In this episode of Hello Chaos, Jennifer “JJ” Sutton sits down with Lady V, founder of Elliott Night Professionals, to explore her path from managing musicians to empowering authors. Lady V shares how self-love and setting boundaries have shaped her entrepreneurial journey. She dives into the importance of contracts, building community, and navigating social media, offering practical advice for aspiring entrepreneurs while celebrating wins and looking ahead to what’s next.
Key Takeaways
🛑 Set Boundaries Like a Boss
Lady V’s journey from people-pleaser to boundary-setter is a lesson for all founders. Protecting your time and energy isn’t selfish—it’s essential. If you don’t advocate for yourself, you risk burnout or giving too much to people who aren’t aligned with your vision. Remember: saying “no” is a superpower.
💎 Vulnerability = Connection
“It’s okay to not be okay.” Lady V’s honesty about her struggles with self-love is a powerful reminder to embrace our imperfections. Being real fosters trust with your audience and clients, so stop hiding the messy bits of your story—they’re what make you, YOU.
🚀 Leap of Faith > Fear of Failing
Fear is part of the process, but it shouldn’t be the driver. Lady V challenges us to trust in our talents and take bold leaps toward our dreams. Her story proves that resilience and courage can unlock the extraordinary.
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction to Lady V and Her Journey
03:14 The Birth of Elliott Night Professionals
06:14 Exploring the Depths of Personal Trauma
09:04 Self-Love and Personal Growth
11:55 Navigating Business Challenges and Boundaries
14:55 Lessons Learned from Business Partnerships
17:51 The Importance of Contracts and Protection
25:32 Navigating Social Media Challenges
26:48 The Importance of Personal Branding
29:18 Strategies for Effective Content Creation
33:12 Finding Your Social Media Niche
36:46 Building Community and Consistency
40:26 Celebrating Wins and Growth
41:46 Overcoming Fear and Embracing Purpose
48:43 Connecting and Offering Value
Connect with Lady V:
Website: https://linktr.ee/LadyVenp
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tivona-a-k-a-lady-v-elliott-clark-114018158/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ladyvthequeenpen/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tladyvelliott?_t=8ny9gbpnnxx&_r=1
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (00:01)
Hello and welcome to Hello Chaos, the weekly podcast dedicated to serving founders and entrepreneurs. We hear the real, the raw, the unvarnished viewpoints of what it means to either start a business, scale a business, grow a business to exit it. We have talked to founders from all shapes and sizes across the spectrum of entrepreneurship. Today, I am so excited to have on our show, is Tivona AKA Lady V. Elliott.
She is the founder of Elliott Night Professionals. She's a spiritual release educator and author, and I think you do author training as well. All right, well, Tivona welcome to Hello Chaos. Welcome to our show. I appreciate you being on and hanging with us with our technical difficulties as we go through.
Lady V (00:39)
yes, I do
Okay.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (00:54)
It is chaos, that is why we have that in our name. We embrace it, we love it, we welcome it, and we just deal with it. So start us out, tell us about your entrepreneur journey. How did you start Elliott Night Professionals?
Lady V (01:01)
it.
So actually, well, hello, everyone, you know, thanks for having me on the network. definitely appreciate it. Let me start by saying that. And so I actually started as a manager, really. And I was managing musicians. But I know that is that it was it was because baby, let me tell you something I've learned.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:14)
Yeah.
you
that's a tough one. That's a tough personality.
Lady V (01:39)
with musicians is they real divas. They just, just, yes, I made that up. I made that word up, but they are. They real, they got a real diva personality. So, and it's real hard to deal with some musicians, but hey, nonetheless, that's where I started in. Then I, but I was an author. And so people were coming to me and I kept, I didn't know why all these musicians were coming to me. So.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:45)
Yeah.
Yeah, that's right.
Lady V (02:05)
I did it, you know, for a little while. And then I met my business partner, Jazz. And she, yeah, yes, man. And so I was grateful that I met her and we became friends and she actually was the musician. And I was the author, but she had a bunch of authors. She had no musicians. She was managing authors. Right. And I was like, you know what?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (02:11)
That's an appropriate name.
Lady V (02:35)
God send us together for a reason. Let's switch. And so that's what we did. She took on the musicians, I took on the authors, and then we just put it together. We couldn't figure out what we wanted to call it. And we brainstormed and brainstormed and brainstormed. And we were like, you know what? Let's just use our last names. So I'm Elliott she's the Night and together we were professionals. And so...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (02:37)
Yeah.
Lady V (03:01)
That's how we came up with Elliott and Night Professionals. And then we started just doing what we love to do. And that was helping artists live and do their dreams and be successful at it. Because we had already been screwed over. I lost $5,000 when I published my first book. And it's horrible. It sucked. And so I was like, no more. I didn't want that.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (03:17)
Yeah.
Boo.
Because
I've heard there's a lot of scammers in that. So just to get, I'm a hobbyist fan fiction writer. I would never publish anything that I wrote. No, no, my stuff belongs on AO3 and Tumblr. That's where my world is right there. But there's a lot of authors on those two platforms. And you hear the horror stories of people that are like, if you want that.
Lady V (03:41)
Okay.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (03:56)
you gotta give me money to even review. so, know, it's kinda nice, the authors in those communities have kinda said, you know, watch out for scammers, here's what you, you know, beware, look out for the good ones or work with the good ones. So you're deep in this community. Yeah, you're one of the good ones.
Lady V (04:13)
Yeah, man. Thank God. Hallelujah. You
know, and that's just really because I, you know, I was raised with do unto others as you want them to do unto you. And so I was like so mad because I was like, I don't have $5,000 just to be throwing away and just giving away like nobody's business. I don't have it. And the fact that I did, and they gave me six book covers to choose from.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (04:26)
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Lady V (04:42)
which was horrible, just straight garbage. But I chose the best one that was given to me that was gonna work with kinda what I had, but it was so dark and so dreary. And then, but it sold a lot because people want it, because people really knows it, really just, you know, and they wanna know, did I make the book?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (04:59)
Yeah. What was?
Yeah, well, what's the genre that you write?
Lady V (05:05)
So actually I write in all genres because I want it to be for me, I am a think outside the box type of person. And so I like to have my hands in all kinds of things. So I have poetry, I have romance, I have romance-ity. So it kind of got some comedies and romance, some drama, you know, it got a little bit of all of that. And so I call it a romance-ity, you know.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (05:08)
Okay.
Yeah.
the drama comedies,
the drama.
Lady V (05:36)
Exactly. So it got everything that you need in that. And like I said, I do poetry. I have a spiritual book. I have actually a health book that I actually wrote. And now I put that with my course, but people can actually still go get it and, you know, do it on their own. So there's that. And now I'm actually writing a reality thriller.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (06:02)
what's the setting of the reality thriller? Is it like backstage with musicians so you bring in some of the characters that you've dealt with?
Lady V (06:08)
And so...
So actually, it's actually telling the story about my molestation.
and going into that.
but it's actually telling the story how people don't understand basically the back behind it. Because one thing that I learned is a lot of people wanna talk about it, but they don't wanna talk about it for real.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (06:44)
Yeah, yeah, like so you're doing
a deep dive more of a biopic on you. okay. Well, and your story will probably resonate with a lot of people and connect and help heal.
Lady V (06:49)
Yes.
Yes, and that's what it's about.
But I'm going into a deeper realm to the point where people understand what's going on with our bodies when it happens.
not just our bodies, but our minds. Because a lot of times we don't understand and people are so quick, she's promiscuous. she's a ho. she's a this and she's a that. And it's her fault and all this other stuff. And then they don't understand that the trauma that we hold and it drives us to be high strung.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (07:17)
Yeah.
Lady V (07:40)
And so it drives us either, cause we don't know. And sometimes it drives us to almost like it. And so we go into the streets. That's how I ended up being a high-priced call girl. And so it's just about being honest and being transparent and stop people from trying to
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (07:58)
Wow.
Yep.
Lady V (08:10)
demonize us and make us feel that we're less than women or we're less than men or we're less than human because we're not. We're just as human as you are. We just look at life and feel things a little bit differently.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (08:12)
Right.
Right?
Right, or you know, it's that manipulation of pulling into a path that you didn't wanna go down or you And then it's like, how do we heal? How do we bring, how do we make space for people so that they can heal? Okay, well, what did you discover? I mean, this is all about self-acceptance. It sounds like you've gone a whole journey of self-acceptance.
Lady V (08:38)
Exactly.
Exactly.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (08:53)
awareness, all of that. What did you discover most about yourself in this journey?
Lady V (09:00)
self-love. I learned how to love me because I swore up and down. You couldn't tell me that I didn't love me. There was no way in the world that you were going to tell me that I didn't love me some meat because I swore up and down baby. I love me some meat. But in this journey, I realized that I didn't love me at all. I didn't love me enough.
to understand what love was until I started understanding what love was. And now I understand that if I truly loved me the way I thought I did, there's no way in the world that I would have put up or dealt or went through half the things that I went through if I truly loved me. Because now that I love me, bye bye.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (09:31)
Yeah.
Right.
Lady V (09:56)
you, baby, you can't slide on me like that. I need you to go on this stuff and go about your business because we not doing that. I now know how to say no, stand on it. Yes, you got to have those. Whereas before, we don't understand that we think we love us, but when you're people pleasing, you don't love you, you love people. Because you're so busy trying to get their acceptance.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (10:02)
Right?
Yeah, boundaries. That's right.
Yeah.
Lady V (10:25)
And a lot of times they ain't gonna accept you. They just beneficial vampires, just there for the moment, whatever you can give them, however you can give it to them, however you can, you know, be of service to them, they're there and they're happy. They're gonna leech on, they're gonna lash on, they're gonna do all these things until you have nothing left to give. And then when you have nothing left to give because they have literally drained you, now they're like,
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (10:28)
Right?
Right?
That's right. Did you find as you did this, because this sounds like, it's still very similar to like a founder journey of you learn about yourself, you learn how to set your own boundaries, you're really understanding like what it takes to deal with people, how to manage, especially with, like I'm in the service business, I have a marketing agency, we've got a media company.
Lady V (10:56)
girl
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (11:25)
We're pleasers in the same realm, but you've gotta still understand who's trying to take advantage of that, how do you set that boundary, personal boundaries, but also what we've tried to do, and a lot of companies that we've talked to, lot of CEOs, they're trying to figure out the processes and systems in their company to create those same boundaries so that the
the people inside the organization don't take advantage of the owner, nor do the clients they serve take advantage of the people. Kind of works both ways. Did you find as you went, that you had to apply that to Elliott Clark, or excuse me, Elliott Night professionals as you guys were like, I'm seeing this. Did you see a transformation?
Lady V (12:19)
Thank
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (12:21)
and how you manage people in the business and in your life through this discovery.
Lady V (12:27)
yeah, yeah. When we first started, we had almost 20, 25 authors and musicians on our label. And Bey-Bey.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (12:40)
the personalities I can imagine.
Lady V (12:43)
Yeah, but I like to say,
okay, because it was really, it was great, but it was tough. And we had to start learning the different personalities. We had to start learning what our boundaries were. We had to really, and now it's like for me, because I lost jazz in 2019. And so I've been on my own for the last five years, I guess, for almost five years. And so
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (12:56)
Mm.
Lady V (13:13)
But when we started...
had to learn that everybody couldn't come. Everybody ain't ready for this journey, like they say they are. And I couldn't keep, because for me, I was a people pleaser. So it was more of me, I felt like I was everybody's mama. I got to baby you, I got to coddle you, got to, come on, let's do this, let's go. Come on, darling, what are we doing? I don't have time to babysit grown people.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (13:23)
That's right.
Mm-hmm.
You
It's...
haha
Lady V (13:47)
So I had to tell them, baby, you know what? I do not run adult daycare. I just don't. I don't wanna, and I ain't gonna. And so they were, you know, people were like, well, whatever. And so I started terminating. You ain't doing nothing, You ain't doing a bye. And so I let them know, though, they still have that opportunity to come back.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (13:53)
Right.
Right. Right.
Lady V (14:11)
But when they come back, they got a whole lot of stipulations now. And so a lot of people are like, I don't want to do that. I know because you're not ready. And I'm okay with that because now you're not wasting my time. And my time is valuable and precious. And I had to learn that because when we're new businesses and we're starting, we try to get everybody, you know.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (14:14)
Right.
Right.
Right.
it's the hardest lesson, I
know. Well, and also we bring on, you know, it's funny that you said, you know, the adult, when I started the marketing agency in 2013, I had come from, you know, 20 plus years in corporate, you know, agencies, and one of my first things was like, am only gonna hire adults. Like, I am tired of managing micro, like, I don't wanna call it micro, just.
you know, having to go, are you ready for an adult working environment where you have to be autonomous and independent and you've got a critical think through the end problem solve. And I have found over that journey, that is a characteristic and a trait that is not very common.
Lady V (15:04)
in that.
Exactly. Now that is the truth.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (15:25)
So what did you find is the most challenging part? You you trying to grow this, you're, you know, dealing with all these personalities. What, you know, and you're still doing it. So what's the most challenging part? What's like your, big shit moment of, that you've had running the company and trying to grow it? People, yeah.
Lady V (15:46)
people, people,
people. I had to learn that people gonna be people. And I had to learn to accept people where they at.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (15:58)
that is so key.
Lady V (15:59)
You know? And so once I learned how to do that.
I ain't faced about a lot of things, you know? And so now for me, I only work with those who are ready. I literally take you through a whole thing and then I, everybody that works with me go on contract. If I'm working with you, I need you to have a contract, honey, because I don't work without a contract. I've been here too long. I've almost had my business, my whole business taken to me. That was my old shit moment. Like what the hell? You know?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (16:30)
What happened there? What was that?
Lady V (16:31)
Yeah, somebody that I actually allowed to come in and help me after I lost my business partner. I called myself going to do a good deed and you know, and all this good stuff. And next thing I know, they were sending me cease and desist orders and saying that they had literally built my business and that I didn't have no right to have my business and this and that and this and that. And it was just horrible. But the one thing that I learned through that process is that even through death,
My Jazzy gonna still take care of me. she took care of my little dumb ass. my goodness. Let me tell you, she still was taking care of me through the process because what saved me was we signed the contract. Had we not signed that contract and had I not signed that contract with them, I'd have been, What they say, yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (17:04)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, protection,
yeah.
Lady V (17:28)
I would
have been up the river, just without a paddle, just floating down and just, you know, just looking crazy, just waving goodbye at it because, you know. But I learned early how to protect me, how to protect the business. And I'm thank God that I did because again, this is God's business for me. And so you're not gonna play with it. You're not gonna play with me and we're not gonna do that. So now I literally.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (17:40)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Lady V (17:56)
take everybody that I work with. First of all, you gotta sign a contract, because I'm not doing no business with a
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (18:00)
That's right. You gotta protect your,
you're right. We've had a couple of lawyers on the show and it's always eye opening to hear things from their perspective of like the cases that they have to battle and a lot of it is, I mean you sound like you had your paperwork in place. I know I got screwed because I didn't have the right language in one of my contracts and a client found a.
a very vague loophole and bedded that I wouldn't sue them. I did. But he was like, but a lot of people don't even have contracts. They're just doing business on a handshake or even in just an email like, hey, can you do this? Sure, I can do this. This amount, okay, yeah, but there's no statement of work. There's no scope. There's no process or anything. I was like, coming from the corporate world,
I knew I needed all that, but I'm amazed at how many stories we hear from founders and startups that do not have the protections they need. And it's really, like you said, it's boundaries, and it's to protect you. Gotta have it.
Lady V (19:11)
It is. You got to. You got to. If
you're not protecting your business, you've already failed in your business.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (19:20)
Right,
and if somebody's arguing, this is what a lawyer friend told me when I just started the company and they're like, you need to get your contract here, here's this, here's that. And we had clients that were, or prospects that were like, we wanna take out these clauses. And they were like, those are there for a reason. So it was...
you know, interesting to hear from that, like we were like, sit down with us and explain every one of the clauses and how they protect us so that we could come back and go, no, these are, you know, we can mend the language so that is the burdens on both of us and it protects both of us, but we're not just gonna eliminate. And he said a lot of times, know, know, lawyers are like, you will have people that will take it because.
Lady V (20:07)
yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (20:15)
You want the business, like you said, you're starting, we're hungry when we start out. We wanna work with these companies, know, especially they start dangling a big, you know, a big checkbook, you know, bank account, bag of money, and we're like, sure, sure, because we're friends, like, I feel like we know each other, and it's like, uh-uh, they will screw you. Those things are all in place, every, like, so.
Lady V (20:37)
Every time. Every time.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (20:41)
That's been my like shout, lessons learned and I try to tell all startups of like protect your business, protect yourself. Processes, protect yourself. And hide behind them, you know? Like if you're scared to have those, like sorry that's our process. Yeah, you wanna work with me, don't.
Lady V (20:53)
when I tell everybody.
Don't be afraid, I just tell people, don't
be afraid to stand on your business. Stand on it. Because if you don't, people will always try to manipulate you to do this. Baby, I'll be like, you can sign the contract or not. And either way, I'm all right with it. Because I'm not so hard of a business that I'm not gonna protect me.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (21:07)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Well, and you said like your time is valuable and what you have to offer is valuable and you've got to believe that and you've got to believe in yourself. So if you know, let people walk away if they don't want to do business with you because that's the thing they're hiring you and all of the you know, like all those processes are there to also help them. And yeah, I think we get I think as founders we get bullied way.
Lady V (21:27)
Exactly.
Exactly. Exactly.
Exactly.
We do, we
do. But they get mad at me, I am not the bullying type, baby. You cannot both be. I am a real lioness, okay? I am a real lioness. I speak on it, baby. I am a real lioness. And these are not the type of problems that you want. We can be professional or we can be good. Either way, I can go both ways. But what you're not gonna do is you're not gonna bully me out of my business that I work day and night, sweat and tears.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (21:59)
Yeah.
Ha
That's right.
Lady V (22:22)
You will not take it from me. You cannot take God's business. You just can't. So I ain't gonna let you. So you can bully y'all, but you're gonna be mad, baby, because I don't like bullies. I don't tolerate bullies. I don't accept bullies. And I'm sure not gonna be bullied.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (22:28)
That's right. That's right.
Yeah, and I don't think people realize, you know, when you go out on your own and you start a business, there are bullies out there. Well, people that will take advantage of the little guy like I. We we hear all the time in the minority business community of how much we get taken advantage of or try to get bullied out of things, so it's real. Like I just, you know, I want to normalize that comp like that is real, real, real. Those things happen.
Lady V (22:48)
They will.
It is.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (23:07)
And we've got to do our due diligence and shout from the rooftop like, but it's your business, it's your value, it's your time, it's your uniqueness that you bring to the table. Like you said, it's your, it's God's business. Don't let anybody, don't let anybody take that away. So if you had to sum up your entrepreneurial journey, your founder journey in one word, what would that word be and why?
Lady V (23:22)
You can't.
blessed. I say blessed because I'm really am blessed because I lost my business partner in 2019 and most people would have folded and threw in the town and been like, you know what, that's it. We're done. I didn't. I kept pushing and I kept proceeding even though I kept failing. I kept messing with
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (23:54)
Yeah.
Right?
We call it fail forward. Fail forward. Lessons. They're just lessons learned. They're not even failures. They're just lessons learned. Right?
Lady V (24:02)
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly. And I learned
them and I loved, I loved every lesson that I learned. And so I'm blessed to even be able to still do this journey and still love this journey, okay? Because some people, just lose hope, they lose hope, they lose the passion, they lose the love, they lose everything. And exactly. And I could have.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (24:20)
That's right, yeah.
Yeah, yeah. You gotta fall back in love with it all the time.
Yeah.
Lady V (24:35)
I could have been like all of that. could have been like, you know what? I'm done. But I love what I do so much.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (24:43)
Resiliency.
You've got it. We always caught with like, we got the founder grit. The grit and gumption. Gumption, right? I didn't say grumption. I said gumption. Okay. We make up words all the time. always have to go, I said something and he goes, is that a word? I think that's a word.
Lady V (24:50)
Exactly. I love it. I love it.
Whatever it was, that's what we got.
I am the queen of making up words as you heard. I just said Beavis.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (25:09)
Okay,
if you, okay, so if we fast forwarded, like three years, five years, what is your future journey word?
Lady V (25:28)
Roar.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (25:30)
Roar, you said lioness, yes. I love it. Talk about that. Like what's happening? Like if you could change two things about your business today, what would those two things be?
Lady V (25:46)
Probably my marketing strategy.
And hmm, two things. That's probably really the only thing I can really say. I don't really have two things. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (25:57)
Like how do you go to market? know, how do
you get your voice out? How do you get your company awareness out? All that.
Lady V (26:05)
Well, it's not so much as that. It's just really... Because I do that very well. Because I don't literally like, you know, I don't have no problems with doing that part. My problem is this internet and social media. That is my problem right there. It's social media traffic. It's putting it out on social media. Because again, I've had so many interviews, like I'm doing interviews, I'm putting...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (26:15)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Lady V (26:30)
I'm
doing this, I'm doing that. So I have a lot of stuff to do. And so I'm good with the facial and the talking and all this and putting it out there and letting people know.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (26:37)
Yeah, you're like, I got the content. How do I get it? Is it,
so let me ask you this. Is it because, so I've gone through this little journey the last couple of years of I have so much content, I got a lot to say. You know, I started the podcast, that was more of like me connecting and creating a more connected entrepreneurial community. How do we normalize things for founders? How do we help educate each other and give each other advice so that we don't feel so alone?
But for me, I was like, I still like to be behind the scenes. This is the most like out there that I am. But people are like, Topper, you need to like do many videos. need to, I was like, so I do them. I don't ever post them. Or I write all these articles and I have them go out on the company channels. But they're like, you need to post them from your voice. Like it's the same content, but like I tweak it to come from the company.
Lady V (27:20)
You
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (27:36)
And then they're like, go put it on yours. was like, I don't know about that. So I'm going through my own, like, I just gotta, so I think I posted in a group that we're in of like, that's me kind of like, I gotta just get, I gotta just utilize these platforms and channels. Because people do wanna hear our voices and people do wanna hear what we have, what we have to offer. You know, they don't wanna hear it from the company.
Lady V (27:38)
Respect.
That's all.
Thank you.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (28:06)
They wanna hear who's the person behind the company. And yeah, I struggle with it too and it's more of like, ugh, I cringe when I, when I.
Lady V (28:09)
Exactly.
And you know, that's
not even my problem really so much. So my problem is just having the time to just literally sit there and do that. Like I don't care about, like, I'm just not social media. Like that's just not my thing. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like I will post some things just to keep myself out there, just to say, hey, I'm here. But when it comes to having to really sit and literally post and post and post.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (28:18)
Okay, so what's your problem?
Eh.
Yeah.
Lady V (28:44)
I can't do that. Menace all these, you got so many, you gotta do all this, you gotta TikTok it, and you gotta Instagram, and you gotta Snapchat it, and you gotta Facebook it, and you gotta all this stuff. Look here, you got LinkedIn. You know what I'm It's just too much. It's just too much. Y'all want me to do all this stuff on all these channels, and I don't wanna do all that. I just don't. And so that's my problem. Like I can...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (28:45)
Yeah.
I know.
Yeah.
there.
So here's the
thing. I'm gonna give you some advice, because these are things that we've, you know, we work with clients and we work with founders and all that. And Chal and I are over here laughing because we manage other people's social. And he's over here going, ugh! Like when we have to manage 60-some channels for people. But yeah, it is, so here's the thing that we've learned.
both from a company and then as a founder. And I can give you tips of how I've, when I've talked to other founders, I'm like, how are you, this is what I'm doing, is this working for you? Some tips. So over the last year, I got this advice from, I don't know, I call it, they're an article machine on LinkedIn. And I was like, how are you doing that?
Lady V (30:00)
Good.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (30:06)
And he's like, just, well one, these, like he does podcasts, so he was like, these podcasts, these content, you can turn them into articles. So there's some really inexpensive tools that you can load in, the audio, and it will create some, an article or content, and you can say, give me five social media posts for it.
But he likes to write and all that. he's like, John, he's like, you're very passionate. And goes, and I said, well, I struggle with like writing. I can write Smutty fan fiction on, you know, on Tumblr. But like to sit and write all the stuff in my head around marketing and media and business, you know, and how to start up. He was like, well, start just doing a phone, you know, your notes and just.
do a team, so I started doing like team recordings, like video recordings using my phone. And then we can turn it into articles, but I take a day a month. I take a Friday and I block it out on my calendar and every month I knock out, I don't know, how many, like, I wrote like 10 articles or something.
that then goes on our company platform, but then I turn it into then my voice. This is where I'm like, I just have to push it out there. I have all this like socked away content, but I gotta turn it into like, is not the company, this is like my perspective, know, my twist on it. So, but I do that and then I post and then you can schedule it in LinkedIn.
You can go, okay, I go in, they have a scheduler. I do it all on that Friday or I schedule her in like Facebook and stuff and I just, you know, or if I do it like that day, it's 30 minutes, you know. I've already written the content. I'll just go back and I will post it. But that's been the biggest, just block it on your, you know, one day a month or you might wanna go, hey, you know, I can't just sit and write.
Like some people can't take eight hours and just do that. Yeah, but some like some people like two hours every Friday and that becomes their or you know, I spend probably and I put it and I block it in my calendar so nobody can come and you know, take that take that time and it gives me an update but you know, I check social media in the morning for 30 minutes so I can respond or whatever and then I do it at the end of the day.
Lady V (32:34)
Don't bother me.
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (33:00)
and it's 30 minutes to an hour and that's where I'm I'm chatting with other people, I'm answering DMs and then Friday afternoons I try to do some writing content but I do do like one full day a month and I just write and schedule and we started creating videos that have not been posted. I have articles, that's my problem, I just gotta push it out.
Lady V (33:29)
You got this. You got this.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (33:31)
I got it. But that's my advice to you and this is what I've heard from other founders. We all kind of do it. We all kind of just block it in our... Because it's one of those if we try to... If we go, I'm gonna get to it or I need to make time for it, won't happen. But if we physically put it in our calendar and then make that dedicated time, the other tip I would say, find the platform that you feel most comfortable with and where your audience lives. So, you know...
Lady V (33:47)
is that.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (34:00)
LinkedIn is where I kind of I live the most because that's where our audiences kind of live the most. Twitter, I'm trying to move away from Twitter because it's just it's bots and it's aggressive and it's a horrible mean platform. just yeah, but I'm just we're retaining our handles there. We're just not feeding it.
Lady V (34:09)
you
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (34:30)
We're not spending time, money, and energy to it. And so we're looking at threads. How do we kind of transition to that? But like find the platform that really you like. mean, there's some, we see some founders that are, you know, they're linked in Facebook. We see founders that are, you know, Instagram, LinkedIn, or before it was like a lot of, a couple years ago with like in tech space. It was Twitter, LinkedIn.
Lady V (34:32)
Alright.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (34:59)
Like those two were the kind of power channels. Fashion and beauty and like, you you might find that your musicians, your authors, they spend their time on TikTok and Facebook. So it might be those are your two channels that you, but don't feel like, we tell clients, secure all the handles so that you, cause that's your brand, right? Secure them.
Lady V (35:26)
Exactly.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (35:29)
but you don't have to feed them. You don't have to spend the time, money, and energy to produce the content. They can just be, you know, and you've got your handle, you've got your bio, it's there for presence. But where you're feeding is where you want, you, you know, swim where the fish are. So, and that's where, so you might only go, hey, look, my people are on Facebook. That's the only one I'm really gonna post to.
Lady V (35:30)
example.
Exactly.
Thank
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (35:58)
And that way
it doesn't feel as overwhelming. And we say the same thing even when we, you for our clients, like, look, we'll isolate it, but you're spread so thin, you're not growing your community on any of the channels because you're just posting generic three time a week, it's not doing any good versus like if your community is on Facebook, let's take, let's double down on Facebook and really grow that. Once we feel like that has grown, we can move on to another channel.
Lady V (36:11)
Okay.
Exactly.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (36:29)
But that's how we advise our clients. That's how we've kind of advised ourselves. That's how we hear and see other, especially founders and startups kind of work. And big brands, it's like, we kind of see the apples and the Coca-Cola's. They can afford a social media team of 30 people. when it's just us as a founder managing our own channels or even a
Lady V (36:47)
Exactly. Exactly.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (36:57)
you know, even if you have a couple of people that are helping you, it's still a lot. gotta concentrate and dedicate and be really, I call it, just gotta be, you social, it is a community and I think too many people just post to post and they're not really building a community. And so, you know, it needs to be much more intentional. So there.
Lady V (37:05)
Mm-hmm.
Exactly. Right. There you go.
lot of
people really don't know how to build their community. They don't know that it takes a lot of consistency. It takes a lot of dedication and drive. You know what saying? One thing that I will pride myself on is even though it's a lot, all my communities are built. I don't like Twitter, so I don't use Twitter. That's just not my thing. But...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (37:27)
Yeah, all right.
Lady V (37:47)
My TikTok is growing phenomenal. You know what saying? My Facebook is on point. My LinkedIn, and I don't even know how LinkedIn is doing so good, because I barely use it, but it's still doing well. So, you know, I pride myself on doing that right there. And it's funny because back in the day, I used to actually schedule everything like that. You know, this day is for this, this day for that, this day is for that. But...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (37:52)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Lady V (38:14)
Because now I have so many different things going on and the fact that I'm a spiritual release coach, that makes a difference. So I have to really, I almost have to schedule around because I'm not going to leave my people and they need help. You know, they, they need this course they need. They're trying to transform their lives. And so that's where my focus kind of is right now is with them in this course. And so.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (38:18)
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
Lady V (38:43)
which is good, you know, but so now I'm like, okay, how do I add this to, cause I can, it's just, sometimes we just be lazy. Let's just be honest. I like being very transparent.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (38:44)
Yeah.
I know it. You just, you just got to block the time.
Yeah. Well, and it sounds like that's probably, you you're, you got to make the time, just block it out. But also it's like, find the outlet that makes sense. I mean, you, you bring so much energy and presence. I could see where that's why TikTok is just a fuel for you. And you can talk about it and they, can, they can feel what you.
Lady V (39:18)
huh.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (39:25)
what they gain from your services and the value that you bring. yeah, maybe that's where you need to double down all your energy there.
Lady V (39:35)
Hey,
I have to do something because baby, I just look, look, I'm getting ready to hire somebody though, that's for sure. It's almost time. And so I'm like, and the only reason why I hadn't is again, like I said, once I almost lost the business, I was like, uh-huh, I don't want nobody, I'll just do it myself. And it is, it is, but we have to understand.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (39:38)
So.
Whoa.
Will Manaf-
Yeah, I know. That's right. It's hard to bring somebody into the fold.
Lady V (40:06)
that we all need help. Especially when your business is growing, you can't do it all by yourself. You might want to, but it's just not gonna work. You literally have to have that one person that you can say, I know I can trust him. I know I can trust him. And so, I know God gonna send me that person, because I asked God to send it to me, because baby, he don't have to wave the flag. This is it, this the person.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (40:08)
Yeah.
You cannot, yep.
That's right.
That's right. No.
All right. So Lady V, if we met a year from now and we, you know, went out for coffee or cocktails, what would we be celebrating?
Lady V (40:48)
Our wins, all of our wins, our simple wins. We're celebrating the fact that we still doing it. We're celebrating the fact that we are warrior women, that we are doing what we love to do. We are celebrating the fact that guess what? We didn't quit.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (40:50)
Well, what would that be? What would be one of those wins?
Okay.
Yeah.
Well, what would you want to celebrate specifically? Because we're going to manifest it on this show.
Lady V (41:15)
we celebrating all of that. But we are celebrating, we celebrating all that. But we are really celebrating the fact that we are getting the roar in our greatness.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (41:17)
We're.
and you're gonna get up, you're gonna hire a person and they're gonna be, they're gonna be a support, like your massive support, amazing support that you can then scale and continue to grow. That's what we're gonna celebrate. You're like, that person's already been hired. you know, they're gonna self-identify themselves. Well, that's fantastic. What advice would you give?
Lady V (41:29)
Amazing.
Exactly. We celebrating that right now. See, we're celebrating that right now.
Is that?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (41:53)
Where do you add to another person just thinking about should I should I take the leap should I do it? Should I start the business or maybe someone struggling like how do I grow? Any advice that you've been given that you want to share with others?
Lady V (42:08)
Well, I really haven't been given this advice, but I'm gonna give this advice. And the reason why I say that is because when I was growing my business and I was out here trying to get it, nobody was trying to reach out to me. Nobody was trying to help me. It was more people like, ugh, you ain't gonna do this. I had a lot of limited beliefs. And so once I left those limited beliefs,
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (42:30)
Yeah.
Lady V (42:35)
I realized that I could do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And so my advice to you is leap. Leap, leap and leap like nobody's business. Don't be afraid because one thing he said is he'll catch you. And so don't be afraid to do what God has called you to do. Don't be afraid to live in your purpose. Don't be afraid because you know, yes Lord.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (42:51)
Right.
Right.
Lady V (43:06)
Fear is in our basic instructions 365 times, which means that we are fearful 365 days out of the year.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (43:11)
Mm-hmm.
Lady V (43:18)
This is your time to not be afraid because he doesn't give us a heart of fear. We create that because we're afraid of the unknown. Don't be afraid of the unknown, just leap. Do what you have been called to do because this is your purpose and this is your season.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (43:39)
Yeah.
Is that what you do when you go through spiritual educator? Is that what you're helping to uncover as somebody that their purpose, their joy? OK.
Lady V (43:50)
Exactly. I help people
to roar in their greatness. help people to, help individuals to be able to release those limited beliefs, the old baggage, the old narratives, the negative narratives. I help them to release those. I help them to overcome the obstacles that stand in their way. I allow them to awake. Exactly. Exactly.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (44:15)
Yeah, which is a lot of it probably themselves. Yeah.
Lady V (44:20)
And then I allow them to awaken the rebel within. Why? Because there's a rebel that's sitting right in there. There's a little girl, a little boy right now that's just sitting there to bust it loose and say, hey, hey, I'm here and I'm free and I'm free to be authentically me and show the world that guess what? Even when I'm not okay, I'm okay because it's okay to not be okay.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (44:33)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Lady V (44:47)
And no, I don't have to be perfect, but I'm perfect in my imperfections. And so I have to teach, so I teach people how to roar in their greatness because you're going to rise to the occasion as well. You're not going to just sit there. You're going to be like, I got this. So I give you hope. give you, I push you to know that you are worthy and that you are more than enough.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (44:54)
That's right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Lady V (45:16)
And it does not matter what society say. It does not matter what people tell you. It does not matter what your trauma is trying to hold you captive of. You are great. You are worthy. And you are more than enough to live the dreams that you choose to live. Because we serve a big guy, not a little guy. He got a big G, not a little G. And so, you know what saying? We gotta know that he say we can have all the desires of our heart. Well, if you too afraid,
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (45:26)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Lady V (45:46)
to leave, you'll never receive those. You're gonna still be sitting 365 days from now, still sitting in that same position. But I'll see you though, cause I'ma wave at you baby, I'ma try to get your hand, but I can't drag you.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (45:49)
All right.
Yeah, I saw the best quote and I think I post this on my channel. Faith and fear both demand you believe in something you cannot see. You choose. Yeah.
Lady V (46:08)
Exactly.
Exactly. Exactly. You have to. If you don't believe in yourself, who's going to believe in you? Sometimes we have to know, it's kind of like love. If you don't love you, you can't expect other people to love you properly because you don't know how to love yourself properly.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (46:13)
Power. Yep. Don't be afraid. Have faith in yourself. Yeah.
Lady V (46:33)
So how do you expect them to love you properly? You wanna give them boundaries and tell them this and that and this and that, but if you don't know how to do that, then you can't. And it's the same thing with your being afraid and leaping out on your faith to know that guess what? I am good enough and I deserve what I want and I'm gonna get it.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (46:33)
Yeah.
Right?
Lady V (46:54)
I'ma get out there and get out. I was afraid at one time because people told me that I wasn't nothing, that I would never amount to anything, that I would never, people would never listen to me, that people would never receive me, that people would never accept me. I heard all of these things from people that said they loved me.
And guess what? Here I am shattering the silence today. And just this year alone, I've done literally 77 podcast interviews and I reached out to them. You know what saying? I was like, I was being intentional with me because it was time for me to shatter the silence. I don't want to just break it. I shatter silence. And so that's what I was choosing to do. And so I did that. And so I stepped, I leaped.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (47:18)
That's right.
Unbelievable.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Lady V (47:44)
out of my comfort zone and roared and I'm still roaring baby. And now I'm grateful because I get the opportunity to help people roar in their greatness. I get the opportunity to now that I am actually building my own table where now I'm actually getting ready to do this big anthology on my label and it comes with a big conference. And so the fact that I get to do this because this is where he's leading me.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (47:44)
You'll eat and roared. I love it.
Mm.
Yeah.
Lady V (48:14)
That is a major step, a major accomplishment. And it's going to be fabulous. 2025 is going to be so wonderful. That it's going to be a lot of people roaring in their greatness. And they're say, where's all these women and men roaring for? Hey, you'll see Lady V at the end of it just roaring with them because I'm excited because they are now living in their purpose, doing what they want to do, and they're roaring in their greatness.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (48:14)
Yeah.
It is going to be good in here.
That's right.
Lady V (48:38)
And that's what it's all about. It's being able to ruin your greatness and be free to be authentically you.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (48:45)
That is so wonderful. I know that's been my journey over the last couple of years. I'm looking forward to 2025. We're gonna manifest it all. I'm excited to watch you shine and roar. Before we go, these things go by so fast. I love our conversations. But before we go, where do you want people to connect with you? How do you want people to find you and learn more information about what you offer?
Lady V (49:11)
So you can find me at www.linktree.ladyvenp. So that's Elliott Night Professional, so E-N-P. And you can find me there. You can book a free consultation with me as well. I do want to let everybody know, because I've been doing this for the whole two months. And so everybody that caught in.
these last couple months, if you see and watch this podcast right here, you gotta watch all the way to the end, because you ain't gonna get the password. So, but if you say Rebel, I will actually give you 15 % off of the course for next year. And so it starts in February.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (49:43)
Rebel, okay.
All right, well
we will post that as well. So Rebel is the code word for 15 % off. But you also offer a free consultation.
Lady V (49:58)
15 % off and say you gotta say Rebel. But you gotta watch the whole,
yes, you get a free consultation with me, but you'll receive 15 % off the course. But you gotta watch the whole show. So yeah, you gotta watch the whole show. You gotta be supportive of it, because that's what I'm really about. I'm about supporting different networks. I'm about supporting different people. And so you definitely have to support this network and watch this to even get the code word. So it's Rebel.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (50:11)
That's right.
Lady V (50:26)
And if you say Rebel, then you will actually get 15 % off with me for the course. The consultation is free. Okay. And so I want everyone to do that. And so that's where you can find little about me. And of course you'll find this podcast as well, because I put everything on my link tree. Okay. So everything that I've done, everyone that I support, you can find my books, everything about Lady V is on that one link.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (50:54)
I love it. Well, thank you so much. I enjoyed this conversation and enjoyed meeting you Lady V and hopefully this won't be the last time we talk.
Lady V (51:03)
it definitely will not. And thank you so
much for allowing me to be on your network. I wish you all much success in 2025. I know that it's gonna be, it's gonna grow 10 times faster and quicker than you expect it to. And so I'm excited about watching you grow as well. And so again, thank you. Lady V love y'all and love y'all more.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (51:26)
Thank you. And for everyone listening or watching us, thank you for joining us. This podcast episode will be available on all podcast platforms. So look for us, Hello Chaos podcast. Give us a like, comment and share this great content. Apple is my favorite. So go to Apple. Find us, give us a five star review, because this is a great episode and help us build a more connected entrepreneurial community.
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