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Ep. 13 — Kristina Romero, Founder of WP Care Market, on work-life balance for young entrepreneurs, her career and much more!

Digital Agency Owners Podcast
Digital Agency Owners Podcast
Ep. 13 — Kristina Romero, Founder of WP Care Market, on work-life balance for young entrepreneurs, her career and much more!
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On our latest episode of the GoWP Digital Agency Owners Podcast, we welcome Kristina Romero, Founder of WP Care Market. We talk about how she became a web designer from being a movie director, focusing on long-term value for agency owners, her CORE model, spirituality, having a work-life balance as a young entrepreneur, and much more.

Read the transcript

Morayo: [00:00:00] Welcome everyone to the GoWP digital agency owners podcast, where we chat with members of our WordPress community and go behind the scenes and find out more about their talents and their business philosophy, and the paths they follow to business and life success. I’m Morayo Orija GoWPs director of creative services.

Joanne: [00:00:20] And I’m Joanne Torres. And before we start, I just want to say a couple of words about GoWP in case anyone is not fully familiar with us. At GoWP, we create happiness for digital agencies and help them become more profitable. Whether it’s joining in our super valuable weekly happiness hour calls, or if you’re looking to grow your team with a developer, a copywriter, a designer, or a project manager, we got you covered. We also have services like case study services, blogging services, website, maintenance, content edits, or page builds that you can completely outsource to our team.

Morayo: [00:00:57] Joanne where can someone who’s interested go to learn more about these awesome, helpful services?

Joanne: [00:01:02] I never thought you’d ask so they can go to gowp.com or our social media channels. GoWP support on Twitter and GoWP everywhere else. So Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, anywhere online, essentially to get updates on what’s going on. And now I think it’s time we should welcome our new guest.

Morayo: [00:01:24] Yeah, let’s welcome our guests. I’m super excited for who we have today. Today’s guest has a story that differs from most of our typical guests. Kristina Romero is the founder of WP Care Market an agency that trains web professionals to offer care plans. WP Care Market provides a community as well as a directory for website owners to connect to support professionals. Prior to founding her agency, she began her professional journey on the small screen playing on the daytime dramas passions, and as the world turns, she’s been an anti and she’s also a published author and a filmmaker. Now outside of the arts, Kristina has been a developer, agency founder and manages her various other endeavors under the umbrella Romero Media.

One such endeavor is our three, the recurring revenue retreat, which many of our listeners may know or have even attended. So in a word, Kristina, you’re an entrepreneur very much. So welcome.

Kristina: [00:02:17] Yeah

Joanne: [00:02:18] Yeah.

Kristina: [00:02:19] Thank you. 

Joanne: [00:02:20] A true Renaissance woman.

Kristina: [00:02:21] That’s good. I liked the Renaissance fairs. So I’ll go with Renaissance woman. Yeah.

Morayo: [00:02:24] Let’s jump right into it. So as I was saying, and I’m super excited to talk to you about this topic, this lead topic, the arts your path to agency owner is quite unique. You’re the first, twice Emmy award-nominated actress to be interviewed by us. That’s so awesome. It’s. It’s almost the word season.

So let’s start here. But you. don’t have to make any predictions or anything like that. So you were a working actor while you started, I guess, in your teens. Tell what drew you to acting.

Kristina: [00:02:52] Oh that’s a great question. I think, you know, my sister started at eight. I have to really think back. I think my sister started in it. So then I kind of followed her along to the, you know, going after finding a manager and an agent or whatever, like many of the kids of the eighties, you grew up with television, lots of television, early nineties, Mickey mouse club, you know, you’re like, I can do that.

So I just kind of followed along and enjoyed it. I don’t think I ever truly felt that it was the acting I was drawn to. I was really drawn to the storytelling aspect of it. So in the same vein, I wanted it to be a writer and a director and create. I wanted to create. So acting was the only kind of creation I could do at 12 years old.

So I went and followed that path and then was fortunate enough. Age 17 to actually get a full-time contract role. And that was on as well, turns in New York. And then I moved to New York City and live there as a 17-year-old. I look back now child. I mean, the time I thought I was so adult and, and so grown up, but I look back now and I go, oh my goodness.

I was just a child. I was just a kid.

Morayo: [00:03:59] I bet. And before we started, Kristina shared that she’s a mom of four, so I’m sure looking back.

Kristina: [00:04:04] Oh my goodness.

Morayo: [00:04:04] You consider your own children, 17 still feel,

Kristina: [00:04:07] A baby tiny baby.

Morayo: [00:04:11] And it makes so much sense that you say what drew you to acting was storytelling, looking at your career and where you are now, that makes so much sense. Because to be an actor is, you know, one needs to really enjoy storytelling and the ability to tell many stories through many voices, but. As a woman, as a professional, as a young adult, you still have to find your core and find your voice.

So as your life and professional experiences grew and expanded, how did you find your own true voice and a calling and who you wanted to be ultimately as a professional?

Kristina: [00:04:45] That’s another good question. You have some really good questions. I don’t think you were ever done discovering, so I view it as a, as a path. It’s a journey. So it’s, it’s what am I today or this year? Because as you see, I’ve done a lot of things. So I guess it makes sense. I view it all that way, that it all grows and changes and you’re, you know, not really one thing.

But I was frustrated as an actor saying other people’s words. That was, you know, that was tough, especially as you start growing up in 18, 19 20, and you do start finding the things you want to say, and then they throw scripts at you that have you doing these things may be kind of want to leave the soap world and have a little bit more control about the stories I was telling.

That was the catalyst for why I started to break out of acting. I went to USC the University of Southern California to be a writer so I could tell my own stories and and I couldn’t really, I don’t think I ever put my finger on it then about the kind of stories I wanted to tell. I wanted to help people that, and that’s kind of, you know, I just wanted to help people.

And so I and you’ll probably get into this in terms of the progression of the timeline here, but that’s when I started creating websites on the side to just create, to have the ability to create the other frustrating thing about the industry was especially as a writer or an actor, you’re always reliant on somebody else to fund your creating.

So, you know, he could only pitch what you wanted to do. And I pitched all through that town, many different stories and with many different people, and I auditioned for many different things and never liked the idea that what I had was surrendered to whatever somebody else, you know, one a day they’re make or pay for.

So so I had that bottle up inside and I wanted to create, so I started doing websites on the side and, and that’s kind of how it leads to when I started doing that.

Morayo: [00:06:40] Kristina

Joanne: [00:06:41] Interesting.

Morayo: [00:06:42] Just, throw this in. Like Kristina may be the first guest we’ve had who’s actually made me say girl, girl yet. Yes. I’m like nodding along for those listening. I wanted to just share. Yeah, you’re totally right. And I always attribute this to Ethan Hawke. I think it was Ethan who said, you know, acting is the only career where you have to ask for someone else’s permission to do it, you know, and I think now, and he said that I think a little earlier in his career before the online content that we have now that, you know, creators That’s changing now, you really don’t have to rely on someone to invest in your play or your you know, video content, but yeah, it’s a girl. Yes.

Joanne: [00:07:21] Yeah. And you mentioned that you started creating these websites. So you became a web designer. That was actually my next question. So it’s so interesting to see your transition from acting and soap operas to in film, and then going into the web designer, a career leap, if you will. But now with the context now, hearing you say the context that what you wanted to do was help people and tell stories.

It’s it makes total sense. If you see it on paper, you’re just like you went from film to web design. How does that, but it’s so interesting. So would you say that was helping people and helping them tell their stories as well? Would you say that was the bridge for that theoretical gap between acting and web design?

Kristina: [00:08:12] Yes. Yeah. That’s how it makes sense in my brain of how that progression happened. But exactly. And at the time too, I was with a lot of people who were in some way needing websites, professors, and people starting businesses. You had this in your notes and it’s funny cause you brought it up and I never. It’s true.

 I never tell this connection of it, but, my manager, her husband, one of my managers, husband was an animator and they needed a voiceover for one of their cartoons. So I went and I did the voiceover for the cartoon, but I was like, oh, cool. How are you doing that? And I started to learn flash by watching him make the cartoons with flash.

And so I started working with them doing animation with flash. And so a lot of the websites I did were initially flashed websites before it was killed and it was stabbed to death in the web industry. So, so yeah. Yeah. So I actually was creating stories with flash animation.

I started to see at that time. So this was 2006, 2007. There was this huge demand for websites and not a lot of people supplying them. So there was this opening in some way of saying it was really easy to kind of step into this because people couldn’t really find people to do their websites. So

Joanne: [00:09:32] That’s how you, you slowly found your niche.

Kristina: [00:09:34] Yeah,

Joanne: [00:09:35] You didn’t even, you didn’t have few, probably. I don’t know if that time we had the vocabulary for it, but you were doing it

Kristina: [00:09:43] Yeah, a lot of my professors were my first clients. So at USC for writing, I was just doing their websites. And then I. You know, so I started doing it more and more and more. And, but my whole focus was still to be in the industry. And I called up as well turns and I wanted to come back as a writer and they said, well, we don’t really have room for a writer, but we could totally have you come back as a director, as television director.

And so I was like, oh, that was amazing. So I got to go for an entire month. I shadowed the directors and they sat in the booth and I watched everything and it just absorbed it all. And I got to direct two episodes and then. You know, the executive producer kind of was like, okay, well, I’ll call you when we have an opening, I’ll call you and we have an opening.

So I just kept hanging on. And then he called me and he was like, I can’t bring you back. Cause the show is going to be canceled. And I don’t want you to come back and move back to New York and then not have a job. So, you know, it was kind of him to give you that opportunity but it was just terrible timing. And so while I did you know while I was there in New York for the month?

I just kept building websites, kept building my client base with the, I was not even going to do this anymore then. And along with a few other things that happened around that time period, I had just gotten married. I wanted to start a family. I said, you know what?

This is working. The website stuff is working like I’m getting nos and doors closing on every single little thing in this industry. And my passion’s kind of running out for it. But the web staff, this is in demand and I’m happy doing it. So I just made the commitment. I called my managers and said, all right, I’m done.

And they’re like, no, no, wait, no, like maybe something will come that you’ll want to do as it. Now I’m done. I said, I can sit here for a couple hours and make a website for $500 or I can drive to the valley and prepare for a couple hours for an audition. They will not get I’m going to stay home and build the website for $500.

Joanne: [00:11:31] With my new husband.

Kristina: [00:11:33] With my new husband, yeah.

Morayo: [00:11:35] I love that realization. It’s like, oh, I, you know, I never thought I never thought I do this again. And here I am, you know, making a career out of it, making real money with it. Like that’s, that’s awesome. I will. I won’t steal your next question. Joanne.

Joanne: [00:11:49] No. It’s all good. We’re still learning. We’re still getting this podcast. They figured it out. Yeah. So, okay, so fast, what you said, this was around 2007. So fast forward a quick 10 years a quick 10 years, a couple of kids you started WP care market in 2017 and have, since you’ve shown your ability to instruct and coach other business owners, you challenged business owners to expand their focus beyond just lending big projects, but also to focus on the long-term value of their company and you, you have even posted in alongside other of our partners, a webinar with us and introduced viewers to two business models, the last model, and the core model. And can you give us can you give today’s audience an overview of these models? Just like a quick, quick overview.

Kristina: [00:12:42] I mean, it kind of goes back to those 10 years that you talked about, you know going from not knowing what you’re doing and teaching yourself and learning through every single client, the ups and downs of how to run a business. Making websites and then coming out the other end of that with something that you have a loyal list of clients, regular income, job security in what you’re doing help with staff and what you’re doing, you know, so all that happened over the course of 10 years and the, the biggest reason for that was because around 2013, I started implementing website care plans.

And that gave me the stability that I needed in order to run the business successfully. About the time I started realizing whatever I had done for those last 10 years, my agency would help other people. If I turned around and started teaching it, I reflected back and realized there really was a nice model to it.

So you have your care plans, you have the optimizations that you give those care plans. So SEO content. And whatever it is, additional stuff you do on a regular basis. And then you redesign those clients’ sites every few years. And then there’s a period of evaluation where you’re helping them and you realize they need more or they need less and where to tweak and all that.

And that’s the core model. So C for care plans. O for optimization, R for redesign E for evaluation, and clients just kind of go through that little cycle, as long as they’re on recurring revenue with you in a monthly plan, they just move through that little cycle with you and you start off with four people who will be that person for you.

And then it grows to 10 and then it grows to 20. And then sooner or later you have this full-fledged web agency with, you know, 50 plus clients who have been with you for a few years and who you are serving and serving well. And that to me is the most successful way to run a web agency as a small web agency owner, as someone who kind of wants to do it with just themselves and maybe a handful of people and not really grow to some large marketing agency, but really just make a good, solid income working from home and having as low stress of a job as you possibly can.

So yeah, so that’s kind of what I’ve found worked well and I try to encourage others to think that micro, you know, to think that inward in their agency and not feel like they have to just keep outward reaching out for more projects, more projects, more projects, but to think about what they already have.

Morayo: [00:15:08] I, I love that mindset, I think we need to hear more voices in this space, encouraging that it’s, not always taking on like you said, literally taking on bigger and bigger projects if you’re getting away from what your desire is like, what what your goals are. You know, working, especially for people who have families, you know, maybe the goal is not to you know, Exponentially scale your your revenue, if that takes you away from your family more, or if that gets you away from your core mission.

So I love that instruction. And for anyone who’s listening, who wants to hear Kristina’s full, deeper explanation of those two models can view that webinar. YouTube channel. It was excellent. I thank you for offering that to us last year

So we’re getting a lot of out-of-the-box conversation today, we talked about the Emmys.

We talked to them, we talked about directing. But another topic that I wanted to explore today is spirituality. You know, since we just talked about how businesses can remain strong at their core. I think it’s also important on the flip side, you talk about how individuals who run the businesses stay strong at their core.

And I bring this topic up with you, Christina, because you know, in, in research on you, I found that you are open about your faith and you also demonstrated that you’re a very stellar, creative and educator, and you recently launched. I hope I pronounce it right. The hagios hagios

Kristina: [00:16:32] Yeah, hagios good. Yeah, you nailed it.

Morayo: [00:16:34] Yeah.

And it was really exciting to read about it. And uh, so could you talk to the, to the listeners for a moment about what the Hagia study is and why you created it.

Kristina: [00:16:42] Yeah, it’s a COVID project, COVID lockdown project which I didn’t even really have time anyway, which I find fascinating, but but it was something I think that really helped me get through all of that as well. We actually, so funny enough in our industry where we have a lot of people who are very open about their faith or have any kind of faith, I think, you know, people pride on.

 It’s tough to talk about publicly sometimes, cause you don’t wanna offend anybody. And I don’t talk about it. This is probably the first time on a podcast I’ve actually talked about it. But it is important in my life in my family and in my own personal life, it’s always kind of guided me to keep what’s important in focus and also keep priorities straight because you can get caught up in just the world’s craziness.

So Keep that inner peace and purpose in mind. But I’ve always balanced that with, with work until I would say like the beginning of the COVID lockdown., I don’t know what drew me to write like a Bible study, just so kind of out of the blue for me. But I recently completed my certificate of theology and church history from Notre Dame.

So I’ve always been fascinated. Yeah. I’ve always been fascinated with you know, history in general. And then I completed that. So that came out of that in the, in a real desire to see history and like a Bible study come together. Also had a wonderful opportunity playing with the new buddy boss app platform, which came out at the perfect time.

So it was able to create a mobile app along with the Bible study. And I hope that it goes as this kind of side passion. I hope to do a lot of these, like one a year, just kind of spin-off one a year. And the connection I made was I think what I’m doing with that is again, striving to create community.

So with WP care market, I created a community of web professionals to support one another with, you know, encouraging care plans, encouraging all the mental health aspect of it. To bring all this together, that common conversation. And I think that’s what happened with the huggy study. I, again, wanted to cultivate community out of the, maybe this COVID lockdown drought, you know, Especially in in my faith tradition I’m Catholic, there’s not as many like small group studies or like reasons for community and to come together outside of just a normal Sunday.

So I wanted to create some materials for that. And so again, cultivating community, I think is the running theme between what I’m doing now in different aspects of it, the web world, or like the spiritual world. Just bringing people together, bringing people together to encourage one another. To help one another and to just build one another out that’s I think that’s my running theme.

Morayo: [00:19:12] Well, and like you said earlier the teenage Kristina wanted to help people.

Kristina: [00:19:16] Yes, exactly.

Morayo: [00:19:17] You’re still adhering to that. And it’s you know, whatever an individual’s faith is or mental health practices or overall health practices are, are extremely important. And I think that this pandemic is really shining a light on how we all have to holistically care for ourselves and even mentally.

Professionals on the scientific side will say there is a role for faith. So I think it’s great timing for your study. There are a lot of New entrepreneurs who are just getting their foot in the game, who just are going, you know, and they’re burning their candles at both ends because they think that’s what they need to do at this stage to get ahead. But it’s also, I’m not saying it won’t work for them, but it’s also a way to ingrain some, maybe not so healthy aspects and habits. What healthy work-life balance tips might you give to them if you were on an elevator with a young entrepreneur who’s running themself?

Kristina: [00:20:10] In 60 seconds yes. Well, you know, the one thing I do want to encourage people is kind of, why did we even start doing this? So if you start your own business, you have to go back to the reasons why you wanted to do it. And for a lot of people, they’re in a situation where they don’t have a lot of choices.

I’ve met a lot of students in a situation where they have to work from home. Now that’s a different, almost everybody who works from home now, but they had to work from home when they have families with special needs or they have circumstances in which they have to move around a lot.

So there’s a lot of situations where people need to do that, but most of the time people just wanted to have control over their day-to-day so they could have the freedom to do the things that they love. And so when you see people then start their business and start working like 14, 18 hour days, and weekends, you’re like, well, you completely lost all-purpose of why you even started doing this and you have to rewind back and go.

Not being a good boss to myself. I’m not sending boundaries, I’m getting caught up in the things that don’t matter. And, and it’s also easy if you run your own business to fall into the guru conversation of making a million dollars like if you get into the web industry because you want to make a million dollars, you’re in the wrong industry.

That’s not what we’re doing here. So you should make a healthy income with web because there’s enough demand for it. But like be realistic. Yeah. The type of salary you expect for the type of hours that you put in. So again, it’s really kind of coming back to why you did this, and if you’re finding it’s completely stressing you out, then you have to make some significant changes in order to stay as an entrepreneur or a business owner.

And that may include hiring people to help you make cutting out the clients that are crazy and absorbing your time in putting in products and services that are recurring so you’re not stressed out about how much money is coming in every month. And having better processes, maybe getting more education around, getting those processes and having the right tools in place and investing in yourself for, for education.

So those are the things we go back to. There’s a story that still sits with me funny enough, and I’d post about mental health the other day. And I was gonna share this on Facebook, but I think this is where I should probably share it. So I’d coached at another business program before I started my own.

And we had a Facebook group, so I remember one of the people who had showed up to every single coaching call and was very active, whatever had posted. I don’t know if this was on her personal page or in a group. Cause I just remember her post that she was in the hospital. She had basically a mental breakdown and it was too much.

And just seeing all the posts about making more money, seeing all the posts, but having better processes, doing all this stuff with your client instance, all this work, work, work, work work you had to do to get your business where it needed to be and how much money she had to make. And over six figures in this and what everybody else was signing proposals, and what she was signing, she had a mental breakdown.

And it stays with me because I hated the feeling that I would have ever contributed to that then anything I would’ve said, would’ve made her feel like she wasn’t good enough or doing enough for her business. And so the advice I would give in the elevator is don’t compare yourself to other people, but make sure that you’re doing what it is that you set out to do so that you can be happy with yourself day to day about wherever you are, you know,

Morayo: [00:23:30] Absolutely. That’s great.

Joanne: [00:23:32] Well, I’m like goosebumps. Yeah. People say fear is the mind-killer. But I also think that comparison is also the mind-killer because once you start comparing yourself, you are already putting yourself underneath what you think, you’re taking that whoever you’re, whatever you’re comparing to.

To putting it on a pedestal and putting yourself underneath. So that already is just so hard to not to do. And that is such a powerful story. Kristina, thank you. Yeah. Thanks for sharing that here. Well, yeah so faith and spirituality practice brings people together, yeah community.

I, myself I’m really into spirituality as well. It’s where I found kind of like my tribe and my people here in Houston, but in a more professional work environment, retreats also bring people together.

Kristina: [00:24:24] I love that. It’s absolutely a bridge. Good job.

Joanne: [00:24:26] Yeah. Two years ago you launched R three, the recurring revenue retreat. Co-sponsored with Hackman marketing. R three is for people who have built their businesses around recurring revenue using digital products.

Online courses and website care plans. So since R three entered the professional conference field, what different experience or unique value proposition does it offer to businesses who might already attend these type of events multiple times a year? So what would you say is the number one key differentiator of R three.

Kristina: [00:25:04] You know, I’m always surprised when people are like, oh, I’ve heard about Arthur. Cause you know, it’s such an intimate event. So we don’t strive to have big numbers. it’s an intimate event for people who really want to connect with others who are doing recurring revenue with digital products and recurring revenue services and things like that.

And so it’s, it’s actually gotten a reputation because I think it succeeds in people feeling like they belong to community. The one thing that has kind of arisen out of it is I say, we’re the conference with no ego. We take the sponsors and the speakers and the attendees, and we kind of put them on the same level because we’re all learning from one another.

And I think that I never liked going to a lot of these big events in the web space and WordPress space that you just walk around alone and you don’t know anybody and you struggle to connect. I and then the talks would be, you know, they’d run the gamut, you know? So there was a desire to have an event that really felt like not only could you show up and almost be forced to just really immediately come into this pack of people who want to support you and learn from each other, but that it also was the kind of event where you could bring your family.

That was a big, you know, motivating factor for Robert and I about why we wanted to put it together. We thought you’re writing off the business expense anyway. So you’re getting the hotel room at Disney world anyways. So you might as well bring your family. And also, I think it gave an opportunity for Robert’s spouse and mine, as well as everybody else who brings their spouse or their partner.

To see what it is that they do to get to know the people that they’re talking to online all the time. So we’ve created this kind of random unique conference that I just don’t think there’s anything else really like it. We, we’re not concerned with numbers. Thanks to our amazing sponsors. GoWP has been a sponsor for both of our events.

So you’re so far going into the third year, this year. And because of our sponsors, you know, we’re not looking Robert and I don’t look to make money off of it. We just want to cover our costs. So again, it keeps that spirit of we’re just learning from one another. We want community, we want to grow in the recurring revenue field with whatever we’re offering and provide an experience for people to really just bring, you know, bring their personal life kind of into their business life in a way, and give more perspective on it all.

Morayo: [00:27:35] You heard it here first, R three saving digital marriages year after year.

Kristina: [00:27:40] Exactly. Exactly.

Morayo: [00:27:43] Digital marriage. That sounds weird. I don’t know, but you know meant.

Kristina: [00:27:46] Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It has the ability to do that, but you know, like I think the first year 2019, when my husband came out and met Mike Killen for anyone who knows Mike, you know, they became best friends. They call each other best friends. You don’t know each other that well, but they’re buffering similar.

And so whenever I’m on a call with Mike or whatever, Dan walks by saying, he’s my best friend. Yeah. So yeah, there’s good stuff that comes out of it.

Joanne: [00:28:12] That’s so sweet. I love that because either way, you’re also spending what, I don’t know how many hours a week or you’re, you’re already spending with these people and just bringing them into, it’s already a big part of your life and pretending it’s not. So so yeah, you’ve done a couple of these already.

 What area of planning or format in terms of like people hurting or whatever or is you the most, but also, but always works out it’s cause it’s, it can be tricky

Kristina: [00:28:42] Oh, yeah, I don’t, I don’t think people. Yeah. I had run a plan and re-ran a couple of the events for WP elevation before I did, which is agency Mavericks now. So I had planned a couple events and I knew that things I didn’t want to do. So Robert does those things.

 Robert does all the event venue stuff and the one that takes all the risks.

He’s amazing. And so he does all that and I focus on really helping, you know, with the sponsors and speakers and all that great stuff. My worry every year is I just want people’s expectations to be set correctly so that I’m not letting anybody down. That’s my thing. You know, I want the sponsors to know that this isn’t like a quantity thing.

You’re not getting like a thousand people, but you’re getting like, you know, you’re getting quality. You’re getting people who are going to be your ambassadors, you know, and, and, and just shout from the rooftops about your product, because they’re going to get to hang out with you and get to know you in a different way, or the attendees to have the right expectations around the type of event it is and what they’re going to get out of it.

And the support that they get. And every, you know, the past two years I’ve been, you know, very happy with. How people walked away from the event from sponsors to speakers, to attendees, everybody is just really claimed it for the most part that you know, is one of the best events they’ve been to. So I’m like, all right.

So I just want to keep setting those expectations. Sometimes I want to under-promise over-deliver.

Morayo: [00:30:09] That sounds like a good, wonderful place to be. And now as you look towards the future, what are you looking forward to WP care market accomplishing this year or any of your other endeavors? You got a lot going on.

Kristina: [00:30:22 I know there’s a lot going on. Well, and I think that is the key. If anybody wants to talk about, you know, I’ve been reading, I’ve been posting about my mental health and things like that, you know, those are the things. If I can do my side projects and do the things that I’m passionate about. You know, my multi-passionate multi projects that I do, but that is kind of the point for me that I guess that contributes to my mental health.

I’m able to create, I’m able to create, I’m able to release my creativity in all aspects. Maybe it’s the web world, maybe it’s travel or maybe it’s spirituality, right? So I’m creating an, all these different areas that I, that I’m excited about. And I’m not being held back into one because I get to be an entrepreneur and I get to make my own roles.

These are my roles and I’m sticking to them. So, so for WP care market, there’s, you know you know, the, world’s your oyster kind of thing. I want to do more partnerships in this new year. To me, the secret sauce is just really wanting to help people. And out of that, I’ve created amazing friendships with people in the industry.

Like with Brad and Emily here, I’d go WP with, with many others. And so I just want to just use those relationships to say, what can we do? What can we do together to really help people even more? There’s only so much that I can do on my teeny tiny little soap box. But I know that I can help other companies achieve great success with the message that they want to put out and what we want to help people with.

So that’s what I’m thinking for the new year. Just wanting to focus more on, on partnerships and where it can come alongside people rather than trying to do things myself.

Morayo: [00:31:56] Yeah.

Joanne: [00:31:57] That’s awesome. I love to hear that. I love to hear everything. Communal partnerships, elevating each other has always like, gives me a little bit of more hope to see that people are just not fully okay with doing things on their own. So that’s always exciting to hear. So our last question is pretty straightforward.

How do you create happiness either for yourself or for your family and your business, but let’s give it for yourself?. We’ve talked to enough about the business. How are you creating happiness for yourself?

Kristina: [00:32:28] That’s a great point. My kids, my kids are really a source, a lot of my happiness. I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing. Cause then they’re like sometimes there are tiny terrors and little dictators of my life, but no, I’m happy. You know, I was thinking about, you know, Every day, I cannot complain.

I’m very happy and my family’s healthy and we’ve got, you know, lovely little life. And I just delight in the people around me. So, you know, my family, my kids, my friends, and I just, I delight in them and their successes are my successes. So my daughter got a role in the play at the school. I don’t want her to be an actress. Let’s get that out of the way,

Joanne: [00:33:09] You’re like, you’re not moving to New York City at 17 years old. It is not happening.

Kristina: [00:33:13] We are, hopefully, you stabbing at school play, but you know, and my, and my son with the sports and all their creativity and in all their successes in life. So that’s it. I mean, delighting in the success of others, that is how I create happiness.

Joanne: [00:33:28] That sounds delightful.

Morayo: [00:33:29] It really does. I thought happiness was created in that Sherry. Thank you. And you know, I didn’t know you at all before this conversation today, Kristina. So I’m really thankful that you came on with us and joined us and thank you for this conversation. It’s been really, really, really lovely.

And thank you all for joining us. You can read more about Kristina and her other projects that we discussed today at the ones that WP care market and her others at wpcaremarket.com or kristinaromero.com.

Joanne: [00:34:00] Yeah, Kristina, thank you so much for joining us today. This was awesome.

Kristina: [00:34:05] Oh, thank you guys. You really ran the whole gamut of my life. So thank you. Thank you for hitting all those points. Hopefully, we tied them all together in a way that makes sense.

Joanne: [00:34:15] Yeah, I think so. It’s always fascinating to learn about people’s story and I’m doing air quotes, but like ended up being the successful entrepreneur or business owner that they are today. So it’s always a delight to hear. How everyone has just like so starkly different stories and it’s what it makes everyone unique.

Kristina: [00:34:34] Yeah. And there’s a lot to learn from one another, even from you guys, there’s a lot to learn, so thank you for facilitating the conversation and even bringing up the Hoggy of a study. I saw that in your notes and I was like, all right, well share. Let’s share that then.

Joanne: [00:34:49] Yeah

Morayo: [00:34:50] We’re not afraid to dig and bring up anything. Yeah.

Joanne: [00:34:53] Yeah. We’re like a little, what are those tools called? The pick and the shovel.

Kristina: [00:34:58] Yeah.

Joanne: [00:34:59] She’s Pickering, and I’m shoveling things up anyway. Thank you so much, everyone, for joining us today, don’t forget to like and subscribe and to get this and other episodes of the GoWP digital agency owners podcast, wherever you get your podcasts.

And just a quick reminder at GoWP, we want to help you become more profitable, whether it’s by listening to our podcast and or joining our weekly happiness hours or viewing informative webinars, hosted by our friends, such as Kristina Romero in the WordPress community.

And of course, by growing your team with our skilled developers, copywriters designers or project managers go to gowp.com to read more about our services and to schedule a call.