Exploring Life & Business with Char Lessenger of Wander Write Agency

Today we’d like to introduce you to Char Lessenger

Hi Char, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started my career in Higher Education but after the pandemic, I felt pretty burnt out. Once I graduated with my Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration and a certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language (as a backup plan) while working a full-time job as an academic advisor I decided it was time to take the leap and try to teach abroad somewhere and get the spark back that I felt was missing in my life.
I tried for two and a half years to get a visa to China but it just wasn’t happening. Eventually, I landed in Indonesia and became a center manager in Jakarta. However, unfortunately, the man that hired me was using the center to scam teachers like myself, and schools in the greater Jakarta area. I won’t go into full detail, but needless to say I left that job pretty quickly after that realization wondering what I should do next.
I was in an unfamiliar part of the world with no plan so I thought I might consider teaching in a different country. I left Indonesia to go visit a friend in Vietnam who was teaching in Saigon to see if that might interest me. Once I got there, I realized that going back to teaching wasn’t for me.
I contemplated on the things I could do with the skills I had and came to the logical conclusion of building a digital marketing agency. This work would allow me to continue traveling while also making some money and building my business along the way.
Over the course of the next two countries; spending the rest of my allotted visa time in Vietnam and then the entire visa period in Laos building my business, I set my sights on acquiring my first client on where I’d land next which was Cambodia.
I decided to head straight to Siem Reap, Cambodia where I knew a person who co-owned and managed a training center for ESL teachers. Once there, I set up a meeting and I put together a proposal for him that included some basic projects I knew would improve his business. Right after we met he approved them and I got to work!
I was also able to negotiate a project for a hotel I was staying at in Siem Reap in return for a free stay.
Things were really looking up.
Once, I finished my visa time in Cambodia, I headed to Thailand where I’d continue working on my first client’s projects and keep chipping away at adding on another client.
By the time I had traveled through Thailand and Malaysia, I landed in the Phillippines and acquired my second client who had an online retail business. The work I did for this client was extremely rewarding because I got to take my experiences from my recent travels and put them into educational articles about how to travel responsibly in those respective places. I swear I found my Ikigai.
With my first two clients under my belt and one work-for-trade client, I was feeling pretty confident. I finished out my travels in the Phillippines and went on to check out Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and finally Japan before heading back home to Wyoming.
Once I got back home, the work shifted. I had finished out the projects for both of my first clients and was left wondering how I should continue acquiring clients either locally or globally. I was stuck in a rut, to put it lightly.
I’m an avid crocheter, so to lift my spirits, I decided I needed a little ‘yarnspiration’ in the form of a little retail yarn therapy. I paid a visit to my local yarn store and chatted with the owner of the store for a little while about this incredible journey I had just been on.
She was awestruck. She applauded me for my courage to keep going even though the adventure didn’t turn out quite as I had expected. She also mentioned that she was in need of some help marketing her own business and wondered if I would be willing to put together a proposal for her.
Now I was the one who was awestruck. Here I was down in the dumps about not having any more client work, and just through telling my story, I somehow landed another client.
And then another one.
And another.
Now, I’ve managed to gain my sea legs and I have a portfolio of clients whom I truly adore working with. Their projects fulfill my work plate in ways I would have never imagined and continue to feed my love for education in some of the most unconventional, yet inspiring ways.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. Even though I found a modicum of success in the end, there were a lot of growing pains. The biggest one for me was overcoming my own self-doubt and lack of self-worth.
Many people when they decide to build a business have the confidence and know-how to do so, but rarely ever talk about how they gained that confidence.
For me, it was pure trial and error (and a few calls to my Momma lol).
I knew I couldn’t gain the confidence I needed without actually experiencing the thing I wanted to do. In other words, I couldn’t overthink my way into this work. I knew that no matter what, I had to push forward and keep doing the things that were super scary, even if that meant I’d make big mistakes. And believe me, I made some pretty huge ones, and still do.
From not knowing where my next paycheck was going to come from to big learning curves on all fronts, I knew I had to keep putting one foot in front of the other in order to reach success little by little.
Oftentimes, it was the realization that the slight edge of progress, of moving the needle forward every day even if it is just 1% some days, which got me to where I needed to go.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
In this work, I am most proud of the ability to combine education with genuine and authentic marketing.
When I first started this business, I was extremely concerned about being coerced into using ‘sleazy’ marketing techniques that left me feeling slimy and untrustworthy.
I knew that if I wanted to do this work, it would have to be done in an authentic and honest way. Reaching the people who resonate with my clients in a genuine, friendly, and informative tone rather than a ‘you need this right now to save yourself from misery’ sort of way.
While that does work for some people and businesses, the world I want my business to contribute to reaches the right people for the right reasons and gives them real solutions to their problems instead of convincing them that some magic snake oil is going to solve all their problems just to get a quick buck.
What sets my work apart is the educational aspect I bring to all my projects. I hope that my client’s patrons learn something when they read my copy or look at my posts and other projects. I hope it connects them to something bigger than themselves, that connects us all. I aspire to make all my projects useful and unique not just to my clients but to their patrons as well.

What matters most to you? Why?
Education. And not just in the traditional sense. There’s a reason why I initially built my career in education and then left. However, it never really left me.
I consider myself a lifelong learner, and I aspire to learn as much as possible with the short amount of time I have on this earth. For me, education provides me with an opportunity to grow, and that growth has limitless potential.
While some people focus on their ability to grow their wealth, I prioritize growth in knowledge because it can never be repossessed.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://wanderwriteagency.com

Image Credits
Laxdy Sombounsy (@lllaxdy)