a nonprofit, that's that's great as well. You're still a CEO.

13:22 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. I love that definition, that perspective. I  appreciate that phrase, you know, getting out of your comfort zone and kinda leaning into that, especially too, because I think that is where, you know, you start to see the big innovations that truly, humongous impact where we're talking about if you have employees or you don't or if you said so well, if you are a leader of a nonprofit and you're seeing that come fruition or you have a side hustle where you're helping out, you know, other people, I think the beauty of it is the impact that you can make, but a lot of times, that impact requires you to get out of your comfort zone for that to happen. So truly appreciate that, Maria, and I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is just pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know and, of course, how best they can get ahold of you and find out about all the awesome things you're working on.

14:05 – Maria del Mar Oliva

Alright. I think the last tidbit that I would say is don't be afraid to go after what you want. Don't be afraid to make badass choices that are scary. It's usually the scariest moments in your life that are actually gonna get you to where you want. As business owners and CEOs, we get scared a lot, and we have to get out of our comfort zones a lot. So keep pushing through. You'll make it there. I mean, if you're a CEO already, you're already, like, halfway through everything. The best way to reach me is on Instagram. It's at SMSmedia, pr as in Puerto Rico, but public relations works too. Yeah. I'm so excited that you had me here. It's always nice talking to you, and I can't wait to hear back.

14:55 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. I'm definitely excited too. Looking forward to the next time. We will have the links and information in the show notes as well too, and and I appreciate that that last kinda, you know, reminder as well too and just how we can kinda step into our greatness and step into the things that we're capable of doing, but it takes us, you know, requires us taking action in order for that to happen. So, Maria, thank you so much for taking those steps and reminding us of how important that it is as well, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

15:20 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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