Christina Boyd is excited to use her social-media skills to head up a Facebook page that helps McDonald County neighbors.
Boyd has served as the administrator on the McDonald County Buy, Sell and Trade Facebook page for about a month and a half. Now, she's picked up another gig, serving as administrator for the McDonald County Community Event Board Facebook. The former administrator, Jennifer Fischer, is relocating and will no longer live in the county, Fischer posted on the site.
Boyd is a former nurse, for 20 years, who used to help run hospitals. When her son was born six years ago, Boyd gave up her scrubs to be at home.
But the stay-at-home mom likes to stay busy. She assists her husband with his construction business, Boyd's Handyman Service. She's also preparing to open a store, Blackberry Lane Furniture and Mercantile, which will specialize in rustic-built and repurposed furniture, as well as all types of one-of-a-kind items.
After the store opens in April, the couple also plans to make available, in May, a large barn and park-like grounds that will be perfect for weddings and other events.
How does she balance it all?
"I love being a mom but need to stay busy and useful. I think it's just in my DNA to be busy," she said.
Volunteering to lead two Facebook pages is a great way to get to know people and the community. She and her family moved here from California just over a year ago. The couple had a successful business there but felt that the government took too much from their bottom-line.
"We have family and close friends there, so it was hard to leave," she said. "We prayed and researched and came to the conclusion that this was the area we were to move to," she said.
Now, with spending a great deal of time on Facebook already, Boyd feels it's only natural to help others stay connected. She heads up the posts to give back to the community.
"I'm constantly on Facebook looking for items to fill my store that will be opening in April, as well as looking for leads for our construction business," she said. "So, one day, I saw that the long-standing admin. was moving and wanted to let someone else take over, I jumped at the chance."
From nurse to entrepreneur, Boyd utilizes her past career experience to help promote the county. As a nursing administrator, Boyd capitalized on excellent assessment skills, as well using common sense.
"As a nursing administrator, I was in charge of everything from basic medical procedures to budgeting the department for the year. There are just so many things I learned that I feel I went to business school more than nursing," she said.
"I learned what worked and what did not ... how the economy affects the bottom line to how to market," she said.
These days, marketing through social media -- including Facebook -- can help shape your business, she explained.
"I feel it's an excellent way to market for my business while staying current on trends and needs of the people," she said.
Boyd spends around three or more hours daily on Facebook. Since taking over the Community Events Facebook page, Boyd has been hunting on Facebook and city Web pages for information that she can bring to the site.
She hopes to start contacting area organizations to introduce herself and the site and see if others are interested in listing events.
The new administrator has already launched an informal poll to see what folks want out of the site. So far, neighbors have mentioned gathering news about McDonald County events, children's activities and school concerts.
Helping people promote events -- and helping spread the word -- is interesting work. Knowing she's helping her neighbors is key. She and her husband are glad they made the move to McDonald County.
"We have been so happy and have not regretted the move once."
General News on 01/18/2018