Welcome to the Radiant Soul Sisters Podcast!
Episode #25
Today my guest is Annie Franceschi, Branding Expert & Founder of Greatest Story Creative
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If you want to read the transcript, check it out below:
Susan
Oh listeners today is going to be such a super fun episode because I have with me, our friend, my friend, Annie Franceschi, who is truly a magical person, inside and out, and in her personal world, but also in the world of branding. And I happen to know that because Annie is the mind behind the branding of Susan Crews, and the Radiant Soul Sister, and she is a former Disney storyteller. She is a best selling author. She is a six figure founder and earner and a branding expert. Annie, I am so glad you’re here with us today.
Annie
I am so excited to be a part of this watching you grow your story and your brand and have this remarkable podcast where you are sort of shining out to the world, this thing that you care so much about.
Susan
Thank you. Thank you so much. You know, Annie, you probably were thinking what is this woman do and because before I even had a roadmap, a game plan for a podcast, we had created a podcast artwork.
Annie
Well, that’s casting a vision, right? That’s like having the vision and you gotta – sometimes you gotta visualize it to step into the reality. But to your credit, here we are.
Susan
That’s right. Thank you. Thank you so much. So Annie, one of the things that I love to do as we jump into the episode is I like to give our listeners a little bit of glimpse into who we’re talking to, right. I talk about who you are and things you do, but really who you are, what developed the woman that you are today. And I’d like to know if you can share one of your favorite childhood memories.
Annie
Yeah, I love that you were asking about this. And the thing that popped to mind for me was that when I was very little it was before I was five, so I was four or five. My dad would take me on Saturdays in Pennsylvania to the 7-Eleven to get a Coke icee and a soft pretzel and we would spend the whole day together. And I just still, I think you know, there’s a soft spot in my heart for Coke icee and soft pretzels. You know, now it’s Wawa, I don’t know those of you, you know I think 7-Eleven still has it but Wawa is really the place that carries on that Northern, soft pretzel, slurpee legacy.
Susan
Right? Yes. So I have a really good friend who moved up north and she’s like, well, the Wawa and I’m like, what in the world. But you know, when I read that, about getting a slushie it really brought a smile to my face. Because growing up, we could walk to the 7-Eleven. And so I had three girlfriends, the four of us were almost always together, and we would walk to the 7-Eleven but I would get a cherry coke mix. So they would put some cherry in there and then they put some Coke in my slurpee, and then we would walk home. So, such a warm memory and what a great time to have that special time with your dad, right?
Annie
Yeah, now that I look, I’m a toddler mom. So I look back and I’m like, I bet that was my time for my mom to like have any kind of rest right? Like that was a genius move on her part. Dad, you’re taking her for the day, and I get this wonderful childhood memory and hopefully she got a nap, right?
Susan
Right. So yes, you are probably right in that aspect. Once we become moms, we learned some of that background info.
Annie
Yes, the strategy behind it all.
Susan
That’s right. That’s right. Well, Annie you know, one of the things that I would really like to talk about as I like to talk about work life harmony, and the majority of the women, not all of them that I talked to are entrepreneurs or successful business women, which is definitely you. And I would like to know, what is one of the biggest lessons that you have learned becoming an entrepreneur and as a successful business woman? Because you were in corporate, you were in Disney, living your dream, you know, doing what you wanted to do? And you left that, to start the Greatest Story Collective? What lessons have you learned?
Annie
Yeah, so I mean, I’ve thankfully actually encapsulated the lessons I’ve learned in two books, Permission to Try and then most recently Establish Yourself, which I know we’ll talk a little bit about today. But you asked me, like, what’s one of the biggest lessons you learned? I think the thing that has really helped me, you know, when you were saying like, oh, you certainly are this, like successful entrepreneur. And if I were to tell 27 year old Annie Franceschi, who is in a dream job at Disney, but not fulfilled, and not sure what she was going to do that this would be a reality, I would be like, no, that’s not a thing. Because I just thought, you know, I’d always work for someone else. And I’d be, you know, have a job and a corporate path. And I kind of got right up close to it. And I realized, you know, I always say it was like, I got a dream job, but it wasn’t a dream life. And that was a huge wake up call for me. And so I had to, in my mind, I went through this whole series of decisions to give myself permission to try. Permission to leave corporate America, to try being a business owner, even though that kind of terrified me, but also really intrigued me. And the lesson that came out of it, one of the biggest ones was that I thought I had to have this perfect path that will lead me to being an entrepreneur. And what I realized was, there is no perfect path and that my story is very valuable to what I do, even though I don’t have that like I am a branding strategist, you know, and business coach, and it’s like, look, I didn’t go to business school, right? I’m not a certified brand strategist, I haven’t been trained in graphic design, I’ve taught myself.
There are a lot of things that I don’t have this like perfect resume for. And I think we all kind of like relate to that idea that we think we have to have it all figured out. I didn’t do everything in the right order, who am I to be doing this. But I’ve been doing this for nine years, my parents were entrepreneurs. I grew up in these family businesses. I have a degree in literature and filmmaking from Duke University, I learned branding and positioning at the Walt Disney Studios working on films like Cinderella and Maleficent. So while I don’t have the perfect resume, I have my resume, and I have something that brings something unique in a unique voice to the table. And, you know, the irony, and all of that is, you know, in owning my story, I’ve been giving a lot of permission to others to own theirs. And that’s a lot of the daily work I do is you and I did together, you coming to me and saying, hey, I have this vision for what I want to create but how do I tell the story. That’s the gift is by believing in myself, I now get to believe in others and kind of pay it forward.
Susan
Exactly. Oh, I had some real goose bumps through there. And, you know, listeners before Annie and I started recording, we were actually talking about one of the things that Annie does every year. I’m gonna let her tell you a little bit about what she does for the month of December. And talk about that first and then I’ll share the rest of the story Annie.
Annie
Yeah, so I become somewhat known for the fact that I take every December off. So I call it batch December. And I’m going into my seventh one tomorrow. So today is November 30, when we’re recording this, and kind of like what it sounds, it’s a sabbatical. So I take the month of December off completely from client work. And the primary purpose is actually to work in the business instead of on the business. On the business instead of in the business all the time. But it’s also to rest and to recharge and to vision cast for the new year. So this year, for example, I am both working on some group coaching offers and some programs I’m going to be developing as well as taking a seven day Disney cruise with my family and my toddler. So that balance but I originally created it back in oh gosh, I think it was 2016 because my business exploded with interest but I had no systems to support it. So, I created out of necessity because I was not running an organized business. And since then it has become so successful for me that I’ve run it every single year. And I’ve inspired you and I were talking because you are going to do some version of batch December I was just saying, you know, I think it might be 10 or 20 people who have heard about it for me and now have some version. Might be July, might be a week every quarter, but are taking time to run their business and to think about their business differently without clients around so that they continue to love it. And that is just such a been a really good strategy for me with work life, you know, harmony integration,
Susan
Which it does, it goes perfectly with that work life harmony. And we’re going to talk a little bit more about that. But, you know, Annie what I was saying is, you know, I worked with you late spring, early summer. And as I’ve been transitioning back into the speaking world, in the coaching world, I didn’t have it on my calendar to not have clients in the month of December. And I do think there’s a little bit of prep work that goes into that. So I am working like with clients through December 8, and then I’m taking off the rest of the month, like you said, to work on things on the business. The social media, plan all of that out. But listeners, what’s really important about this, or why I was bringing this forward is, really Annie in essence gave me permission to say, hey, consider this. You don’t have to work 24/7 twelve months a year, to be a six figure earner, or whatever your measure of success is. Right, you know, and so I really love that and that also love that it takes us right into talking about work life harmony, because this is one of the tools that you’re able to use Annie, you know, to help balance that out. What other lesson in it for listeners, Annie is a six figure earner, she’s a wife, she’s a mom, she has been the primary earner in her family for several years. And so she has had to be very cognizant of her work life and her income. Annie, I see great pictures of you and your husband and your son having fun and laughing. I know some of the fun things you do. What do you do to keep that work life harmony or what have you learned about it?
Annie
You know, I think we you know, as women especially have heard this saying “you can have it all, but you can’t have it all at once.” You know, there’s part of that going on. But I think for me, at least is a really critical aspect of enjoying work life, harmony and like I have, I joke that I am sort of semi retired these days, because I take December off. I work about 30 hours a week, and I take off the time I want. Like my best friend got married in Italy. On two months notice, I went to Italy for a week, and I was able to move some things around. And I’m still making consistent six figures on the way to be multiple, six figures. And I’m enjoying it, I’m enjoying my life. And the reason that I’m able, or I would say one of the ways that I approach this is not to inherit the ways of working that I learned in corporate America, and actually to reject this whole like hustle culture. So you can’t, it’s not that I don’t work. It’s that I work really strategically. So I really think about how am I you know, what is it that I need to do in any given week? What needs to be done by me? What needs to be done by a virtual assistant or a design assistant? And is it coming from somebody who used to never delegate and thought I could never hire anybody. All those things. I’m reformed delegator for sure. And we could talk more about that if you’d like.
But what I have learned is to consistently improve my business so that it can run more in more simplified ways, more strategic ways not, I don’t have to be doing everything, I can cut services that aren’t profitable. This is part of where it’s simplifying, what you’re offering can really come into play. Like, I used to have, like 12 different packages. And now I have three, for example, like those sorts of things you wouldn’t think cut down on your time, but they do. You know, and also a big thing that I teach a lot of people is, in service-based businesses like coaching or consulting or speaking, your time is your money. So if you don’t know where your time is going, you don’t know how to make those kinds of decisions. So I’d say a lot of my secret to having a much more balanced business that I’ve had more in the past few years than I did, maybe at the beginning where we were, I was you know, hustling like I think we’re all taught to do, I have realized that if I can be more smart like me, more strategic with my time, that that is not only more enjoyable for me. It’s also ended up being more profitable. Because you may have, you may appreciate the statistic, I’m going to share it shortly but I have worked about 1000 hours this year. About 1000 hours this year, it is the least I have ever worked. So I think my highest year was about 1800 hours to give you a comparison, right. So I’m working less than ever before, but I made more than ever before. And that, being strategic about that ratio and making that a goal, not just the money, but where did you get to spend less time making it? It’s huge.
Susan
Well, and Annie, you’ll appreciate this because you you do talk in your programs, you do talk about tracking time. And I was in a class Monday night, and they were talking about tracking money. And I have been tracking money for years now. Because you know, what you think about is what comes about and money likes to be strategic, and it likes a pathway. And it also likes to move with speed. But I got to thinking about it. Last night, when I got in bed, Annie, told you about Toggl. And one of the things in conversation with my husband, as I’m preparing for next year, we talked a lot about time. And I thought, oh, Toggl, you need to really use Toggl, and see where your time is going and how you were using it. Because it’s the most valuable asset, I guess you could say that we have.
Annie
It is especially when you’re selling your time, which you and I both are. And it is so so for those who don’t know, Toggl is a free time tracking software, Toggl. I’m sure Susan will link it somewhere here. But the thing is, is like I think we’re all used to making a budget for money, like to your point, but so few of us make a budget for our time. But our time is so much linked to our happiness and our freedom. And like we don’t have to wait forever to be happy. We don’t have to wait until we’re making x numbers of dollars in our business to be happy. And that’s been such an eye opener for me. And it’s such a huge, I think with work life harmony, so much of it is about appreciating the gifts you have rather than constantly striving. Yeah, that’s something I learned from you and try to evoke myself.
Susan
Right? And the fact that we don’t have to buy into this hustle, hustle culture. You know, you and I both were raised by entrepreneurs, both my parents are Type A workaholics. And that was what was driven into me, right. And it’s not what works for me. So I love that. I love that you talked about time, because tracking time and knowing how you’re spending your time I think is a big deal. A big deal that you’ve taught me. So Annie, tell me you know that, that in my heart and my soul, I just love it when I see women who their radiant soul just shines. That just means they’re, you can tell they’re happy. They’re loving what they’re doing from the inside out. You see it in their eyes, you feel it in their energy, and you definitely are a radiant Soul Sister, what are what is something you do every day or you know, several times a week to make sure you, your radiant soul is shining?
Annie
I think you know when you asked me that just like my heart, and my brain went directly to this, which is I laugh with my son. So like my son Leo’s since he’s learned to laugh or giggle, I should say, has the best, like it’s my favorite sound in the world is his laugh. And I feel like when you laugh, you’re sort of you don’t have time to multitask when you’re laughing, right? Like you can’t be thinking about anything. You can’t be working on stuff. You just sort of takes you into its own moment. And like, you know, I’m thinking about this week like he was having a hard, he’s potty training and you know, everyone’s asking him to go to the potty. Did you wash your hands? So he’s just kind of having some tough tantrum times at home. And he needed some extra time with us and with me and I you know, we did a bubble bath, he normally gets a shower, we’re like, okay, we’ll do a bubble bath. And I just start blowing bubbles everywhere, like getting big, big bubble blow, and he just loses it. He thinks it’s like the funniest thing he’s ever seen. And that memory is like that is the greatest joy that I feel like I can ever feel. And I have the privilege of being able to feel it just about every day. And so that is the being in the moment for me is that like, bringing joy to him, giggling with him, just pure happiness, like, not waiting to like, well, I’ll be happy when I have his college fund paid for. It’s like yeah, no, no, but this is life. These are the moments like my husband will look and go, you know, he’s two years, ten months and then he’s gonna be 20 in five minutes. You know, like, I know that I have that at least perspective on things. So that’s what I do. That’s my self care as Leo laughs.
Susan
Oh, I love that. Well, yeah. laughs That’s so fun. Oh, Annie, thank you so much for being here. I have one more question. But before we get to that, you know, we’ve talked a little bit about your first book Permission to Try. We really haven’t talked very much about your second book, Establish Yourself. So would you do two things, just give us a little glimpse into Establish Yourself, and then tell us where can we find your book because it just launched with such excitement. It was like number one in seven categories, I think right? I got to be part of the excitement and the joy around that. So share with us a little bit about that.
Annie
Yeah, so Permission to Try was this first, I always knew I wanted to write books. And I had to start with my story. So Permission to Try is really a sort of coffee conversation with anyone who is thinking about doing something new a pivot, changing a career, but is afraid to do that. And when it came time to write a second book, I knew I wanted to, I knew I wanted to write a business book. And it’s sort of a sequel to Permission to Try. So it’s called Establish Yourself, Brand, Streamline and Grow your Greatest Business. And it is a roadmap for anybody who feels like they hate self promotion. They don’t get social media, but they feel like everybody’s telling them they’ve got to hustle and be online all the time to grow any kind of coaching, consulting or service-based business. And that quite honestly, like I burn out on that kind of messaging, and I double down on a more common sense strategy that I call how to establish yourself. And so I decided to teach that and so I’m here. I created sort of this clear action step kind of book that teaches you, it comes with a free workbook, but it’s really about how to brand, streamline, and grow your greatest business. And it starts with that idea of defining well, what is your greatest business? Do you want to take batch December’s? What kind of clients do you want to work with? So the idea is really to give you an empowerment tool that will take you through branding, operations, sales, marketing, all the things you’ve been wondering about how to have like a consistent six figure business, but not just a business, a business, you actually enjoy running without it running you and without you being online all the time. So teaching kind of my secrets to success with that has been a joy and to connect with others who believe in this idea of not just any business, but your greatest business.
Susan
And how can we find your book? Where can we get it?
Annie
Absolutely. So you can just go to how to establishyourself.com or my website, GreatestStoryCreative.com
Susan
Perfect, and those will be in the show notes. So people will be able to find it there. Yeah, and if this episode has you thinking about how to put yourself first or create your greatest business, and how to live with work life harmony, be sure to connect with me on my socials @SusanCrewsCo, or reach out to me at SusanCrewsCo.com and schedule a time to chat. Oh, Annie, it is always great to talk to you and I’ve learned so much from you in the last year working with you as well as today as we’ve shared fun stories with our listeners. But looking back on everything that we’ve talked about, we’ve talked about being an entrepreneur and work life harmony and what makes your radiant soul shine. If there’s one listener who needed to hear just one tip, what would be your suggestion, your biggest tip or biggest piece of advice for that listener today?
Annie
So my biggest piece of advice is actually one of my top goals for next year. And it’s what I’m calling embrace million dollar happiness. So something I have realized, and I don’t know, you know, I’d ask you to consider stop for a minute and think, what is the amount of money that I am chasing in my savings account or my retirement account, that will make me feel like I can finally be free and happy. You know, for me that money, that number has just always been a million dollars, it’s probably off with inflation these days. And what I’m realizing is that I’m pushing happiness off, I’m pushing happiness off until I’m 65 or till I’m 45. When I have X number, yeah, I’m worth a million dollars or whatever it is. And what I’m realizing is the reason I’m chasing that is because I want to be free and happy. But I can be free and happy right now. And that is something I have had to learn this year, my husband had a tragic setback with his career that was profound for both of us, a ton of grief. And what I have learned is while this was a heartbreaking year, it was also a deeply joyful one because I was not chasing a financial goal necessarily because you know, we have the stability of the business but it’s really about not waiting to feel joy and happiness. And so that is a huge goal for me next year and a tip I could say what should matter. Six figures is nice when you get it you’re gonna realize it’s not everything or multiple or seven or eight figures, right? Because if you’re not happy if you don’t love your life, what is the frickin point? So that’s what I say is like forget a specific net worth number and chase you know embrace the million dollar happiness you can have million dollar happiness now, it doesn’t cost you a million dollars.
Susan
Ah, I love that. I love that tip. Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing that because that is the truth. Just embrace where we are right now because that’s how you find true joy and happiness. Oh, Annie. As always, it’s been a pleasure to spend time with you and share this conversation with our listeners and listeners. If you’ve enjoyed this episode of the Radiant Soul Sisters, be sure and tune in next time when I shine the light on another radiant soul sister. Annie, I hope you have a wonderful batch December and I’m sure there are going to be others that might start this fun trend. So I look forward to hearing from our listeners as they make small changes that will have a big impact in their business to creating their greatest business. Till next time. I’m Susan crews, your host and you can find all of the resources at my website SusanCrewsCo.com.
