Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Ruby Consultants - Starting a business
115 Plays3 years ago
In this episode we are speaking to Ruby: the one and only fabulous business and marketing coach from Ruby Consultants!
We discuss:
- The best strategies to go about starting a business
- What are the first steps to take in starting a business
- Networking your business
- How to gain clients and build client relationships
- How important social media is to build your business
- ... and so much more!
Keen to see more of Ruby Consultants?! Check out her Instagram here.
Let us know if you enjoyed the episode by rating the podcast 5 stars!
Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast and hit the notification so you'll always be in the know about how to succeed in your education.
For more study tips and tricks, check out our Instagram @allthingseducation21
Stay educated everyone!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Guest Announcement
00:00:12
Speaker
Hello, everybody. Welcome back to yet another episode on the All Things Education podcast.
00:00:18
Speaker
I am very, very keen for this episode beyond excited to share this episode with you guys today because we have Ruby from Ruby Consultants on the episode with us today. I will explain a little bit more about Ruby and she will tell us about her story and her journey. And I hope you are all very excited for this because this episode is actually going to be focused on what you need to do if you would like to start a business.
00:00:43
Speaker
Keeping in mind, this episode is on the longer side today. Ruby and I had such an amazing discussion and we got so much out of the conversation. So we hope you do as well. As always, guys, if you're not currently following the Instagram, definitely go check that out.
00:00:57
Speaker
the tag is at allthingseducation21. You'll be able to find all of Ruby's socials including her amazing masterclass in the description box below. So definitely go check that out and let's get educated.
Ruby's Entrepreneurial Journey Begins
00:01:10
Speaker
Okay guys, so our guest star on the show today is none other than Ruby from Ruby Consultants. So Ruby is a business consultant and has her own social media agency and coaches businesses.
00:01:22
Speaker
to help them, the business owners and entrepreneurs grow and nail social media. So it is my pleasure to welcome you onto the show today, Ruby. How are you? Oh, thank you. I'm really well, thank you. How are you? Yeah, good, good, good. And that's good to hear you're well as well. So I guess just to start off, did you want to give us a bit of like a background
00:01:43
Speaker
about yourself, your life journey if you are. How long do you have? Literally. Tell us a little bit about your business and a bit of background information.
00:01:54
Speaker
Yeah, thank you so much. As you said, I've had Ruby Consultants, which is a social media agency and business coaching business. I love helping small business owners and coaches nail Instagram and other organic traffic strategies to really grow their business. I suppose a reason why I love doing this is because that's what I've done.
00:02:18
Speaker
I think as business owners and as coaches it's a really great opportunity to share what you've done to help other people. I've been in the space for seven years on Instagram but my journey has definitely not looked I suppose as what it is now. I started off
00:02:39
Speaker
Finishing high school. Don't want to say how long ago it was. I will definitely show my age.
First Business Venture and Education
00:02:44
Speaker
Finished high school and I always knew that I wanted to run a business. Don't know why because none of my family owned businesses and speaking with business owners today, I do find that it sticks within families. So if your parents owned businesses, then you went out and run a business.
00:03:00
Speaker
none of my family owned a business, I don't really know where that came from. And I told my dad, I was like, dad, I really wanna start a fashion boutique. And he was like, okay, Ruby, like cool, like you're really into fashion, but do you know how to run a fashion store? I was like, no, but I really wanna do it, like this is just my dream. And dad, like I love him, he's so supportive, but he's also very practical. So he was like, you know what, if you've got a TAFE, study small business,
00:03:28
Speaker
I'll support you to open up your fashion store." And I was like, awesome. And I'm the type of person that, I always say my biggest pro and biggest con is the same thing. And it's that when I get really obsessed with something, I'm obsessed with it. So it can be a good thing or it could be a bad thing. So I was like, yeah, no worries. Went to a taste. I threw everything into this taste course. I think it was like five till nine, one day a week. And
00:03:55
Speaker
I loved it. Like I loved learning about business. I loved learning about even hated math in high school, but loved learning about business math. And it just was me. It was kind of the thing that I felt like I was missing in high school. Finished the TAFE course and decided, no, I want to go to uni now.
Social Media and Influencer Beginnings
00:04:14
Speaker
So applied for uni. I studied a business degree.
00:04:18
Speaker
and yeah through uni I sort of got into the fitness and PT area again love studying but just have to be studying what I love doing and through fitness and nutrition I came across Instagram and I did all of the bodybuilding shows and sort of built up a bit of a following there which was my first taste to social media but also influencer marketing and so
00:04:46
Speaker
This is sort of when influencer marketing was really coming about. And I started working with some really cool brands and sort of worked out Instagram for myself, didn't know that it could be a business one day. I was just doing it on my own page. But slowly I had the gym that I was working for and other gyms and other businesses contact me and saying, hey, we've got a business and you've got more followers than us. Can you run our social media?
00:05:12
Speaker
And I was like, yeah, why not? So it kind of just started that way. And I was really lucky to have one client that had an incredible business that helped female entrepreneurs grow and scale their business online. The Dewar's Way, I'm not sure if you've heard of them, but they're...
From Employment to Entrepreneurship
00:05:30
Speaker
Yeah she's based in, well they were based in Adelaide, they now live interstate but they offered me a full-time social media manager role and I decided to take the plunge, I just finished uni, it seems like a really good opportunity for me and yeah I've spent the last five years
00:05:47
Speaker
Working my way up the ladder there had such incredible opportunities. I managed the product department, which included all of our course creation, all of our social media team, all of our events, all of our coaching programs, all of our creative team. It was an incredible role. But I kind of just got to a point where I was actually reading a book and I had a light bulb moment. I was like, you know what? I've still got that dream to run a business.
00:06:15
Speaker
took everything I learned and went out on my own about June last year and Ruby Consultants has been
00:06:24
Speaker
The writing of the series, I suppose. Oh, I love it. And I actually discovered it on my own personal Instagram account. And I was like, oh my goodness, this looks so cool. I know. And that's sort of how I made a connection. I love that. I know. Honestly, your content is amazing. So inspiring, truly.
Content Creation for Business Growth
00:06:40
Speaker
And how long did you sort of spend dedicating that time to building Ruby Consultants? And also the other business you attached yourself. How much time were you putting into them?
00:06:52
Speaker
I did do a post about this yesterday actually because I hear so many experts or gurus say, you know, you only need to post three times a week. And I do agree with that to an extent, but I also really disagree with it because if you want to grow your business and you want to grow your brand, the more time you can dedicate to creating content and showing up on your social media, the faster you will grow.
00:07:16
Speaker
And I'm not saying, not giving you permission to spend hours on social media. There's definitely lots of systems and processes you can use and implement into your business to remove a lot of those time constraints. But I do say if you are wanting to grow your business and use Instagram primarily as your marketing source,
00:07:36
Speaker
to show up every single day. And when I say show up, that might be on your stories. It might be with a post. It might be engaging with your community for 15 minutes. It doesn't have to be a lot, but you need that consistency and you need the content in order to get conversions.
00:07:54
Speaker
Yeah, in the early days when you've got a bit more time, if you're building a business, if you're doing a side hustle, like any time you can commit to just showing up and providing a piece of content is gonna be game changing for your overall business growth. Yeah, wow. And I guess for someone who's like never started a business kind of like you just at the beginning stage, like I wanna start that fashion business. They just has that like idea, where would they kind of go? Like what would the first step do you reckon would be?
00:08:23
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, the first thing to having a dream is to actually set some goals in place and write it down and have someone to stay accountable to. Whether that's an accountability buddy, whether that's a coach, whether that's dad, it was dad in the first early days, but having someone to stay accountable to and to sit down and actually write those goals, I'm a huge believer in having your goals somewhere visible.
00:08:46
Speaker
So I know some people do vision boards and if that works for you, fantastic. Some people have them on their phones. I like to put my goals like in front on my wall. I blue tack them up, whether they're revenue goals, whether they're client goals, whether they're business goals, just so that I can see them every single day. But I'd say in those first early stages, definitely planning and coming up with a roadmap so that you can actually get to where you're wanting to go.
00:09:11
Speaker
And then starting to build a presence. I cannot stress this enough. If you're in those early stages and you know that you want to start a business in a certain area, start to build an online presence. So start an Instagram account, start a podcast, start a YouTube channel, whatever your organic platform is going to be, just get it started.
00:09:30
Speaker
And then just start producing content that's in your niche, that's providing value to your community. They don't need to be clients yet, but you're starting to build yourself as that expert and just get started. Like, no offense. Your content isn't going to be great at the start. Like, we all know that when you start something out, it's not going to be perfect. Doesn't matter. But if you start before you're ready, when you are ready, you're going to be so much better and your content is going to be so much stronger and it's going to connect.
00:09:58
Speaker
So much greater literally and I know especially when I first started the Instagram account for all things education I knew I wanted to do the podcast the entire time but I said, okay Let me just like like you said like just start building it kind of get things in the niche and um, I honestly did so much research on the podcast I forgot about the whole like building the community sort of thing Yeah, I just remember like nothing fit the niche I was just kind of doing all the trends that people were doing and it had no relation to what
Building Connections and Community
00:10:26
Speaker
I wanted to do and
00:10:27
Speaker
And then like following like accounts like you and I know there's, I have to, I can't even think of them now, but so many like great accounts that really explore like business and Instagram and reels and trends and everything. And it's great because that kind of helped me realize how important like having a niche is and making sure that the people you attract are like the sort of people that you are gonna be helping.
00:10:56
Speaker
Absolutely. I think that's like your niche and your messaging, everything's so connected. Like if you don't know the people you're helping, if you don't know your message or what I would call like your promise statement, like what you're promising to your community, you're not going to attract the right types of people and you're going to have followers on your account that have like no correlation to what you're selling or providing them to.
00:11:21
Speaker
and you said something before which I found really interesting like when you start out there's so much noise there's so many people you can follow there's so many trends there's so much guru advice and I think it's so important to follow it to an extent but choose who you follow because there's some people if they're either competitors or people you follow that are maybe too advanced
00:11:46
Speaker
And I say this lightly because I think it's so important to strive and aim high. But if you're following people that are so many steps in front of you, you can sometimes get caught up in what they're doing and feel really like just feel really deflated because you're so far behind them. But also what they're teaching isn't relevant to what the level that you're at. So really have a look at the types of people you're following. Are they actually making your business stronger? Are they like
00:12:13
Speaker
adding to your cup or are they taking away from it? And you can always follow them again later down the track but we can spend so much wasted time following the wrong people and being influenced by the wrong people as well.
Creating a Business Roadmap
00:12:29
Speaker
about creating like a roadmap. How sort of like when you're first sort of wanting to like plan out the business and your ideas and whatnot, I guess how detailed should that roadmap be? Like how like those steps that you kind of want to get to. Yeah, how detailed should that be?
00:12:46
Speaker
Look, I'm not going to lie, it's going to change. I wouldn't spend all this time creating a really detailed roadmap. What I would honestly do, and this is like, I am a huge advocate for having a mentor or having a coach because
00:13:03
Speaker
having a coach or a mentor, it just saves you a lot of time. I've always had a coach in some aspect of my life, even when I was a PT, even when I was in this different business. I do now, I've got two coaches. But if you're learning from someone that's one step ahead of you, you're basically adopting their roadmap that they've already seen
00:13:23
Speaker
is successful and you're going to be skipping ahead of making so many mistakes that you could have. So yes it might seem like an investment and if you're starting out in business I totally get it. Money or finances might be an issue but there's coaches at every price point and perhaps your mentor isn't a coach maybe your mentor is someone that you met in the networking event or it's you know someone in your circle of friends that you can catch up for coffee once a quarter and just pick their brains like
00:13:52
Speaker
There's so many people that we can learn from these days. It might be a course that goes on sale, it might be a podcast you listen to, but find some kind of mental and some kind of roadmap that you can adopt and follow people that are where you want to be. That's probably my biggest takeaway if you're starting a business is follow someone that has what you want, that has gone through the steps that you need to take because you're going to take out that guesswork and that's going to be your roadmap.
00:14:21
Speaker
Yeah, wow. And you mentioned networking, I guess. How do you start networking? Because if you don't know anyone, I guess it's so, so hard. Totally. Networking is something I have dived into this year and loved it.
00:14:36
Speaker
We all get this bad reputation with networking that you go to a networking event and no one talks and it's awkward and everyone's like throwing business cards at each other and it's just not a good time. I have been to some incredible events and I think as soon as you go to one, you learn about the rest because the same types of people go and you'll start to build these connections and relationships. I'd suggest maybe joining some networking groups.
00:15:02
Speaker
If you're in South Australia, there's SA Mums, which you don't actually need to be a mum to be a part of. There's SA Women. Yeah, there's Business Chicks. I mean, I was the company that I worked for to do as well. They have a huge community base, but there's so many even Facebook groups that always post events.
Networking and Promotion Strategies
00:15:20
Speaker
So if you have a look at, I think there's like Adelaide.
00:15:23
Speaker
business or something. But if you start to kind of join these groups and just go to an event, I always say you're going to take something away from them. Whether it be a key takeaway from one of the speakers, whether that's a connection you made, it might be a mentor, it might be a client, it could be someone that you can bring onto the podcast. There's always going to be something that you take away. And yeah, they can be scary, but
00:15:47
Speaker
bring a friend along, bring your mum along to the first one so you've got someone if you need to but also take that risk because if you don't take that risk you're not going to learn as well. Yeah wow and I guess even um I know sometimes they can come across as a bit um impersonal sometimes um but sending like a DM on Instagram I mean I know that's how I connected with you in the first place it's not necessarily my favorite point of contact um
00:16:11
Speaker
just because I do sometimes, it is a bit impersonal, because it's just a text. You don't know anything about the person. But what do you think about that? I think it's fine. I mean, I work in social media and Instagram, and I think there's a way to do it. If you are sending or if you're wanting to connect with someone on Instagram, I have made so many what I would call friends on social media and on Instagram because of the way you build relationships. I almost see Instagram as another opportunity to network.
00:16:40
Speaker
And you don't have to just slide into their DMs straight away. Start to interact with their content. Start to like some of their stories first. Start to comment on their posts. Start to respond to their polls. And then as you're building that relationship with them, then maybe send them a message. So you're not just going straight in. You're starting to build a relationship first, especially if it's someone that you're either wanting to learn from or you're wanting to bring on a podcast or you're wanting to have some kind of a relationship with.
00:17:07
Speaker
It's almost like dating. When you meet someone at a bar, you don't ask them straight for their number. You build it up, you build up that sort of relationship. And it's the same when it comes to Instagram. So, so true. Yeah, I love that. And so adding, do you say like on those different pages that you had, for those Facebook pages you were mentioning, like those sort of groups that you can sort of join?
00:17:31
Speaker
Yeah. They're all Facebook groups. I think Facebook groups would be the best opportunity. I've seen so many people make great connections and even get clients from Facebook groups. Obviously, there's a way to do it that you're not coming in and says, hey, buy my product. You've got to be really careful that you're not being all promotion-ly. They've always got those threads where
00:17:54
Speaker
they asked you to follow Instagram pages or sometimes I'll like there was one that I was able to when I launched my podcast promote the podcast in the group and they were fine with that so you've just got to find the right ones that are actually okay with you either promoting your product or service um but I think podcasts and events would be fine because they are like they're free um it's not like you're telling people to buy something so yeah but yeah just
00:18:22
Speaker
suss what is allowed in those groups and then kind of tailor what you're going to be doing in them around that. Yeah, I remember when I sort of, the podcast was first kind of, you know, kicking off the ground. I jumped onto and I joined all of the different like states, like, you know, the SACE, like all the different tertiary, sorry, not tertiary, secondary institutions. So then it was like the SACE, the VCE, the HSC, like all of those Facebook groups.
00:18:46
Speaker
Um, and once I got accepted, I just kind of, um, put out a post and just said, look, there's like a lot of information on here and you can sort of learn about, um, you can educate yourself and there's guest stars and.
00:18:58
Speaker
Um, it's my, you know, it's my podcast, but you know, I just wanted to give it a shout out, um, and share it with you guys. And, um, I remember a lot of my friends like responded positively about it, but, um, I think it helped a lot of people and I feel like, yeah. And I feel like overall, um, as much as like I wanted people, like I wanted listeners, I thought that.
00:19:19
Speaker
it was actually a better mentality to have that I wanted to help people. And as long as I kept telling myself, I'm like, I'm actually helping people. It's not about me and me getting a name for myself and whatever. It was more, yeah, the students were being helped and they were able to learn.
00:19:34
Speaker
100% if you honestly if that's the way you tackle business everything will change like you shouldn't be getting into business to make a ton of money I mean yes that's a nice byproduct but if your why is so much greater like I love making money I'm not gonna say I don't like money but I
00:19:53
Speaker
The reason that I love my job isn't because I make money. I could make money doing any other job. The reason that I love my job is because I truly believe in what I have to offer. It would be the same with your podcast. So when people come to me and they're like, oh, my gosh, I don't know how to talk about my offer on my Instagram page or I don't know how to talk about my new promotion. My first question is, OK, is it something you truly believe in? Is it something that you know is going to change lives? And if the if the answer is no, you need to relook at that. But if it's yes, then you're doing them a
00:20:23
Speaker
disservice not talking about it. It's about how you talk about it and if your product or service is something that's going to be helping people
00:20:32
Speaker
let them know like you're crazy not to share that with the world and it's the same exactly what you said with the Facebook group but I think that's with any business that you start create something that you love create something that you're so passionate about and that spend time actually making your product so amazing that the world needs to hear about it and then you won't feel ashamed talking about it.
00:20:53
Speaker
Yeah, that's really, really good. I love that. Yeah, wow. And I guess as well, if your social media presence online is a bit slow and you can't really get anywhere and you're sort of seeing like, you're not getting many followers, you might have like 15 followers and it's just your family and your friends and you don't really know how to extend that.
Growing Social Media Presence
00:21:16
Speaker
How do you grow your social media presence without, I mean, I know you can boost ads on Instagram, which I've used so often. It's so convenient and cheap and well, you know, a good price. But how do you sort of develop that presence without, you know, necessarily if you don't want to spend money or you just don't want it to be your family and friends?
00:21:39
Speaker
Totally, and like a lot of business owners will start with this problem. And the first thing I would say is to tap into any networks that you've currently got. So if you've got a personal Instagram page or a personal Facebook page or any other social media platform,
00:21:55
Speaker
advertise the page on any of those platforms to start with. Because even if you look at all of your Facebook friends, you've probably got people in there that you don't know or know very well or you haven't spoken to for a really long time. That perhaps could be a potential client or customer or podcast guest. So promote your page and share what you're doing. Share what you have to offer. Get people across to those pages by utilizing the resources that you've currently got. Yeah, yeah.
00:22:24
Speaker
My second idea would be just for starters, make sure that your account is set up. That's where we're starting to produce content. So we're giving people a reason to follow because if you don't have a great account, you don't have great content or value on your account, no one's going to follow you. And if they are, they're expecting you to give back to them. Like, why would you follow an account that isn't giving? So make sure you've got all of that set up first.
00:22:49
Speaker
But then I always call it the hunter versus gatherer mentality. So if you're early off in business, you need to have your hunting cap on and you need to be hunting down customers and hunting down followers. Yeah. So sort of sitting on Instagram, searching hashtags, searching location, having a look at other accounts that are similar in your space that would have a similar following and start interacting with those followers.
00:23:15
Speaker
Now, I'm not saying to do the whole follow-on-follow strategy or leaving in genuine comments or doing any of that stuff. This is all about building connection. So finding people that you feel would be a really good fit for your business and start to have a conversation with them. We recently did this for one of my clients that has a gym in Adelaide.
00:23:36
Speaker
I said to them, have you tried following accounts that are following gyms that are in your space? And they were like, no, because they're already going to those gyms. And I was like, I've got three gym memberships. I know that might sound crazy, but just because I'm part of one gym doesn't mean I'm not going to be a part of another gym. And it doesn't mean that I'm not going to follow that account.
00:23:56
Speaker
And they went out and did that strategy. And I spoke to them the other day and they're like, oh my God, Ruby, our followers have gone up so much. And I was like, I love it. Really? I would have never guessed that. And you know what? They're followers that are potential clients or potential customers at that gym, which is even better.
00:24:15
Speaker
So I said to them, the next thing to do is run a discount and you wait. They'll come swarming through because they're hot on their seats. So it's about building genuine connections, but in the early days, I get it. You have to put your hunting cap on and hunt for followers and hunt for clients. And then once you've built up your following, you kind of get into a rhythm where you're gathering clients and you're gathering followers and they're finding you, which is a really nice place to be, but sometimes you do need to go back into that hunting mentality as well.
00:24:44
Speaker
Yes, yeah, wow.
Engagement and Connection Strategies
00:24:46
Speaker
And what do you think of personal engagement? Where's the limit? Do you DM people? Personally, I know when people start following me, I sometimes like to shoot them a message if they do have a public account. I just say, thanks so much for following. I hope you really will enjoy the content and let us know if there's anything you want me to release specifically. Give me any ideas if you have any. Would you recommend that? Would you think that personal level of engagement is good?
00:25:13
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I will be honest. I'm going to be honest about this. I think you need to think of what feels genuine for you. I love that strategy. And I think I've seen it work very well for clients. But I can't say I've personally ever done that. And it might just be because I just don't have the time at the moment. So I don't have the time to go and send somebody a message to say thanks for following. But in saying that,
00:25:38
Speaker
It's not because I disagree with that strategy. It's just it doesn't fit with my personal strategy. So I think when it comes to personal engagement, like I'll go and interact with accounts and leave comments on their photos. I might reply to their stories. I might follow people that I feel are sort of in my space that could be a potential client. And then if I'm looking at their stories, I might reply to their stories for something that feels genuine and authentic.
00:26:05
Speaker
But it has to be, that's the key word, it has to be genuine and authentic. In the end, we're a human, they're a human. Would you?
00:26:13
Speaker
Let me ask you this, would you say what you're sending them to their face? And if the answer is yes, then go ahead. But if it's something you wouldn't say to their face, I probably would leave it. So you've got to think about what feels genuine and authentic to you, and also what's in your capacity as well. And would you sort of follow clients? So after you help them out, would you go and follow them back? Or is that sort of like a limit that you'd like to put on?
00:26:40
Speaker
I follow all of my clients just because I like to see what they're doing. So I know if they're following up with the work. But also I think my Instagram account is really about building relationships. So anyone that follows me and if I feel like they would be a potential client, I'll absolutely follow them back because I can start to build that relationship with them.
00:26:59
Speaker
And I think that's a good rule of thumb. I mean, you'll get people that follow you and you're like, oh, I don't think you're my target market and I probably wouldn't follow them back just because I don't really see the point. I mean, my business account is for business. But yeah, I would absolutely follow them back.
00:27:15
Speaker
Yeah. And what do you think of, this is kind of moving into social media a bit more now, but what do you think of hashtags?
Hashtags and Keywords on Instagram
00:27:23
Speaker
Because I usually only put like two to three per post. There was a time where I would put like literally like as many as I could fit on. And I had an app that would put all the hashtags in for me, but I know I feel like everyone's got through that phase. But what do you sort of think of a lot of hashtags or a little bit? It's a tough one.
00:27:39
Speaker
Look, and I've completely changed my view on hashtags and this is coming from the social media manager. I honestly don't feel like they get as much reach as they used to and this is just coming purely from trial and error. And I still manage quite a few clients' accounts and I test things on theirs if hashtags work and hashtags don't work.
00:28:00
Speaker
What Instagram have released is a statement saying that keywords are key. So your hashtags are still going to be working as a keyword. So think about any words that you're using in your caption and as a hashtag. They need to be keyword and SEO keyword searchable.
00:28:18
Speaker
Anything that somebody would search to find your account, you can use that as a hashtag. But gone are the days are... Do you remember when we used to put hashtags in our posts that would be like, thank me later? That will not work anymore. That's not a key word.
00:28:36
Speaker
I usually use, I'll either won't put any hashtags on if I feel like my post has enough keywords or if my post is purely for my community so it's not the intention isn't to get more reach but if I'm like you know what this post would do well if it like goes out to an audience that isn't my audience
00:28:55
Speaker
I'll choose around five to eight hashtags that somebody would search on. So for me, it might be business coach, it might be social media coach Adelaide, it might be essay business, it might be Adelaide coach. So those words that people search on, that's what I would include as a hashtag.
00:29:12
Speaker
Oh, nice.
The Importance of Reels
00:29:14
Speaker
Let's talk about reels because that's definitely, I know, I am obsessed with them and I know you are as well because you always post them and I love it. It's such a big thing right now. It's obviously like, I guess, the Instagram equivalent to TikTok, which is again another topic we could talk about as well. But what do you think of reels and the, I guess, progression of them and the potential for them?
00:29:41
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's so funny because I just ran a masterclass before and Reels was the topic of conversations. I was an hour masterclass. I reckon at least half was on the roof. Oh, wow. But yeah, Reels are great for reach, right? So if you're looking to grow your accounts, Reels, the first thing that I'd say about Reels is they're going to get more reach than any other post. So if you're wanting to get your posts and your account in front of new eyeballs, Reels should absolutely be part of your strategy.
00:30:11
Speaker
The other thing that they do is they, because we're using video content and a lot of rules show our face, they allow us to build trust with our audience. And if you're writing a lot of posts or you don't really show your face, it takes a lot longer for your audience to build trust with you. And in order for your audience to buy from you, they need to be able to trust you. So all of a sudden we're able to add a lot of video content into our content marketing plan to build that trust.
00:30:40
Speaker
And the third thing they're grateful is that they are bite-sized. People want to consume them. They're fun. They're engaging. And they're just what people are wanting more of. You said before, you love consuming them. And I think a lot of us are. When we're creating Reels, it's important that they're either entertaining their educational
00:30:58
Speaker
they're inspiring so that we are they do have that kind of outcome and yeah there's so many different formats which again we could talk about for ages but what they're saying at the moment is that original content is doing really well so that's kind of rules where you'd be giving a bit of a tip so I could say you know these are five ways to increase your sales or whatever that tip might be but giving that advice to your audience face to camera opposed to
00:31:25
Speaker
you know, when they first released, I think it was people got really nervous because they thought they'd have to dance on their reels, which I've never done. But that was what they originally said. I think I've done a few pointing ones before, but lip syncing are ones that I love doing. I think they're just really fun. But what I'd say is find what you enjoy doing. Like don't ever do anything if it feels inauthentic. Like I'm a terrible dancer. You would not want to see me dance.
00:31:54
Speaker
Oh my gosh, people would probably like it just to like because they feel sorry Yeah, honestly would be a pity like But yeah, I I Set a challenge for one of my clients to post a reel every single day for the month of August And I told them they could have Sundays off and we're gonna monitor to see what the changes of their account are So I think it's such a big
00:32:22
Speaker
It's just such a big driver and it's so easy to produce reels. I batch create them all in an afternoon and then I've got content for days. But you kind of get into a habit where you've got all of these ideas saved in your saved reels and before the master class before, I literally just whipped out my phone. I was like, oh, I've got three minutes. I'm just going to quickly record a lip syncing. Yeah, literally.
00:32:46
Speaker
Because they're so easy now, like you can just whip them out so quickly. And I love the fact that, I mean sometimes there are glitches on Instagram, which of course is just, you know, the joy. It's just it's true. It's just it's true. But no, in all honesty, I love how they've got like the little arrow that says if it's a trending rule or not. Sometimes they change the format slightly, I think, because on my personal account.
00:33:09
Speaker
I don't get the arrow, I just get the little audio box. But then on the business account, I do get the arrow. So oh, that is actually another thing that we could talk about now is I guess making sure that the Instagram account is a business account. Yeah. Yeah.
00:33:26
Speaker
So true, except I'm going to I'm going to disagree slightly there just because if it's so when you're setting up your Instagram, you can either have it as a personal or a business or a creator account. OK,
Benefits of a Creator Account
00:33:39
Speaker
yeah. Now, if you choose a business account, you need to have a business account if you're wanting to sell things directly from your Instagram account. So in order to have the shop in order, you can now actually sell a direct link in your DMS.
00:33:53
Speaker
If you want any of those functionality, you need to be set up as a business. However, if you're a coach or you're a podcaster or you're some kind of creative, I would strongly suggest that you set your account up as a creator account, purely because you will get access to better audios. So you'll find that if you're a business account, you'll have some wow audio choices.
00:34:16
Speaker
And it is so frustrating. You'll be doing a reel and they'll be like, I don't know, some like country music and that's the really option you've got. And it's so frustrating. So if you get those issues, my little roundabout way would be try to change your account to a creator account or where you can change the category of your business. I've also seen that if you change it to entrepreneur or I think it was
00:34:41
Speaker
creator i think it was creator but definitely entrepreneur it can give you access to those songs as well so yeah it does it is really important to set your account up properly from the start you can go back and change these settings but just depending on what you're wanting to do with the account
00:34:59
Speaker
Also, if you're a personal account, you can't access your insights, so you can't actually see how your posts are doing or your follower growth or any of that important information. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally. Yeah, you can't see any of that. So make sure that you do have business intentions to either be a creator or a business account.
00:35:15
Speaker
Yes, that's true. Thank you for mentioning that because I do know that my account is a creator and of course my personal account is my personal account. But it's good because the audio is great and even though I'm not following all the accounts that deal with trends and stuff, I still got a lot of those reels that do tell me.
00:35:35
Speaker
This audio is trending right now, quickly jump on it. I think the worst struggle though is when you kind of make something, like you said, batch shows rules, and then they all save your saved draft and then the audio is not trending anymore. I'm like, oh no, what do I do? Damn it, I know, post straight away.
00:35:52
Speaker
I would still post it because I think you've got the content there and you've spent time creating it, you still will get reach, you'll still engage your audience, but just take it as a sign to just get your stuff out there. I don't know if you saw my post the other... Oh, actually, I think it was yesterday and it was the... Have you seen that?
00:36:13
Speaker
that trending it is on TikTok and it's where people are saying she's a 10 but yeah I did say that and you had multiple of them didn't you yeah yeah yeah yeah and so I sort of came on that when it was like trending but I reckon if somebody did it today or tomorrow even it's kind of going out the window yes um I'm actually I'm gonna say this now because this isn't being released right now but um the Little Miss Happy ones are now trending have you seen them? Literally in the last 24 hours yeah yeah
00:36:39
Speaker
Yeah, so I'm gonna do a post. Yeah, so I'm gonna be doing that either today or tomorrow. I'm gonna say today because then I'll jump on it. But the biggest thing is if something's trending right now, jump on it now and just create it. Get on the bandwagon because it gets so much more engaging and people love it. I got such a good response from that one because people thought it was funny. It was trending. Trending memes. Grab one of those and make it your own. Yeah, I did one of those.
00:37:07
Speaker
Exactly. Like you just have to jump on things when they're hot. Yes. And I always say massive imperfect action. Like don't wait until something's perfect. Just get it out there because in reality, it's content. Next week, you're going to have seven more posts. Maybe not seven, but you're going to have posts that are pushing it back down again. So no one's going to even care anymore. So don't wait until something's perfect. So long as it's good enough, I always say good is good enough when it comes to social media. Just get it out there. Yeah, for sure. And what do you think about
00:37:35
Speaker
releasing multiple post-it reels in the same day. Because I don't want to release one, and the next one will kind of get less engagement. I think I read that somewhere, but yeah.
00:37:46
Speaker
I have two minds about it because I do agree with that because reels do have a longer lifespan so you'll find that you might post a reel and it does really well in the first 24 hours and then you might not hear anything and then all of a sudden three days later it just spikes and it's out of nowhere. So I do get that and if your reel is doing well you can give it
00:38:07
Speaker
what i would call like breathing room to kind of breathe and get more traction on it but on the flip side i'm also someone that says just get content out there like content is king and content will get you conversions so if you want to post something don't just not post it because
00:38:24
Speaker
you're like oh no I want to give my post some breathing room like the more content that you have so long as it's high quality and so long as you're not going overboard get it out there because you're going to be building connections you're going to be establishing yourself as the authority and you're going to get more traction yeah and I say this from experience when I started posting more content I had more people contacting me to become clients so
00:38:48
Speaker
It depends what you're wanting. If you are wanting to succeed faster in your business and increase your sales, produce more content.
00:38:58
Speaker
Yeah, and I know there are lots of templates. I use Canva a lot for posts. Even Reels, they're developing that function now. And Canva Pro, even though it's a little bit expensive, but it's definitely worth it. I love using templates. I guess that takes the pressure for that whole side of having to create content from scratch.
00:39:19
Speaker
which I love.
Using Canva for Branding
00:39:21
Speaker
Totally. I'm like Canva's number one biggest fan. I think it's like, it's just the number one app that I would say to invest in. I've definitely got the pro account. And for me, it's really helpful because I can set my brand kit up in there as well. So you've got like your logo and your fonts and your colors.
00:39:39
Speaker
But then I can also have all of my clients because they can have their own brand kit. So that's super helpful. But yeah, like you said, the templates are amazing and templates for absolutely everything. Like this morning when I ran my masterclass, I was like, you know what? I've used Canva to do my slide pack, my workbook.
00:39:58
Speaker
I gave them all like templates, so I had carousel templates in there, reels templates, they were all in Canva, literally everything. But then you can create website designs, you can create resumes, you can even create QR codes, you can create logos, everything is in there. It's just insane what Canva can do.
00:40:20
Speaker
that's definitely my favorite probably tech to help editing but there are a few on my phone for editing reels I like there's one called InShot and that's probably my favorite one for kind of trimming and adding different clips together it's really easy to use and it's free and you can add like little stickers and stuff but I find that one really easy and then there's a couple of like template ones that I like to create reels or stories and
00:40:49
Speaker
One of them's called Temply, which I'm not even joking. It was free up until about a week ago. And now they've just like, you have to pay to get all of their templates, which is so annoying. Anyway, have a look. Some of them are still free. Temply is still really good. And the other one's called Clay, which I really like too. Okay. Yeah. Wow.
00:41:08
Speaker
That's really cool. Let's I guess move on to side hustles now.
Focus for Side Hustle Success
00:41:14
Speaker
Yes. And I'd love just to talk about specifically for like secondary and tertiary students, what can they sort of do to get the ball rolling? So after like their road mapping and networking, let's just take the example that like there is a student that doesn't really know a lot of people that are a bit too shy to network or maybe they're not quite 18 yet or you know, they just quite don't, it's like there's a lot of
00:41:36
Speaker
A lot of things they have to consider, what can they do to start developing a product after they do the social media side of things? What else can they do to get that ball rolling and get a bit of customers and clients?
00:41:52
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I think when it comes to having a side hustle, I think a lot of people wait too long to launch and all of a sudden it's been a year or two and they've got this great idea that's still an idea. So my biggest bit of advice would be a concept that I call the power of one. So having one really good idea, not a million, we can all have a million ideas and if we are have an entrepreneurial mindset, I'm sure you've got a million ideas, but stick with
00:42:21
Speaker
with one idea, one product, one side hustle idea until it's launched. And with that one idea, come up with one message. So what's your promise statement? Who's it gonna help? What's your messaging around that? Don't make it confusing for your audience. Have one niche that it then goes to. So you've got one product with one message that's going out to one niche. And then stick with one social media platform so you're not focusing on too many different things.
00:42:48
Speaker
And if you focus on one of each of those, put all of your energy into there and rip the bandaid off and just launch it, that's going to be your best way to actually make sales and get traction on it. Because reality is you're not going to have a million sales come in all at once. You're going to be working hard to get that first sale. So you need to just get it out there into the public.
00:43:11
Speaker
And then once you've released that product, a big thing is going to be the marketing of that product. So you're going to almost switch gears and switch lanes into you've spent all of this time creating this product. Now we need to focus on selling and marketing it. So how are we going to do that? Well, talking about it on the Instagram or whatever social media platform that you've created.
00:43:34
Speaker
Perhaps there's some great websites now, like Etsy's one and Udemy, where Etsy is obviously a digital, hang on, yeah, Etsy you can sell digital or physical products, which I think is great because they get marketed to Etsy's marketplace, so you're not having to do, you still absolutely need to do your marketing yourself, but at least it's on their platform out to other people and that they can stumble across it through different avenues.
00:44:04
Speaker
If you're willing to release trainings, so that's another great side hustle is to release a mini course or a masterclass and everyone has something they can teach on. Don't tell me you don't. You've launched a podcast. You could teach someone how to launch a podcast. Everyone can teach something. And there's a website called Udemy, which allows you to release
00:44:27
Speaker
trainings or mini courses and they do take a cut. I think it's quite hefty. It's like 40 or 50 percent. However, they market it to their entire marketplace. So it's a really good way to get another stream of income because instead of you having to market it. So if you're sort of new in this side hustle mentality and you're wanting to think of another stream of income, perhaps thinking of these
00:44:50
Speaker
platforms that market to their marketplace would be a good idea even though they will take a cut but it's just a way to kind of get your name out there and start the business that you're wanting to
Authenticity and Relationship Building
00:45:01
Speaker
start. Yes definitely and how could like a millennial or a Gen Z sort of stand out in this era even though like you said like that everyone's sort of in a way I feel like everyone's an entrepreneur at heart
00:45:14
Speaker
And I guess when everyone's sort of trying to do their own thing and said like, you know, start those businesses left, right and center, how can you be the person that stands out? So how could you really encode that niche to really get it to the audience and get like your product to, yeah, stand out for the rest.
00:45:33
Speaker
I mean, I do agree with that. I think at the moment, it does feel like we are in, call it like, how do you get out of that sea of sameness? Everyone feels like they're doing the same thing and there's so much competition around.
00:45:48
Speaker
The thing is like you are so uniquely you. I know that that sounds so cliche but we as humans buy from other humans. So if like your biggest point of difference is going to be sticking to who you are and building relationships and connections and that's why people will buy from you.
00:46:07
Speaker
you can you know think of the biggest gap in the market or you can try and think of a really niche product but in the end somebody else is 100% going to be doing that somebody else is going to be thinking of that gap yes and if you stop comparing yourself to competitors
00:46:23
Speaker
Cut out the noise around you and focus on creating a product that you are so passionate about and that you know is going to be changing lives. Make that product your baby. Be obsessed with it. Make sure that it is providing value.
00:46:38
Speaker
and then be authentic on whatever platform it is that you have in the content that you create. So get good at creating content, get good at producing videos, get good at recording podcast episodes so that you can build relationships and that's why people will buy from you. So I think it's less about niching down and finding that gap in the market and more about actually stepping into being authentically you to build connections because really that's why people are gonna buy from you.
00:47:06
Speaker
Yeah and that authenticity I think is that's yeah like you said that's what makes you stand out. I know that you see like some like um you know content creators that are just so fake and you're like maybe you'll see through it. Yeah you see through it and it's like yeah sure your content might be good and you might have some things to share but all in all that like that personal relationship just not being developed. Totally.
Power of Storytelling
00:47:31
Speaker
I think so many people get really afraid to share their story, but I think stories are what sells. I mean, you think about when we were little, when we were kids, like everything's around nursery rhymes. And the reason they're around nursery rhymes is because we remember the stories and we remember almost like the outcome of the nursery rhyme because of those stories. So if you can share your own stories on your account,
00:48:00
Speaker
that's not only going to build connection, but it's also going to attach people to the knowledge that you're teaching them. So if you, yeah, like know your story and share it and don't be afraid to be transparent and raw and kind of relatable because that's what people are going to connect with the most.
00:48:19
Speaker
Yes. I know particularly I don't usually show my face on my Instagram, but then again, I'm not really trying to sell anything. So it's a bit of a different situation for me. Um, but, um, I do love when, like you said a little bit before, when people show their face and, you know, like share their stories and.
00:48:36
Speaker
just I love the connection that people build. So yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, so good. And Ruby, do you have any sort of last pieces of advice or any tips that you want to give to the secondary or tertiary students?
Pursuing Non-Traditional Career Paths
00:48:51
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, what I would have to say is when I was younger, I suppose in high school, I always thought that I had to do a traditional job. So, you know, go to school, become a lawyer or become an accountant or, you know, and that just bored me. And I'm sorry, like if you want to be a lawyer and you want to be an accountant, go for it. My sister's a lawyer and she's an amazing lawyer and she loves it. She loves her job.
00:49:17
Speaker
But if that doesn't feel right for you, don't feel like you need to go and study to become that. There's always so many different avenues you can take and you can continue to learn that will bring you closer to what you should be doing. Because in the end, our job is what we're going to spend so many years doing and something that was not so much a traditional job. Like when I told my grandma, I
00:49:43
Speaker
manage Instagram accounts was a job. She was like, what? That's my job. Whatever was a traditional job back in the day. It doesn't matter anymore. You can literally make anything a job now and don't let anyone tell you you can't. You can make podcasting a full-time job if you want to. You can do anything and don't let anyone
00:50:05
Speaker
you know, feel like you can't do that. And if somebody is telling you not to do that, you're hanging out with the wrong people. Find a new tribe, find a new group of people. Because yeah, there are people out there that will encourage you to actually achieve the goals that you want. And again, I know that sounds so cliche, but I'm an example of that. And I've had so many different career options. And this is what I love doing. I love helping business owners create their own business through Instagram. And I've made a successful business out of it. So
00:50:35
Speaker
Yeah, and I love how the prospect of opportunity is just absolutely endless. So, so good. Absolutely. Yeah, no, 100%. I love it. Thank you so much, Ruby, for joining us today. Yeah, I really, really appreciate it. We had a good chat, I think. We did. You're so welcome. We'd love to have you on one time again, to have maybe a part two.
00:50:57
Speaker
Absolutely. It was so much fun. Thank you for having me. I had such a fun time and I hope that your listeners got something out of the episode as well. Definitely. And we'll link all of your Instagram and your Facebook. We'll link it all in the description box below for the listeners so they can definitely check you out and give you a follow. But just in case, did you want to share that with us now?
00:51:17
Speaker
Yes, I mean, where you can finally find me is mainly on my Instagram account. That's where I hang out all the time, which is just Ruby.consultants. Clearly, names are not my creative stories. But yeah, everything's across on my Instagram page. So yeah, I'm gonna say hello, my DMs, if you want to say hi. Yeah. Definitely, and Ruby's got some great content on there, so I would highly recommend you check out. Thank you so much again, and have a great rest of your day.
00:51:47
Speaker
Thank you!
00:52:08
Speaker
and definitely let me know what you thought of that. I would love to get a conversation with you guys going, get a discussion sort of going on Instagram, because I find it really important to connect with the people that are listening to this channel. So definitely send me a DM, let me know if you like the episode or not. If you have any critical feedback or any improvements to make, again, I would love to hear about it, because there's always ways that we can improve all things education.
00:52:35
Speaker
And of course, I meant what I said. Ruby has so much amazing content that I would love for you guys to check out. She has masterclasses, courses, freebies, guides, emails, the whole lot on top of her Instagram. So everything about Ruby's business is just on point. So amazing. And she's doing such a great job and is so successful at the moment. So if you guys are based in Australia or even if you're overseas, please definitely check out Ruby. She said her Instagram was ruby.consultants.
00:53:05
Speaker
I will again link it in the description below, but definitely check her out. Everything in the bio of her Instagram leads to her website and her Facebook and a whole lot of things. So definitely go check that out. Give her a follow and be sure to engage with her on her Instagram and let her know that you've listened to her episode today on our channel. And I think she would very much appreciate that.
00:53:27
Speaker
And as always, if you haven't already subscribed and rated our show, that would be awesome to do so right now. So it's really easy to subscribe or follow on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or whatever platform you're listening on. And we would really appreciate it if you rated it at five stars and left a review. That obviously helps boost the engagement and lets other people know about this episode and about this podcast.
00:53:50
Speaker
And some exciting and great news for you guys. We are currently ranked in a pretty high position on Apple Podcast at the moment. Just received a notification the other day saying that we were actually number 32 in Australia under a particular category. And I think this is amazing. So let's keep up the good work, keep sharing this podcast, keep sharing this channel and let's spread the love and spread the word around.
00:54:17
Speaker
So that is all from us today at All Things Education. And if you like this episode, be sure to let us know by sending us a DM. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast, as we said before. And just remember that the advice given on this channel and on our socials is very general information only. And if you have any specific personal health, wellbeing or educational issues, reach out to professionals such as Ruby or your GP or your school counselor, or just a trusted person in your life.
00:54:43
Speaker
before making any final decisions. Please do not take this episode as specific personal advice and hopefully you now have a little bit more information about starting up your own business and social media and how to properly do it. Alright guys, have a great week, stay educated and we'll see you shortly.