Meet Shana Bull | Children’s Book Author, Freelance Writer & Marketing Educator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shana Bull and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shana, what do you attribute your success to?
The most important factor behind the success of my business is networking. Creating and maintaining relationships is key to success. While this was easier to do when I didn’t have a small child at home, I have tried to make time for connections (well, pre-pandemic and now trying this again).

In the beginning of my career, I would say yes to almost any free networking event or lunch with a colleague. Now, I’ve worked with some marketing agencies over and over again for 8+ years, and coworkers have become clients, and clients have become friends. And many of those friends have become the best customers of my books.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I definitely did not set out to become a business owner. It just sort of happened. I was laid off from my second marketing job in 2008/2009 and started teaching classes on social media to hospitality businesses in my hometown (a local tourism company asked me via Twitter).

Quickly, I found that an hour-long class on how to engage on Twitter, and Facebook was not enough for brands. They actually wanted me to work with them on one on one consulting, or simply to start taking over their social media accounts. So I became a business owner by accident. Thirteen years later, I’m still going strong as a social media marketing educator, and now a freelance writer, and best-selling children’s book author.

When I first started my small business, I had no idea what I was doing. Even though I eventually fell into a groove and figured things out, it was still a risk to keep going.

In recent years, I’ve started taking bigger risks. This includes hiring contractors to help me with editing my articles, and creating social media posts for my own business, as well as the children’s books. In fact, publishing my children’s books has been a bit of a gamble – I went with a hybrid model where I paid my publisher to help with all of the details I didn’t know about. Formatting my book, best practices for how a children’s story looks, and then of course getting it on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, etc.

So far, these risks have been paying off – being an author is a dream come true for me. And while it doesn’t bring in the most amount of money in my business, it does bring in a slow and steady income that will only grow by publishing more books.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My favorite place in Southern California is the Long Beach Aquarium. I am going to say it’s even better than the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Yup.

My son loves visiting, looking at all the animals, touching the rays, and playing in the water playground outside. I love the food at the restaurant.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My son, Ryeson, who also happens to be my co-author of our children’s book series.

Website: randallthebluespider.com and shanabull.com

Instagram: sharayray and randallthebluespider

Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/shanabull

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sharayray

Image Credits
Loren Hansen Photography,