Meet Liz Melton of The Intelligent Influencer in Studio City

Today we’d like to introduce you to Liz Melton.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Liz. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
I am the creator of The Intelligent Influencer. I encourage entrepreneurs to run efficient businesses so that they can do what they do best–create. I started this service to assist creatives and as a creative outlet for myself. My focus is on optimizing productivity, but I like to throw in some inspiration and financial tips along the way.

I would love to tell you a little about myself, and how this idea came to be. First, a little backstory! I grew up in a suburb of Chicago and was a competitive figure skater from the age of six. Skating taught me so much about expressing my creativity and appreciating beauty. Most importantly, skating taught me dedication and organization in my formative years that stuck with me ever since.

By my sophomore year in high school, I was over-trained. I got badly injured and had to take a break from skating. On this break, I had to make what was–at the time–an agonizing decision: pursue skating full-time, or go to college like a normal eighteen-year-old. I wanted so badly to be an elite skater and compete at Worlds, or even the Olympics one day. It was crushing to think that I would never get there.

I worked so hard for 12 years, but was it worth it? Working that hard got me hurt, unable to compete at the highest levels. Was working hard really all it took to be successful? I couldn’t accept that as true. There had to be some x-factor as well. I now think of that missing factor as “working smart.” Unbeknownst to me, I was already learning how to work smart.

Even though I wasn’t working smart in my skating regimen, I did learn how to prioritize my studies. I did my homework while multitasking in other classes, during breaks at the rink, or in my competition hotel room. It paid off–I got into the school of my dreams, Stanford University. Stanford is as gorgeous as it looks, and the people are just as friendly. But I was overwhelmed.

Each person I met had something incredibly special about them. I was in awe of everyone and told myself I’d have to work triple overtime to keep up. So I did. I maxed myself out: I joined the sailing team. I founded my own volunteer clubs. I pledged a sorority. I took pre-med classes. As you might expect, I was totally drained. If that weren’t enough, my father passed away the fall of my senior year.

I took a leave of absence from school and reflected a lot on my life. Somehow I’d gotten to a place where I was exclusively working hard. Nothing was done in a prioritized way – I just told myself I had to do and be everything. If I didn’t want to suffer mental and physical consequences, I needed to look for a career that would allow me to problem solve creatively and teach me to maximize my “working smart” abilities. It sounds silly, but I found that career in technology consulting.

Accenture grew my organizational skills exponentially, although at first, I felt like I was drinking from a fire hose! There were so many terms I’d never heard of, so many networking events, and so many deadlines. I finally understood the value of prioritization, and thank myself for accepting a consulting role–even when it seemed like an odd choice for a Human Biology major.

Balancing work, a social life, and constant travel was another priceless exercise in “working smart.” After three years of traveling coast-to-coast, I switched gears to healthcare analytics at Molina Healthcare. I learned to follow regulations while thinking outside the box, which helps me relate to creative entrepreneurs. However, those regulations made the pace of work a bit too slow.

I moved on to a position at a technology company. In my current day job, I work closely with IT and business stakeholders to streamline our systems and operations. My job is to uncover and fix pain points in our systems, so our employees excel in their role. I get to work with everyone–legal, marketing, customer success, sales, finance.

It’s fun for me to understand how my internal customers do what they do everyday, but it’s even more rewarding to implement processes that make their lives easier. This work directly translates to much of what I do with The Intelligent Influencer. I am able to hone my skills interpreting people’s struggles and thinking of ways to address them.

My experience with skating, college, and five years in the corporate world revealed a recurring theme. Working hard is NOT the same as–and frankly, may be less important than–working smart. I talked to my fiance about this pattern I noticed, and he was fascinated. He has a flourishing YouTube channel and expressed that he struggles to maintain his creativity while streamlining his business.

It struck me that other artists and entrepreneurs must learn to balance creativity and productivity, too. I was feeling bored in my free time, and I knew I had something to offer other people. This past year, I decided to give it a whirl.

Last August, I made an Instagram account to share productivity tips. Eventually, this turned into a service–I now counsel clients on working smarter in their business. My specialty is helping creatives narrow down their scope and feel like they are being productive and creative at the same time. Finding people a more productive working style is like solving the most satisfying puzzle!

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Absolutely not! As noted above, I’ve had countless bumps in the road throughout my full-time career and in my side hustle.

Before The Intelligent Influencer came to be, I knew I wanted to do something on the side. During my time at Molina, I was commuting to Long Beach every day. When I switched jobs, I realized I had a ton of extra time to pick up a hobby or a side job. I explored Lyfting (thank god I didn’t do this, I hate traffic), tutoring, even editing resumes on Upwork. Nothing was really screaming “this is it!”

After talking to my friends and fiance about what I enjoyed doing and what I was good at, The Intelligent Influencer began to take shape. I didn’t know exactly what it would be, but the idea of helping people get organized and take their creative projects to the finish line truly excited me.

When I first created The Intelligent Influencer Instagram, I quickly understood how little I knew. There were so many unknowns! I knew nothing about marketing, Instagram, copywriting, facebook groups, WordPress–you name it. I didn’t know what link to put in my bio because I didn’t have a website, I didn’t know about hashtags and what they were for, I was not a big user of Instagram stories.

To give you a sense of my naivete, the first time I got a 1-emoji comment on my photo I thought, “wow, people are seeing this!” I had no clue there were bots. Yikes!

The world of influencers is a fascinating place. Being able to learn from other people who have already figured it out is a blessing. I listen to a lot of podcasts (I mean, a LOT) that give me great pointers on how to get the word out about The Intelligent Influencer and inspire me to evolve my side hustle in the future. I am still very much in learning mode. I plan to launch my website shortly, and can guarantee that there will be multiple bumps along that path as well!

Please tell us about The Intelligent Influencer.
My mission with The Intelligent Influencer is to help creative entrepreneurs gain the prioritization and organization skills they need to boost their productivity, problem solve and generate income. There are several facets to The Intelligent Influencer, but above all, I encourage creatives to keep pursuing their dreams.

Burnout is so common among creative people. That’s because creativity isn’t like a math problem. There is no definitive right or wrong answer. You never know for sure if the direction you’re going is fruitful, let alone when you can consider your work “done.” It’s tough to keep going when you are having a non-existent benchmark.

In fact, there are so many nuances to creative projects that most people give up trying to find ways to make creativity productive. While creative projects definitely differ from technical projects, there are more similarities than you might think. There is a formula for brainstorming ideas, carrying out tasks, tracking progress–even for creatives.

This formula comes from my years of experience applying typical project management to atypical technology projects. I’ve learned to manage time, resources, and budget. I can set up workflows that get things done. And most of all, I can lead people to ask themselves the right questions in order to solve problems in their business.

Besides applying this knowledge, I find the key to taking clients to the next level is really listening to what they have to say. Just making the other person feel heard and acknowledged is huge. In particular, I like to pick up on little differences in intonation or hesitations. There could be some notion in my client’s head that is holding them back or could lead to a pivot point or idea. Over time, I’ve also added a dash of financial wellness focus and inspirational messages.

My Instagram following has been climbing slowly, but I’m more proud of the advice I’ve been able to give others through consultations. Watching someone take the initiative to make changes in their work style and achieve their dreams is beyond fulfilling. Whether you are a designer, a gamer, a painter, a developer, or a writer, I have the skills to help you succeed.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Since The Intelligent Influencer is so new, it’s hard to reflect on what I would’ve done differently. I can confidently say that I wish I would’ve started it sooner. This side hustle brings me so much joy!

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/intelligent_influencer/

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