Episode 029: Let’s Get Social with Sarah Huguet
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Does your social media work for you and your business? In today’s episode, Sarah Huguet of Social and Stuff joins us to share how to create content pillars to easily navigate your content, the value of niching down and knowing your audience, and how you can repurpose content across social platforms. Listen in and let’s get social.
The Business-First Creatives Podcast is brought to you by CRM and Dubsado expert Colie James. Join Colie each week as she discuss how to build a business that brings you joy and a paycheck! From business advice with fellow entrepreneurs to sharing automation tips and tricks, Colie and her guests are sharing industry trends and resources, along with a little bit of sarcasm.
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Guest Bio
Sarah Huguet of Social and Stuff is a social media manager and VIP day service provider.
Here are the highlights…
[:24] Get to Know Sarah
[3:09] Getting Started in Video
[5:04] Ditching Perfectly Curated Feeds
[6:09] Content Creation Tips
[7:55] Managing Both Instagram & TikTok | Repurposing Content
[11:21] Deciding on Major Content Pillars Based on Goals
[13:53] The Value & Purpose of Content Pillars
[21:29] Introductory Posts Frequency
[23:19] End-of-Month Post
[24:54] Business for Sarah After Hiring a Business Coach
[26:30] Dubsado Hack for Canadian Dollars vs. USD
[27:30] Niching Down
[32:29] Biggest Fuck Up
Mentioned in This Episode
Connect with Sarah
IG: @socialandstuff
TT: @socialandstuff
Review the Transcript:
Colie: Hey guys. Welcome back to the Business First Creatives podcast. I am here with my good friend Sarah, who I actually hired, but I’m gonna let her tell you all about what she does and who she serves. So welcome to the podcast, Sarah, how are you this morning?
Sarah: Thank you for having me.
Colie: So tell the listening audience what you do well and where you’re located, cuz I always think that’s important.
And then you know who you service.
Sarah: Uh, so I am located in Vancouver, Canada. Well, we actually just moved to the burbs, but for those who aren’t familiar with the lower mainland, uh, yeah. Vancouver, Canada on the West coast, and I am a social media manager and content strategist. I also do some coaching. I have a membership for small business owners where I provide weekly video ideas and Canva templates, and I also VIP days.
Colie: Yeah, that’s, I mean, I met you through the done day virtual conference, and I hired you not for a VIP day. For a VIP day. We, well, for a VIP week. And so basically, I’m just gonna bottom line it and say that you help entrepreneurs do the shit that we hate to is that accurate?
Sarah: that’s
Colie: Yeah.
Sarah: just need to take that.
Colie: I mean, and put it on a bumper sticker, right?
Because. I mean, and I think you’ve told me this. I come across on Instagram like, I really have my shit together. Like, you know, I’m posting every day. I have what you would call, you know, transactional content where I’m actually asking for the sale. I have helpful content where I’m trying to get people, you know, pushed to the buyer stage.
I mean, I do all of that, but if I had to tell you how much I hated it, only you would understand . I mean, and when I worked with you, You did your v i P week and you basically designed me a bunch of templates that I could use and gave me a content calendar, which I still have never used fully. Like every time I’m like, Oh, I wonder if what I should post today.
I go and I reread what you told me to do, but I definitely didn’t like actually do the calendar, which is, you know, bad on me. But are most of your clients like me or do most of your clients do what you say?
Sarah: I have a little bit of a mixed bag, I have
have some management clients that just kind of leave me to leave me to my own devices in general, and then they’ll just check in every couple months and be like, So yeah, new season,
Colie: going?
Sarah: on? So I definitely have some clients that just, you know, they’re just in like a maintenance mode.
Okay. Just let Sarah do her thing. Some clients, yeah, that will definitely follow things to a tee and then some in the middle. But what I would say about you and your content because all your stuff was evergreen, you can really just revisit it you need inspiration and you can kind of just look at it as like a content database for.
Colie: Yeah, that’s exactly what I do. Oh, so Sarah, what you’re telling me is I was, I was doing well. good. I do like to get As in school, Yeah, . But the one thing that I love about you, Sarah, and it’s probably why I hired you versus you know, like researching other content people, is that you really emphasize the importance of doing video.
So tell me, why do you think all entrepreneurs need to dip their toes into video?
Sarah: Well, it’s not going so we can’t really ignore it. That’s the first thing. It’s definitely not as scary as you think it is, but I totally understand. Starting out. intense. It’s just like when Instagram stories first came on, it like felt weird hearing our voice. Even if you’re filming outward, like totally get it. But unfortunately, if we wanna market ourselves online these days, you kind of gotta jump in and different ways that you can kind of do it if you don’t feel like being a talking head. I do think those are important to incorporate along the way because it’s just speeds up the process of people getting to know you better.
it just, you know, it just allows your audience someone new to get to know you better and know whether they’re gonna vibe with you or not, or they’re gonna move on to the next, Right. That’s why I
Colie: Yes. I mean, cuz you know, I love being in stories. Like, I don’t mind being in stories and just talking about like, my personal life or, you know, my, my client experiences. Like I love doing that. It’s the feed content that I legitimately hate, like, Making sure that my feed looks curated and that it doesn’t look like it’s a hot mess.
And the reason that I say that though is because like my website is so put together, my ddo is so put together. I just feel like if I’m gonna be out there on Instagram, it should be like a cohesive experience, right? It shouldn’t be, Oh, her website’s awesome. Oh, that booking process was amazing. And then you go to Instagram and it’s just like this hot mess of just stuff that CO decided to throw up any day of the week.
I. I think that’s what holds me back with my content,
Sarah: I will say one thing every year it seems kind of getting away from everything having to look perfect on Instagram, so you can kind of like give yourself a little bit of a. Grace on that. I would say cuz a lot of people now are kind of just like ditching that.
Like to me, I find it really hard because I’ve always been like, Oh, I like my Reel covers and I like this and that. So I’ve definitely tried to like step away from that the last few months and it’s hard to let go of, but. I would say moving forward, because we’re not necessarily caring about perfectly curated feeds,
Colie: Mm-hmm.
Sarah: I think it is more important just to make sure that you’re using your brand colors on the text, on reels and that kind of stuff, cuz that’s kind of like the new way of making sure it looks cohesive.
Colie: I mean, but your, your feed is so amazing though, Sarah. Light for real.
Sarah: You. Thanks.
Colie: like I love it and I, it just, yeah, it just, it looks so put together and of course your colors are nowhere near as bold as mine. So I also feel like, you know, like your entire feed just kind of goes together so much better than like I could do with my colors, but I’m gonna move on.
Cuz you know, like you said, curated feeds are not the current topic. But so you think that all entrepreneurs should dip their toes in video. If you had to give one other piece of advice when it comes to content creation, what would that be?
Sarah: I would say if you’ve been creating content for a while, like static content. Look at your insights Start to think of how you can turn those into video posts. So if you have a carousel that got saved so many times, or said to a bunch of people, try to talk it out. If you don’t feel comfortable with face to camera, put a stock video behind it and have the text bubbles be the main points of that carousel, and then dive deeper into the caption.
I would say don’t be snoozing on all the stuff you’ve already created that performed well.
Colie: Okay. Because that’s not lazy. Like I feel like a lot of people think that if you go back through your old content, that you’re, you’re being lazy. And it’s like, no, Instagram only shows your shit to who it wants to show it to. So like, I know I’ve had some really awesome pieces that didn’t get a lot of saves, didn’t get a lot of views, and so I should definitely repost it, you know?
Different season, different day, different time of day to see if maybe the Instagram gods will share it with more people. Cuz it is really depressing. I mean, I don’t have a huge following. I think I’m, I’m just under 3000 right now, but it’s really depressing to think that 3000 people have basically opted into my content.
But like on average, 50 people see my posts. Like, that’s so depressing.
Sarah: know
Colie: So. And you’re like, you know, you, you’re talking about repurposing, and you mostly focus on Instagram and TikTok. So let’s talk about that. Cuz I don’t do the TikTok. I don’t do the TikTok, but you are like, you just need to take what you’re doing on Instagram and just put it on TikTok.
So what other things do you tend to advise entrepreneurs to do when they are trying to manage both Instagram and TikTok? Because it’s a lot of work, Sarah.
It’s a lot of work.
Sarah: I know, and I’ve definitely gone through phases where I’m like, I’m gonna post three times a day of TikTok and I’m gonna do this, and then all of a sudden, two weeks later, I’m like, Ugh, can’t do anything anymore. So what I would advise people to do if you’re wanting to pop over to TikTok if you are recording in the Reels feed try to download it to your camera roll before you add any of the native text, and then upload it to TikTok and use their native text.
That’s like the easiest habit to get into. If you do end up posting on TikTok more, which I often kind of happens to people, they’re like, Oh my gosh, why did I build this up so much? It’s actually like casual over here and easy. So if you do end up making TikTok your first place that you’re gonna create, there’s actually a really great software that I just subscribed to.
It’s paid, but it’s called repurposed.io, and they’ll automatically. de-watermark your videos and put them in a Google Drive or automatically post them somewhere else.
Colie: Oh, you know, I think you’re the third person to mention that it’s repurposed.io. I still have not tried it, even though you mentioned it to me and my bestie, Kate mentioned it to me, and I think Devin mentioned it to me too. I mean, you know, I have enough tools, I have enough software in my bag. I just feel like that’s one more thing that I would have to go and learn how to do.
You mentioned saving the videos, and I do that in general just in case something during the edit, but like why? I know there’s a reason that you wanna do that and then create it natively in TikTok, but just in case anyone is oblivious, why don’t you wanna just share like TikTok straight to Instagram or Instagram straight to TikTok?
Sarah: I don’t know. So it’s kind of weird cuz for some reason if you share TikTok to Instagram, it seems totally fine. But if you share
Colie: Oh.
Sarah: to TikTok, on’s like, Beat it. don’t want it here. We can tell that that was made in Instagram. See you later.
Colie: I thought that there was something to do with like the algorithm though. Like if you’re sharing it directly from Instagram to TikTok, does TikTok still show it, you know, to this number of people that it would’ve if you made it natively?
Sarah: I mean there’s definitely like little tests that you can do. Like I know a lot of people have said, Oh, when you get rid of the TikTok watermark and you put it on Instagram, Instagram’s gonna suppress it because it can tell where the video was made. But that, I’ve had stuff do really well regardless.
But I think one of
Colie: Okay.
Sarah: why it’s good to kind of have the native text on the video, is for like the AI to be able to pick up on those keywords that you’re putting on the video for like SEO purposes.
so smart. Those AI
Colie: I mean, you know, you can’t beat the algorithm, Isn’t that what people say all the time? And I’m like, but damnit, I just wanna learn it and I wanna maximize my potential for reach. And it’s like they’re constantly changing it so that none of us can do that no matter, you know, how smart we are.
Sarah: Yeah.
Colie: So getting back to the content, cuz I know that you talked about like talking heads, like how should someone determine like what your.
Like your big piece of content should be, I mean, should it be an outright sale? Should you be marketing your services? Should it be something fun? Like my trips to Disneyland? Like if someone’s gonna jump into content creation, like how do you find balance? Sarah, that’s my question. How do you find balance?
Sarah: Yeah, I think you just kind of need to determine that ahead of time based on kind of your content pillars and what you wanna share and what your goal is on social media. I know there’s a lot of people out there that, you know, they don’t wanna see personal stuff on people’s feed, but I’m like such a person, people, person.
Like I love seeing like a mixture of it all. So I think. Depends on the business owner and kind of like what you want to share. Like for you, you’re always sharing your Disneyland stuff. It’s like now people, when they go to Disneyland, they just automatically think like, Oh, I gotta send a photo to Colie! That’s,
Colie: People really do do that. also, I don’t know if you missed this last month, but um, one of my clients DMed me for advice on her Disneyland. Family vacation and I basically invited myself along and Chloe and I legitimately went to Disneyland at the same time and we hung out with them for a few days and it was amazing.
And somebody was like, Oh my God, you’re a stalker. I’m like, Oh my God. I asked for permission but like we were going the week after. . And so when Katie told me that, you know, she was like, Oh, you know I need all your Disneyland tips. I was like, Oh, when are you going? And she was like, September. And I was like, Oh, but when are you going
And she was like, The sixth or the eighth. And I was like, Aw man, no, we’re going the next week. And on my phone, you know, I’m looking, Well how much are the tickets to switch? And then I was like, she was like, Oh, I’m sad. We’re not going at the same time. Yeah. Katie, so if I switch my flights, do you wanna hang out at Disneyland?
Sarah: can make it happen. mean, it’s your
Colie: I mean, that’s, that’s how that happened. and I mean, I do love Disneyland, but I think I also tie my Disneyland trips into like a lot of my business activities. Like I tell people, Oh, I just booked a client while I was writing Dumbo, or, you know, this trip to Disneyland was paid by my last v i p day. I mean, I make it funny, but I really do think that, you know, the whole premise of this podcast is putting the business first so that you can build a business that brings you joy.
And since Disneyland brings me lots of joy, and that’s why I go to Disneyland, because I can afford it based on, you know, the people that are hiring me, I do feel like it’s, you know, Important for me to highlight that kind of content as well as the, you know, actual content pillar. So let’s talk about that, cuz you said that word quickly.
And while I know what you mean by content pillars, everyone else might not know what that means. So, Sarah, give me a definition of content pillars. And I guess if you wanna give an example, you can give an example in like a different industry or you can tell people mine that works too.
Sarah: I’m like, I can’t remember what yours are, but I can
Colie: I’m sure you’ll it out,
Sarah: Uh, so content pillars are basically like content topics based specifically on your brand or business. So I think a lot of people think content pillars are, oh, inspirational, educational. All that kind of stuff, but they are specific to your brand or business And then from there you can create content that’s educational, relatable. Inspirational,
stuff, based on like that content pillar. And then you can also even create micro topics based on the content pillar. So I know it might sound a little bit like a what, kind of if you nail down like those specific topics that you wanna be known for, that relate back to your goal on social media, relate back to you as a person. Your business If you can kind of determine those and rotate through those, you really shouldn’t have run out of content ideas, basically.
Colie: mean, Yes, and I think that what a lot of people do and why I think that people, you know, need help with their content strategy is, you know, I’m sure you’ve seen the memes where people get on Instagram and they went to post and they were stuck in their indecision so badly that like two hours later they realized all they did was scroll Instagram and they didn’t actually post anything , which I will admit that’s maybe happened to me one or two times, but in general, Like I do think about my content pillars.
I am not like one of those planning kind of people though, cuz I know that you can plan it in like Plan Aly or later to make sure that you’re getting that diversification in your content, like making sure that your content pillars are spread out and all that stuff. But like, I’ll just look on my Instagram feed and I’ll be like, Oh, I haven’t talked about Disneyland in a while.
Let me post this. And you know, sometimes it’s specifically related to the work and sometimes it’s just about me having fun. And then there are my actual content pillars, which I know no one on this podcast will be surprised. I love to talk about profitability. Sustainability, your systems, how to automate the shit out of anything that you can possibly do.
Uh, and you know, the other things that I just like to talk about are like just growing your business in general. And then of course there are the personal pillars that I have. Like I now homeschool my kid, so like every once in a while I’m popping things in there that are homeschool related, but they’re also almost always related to.
Me as a mother or my business, like how, you know, I’ve had to modify my schedule and my business because now I’m working with Chloe on this day at this time. So I do really try to bring it back to business when I can, but I also think that like lots of people just enjoy hearing me talk about everyday shit, even if it’s not directly related to my business.
Do you find that to be true of your other clients?
Sarah: Yeah, look, and I think. That sometimes it’s okay to put a post out just because you feel like it Like I think
Colie: And guess what guys?
Sarah: like sometimes I think people get a little bit too stuck on like, Oh, Lisa, like I can’t veer from what my content pillars are. It’s like, you know what life happens sometimes you might wanna talk, talk about, you know what I mean?
Like last year when I lost my dad and then I did a few grief posts, it’s like those aren’t under my content fillers, but it’s what happened in my life. So I think that
Colie: Mm-hmm.
Sarah: The flexibility to sometimes talk about whatever you wanna talk about is totally as well. But you still wanna, you know, 90% of the time make sure you’re sticking with your that you’re kind of rotating through.
But we are people so another thing I want to note, cuz I know you said you’re not much of a planner. Is as a business owner realizing what type of creator you are. Cuz some people need to plan because they can’t handle the thought of
Colie: Yes,
Sarah: then some people, the thought of planning and batching out, they don’t. It’s like their worst nightmare and they don’t like their content that they plan when it comes to posting it. So it’s like, I think it’s really important
type of creator you are, whether you’re a planner, whether you like to intuitively create, So I just wanted to put that out there.
Cause I think there’s so many messaging out there where people are like, No, you need to do it this way. You need, It’s like, No, you need to do
Colie: yes.
Sarah: you can it.
Colie: Yeah. The way that’s gonna make you happy. Cuz the funny thing is, I mean, this podcast, this podcast is a perfect example of me putting out content, but the person that I hired, my strategist, Jocelyn, um, you know, or she tells everyone, you know, you can batch your content in a few days. And I’m someone that doesn’t really, I don’t wanna batch my content like that.
Like I’m I’m almost recorded. I think you are the last person that I am recording for 2022, but other than that, I mean, every once in a while I like to record content when the mood strikes me. Like a few months ago I had a post where I had done four tools, that I used to manage and book my v i p days.
And then I was like, Oh, I left out the photographers. So I literally just recorded another very quick podcast and I put both of them out in the same week because I felt inspired to do. So, you know, everything is flexible. Everything can change
Sarah: And I think sometimes people get caught up on like, Oh, I should only post like one reel a day and I’m not promoting posting more than one reel. Or, I mean, if you only feel like posting one reel a week post one reel a week, but if you all of a sudden. Post something in the morning and then the afternoon happens and you’re like, Oh my gosh, I really want to talk about this, Create it and post it.
Like there’s no content police that are like, Oh my God, I can’t believe she
Colie: I mean, I, and you were talking about, you know, just when the mood strikes you. Like last week’s that we’re currently recording this in October, guys, last week’s Handmade Tales, episode. I was posting in my stories nonstop and I wasn’t giving away spoilers, but I was like, Please, for the love of Jesus, anyone who watches this show, please DM me so that we can talk about this privately because I need to talk about it.
And I’m really trying not to spoil it for like the rest of the world. But I also need to talk about it. And there is no way, shape, or form, Sarah, that I can make Handmaid’s Tale, relatable to my business. Like there’s, there’s just no way. So it’s just something personal that I just wanna talk about. And that’s it.
Sarah: haven’t watched it. It looks too intense for me. I know
Colie: Sarah, you don’t watch it.
Sarah: like fluffy rainbow cloud and reality TV
Colie: love shits creek. Yeah. That’s the total opposite. Yeah.
Sarah: like sometimes it’ll be a
Colie: mean,
Sarah: commercial for
Colie: Mm,
Sarah: and I’m like, What is that? And then my husband’s like, just, it’s a trailer.
Colie: You’ll be okay. You will survive . So for content creation, if someone has, if someone has like, Okay, let’s just, it’s not me, but let’s just say that someone else had like an Instagram account that they’ve virtually like ignored for like six months. How should they ease themselves back in to making content creation for their business?
I would say an intro post because if you’ve been sneezy for a long time, it’s just good to be like, Hey, I’ve been chilling for the last few months. This is what’s going on. I’m excited to like get back into things. This is what’s happening in my business. Or maybe you’re starting a new business. Maybe you totally pivoted. Just kind of make an intro post and go from there. That’s my
Okay. Yeah, I mean, it’s a good philosophy, but also speaking of intro posts, like that’s not just if you’ve been absent
Sarah: I know.
Colie: so how often should you be doing an intro post in general?
Sarah: I mean, every time, sometimes I’m chatting with people about this stuff, then I think of my own stuff and I’m like, Oh geez, I don’t even know the last time I did an intro post. So maybe I will. I just got some new photos taken. So when I get those back, I’ll do an intro post. So by the time this airs, that
Colie: You’ll have a new intro, plus actually, Sarah.
Sarah: I would say at least like once a month, once every month, and a.
half I mean, it’s like we, we get a little bit caught up our own content and sometimes you, we have to think about how much content we consume in a day. Do you know what I mean?
Colie: Yes,
Sarah: We get so
hyper-focused on our own account. We’re like, Oh, I just talked about that, blah, blah, blah. And it’s like half your followers probably didn’t even see it.
Colie: Didn’t even it. Mm-hmm.
Sarah: doing like a campaign and you’re launching something, you have to like continually be talking about it
Colie: over and and over.
Sarah: like how are people not over this? Because, and then someone will be like, Oh, I didn’t know that you blah. You’re like, I’ve been talking about it for seven days and So it’s like, you know, people just consume so much content all the time, so it’s good. Yeah, too, I would say, yeah, once a month, once every month, and a.
Colie: Actually, Sarah, like, I don’t know the last time I did an, an intro post. I just don’t, but also what I just thought about was anytime, even if it’s earlier than a month, if you have a really big influx of fans, like maybe you had a reel that did really well and a bunch of people started following you.
Sarah: that’s a great
Colie: That’s when you should do an intro post just so that when someone follows you, and maybe they’re not gonna, you know, they don’t see your content or they don’t know what you’re about, if you’re doing that intro post, they can get reintroduced to who you are, you know what you offer, all that good stuff. So don’t overlook the intro post.
are so important.
Sarah: another post that I got out of the habit of doing, but it used to do really well for me and I always try to suggest my clients do it as well. And that’s like a month end post. So it’s
Colie: Ooh,
Sarah: a great way to you’ve been working on, who you’ve been working with. Cause you can tag them.
And then it also is kind of like an intro post in. And it’s
Colie: yes,
Sarah: like sell your offers, but like not selling your, like, I’m not saying you wanna hide selling your offers, but I just mean it’s like
Colie: Mm-hmm.
Sarah: way to kind of like recap your month and be like, okay, what happened in October? I launched a v i P day, I worked with this person.
So it’s like a great pay to like show you’ve collaborated with who you’ve worked with,
Colie: Yes,
Sarah: done in your business for the past. And also as a business owner to look back and see what you’ve done in the past month. Cause oftentimes you’re What did I do this month? Did I do And then you’re like,
Colie: Yeah.
Sarah: launched something new.
I signed a new client. Like we get so caught up in the day to day that it’s good to like celebrate your wins too. So,
Colie: Uh, Sarah, that was perfect. And speaking of like summarizing what you did the month before, no, And you should always be tagging your clients when you do that too, because then if they share that with someone else, they, they could, your offer may not have even been on their radar, but when they see that someone that they’re connected to, shared it and talked about a positive experience, guys, that’s how you get clients.
That’s how you make these connections. So, you know, don’t skip on. So Sarah, I wanna pivot now for just a minute because I know that you have recently started working with a business So how’s that going and how is it making you rethink the offers that you’ve had in the past versus what you’re gonna do when you move forward?
Sarah: Um, Alright, so it’s only been about a week,
Colie: Mm-hmm.
Sarah: so far.
Colie: okay though. I mean, it’s really good to think about what things happen, you know, in terms of internally in the beginning, and then compare that to how it ends up working, you know, after you’ve worked with them for the amount of time that you’ve contracted for.
Sarah: and I think it’s really good just to have other eyes on your business cuz just like how I was saying with your content, so hyper focused on everything. It’s nice to have like outside eyes and. People ask you those hard like, so how are you getting clients? Do you know who you like exactly, who your ideal client is?
How did they find you? And you’re just like, I don’t know. I’ve just been posted. And they come to me. It’s like, okay,
Colie: On Instagram
Sarah: business could probably do way better if I actively. Like was not more aggressive, but you know what I mean, Like paying
Colie: I do.
Sarah: like, who’s watching my Instagram stories and stuff like that.
So, I’ve just, since I started the social media world, I’ve kind of worked with, you know, whoever kind of came to me. Um, friends. Friends of friends. I’m excited to like, niche down a little bit more,
Colie: Yeah.
Sarah: into helping service providers. And roll that way as opposed to being like, Yeah, I can help a clothing store.
I can help a restaurant. So I’m excited to, Yeah, kind of like niche down, streamline my offers a little bit and just get help with like all the automations and all that stuff, which I know you are all about.
Colie: Yes. I mean, are we sticking with Honey Book? Cause you know, my ear just perked up. You said automations and I’m like, Ooh, am I gonna be able to move her over to Dubsado?
Sarah: Well, yeah, I mean, I would say maybe. I’m still
Colie: Oh, look at you. Oh, I mean, you know, you Canadians, you guys all have problems and.
Sarah: You don’t,
Colie: In Dubsado, you cannot decide, but what you can do is they will allow you to have a second brand for free. So in one brand you could charge Canadians, c a d, and in another brand you could charge, you know, Americans and everybody else in the world.
S d, just so that you know, your fellow Canadians are not getting hit by that,
Sarah: Well,
Colie: rate that you know.
Sarah: people, I’m like, I’m not gonna charge someone whose down the street in US dollars. So I charge management clients and Canadian. But anyways, now we’re off on a tangent.
Colie: I mean, it’s okay. I like tangents. I was actually looking it up. So you were talking about Nicheing down and I just wanted the listening audience to realize or to look at if you have not listened to episode 12 of this podcast where I had Ashley of Do the Damn Thing on here and she was talking about how she niched.
She was working with basically anybody that came to her for Air Table, like anybody that wanted to use Air Table in their business. She was helping. And she finally realized that that was doing her mental health a disservice. So she niche down into only helping those that had group programs, like she cut her sales off completely, you know, revamped her group program.
And so if you haven’t heard that episode, I highly recommend that everyone listen to it because it is a different, it’s a different idea of nicheing down. And I know you know that I was incredibly niche down for like a really long time. I was really only speaking to photographers and even. Specific than that, I was only speaking to family photographers, so I actually did the opposite instead of meshing way.
I was niche forever. And then slowly but surely I started to like expand. Cause I did feel like when it comes to content creation, which is of course what we’re talking about with you, I struggled when I was trying to expand my audience into, okay. But no, Should I say this to the photographers? Should I say this to the copywriters?
I say this to the website designers? And so, you know, when it comes to content creation, You do have to make sure that you’re speaking to whoever your audience is. And if there are multiple people that you are speaking to, guys, it’s okay. it feels like it’s crazy to you, but like even if I’m talking to photographers, somebody else is gonna get some value out of that.
And so, you know, don’t be afraid to speak directly to who you want to speak to. Even if the message that you’re giving is not specifically for everyone at that. But Sarah, for you kneeing down, like how are you thinking about kneeing down? Cuz you said you were working with everyone that was coming through your doors.
How do you envision that this is gonna change?
Sarah: am, I’m not sure, cuz like I said, I’m just in like week one over here. So I had decided that I wanted to maybe work with service and coaches and even then, think I’ve even reached down more to just like service maybe like brokers like that
Colie: Yeah. Ooh.
Sarah: Like something. Yeah, I don’t know.
I’m just, I’m figuring it out. I’m exploring my options. I’m just trying to think of all the clients that I’ve worked with in the past I know I
content for, that I know can get approved in a timely manner that I know it’s not like, Oh, they’re gonna sell out that and then I can’t post like, cuz I do work with one like high end clothing. and we can’t really plan anything because she
Colie: When sell out, sell out. Mm-hmm.
Sarah: And you know what, that $2,000 jacket that, that’s gone now even though you’re gonna
Colie: So any content that you had planned
Sarah: exactly.
Colie: no longer useful.
Sarah: just trying to think of like what works well in like my life right now with having my workday be nine to two when my son’s at school. Working with the systems that I like to work with. I like to use air table to plan all my stuff and create, so just trying to think of like what service provider work well with me, and do the work
Colie: Looking at who you liked working with though. That is the key though. You’re looking at who you liked working with and now you’re trying to figure out if you can maximize that, which is great. Cause just to put it out there though, sometimes those people that you like working with, it isn’t actually their service.
Like it isn’t the industry that they’re in, they’re just like really good humans,
Sarah: Yeah
Colie: So it’s good to explore that so that you can be like, Oh, No, I don’t like working with all It was just that one. Yeah. So what other qualities do they have that I can perhaps look for in other industries that would still make me happy?
I’m also very excited, Sarah, to hear that you have limited your work from nine to two when Ethan is school now. That makes me so happy. I like it when people are able to, you know, Build a business around their life to where they can still have good balance between the business side and the personal I haven’t actually been able to do it for a while since the kid is technically home with me every but like one of my rules for the longest was when I left my house to pick her up from school. I turned the computers off and I took, I took the email off my phone. So, I mean, I couldn’t, I couldn’t just sneak around the house and answer like it was legitimately Workday done.
I will come back in the morning to it, so
Sarah: Cause
Colie: just excited for all of these changes.
Sarah: media managers, it’s like, what? Like you have to have your boundaries otherwise,
Stuff can hit the fad and all of a sudden someone’s messaging you at 9:00 PM It’s just like, it’s just social media. We’re not saving lives here. And it can get very intense in the social media world with what people expect from social media managers and like, what’s important to them really doesn’t, isn’t really important in the grand scheme of things.
Colie: That is true. I feel like that’s a great segue into my last for you, Sarah. Are you ready? So I ask every guest on the podcast, , what was your biggest fuck up in your business? What did you learn from it, and how has it changed your business?
Sarah: Oh, I wish I had a precursor to this so I could have thought about it.
Sarah: I would say probably like a lot of service providers, and that would be undercharging and then working undercharged for too long not
tell people that you’re gonna raise your rates.
Colie: Yeah.
Sarah: say that’s probably the biggest, and I’m kind of just like coming out of that right now. And so my biggest lesson yeah, not undercharging knowing the value of your work because social media can be super intense and there’s a lot of service working the social media world definitely undercharging because there’s a lot of people that don’t wanna pay the price for it. Because they see direct return on investment for it. So it’s just kind of like created this whole circle of
and some people doing it super cheap so they can get the client. So I don’t know if that is necessarily like the hugest F up but I guess
Colie: I mean, if it, I mean if it comes to you, Sarah, then that’s it. And I love hearing that because I don’t believe that I’ve had anybody on the podcast that is mentioned undercharging, at least in terms of their biggest fuck up. Like I’ve had people talk about, you know, undercharging and how they’ve changed their rates and their businesses grown and like stuff like that.
But no, I love hearing about that as a mistake and. You know, the key to making it a successful business is when you realizing, if you, when you realize that you’re under charging, making a plan to increase your rates, making a plan, because people are always like, Oh, but you know, my clients will leave. Yeah, but you, you probably want them to leave.
If you should be charging double and you’ve only been charging them, you know your current rate. Yeah. It’s time for you to look for people in that new pricing bracket. You know, you will be a happier entrepreneur. You will be able to sustain your business and not be one of those people that closes their doors because they are so tired for working for pennies.
Mm-hmm. . Yeah.
Sarah: yeah, I don’t know. Now you got me thinking, so I don’t know. Maybe I’ll get back to you by the time this airs meeting added to the caption or something.
Colie: Okay. Well, Sarah, that’s all I had for you today. So why don’t you tell our listening audience where they can find you, because technically your name is not your business name.
Sarah: so my handle is social and stuff everywhere, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, uh, Well not really. I kinda, I like, it’s funny because never really been on Twitter like at all, but with the rise of videos sometimes I find it’s kind of nice to pop on there and just read things. And there’s actually like quite a lot of amazing marketing and people on there sharing gems of
Colie: really?
Sarah: So I kind of like it sometimes just to do a little, a little scroll. As much as I love video, you know, sometimes you just need a break.
Colie: Yeah. Or sometimes you’re just not in a place where you can actually watch video. Cuz of course that’s the importance of captions.
you’re trying to put your little one to bed and you’re scrolling through Instagram, you don’t want a video to pop up and be loud and wake your child up and then you gotta start that whole bedtime routine again.
That’s just, I might be speaking from personal experience. I don’t know. Speaking of other venues, I actually just started a LinkedIn account. There’s nothing on it. Don’t get excited, but like I got my handle,
Sarah: well guess
Colie: and like created account.
Sarah: too. Uh, I’m find you cause that is something
list as well to, because we’ve already created the content. Right. So
Colie: Yes. Why not find other venues for it? Yes, Sarah, we are gonna end there because that was legitimately perfect. Thanks guys for listening and we’ll see you next time
Sarah: Bye. Thanks for having me.
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