Yvonne Heimann [00:00:00]:
Welcome back to She Is a Leader. Today's episode features Kelly Mirabella, a powerhouse in digital marketing, content strategy, and the art of doing business on your own terms. As the owner of Stellar Media Marketing, Kelly has spent over 14 years helping entrepreneurs and brands stand out online, but her real superpower is the unapologetic approach to boundaries and authenticity. Kelly's journey wasn't always defined by clarity and confidence. She's been through the overwhelm, the hustle, and the pressure to do it all. And in our conversation today, you'll hear how she went from feeling stretched thin to building a business and a life that truly works for her. If you ever struggled with saying no, managing your time, or creating content, that moves the needle, you'll want to hear every minute of this episode. Get ready for real story, honest lessons, and a fresh perspective on what it means to lead with intention and freedom.
Yvonne Heimann [00:01:13]:
And we are keeping it real because in the green screen today, we were already talking about technology not working, backgrounds not being perfect. And you know what? None of that really matters. Does it, Kelly?
Kelly Mirabella [00:01:26]:
No, I've had my coffee. Everything else is great.
Yvonne Heimann [00:01:33]:
Oh my God. I already hinted a little bit on your recent journey. Let's put it that way. We both have been through multiple journeys. Your recent journey started with a burnout, didn't it?
Kelly Mirabella [00:01:49]:
Oh Lord, yes. Lord, yes. So yes, um, you mentioned that I've been doing this for like over 14 years. I want to say it's been closer to 20, um, if we go way back to when I
Yvonne Heimann [00:02:02]:
I was trying not to age too much, and math was never my strong suit.
Kelly Mirabella [00:02:05]:
Okay, you know what, that might have been, I, I would have been like 2. No, I'm joking. No, it's been a long time, uh, that I've been doing content marketing and, um, and social media management. And for, you know, when you own your own business for this long, and I'm sure you've talked about it before on your podcast, and you and I have had conversations, you kind of go through these ebbs and flows. And you try to make, you start kind of this naive person who's just trying to serve your clients, and you'll bend over backwards, and you'll, you know, whatever. It's easy when you— when it's just you. And then you, like, for me, my path is I got married, I had two kids, And life started happening. And about, I want to say, gosh, it might have been at least like 4 years ago, I'd say 4, 3 or 4 years ago, I went crazy.
Kelly Mirabella [00:02:58]:
I had full burnout. And we're not talking like fluffy burnout, like, oh, I'm tired, I don't want to work. I could not go to my office in my own house. I work from home. I could not bring myself to sit at my desk. I had anxiety about it. It leaked into my relationship with my husband, into my personal life. I was depressed.
I full burnout on life. I did end up going to therapy. That helped a lot. And I guess the biggest thing is I had a lot, for me, a big trigger was guilt. Guilt of my time, guilt of not being perfect, guilt of giving all this time to my clients and not for myself or for my kids. And especially as a woman, a lot of times when we are in life, whether you are married and have kids or you are in various relationships or you're a business owner, you give so much of yourself to everything and you really don't focus on yourself. And then one day you wake up and you're like, fuck. And that's what happened, except my fuck was a full-blown.
Kelly Mirabella [00:04:08]:
Panic attack, burnout collapse, and I was incapable of working. And I did go through a lot of therapy. And as part of my therapy, my therapist and I agreed that I need to have a lot more personal time for myself and not feel guilty about it. But how was I to transition my career from being a workaholic? Literally, I would like to work all the time before this, right? I just I love what I do, but when you're a social media manager, you're always on and it's very toxic and it's become more and more toxic as we see more social networks, more AI, more fake, more influencers. And I became disillusioned by that world. And so instead of wanting to always be on, on, on and loving it, I was like, how can I create a life for myself and a successful business doing what I love without always be up, being on. Because now my life is different. I am on the other side of burnout.
Kelly Mirabella [00:05:08]:
I don't, that doesn't even appeal to me anymore. And so that was kind of this like bridge, this place where I changed everything, my entire strategy for how I work. And now I work maybe twice a week. Don't tell everyone, I'm so lazy. But I actually run a very successful business. My clients love me. If you follow me on Instagram, I share my success stories and my stats and my reviews from my clients all the time. Most of my clients have been with me for years.
I just had a client come back to me after being away from me for 5 years, and we're both thrilled to be back together. So like, you can have that. I would say have it all, but you can have what you want, but you have to have a little discipline and like reality check.
Yvonne Heimann [00:05:56]:
And that's one of the reasons why I wanted to have you on, because the public perception, especially with something like social media and marketing, is like you always got to be on. You always got to be on 24/7. You're always going to be due. You're always going to be on your goddamn phone and checking all of the messages and replying to everything and, and all the things. And you prove everybody wrong. You prove everybody wrong. And I am so happy that you have, because if you, any one of you listening or watching Kelly looks fucking amazing. Kelly has a high energy.
Kelly is a loving person. She is offline the same as she is online. And during that time, during that time, you weren't yourself. There was, the smile was gone, the spark was gone, the energy was gone. It's There was a lot of hibernating, and I knew you just needed to find your way through it. I know that you were supported with Hunky Hubby. Love him to pieces. You got one of the good ones.
Um, and it was hard to watch you because I wasn't there in person. There, all I could do was, all I felt I could do was really just like I'm going to be here whenever you're ready, whenever you need me, whatever you need, I'm here. And that was about the only thing I could do because goddamn, you hit that burnout hard.
Kelly Mirabella [00:07:36]:
Yeah. And when you hit it like that, honestly, like having a friend like you, not to like, let's love fest on each other, but this is for all your listeners. If you are around someone who is experiencing this kind of burnout, having someone who you know is in your corner, but you just don't have the energy. I don't have the, I don't even want to text people during this time. But just knowing that that person's there is just, it's very powerful. So, you know, I have a couple of friends like you who are like that, that are just like, they're there, but I don't have to give any energy. And I appreciated that during that time because, boy, it's really draining. And I'm, people don't know this about me, but I am an introvert naturally.
Kelly Mirabella [00:08:15]:
So energy for me gets sucked. I know people don't realize that. I'm very energetic when I'm on, when I'm in life. When I'm around my homies, I am very energetic and stuff, but boy, do I go and crash. Like, it's more of an energy thing. So to be burnt out, it feels like you're always in the crash, um, and there's never that like positive pump-up thing. So I'm glad to be on the other side of it. But I will tell you, between therapy and figuring out my business, and then also honestly, I just give less fucks now.
Like, I really just give less fucks. I lean on my experience. I have a lot of confidence in myself nowadays. The more you say no to things that don't serve you, the better. I had a no year. I feel like people should have a yes year. I've done that, but I had a no year and the whole thing with my no year. If it's not a fuck yes, it's a hell no.
And that really served me during that time. So I said no to a lot and it really helped me hone in on What do I really want? And then fuck everything else.
Yvonne Heimann [00:09:18]:
And God, did you need that? Um, I'm curious. We've already talked about life looks different now and you've proved a lot of people wrong. How does one run a social media business with something that never stops? I'm like, social media is 24/7. Let's be honest, right? And you're like, you know what? It takes minimalistic time. No, no, I don't want to word it like that. You have built a system and boundaries that allow you to have major impact for your client on a minimalistic schedule. What does that look like?
Kelly Mirabella [00:10:01]:
Uh, there's a lot of key points that you brought out, these like keywords, right? I think having boundaries is so important. And as someone who runs my own business, if, there's listeners out there, you're running your own business and you're kind of subject to your client to get paid. There's always this fear, not with me anymore, but there used to be this fear, and it's very normal, that I have to bend over backwards, I have to serve the client, I can't have boundaries, it's all in their time on what they want. And what I have found over the years, even before my burnout, I've been, I was very good at building these, but I've gotten a lot better because now I have a clear system so I can actually explain the system to the client and they're on board. But Before, I'd be like, hey, you know, like one of my big rules for a long time before that I still hold today before the burnout, we'll call before is before the burnout, is I do not take calls. First of all, I'm a millennial. Do not call me. I'll go into panic, full panic.
Kelly Mirabella [00:10:59]:
I will take calls if they're scheduled, right? So all my calls are scheduled. I do this for a lot of reasons. First of all, I am always working on something or I'm doing nothing. And when I'm doing nothing, I don't wanna work with you. I don't wanna, I can't, my brain doesn't wanna switch. If I'm off with my kids, I'm not answering my phone. And so I've always, when I start talking to potential clients, I'll say, you know, I have, before I had the system, it was, you know, I'm excited, here's what I could do for you. But just so that you're aware, you know, when you want to have a call with me, Here's the link, you could go schedule.
But I do not just answer my phone call. And I've only, in the almost, you know, probably like 16, 17 years I've been in my business, I've only had one person ever say that they didn't want to work with me because of that. And I was like, cool, bro. So that's just one example. But now that I have the system, and, you know, people are, I know you're constantly harping about systems. Systems, they work. Um, they work. Good Lord, like They're hard at first, right? Because it takes discipline to have a system.
Kelly Mirabella [00:12:06]:
But once you are used to that, it becomes a habit. And when your system becomes a habit, it's easy and your whole life changes. And so once I had a system, I sit down with my clients and I say, here's the plan, here's what it looks like, here's how I run my business and how you fit into that. And do you have any questions? And they're all like, nope, just Let's do it. And so not only have I attracted the clients who work best for me, and maybe, maybe some people don't even approach me because of that, it's totally fine. I don't run my business that way. I think the key thing is that you remember is that you're not an employee. You are your own boss.
They are your client. And so that's the big difference, right? And as such, they need to respect you as a service provider, and you need to respect them as a client. There is a mutual respect instead of kind of subordinate to boss situation.
Yvonne Heimann [00:13:01]:
I'm curious, um, there is this notion out there often, um, with creatives like yourself, and for everybody that's like, yeah, but I'm not a creative, um, I think as a business owner we are all creatives to some, in way, in some way, shape, or form. And I often run into this with implementing systems, right? I'm like How do you do this? Diving deep into all of the processes. And I can already see some people in the audience glazing over where it's like, oh my God, you want to just shove me in a box. Creators need to be free. So I'm curious about how do you look at things now being, and I'm like, girl, you are creative in all different ways. If it's chatbot building, if it's graphics, if it's posting, if it's whatever it is, this woman is a unicorn when it comes to creativity. And you like to play with things too. It's like, yes, you love what you are doing.
So we both are on that same story of I have to schedule time off, I have to box things, or I will sit on my computer 24/7 because I like what I do. I'm passionate about it. And with that, setting up those boundaries, setting up those systems which are boundaries to How do you look at this and what would you say, what would you tell a creative that says boundaries and systems stifle my creativity?
Kelly Mirabella [00:14:36]:
Boundaries are the savior of your creativity, really, because if, and everyone has different boundaries. But in the example I gave about like, I don't just take phone calls, imagine I'm in a very creative mode and I'm like, you know, like when I write, I've written several books now. I'm obviously in the middle of trying to get my book on my batching system out. And so when I'm in that, if I don't have the boundary with my clients that they are not to just call me, they can interrupt me. And it's very common. It's not common in my world because I have a boundary, but it's very common. So how can you say that a boundary is going to hurt your creativity? It is to protect your time. It is to protect your creativity.
Kelly Mirabella [00:15:16]:
And so, and everyone's boundaries are going to be different, like I said, but that's just one example of how boundaries specifically protect you. Now, as far as systems, I can absolutely get it. Systems up until my burnout scared me because it seemed like a lot of work. It seemed like I was in a box. People were like, you have to do it this way. And I guess you asked me, what is my point of view? How do I kind of come to terms with that? There's a couple things. First of all, like even in the book that I'm about to release about my system, I multiple times I'll say, these are the tools I use, but the only tool that's going to work is the one you're going to use. So take the concept of my system and make it your own.
Kelly Mirabella [00:15:51]:
Your boundaries are different. Your goals are different. You may want 2 days to batch per client a month, whereas I only take 1, um, and that's okay. The point is, number 1, you have the system that works for you, and number 2, you're flexible in the system so that if one day I have to go and, you know, do something for a client, it's not like, oh my God, it's not part of the plan. Like, you have to have some flexibility in a system. The system is the roadmap. That doesn't mean you're not going to go take a detour every once in a while. So, you know, give yourself a little bit more grace.
But the systems create the space for you to have the creativity. I have so much free time, y'all. When I tell you I work maybe 2 times a week, I'm telling you it surprises me. And, and, you know, Yvi knows me this very well, but I love doing all the things. We actually, I think we did a, we did a program together because why not? We just, let's, let's do a whole like month-long thing. And remember we did the, uh, the glow-up? We're just like, let's do it. This is how we are. And so the social media, social media power, it was, I still like, that was so fun, honestly.
Um, and I even did get you started.
Yvonne Heimann [00:17:10]:
I might just pull you into another one.
Kelly Mirabella [00:17:12]:
Let's go. But I love doing stuff like that. I'm a curious person. I taught myself how to run my own Etsy store because I wanted to learn about dropshipping. I taught myself how to do my own Kindle books because I just wanted to learn about it. I am just a curious person. But if my, without my systems and without my boundaries, there would be no time for that. So now I have all this free time.
And so I'm like, what do I want to do today? I want to go like learn how to like, you know, do this thing. I want to learn how to create AI chatbots. Cool. You know, so I could do that. So it creates space for you to have not only the life you want, but the freedom. And if you are a creative, if you are someone who loves to experiment, because you so much more time to do that.
Yvonne Heimann [00:17:53]:
Now we've talked, we've talked a couple of times about batching and how you spend one day a month for your clients. I would love to dive a little bit deeper into this because even if you are not a marketing agency, even if you're not a social media manager or whatever, you are probably a business owner. So we have a lot of content going out. I'm like, I've been doing it for how long now? How do you do the thing? How do you get to a point where you're like, sweet, I know exactly what we're going to post next month. We're going to spend a day and get it done. That, that can feel like and look like completely impossible. Let's be honest, it can.
Kelly Mirabella [00:18:43]:
No, that it absolutely can.
Yvonne Heimann [00:18:45]:
So how, how can you get there?
Kelly Mirabella [00:18:48]:
Well, I am telling you all in my book that's coming out, but I will give you the quick and dirty.
Yvonne Heimann [00:18:53]:
Let's not, let's not do it with a burnout before.
Kelly Mirabella [00:18:55]:
Let's not do it with the burnout. Um, so a couple of things. First and foremost, going back to giving yourself grace. Remember, I have had this system for probably 3 years now, so I'm very good at this system. So when I start with a new client, it might take me longer than 1 day. But once I've had a client for 6 months and you, the idea here is just so every, I don't think everyone really gets my system. I teach a batching system. Okay.
So the idea is, in essence, is 1 day a month is dedicated to 1 client. Nothing else happens during that day until that client's content is done.. And when I first start with a client, that can look like a month's worth of content. Or when I've had a client for a long time and I also have some evergreen to mix in and I know their vibe, as soon as I sit down, I'm in their mindset because I've worked with them. That could look like 2 months worth of content. Generally, I run about a month and a half worth of content in one day for each of my clients. But when you start, yeah, I like, I really have it down. But when you start, first of all, when you start with the system, it might look like I don't know, 2 days, 3 days per client.
Kelly Mirabella [00:20:06]:
It really shouldn't take more than that if I'm honest, 'cause once you have all of the assets ready, which I explain how to do that, like in your, if you're using Canva, I use Canva, I have their brand assets. That's one of the first things I do is load on all their colors, their logos. They have a folder, everyone has a folder with all of their stock, all of their images, that sort of thing. So I already have that concept in mind. We've already had the meeting with the client. So when I sit down for that one day, I have, I might check emails real quick, but once, you know, like I have like 30 minutes, check emails, drink my coffee, and then it's go time. This is the client. I am their dedicated social media manager, content marketer, whatever, and nobody else gets my time but them until that work is done.
Now, are there days where maybe it goes on to the next day because maybe I, I want to do more video or whatever? Yes. So again, flexibility. But generally speaking, I sit down one day and it's done. And that's because I already have templates in place. I already have their colors. They, the, the week, usually like a week before, I'll email them and I'll say, hey, I'm working on your content on this day. Send me anything you have coming up, anything that you want. And I do train my clients to send me photos.
Kelly Mirabella [00:21:16]:
We have a system for that. It's all in the book. But they, you know, they send it wherever. For me, it's Google Folder or Google Photos. Depending on the client, but I use the Google ecosystem 'cause that's what I use. Maybe you're a Mac person, you wanna use cloud, whatever. Use whatever that works for you. But the idea is I've talked to my clients ahead of time, they know how to submit stuff to me, I remind them a week ahead, and then go time on that day.
Kelly Mirabella [00:21:41]:
I'm not chasing stuff on that day, it's all right there. And I have a clear picture of what are their pillars, right? What are these like 4 or 5 things And it's actually really easy when you break it down that way, because let's give you an example, right? Let's say like, I'll give myself, doing my own content, by the way, is so much harder than doing my, like, it takes, that takes me weeks because I did, um, my, my current set runs through May. I have content all the way through May right now for my own content. So I'm not even thinking about my content, but it took me probably like maybe 5 solid days to do my own content. Whereas with my clients, I sit down, do theirs, no problem. You know how it is, you do your own content, it's always harder. But my, um, my themes right now, or pillars right now, are batching right now because obviously I have a book coming out about this, and so I want to talk about that. So it's kind of the storyline of batching burnout, how it can help, that sort of thing.
Kelly Mirabella [00:22:38]:
So that's one. The other one is my social media management business. So I talk about my data, like what's been working, uh, proof of concept, case studies, um, quotes from my, my client screenshots, from clients texting me going, oh, thanks so much, this is awesome. You know, that kind of storyline of happy clients, you want to hire me. And then, um, I might do another one that's more on a basis of creating content. Here's some tips for creating content for yourself. And then maybe another one which touches more, is very touching on my social media management. Another theme I would, uh, probably focus on is things like, um, How to know when it's time, like hiring a social media manager.
How do you know it's time? What should you be looking for? Why it's helpful. So getting people in that mindset of like, maybe I should hire someone. So I'm working with kind of different themes. You come up with your themes and then I say, I wanna post 3 times a week. This is just my example, 3 times a week, 4 times a week. You could go every day if you want, whatever. I wanna post 3 times a week. So I have, let's say I have 3 or 4, let's for easy math, 'cause math ain't my thing.
I have 3 themes. 3 themes, 3 pillars, and I want to post 3 times a week, 1 month, 4 weeks. How many? 3, 6, 9, 12. That's 12 pieces of content.
Yvonne Heimann [00:23:55]:
I was doing the same thing in my head.
Kelly Mirabella [00:23:58]:
12 pieces of content is not hard, you guys. We as humans, especially when you are a business owner and you're not used to doing social media, Or if you're new to managing other people's, you believe you have a perception that social media is hard and you just do it when you can. It's 12 pieces of content. I could sit down and in a couple hours I could, less, honestly, it's because it's my own content. For my clients, I could sit down and in 2 hours I can have 12 pieces of content. Do you see how we can simplify this? So I think we, as people, as business owners, we think, oh, content, it takes so much time. It's so much work because we're not clearly understanding that it's just 12 pieces of content. And once we start breaking it down like that, then you can see how you can sit down for one afternoon and knock out 12 pieces of content.
And not just that, I'm only doing each week, I'm doing one of my pillars. I'm only doing 4 pieces of content about batching. I'm only doing 4 pieces of content about my case studies. I'm only doing 4 pieces of content about why you should be hiring a social media manager. It's even easier now, isn't it?
Yvonne Heimann [00:25:18]:
Because suddenly you have, you have topics, you have a specific plan. It's, and that's where, where systems for me come in. That's how I look at it because now suddenly it's not a chicken with a head cut off running around. It's not your Sunday drive and you are just looking at the neighborhood. You have a specific goal, you have a specific destination, and you know exactly what needs to get done to get there. So now, exactly, put your phone aside other than when you're potentially recording some video.
Kelly Mirabella [00:25:54]:
Put your phone aside, turn those notifications off.
Yvonne Heimann [00:25:59]:
And, and spend 2, 3 hours morning, afternoon, wherever you need to schedule it. For me, if I need brainpower, it needs to be morning. And if it's my own content, it will not happen in the afternoon. It just will not. I will push it. So between having this roadmap and the system in place and knowing your own energy, it really isn't that difficult.
Kelly Mirabella [00:26:22]:
It's not. It takes commitment. Don't give me the go. It's the fear of the unknown that gives you anxiety, right? That is the whole premise of anxiety is the fear of the unknown. We make a lot of assumptions about things being hard when we haven't actually sat down and given ourselves a path. Getting from here, driving from here to you sounds like, oh, that's so hard. But if I actually go to like Google Maps, I'm like, oh, look at that. I can follow this path.
Take me like a day.
Yvonne Heimann [00:26:49]:
Considering I came down here and you went up there.
Kelly Mirabella [00:26:51]:
I know, what's that? For those of you who don't know, I just moved out of Texas and Yvi is now in Texas.
Yvonne Heimann [00:27:00]:
I was waving, we were driving by Selena. I'm like, oh, she was right there.
Kelly Mirabella [00:27:05]:
I was, my house is still there. Someone come buy my house. But yeah, I think like once you do that, it becomes so much easier, especially when you're working with clients. So if I have an agreement with a client and the initial agreement when I start with a client, by the way, for those of you who maybe want to work with doing their content, is I will always guarantee 2 to 3 posts per month, depending, or per week, depending on the client. And that depends on the, most of my clients, um, most of them are on Instagram and Facebook, which might sound very old school, but let me tell you, after years of being over here, it works. And for these clients, it works. I do have one client on TikTok, and it works very well for them, um, and that's kind of a different strategy, but it still fits into my my one day. So if I say to my client, I'm going to do, minimally, you're going to get 2 posts a week, and this is how much it's going to cost, and this is the system.
Kelly Mirabella [00:27:57]:
But I always have this caveat that if you send me video, I will always add at least one video, because I always want to encourage my clients to get on video. So, um, that's an incentive for them. But what I explained to them is, as we work together longer, after 6 months or so, I have a lot of evergreen content and this is something I go into depth in the book, but evergreen content is content you can repurpose, reuse, that is still relevant today. So now my 2 posts of original content per week can easily now be like 4, 5 posts. I have one client that's been with me for a year and a half, and we post every single day, and some days twice, just because I got it, because it's there. Because the thing is, I sit down for the one, you know, one day of content, and if I know that client well enough and I have enough evergreen content. I don't want to create content more than 2 months out for a client. So then what do I do? I just create more content for the 2 months that I'm creating.
So as you work the system and as you work with these clients, and it just gets so easy that you're like, ah, let's go ahead and do more.
Yvonne Heimann [00:29:02]:
Why not go ahead and do more? Like, you don't even know what to post today, and suddenly you have daily posts, or even twice. I know, I'm like Because it's like, yeah, guess what? That's what boundaries and systems do. It is. With that, thanks for everybody joining us today for this episode with She Is a Leader. As you know, every link is going to be in the description. And I think our timing works out perfectly for Kelly's book to be out. So make sure you're going to snatch your copy because I'm going to snatch my copy.
Kelly Mirabella [00:29:39]:
Yep.
Yvonne Heimann [00:29:40]:
And just Kelly's story is really proof that boundaries and systems are not just business buzzwords. They're not just gonna pop up and be gone. They are the foundation of real freedom and creative success. So if you are ready to stop running in circles and creating content that truly connects and leads with courage, let Kelly's journey be your inspiration. Remember, it's never too late to rewrite your story and build a business that supports the life you want. Don't forget to subscribe and share this episode with someone that needs a reminder that clarity and confidence are always within reach. Until next time, let's keep leading with intention and authenticity. I'll see you in the next episode.
Yvonne Heimann [00:30:30]:
Bye, everybody.