Free up Time in Your Virtual Business With Guest Candice Tate

If you are a creative and you have an online business lean in - Today’s guest is Candice Tate Marketing Paladin At Plus 2 Creative

Today’s episode is about helping you free up time in your virtual business, and making space for wellness in the work plan.

Powered by a background in graphic design and growth marketing, Candice has built her experience as a full time virtual assistant. She can handle all of your digital marketing needs. Her favorite things are social media management and content creation.

Questions answered :

1. What was your favorite subject in school?
2. Did you always want to be an artist??
3. What drives you to do what you do ?
4. What has been your least favorite job to date? And how do you politely say no?
5. What does a typical day in the life of Candice look like?
6. What is one piece of advice you’d give to someone starting out in their business?
7. At what time of day do you get your best work done?
8. What does your morning routine look like? 
9. Where can listeners find you online?
10. Tell us how writers can get self publishing help! 

Find Candice through her Website

Instagram @plustwocreative

The ideas in Motion Podcast is sponsored by Ideas In Motion Planner 

Ideas in Motion Live Online Workshop

This workshop will teach you how to master your schedule, build a solid routine of mental & physical self-care, and create intentions that lead you to crush your goals.

You will walk away with clarity, direction, and a solid plan for creating boundaries without being- you know - rude :) . 

Listen on the podcast here 

or watch the video interview below

Full Show Transcript 

Karen Wilson: . If you are a creative and you have an online business, lean in. Today's guest is Candace Tate, marketing Paladin at plus two Creative. You're listening to the Ideas in Motion Podcast, and today's episode is about helping you free up time in your virtual business and making space for wellness in the work plan.

Karen Wilson: Powered by a background in graphic design and growth marketing. Candace has built her experience as a full-time virtual assistant. She can handle all of your digital marketing needs. Her favorite things are social media management and content creation. Candace, welcome. Thank you for being here. And please tell our guests a little bit about

Candice Tate: you.

Candice Tate: Hi Karen. Thanks for having me. Um, , as you mentioned already, I am a full-time virtual assistant, but I am also the co-owner slash marketing Paladin of plus two Creative, which is a business that I run with my sister Tiffany. Um, and we help bring geeks and creatives businesses to life. Um, love it. If you're a geek, you are probably familiar with the term.

Candice Tate: Uh, we like people to think of us as. They're party cleric. We're, we're there to help and we're there to assist and, you know, make sure that everything stays in order. Um, yeah. And we both love doing what we do. We both love helping people. Um, that's awesome.

Karen Wilson: So, so you, you work with your sister?

Candice Tate: I do. My sister is, um, actually a professional illustrator.

Candice Tate: Mm-hmm. and many of her skills compliment my own, so, You know, I also have that background in graphic design as well. But if you're looking for something that's more like, um, corporate illustrations or perhaps something that's more elevated, she can definitely help with that. And she has got like, the best eye for branding and logo creation and like she, she's the talent.

Candice Tate: She's the talent. I'm the muscle, like I'm the doer. Right. I love this.

Karen Wilson: So, so what, what's the age gap? And, and are and is she your only sibling?

Candice Tate: Yes, she's my younger sister. Mm-hmm. . Um, yeah. And we have a three year age gap, so we're not too far off. Okay. Yeah. So take me

Karen Wilson: way back, take me back to when you were little mm-hmm.

Karen Wilson: And did the two of you ever play dress up? Like, what did you wanna be when you grew up and, and how far away from that is, is where you are right now?

Candice Tate: Well, for the both of us, we honestly, we did spend a lot of time doing art. Mm-hmm. , um, we always, always were watching cartoons, reading comic books. Um, we really liked.

Candice Tate: You know, animated movies and things that were very creative, um, which pushed us both into being quite artistic as youth. Um, I obviously kind of got a little bit away from that, whereas I lean more into like the graphic design and content creation side. Um, but my sister went full in, um, got her degree in specializing in illustration.

Candice Tate: Wow. Um, and she can do. Crazy custom portraits and stuff. Um, so we both have that like visually creative drive. Um, I often, I often joke that, uh, like as far as audio goes and music, I have like no talent there, but visually I can do things. Yes, yes. Um, and yeah, both of us are very visually oriented, um, and just very interested in like visual arts and we always have been.

Candice Tate: Yes. Yeah.

Karen Wilson: So did you, did you like plaster, the, the walls in your, in your drawings and stuff? Like I, I'm having this visual of the two of you. I don't know why this is coming to me, but the two of you at the table leaning in on each other, looking at what each other's drawing, we,

Candice Tate: um, is

Karen Wilson: there any competitiveness to.

Candice Tate: You know what? I don't think so because like, like I said, she's the talent. So at a certain point I just had to like give up and be like, you know what, no, you're the one that won this race, like . But when we were younger, , we would do all kinds of things, like we would make our own little comics. We had all kinds of sketchbooks and, um, we would always try like making little animations and just, you know, sometimes you'd see those kid shows where they're like, this is how you make a flip book.

Candice Tate: Um, we would do stuff like that. Uh, we always had, you know, if we were interested in. A different kind of paint or like a pencil. Um, we had our parents would be like, oh, here's, here's these colored pencils, or here's these types of paints. Um, so we, you know, always had that little bit of, uh, I guess interest and always like looking at different things and seeing them kind of in different ways.

Candice Tate: I love that. I love that, that, yeah. Yeah. It. , we've always been like nerdy that way too. Right. So like any chance to get a hand on like a comic book mm-hmm. or, you know, watch a nerdy cartoon or anything that's like weird and creative is something we, we are into, we still are honestly .

Karen Wilson: Yeah. One, one of the things that I always love to, um, bring into the show and bring into the listeners is the consistency of when, when you, when it's something artistic.

Karen Wilson: That you do well and you love and, and, and you. It's with you your whole life. If you continue to bring it with you your whole life, you'll always find those pockets of, of happiness and bliss. What, how, how would you, how do you think, what do you think in that retrospect? Like how, how does bringing your art into your work?

Karen Wilson: What, what passion, what, what brings you passion in your day? Like what makes you wanna help other people

Candice Tate: with. . Well, it's funny that you should say that because there was a time, um, a couple of years ago where I was like kind of thinking like, what makes me happy? Like what are those things that, um, you know, just, just bring you that like little extra bit of joy.

Candice Tate: And someone I heard somewhere mention going back to things like from when you were a kid, like things that you were interested in. Um, and I've found. returning more to some of the artistic stuff that I used to do and some of the stuff that I enjoyed, uh, really helped, like just even if it wasn't like, cause I feel like nowadays we're all, um, pressured to post things and do things for monetary gain and show off everything we do.

Candice Tate: Um, but even just like for myself just taking some time to like doodle or sketch something, even though. at this point in my life, I'm like, I know it's not gonna be perfect. I know I have limitations. Um, and just, you know, taking that time to just be free and create some things is something that I really needed to do for myself and for my brain.

Candice Tate: Yes. Um, because like you said, you do keep those things with you from when you were young.

Karen Wilson: Yes. Yeah. Mm-hmm. . So how, how do you find pockets of time to, to do that for yourself? Like not for a client, not. Or, or is that something you're still working? .

Candice Tate: Um, well, I mean, sometimes I do get lucky and I do get a chance to do the work for clients.

Candice Tate: Mm-hmm. and usually those are the clients that are fun and are just like, do whatever you want. , which is fun, right? Yes. . Yes. That's a great bonus. And, you know, they'll give me some direction of like, how they want things to look. Um, and I'll give them like a sketch first. You know, I don't go full hog obviously.

Candice Tate: But you know, sometimes you get lucky that way. Yeah. And you can, you know, be creative that way. Um, but for myself, finding pockets of time is, um, and you know, this about me, uh, because I like to say yes too much is basically just forcing myself to, to be like, you know what, from this time to this time, I'm not working.

Candice Tate: Yes. And I am doing something that I want to do. Mm-hmm. not something that I have to do or something that's business related. Um, just something for me. To do. I'm glad

Karen Wilson: you said that. Like, I, I feel like, um, while, I mean, we met a couple of years ago. We, we've done a couple of projects together and I know that you, you have a very high work ethic.

Karen Wilson: And your, your productivity and your work is just, it's outstanding and that's really hard to find. But

Candice Tate: I also know that I got a new laptop, , so my productivity is through the roof now. It's crazy. .

Karen Wilson: I bet, I bet you had, you had, um, you have, I should say like a quick turnaround on your projects. Mm-hmm. , whoever.

Karen Wilson: There's no mistakes. And, and, and so when I look at a virtual assistant and what you do and then what you do in your company for other people mm-hmm. , um, how, how do, like, how do you manage all of that? Like how, how do you know what to say? Yes to and what to say no to. Is there something that you absolutely despise and you, and, and you're like, please don't gimme that job again.

Karen Wilson: I mean, I've been there .

Candice Tate: Well, I think, I think for me, I have this list that I keep, which is kind of nerdy and weird I guess. Um, but I like to give us the dets. I like to keep a list of, um, my. mostly because I'm kind of a nerd in that I like to do a lot of education stuff. Yeah. And sometimes I forget the things that I learn.

Candice Tate: Yeah. And you know, you always wanna like add them to LinkedIn and all that. So I have this like ongoing list of courses I've taken and skills that I have. And in my list I've got like, um, like certificate. Skills, things I'm willing to learn. And at the very end, there's things that say like hard pass.

Candice Tate: That's the, the like column title. Yeah. Um, I love it. I love it. There's things that I like, I know for sure I hate doing. Mm mm-hmm. . . And even though, like some of them I can't do, uh, but some of them I can, and I just know I hate them. So , I just, I just avoid them. Like, um, for example, I worked in call centers for a long time.

Candice Tate: Mm-hmm. , so I hate phone calls. So if, yeah. You know, like I'm fine with emailing on behalf of clients. But if you ask me for a phone call, I, I say no. Like , like, I'm like, I'm not doing that. We're finding someone else to do that. Yes. Yeah. And even when clients will say like, can I call you? I'm like, don't, I won't pick up the phone.

Candice Tate: I absolutely refuse. . Yeah.

Karen Wilson: Well, I, I think that communication is really important at community.

Candice Tate: You have to set that expectation. Yeah, absolutely.

Karen Wilson: Absolutely. And one of the things that I always said, you know, when I, when I worked more, I'd spent more time as a virtual assistant. Now I spent more time as it creative.

Karen Wilson: So, I mean, you and I might be talking offline at some point. Mm-hmm. , you know, in the, in the future. , um, where, where I find, um, as the virtual assistant, I found that working with clients, the more honest and upfront I was about, you know, this is not my expertise. Mm-hmm. personally, I think it's better for the client.

Karen Wilson: You know, it's, it's not like it's better for the client to get someone that is passionate about. You know what they're gonna do. So like, for example, I am so not passionate about posting on social media. Mm-hmm. , I like, I love to do stuff like this long form content, um, and where, you know, you're really digging in, you're hearing stories, you're talking about stuff, and to make that into little bitty bites into social media so everybody actually knows that it's happening.

Karen Wilson: Mm-hmm. . . That is my absolute drudgery zone. But some people absolutely love that. Some

Candice Tate: people like me . Yes.

Karen Wilson: Yeah. And so and so. If I'm, if I'm asked by a client, because I'm helping them with their long form content, I'm helping them build out their course mm-hmm. , and they say, now can you make this into snippets for social media?

Karen Wilson: And I'm like, I won't even do my own social media, Matt. Like, seriously, I'm not the right person for you. , you know? Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . And, and I think that's better for the client. Like what, what do you, what do you think about

Candice Tate: that? Like, well, it's funny that you should say that because that kind of goes along into why I wanted to start that business.

Candice Tate: Mm-hmm. , um, because I'm sure, as you know, as a creative, um, to be creative is to follow a passion. Yeah. And oftentimes I've found with creative stuff myself, to follow that passion takes a lot of energy. Mm-hmm. . So for you to, let's say, um, just for the sake of example, you are an artist, a vis like a painter.

Candice Tate: Mm-hmm. , uh, painting. Like, they make it look easy, but it's not easy. There's a lot of things that go into making a big, beautiful painting that everybody loves. . Um, and there's even more that goes into it if you say, want to sell that painting on Etsy or go to a convention with that painting and try to sell it.

Candice Tate: Um, but to me, knowing that I've, because I've, I've done it myself, like, you know, being the, the freelancer and also doing things on the side, it's a lot. to have like to put your everything into your creations. Yes. And then also run a business on top of that. Yes. And I feel like going along with what you said about like what you're passionate at is what you should be doing.

Candice Tate: Mm-hmm. like, You should be doing your art. If that's what you're, you're into, you should be creating if that's what you're into. And if you're not into socials or if you're not into accounting, or if you're not into, you know, getting business numbers from the government of Canada or what have you, any number of millions of things entrepreneurs have to do, it's, it's always better if you have the ability to outsource that.

Candice Tate: Yeah. Because then you can focus on what's important to you. . So

Karen Wilson: how do you know? Like how, how do you know when you're interviewing somebody and mm-hmm. . This, this is a new question that I just thought of out of our conversation, so Sure. It's nothing we talked about beforehand. ,

Candice Tate: that's fine. But

Karen Wilson: how, how do you know when you're interviewing a virtual assistant or someone that you're outsourcing to if they truly are the right fit for you or for what they're asking you to do?

Karen Wilson: Because, Sometimes I know for myself, I was asked to do something because I was, I was with a client and, and you know, it, it reminds me of the, just one more. When I, when I worked in cosmetics, they'd make sure that when you're at the till have that just one more thing that. That they're gonna put in their basket.

Karen Wilson: Yeah. And so it just reminds me of like just one more that they're gonna delegate to you. And that's not like, how do you know that they're saying yes and really want to, or they're saying yes and squirming in their chairs. Is there a way to, as a someone that's outsourcing, to be able to figure that one

Candice Tate: out?

Candice Tate: So, um, I guess to clarify your question, like are you. asking like, am I putting, am I being the business owner asking for assistance? Yeah.

Karen Wilson: And so I'm, I'm a business owner and I'm asking for assistance, um, on something. And how do I know that I'm, that the person sitting in front of me, the virtual assistant, is not just taking the job because they wanna make sure that.

Karen Wilson: continue to be the person that I hire and they're not really good at it and they don't wanna do it , but they say they can. Like how, how do you know how, like, is there, I guess you just experiment.

Candice Tate: Um, I mean it's kind of, it's kind of an interesting thing because I find it's a two-way street. Um, both when you're the business owner outsourcing, and both when you are the assistant.

Candice Tate: Getting, you know, business owners buy-in, right? Yeah. Um, at the, at the very least, because it is coming up to 2023. Uh, and, or 2023, depending on when you post this , everybody should have a website. Yeah. Um, you know, so you should be at like, like if you're planning on hiring an assistant, look into. , look at what they're all about.

Candice Tate: Check out their website. Especially if you're looking for things like social media or things that involve content creation specifically. See if they have the skills that you're looking for and the tone that you're looking for. Yeah. Um, so like if you're looking for someone to write blogs for you, check out their previous writings, if they have them, ask them for samples of those things.

Candice Tate: Mm-hmm. . Um, and then that will give you a better idea, obviously, like, First off, if they don't have them, maybe red flag a little bit. . Yeah. Yeah. Um, but you know, it gives you a chance to kind of see what sort of work is, uh, you know, what you can expect from them. Um, and also kind of. trusting your instincts, I guess, as far as the interactions go.

Candice Tate: Mm-hmm. , um, because I'm very big on things like, do you know how when you set up a meeting with someone mm-hmm. and you know, some people will show up five minutes early and then some people will show up five minutes late and then some people won't show up at all. Yes. Yeah. I feel like. , each of those people is like just a little bit different.

Candice Tate: So if you're looking for that person that shows up on time or shows up five minutes early and you know you have a meeting with this potential assistant that's gonna help you and they don't do that, maybe add that as a, on your pros and cons list as a con. Like if, if there's somebody that are showing little signs that maybe they're not the right fit mm-hmm.

Candice Tate: they might not. . Yeah. Mm-hmm. . I

Karen Wilson: love that you said it's a two-way street. It's, um, because it's, it's, uh, you know, it's not something I, I think a lot, what happens a lot is you take a course or a program and they say, oh, just hire out the things that you don't want to do. Mm-hmm. , do you ever off, do you ever run into, um, people that need you to build their whole system.

Karen Wilson: And tell me what that looks like. What's a day in your life look like?

Candice Tate: Hmm. Well, um, I think honestly those things are kind of separate for me because I have had people where I've had to build their whole system. Yeah. Um, and usually I, like I've gotten very lucky, uh, wherein if I have to build a system, usually they're, they're pretty good at mm-hmm.

Candice Tate: at following it. Because another thing that I think is very important, Either if you're helping people or asking for help, is to give people context. Mm-hmm. . So don't just say, Hey, I'm gonna go through and sort all of your Google Drive and give them no context for why you're doing that. Yeah. Like explain to people like, I'm gonna sort it through so that, you know, we have everything organized and if we need to find it, we can find it in two seconds.

Candice Tate: And, you know, give, give context. Yeah. Context is important. Communication is important. Um, . So, you know, o oftentimes I find if you give that context, people are receptive with creating systems. Sometimes they're not. Mm-hmm. , mm-hmm. , you know, um, no, no client and no assistant is perfect. Um, and then as far as a typical day in my life, generally speaking, I am awakened early morning by several cats.

Candice Tate: How many cats do you have? I have three. Three cats. What are their. , I have Pixel. Mm-hmm. and I have Link and I have Bowser. They are all on our social media, just so you're aware. Pixel is the, I call her the C E O C O O C A T. She's in charge here. She's currently on her nap time. . Uh, link is in charge of human resources.

Candice Tate: Uh, and Bowsers are creative director because he has to be in the middle of everything we do. Always. Yeah. Yes. All right. Yeah. Fantastic. , so they wake me up in the morning. Um, I am fortunate enough in my entrepreneurial life that I don't have a set time when that needs to happen. Um, so yeah, get up, grab my coffee.

Candice Tate: Usually, sometimes not so much. Um, and then I start on client work and, um, as an example, I guess like today would be a good example. I started off, um, with content creation. Mm-hmm. , I looked at some analytics. Um, after our meeting, I have some more content creation to do. Um, working on, uh, an email newsletter.

Candice Tate: Uh, I do all kinds of things. I'm kind of a, like, I, um, specialize in like marketing and stuff, but I'm kind of a jack of all trades. Yeah. So I'm willing to, you know, branch out that way. Um, But yeah, I usually will spend my morning doing, you know, my, my full-time VA job have lunch, which I, pardon me, which I have to force myself to have sometimes, because as you know, sometimes you get into a flow and you don't pay attention to what time it is.

Candice Tate: Yes. Yeah. Um, so have my lunch, and then in the afternoon I will do some more client work, and usually around the end of the, . Um, that's when I work on my own business stuff. Mm-hmm. . Um, so, you know, my client work is mixed within the day, but like anything that involves like running, running the show, running the, the system, um, and which I guess also I had to create our systems for our business, Absolut.

Candice Tate: Absolutely, absolutely. That goes along too. . Yeah. And then sometimes on the weekend, because I'm fresh and I don't do client work on weekends, I will do like social media creation for our business. Um, just cuz my brain's like, like more like snappy. Although I have found that forcing myself to not do anything on the weekends has been really beneficial.

Candice Tate: Yeah. Well

Karen Wilson: that's a great segue into. , you know, uh, you've already kinda answered, I, I I get the idea that you have your b best work first thing in the morning, like I tend to Yeah. Yeah. Get, you, get your best work done or do you have another pocket of time that, that you're just like, my creative brain

Candice Tate: just explodes.

Candice Tate: You know what? Weirdly, for some reason, and which I, I think is weird because a lot of people say they're like sleepy at that time. Mm-hmm. , I find I get a lot done between like two and three o'clock. Mm-hmm. . I'm like, that's very interesting. And I don't even notice the time just flies by and I'm like, oh, okay.

Karen Wilson: It isn't that, isn't that interesting? Because I, I typically, I'll have my most productive sharp time between, um, you know, about 30 minutes after I wake till about, um, three hours after that. And then I take this kind of, this big break and then I come back and I do some more work, and then I take another break, and then something happens around 2 30, 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

Karen Wilson: and then all of a sudden it's like 6:00 PM and I have my husband in the kitchen saying, are you coming out today? ?

Candice Tate: But I feel that he

Karen Wilson: doesn't realize that, you know, I've taken, he does realize, but I've taken these

Candice Tate: pocket, these big breaks, right?

Karen Wilson: Mm-hmm. . So he is like, are you in a competition to work longer?

Karen Wilson: And I'm like, no, it's just you have, you know, I've been out with a dog, I've been doing this, I've been doing that

Candice Tate: and. . Yeah, I do like the, um, the freedom of being able to, I call it like in air quotes, the split shift. Yes. You know, where you work for a little bit in the morning and then, you know, you can go out for lunch or go to the Walmart or whatever you need to do, walk your dog, um, and then come back and it's kind of like a nice little, just like reset I find.

Candice Tate: Exactly.

Karen Wilson: Exactly.

Candice Tate: Yeah. I love that.

Karen Wilson: It's so, so this is a, we talked a little bit about this, um, before we started recording, but the, the wellness, you, you, how do you bake in your wellness? And, and sometimes you, you help your clients bake in their wellness, so you talk a

Candice Tate: little bit about that. Yes. Um, , I wish I had a better way to say this, but I kind of just have to brute force.

Candice Tate: um, , uh, as, as you mentioned, uh, I'm very like overly productive, very type a very go, go, go. My sister always tells me I have no chill, and she's absolutely right. Mm-hmm. . Um, so in order for me to put wellness into anything, I have to force myself. So, um, it's been a little bit of a journey as, as I'm sure you, you can imagine also as a productive person.

Candice Tate: Yes. Um, but you know, I've, I've had to very um, Not, I guess, very consciously tell myself, like, if I am sitting on the couch and my brain, uh, wanders off to, oh, I should finish this project. I have to ring myself in and be like, no. Mm-hmm. , you are sitting on the couch right now. It is not work time. You need to do like your resting.

Candice Tate: Yes. Yeah. Um, because I also have an issue of doing multiple things at once. Yeah. Which, you know, uh, doesn't really benefit anybody. I guess , um, if, I guess, um, you've probably heard the term about how multitasking isn't really a thing because we can't deliver. Um, it's harder on the brain. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Candice Tate: Mm-hmm. , um, . So, yeah, I, I, I do end up br forcing it a lot. Um, and oftentimes I do that with my clients too. Yes. Um, you know, like, uh, one of my clients recently just had, uh, a surgery mm-hmm. and, you know, um, we were emailing back and forth just being friendly and I had to be like, okay, look, Mr. You're going to bed.

Candice Tate: Yeah. Like, it's time for you to stop. Um, . And you know, sometimes you get those clients that are also like, go, go, go. And you have to be like, okay, I'm gonna do this. Yeah. You go now , you have stuff you need to do, you're relaxing, everything's fine, nothing's on fire. Yeah. Um, it'll all get done. Don't worry about it.

Candice Tate: Uh, which is far easier to tell people than to do. That's

Karen Wilson: such an important, that's such an important piece, right? Like we, we, we've clarified, like if we just recap a little bit of, of what we've been talking about mm-hmm. is that, you know, you definitely t save people some time and energy when, when you take over the pieces in their business that they are.

Karen Wilson: um, you know, that are their drudgery zone or maybe not their genius on it. Mm-hmm. takes them a lot longer to do it than someone that is dedicated to that piece. Yeah. Um, and, and then we talked a little bit about, um, , you know, knowing, knowing how far to go, who to say no to, who to say yes to, how to kind of categorize and how, how to kind of go through the day.

Karen Wilson: And it's super important as, as we are entrepreneurs or business owners or humans for that matter. Just in the in, in the subject of outsourcing and taking a break, we all need. . Yes. And, and I think that, you know, the last couple of years for a lot of us, there was nothing to do but work ,

Candice Tate: you know? Yeah, that is true.

Candice Tate: And it's also equally hard when you're stuck at home, speaking of the past two years, you know? Yeah, yeah. Um, so yeah, I, I agree. . And

Karen Wilson: so we, we brought in our ourself into the, these, this habit of of, of doing more. And it's so important when things come up in your life, like surgeries, um, especially as a business owner and, and you don't have 10 employees to come in.

Karen Wilson: Um, it's so important to, to have some help. Wouldn't it be amazing to be able to have someone run your. and do what you did with your client and say, Hey, you know, you need to take a rest, you need to be resting from the surgery. I got it covered. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . And know that the person that you're talking to, duke, and, and that's what I know that's true about you, Candace.

Karen Wilson: I know that you a hundred percent deliver, um, to your clients, to the people that you work with and mm-hmm. . And, um, I, I love the fact that you are, even though you have. Like, what, what did you call it?

Candice Tate: Oh, brute forcing, I think. Brute forcing . Yeah.

Karen Wilson: I have to do that to myself. To, to, to get my social media done.

Karen Wilson: I have to brute force myself. So we all have something that we brute, uh, brute force ourselves to do. Mm mm-hmm. . and, um, I, I love that we're able to talk about that. So where can people find you if they're looking for someone to, to help out? Uh, where can people find you online?

Candice Tate: Well, um, as I said before, we have a website.

Candice Tate: Um, it [email protected], with two being spelt like the word, not the number. Um, we're also able to be found. all major social media platforms. Um, so Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, uh, Pinterest, you name it, we're there. Um, and they are all plus two creative with the two spelled out t w o as well.

Candice Tate: Um, yeah, if you search on any of those platforms for plus two creative, you'll find us. Uh, the, the logo is an amazing little 20 sided. that my sister created. It's very

Karen Wilson: cool. You have, you do lots of specialties in illustrations and, and, um, graphics and, and comic books and stuff I noticed as well. Um, and booked book stuff like you have 11 different services listed.

Candice Tate: It's, yeah. Um, incredible. , we, we, like I said, we, we do have a lot of skills between the two of us. Mm-hmm. . Um, she does more of the, like, the fancy interesting things. I'm like, I'll take off your plate. The, the click click post of the, the Facebook stuff. She does all the, yes, I do the systems . Um, but she does the cool stuff where like, if you.

Candice Tate: were to say if you were an author, um, and you want your book laid out and you need to cover, you need a back cover, you need the inside laid out. Um, Tiffany would be able to do that. And she has also done work with, um, comic book publications. So aside from being, you know, incredibly talented at the artwork, she also understands the back end of the publishing process and the printing process.

Candice Tate: Yes. Um, which I think is rare. To find with people who are very graphics focused, because you'll often find people who are, you know, super into the imagery, but not necessarily maybe understand how a printing press kind of functions and how that affects what you're making. , that's

Karen Wilson: invaluable. My book writers that are listening to this, that is invaluable.

Karen Wilson: I, I published my book, K D P Style. Mm-hmm. , Tamara did the cover for me. I had a different person, um, do the editing, two different people do the editing, and nobody knew how to do like the, the actual format, um, that there was a couple of attempts, but I mean, they were very transparent. with me on that. It's outta my scope.

Karen Wilson: So ended up being my husband and I for locked ourselves up in the office to get this final format done to submit to K D P and, and, yeah, so, so anybody that is, that's listening, that is thinking about the book and the book cover and the, and all of that. Plus definitely that's something that, A, a need to outsource if you're the writer,

Karen Wilson: Yes. You just gotta,

Candice Tate: so, yes. And um, I actually, a friend of mine, um, works as a, a book designer as well and you know, she often says that, The big, like a big part of having your book out is to make sure you have your marketing ready first. Mm-hmm. , which I definitely agree with because if you're gonna, anything you release really, you know, you need to kind of build that hype and get people, you know, interested in the, the product so that they follow you and they're interested and they buy it.

Candice Tate: Um, so I guess, you know, to plug us specifically, um, we have both of those things covered. Yeah. So like, Tiffany is working on the book and that publishing process. Yes. Like I can help you with social media, I can help you with getting your website ready. I can help you with, you know, if you wanna do ads or anything like that.

Candice Tate: Um, so we're kind of like, like I said, we fill in each other's blanks and, um, with our powers combined. Love that , we, we can make it happen.

Karen Wilson: I love that so much. Well, I feel like I could keep you all day, but I know you have like, People to help and things to do. So I want to thank you again for being on the show.

Karen Wilson: Uh, you'll find all the ways to connect with Candace in the show notes below. And if this show has helped you, um, please be, feel free to, to share it and, uh, and give us a like, and, and subscribe to the show. and all of that fun stuff. You'll find also find the ideas in Motion Planner, which is the show sponsor.

Karen Wilson: You'll find links to that in the show notes. And thanks again. Um, Candace, you're awesome, .

Candice Tate: Thanks, Karen. It was so great seeing you again, and I always love talking to you because after I, I've said this to you before, but after I talk to you, Like, I always just feel good, feel happy, .

Karen Wilson: That's so sweet of you.

Karen Wilson: Say thank you. Well, you make me happy too. I, I might just ask you if I can use that as a testimonial quote on my Oh, you know. Oh heck yeah. We're always looking, I mean, you've taught me I have to get everything that I can to mark myself .

Candice Tate: Exactly. And on the testimonials will help you on the Google, on the Facebook.

Candice Tate: So I'm here to help you .

Karen Wilson: Thank you, Candace.