084: From NICU Nurse to PPC Pro: A Career Pivot Story with Sara Strickland (Office Hours)

Full Episode Transcript 

Danny Gavin Host

00:05

Hello, I’m Danny Gavin , founder of Optage, marketing professor and the host of the Digital Marketing Mentor. Today we have Sarah Strickland, who is a paid search coordinator at Optage, who joined the team back in March of 2024. Prior to joining Optage, Sarah worked as a staff NICU nurse and then a travel NICU nurse at several hospitals around the country. Today, we’re going to talk about career transitions, specifically nursing to digital marketing, which is a big jump, and how beginners can get started in PPC. How are you doing, Sarah?

Sara Strickland  Guest

01:27

I’m good. Thanks for having me. I’m excited

Danny Gavin Host

01:29

Yeah, me too. So, sarah, let’s start off. Where did you go to school and what did you study.

 

Sara Strickland Guest

01:33

So I went to the University of Texas at Austin, Hookham, and I got a bachelor’s of science in nursing.

 

Danny Gavin Host

01:39

So was nursing something that you knew you wanted to do early on, like when you were a kid or in high school.

Sara Strickland Guest

01:45

It actually wasn’t. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do in high school. I was a vet tech forever and I thought I wanted to be a vet and decided I didn’t want to do that. So when I went to college I kind of just did the basic studies program and I thought I was going to choose engineering, because I’ve always been really into numbers and math. I love math.

02:08

But I basically went to one career fair and after talking to some different booths and whatnot companies, I decided that was not ultimately going to be for me. I love to talk to people, interact and not to say that engineering couldn’t be that. But I figured it would be a lot of sitting behind a desk with just numbers. So I kind of took a leap of faith and I applied to the nursing program at UT, just knowing that I would like the idea of it, and then if I liked the clinicals I was just going to fully commit. So I got into it and I loved it. I loved my classes, I loved my clinicals and then when I was graduating I applied to a neonatal ICU program in Houston and I got accepted and just kind of again trusted the process and went into it. I loved it, so that’s kind of how I got into it.

Danny Gavin Host

02:58

Wow. So knowing you for a pretty long time now, I had no clue that you wanted to go into engineering and that makes so much sense about where you are today and I think we’ll get to it. Just curious, like other nurses that you’ve met, do you feel like naturally, a lot of them also kind of lean towards numbers or analytics, or was this I don’t want to use the term fluke? Obviously that’s a very big part of you, but also like your people is a big part of you. So obviously that pushed you in that direction. But do you see like your people is a big part of you. So obviously that pushed you in that direction. But do you see?

Sara Strickland Guest

03:28

Did you see any other theme there, or like there’s some analytical people here. You know it’s hard to say, but what I will say is that these people are really good at trends, whether it’s trends in health. You know vital signs with their patients. So I guess, if you want to relate it that way to numbers, I would say nurses are keenly aware of changes, trends, and that’s how we get so good at our job. Um, you know, we get the baseline of a patient or some vital signs or whatever it is, and change from that. You know any deviations we’re pretty good at finding. So I would say that is more the common trend rather than numbers. I will say a lot of my nursing friends are more into English literature writing than they are math. I wouldn’t say a lot of them love math, but it is definitely a huge part of the job, just with medications and whatnot.

 

Danny Gavin Host

04:16

So yeah, although one of the degrees that. If someone says, hey, Danny, I should go to college for digital, you know, and I want to get into digital marketing, what undergrad should I get? I often tell people that, like, english is a really good idea, so that that doesn’t shock me either. That’s amazing. After working as a staff nurse, you decided to do travel nursing. Tell me about that change.

Sara Strickland Guest

04:36

So that change came during COVID because I was in Houston at the time and, to be honest, I did not have a great experience in Houston because a lot of the things that you can do going to museums, a lot of indoor activities there’s not too much that you can do, especially during the summers, outside, and I really wanted to move to another state and experience a state other than Texas. So I moved to North Carolina to work at the university, or Duke University, rather the hospital associated with it. I really loved North Carolina. I didn’t love working at that hospital and I just think again it was the trenches of COVID.

05:15

I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted, where I wanted to work. I’ve told myself you know what I can’t keep hopping hospitals, you know committing to them and then hopping from them. So naturally, travel nursing was like well, I made for you. So I committed to that and it gave me the opportunity to basically try out all the hospitals I wanted to. You know, generally the contracts are around three months and so I yeah, I jumped into it about a year after working at Duke.

Danny Gavin Host

05:44

So, skipping to today, what motivated you to transition from nursing to digital marketing? Were there any specific experiences or moments? And obviously, I think what the audience will see is like oh my gosh, Sarah, like you went through all the training and the education and everything and suddenly you’re like, okay, this is not for me anymore and I want to move on to something else. So yeah, tell us. How did that transpire?

Sara Strickland Guest

06:08

Well, I first want to say I still, I still really do love nursing, I love working in the NICU. I wouldn’t say it was necessarily a burnout from the actual career itself. A huge reason I made the shift is the work-life balance, and I know that sounds crazy because you only work three days as a nurse and get four off. But I will say that does get old because it doesn’t really align with society’s schedule, I’d say, especially now that I’m older and I’ve been able to really take advantage of that schedule, especially when I travel nursed. But the schedule didn’t align with a lot of my friends and my family at the end of the day. And then I got married and that realization that sometimes we’d be on opposite schedules really helped push me in the direction of a change as well.

06:53

And I love having a daily schedule, knowing I can go to the grocery store or the gym after work, and having time to cook dinner. Those are all really big things to me. And it helped that I had gotten some exposure to digital marketing through my sister and she is very passionate about it. So therefore it looked really appealing to me and, like I said, I love the analyzing side of nursing and I’ve always really liked numbers so I knew I could get into the strategy of it and I liked a little bit of work I had done, which we can get into later. But I had heard amazing things about the environment of the company and I wanted in. So I wanted to learn more and I wanted to be part of Optage specifically. But I think it really helped knowing how amazing the company was and treated their employees. That made the jump a little bit easier and more appealing.

 

Danny Gavin Host

07:43

So you kind of had a little bit of a cheat code because you had this amazing schedule for some right Not for everyone, but you had free time and therefore at Optage we were looking for a writer or someone to help us with some digital marketing tasks. And Rachel’s like, hey, why not my sister, she’s got extra time and she’d love to do it. So you did that and then, obviously later on, you also had an internship at Optage, so having that schedule allowed you to kind of do things at once. Yes, I wonder, like for our audience, for people who might not have that schedule, is it good to try to be able to do both at one time? Because maybe to let go of what you’re doing completely and try the next thing might be too difficult. Can you talk to that a bit?

 

Sara Strickland Guest

08:24

I would say, if you’re considering a career change specifically to digital marketing and you’re already in another full-time position, that is definitely very tough, but I think it’s doable and I wouldn’t necessarily completely jump ship from your current career, because I think it’s really important to test something out before you fully commit to it.

08:45

So I was really lucky with Optage because, like you said, I had been able to do a little bit of tasks with you guys before, especially during COVID, and I liked the tasks that I did, no matter how small, no matter how big.

08:58

And if I hadn’t had the time to fully jump into it like I did, I think I still would have you know outside of a full-time job, whether it’s on the weekends, I think it’s really important to do your research, whether it’s, you know, starting an online class on the side, that you can do a little bit at a time when you have that free time. I think that’s really important to do, because you don’t want to jump into something before you know that you can commit to it with your mind, body and soul. Right, that was big for me as a nurse, coming out of college and realizing, hey, I’m not really sure what I want to do where I want to work, and I don’t want to keep making these commitments without knowing full well that I’m going to stay in them. So I think that is something you really need to consider before jumping ship completely.

 

Danny Gavin Host

09:46

So can you describe any challenges that you have faced during your transition and how you overcame them?

 

Sara Strickland Guest

09:51

Yeah, I’d say my biggest challenge I’ve had, and this one has been really surprising to me. But when I moved out of nursing I was excited for the relief, the relief from the type of stress I was experiencing at work as a nurse. When you’re new you’re probably stressed. Going into work for the first year or so You’re working some longer, some shorter. You know it depends on the specialty too, but I’d say it never fully goes away and it kind of just gets dulled.

10:21

I think that’s why some people, including myself, at times get burnout. Because you feel that intensity of stress, or to go away, or at least you think it is, but really it’s just old, and because it’s not as severe as you felt it at first, you think it’s gone. But one bad day can make you realize, man, it’s never gone away and I think that’s fair and normal. Because you’re dealing with people’s lives, you should feel a level of stress. So, making the decision to change careers, I was looking forward to not having that type of stress you feel when trying to keep someone alive or healthy, and what I found is it’s a whole different kind of stress now. Granted, I’m back in my new phase, so I know I’m feeling the stress to a higher degree, but I worry still. It’s just different.

11:12

I stress about doing my best. I stress about my clients and their accounts because I really do care about them. I don’t want to waste their money. I want to do the absolute best that I can. I want them to succeed. It’s their business, their livelihood, you know, their family. It’s more than just making money, so it matters and so I carry that stress and it’s definitely gotten better. But I’ve had to sit back sometimes and be like okay, Sarah, you’re not trying to keep someone alive. It’s important, yes, but you don’t have to feel this level of stress and I think you can still have drive without being stressed, if that makes sense.

Danny Gavin Host

11:52

So I think, with certain individuals who are real go-getters, naturally they’re going to want to do their best. So there is that level of stress that’s always going to be there and the key is how can we balance it. And maybe I’m obviously not telling you how to think or what to do, but naturally, if you found it in one place and in another place, I imagine if you would go to a third place, you still would want to do your best and therefore that would always exist. So I think the good news is and obviously it’s different, right, it’s different stresses in different locations but knowing that there is this part of you that you have to deal with, the trick is how to manage it and still be motivated to help people, but also realize that there is a certain amount that’s out of our control and therefore I got to let go a little bit as well

 

Sara Strickland Guest

12:42

Yeah, and just the fact that if you’re doing your best, then that’s all that matters, right? You’re putting your full potential somewhere, and then good things will come from that too.

 

Danny Gavin Host

12:51

So, on a positive note, how has your understanding of patient care helped you in understanding customer needs and behavior in digital marketing?

Sara Strickland Guest

12:59

As a nurse, I sometimes feel like a professional people reader, if you will. Yeah, I pride myself in being able to read people and how they’re feeling, and if I can’t, I’m comfortable asking. So, yeah, it’s taught me to validate people’s feelings and situations. It’s taught me to be nonjudgmental to the way people choose to live their life or the decisions they make, and it’s taught me to look at all people in a way that’s more than just a patient or, in this situation, a client. You know, people typically don’t get upset for just any reason. It might be something you can’t relate to, but there’s always something you can do to help or at least validate how they’re feeling, and I think that goes a long way in professional relationships too.

 

13:45

I hope that all of my clients see that I care for their business and that they feel like they’re my only client, even though I have multiple, and I’ll always try to make them feel important to me because they are and their well-being matters. But the interpersonal skills and let me immediately tell you this is something I’m definitely not perfect at, but I do consider it a stronger suit, and I’ve taken care of a lot of people in a lot of different places and you meet many different personalities. I’ve had some good experiences. I’ve had bad experiences. I’ve had patients, their families yell at me, you know, but both have shaped me to be able to communicate and have discussions with just about anyone. And every now and then I still get a challenge and I’m not going to say that I’m always at the top of my game here, but it’s definitely helped me move into a role where I speak with clients.

 

Danny Gavin Host

14:38

So, outside of what you’ve already covered, any other advice you’d give to others considering a career shift, especially those coming from a non-traditional background?

 

Sara Strickland Guest

14:46

I think you can always make a career shift, so I say, go for it. My advice is that if you do go for it, make sure you find an environment that’s nurturing and fosters growth. Find a company that really cares about their employees and their work-life balance. A career shift will never feel good if they don’t respect what goes on in your life too, even if it’s a field you love. I think that’s why nursing can burden people out, because a lot of hospitals don’t really give two hoots about your life outside of work and the fact that you’re a whole other person than what you just do for work. So I think that’s important. And then, just take your time to do the research, talk to the people in the field, take a course on the subject you’re interested in before committing to Optage. I actually took the beginnings of an online coding class and I quickly realized that was not gonna be for me, but it helped confirm that digital marketing was closer to what I liked. So that’s probably what I would say.

 

Danny Gavin Host

 

15:41

Although we won’t tell everyone that in your job yourself, you’re doing a little bit of coding here and there, and you’re doing a great job at it.

 

Sara Strickland Guest

15:48

So you’re good. Anyhow, it’s been a learning curve, but yes.

Danny Gavin Host

 All right, Sarah. So who have been some of your most influential colleagues who have mentored you?

 

Sara Strickland Guest

16:49

Rachel, my sister was a huge beginning influencer and Rachel worked at Optage before I did and she had been. She’s been with you guys for seven, eight years, I can’t quite remember, but I’ve been hearing her strategize for years. But the more I got involved the more it started to make sense, kind of like learning a new language. It seems so foreign at first but it’s really fun when you realize that you’re starting to understand it and becoming fluent in certain areas. I got the unfiltered thoughts of Rachel and the trust was obviously there from the start because she’s my sister. So it was really easy to be able to ask kind of like the dumb questions, if you will, because she’s my sister, you know she might. You know, growing up she already thought that I was the dumb little sister. No, I’m just kidding, but in all honesty it does take the pressure off because I knew she wouldn’t judge my questions. So that was really helpful.

17:46

And then my second mentor has been Brianna. For sure she’s the head of paid search for Optage currently. She made me feel the same way Rachel did and I found that I could ask her as many questions as I needed without judgment or annoyance. I was really worried to lose Rachel when she went on maternity leave, but even before she left, I found great leadership from Rihanna and found myself just as gravitated to her as I was Rachel. Their minds were both so interesting to listen to and the best part was when you know they had completely opposite perspectives sometimes in how to look at something. In areas like an SQR, for example, I use two different ways to analyze and it’s worked really great. But yeah, I could go on about how great they both are, but they’ve been the most influential for sure.

 

Danny Gavin Host

18:38

Yeah, for those who don’t know what an SQR is, that’s a search query report and that’s a report that you pull in a Google Ads campaign or Microsoft ads. That shows what are the actual terms that people typed in and some of those are going to make sense for your campaigns and others are not, and therefore, by analyzing that report, you can make changes to optimize so that you get better performance. You know what I find amazing. Sarah is often like. When someone’s found something that they really like, it’s kind of like it’s mine, and it’s sometimes hard to share, I know with my siblings. I find it remarkable that Rachel Optage and digital marketing was kind of her thing, but she opened up a space to be like hey, no, I want you to come in also. I want you to feel what I’m feeling, do what you do. I find that really special because I don’t think that’s a given all the time.

 

Sara Strickland Guest

19:23

Yeah, I think it’s been really fun our relationship as sisters, because naturally, in most sibling relationships when you’re younger I think that’s true you know you want especially the older sibling. I’m sure and I can’t speak to that because I’m the baby but I’m sure it’s nice having your own thing, and I do feel like I was always wanting to do what she did. Right, she’s the you know, cooler, older sister that I want to be just like. But as we’ve gotten older, both of us have realized that it’s really nice to be able to relate to each other and so I think when I started getting involved in Optage, it was really quite fun being able to have discussions with each other. And still now, you know, I can bring up issues to her and we’ll talk for like an hour about it, right, and it’s been so awesome just to have that type of conversation with her because, yeah, going growing up, I did band.

20:16

When she did band, I did color guard. When she did color guard, I went to the same college as her. She was briefly interested in nursing and then I was interested in nursing. It’s always just kind of been aligned with each other but yeah, she’s always been just so open to sharing.

Danny Gavin Host

20:34

Yeah, I’m trying to think about all the different marketers that I know. Do they have a sister or sibling? A lot of them don’t, so I feel like it’s a really unique situation and really special. Yeah, it’s so cool. Yes, let’s talk a little bit about you’ve got these two mentors in your professional life currently. How has that translated in you becoming a mentor to others? I know you’re still like at the coordinator position, but you have had the opportunity to teach others and show. That’s a big part of Opt-Edge, right, we’re always like we’re learning, but we’re always giving as well and teaching. So tell me a little bit about your mentorship style currently.

Sara Strickland Guest

21:08

I wouldn’t say that I mentor a specific person, but it’s been really fun taking on the responsibility of reviewing things for other people who are starting to train in paid search. And I think it’s a very needed challenge to be able to teach or mentor someone else, because it challenges the current knowledge that you have about it. So for an SQR, for example, I will be reviewing someone’s work in it and I’m realizing, oh my gosh, I need to be able to explain this strategy to them or this mindset. So it’s been super helpful for me because it forces me to talk about or explain topics that you think you know but you’ve never really had to describe. And then I would say it’s kind of moving into my clients as well.

21:55

For example, with one of my clients, the point of contact didn’t know too much about PPC and he asked a lot of questions and it’s been really fun to walk them through things and be challenged by their questions, because it gives me a better understanding of what I do and don’t know. It brings a certain humility, right. So mentorship kind of shines a light on you and exposes any holes that you might have. But those are just areas you can use for improvement, right. You know, no one knows everything, and just because you may be a mentor doesn’t mean you can’t keep learning or change your mindset on something.

22:29

And it’s been cool because, like with Rachel and Brianna, they both have passion, right, you have to be able to like what you’re talking about and be excited about sharing it with someone else, and then there’s a certain amount of candor. I would say. I love how unfiltered and real Brianna and Rachel are with me. You know, it builds that trust, it creates a really open environment for discussion, and so I want to use that in all those different methods or keys, if you will, and I want to apply them to my clients too, because I think mentoring your clients is huge, and being on the same team, if that makes sense.

 

Danny Gavin Host

23:08

Yeah, totally, and I’m so excited that you align with my sort of vision about the best way to learn is by teaching right. To me, that’s like the biggest thing ever and that’s so cool that you see the value in that. Not just you know you have to do it sometimes, but you’re actually embracing that and it’s like, ooh, that’s how I really understand what I’m talking about.

 

Sara Strickland Guest

23:26

Yes, for sure, or you know, someone will ask me a question. I’m like I don’t. I don’t know the answer to that.

 

Danny Gavin Host

23:30

Let me go look it up, let me go ask my colleagues you know people who know better than I do and get Because, although you’re not a beginner, but you were there recently, so let’s talk about it. So you talked about transferable skills. Are there any foundational knowledge or skills that a beginner should have before diving into the world of Google, ads or PPC?

 

Sara Strickland Guest

23:57

Yeah, so I kind of have two answers to this. The skill of asking questions is so important, you know you need to be comfortable asking people for help and for insight. That was the main skill I had coming in and it’s also been the most useful, I’d say. I would also say that I think it’s helpful to become familiar with the digital marketing ecosystem as well, and you can do this really before diving in. You’ll obviously know it much better once you’re in it, but it helped knowing how SEO, social media and Google all work together in supporting the marketing of a business before I really got into it. So those are my two pieces of advice. I’d say.

 

Danny Gavin Host

24:41

It is so true and why is it true Is because when we don’t see people asking questions, we’re actually worried that there’s something wrong, and we’ve actually said people. You know you’re not the right fit because you don’t ask questions and like to add it on top. I’m not sure if you knew this story, sarah, but the whole reason that I hired your sister in the first place was because she used to come after class. She was my student at U of H and she’d come after class and ask me questions and because of that she actually elevated herself in front of everyone else and I was like oh, she’s got it. So it’s cool that that theme right, it’s kind of like it’s in the Strickland DNA, but it’s also it’s in the theme. It’s really that’s how you can become a good digital marketer and good at PPC.

 

Sara Strickland Guest

25:26

And I definitely got that ingrained in me from nursing as well. You can definitely get comfortable in nursing, but you’re never, and should not be, in a spot where you’re like, okay, I know everything, I don’t have to worry or care about messing up, I don’t need to learn anymore. No, because if that is your mindset, chances are you’re actually not that good of a nurse, and the most amazing nurses I’ve met have been the most humble people you’ll ever meet and they’re always open to learning. They love to teach new nurses, patients, families, whatever it is. They’re confident, but they’re not overly confident and they ask why, which is huge.

26:03 During rounds they ask the doctors questions why are we doing this? Hey, I don’t understand the reasoning behind an order. Can you explain it to me? Why are we giving them this medicine? So, yeah, that behavior has been instilled in me and has really prepped me well to move into a career where, essentially, I knew close to nothing and had to be okay, going from a career where I had that confidence and years of knowledge and experience to a place of having to start over. And yeah, as you said, I feel like it’s just been ingrained in our family also to ask a lot of questions.

 

Danny Gavin Host

26:35

So I wonder back, like thinking back at college or high school, or even like grade school, elementary school. Were you the type of person who would ask questions and raise your hand?

 

Sara Strickland Guest

26:44

Oh yeah oh yeah, I mean it makes me laugh hearing the story about Rachel in office hours, because I actually remember my first year at UT I took an astronomy class. It was just a required extracurricular class you had to take and it was a hard stinking class. I don’t know what it was, but it was so difficult because our professor he was like this huge astronomer, studied black holes was just really nerdy and would get into it and I was so lost so I think I spent hours with that man outside of class in his office hours asking questions. So I’m kind of upset that he didn’t offer me a job in astronomy like he did with Rachel. But that just cracks me up because I can relate deeply to it.

 

Danny Gavin Host

27:32

That’s awesome. So what are some common misconceptions about PPC that beginners should be aware of?

 

Sara Strickland Guest

27:37

The biggest one is that the small things don’t matter. Because they do, they matter so much. And being a beginner and going slower is not bad, and I’ve had to tell myself this over the last couple of months because when you go slow I almost like would feel bad, that I’m going slower through certain tasks or whatever. But I’ve ended up catching small mistakes before because I was moving slowly and going through the details and asking questions, and sometimes it’s really good to have green eyes in the account to ask questions of why something is set up a certain way, because you know you never know what you’re going to find. So I would say that’s the first thing.

28:17

And then another one that I get from, you know, my friends who don’t necessarily know anything about digital marketing, is that it can be done entirely by AI or automation. No, there has to be a strategist to have their hands in it and in fact, if you let automation take a lead, you’ll miss out on great opportunity within the account. You know you can have the greatest AI machine Google but it has to have a strategist to help mold and direct the account to. You know best, optimize performance.

 

Danny Gavin Host

28:46

So talk about optimization and analysis. Any tips or tricks, specifically when a beginner is starting to analyze performance of an account. Any things that you found useful.

Sara Strickland Guest

28:57

Yeah, I would say again, no detail is too small. And then setting up reminders and cadences for yourself. To-do lists are very important, especially as I learned how to prioritize, so making sure nothing gets lost in the sauce. Essentially, you know everything needs to be accounted for. There’s so many things that you have to optimize on a schedule right, and then try to go through whatever you’re analyzing yourself first and then have someone review it and input their own suggestions, ask questions about how they got there, a lot of whys and how questions. Those are the best.

29:34

But I would say, if it’s their first time doing something, just push yourself to go through it, even if it’s really, really uncomfortable and it’s gonna be bumpy and you’re probably gonna miss a lot of things. But I think that first attempt by yourself is really important, and then having someone go in and almost being like, okay, this is what I found in it, and then you can look at what they find and ask questions. Well, how’d you get there? Or maybe I was. I was closer to getting there than I thought and it kind of gives you some more confidence going through it, you know.

 

Danny Gavin Host

30:03

So I think that brings up two interesting points. Number one on your last point, it helps to have someone that you can ask questions to and to review your work, right. Being in a situation where you don’t have someone there, you could still run the campaigns and do what you need to, but I guess that learning curve it’s going to take a lot longer. So that’s an interesting point. The second one is something that I remembered is like when you first start out, you usually get like one or two accounts, right. So at that point it’s really easy to remember what you’re doing and what you’re at. But naturally, as you’re getting better and you get more on your plate, having those reminders can be really important, because it’s difficult if you’re working on 5, 10, you know some agencies, by the way, put 70 accounts on one person. We don’t do that at Optage, but right, when you’re working on a lot of accounts, yeah, you need to have those reminders and those checklists and to-do lists. So I’m really glad that you brought that up.

 

Sara Strickland Guest

30:54

Yeah, and I have like 10 checklists. I don’t recommend that for everyone, but I have so many that I don’t even know. There’s no way I can forget, because they’re all plastered around me all the time.

Danny Gavin Host

31:06

Yeah, you’ll have to take a picture of your wall, and then we can get included in the episode. Last question on this topic. You know, obviously Google’s changing all the time. Google ads are changing all the time. How do you personally keep track of the changes and just being on top of what’s happening in the world of Google Ads?

 

Sara Strickland Guest

31:23

I feel like I really lean on my colleagues for this. I mean, I have recently gotten a LinkedIn because I really didn’t need one before with nursing and LinkedIn is amazing. I don’t know if you guys know this. I’m so late to the game, but, man, I have seen some really cool posts from people, or just you know my colleagues sending stuff into our Slack threads Like, hey, did you guys see this article that was posted? Google’s doing this in a couple of months. I mean that’s been really, really cool. But that’s kind of how I do. It is. It’s LinkedIn, it’s through my colleagues just being open to reading articles. That’s kind of where you have to continue to be able to learn in the field plays in Right.

 

Danny Gavin Host

32:06

Yeah, and honestly it’s interesting. I was just talking to my executive assistant about, like, my email inbox and things like that and I’m not reading. Like I’ve signed up to a couple of newsletters, I don’t read them anymore. You know why? Because LinkedIn is so great. Like the bottom line is, you know people are on there, they’re talking. Just being there, you kind of know what’s going on. So I’m so glad that you created a LinkedIn account and, yeah, I’m happy to share with people that I think you should follow now that I know you’re there and want to look. But there’s definitely some key Google Ads, ppc players on there that I follow and I learn a lot from.

 

Sara Strickland Guest

32:38

Yes, definitely. That would be great because I mean, even now I I kind of like I will, I’ll look at your LinkedIn, I’ll look at optages and kind of see like what posts are trending related to it. And that’s been. I mean, that’s been working. But yeah, I would love to follow more.

Danny Gavin Host

32:53

Cool. So before we wrap up, I’d love to do like a quick top three. So, for people who don’t know, you’re a musician, so I’d love to talk about your love of music love of playing an instrument.

 

Sara Strickland Guest

33:07

What’s special about it for you? Again, with Rachel, she did band in middle school, and so that was my first exposure to it. My grandfather was always really musical, but I would argue that he is the only musical person in our family. And so when Rachel did band I was like, wow, this is so cool. And I remember being in elementary school and I don’t know if it was like for PE or whatever it was an assembly they brought a trumpet player in and he could play the trumpet. He could play a song without pressing the valves, and I thought that was so cool. I can see, I can still picture it. And so when I went to middle school, I knew that I wanted to do band and I was just praying that I could play trumpet. And I remember walking into the band hall and the band director took one look at me and he said you have the embouchure for a trumpet player. And I just feel like the universe is like Sarah, this is it? So that’s kind of how it started.

34:02

And I played trumpet, for I think it’s 12 years that I’ve played and I don’t play regularly now, but I could still pick it up for sure, and it’s kind of led me into. You know, now, especially during COVID, I was like I kind of want to learn another one, and so that’s why I picked up the mandolin and I’ve started teaching myself that. But it’s been difficult because a string instrument is very different from a brass or a wind instrument. So it’s been a fun challenge but it’s very stress relieving for me. So if I’ve had a stressful day I’ll just pick it up and kind of tinker on it, and it’s just so fun and it brings me such joy.

 

Danny Gavin Host

34:45

I love my guitar and I feel the same way. That’s so cool you’re learning mandolin.

Sara Strickland Guest

34:47

I’m gonna have to send you some bands that I think scott that have some pretty cool music, very into bluegrass with the mandolin, so anything related to that or not, I mean bring it on. I know that there’s like some good Spanish music with it too, so and then.

 

Danny Gavin Host

34:59

So, finally, with travel, like you’re, you’ve been a traveler, so I’d love to hear your best place that you lived or visited, and maybe the one that you know the worst place.

Sara Strickland Guest

35:09

Yeah, so my best, my most favorite place in the whole world is Denver, colorado. It was, and honestly it was the location, yes, but I found family there, like I had the best friendships in Denver and really liked the hospital too, so it was all around just great. I would say the worst and you’re going to laugh at this because I’m currently here has been Seattle, because I hate the rain. The location is really awesome and it’s beautiful when it’s not raining, but, yeah, I would say Seattle has been my least favorite and I’ve been to Florida, all around North Carolina. So, yeah, I definitely like the West Coast, but the East Coast has a special place in my heart as well.

 

Danny Gavin Host

35:53

My only joke about Seattle is that both my wife and I and our families live in Houston. So whenever there’s some family trouble I’m like honey, let’s just get up and we’ll move to Seattle, because it’s the furthest place away from Houston as possible.

Sara Strickland Guest

36:06

So yeah, I know it’s just so far and Pacific time. I don’t know what it is, but it feels just eons behind everyone else.

Danny Gavin Host

36:15

So, Sarah, where can people find you?

Sara Strickland Guest

36:17

I am now on LinkedIn, so you can find me there under my married name, and then I do have an Instagram and a Facebook, but I am not on what is it? X? Now? I’m not on X and I’ve never been on X and I don’t plan on being on X.

 

Danny Gavin Host

36:35

That’s fine. I think LinkedIn and Instagram are good places to be Perfect Cool. Well, Sarah, this has really been lovely. Thank you so much for sharing your perspective, your journey. I’m sure it’s going to help so many people see that the impossible is possible. And, yeah, this has been a wonderful conversation.

Sara Strickland Guest

36:52

Yeah, thanks for having me. This is so fun. My first podcast.

Danny Gavin Host

36:56

Yes, and hopefully many more.

Sara Strickland Guest

36:57

Yes.

Danny Gavin Host

36:59

Thank you, listeners, for tuning into the Digital Marketing Mentor. We’ll speak with you next time.

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