Navigating Client Communication and Building Authentic Brands with Meghan Kix of BeeCat Creative - Part 2

In this episode of Chefs Without Restaurants, Chris Spear sits down with Meghan Kix for part 2 of their discussion on marketing and branding. You can find part 1 here. Meghan's a marketing and branding specialist who's worked with major brands like Flying Dog Brewery, and now runs her own full-service creative agency, BeeCat Creative. 

They explore how to effectively manage client expectations, the importance of automating processes to save time, and how to strike a balance between providing excellent service and maintaining personal boundaries.

Meghan shares insights from her extensive experience in creative strategy, discussing the value of nurturing customer journeys and creating authentic brand experiences. The conversation also touches on the pitfalls of social media marketing, the importance of quality over quantity, and how businesses can stand out by being true to their values.

MEGHAN KIX & BEECAT CREATIVE
BeeCat Creative Website
BeeCat Creative Instagram
Meghan Kix on Instagram
Meghan's Portfolio of Awesomeness
Playlists That Don't Suck

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Things mentioned: Kevin Kelly's 1,000 True Fans and Alex Hormozi talking about monetizing a small following

Transcript

[00:00:00] Chris Spear: You know, I've learned over the years that setting boundaries with clients can be one of the hardest but most essential parts of running a successful business. From my perspective, I've got everything lined up for a dinner, the menu is set, the location is confirmed, I have the deposit, but suddenly I find myself stuck in a 45 minute phone call reassuring a client that yes, everything is still on track.

[00:00:23] Chris Spear: Sound familiar? Well today's episode is about navigating those tricky waters and more. This is Chris Spear, and you're listening to Chefs Without Restaurants, the show where I usually speak with culinary entrepreneurs and people working in the food and beverage industry outside of a traditional restaurant setting.

[00:00:40] Chris Spear: I have 32 years of working in kitchens, but not restaurants, and currently operate a personal chef service throwing dinner parties in the Washington, D. C. area. Today, we're jumping back into the conversation with Megan Kix, founder of BeeCat Creative. If you tuned in last week, you'll remember our discussion centered around branding and marketing insights.

[00:00:59] Chris Spear: How to position [00:01:00] yourself uniquely in a crowded market and the importance of building an authentic brand that reflects your values. If you missed it, I highly recommend going back and giving it a listen. It sets the stage perfectly for what we're diving into today, and I will link it in the show notes.

[00:01:14] Chris Spear: In this part two, Megan and I take things a step further. We'll be talking about how to manage client communication more effectively, the value of automating processes to save time, and how to set those crucial boundaries that protect both your business and your personal life. Megan also shares her thoughts on what works and what doesn't when it comes to social media marketing, especially for those of us trying to build a loyal community rather than just chasing the numbers.

[00:01:38] Chris Spear: But before we get into it, I want to remind you that the best way to support the show is by subscribing and leaving a review on your favorite podcast platform. It really helps us reach more people in the culinary community, and I always appreciate the feedback. If you're enjoying these episodes, please consider sharing them with your friends and colleagues, anyone who could use a little extra inspiration in their culinary journey.

[00:01:58] Chris Spear: Alright, let's get back into it. Here's [00:02:00] part two of my conversation with Megan Kix of BCAT Creative. Like for me, I don't need anything from you. I need to know what you like, and I'm going to send you a menu. And once we have that set. Like communication is essentially done and I have people who are like, Hey, do you want to hop on a call about the dinner next week?

[00:02:13] Chris Spear: And sometimes I reply, I'm like, what do you need? And they're like, I just wanted to talk to you. And for me, it's like, we've got the menu. I have your address. I'm bringing everything I need. I don't need to spend 45 minutes talking to you. So can it be like a five minute call? Can it be a text? But I find a lot of people need a lot of reassuring about what they're getting.

[00:02:30] Chris Spear: And it's like, okay, but that's just a lot more. 

[00:02:33] Meghan Kix: Well, that too is telling you, so if we're going back to brand and business and that is when you're looking at your journey, right? When you're looking at your consumer journey or your customer journey, that could be like a red flag of like a pain point, like, Oh, well, I find that people really need a lot of reassurance before I show up.

[00:02:57] Meghan Kix: And so, what can you [00:03:00] do to make them feel reassured and comforted that it's all good, but also is fair to you? Because that's where we get into the, kind of, it starts to be, Unfair, which sounds like, meh, but because you want to give them a great experience, right? Or you, you know, if you're working or collaborating with somebody, you want to be known as the guy who is great to collaborate with.

[00:03:30] Meghan Kix: Yeah. But you can't get on 15 phone calls. Yeah. You can't. So what can you do? You know, that's when you start noodling on, what can I do, or maybe what am I not doing? Um, Okay. That's giving people this feeling of, you know, they need to keep checking in, or can I create something in my journey that's like an automated thing, or something they can fill out, and that's actually one of the things we specialize at BCAT is the [00:04:00] journey.

[00:04:00] Meghan Kix: And helping people look at their journey so that their customers experience when they leave and they turn into a loyal fan. 

[00:04:09] Chris Spear: I tell people I'm a big fan of, um, template, like I have template for email texts that you can personalize. And then I just try and have a calendar for when those things go out. It would be great to automate it, but just like the triggers of, you know, eight days out, you send the email.

[00:04:25] Meghan Kix: Yeah, we've automated our entire process and it took. It took some time, you know, when we started automating things, it was, you know, before I think some of the technologies had come out, but it takes stuff off of you, you know, it takes stuff off your plate so that, again, you are free and there's that balance to really bring your best self to the table.

[00:04:53] Meghan Kix: It's really important to self reflect and be honest, and, and I've had some, I've [00:05:00] had some times, and I'm sure you have, where I've initially been on the defense, and I've been like, why did nothing wrong there, or like, I don't know why they said that, or I don't know why, like, it didn't go the way I wanted.

[00:05:12] Meghan Kix: But you really have to self reflect and think about, well, where could I have been better? Where could the process have been better? And that is, that's how you're going to get those really loyal brand ambassadors. Because if you're constantly changing and you're really looking at the process and refining the process and making it the best it can be, not only for you, but for your client or customer.

[00:05:40] Meghan Kix: Then you can bring your best self, they feel like their best self, and together you guys grow, right? And that, that's what, I mean, I, I'll preach that till, till the day I retire, maybe after. But, um, it can get to be [00:06:00] overwhelming, and that obviously, I would say, is something that is a little down the line, you know, if we're talking about people just starting their business, like, by all means, don't feel like you have to automate tech straight away.

[00:06:13] Meghan Kix: But it is something to think about, and to your point, there is a fine line between, okay, that's enough, because then you get people who are overwhelmed, and you do have to take that into consideration as well. We are now in a world that we are being bombarded by everyone. 

[00:06:35] Chris Spear: I have customers who text me and will text me like multiple times during a day.

[00:06:39] Chris Spear: If I'm not being responsive, like what's their impression of me. But like, I shouldn't be at your beck and call. Like I have a personal life. I have a couple of businesses. I have a bunch of things. And it's like, just because you texted me does not mean that that's going to trigger. A response and, you know, I don't expect that from other people.

[00:06:56] Chris Spear: Like I've, I've sent you Instagram DMs and it's like three days later, I hear back from you, which is [00:07:00] fine because you've got stuff going on and I understand that, but some people will be like, Oh, I sent you a DM, like, when are you going to get back to me or why haven't you gotten back to me? 

[00:07:08] Meghan Kix: Yeah. I mean, going back to values, right?

[00:07:10] Meghan Kix: So if, if one of your values is communication, then you would be the person that is, boom, right there. You also have to really value your personal boundaries, right? And so you make up for it in other ways. And so you could have someone that will be like right there within two seconds, within a minute, within, and I agree with you, like I, I had to.

[00:07:39] Meghan Kix: I had to make this kind of, uh, boundary for myself because I would be up until like three o'clock in the morning answering emails and, and whenever I open my DMs, I have like 20 of them and I know that's like not a lot, but, um, It's a lot when you have been opening your texts and you have 54 [00:08:00] texts and you have 104 emails.

[00:08:02] Meghan Kix: As a business owner, that's a lot. And so, you have to then bring to the table if you, you have to be reliable. Like, I will, I will respond. Better believe I will. But, Then also, when you do respond, it's intentional, you know, it's, it's thoughtful. It's not just, yeah, or huh, or what, or okay, it's, it's a thoughtful, intentional response.

[00:08:27] Meghan Kix: And that's where I got to with my business is when I do respond, I want to have the space and I want it to be as thoughtful and intentional as possible. And you can get caught up in it. And just like you're saying, you can forget and you're like, wait, did I respond to that person? Did I not respond to that person?

[00:08:49] Chris Spear: I set up an Excel spreadsheet because that was the easiest for me. So as soon as, because I know I can't get back to them right away and I have the spreadsheet and it's per month and the name goes in and [00:09:00] then I have tabs of like first contact, like they, the first time they contacted me, here's the date.

[00:09:05] Chris Spear: And then I have. Responded yes, no. And then it's like menu sent menu agreed on and deposit paid. So it's this thing that, you know, Meg reached out on July 9th. I responded to her July 10th. Cool. Then I know where we are in the customer journey. And it's like, have they filled out the questionnaire? Cause for me, that's the next step.

[00:09:25] Chris Spear: Yes or no. If they haven't, then there might be a reminder for me to say, Hey, you know, you reached out about this dinner. Are you still interested? Cause if so, I need you to fill out the questionnaire. So then when that goes to the yes, then I need to do a menu proposal for them. So then I have menu proposal.

[00:09:38] Chris Spear: Yes or no. Once I send that, then I've got a window of like, let's give it a few days. And five days, I haven't heard back. I reach out and say, Hey, I, you know, I sent you the menu proposal. I want to make sure you got it. Do you have any questions? And a text or a phone call is coming next. So I've kind of built my own customer journey timeline in an Excel sheet because I'm super busy with a lot of stuff.[00:10:00]

[00:10:00] Chris Spear: And I don't want to forget that on Monday somebody reached out about a party and I never even got back to them. So, that's how I keep myself in line. 

[00:10:07] Meghan Kix: So let me ask you this. Now I'm, now I'm the interviewer. Um, what do you do, cause a lot of people struggle with this. What do you do if somebody is just constantly late with the materials that you need?

[00:10:21] Chris Spear: The big thing is like, I need deposits, like because of what I do, most people want weekends and I make it clear up front that it's a minimum 200 deposit to hold the date and if someone beats you to it, you're going to lose it. So if I've sent you a menu and I don't have money from you and someone comes in and they send me money, some people send me money before they even have a menu, like they want to party so badly.

[00:10:43] Chris Spear: Because it's in my frequently asked questions, I'll get a random notification that someone dropped 200 bucks via Zelle or Venmo just to hold the date, and then someone will come back with the menu and say, I'm sorry, I sent that to you five days ago, and I didn't hear from you, somebody came with money, and the date's gone.

[00:10:58] Meghan Kix: Mm. Did, [00:11:00] when you first started doing, is that something you've always done? That's, that's new, that was 

[00:11:04] Chris Spear: ever being burned a few times, and now I've had a lot of people where I do a, a custom menu, and I do this stuff, and I send it to them. And, and they just like ghost me. They don't even say like, Hey, I'm not interested or the budget's not right.

[00:11:16] Chris Spear: We're going a different direction. You just never hear from them again. And that's a waste of time. Right. So like, how do we eliminate that? So like talking about like, how do you prequalify a lot of these people before you spend too much time into doing it? And one of the things is just like letting them know, like, yeah, I'll put together a menu for you.

[00:11:34] Chris Spear: But like, until I have money in my bank account. The date is not yours, so, like, go as fast or as slow as you like, but the date you want might be gone. 

[00:11:43] Meghan Kix: Yeah, I think, I think that's one of my biggest lessons because I was always growing up a yes person and a people pleaser. And, um, yeah, and so that's why I know so much about burnout.

[00:11:59] Chris Spear: Trying to be [00:12:00] everything to everyone and do everything and putting yourself last. 

[00:12:02] Meghan Kix: Yeah, and so I think that is another piece of advice that I would have for people, and this is probably, again, a whole other subject that we could talk about because this is very, very scary. Putting lead qualifiers in and really saying no to some things, it can be very scary to people because you think about the potential money or opportunities that you're leaving out on the table.

[00:12:30] Meghan Kix: But. If I did a discovery call with every single person that was interested in our services, I would never get to the actual projects that I'm signed up for. And I also would just be just this like machine of just Talking to people all day long and then not being able to do the thing that I'm telling them that I can do, you know, it just, it creates this [00:13:00] wheel of, um, you're just on it and you can't really get off.

[00:13:04] Meghan Kix: And so I think having those qualifiers in place, we have a questionnaire, as you do too, that we send out and we're also very upfront about how much stuff costs. And that's really important too, because your value is your value, and the minute that you start chopping down your value, you don't realize it, but it is also affecting you mentally and physically at least.

[00:13:34] Chris Spear: Definitely. 

[00:13:34] Meghan Kix: You know, you're saying, Oh, well, I, I guess I'll do it for this. And then you're subconsciously telling yourself like, well, you're not really worth the original price. That is something where you need to bring in people who see your value. I had a very good friend of mine. Tell me, I don't charge by the hour, I charge by the service, because no matter if I do it in three hours or if it [00:14:00] takes me ten hours, it's my value and knowledge that I'm bringing, and I don't ever cut it down because it's taking me years to learn this service.

[00:14:10] Chris Spear: I do the same with food, and I talk to chefs about this, like, I don't charge per, whether you get a crab cake or a chicken breast, it's the same price, because I'm charging for the service. Not the food. And I also don't do receipts like a lot of are like, well, I give them the receipt and show them the food is no, because your skill is your ability to turn something, even a humble ingredient into something delicious, but people are so used to going to restaurants.

[00:14:33] Chris Spear: Like I really want the ribeye, but it's 54. I'm going to get the chicken pasta. Cause it's 21. I want to take that off the table so that they can really get whatever they want, but I can make an amazing chicken dish. And I think that just because I can get chicken for 2. 49 a pound doesn't make that dish any less delicious than a 25 a pound, you know, filet mignon.

[00:14:56] Chris Spear: So I just have base pricing. And some people say, well, like, I have [00:15:00] a vegetarian, so if they get tofu, what's the price? Yeah, that's 100. Like whether you're getting like, I know everyone else is having a ribeye steak and one vegetarians getting tofu, but there's no price break. And some of that is for ease.

[00:15:11] Chris Spear: Like, I don't want to be pricing things out. Like I've priced myself at a point where I know what my time is worth. And it's like some dinners I'm going to get a higher profit margin on and some I'm going to get a lower and it all comes out in the wash for me. And if you come to me with a dinner request, I don't want to take days to get back to you because I'm counting pennies.

[00:15:29] Chris Spear: I'm just going to price it at a point where it's like, okay. Here's what it's going to cost to make it worth my time. I try and get a budget out of my clients at the start, just to kind of see where they're at and then their menu selections will, you know, so if your budget's a hundred, you might not have a mini crab cake on the appetizer options, but if your budget's 200, you might, you know, so that's how I work it, but.

[00:15:53] Chris Spear: Yeah, for ease, for my sake, for everything. That's how I've decided to do it. 

[00:15:58] Meghan Kix: But in [00:16:00] actuality, if somebody is asking for, which is in my world, a change order, like tofu is, I mean, maybe somewhat that should, that should be like an extra B. 

[00:16:13] Chris Spear: I'd actually want to dip a little bit into like social media and social media marketing, cause that's such a huge thing.

[00:16:18] Chris Spear: And I actually want to get your take on. Like, Tim Ferriss would say, like, what is something you believe that other people don't? Like, there's so much advice out there, there's so many gurus, there's so much stuff. Let's, I wanna, I wanna tackle the bad stuff, like, what do you see being pushed around in the world of, like, social media marketing and branding that you don't agree with?

[00:16:39] Chris Spear: Is there anything that comes to mind where you're like, no, no, no, don't do that? 

[00:16:43] Meghan Kix: I have to be really careful here. I have a love hate relationship with social media. 

[00:16:49] Chris Spear: Many of us do right now. Many of us do. 

[00:16:51] Meghan Kix: Yes, even though it is what I do for a living, uh, part of it. Um, and so that's why I'm like, I have to be careful, because right [00:17:00] now I'm in the hate phase.

[00:17:01] Chris Spear: But you're trying to get clients and you're going to help them with this and, and tell them how to make their social media good. 

[00:17:05] Meghan Kix: Yeah, and I'm just like, don't do it. Don't listen to the machine. No, but I, what I think is, is not for me and, and I really, I hope other people kind of get on this bandwagon is to put out content, well there's two different things here, let me back up a little bit.

[00:17:28] Meghan Kix: It depends on what your business is, right? And so, my personal account is more of an artist's account. You know, I'm a photographer. And I do not subscribe to the machines, put out content, put out content, put out content. That's just not for me. As an artist and as somebody who takes photos and, you know, it's not every day that you capture something that has a story.

[00:17:59] Meghan Kix: Right? [00:18:00] Just like as you were talking about this podcast, like sometimes it comes out and you listen to it and you're like, Hmm, okay, what is there? What can I do? If you're cranking out content, then it becomes oatmeal. And so as an artist, I do not subscribe to cranking out content because it becomes just wash.

[00:18:23] Meghan Kix: That's my opinion. Now, when I'm talking to somebody about personal branding, I'll talk to them about cadence and making sure that you have all these different pillars and stuff like that. But for my personal brand, I produce content which feels right in the moment. And just to be completely clear, it has affected.

[00:18:46] Meghan Kix: My growth, you know, I, I haven't really grown. And so there is, there is something to that, right? There is something to, hey, if you put out content, more people will see it. [00:19:00] You'll become more popular and you know, your, your account will grow, et cetera. But I've always just been kind of that kid that doesn't want to subscribe to, like, the norm.

[00:19:12] Meghan Kix: To me, follower count or, you know, views does not equal talent or who you are. It's not your identity. 

[00:19:24] Chris Spear: Yeah. 

[00:19:25] Meghan Kix: That really resonates with me. And that's something that I feel is kind of the downfall of where we're headed. I'm sure you've heard this, where I've heard record labels won't even approach, listen to an artist that shows up with less than 50k.

[00:19:40] Chris Spear: That's crazy. It's the same, it's the same with like being a, like, I guess I'm in the micro influencer phase and like trying to get ad sponsors for my podcast, like they want this huge following. It's like, well, I have a, a dedicated, like we have a built a community and these are people. Who I think would be interested in your product, but like, I have less than 10, 000 followers, and it's very hard to get [00:20:00] traction if you have less than 10k, which is like a shit ton of people in my opinion.

[00:20:03] Chris Spear: 10, 000 people following what you say and do, that's a lot. 

[00:20:07] Meghan Kix: And think about it, is your 10k, think about it like concentrate, you know, like juice concentrate. You could have a hundred thousand followers. But, are they really watered down? Are they really loyal? You could have 10, 000, but they're very concentrated.

[00:20:27] Meghan Kix: They're like, you know, that juice concentrate where if you tell them, hey, buy this, do this. You could have a higher conversion rate than somebody who has a hundred. 

[00:20:39] Chris Spear: Do you follow Alex Hormozy at all? He's like a Gary Vee, but like more tactical on like building and growing business. But I was just listening to one of his YouTube the other day, and he was talking to this woman and her business is she's a dietician and my wife's a dietician.

[00:20:53] Chris Spear: So I have some basic knowledge of this. And her whole business is teaching other dieticians how to build insurance companies, [00:21:00] like using the codes, because that's something that's really hard. And when she had something like 20 followers, like 20 on Instagram, she landed her first paid like job from someone because it's super niche.

[00:21:13] Chris Spear: And now she still only has like 1500 followers, but she made like hundreds of thousands of dollars through her social media because it's so ratcheted down and targeted because she's doing this very niche thing that people need. And. It doesn't benefit her to have a million random people. She wants dieticians who have their own practice.

[00:21:34] Chris Spear: And like, even if you just like you can, it's like a thousand true fans, you know, a thousand true fans by Kevin Kelly. Yeah. Yeah. Like you don't need a million people. Like you need, like if you had a thousand people who really like followed you and what you do. That's more than enough. So like, we're now thinking that we need tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or whatever.

[00:21:54] Chris Spear: But it's like, are those, are those people buying their stuff? It's like, sure. I follow a ton of people [00:22:00] online that I've never bought their thing and it doesn't benefit them in any way. So like, how do you find those people who are really interested? And I think when you have a local business, especially like me, perfect little bites, It's easy to get caught up in vanity metrics, but I don't need a follower in Iowa.

[00:22:14] Chris Spear: Like, unless he has relatives in my service area, that doesn't do me any good. And I need to focus my messaging on, like, local, in the DMV, DC, Frederick area, if we're talking about getting business. Now, Chefs Without Restaurants, that could be global because you can listen to the podcast all over. But for my local chef business, I really need to be targeting, like, this local demographic.

[00:22:35] Meghan Kix: Yeah, I mean, I don't know, maybe that's the hot take. I know it's like not that hot, uh, or controversial, but it's really about community. And so, If you can build a community, a really loyal, concentrated community, then that holds more weight to me than the number. And that's where I get really [00:23:00] frustrated with social media and with people who, you know, uh, advertisers and, uh, A& R and, and whatever, looking at the number, because you, you could be missing out on somebody who is, you know, very talented, really knows their stuff, really knows their trade, but they're focusing on other things.

[00:23:21] Meghan Kix: You know, they could be focusing on things that are more offline, more person to person. So that's kind of, I guess, one of my controversial things is I don't believe in pranking out the content if it, if you are not feeling it. It starts to become forced. And it's, that's where I'm seeing a lot of. Now, if you do stuff like this, like if you do a long format and you're able to cut it down and you have this really great hour long conversation that you're able to cut down and it feels great and then you're cranking that out, fantastic.

[00:23:59] Meghan Kix: If you're [00:24:00] waking up in the morning and you're like, Oh shit, I have to post something. Let me dance around in my kitchen and put some words over top of it. Which is 

[00:24:06] Chris Spear: what a lot of people are doing, right? Yeah, like, 

[00:24:09] Meghan Kix: save it. I'm sick of seeing it. You're sick of seeing it. We're all sick of seeing it. 

[00:24:14] Chris Spear: I have this, um, you know, it's like one of the metric tracking things for Instagram.

[00:24:18] Chris Spear: I signed up years ago, and like, every week they send you a recap. And there's one that's like, you made zero posts this week. And it's like a dog frowny with like a blanket over his head, like making you feel guilty that you didn't post anything this week. It's like, 

[00:24:30] Meghan Kix: eh, 

[00:24:31] Chris Spear: you know, that's fine. 

[00:24:32] Meghan Kix: Yeah. I, I really, I really think it's when I first started and we first started BCAT, it really was about quantity.

[00:24:42] Meghan Kix: and wasn't really about quality, and then it jumped back to quality, and then it jumped back to quantity, and now it's jumping back to quality. So you don't really have control over it anyway, it's whatever. The machine decides, and so do what works best [00:25:00] for you, do what feels authentic to you, and do the thing that, and set up the system that then portrays exactly who you are.

[00:25:10] Meghan Kix: Because if, if you're somebody who's setting up a system where you're like, you know, dancing around and doing B roll and like pretending like I'm writing and like, hey, how did the camera get outside of your bathroom? And now you're acting like, oh, the camera's there. You set it up. Um, that's, that to me just portrays a phoniness, and I personally don't like it, so I'm, I'm taking a stance on it.

[00:25:37] Meghan Kix: But to people who do it, and it works for them, and they're making like 50k a month, and they're like, whatever lady. Enjoy your room with your shoes, then, you know, that works for them. 

[00:25:49] Chris Spear: Well, I have a, I have a question, because I don't know if you'd seen this, you know, I follow some of these people, but there's a guy who talks about growth on Instagram, and I specifically want to talk about stories, because I, and these things change all the time, [00:26:00] and he's saying that now the big thing is that Stories, you should not be sharing anything from anyone's wall, whether it be yours or anyone else's stuff that it's not about discovery.

[00:26:12] Chris Spear: It's about nurturing your community. And I bring this up because I think every single thing that you share personally or be cat in the stories is someone else's stuff, which I think is super cool. Because I like it for discovery. It's like, again, like almost like a tastemaker. You're like, this is the music.

[00:26:28] Chris Spear: I like, this is the news story this week. You do the roundup of like the coolest shit we found on the internet, you know? Like, but what I'm hearing is that that is the exact opposite. If you want people to see your stories, I don't know if this is something that you have heard or seen and, and have an opinion on, but now it's like, we're, we.

[00:26:48] Chris Spear: Are being scared to like not share things to stories anymore that you should upload like a unique picture and not be sharing because if you're sharing it, you know, someone post something that you think is cool that they're going [00:27:00] to consider that not I think mass area or whatever his name is.

[00:27:03] Chris Spear: Instagram is saying like that's not quality content and they're going to like push that down as opposed to people who are sharing unique stuff. Any thoughts takes on all of that. 

[00:27:13] Meghan Kix: Yeah, uh, that's absolutely right. Like your stories are where you should nurture your current audience. And so doing, doing things like recording yourself talking, um, or announcing things or, you know, putting, uh, like lead generators in there to drive traffic back to your site or whatever, that absolutely should be happening in the stories.

[00:27:40] Meghan Kix: However, my. My personal, this is my personal brand, my personal brand is sharing what I think other people would like or may not know, or, um, [00:28:00] uh, other photographers, artists, uh, musicians, like I'm, I'm very big on trying to, and so is BCAT, trying to cultivate a creative community. And so, we all are busy, we all have things going on, and so what I, I like is, I like to follow people who turn me on to things I didn't see or I missed.

[00:28:27] Meghan Kix: And so, I think it's a nice balance, I think it's like, you know, having a nice, you know, in between of sharing stuff that's personal to you to nurture, but also, I think it's important to, you know, share other people's stuff, other artists stuff, other chefs stuff, because it's, we are in this together. It's a community.

[00:28:47] Meghan Kix: And to me, it's semi selfish to only talk about, I mean, that's where, like, I don't get on board with kind of some of the people on social media, where [00:29:00] it's like, they're not sharing anything about anyone else. They're just talking about themselves all the time. They're in it for themselves all the time.

[00:29:07] Meghan Kix: And they're not really in it for their community. And that's super, super important to me and to BCAT is cultivating this amazing creative community and showing people, that's why we do the coolest things that we saw on the internet. Because it's not only helping and sharing the artists that we saw or the thing we saw, but then it's also showing to our followers, hey, if you missed this, because we all know you've been editing for 15 hours, here's this.

[00:29:39] Meghan Kix: And it's like, oh, cool. So they know that it is the spot to find. new things that maybe they missed. 

[00:29:47] Chris Spear: So going back to being your authentic self and if it means like you get maybe a slightly lower reach. 

[00:29:54] Meghan Kix: Again, there's. There's different, there's different businesses, there's different people that do [00:30:00] different things.

[00:30:00] Meghan Kix: And so approaching it as, as a creative agency, we would approach it differently, you know, depending on what your business is. But for me personally, and for BCAT, this is, this is kind of how we roll. And I've had people say, you know, hey, you don't, you don't have many, You don't have many followers or, you know, you don't, you don't do this or that.

[00:30:26] Meghan Kix: And I'm like, no, we don't because that's not authentic to us. That this is, this is how we show up and when we show up, we show up. You know, our content is, in my opinion, really great, um, because I'm not forcing my team to crank out stuff that doesn't feel good or authentic to them. Now, that is what works for our business, but.

[00:30:52] Meghan Kix: We could have clients that say, Hey, I want to do this, or I want to have this growth, or I want to see this metric. And then, you [00:31:00] know, we still have the knowledge and ability to make that shift. We know, you know, I always, I always say this to, um, people close to me. Um, I'm like, I know what to do. I know the thing.

[00:31:13] Meghan Kix: And I could totally bring someone else and have someone else do the thing. But like, I don't want to do the thing, but I know what I should be doing. You know, like I know that I should be, uh, doing X, Y, and Z, but it doesn't feel authentic to me, which I think. That's the proof of somebody who is really, really good as a consultant, which I'm sure, you know, you would be as well.

[00:31:40] Meghan Kix: Like, I'm sure you know how to make certain dishes. Oh, 100%. 

[00:31:43] Chris Spear: I give advice all the time that I don't do myself. 

[00:31:46] Meghan Kix: Yeah. And you don't Those that, um, can't do, what's the say? 

[00:31:51] Chris Spear: Teach. Those who can't teach or something like that. 

[00:31:54] Meghan Kix: Yeah. And, and I kind of, you know, I live by that principle a little bit because it does, just because it doesn't [00:32:00] feel authentic for me, doesn't mean that it's not right for you and doesn't mean that I can't show up and advise you and creative direct you in that thing.

[00:32:09] Meghan Kix: So I think that's really, really important is, you know, when you are doing those lead qualifiers, or you are talking to a potential client. Assessing that, you know, like, can I do this in a way that is authentic to them and authentic to me? And that's, you know, again, I know I'm like constantly tying this all back to values, but that's where it kind of ties back to values.

[00:32:34] Meghan Kix: And, you know, again, full circle what we said, sometimes you give and take. You know, sometimes you're like, Oh man, I don't really feel this. Like this isn't what I would do, but I know this person would pop off if they did it. That is the true beauty of somebody who is a master of their craft. Not only can you do it the way that's authentic [00:33:00] to you, but you can change and mold and help somebody else do it in a different way.

[00:33:05] Meghan Kix: Just talking about positioning and, and doing things uniquely, that, that's where I, I really feel like somebody who is, comes in as a consultant, like, you know, you know all the stuff, you have all the tools. You may not use them all, but you could tell somebody else like, hey, I don't use this tool, but I'm going to tell you about it.

[00:33:26] Chris Spear: Yeah, well, that's a great segue into, like, I think we need to finish talking about someone needs some help. They decide that this is maybe not what they want to do on their own and they're looking to work with someone. So your business, how do people get a hold of you? What do people need to know? Uh, who should be reaching out to you?

[00:33:46] Chris Spear: Give us like just a couple minutes of, uh, BCAT and, uh, who you want to be working with. 

[00:33:52] Meghan Kix: So BCAT is a creative agency, we're a full service creative agency that really [00:34:00] focuses on the consumer experience and elevating that through all of the customer touch points and That could seem like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah people.

[00:34:13] Meghan Kix: Cause they're like, what are you talking about? But if you think about just you are consumer, I'm a consumer. We're all consumers, we're all taking in information from businesses and brands and companies. And so think about. All of those touch points, and so we work with ambitious brands, businesses, and individuals to elevate those touch points, and whether that's through, um, copywriting, like punching something up, or having a really unique event, uh, like experiential marketing, or having a really kick ass, can I say that?

[00:34:50] Meghan Kix: Kick ass? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. marketing campaign that, and this has been said again and again and again, but it really is true through memory, [00:35:00] you know, memory recall, people want to be remembered. And so we help B2B and B2C on how to do that and how to stand out and differentiate yourself. And we find that a lot of businesses or individuals have trouble with that, how am I unique piece.

[00:35:19] Meghan Kix: And that you could have something that is common, something that you do that other people do and how you set yourself apart is through those touch points and through that human, we're all about bringing back the human connection I am. I'm very passionate about that. So bringing back that human connection and that's how you're going to get remembered.

[00:35:41] Meghan Kix: Even if you sell something or you offer something that other people do, you can tweak it and make those touch points elevated and awesome. So that like, Oh, I got this really cool email or they had a really great event or a pop up. And so we do that, we basically take [00:36:00] our creative brains and come up with awesome ways to make people stand out from the crowd and I mean our tagline is what's beyond the ordinary, so.

[00:36:11] Meghan Kix: We're all about partnering, and so we're a, our agency is a consumer, we're advocates for consumers, but we're brand partners. And so we really believe in partnering with brands and, and collaborating and bringing them along on the journey. However, who we. Don't or we'll try to help lead the horse to water are the people, if you come to us and you say, Hey, we need this and we like it to be done this way because we've always done it that way.

[00:36:43] Meghan Kix: I mean, if it's working for you, then cool, we'll take that thing that's working and we'll elevate it. But if it's something that is dated or kind of stale or it's been done before, we're going to try to push people to do something that makes them stand out. So I think the biggest [00:37:00] thing that separates us from other agencies is we really integrate creativity with strategy too.

[00:37:07] Meghan Kix: You absolutely cannot have any type of marketing or any type of creative or even just content videos without that strategy. And so we're known for our strategic approach. It's hard to be a creative and a strategist, but somehow I've done it. 

[00:37:26] Chris Spear: Now, do you work with people who are just starting? I know.

[00:37:29] Chris Spear: Typically what I think I see is like people bootstrap in the beginning and they do all this and they've maybe established their brand and then they're like, I've got some money, I should hire this person. But would you recommend for someone like if they thought that it was important and had a budget to work with someone like getting, you know, working with you from the start?

[00:37:46] Meghan Kix: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we have an entry level type division, which is our Launchpad division, and that's more of the consultancy. And so that's always a great place to start. A lot of people that start out, they have that [00:38:00] budget, but they don't realize going with an, a huge agency, and we're not the huge agency, but.

[00:38:07] Meghan Kix: They will eat up your dollars like that. Sometimes it's beneficial to go with a smaller creative agency or bringing on a consultant so that you can kind of get the lay of the land and an understanding of how much things cost and how things work. And then we can go more into a retainer or project or, you know, something bigger.

[00:38:30] Meghan Kix: But that's what I recommend to people because. When you're going into something without the knowledge, I mean, you know this probably with food. When people go into something without the knowledge of how much it costs, you can have a little bit of a, wait a minute, what? I thought it would be this, and it's this, or like, sticker shock, or whatever you may call it.

[00:38:50] Meghan Kix: And so I think getting the lay of the land for someone starting out is, is really important. So that's what I would recommend if people are [00:39:00] listening to this and they want to start something with us would to be the, the consultant route or we can do a full project if you want to just jump in. 

[00:39:08] Chris Spear: Well, do you have anything you want to leave the listeners with before we get out of here today?

[00:39:13] Meghan Kix: Oh, well, I should say how to contact me. 

[00:39:15] Chris Spear: And I always put things in the show notes, regular listeners know that, but tell us how you want to be best contacted the easiest way, and then I'll drop those in the show notes. 

[00:39:23] Meghan Kix: Okay, cool. So we are on Instagram is like our main, our main vein. So that's at bcatcreative and our website is bcatcreative.

[00:39:36] Meghan Kix: com and then you can reach me personally. Which I don't normally give this out, but it's not that hard to figure out is Megan M E G H A N at BeCatCreative. com and I want to plug my personal which is Megan at Megan kicks on Instagram. I post some pretty cool stuff there. 

[00:39:57] Chris Spear: Well, it was great having you on the show Glad we could finally [00:40:00] do this.

[00:40:01] Meghan Kix: Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited about this. I'm like I feel kind of big time. 

[00:40:08] Chris Spear: You are big time. Um, and thank you to all of our listeners. As always, this has been Chris with Chefs Without Restaurants. Thanks so much for listening and have a great day. You're still here? The podcast's over.

[00:40:20] Chris Spear: If you are indeed still here, thanks for taking the time to listen to the show. I'd love to direct you to one place and that's chefswithoutrestaurants. org. From there, you'll be able to join our email newsletter, our Get connected in our free Facebook group and join our personal chef, catering, and food truck database so I can help get you more job leads.

[00:40:38] Chris Spear: And you'll also find a link to our sponsor page, where you'll find products and services I love. You pay nothing additional to use these links, but I may get a small commission, which helps keep the Chefs Without Restaurants podcast and organization running. You might even get a discount for using some of these links.

[00:40:53] Chris Spear: As always, you can reach out to me on Instagram at Chefs Without Restaurants, or send me an email at chefswithoutrestaurants at [00:41:00] gmail. com. Thanks so much!