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Episode 98 - How to easily batch video content - Elise Darma
189 Plays2 years ago
Happy Woo Wednesdays!
I have a super special guest today. Elise Darma! She is on youtube and Instafamous. I've been following her for many years and she's a good person to follow. She is an introvert and is not naturally one to be in the spotlight. She is living it up in Barcelona with her fiance and baby bump now with because she has built the online biz of her dreams.
Her fave HECK YES technique; Make your offer a NO-BRAINER.
Hot Topic:
How to easily batch video content: Know what season of business you are in; PLAN out your video first; Film, edit, and write captions in batches; Build up a library of B-roll footage on your phone.
The biggest takeway today is that you don’t have to do ~all the things~ on Instagram, because nobody wants to be on their phone 24/7. Mastering social strategy doesn't have to feel like working at NASA.
Elise Darma is a marketing educator who specializes in helping not-so-Insta-famous business people make REAL revenue directly from the free apps we know and love. She’s helped over 30,000 people truly grow their businesses, sell more programs and build money-making brands. Elise has been featured for her social media marketing expertise in Forbes, Entrepreneur, Digital Marketer and Social Media Examiner.
Free Reels Calendar: https://onvideo.co/calendar
https://instagram.com/elisedarma
Connect with Carissa Woo
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Transcript
Introduction and Website Audits for Wedding Professionals
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey everyone, welcome back to Get a Heck Yes, Happy Woo Wednesdays. Me and my team, my girl Cindy, we're doing website audits for wedding professionals, and we will literally audit your homepage and your bio page of your website. So just go to my Instagram, at Carissa Woo, W-O-O, and DM me the word audit, and we will send you back a 10 minute loom video.
Meet Elise Darma: Social Media Marketer
00:00:27
Speaker
So anyways, today I'm super excited. This girl, her name is Elise Darma. She's on today and I've been following her on YouTube and Instagram for two years and I'm in her program, Video Vault. She is absolutely amazing and she is a social media marketer making Instagram bearable and efficient for business owners.
00:00:50
Speaker
since 2013 plus 120K on YouTube. And she lives in Barcelona and she's pregnant and she's adorable. I love her videos and she just helps all business owners not struggle. So today we talk about batching your reels to make your life easier. You are going to love this episode.
About 'Get a Heck Yes' Podcast
00:01:15
Speaker
Welcome to Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. I'm your host, Carissa, and I've been a Los Angeles wedding photographer for over a decade. I've traveled the world, built my team, and seen it all. I now coach wedding photographers hit 10K a month and build a thriving business. In this podcast, we are going to deep dive into how top wedding creatives get that heck yes from their dream clients. We are not holding back on the struggles of the business and how to push through the noise. Some healthy hustle, mindset shifts, up-leveling your money story,
00:01:43
Speaker
time hacks because I'm a mom of two, a little bit of woo-woo, and most importantly, self-love and confidence are just a few of the many things we will talk about. I want to give you a genuine thank you for following along my journey. I hope to inspire you every Woo Wednesday so that you say heck yes to listening to this podcast. See you guys soon!
Elise's Background and Move to Spain
00:02:06
Speaker
Welcome back to Get a Heck Yes with me, your host, Carissa Wu. I have a very special guest tonight. Her name is Elise Dharma. If you don't know her, she is super famous on Instagram. She is a marketing educator who specializes in helping not so insta-famous people like us and make real revenue directly from the free apps we know and love.
00:02:28
Speaker
She's helped over 30,000 people truly grow their businesses, including me, sell more programs and build money making brands. Elise has been featured in her social media marketing expertise in Forbes. Holy cow. Entrepreneur, digital marketer and social media examiner. And today's top topic is how to easily batch video content. Welcome Elise Dharma.
00:02:52
Speaker
Thank you, Carissa. I love your energy with the introduction, so let's do this. I'm excited to dive in. Yay, where are you located? Currently, I am in Barcelona, Spain, so I'm like nine hours ahead of you. Well, where are you originally from? I'm from Vancouver, Canada, and
00:03:12
Speaker
left Vancouver as a young adult, spent 12, 13 years in Toronto and then 2020 was a big catalyst year for my then boyfriend became my fiance to leave Toronto and we actually moved to Mexico for a bit and then we came to Spain so we've been here for almost two years now.
00:03:33
Speaker
Oh, I guess when you have an online business, you could be anywhere in the world. That's it. I've had an online business for 10 years. I was kind of ready for a change. I've always wanted to live in Europe. I have my European passport. It just felt like, let's try it now. Why not? So here we are.
Journey from Conservative Upbringing to Europe
00:03:51
Speaker
We showed up with six suitcases between us and now we have like a whole apartment full of stuff. So we're definitely more based here. Like we're not nomadic. Like I have been in the past, but we're also expecting a baby. So that changes priorities. Congratulations. I know you're holding a little basketball. You don't know if it's a boy or a girl. Congratulations. I guess in your words, like tell us a little bit about your journey. Um, you can start even,
00:04:17
Speaker
as young as a kid and then where it took you to today now in your business, what it looks like.
00:04:24
Speaker
Yeah, I love that question. Cause I can go really far back. I, as a kid, I would say I was like a perfectionist needed to be the little perfect daughter, goody two shoes. And that served me well. I was a straight A student in high school and I really took that on as my identity. You know, like I really took that as part of my value and my worth. And it took my twenties to kind of re redo that psychology and that conditioning that I'm more than just my, my brains and education.
00:04:54
Speaker
Um, but I would say I grew up in a very conservative religious household. And at 18 years old, I traveled to Europe for the first time. And that was really when I felt true freedom. It was like, I was on a high the whole time because I could be who I wanted to be for the first time ever. And then I just became addicted to travel after that. And in my twenties, I would say 20 to 25 were, were
00:05:18
Speaker
tougher years because I was experimenting. I was trying so much. I studied construction management, then I studied business, then I ended up with a degree in radio and television arts. I thought I wanted to be an on-air broadcaster, which I did, but I'm so glad I didn't go the traditional media route because my university job that I got in 2010
00:05:43
Speaker
was relatively new at the time, and it was as a social media marketer for a tech incubator space within the university.
Career Beginnings in Social Media Marketing
00:05:50
Speaker
So I was lucky to be in a position, in a workspace that was really on the frontier of what was happening with technology and digital media.
00:05:59
Speaker
And I thought, well, this is an easy job. I just have to do some Facebook posts, do some Twitter posts. That was the extent of it back then. But being in that environment, being around startup entrepreneurs was amazing for me. That's where I got my very first client just through word of mouth. They said, Hey, Elise, you know, social media. Can you grow my Instagram for me? And this was a fashion brand,
00:06:22
Speaker
A friend of mine who was looking for a quote, marketing rock star. And I thought, well, I do want to do this whole four hour work week. Tim Ferriss. Yeah, that's what got me going. And I said, well, I'm looking to take on some client work on the side of my day job. And so a week later we had a contract signed. I was making a thousand dollars extra a month with this contract with this client.
00:06:48
Speaker
And I just thought it was the greatest thing ever. Like I still had my day job income and I was making an extra thousand dollars. So I was able to like climb out of credit card debt and with time.
00:06:59
Speaker
word of mouth spread and I had three more clients. So I was pretty maxed out, but I loved it for nine months. I did my day job and I did client work on weekends and nighttime during the nights. And I was able to make so much money, but eventually I was super thrilled with that. Um, but eventually I just knew I couldn't keep doing both. It wasn't sustainable. So I made the decision to quit my day job, which gave me that network.
00:07:27
Speaker
And that was in 2014.
Transition to Full-Time Entrepreneurship
00:07:30
Speaker
So I've been a full-time entrepreneur since then. I went on to run an agency and serve e-commerce clients with their marketing and social media needs.
00:07:40
Speaker
I did do my eat, pray, love trip. I went to Bali, Australia, Hawaii. That was the whole goal. And then I spent a couple of years just being a digital nomad. I had this online business and I was making my day job salary, if not a little bit more.
00:07:58
Speaker
for a few years and that was great. Like I was able to travel and Toronto was still my base, but I still spent about three to four months of every year traveling social media agency. Yeah. And then in 2016, I realized, huh, my, my income, my revenue.
00:08:17
Speaker
is the same every year. And I'm not going to get financially independent this way. I have location independence, but I want money. So I thought, well, I need to get more clients. And I decided to grow my personal account on Instagram as a way to be a portfolio piece to show clients like, Hey, I did this for myself and my other clients. I can do it for you. And what ended up happening was the summer of 2016, I grew to 30,000 followers.
00:08:46
Speaker
I only cared about looking Instafamous. I didn't know their names. I wasn't collecting emails at all. Like I kind of did everything wrong, but I was really swept up into the influencer world.
00:08:59
Speaker
And so by the end of that summer I thought there's something here and there's probably another business here and there's probably someone who's been there done that before and that's literally when I had the first idea to hire a business coach. It didn't even cross my mind and that's what really put me in this online business world because once I hired that coach I was able to
00:09:22
Speaker
launched EliseDarma.com. I was able to start teaching webinars for free just to understand why people were following me. I then learned that they wanted to know how I was growing on Instagram and how I was traveling so much. So then in 2017, I created my first course on how to grow your business on Instagram.
00:09:40
Speaker
And that digital product, that is what got my business over the six-figure mark. And that's what changed my trajectory entirely because then I went from being an agency owner to, whoa, I really like this whole create one good thing once and sell it over and over again.
00:09:59
Speaker
So in 2017, 2018, 2019, I really got into funnel marketing and growing an organic audience and really stepping into the Elise Dharma Instagram educator role.
Shift from Agency to Digital Products
00:10:12
Speaker
And then I think I shut my agency in 2020. So it just financially made more sense to focus on digital products.
00:10:20
Speaker
Long story short, that's where I am today. Wow. That's crazy. Okay, so thank you for sharing. That was an amazing story. For agency life, was it more like just running people's Instagrams and it was too much busy work for you? It was hard to scale. And yes, I was doing marketing service services for ecommerce brands. So mostly their Instagram growth,
00:10:45
Speaker
sometimes their email lists, their email marketing. Um, I really liked it. I loved working with physical product brands, a lot of Shopify brands, but I struggled as an agency owner, bringing in team members who could help me with the work. And I felt like I was always stuck between five to seven clients. Like it was really hard to do that, which put me at making, you know, 7,000 ish, maybe 10,000 a month. But.
00:11:14
Speaker
My expenses grew every time because I was hiring more people. So I really didn't figure out or know how to scale that agency model. And then I just got really sucked into the digital product model.
00:11:26
Speaker
Interesting.
Growing Instagram and Business Strategies
00:11:27
Speaker
Okay, you mentioned, well, just telling the listeners you have 184k followers, which is extremely impressive. I have taken many of your courses, I'm in video vault, and I was in the wheel, real fortune with you, which was extremely impressive. What does maybe a day in your life look like? Or what does your business look like today, which is your business is incredible.
00:11:52
Speaker
It's very different now from agency life. I would say that 2017 to 2019 were a bit of a struggle. There was a lot of learning, figuring out how to create a webinar, figuring out how to automate it, showing up as a person online. I know I wanted to be a broadcast journalist, but in my mind, that's kind of like you're an actor a little bit, like you're reading your lines as a journalist would.
00:12:19
Speaker
But putting out my Elise Dharma brand, you know, I had to figure out how to do that comfortably because I'm an introvert and I don't necessarily want to perform and I don't necessarily want to blast my life on social media. So I felt like I was really figuring that out up until 2019. And actually I almost gave up on my business in 2019. It was tough. It was, I felt like my business was actually becoming paycheck to paycheck.
00:12:46
Speaker
You know, at the beginning of every month where your revenue starts back at zero and you know that you have, you know, a fixed amount of expenses that you need to cover every month. That was the stress I was feeling like, Oh, okay. So I need to make at least $7,000 this month. Okay. So I'd like to make 10,000. Okay. How am I going to do that? That, that was kind of how I felt in 2019 and.
00:13:08
Speaker
Yes, I had my Instagram education business, but I kind of felt like an imposter because my Instagram wasn't growing. I would put out new offers and no one would really want them. Like there was just always a mismatch.
Success of a $27 Product and Business Growth
00:13:22
Speaker
And I really had to ask myself, do I want this life or do I want to go back to the day job life where I can clock in, clock out, turn my brain off?
00:13:34
Speaker
My then boyfriend at the time, who's now my fiance, he asked me, like he played devil's advocate and he had asked me, so what would it look like to go back to your day job? And even just exploring that, I was like, no, I'm not ready yet. Like there's still more things I can try. And that was when I decided to do the opposite of what all the advice was in my industry at that time.
00:13:56
Speaker
At that time, everyone was telling me to create a high ticket offer, you know, sell something for $1,000, $2,000, $5,000. I tried that, but my audience was like, nah, like it just wasn't for them. And so I did the opposite and I created a low ticket offer. I created a $27 product, which people at the time said, don't do it because it devalues the rest of your offers and people will look for deals and you'll track the wrong customers.
00:14:22
Speaker
They were so wrong. I finally created an offer that matched with my audience. Like they wanted this bite-sized version of my training in a $27 offer, which then they got to know me as a teacher. And then they were much more able to buy my course, which at the time was $600. So then 2020 hit and I didn't realize it at the time, but my business was well positioned to help a lot of people who were looking for.
00:14:50
Speaker
Oh, shoot. I have to get my business online like immediately. So I was very fortunate in that where I was in the market, it was well positioned for people looking for, for help during those times. And our business grew quite a bit in 2020. So yeah, things are very different than the agency days. I am mostly
00:15:11
Speaker
Like, yeah, mostly a digital product-based business. And I see myself in the education space. I'd help other business owners, you know, use Instagram, use social media, use short form video to make sales. Cause at the end of the day,
00:15:26
Speaker
I am my target audience. I'm not an influencer. I'm not a creator. I'm a business owner. I know I have limited hours in the day. I don't want to spend four hours of it memorizing TikTok videos, right? So I really put myself in the shoes of myself. And then that translates over to what my audience really cares about.
00:15:48
Speaker
And I create products of different price ranges and strategies for my audience. And then I continue to grow my audience organically, mostly through YouTube and Instagram at this point. And we do use paid ads. And at the same time, I'm not trying to grow a massive business. I know there's this desire to have an empire. Sometimes you'll hear that online. I don't want an empire. I still think I want a lifestyle business. That was my intent when I started. So
00:16:15
Speaker
I keep my team pretty, pretty lean, you know, there's myself and three core people who run the day to day. And then we have a handful of agencies and other contractors. So that's enough for me that's that's big enough for
Entrepreneurial Lessons and Mindset Shifts
00:16:30
Speaker
me. And there's still always lots of moving parts but
00:16:34
Speaker
That's, that's kind of what I've learned. I'm, I'm happiest with. Thank you for sharing. I love that story. It just makes me think of your Instagram girls where you have like to Elise, like alter ego, Lisa, and you talking. It's like, what do you want? What do you need? And you have to answer for yourself. I would need this. I need some strategies for this. I need to learn a bunch. Yeah. It's funny. It's like you are your own consumer.
00:16:59
Speaker
I am. And that really your referencing, I call it two way conversation. And it's a great way for you as the coach or, you know, the photographer to be a character, like as yourself, be the expert. But then your second character, which you can still act out, is your client. So your second character asks those questions that your audience is wondering, it asks those questions that are holding your client back. So that's why I like swapping between those two characters, because
00:17:29
Speaker
Yes, I can put myself in the shoes of my target customer, but I teach this, this type of real to business owners like yourself. And when they try it, they generally get really good results because it just resonates with their audience so well. So if you follow that description, go ahead and try that format and see how it works for you. Yeah. And I also love what you said when you're now hubby is, um,
00:17:53
Speaker
he asked you like, what do you want? So I've been asking myself that every morning because I do have some struggle busts for the past three years. So I've done high offers, I've done multiple different things and now I have multiple offers, which you said, but it's like, you have to ask yourself, what do you want for your business and for your life? Because you have to wake up and do the work. So you could get really confused with,
00:18:23
Speaker
so much messaging. I'll get newsletters and kind of, you know, chase that shiny object, but I always have to reflect on what I truly want. And your gurus told you, Hey, don't do the $27 offer. And you listen to yourself and you followed your gut and it worked out for you. So that's amazing.
00:18:44
Speaker
I was very lucky and there were months, if not years of trial and error before that. And I think every entrepreneur is familiar with it. Like, yeah, you're hearing my success story now. And I can't promise that this is what your business needs, right? Because it was 2019. It was a different time in the market at that, at that moment. But every entrepreneur knows what it's like to try something. And most times it doesn't work right away. I don't even like using the word failure because every time you try something,
00:19:12
Speaker
You do get data from it, which then helps you make the next decision. So you're just kind of like carving, carving slowly, carving until you get to what's going to work. And I was just very lucky that I continued to try and carve it, carve out my little sculpture before I gave up. And then it did change my business around drastically. So.
00:19:33
Speaker
I commend anyone who's listening, who's feeling that struggle right now, who's still trying things. And obviously it needs to work for your life, right? Like if your business is costing you money every month and then you need to pay for life, you got to figure something out. But for those who are continuing to press at it and figure it out and tweak and see results, like it's not for the faint of heart. That's why not everyone is an entrepreneur, I think.
00:19:59
Speaker
Yeah. They always say someone that makes a million, but spend it all, um, is poorer than someone that makes 50 K and like saves 10 K a year. So I always think of that. I dropped off my kids at school to their Japanese preschool. And I think they made the teacher make like $15 an hour, which is low. Um, but I was thinking like the carpool to work. And then they like probably don't like have shopping threes and you know, they're,
00:20:25
Speaker
maybe like have to budget, but at least they know exactly what they make. So sometimes you have to think about like, you know, cost benefit. But I want to ask you one more question before I go into hot topic. And we're just going to give a little more tactics when we go into hot topic. But what is your woo factor? What makes you stand out? I think that
00:20:48
Speaker
When I think back on my trajectory, I'm not your average attention seeking personal brand entrepreneur, which, you know, most people will think those are qualities you need to put yourself out there. And it certainly helps. Like if you like the limelight, if you like intention, you're going to do great.
00:21:05
Speaker
especially when you're making content and putting yourself out there. But I would describe myself as an introvert and I'm actually very private with my personal life and very selective about what I put out there. And just putting myself out there like that, the way I am,
00:21:21
Speaker
is my woo factor. That's what other people resonate with. That's why they're choosing me over someone else who might be a natural performer, who might be an extrovert, who's kind of intimidating them because that's not how they are. So me being an introvert, but also
00:21:40
Speaker
investing in my skills to put myself out there. For example, as I wanted to become a broadcast journalist, I was interviewed on radio one time across Canada and they asked me a question and I literally could not talk. Like my heart leapt into my throat. I was so nervous. I squeaked out words and after that I thought like, why am I trying to be a
00:22:03
Speaker
journalist. I can't even speak on radio. And it really freaked me out. And so I signed up for Second City improv classes, because I knew that was a skill I wanted to develop. And I've honestly used those improv skills for the last 10 plus years.
Content Creation: Batching and Authenticity
00:22:18
Speaker
So that I think is my part of my woo factor too, is that I'm always learning. I'm always investing, always adapting to what works best for me.
00:22:29
Speaker
That's amazing. I have similar stories to you because I kind of, I worked in Adagency Life for about two, three years out of college and I was into Tim Ferriss like the four hour work week. And then I was on the radio and I choked too. They actually
00:22:46
Speaker
told me they would critique me after and I didn't, I didn't mean to hop on the call because I was too embarrassed to hear what they had to say but I it was one of those like blackout moments for me but I joined Toastmasters and I'm not good.
00:23:01
Speaker
at all, but I've gotten a lot better and more comfortable with showing my face on camera help. And thanks to you too, from video ball. So yeah, so let's get into it. We're talking about batching content. Why is this so near and dear to your heart? Well, for one, I'm about to go on a three month mat leave. So batching is really important for me to set myself up to have
00:23:29
Speaker
two, three months off and so that my team has content while I'm off. So that's, that's a very special circumstantial reason, but normally in day to day, I just, I can't be a content creator every single day. I like to.
00:23:45
Speaker
segment my week, right? Like I need a day sometimes just for meetings and making strategic decisions. Sometimes I need a day to script YouTube videos. Sometimes I need a day to make a product or prepare a presentation. Like I can't spend two to three hours every day scrolling TikTok, looking for an idea and then making it, right? And I think most business owners can relate.
00:24:06
Speaker
you start to feel a little bit like a slave to these apps or a slave to the algorithm or like you work for these apps. That's a good analogy. Right. And you don't want to feel like you work for Instagram. Like, oh, I have to post Instagram today or else they're going to punish me. I just don't think it's a great empowering approach when you have a full workload ahead of you. Like you're dealing with so much else other than social media. So batching is my solution to still showing up.
00:24:35
Speaker
fairly consistently, I'm not the most prolific, I'm not the most consistent social media person out there, but what works for me is what I've figured out. And batching is the way that I can give the time and mental focus that social media needs, do the recording, do the editing, and then I can like kind of turn that part of my brain off and focus on the next big business task. So it's just the way I'm most productive really.
00:25:04
Speaker
Pardon this short interruption, but me and the Get A Heck As team have some exciting news. If you haven't heard, I have a free mini masterclass how to get on your first preferred venue vendor list, the Holy Grail of Bliss. Hot leads and these couples don't really care about price. It's 20 minutes and packed with goodness. The link is in the show notes.
00:25:26
Speaker
Also, we are offering website copy writing for all wedding professionals. With my digging and coaching skills and my team member Cindy with 15 years of copywriting experience, we will create your perfect website copy.
00:25:40
Speaker
We want you to cry of happiness when you get it back and say, wow, I'm so proud of myself as a business owner. Get a free audit of your current site. Go from meh to heck yes. Just DM me your website and I will send you a loom audit back. My Instagram is at Carissa Woo. Back to the conversation.
00:26:01
Speaker
Yeah, I like how you put it because sometimes when you do the scroll, scroll, scroll, like you do feel kind of like icky after and just, I try to be like a mommy influencer after my first kid and just, I didn't like that feeling of like trying to put on a cute outfit and taking a cute picture. It just, it didn't make me feel good about it, but it's like that brain, like sometimes it's great. Like we were created to be loved to create.
00:26:24
Speaker
but when we have to think about it all the time and like what to pose or this could be content, like it just takes the fun out of it. It makes me like less prevalent. So yeah, take it away with maybe like two or three tips, but tip number one for batching content.
Tools and Tips for Content Management
00:26:40
Speaker
Yeah. So if your audience wants to be more of a batcher and I'm assuming most of your audience, they're photographers, right? So they're wedding pros and photographers.
00:26:51
Speaker
Yeah. So your day or your day speaking to your audience is probably varied as well, depending on if you have a shoot or if it's an editing day or let's say you've to update your website or pay your bills. So.
00:27:04
Speaker
What I like to do is I use a project management tool called Asana. It's free. It's amazing. I recommend all business owners, no matter your niche, to use a project management tool, even if you're a solopreneur. It's a, it's, it's way better place to keep your notes, your ideas, and you can move tasks along and you can see how you're progressing.
00:27:27
Speaker
So I'm a big fan of using Asana. So we actually have a project in Asana that's all of our Instagram production. And so myself and my team will scroll social media.
00:27:38
Speaker
We'll look for ideas and we'll pop them into Asana. And then from Asana, we'll actually plan how I'm going to make that idea work for my business. So, you know, if there's a trend on TikTok, I don't necessarily want to do the trend as is. I want to do it in a way that's going to speak to business owners because that's who I target. And if I'm a local wedding photographer, I'm going to want to make videos that target people in my local area.
00:28:04
Speaker
who are planning a wedding, right? Or who are comparing and shopping around for photographers. So you really want to, again, put yourself in the shoes of your target person. So what we do is we adapt those ideas specifically to talk to that target person. So don't think about you and your interests. Think about what does that target client care about right now? If someone's looking on social media for Nashville wedding photographers, what are they wanting to see from you? Are they wanting to see
00:28:34
Speaker
how you edit your photos before and afters. Do they want to see how you direct and work with a bride? Do they want to see what comes together in your package? Do they want to see clips of the wedding ceremony that you captured that are really beautiful? What do they want to see? What are the questions they're asking you? These are all topics you can use for your social media brainstorming.
00:28:56
Speaker
And so we put everything into a sauna and then I again set aside two hours once a week for filming. Now I don't always film once a week, but it's in my calendar for filming those ideas. And what I'm finding what works today is
00:29:13
Speaker
They're actually easier to film than trends. So two things are working really well for short form video. One is a talking head tip or story. So tips have been hot for a while. Like, hey, three of the best wedding venues in Nashville, right? That could be a talking head tip.
00:29:31
Speaker
video. But what I'm seeing on TikTok especially is people really just sharing a story like related to their day-to-day as they're getting ready, as they're making a smoothie, like it's very natural. As they're editing their photos, maybe they talk through like what's their favorite quick edit, you know, whatever the case may be.
00:29:51
Speaker
But talking head tips and stories are doing really well. And then the other is just filming B-roll of yourself. So as a photographer, I know you're focused on your clients, but whether you're in your office, whether you are meeting someone for a coffee, whether you are actually at a shoot, if you can set up another tripod and have your phone record yourself at work,
00:30:12
Speaker
that's really handy footage to have because then a simple, simple reel is just taking like 10 seconds of that B roll footage and adding some text and music to it. And of course making it relevant and high value to the person you're targeting, but it's just so much easier when you, when you need something on the fly. So sometimes if you look at my feed,
00:30:33
Speaker
And I've taken a B-roll clip and added text on top. That's because that was the easiest type of reel for me to make that day. And it does really well. Instagram loves that style of reel. So I make sure that I have a good library of B-roll. So some of it's filmed in real time and some of it's filmed in
00:30:53
Speaker
time, like with the time lapse feature. So it's sped up. I find that both are really handy. And then I also give that B roll over to my team, especially with me taking time off, because then they can take any one of those clips, add text, add music, and they can post it on my behalf. So that's really handy if you have a team or an assistant who all helps you with your social media marketing. So that gives you a kind of general idea of my whole batching process. Wow. Okay. Let me recap.
00:31:22
Speaker
Number one, Asana, which is a project management tool which you turn me on to that so you're not like scroll brain when you do want to actually produce content you could just go into that document and it's all laid out with all your ideas and it
00:31:36
Speaker
It's cool because like once you put it into production, you could kind of transfer it. When it's done, you could transfer it to that spot. So it makes everything easy. Number two is you take two hours of your day to schedule like filming. So you're not, you don't have to film every day. Just batch two hours a day, put in the calendar. Number three is always ask what does your ideal client want? Ask them the questions that they want to know, what they want to hear.
00:32:06
Speaker
And number four, you could give tips and tricks to them and also tell stories, just random stories, maybe to shadow their objections or maybe three poses that they should be practicing. And tip number five is have a B-roll.
00:32:24
Speaker
a library of B-roll. So I'm really good at B-roll. And I don't, I know a lot of people say like, they don't like to take out their phone. But honestly, at weddings, really, you could just do five seconds, seven seconds, like the client doesn't care. It's all good. They actually like it. And yeah, I was gonna ask you like, how many reels should people be posting a week? And maybe
00:32:51
Speaker
What's the mindset behind before you post? I don't know anything you want to share. Yeah, I don't think there's any rhyme or reason.
Realistic Posting and Quality Content
00:33:00
Speaker
I mean, some people will tell you post three reels a day. And that's if you really are committed to like, I want to grow, I want to populate this algorithm with all my content, let's go. But you also have to figure out a cadence that's realistic for you. So for some people who are just getting into reels,
00:33:18
Speaker
Um, I'd say three times a week is fine. Like come up with a Monday idea, a Wednesday idea, and a Friday idea in terms of your content theme and repeat that every week and just start building that muscle. And you know, some people will say, Oh, just go for volume, like post as many reels as you possibly can. But yes and no, you can, if you're experimenting and you have a ton of ideas and you just want to see what works, but
00:33:43
Speaker
I'm a fan of quality over quantity as well. Like make one really good real for your Monday instead of trying to do three that day, make one really good real or carousel post for your Tuesday or your Wednesday. So again, there's no hard and fast rule. It depends on as a business owner, what works for you. And if you can do three days a week consistently, and then if it works, start boosting that up to five days, I think that would be a good, a good aim.
00:34:10
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I love that. Okay, I want to talk about your last two reels because they really resonate with them, with me. But first one is to be cringy. I think people are going to like this because a lot of objections is I don't like to be in front of camera, not make up ready. My high school friends are going to judge me, even my current friends are going to judge me. So speak a little bit about that, why it's good to be cringy or okay to be cringy.
Embracing Discomfort and Personal Growth
00:34:37
Speaker
Yeah, this is a concept that I saw on TikTok and I made my own spin on it because it's so true. And that whole idea is that the secret to, quote, success in business or on social media is to make yourself cringe. And this is a term that Gen Z especially loves using. I'm a millennial. So just in case you're listening, you're like, what does that mean? It just means that you're pushing yourself
00:35:00
Speaker
out of your own comfort zone to the point where you might cringe looking at yourself. But I truly believe when I look back on the trajectory of the way I have put myself out there, yes, sometimes it was embarrassing. And as an introvert, I didn't necessarily want to do those things. But there were so many key moments where I was making myself cringe. But funny enough, you know,
00:35:23
Speaker
you adapt to that thing that once made you cringe three months later, you're so used to it that you're onto the next level thing. And I do feel like you're just, it's a way for you to constantly put yourself slightly outside your comfort zone. And then when you get comfortable there, you put yourself outside your comfort zone again and again, again, cause you're trying new things. You're growing your business, you're putting yourself out there, you're, you're a personal brand. So
00:35:48
Speaker
I have seen myself cringe over the last 10 plus years in many ways, but I'd much rather be that kind of person who tries things, even if I'm like this little person, than someone who stays safe in their shell and just watches other people do what I want to do.
00:36:08
Speaker
Yeah, I love that. And I was on your reels of fortune, which was like a whole week spent with you on your Facebook group. And you actually did in real time how to record and edit your five tips and tricks. And you were sweating a little bit because you got you have some like your phone, you have like your outlets and
00:36:31
Speaker
You were doing it, and I'm sure that's not easy, so you definitely put the pressure on yourself to perform, so I love that about you. Another... Definitely. I'm always up for a challenge. I was like, wow, good job. Another video I loved was how you had a question
00:36:55
Speaker
And you put it in chat GPT and I think you said something like make this into a tick tock format and it kind of like like came out. Speak a little bit about that.
00:37:05
Speaker
Yeah. This, this was a prompt related to my product that you said you have called videos vault. And so videos vault is a bank of 300 videos for your short form platforms. And the idea is, is there not trend based videos, but they're, they're evergreen topics that your clients, your audience is always searching for. So all social media platforms are moving towards search based content, by the way, tick tock, Instagram, YouTube's already been about search.
00:37:34
Speaker
So when you're creating video topics that hit on those questions, those objections that people have,
00:37:41
Speaker
Your, your video has the potential to be seen for not just weeks, not just months, but sometimes years. And so that was the power of videos vault, putting, putting the best strategic ideas into one place. Now, pair that with chat GPT. You take one of the prompts or one of the ideas inside of videos vault, and you literally tell chat GPT, Hey, write this, take this idea and write it to become a script.
00:38:06
Speaker
for a TikTok. I want this idea to be relevant to, you know, engaged brides who are planning their wedding in Nashville, Tennessee. And they're wondering which photographer to choose. That one, what that one example. So when you give chat GPT the specifics of
00:38:27
Speaker
who you help and how, and then pop in an idea that comes from videos of all, which has areas that you would fill in this information. Now, instead of you having to fill in that information, chat GPT can help you fill in that information. And that's how I see AI and chat GPT especially is it's an assistant to your marketing. It's an assistant to your copywriting. It's not going to replace strategic thinking. It's not going to replace that human to human connection, but
00:38:55
Speaker
you can definitely use it to help you brainstorm ideas. I'm using it more and more every day like to help me come up with a YouTube script idea or a metaphor or a story that I can relate to a problem I'm talking about. It's really, really powerful to use as that assistant.
00:39:12
Speaker
Oh, so interesting. That was definitely a mind blowing tip. Someone struggling right there, right now to struggling with Instagram, getting leads on Instagram, showing their face, filming, batching, what would you say what they should do today to just get unstuck?
Building Genuine Connections on Instagram
00:39:35
Speaker
So while you're doing all those things, I would be surprised if one thing isn't working or if you're not seeing traction with one thing. But if you're feeling stuck, sometimes your customers, your clients, your leads, your sales are right underneath your nose and you don't even realize it. Sometimes
00:39:53
Speaker
You feel like I just need to put out content, put out content like you're a broadcaster. But the truth is Instagram is a beautiful two way channel. It's a two way conversation. Don't think of yourself as a broadcaster who just publishes content and then you exit the app. So what I would do is hyper focus on who is following you already.
00:40:15
Speaker
sometimes we get worried like, Oh, I only have 100 followers. Well, put yourself in a room of 100 people and speak to them. Like it's not the most easiest. It's a little nerve wracking. And so take the time to go through and send a private DM message to every one of those followers or any new follower, take the time to reach out to them and say, Hey,
00:40:38
Speaker
Thanks for following me. What brought you to my neck of the woods? Or thanks for following me. I see you're also based in Nashville, Tennessee. What's your favorite bar or park to go to? You know, like you can be a real human and sometimes business owners feel a little awkward because, you know, it's a stranger on the internet, but I don't want to DM them and be a spammer. You're not a spammer, you're a human. And sometimes the easiest way to start that conversation is maybe you don't want to DM them or message them right away.
00:41:07
Speaker
But when you see someone's followed you, that's already an olive branch being extended your way. First of all, they're already showing interest in you.
00:41:15
Speaker
Secondly, you can just look at their stories, reply to their story as a human would be like, oh my gosh, I love that hat. Where is it from? They're going to see your message as a request in their inbox. They can accept it and start that conversation with you. So you're not even talking about work. You're not even pitching your services. You're just connecting with them human to human. And I think that is the most underrated
00:41:40
Speaker
aspect of Instagram that businesses get caught up in because they want the followers, they want the fame, they want the views, they want the virality. Majority of my students have less than a thousand Instagram followers and they're making four or five figures from Instagram by doing exactly what I just said. Oh my gosh, that's crazy. It's like,
00:42:02
Speaker
Yeah, you want to be seen by all these people, but you really just need a couple that you can have like an intimate connection with. So that's a really good mindset shift. All right. Well, thank you for this. I'm going to ask you some fun questions now. That was amazing. I love your story. What are you going to do for your three months, Matt? Leave. Like, I know I hang out with the baby completely and do all the things, but like, what are you looking forward to most about that and being a mom?
00:42:31
Speaker
Yeah. Aside from learning what newborn life is all about. It's crazy. Yeah. I'm trying to keep the bar of expectation very low, but today I was doing some filming for YouTube and I was, I was doing a little bit of acting in the kitchen and my fiance, Jalil, he like kept showing interest in it. I was like, Oh, I think you're ready for being on video. And so I just threw out the idea, like maybe when we have, quote, so much time, unquote, with a newborn joke,
00:43:01
Speaker
Maybe we start like a totally separate YouTube channel talking about, you know, our expat ish life in Spain or how have we moved here or what is our day to day life in Spain, you know, like, there's so many YouTube genres around that that that idea but
00:43:18
Speaker
I ran it past him like, maybe we just should start YouTubing while we're off, which is a joke because I doubt we'll have much free time, but let's see, maybe we'll have a magic baby. A matching day, yeah. Yeah, exactly. And so other than that, again, I'm just trying to keep my brain and sleep schedule as open as possible to adapt to life with a newborn, but I also have taken
00:43:42
Speaker
this course that in my back and back of my mind, I'm going to dig into it when I'm on maternity leave. And it's about something non-business related, which I like dating into. It's a little bit more woo. It's a course on manifestation, which is something that I've always felt drawn to in a way. And I really liked the teacher of the course and I thought I'd support her business and also go through her course when I'm, when I'm on mat leave. So Oh yeah. Give her a shout out. I'll follow her.
00:44:12
Speaker
Manifestation, babe. Catherine's like, it's easy. She's got a huge following. She's just a very bright personality. And yeah, I've just followed her and tried out some of her things for years. So I thought, hmm, I'll might not leave. I'll go through the course and see what happens. Yeah, you have your team in place. This is funny because I just thought of this as we were speaking, but I've been following you for a while through YouTube. And it's crazy that we're talking right now. I manifested that.
00:44:40
Speaker
But you taught me the question because I had just become a coach. But you taught me the magic wand question. So where would you see your business in three months if you had a magic wand?
00:44:53
Speaker
That's a great question to ask like on discovery calls, right? With future clients. You taught me that. Yeah. It's a way for you to understand the mindset of your potential client, know that you can help them, but also know where they ultimately want to go. And it's a really powerful way to close that client too. So I'm glad you discovered that. Yeah. So where would you see your, I'm asking you, where would you see your business in three months? Cause I'm sure it's going to grow when you're not. Oh man.
00:45:23
Speaker
So that would be exactly about the time I'd have a baby if the baby comes on time. So hopefully in three months, I am not needed whatsoever. In fact, I won't be available. My core team will be running things amazingly well and our revenue will be higher than our expenses. That's the goal that I, the things that I'm working on now I see as a big investment so that we're automating
00:45:51
Speaker
we're creating things that will help my team generate sales, even while I'm off. And that will be amazing to see all those things working while I'm off, while I'm, while I'm not needed. And honestly, I told my team, I might come back from at leave and not have a job anymore. And that's not a bad thing, right? Like if I'm outsourcing or if I'm removing myself from the business,
00:46:16
Speaker
And I come back and only have to do the things that I can only do, like the videos, the YouTube training. That'd be really cool. So I'm excited to see if that happens. You got this girl. You're amazing. You inspire me. Tell everyone where to find you and your freebie, which I just signed up for it. So I'm like, I have all your stuff. Oh, cool. Yeah. So Elise Dharma is my handle across everything. D-A-R-M-A.
00:46:42
Speaker
And you can find me on Instagram, of course, feel free to send me a DM and say, hey, that you heard me on this podcast. And we're reviving my YouTube channel, which has over a hundred thousand subscribers, but I kind of took a sabbatical over the last almost a year. So I'm excited to get content going out there again.
00:46:59
Speaker
And in terms of a free resource, especially you want to dig more into short form video, head to onvideo.co. Yes. Slash calendar. And you're going to get a free month of real ideas on video.co slash calendar. Yay. Thank you, Elise. I'm going to post this on next Wednesday. So I'll send you awesome. It was a great conversation. I truly appreciate your time.
00:47:25
Speaker
Yeah, I love your energy. You had a smile on the entire time, which is such a skill in and of itself. It's genuine.
00:47:39
Speaker
Thanks for joining me this week on Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. Make sure to follow, subscribe, leave a review, or tell a friend about the show. Take a screenshot and post to IG. Tag me. Also, don't forget to download my free guide on how to become a lead generating machine. See you next time, wedding pros!