On this week's episode of the Mobile AL Business Podcast, we're sitting down with Shellie Teague. Shellie is a PR consultant at S. Alexander Consulting, a consultancy firm specializing in PR and marketing. Listen to hear her story and hear how relationships form the foundation of good business.
Produced by Blue Fish in Mobile, Alabama
Transcript:
Shellie Teague: My name is Shellie Teague and I'm a PR consultant with S. Alexander Consulting.
Marcus Neto: Awesome. Well welcome to the podcast, Shellie.
Shellie Teague: Thanks for having me.
Marcus Neto: Yeah, no, I mean we've known each other for a long time and I'm happy to finally get you here to kind of tell your story. So, why don't we start there. Why don't you tell us the story of Shellie? Where are you from? Where'd you go to high school? Did you go to college? Did you graduate? What'd you study? Are you married? Kids, backstory.
Shellie Teague: All the things.
Marcus Neto: All the things.
Shellie Teague: So, grew up in Daphne, went to Daphne High School, and so I'm an Eastern Shore girl at heart, but went to Troy University. I did not graduate from there. Had a lot of fun.
Marcus Neto: Yeah.
Shellie Teague: Moved home.
Marcus Neto: Too much fun?
Shellie Teague: Not too much. Just enough. I moved home because a family member got sick at which point I realized I had no idea what I was doing, or wanted to do, and it was a little bit different whenever you have to pay for school yourself.
Shellie Teague: So, I took a nice long break. Went to South, gosh, when I was 26 I think I went back to school, and got a degree in communications, only because it got me a degree quicker. I was interested in it a little bit.
Marcus Neto: Yeah.
Shellie Teague: I actually wanted to be an attorney, so my major was history.
Marcus Neto: Which is kind of funny.
Shellie Teague: It was funny because I ended up marrying an attorney.
Marcus Neto: Exactly, there we go. Yeah.
Shellie Teague: And it's just funny when during that time I was reading the data about law school graduates and it was really hard to get a job and so I said, "Well what gets me a degree quicker?" And communications was it, and luckily I liked it. So, it just kind of worked out.
Shellie Teague: I had my first job Mobile at a place called Denny Manufacturing. They do backdrops, photographic backdrops.
Marcus Neto: Nobody knows about them. It's quite quite interesting because they're somewhat known in the photography community, which is why I know about them, because at one point in time somebody asked me, "Why are you ordering rolls of paper from B&H", which is a large store out of New York City, "when Denny is literally around the corner?" But I still have never... I don't know where they are located. I've never seen a storefront or anything. I don't know. Can you go there and buy things?
Shellie Teague: You can, but it's largely online. They still actually put out a catalog, old school like Sears catalog style. They have artists that work in their warehouse hand painting backdrops.
Marcus Neto: Yeah. Because they do fabric-
Shellie Teague: It's a national company.
Marcus Neto: Yeah they do fabric backdrops, and I know they have vinyl and stuff, and we're so off topic. So, let me pull back. I just thought it was interesting cause I've actually never even met somebody that worked there. But yeah, go back to telling us all about you.
Shellie Teague: Okay. So, I worked there and whenever... Well back up a little bit, and married an attorney. So, instead of getting a law degree and just married one. Right?
Marcus Neto: Got to have an attorney in the back pocket somehow right?
Shellie Teague: Exactly. He's pretty useful.
Shellie Teague: So, when I was at Denny we started our family and I said, "I can do this myself. I can do marketing and PR on my own." Which is really funny now looking back on that because I had no idea what I was doing, but I made the jump anyways and it was really hard. But it kind of got me to where I'm at now. And a short period of time I was also the executive director of the Arts Council, which was an amazing job. Love it. But had to leave a couple months ago because just life changes.
Marcus Neto: Right.
Shellie Teague: And just made more sense to do what I'm doing now. And I still support them in every way I can, but four kids.
Marcus Neto: Yeah.
Shellie Teague: Later.
Marcus Neto: Hence the "Life changes." Yeah.
Shellie Teague: Running a nonprofit is just very hard when you have four small children.
Marcus Neto: Yeah.
Shellie Teague: The way that I do.
Marcus Neto: Have you and John figured that out?
Shellie Teague: Have we figured out?
Marcus Neto: The kids thing.
Shellie Teague: We have.
Marcus Neto: Okay, good. I mean we just want to make sure that you're aware of how that happens because they're not like Gremlins where you sprinkled some water on them and they multiple.
Shellie Teague: No, no. They act like Gremlins a lot.
Marcus Neto: Yeah.
Shellie Teague: Yeah. No, we've got that sorted out so there will not be a fifth tiny Teague, but we've got our hands full with them now.
Marcus Neto: No, that's cool.
Shellie Teague: But its been great. Making the change now I joined up with one of my mentors and best friends, Sabrina Alexander. She's been doing this a long time and we get along great and it allows me to work from home whenever, wherever. I was working in Fairhope today.
Marcus Neto: That is the new economy, is it not?
Shellie Teague: It is.
Marcus Neto: I mean, one of the things that's been interesting to me is a decade or more ago I was having a conversation with a buddy of mine, Matt Jones, whom I think is going to be coming down in a couple of months, and so I'd really like to get him on the podcast because he's really involved in like the tech startup world in Huntsville.
Marcus Neto: But we were talking about the idea that people were going to leave these more corporate jobs and that it was going to be a freelancer economy and all of this stuff. Now keep in mind, this is in 2004/2005 timeframe, and here we are in 2019 and it's like, there are so many people that are doing exactly what it is that you're doing. Where it's just like, "Yeah, I don't want the corporate job, I don't want to deal with any of the headaches there. I want to do my own thing, work when I want to work, work when I can work.", Right?
Shellie Teague: Right.
Marcus Neto: "Because I've got kids or just I have a life. Work where I want to work." And I think a lot of that was kicked off with the whole Tim Ferris four hour work week kind of mentality. I think a lot of people misunderstood what he was trying to say in that book. But anyway, so here we are in 2019 and there's a ton of people that are doing it.
Shellie Teague: Well, it's changed so much just from whenever I went out on my own, and that was about the time of The Exchange was starting up and coworking really was taking off here at least in Mobile. And I was thinking that yesterday. I was working out of Container Yard for a few hours because I had a meeting at the chamber and I was able to just kind of pop around and all these other businesses are in there working and its just changed.
Marcus Neto: Yeah.
Shellie Teague: It has. And I only really work during school hours, but it works for me. I get a lot of good work done in that time instead of punching the time card to be in a specific location.
Marcus Neto: Yeah. You've to be way more productive with the time when you are in that situation.
Shellie Teague: Right. And it works. I don't get distracted working from home. It doesn't bother me. A lot of people can't do that because of dishes, or laundry, or something.
Marcus Neto: I couldn't. Yeah. I did it for a long time and I found myself working best from like nine o'clock until one or two, and I just found that that wasn't healthy because I was having to get up first thing in the morning too to be with the boys. And so I decided that in order for me to succeed I needed to have an office. And so I shared one with a friend.
Shellie Teague: And what I've found is I can work from home, but I have to mix it up, at least like, so yesterday, working at Container Yard, today I met a client in Daphne. So mixing it up, but just being at home, it can get a little eerie when it's just quiet and it's you working and I don't know, you kind of start-
Marcus Neto: You're an extrovert. You just want to be around people. That's all it is.
Shellie Teague: I do.
Marcus Neto: So, was Denny Manufacturing your first job?
Shellie Teague: It was.
Marcus Neto: Like first job?
Shellie Teague: First in marketing.
Marcus Neto: No, I want your first job. What was your first job? Flipping burgers? Scrubbing toilets?
Shellie Teague: I was a cashier at Winn Dixie.
Marcus Neto: A cashier at Winn Dixie. Okay. So, were there any lessons that you still remember that you learned from that first position that you had?
Shellie Teague: Oh gosh. How to count money correctly.
Marcus Neto: Well there's always that.
Shellie Teague: How to be on time.
Marcus Neto: Yeah.
Shellie Teague: Not really there. I would say in my second job, which was probably the most fun, was I worked at Marble Slab back when it was really big and I made the Waffle cones every morning and efficiency was a big thing. Just time management actually in that because the waffle cones would burn if you left them on too long. So, it was a really great for me because I'm a multitasker. If I'm cooking dinner, I'm cooking typically two meals, not just one.
Marcus Neto: Right.
Shellie Teague: It probably also has something to do with attention deficit, something.
Marcus Neto: Score.
Shellie Teague: But it really did help with balancing multiple things, and that's what we do as PR, and marketing, and professionals, and parents, and all of that.
Marcus Neto: The more that you can kind of spin multiple plates at the same time, in food service is certainly an excellent place to get that lesson.
Shellie Teague: Right.
Marcus Neto: So, now how did you... You talked about going into Denny Manufacturing, but normally I ask about how did you start your business? But, now you're working with Sabrina, so you didn't necessarily start, but you have some experiences there. Do you remember the first time that you made a sale as a marketing person where you were like, "Okay, maybe there's something to this."?
Shellie Teague: Yeah, I have, I'm trying to remember who-
Marcus Neto: Well maybe not a sale, but the first time that a customer or client gave you feedback and you were like-
Shellie Teague: Right.
Marcus Neto: Yeah.
Shellie Teague: A local school is actually, I manage their social media, and we met at a friend's party or something and it just came up. "What do you do?" "Oh, I think we need some help." And they've been the best client. I've had them from the beginning. Even when I've had other jobs, I've still been able to do that job on the side, and they're the easiest client to ever work with. Everything I do works for them and they work really well with me. They definitely boosted my confidence in that way because when you're starting out on your own I think we're just our harshest critics and when you're not getting feedback, at least personally, when I'm not getting feedback, I just go negative.
Marcus Neto: You assume the worst. Yeah.
Shellie Teague: Exactly. I'm working on that, trying to not be so hard on myself, but they definitely showed me that I could do it, that this works, and starting out is so hard. It's really the worst, starting out, because just for so many different reasons.
Marcus Neto: Well, there's so many different things that you need to take care of and oftentimes you feel like you have to do them all. I think as you are in business for any period of time, you start to realize that not all the things have to be done.
Shellie Teague: Yes.
Marcus Neto: And so, you start to realize that, "Okay, well I don't have to do this, this and this, but these other things I do, but I can hand them off to somebody else." Or whatever. So it gets a little bit easier.
Marcus Neto: But now if you were talking to someone that wanted to get started in running their own business, what's the one bit of wisdom that you would impart to them?
Shellie Teague: To establish relationships with other people in the industry, because yes, we all have competitors, but I think there's a lot more community than there is competition and I wouldn't have been able to do it without the relationships that I made.
Shellie Teague: I'm a member, actually President currently of the Public Relations Council Mobile chapter, and that organization I joined immediately, and I found out about it while I was still at South. And early on I reached out to a few of the people that were in PRCA and just asked them to coffee. Not for anything, not for business, but really because I just knew I wanted to get to know these people, and that turned into clients in a very organic way. I didn't ask for them to pass along my name. I didn't-
Marcus Neto: Yeah, that's cool.
Shellie Teague: Push it along, and I want to send business to the people that I like and that are my friends, and it really made a huge difference. Even people that were quote "competitors", we would send each other business because there were just some things that weren't my forte.
Marcus Neto: Right.
Shellie Teague: I don't do PR for just everybody because some things are just too specific and it requires too much... Well it's really just not a good use of the client's time and money for me to learn about the industry when there's somebody great that I know who does a good job of that.
Marcus Neto: That already knows it. Yeah. Sometimes researching and providing the solution will take too much time, and so handing that off to somebody that's a little bit more versed in it saves them time and energy and makes you look good.
Shellie Teague: It does. I agree.
Marcus Neto: So that's really cool. Anything that you're currently working on that you can share with us?
Shellie Teague: Yeah. So a couple of different things. We are working with the owners of 401 Dauphin Street to try to renovate it into an authentic music venue. Really excited about that. We've been hosting a lot of open houses during Art Walk. They've been pretty hot open houses.
Marcus Neto: Yeah, because it's literally been boarded up. Yeah.
Shellie Teague: It is, but it's really neat. People have just at Art Walk, they stop in, we sign them up for the newsletter. We've had local musicians that are playing there each time. So, we'll be there for the September and October Art Walks, maybe beyond that, but just trying to get support.
Marcus Neto: So, we used to be in the office across the street so I'm familiar with that block, and I mean that the block is in need of somebody to come in and do some renovation and stuff. What's the hangup? Is it the city?
Shellie Teague: It's just a zoning issue right there. The entertainment district is, not a continuous-
Marcus Neto: It's weird. So yeah, it doesn't go all the way to the end of Dauphin Street.
Shellie Teague: Right. So, community support is key with anything. And the great thing about it is it's not just looking to be a music venue, but also events. So, it's not not like a continuous bar operation where it's open Monday through Saturday.
Marcus Neto: Right.
Shellie Teague: So that would be an exciting addition because as somebody who knows firsthand about needing venues for different events, there is a need for that.
Marcus Neto: You wouldn't think it, but there's definitely a dire need for event locations in Mobile.
Shellie Teague: There really is. I mean, we have some great locations but sometimes they aren't... Maybe it's not enough room.
Marcus Neto: They're too big, or too small, doesn't feel right, doesn't have the right equipment.
Shellie Teague: Yeah.
Marcus Neto: Whatever.
Shellie Teague: Exactly.
Marcus Neto: Yeah. It's interesting to me because, anyway, I've had my fingers in a couple of events over the course of last year and it is interesting to me that there is that problem.
Shellie Teague: Right.
Marcus Neto: But if you look to the business world, and I'm not talking about Mobile, I'm talking about the business world. Is there one person that motivates you?
Shellie Teague: Oh.
Marcus Neto: That's the question that everybody pauses on.
Shellie Teague: So, somebody that I really love, well there's two people that are really great that I follow on Instagram. One is Emily McDowell and Friends.
Marcus Neto: Okay.
Shellie Teague: It's greeting cards and it sounds "Eh, greeting cards, whatever." She makes incredibly honest greeting cards, and mostly about really dealing with grief and things like that. One of my favorites is, "Let me be the first to punch the next person that tells you everything happens for a reason." Something like that.
Marcus Neto: Yeah. That's great.
Shellie Teague: And then then there's a lot of colorful language in them. So, I like those too, but really even one ones that really make sense and it's really what we do want to hear in times of grief.
Marcus Neto: Yep.
Shellie Teague: Another favorite was, "This day sucks for you, I'm sorry."
Marcus Neto: Right.
Shellie Teague: And I think that we're changing the way we communicate when it comes to grief and things, mental health, and all the things that we're going through.
Marcus Neto: I think we're being a little bit more honest with what we want to hear and how we feel.
Shellie Teague: Yeah. Like "Everything happens for a reason." No it doesn't.
Marcus Neto: Yeah.
Shellie Teague: And it's okay to say that things just aren't okay.
Marcus Neto: Sometimes they just suck.
Shellie Teague: Right. Sometimes things suck. And I think I said that to a friend not too long ago, and was like, "This sucks and if you need to talk, I'm here." I think it took her by surprise, but sometimes that is what you want to hear. You don't want to hear reasons or explanations.
Shellie Teague: But she has great cards and a great following on Instagram.
Shellie Teague: And then another one is a friend of mine actually who lives in Tennessee and her Instagram is Hopebroidery. So, embroidery but Hopebroidery because her name is Hope. And she started embroidery as a hobby, and she had even admitted to herself its kind of an old lady hobby, embroidery.
Shellie Teague: She has over 200,000 followers on Instagram. She does embroidery box subscriptions now. So, this hobby has turned into a business that she did not intend. And she also... Her background is, I'm going to get it wrong, psychology or something along those lines. And she uses this platform to also share hotlines, and things about mental health, and telling people about you need a creative outlet and it's okay to not be okay. But she's really amazing. 200,000. I mean, she is Instagram famous.
Marcus Neto: That's insane, but I guess there's probably 10 times that as far as people that are interested in embroidery.
Shellie Teague: It really is. And her videos, of course video is where it's at with a lot of things, but I have no interest in embroidery right now because I simply do not have the time to do something, but I'm entranced by her videos when she posts these different stitches and it just makes sense when you get caught in the video and it's a minute and a half later. You're like, "Oh, this is why he has amassed this following." But it is. It's really cool and I encourage everybody to go give her a follow.
Marcus Neto: You know, it just goes to show the internet has created... So, there's this term, it's long tail, right? So you can apply a long tail to keywords, you can apply long tail to businesses, whatever, but the thought was at one point in time that you had to be the Walmart of businesses. So, you had to carry a large array of things.
Marcus Neto: Well, what they were talking about a number of years ago is when it came to long tail keywords when it comes to SEO. So I'm not going to search for 'advertising agencies in the United States.' I'm going to search for 'advertising agencies maybe in Mobile' and want to find somebody that's a little bit more appropriate. So, that's a long tail long tail keyword because you're adding additional qualifiers to keywords that help narrow down the search.
Marcus Neto: But this just goes to show, an embroidery business? I mean it's a long tail business, right?
Shellie Teague: Right.
Marcus Neto: So it's not 'manufacturing clothing', it's, 'I'm doing this cross stitch' or 'I'm doing this embroidery' or whatever. It's just interesting to me how the internet has made these very niche ideas into something that people can pursue and make a living off of.
Marcus Neto: I mean, she's got 200,000 followers, you really only need a thousand people to purchase from you in order to make a living. And so the idea that she's got 200,000, I mean, she's got to be killing it.
Shellie Teague: It's amazing.
Marcus Neto: Yeah, I love it. I'm waiting to find my niche.
Shellie Teague: Right? I mean, I keep posting this cute stuff and no one...
Marcus Neto: All those kids. Yeah.
Shellie Teague: And it's funny because she'll say on Facebook, she's like, "I'm not, I'm not famous anywhere but Instagram." She doesn't really have the followers on Twitter because it's different.
Marcus Neto: It's not like she goes to the grocery store and people fall over themselves like, "Oh my gosh, it's Brad Pitt." Or whoever, "Angelina."
Shellie Teague: But it is, it's amazing. And I think it's a good testament too that she was able to turn this hobby into a revenue stream, but, and I think she said this on her Instagram page at one point, that we don't have to monetize everything, but when it happens organically like that, that's great.
Marcus Neto: You're not going to deny that.
Shellie Teague: Right.
Marcus Neto: What better way to make a living than to find something you're passionate about and actually increase people's knowledge about it and encourage others.
Shellie Teague: Right. And it's just wild.
Marcus Neto: Yeah, I know. Yeah. So, when I ask this next question I realize how funny it is that I'm going to ask you this considering you've told us you have four children, but are there any books, podcasts, people, or organizations that have been helpful in moving you forward? And you cannot use the PRCA as your answer.
Shellie Teague: So books, podcasts?
Marcus Neto: People or organizations?
Shellie Teague: Hmm, well, lots of people. I mean really I can name so many different people. My husband is honestly one of them because without his support I wouldn't have been able to do anything.
Marcus Neto: Sure.
Shellie Teague: And it's funny because now when I stepped back this summer to have a more flexible schedule, his business took off, and it was just funny the way it worked out. But now we have the structure that works, and supports, and he's doing Leadership Mobile this year, and he's an introvert. We're total opposites when it comes to that.
Marcus Neto: That's funny.
Shellie Teague: And so I'm proud of him for doing that.
Marcus Neto: Stepping out? Yeah.
Shellie Teague: Yeah. Somebody asked me, "Do you want to do Leadership Mobile?" I said, "Not right now." It's a great thing, but I've had to start saying no to some things.
Marcus Neto: Yeah.
Shellie Teague: And it's a learning experience.
Marcus Neto: Well it gives people something that they might be able to participate in. Obviously not everybody's going to be able to have access to John.
Shellie Teague: Oh yeah. You're right.
Marcus Neto: He's not going to be their support. So, while I can understand what it is that you're answering, but I mean think about the entrepreneur that's out there that's listening to this. Are there any of those resources that you might be able to think of that has been really helpful in either teaching about business in general, about marketing specifically, about any of those?
Shellie Teague: I would say it's really just getting out there. I don't think anything specific because some things work... There's BNI, for example, that works for some industries and some people. But for me it was just meeting people, getting out there, the place places like Container Yard, or The Exchange, or Blue Fish Open House.
Marcus Neto: Shameless plug.
Shellie Teague: Really getting out there in that way, and I found myself... I attended a lot of networking specific events in the beginning, and I liked them and it was great to meet people because I didn't really know anybody, but after a little while the networking events didn't feel like I'd gotten much from it, as much as meeting five people at the networking event was not as valuable as having coffee for an hour with one person.
Marcus Neto: Yeah. Because you get to know them a little bit better.
Shellie Teague: Yeah. And I still love the networking events, but I realized the value of-
Marcus Neto: Well, they're good because you meet new people, but then the key is to get that person to go to coffee with you, or lunch.
Shellie Teague: Yes.
Marcus Neto: And then you get to know them on a deeper level. And even BNI, because I'm starting a group right now here at 920 Dauphin Street on Wednesdays. Anyway, we're starting one here and one of the key tenants to BNI is the one on ones.
Shellie Teague: Yeah.
Marcus Neto: And so, if you're not doing one on ones with the people that are in the group, then you don't get to know them, you don't get to know what they're dealing with with their business, what they need, who their clients are, all those things. And the idea behind BNI, which I think a lot of people miss, is that you're trying to get to know those people in the group so well that when somebody mentions, "Hey, I've got X, Y, Z, need", you immediately think to somebody in the group and you know enough about their business that you can refer them with confidence.
Shellie Teague: Well, and you do. Like I said earlier, I want to send business to my friends, or the people that I trust, and it works whenever you have that relationship.
Marcus Neto: Yeah, absolutely.
Shellie Teague: Yeah.
Marcus Neto: What's the most important thing that you've learned about running a business?
Shellie Teague: Oh, that not every client is for me.
Marcus Neto: There you go. No, that was a good one though. So expand on that, because I know what you're saying, but go ahead.
Shellie Teague: Because in the beginning I would have a difficult client maybe, and I would just do everything I could to try to make that client happy and it just wasn't working. And that really did teach me that I don't have to be everybody's person. If it's not working, sometimes it's not anything I'm doing, it's just not going to work.
Marcus Neto: Right. There's no chemistry there and that's fine.
Shellie Teague: And it's totally okay. So it's one of those like, not everyone's going to like me and it's okay. I mean, I don't like all the things and all the people, so why should all the people like me?
Shellie Teague: But especially when it gets back to the knowledge of specific industries and things like that. Just knowing that would I like to learn about it? Sure. But is it going to work in this business client relationship? Probably not.
Marcus Neto: Right.
Shellie Teague: And just passing. So there's certain industries that I just don't really give a second thought to doing any work with.
Marcus Neto: Right.
Shellie Teague: Because it just hasn't worked so well in the past. And it's okay.
Marcus Neto: It's like playing with fire and you learn after the first or second time you burn yourself, you learn like, "Yeah, I don't want to do that anymore."
Shellie Teague: Yes, exactly.
Marcus Neto: How do you like to unwind?
Shellie Teague: Hmm. I'm really into podcasts right now.
Marcus Neto: Specifically the Mobile Alabama Business Podcast.
Shellie Teague: Well, I always listen to the mobile Alabama Business Podcast. And when I'm not listening to that, I am drawn to the murder ones.
Marcus Neto: What is your problem?
Shellie Teague: I don't know. So, I realized I was talking to somebody and they asked for podcast recommendations and I gave five and they were all about murder, which made me have to think "Why am I so into these murderous podcasts?" And it's really more of the psychology behind it.
Marcus Neto: Hey John, if you're listening to this call me man. I've got an extra bed.
Shellie Teague: He listens to them too though. He listens to them too because I had to get him to listen. He usually only to sports podcasts.
Shellie Teague: So there was one, Over My Dead Body is one by Wondery, and the issues with it, I don't understand why the people who it's very clear did this are not in jail or on trial yet.
Shellie Teague: So, him being an attorney I'm like, "You have got to listen to this." So that we could talk about it because I didn't have anybody to talk about it with.
Marcus Neto: You crack me up.
Shellie Teague: But leaving that, lately I'll just turn on, I mean it's Netflix really.
Marcus Neto: Yeah.
Shellie Teague: Because I've realized I had a problem with sitting still, like I couldn't. I always felt like I had to do something, and it's something I'm trying to work on right now, that it is doing something when you're just sitting there doing nothing because I'm resting.
Marcus Neto: Right. You're resting.
Shellie Teague: I'm recharging. I'm not responding to another email, and trying to create those boundaries and realize that, and I think a lot of people, it's not just me, bu I feel like I've heard this conversation more about it's okay to not do anything.
Marcus Neto: Right.
Shellie Teague: It's okay to just be.
Marcus Neto: It's a weird thing for those of us that have either, like in your case, run a business, or are freelancing, or whatever because we're just always running from task to task and trying to execute. And then you find yourself in this situation where... Another, a friend of mine, I won't say who it is, but she wrote a post on Instagram about how she felt guilty when she would go to the beach, or if she wasn't completely just physically and mentally exhausted at the end of the day she was just like something was wrong. Like "I didn't give it my all." And stuff like that. And I think a lot of small business owners can relate to that, but it's so not a healthy place to be.
Marcus Neto: And so, one of the things that I've tried to communicate over the course of the last year through this and in other venues is just you have to take that time and just... I was going through a rough period end of last year, early this year, and my thing was watching Ridiculousness. If you followed me on Instagram, there's a pretty good chance that in my story there was at least once or twice a day where I was just checking into an episode, and I think I've watched all one million episodes of Ridiculousness, but there was just something silly about that show that just I needed it at that period of time to just kind of check out, and rest, and relax my brain because even dramas and stuff like that were just too much. There was so much going on that I just needed mindless, and I think that's why reality TV is so popular too.
Shellie Teague: I think so. And I get it. I don't care for reality TV myself.
Marcus Neto: Yeah.
Shellie Teague: But I can get it. I get the mindlessness because I'm a crier when it comes to watching things. I mean, I will cry.
Marcus Neto: She's crying right now folks.
Shellie Teague: I'm very clearly... Yes. I'm sobbing.
Shellie Teague: I very clearly remember watching Lion King in the theater and crying when Mufasa died.
Marcus Neto: Oh my gosh.
Shellie Teague: I get very invested in the storylines and the characters and I realize that these dramas that I do love-
Marcus Neto: Right.
Shellie Teague: I mean I was just so torn up about these characters and their storylines that watching or listening to murder mysteries, or watching the episode of Friends for that thousandth time was just more mindless and made me happier than crying.
Marcus Neto: It's really good. Well, tell people where they can find you.
Shellie Teague: I'm usually chauffeuring my kids around. So in the van, as my four year old calls it very specifically, The Minivan. He won't call it the van, he calls it The Minivan.
Shellie Teague: But usually if I'm not at home working then I'm at Container Yard or working at a coffee shop.
Marcus Neto: Sure.
Shellie Teague: Which I've been doing a lot of remote work and it just kind of works for us.
Shellie Teague: And then you can go online and follow us. S Alexander Consulting on Facebook, or follow the hashtag Tiny Teagues because I'm usually only posting about my children. So much so that I finally just bought the URL, tinyteagues.com.
Marcus Neto: That's great.
Shellie Teague: I don't know what I'm doing with it, but I own it.
Marcus Neto: My very first domain I think that I purchased was thenetos.com because we had some friends that always referred to us as The Neto's. So, I still have it and my boys use it. I don't use it much anymore. But anyway.
Marcus Neto: Well, I want to thank you again for coming on the podcast. To wrap up any final thoughts or comments you'd like to share?
Shellie Teague: No, I think just thanks for having me. I love the podcast.
Marcus Neto: Yeah, absolutely. Was a no brainer.
Marcus Neto: So Shellie, I appreciate your willingness to sit with me and share your journey as a business owner and entrepreneur. It's been great talking with you.
Shellie Teague: Great talking to you.
