Have you ever come across a small business with a HUGE amount of followers on Instagram or TikTok that made you wonder to yourself... "What on earth did they DO to get there?!" Or maybe you wonder how they started, how they spend their time, what they share on social media to grow such a big following, and how they turn those followers into customers?
Well today, you're in luck - in this episode of The Product Biz Podcast, we have special guest Kristin Vaughn who owns a polymer clay jewelry business with almost 200,000 followers on Instagram and almost 300,000 followers on TikTok - and you'll hear ALL of her secrets!
Kristin Vaughn is the Owner of Hillside Studio. She has been running her polymer clay jewelry business for over 7 years and loves teaching others the art of polymer clay. When she’s not in her studio/storefront, you can usually find her cheering at her kids’ sporting events, or cooking up something in the kitchen. I'm so excited for you to hear all that Kristin has to share!!
BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL LEARN:
LINKS MENTIONED IN TODAY'S EPISODE
Follow Kristin on Instagram: @shophillsidestudio
Follow Kristin on TikTok: @hillside_studio
Join the Polymer Clay Earrings Made Easy course waitlist!
When you finish listening, I'd love to hear your biggest takeaway from today’s episode. Take a screenshot of the episode you're listening to, share it to your Instagram stories and tag me @monicalittlecoaching - or send me a DM!
While you're there, make sure you follow me so you can see behind the scenes of how I grew my handmade organic skincare small business to multiple six-figures... and how you can grow and scale your business, too.
LEARN MORE FROM MONICA LITTLE
Website:www.monicalittlecoaching.com
Instagram: @monicalittlecoaching
My small business: www.shopplantbasedbeauty.com
Have you ever come across a small business with a HUGE amount of followers on Instagram or TikTok that made you wonder to yourself... "What on earth did they DO to get there?!" Or maybe you wonder how they started, how they spend their time, what they share on social media to grow such a big following, and how they turn those followers into customers?
Well today, you're in luck - in this episode of The Product Biz Podcast, we have special guest Kristin Vaughn who owns a polymer clay jewelry business with almost 200,000 followers on Instagram and almost 300,000 followers on TikTok - and you'll hear ALL of her secrets!
Kristin Vaughn is the Owner of Hillside Studio. She has been running her polymer clay jewelry business for over 7 years and loves teaching others the art of polymer clay. When she’s not in her studio/storefront, you can usually find her cheering at her kids’ sporting events, or cooking up something in the kitchen. I'm so excited for you to hear all that Kristin has to share!!
BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL LEARN:
LINKS MENTIONED IN TODAY'S EPISODE
Follow Kristin on Instagram: @shophillsidestudio
Follow Kristin on TikTok: @hillside_studio
Join the Polymer Clay Earrings Made Easy course waitlist!
When you finish listening, I'd love to hear your biggest takeaway from today’s episode. Take a screenshot of the episode you're listening to, share it to your Instagram stories and tag me @monicalittlecoaching - or send me a DM!
While you're there, make sure you follow me so you can see behind the scenes of how I grew my handmade organic skincare small business to multiple six-figures... and how you can grow and scale your business, too.
LEARN MORE FROM MONICA LITTLE
Website:www.monicalittlecoaching.com
Instagram: @monicalittlecoaching
My small business: www.shopplantbasedbeauty.com
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Are you ready to go behind the scenes and learn what it really takes to create consistent sales each and every month with your handmade small business? Do I need Monica little Dell taught multiple six figures small business owner and your product business coach, as I give you the insight and inspiration on how to better run your business and increase your sales in ways that you may not have even been aware about your business can truly become what you knew it could be back when you first start. Learn how to let go of production, overcome the fear of failure that is holding you back. And finally start taking action so that you walk away feeling like you've cracked the code on how to run a successful small business. You're listening to the product business podcast. Hello, and welcome to episode 30 of the practice podcast. I am so excited to introduce you to Christina Vaughn from the hillside studio. Kristin is an amazing polymer clay business owner and I want you to pause this episode right now and go to her Instagram account to shop hillside studio and see the amazing pieces that she makes. But not only is she an amazing polymer clay small business owner, but she's also an Instagram and Tiktok genius. She has almost 200,000 followers on Instagram and almost 300,000 followers on Tiktok. And this is one of the main ways that she gets a lot of new people to purchase her products. So today we're gonna dive into what she uses on Instagram to reach more people what her strategy is on Instagram, how she uses Instagram and I am just so excited for this episode. Because if you've been listening to the previous podcasts for a while, then you'll start to hear some similar things that we've talked about before specifically coming from Kristin. And it's always so amazing to get another perspective another business owner who's absolutely crushing it to get their view on how they grow their business, how they look at Instagram, how their mental mindset is around growing their business. And it's such a refreshing awesome conversation. I'm so excited to introduce you to Christina if I'm hosting studio. So without any further ado, let's get into today's episode.
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Welcome to Christianity, the practice Podcast. I'm so excited to have you here today to talk about Polymer clay to talk about Instagram, Tik Tok, spirituality and your business all of these amazing topics. So welcome. Thank you so much for joining me today. Yeah, thanks for having me. So So I want to just right off the bat and get to know a little bit more about you. So everyone listening can hear more about your awesome experience your Polymer Clay business. So bring us up to speed. I know you have a polymer clay earring jewelry business, but tell us really how did you get started and what's your passion behind polymer clay. So I started my business a little over seven years ago, and I kind of just picked it up as something to do with my hands something to keep me busy. I had been divorced. And I was having and then had gotten remarried and I was having a bit of a hard time on the times when I didn't have my kids. And so it was kind of something to just keep me occupied and busy so that I didn't sit there and think about it. And I quickly realized that I miss having like that creative thing in my life. Because I've always been a creative person, I've always had to write endeavors throughout my life. And for several years prior to me picking up polymer clay again, like I hadn't really done anything creative. So it was a nice outlet. I had made a ton of necklaces and earrings. And I realized I can never wear all of these. And a friend of mine had opened up her own Etsy shop. And so I decided, hey, I'm just gonna put these things on Etsy and see what happens. And it just has grown slowly at times and quickly at times in the last nine and a half years. And it's just been like an amazing ride. Oh my gosh, I love so much. And I think I hear that such a conversation with people in terms of just looking for the creative outlet and having something to actually do that's either on the flip side of having a very left brain corporate job and needing something to do if that's the right terminology, right, left brain isn't really analytical want to think and recreated more creative.
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People will just need to be more creative and having something to do and like free time, or if they're going through situations or really just trying to find a way to be more present. So I find that to be such a common piece of feedback when people have to get started. At what point did this really click for you that like holy crap, this is a business. It's something that I can do full time because you are doing this full time now. But as of more recently that you're right, yeah, so Well, it's been about, let me think about a year and a half or so I've been doing this full time. And you know, right from the start, it really grew more quickly than I had imagined. It wasn't anywhere that could have sustained me, I think I had a very good corporate job too. So I think it probably took me longer than the average person to quit, because I was trying to make all that income back up, which you know, it was a very well paying job. So that was like more difficult to do. But I quickly realized, like, oh, maybe you can't do something with art or something with this full time. It took me a bit, I think to get up to that point, you know, about five years or so. But I slowly built it on the side as much as I could, you know, until that point. And I think the main thing that I realized was I had sort of entered this world that I didn't know anything about. And that was people who were making good livings selling their handmade items. And I didn't know that was possible. I think when I was a kid, it was all I ever wanted to do as an artist. And all I ever heard was parties don't make any money. So I think I very quickly, like took that on as my own and never thought I'd ever do anything with it. So as it grew for me, I realized more and more and more was possible. So that is something that's really super passionate about is like helping people realize that they can have amazing lives. And it's not just scraping by either it's having like a really a bunch of amazing life, like selling your art to the world. Yeah. And is it the people testament to hearing more about your journey of being in that corporate office and working towards that, and having that transition of actually believing that it can be something that now sustains you full time, which is so awesome. I know a lot of people in my programs and just creatives that I talk to someone that I've talked to that their ultimate end goal is to leave a full time job so they can do what they love to do every single day. So it's awesome to have you on here, someone who has been through that too, and to see the amazing success that you're having, because not to be missed. But I know you have almost 7000 followers on Instagram, almost 300,000 followers on Tiktok. So this whole pile of replay social media thing is obviously working out awesome for you, which is so exciting to see. I would love to know, what really was the kind of goals or how did you grow your audience on Instagram and Tiktok? If they're the same strategies, if they're different, what really got you to reach that level success on those platforms? Well, I think from the start, I've always loved sharing my process. And even when Instagram, it was just pictures, I would really share as much as I could behind the scenes and kind of what goes into what I do. And as Instagram had introduced a little bit more video, I was jumping on that as much as I could, because I loved the idea of sharing the process. And part of it was also that people have no idea how long and how detailed in entail, the process was. And so when they see that it was a no brainer, my prices, but before they knew that they really were like, Oh my gosh, that seems like kind of a lot for some earrings. Right? So it was a way of like just sharing what I did and also kind of justifying my prices. And so I think was an early adopter of video and I think that really propelled me because when my kids were talking about tick tock and I just thought it was you know, teenagers dancing, they would send me tic TOCs that were like funny or creative or like I learned this on tick tock and I was like, Oh, maybe I should actually see what this is all about. And I joined tick tock and the creativeness of people on that app, how they edit videos.
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and how they share things and just how funny people are, I really kind of fell in love with it. And I thought I should be using this for my business. And everything kind of took off for me from there. I quickly gained. I mean, I guess for two months, I was going to posting to nobody. But after only about two months, like things really took off for me, and my videos just continued to get better and better and my editing skills got better. And when Instagram introduced reels, I mean, it was just easy for me to kind of create for both places. So I think the video being an early adopter of that was really, really helpful and minus has kind of taken off. Yeah, and everything that you said there but then as you were saying, because I think they're such a testament not only to success on like Instagram and success on Tik Tok, but also just in business in general in general, right. You mentioned jumping on it right away. It seems like Instagram religion Tik Tok came about you were one of the first people to be doing that. And that's so important because I think so many people like wait and I'm speaking for my own experience cuz I'm still in on Tik Tok, even though I like your old awesome things, but you actually get on there right when it's being available. Like that's such an awesome way to leverage it. And then you also mentioned educating a polymer clay. So I absolutely love that just hearing that the way that you grew was just showing people the cryptic behind the scenes indicative process and how it starts and how it finishes. And ever since I start telling you on social media a couple weeks ago, when we met in person in Phoenix, I'm like, captivated by that content. It's like so much fun to see you mixing the polymer clay and putting it and shaping it and all the intricacies that really go into it. So I definitely love how you mentioned that is that one of the main ways that you utilize a platform is it simply educating on Polymer Clay, showing the different ways that you make the earrings from start to finish is that most of what your strategy is, in terms of the videos that you share on Tik Tok on Instagram right now? Yeah, I think over the years, I've gone through different iterations of the things I'd like to share it with before I was really into video, I cared a lot about like earrings representing your style, and you and making you feel more confident, and here's how you can wear them and things like that. So it was a lot of like confidence and Style Tips type of things, especially in stories, it was a really good way to do that with people on a more like intimate basis. I love using stories and that sense of like having a relationship with your customer, your followers. And I also think that maybe like slightly off topic, but on the same topic is I have always looked at Instagram or social media as like this, like incredible free tool that we have at our disposal to use and it just makes the barrier of entry for small businesses like so easy now, because you can just get on Instagram and like start a business and gain customers. Whereas, you know, 40 years ago, we put ads and things, all different ballgame, right. And so as much as it can be annoying or frustrating or whatever, when the algorithm changes, or they add new features, and you do all these things, and it's changing, changing, changing all the time. I've really embraced that. And I'm so grateful for it. Because if it weren't for Instagram, my business would not be what it is, I probably wouldn't have a business. Like I'm just so grateful for it. And I don't think that it's a coincidence that I am have been really successful on these platforms with my attitude for it because I don't I don't have any animosity when they change things. I'm just like, oh, well, I guess this is what I'm doing now. Or if I don't wanna do it, I don't do it, you know, but I think just using the tools that you have, and being grateful that they're free is just like half the battle. Yep, I 100% agree with you. And then we met in Phoenix. And you said that to me. That's it. I was like, Oh my gosh, I have to get her on the podcast, because that is such a refreshing view on Instagram. So when people don't have so many people like hate the platform, hate the algorithm, hate the changes get really frustrated by it. And exactly like you said, we can totally acknowledge it and be like, Yeah, you know what the strange paradox now I have to learn something new. Now I've learned exactly all these social media things going on. But I love love, love your view on it. Yeah, this is a free platform, I can reach 200,000 people and more and have it grow and have it really propel my business forward to the point that we can do full time jobs and actually monetize, make money and live the lifestyle that we want. So I appreciate your view on Instagram so much, because I think how you show up for a platform and attention that you have about a platform is going to dictate your results, right? If you show up on Instagram, you're like I hate is going to the miserable. Obviously, the content that that person may share on Instagram is going to be the best content because they don't even know it's gonna work anyways. So talk me through a little bit more on your mindset about Instagram. And specifically one other thing that you said earlier is you felt like you were posting to nobody for two months before it really took off. So in that time period, when you felt like you're posting to nobody, what did you do to keep your attitude kind of high and still excited to be hosting platforms that maybe didn't have attraction a minute just yet? Well, I think that it can be hard at times, like I'm not perfect at it. But like, you have to detach yourself from like the results in everything right? Like you are not your sales, you are not your life, you are not your engagement like that is not you. So being able to like separate you from the result that you're getting is key, because then you can look at those results as data to help you like move forward. So when I'm a post, and they wouldn't go anywhere, I'm just like, well, the right people aren't seeing it. Yeah, right. So like, how do I get the right people to see it. And with tick tock, it can be a little frustrating at first, especially because you're kind of almost just like stuck for a while. And you're at the mercy of the algorithm and the algorithm. People want to talk trash about Instagram algorithms. The Tick Tock algorithm is just a crapshoot, I'll be honest, there are things that you can do to maximize your luck and getting pushed out further. But once you get pushed out further ones, like you'll just keep getting traction and momentum from there. So you have to keep posting. Also, what's super important is that people tend to especially on tick tock and now with real people really want to go viral. And there's all this talk about going viral, but going viral is not the answer. It can certainly help. It can certainly help. But if you go viral for something that's not you and not your brand, then what's the point because people are gonna go to your page and you're like, Oh, she makes earrings. She doesn't do this funny cooking show. She did this, you know, whatever it is. I'm not saying that you can't add things that are different than just your specific video. But like, you have to have something for them to go back to. So if you're just posting and posting and posting and you get like 40 videos, then they don't you're all about because if you have a video hit, there's something to go back to you got to also repurpose your stuff at first especially nobody's saying it doesn't matter if you over and over again. And I think just like having the consistency and the willpower to stick to it. It's gonna pay off for you. It's when you're like a thinking, Oh, I'm terrible because nobody nobody's liking it. Nobody's saying it's not on you, right? It doesn't like nothing you're doing you just gotta keep going and eventually it will hit but it's when you're wishy washy or don't post for a week or whenever once you have an established following and you've grown you can be a lot more relaxed in your efforts you can maybe don't have to post every day or sometimes aren't gonna post every week on Tik Tok. And you are gonna make a little bit repercussions those first couple of posts back but it can be a lot more relaxed because you are established when you're first starting out you really just got to be consistent about it. I hope whoever's listening will like pause and rewind and listen to what you said again, like two or three times that was so much good content information mindset. I was just gold I love how you said to detach from the results because so many people take it personally. And you mentioned profit across the board for your sales your views your likes people internalize that and say okay, this post
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Listen to do good, I'm not good enough. So now I'm not gonna show up again. And it's like the spiral that happens from like, one, you know, Instagram ticket post that really doesn't anything about you. And like you said, Get up and try again and just keep showing up, be consistent. Instead of being wishy washy, and only showing up when things are good, how do you actually show up and detach from the results and show up regardless? So I know you mentioned willpower and consistency, which I think is something that people kind of struggle with. So where do you think your willpower and consistency really comes from? How did you build those habits? Or how did you learn to really determine the result yourself? No, I mean, it takes work, it's not just gonna come easily, especially if all you've known is attaching yourself to those results, right. And I think that, like, it's a really common thing for us to take everything personally, but you are not your business. And as much as it's probably a personal brand, or you're still not your business, like you are a whole person, you are worthy of anything that you want. And you don't have to like feed into, like all that negative self talk that happens in your head or from anybody else. Because that's an important thing to remember too, is that, you know, we all wanna grow our social media, we all want to have more exposure and all that. But with that comes the other part of it, which is the trolls and the negative comments, and all of those things that happen. And I think that in order to better handle those, you also have to learn how to handle your own self talk. And I think that that is probably most important to start with. Because as you grow if I kind of feel like our own self talk is more damaging than what anybody else would say to us. So you're better off starting there and starting with detaching from those things so that when you do grow and you become more popular, the other people are just like whatever you can just wave them off. But I mean it really it just comes from like just knowing inside and believing you know that you are worthy and good and everything you do is like for a reason or for purpose and that it doesn't get results that it's fine because you're coming from like a true place. Yeah. And I talk a little bit about neutrality in like the woowoo side of things on the podcast. So one thing I mentioned a couple times is the universe whoever you believe in God source with the universe knows when you're ready, and the universe responds when you're ready. So when you're talking about like Instagram growth and tick tock and not only the awesome benefits of it, have more exposure, more sales, more company, more people, there's also the flipside of trolls and people leaving nasty comments, whatever happens like so much more at tick tock on Instagram, but a lot of that too is are you ready for that? Like a lot of people want to have massive growth on Instagram but with more eyeballs comes more opinions and are you really able to handle those opinions are able to brush it off? Are you able to not take it personally. So everything that you've said I think is so interesting, because it really aligns with in order to truly grow on Instagram Tik Tok in order to truly grow your business alive, it is the work of beneath the surface and doing that work. So you're truly ready for the growth and the good in the bad and the ugly of the great and the blessing that comes with it. I just want to go back a little bit. So Instagram, Tik Tok, specifically, but we're kind of on this spiritual journey. So I wanna keep this going. Are there any other spiritual ways that you really rely on it for growing your business? And we talked about, you know, believing that everything's for purpose for a reason, knowing that your results are not you. But are there any other spiritual practices or mindset shifts that you really rely on for your business? Well, I think that I mean, I rely heavily on like, my spirituality for my business. And in some ways, they're like, very much the same thing, because I think I was talking to a friend the other day, and we always talk about, you know, spirituality and stuff. And I was just saying, like, like, it's pretty cool that owning a business, especially like a personal brand small business is like, it's such a like Kickstarter, like rocket fuel for your spiritual growth, because like, all these things happen to a more rapid fire succession than they would in your, like, just normal, everyday life. So you've really got to figure out like how to deal with things and just be like, comfortable in your own skin. And so like, I just feel that like, they're, they're kind of like one in the same. And so everything that I learned for my business, like, also can translate like, to my regular life as far as like dating, relationships, and money mindset, and like, all of those sort of things. But I think like, the most important thing is to believe it's possible. And we can see it's possible in other people. And so the closer that you get to other people, if you see somebody that has what you want, right, they have the successful business, like, instead of like thinking or like being jealous, then you're just, like, thankful that they've come into your world into your reality. Because when you can see that they can do it, then you can do it. And also just trusting the universe that like you would not have that thought that want that desire. If it were possible, the very fact that you have that desire means it is possible. And so like just really, truly believing and not believing in yourself. Because we all can do literally whatever we want. The only thing holding us back is ourselves. And so like there aren't any more excuses that are actually valid. They're just like, obstacles to work through. Yeah. But we stop to think some of those excuses are so true. And so valid, right? That's the tricky part. Once you get into the spiritual side, which I love how you answer the question, that's really where everything starts to open up. And I have a friend who said that running your own business is the world's best personal talent journey. Because when you run your own business, you're gonna realize where you struggle, where your mind starts to shut you down to play safe, where you're scared to show up what you're scared to do, why you're scared to do it. So as soon as you step into this role of I'm gonna lose my business, I want this to be my full time career, if it's an hour, or if it's later, you're really stepping up to uncover all of the stuff underneath the surface that could potentially lead you down. I love how you said at the core of it is really about trusting and believing in yourself. Is there any particular way that you really grow that belief in yourself? Is that something that from childhood, you just always knew? You know, whatever I set my mind to I can do it? Or is this a muscle that you really had to grow? Because I spend a lot of people that I talked to, they literally struggle with that. So walk me through your journey of believing in yourself, it's something innate, something that you had to cultivate. I definitely think it is like a muscle that you have to work on. And I don't think for some people, maybe it comes more naturally, if I think of believing in myself as far as like my ability to do things that maybe other people would not think are possible, right? So like some of the designs, like real people are like, Oh my god, like how do you even do that. And I think that a lot of it actually comes down to discipline and practice. And I think that people overlook, like, the actual hard work and dedication that it takes to do things. And when I say hard work, I don't mean like, Oh my God, you have to work all the time, constantly whenever I mean actually dedicating yourself to the practice that you're trying to do. So whatever your business is, if you're a painter or if you're a candle maker, if your whatever your product is that you're making, but like really dedicating yourself into like making the best product that you can, making the best packaging that you can and making doing the best marketing you can but really practicing and learning and doing all those things and the things that you hate, like outsource them if you can, but like just really the the practice of it all the process of it all because that's where you gonna learn about yourself. And that's where you got to learn that it is possible in actual doing and an actual process and our brains tend to want to skip over that part and just go for the end goal and how are you going to be exactly when you don't know how to get there. So I think a lot of it is an actual doing Yeah, disciplined practice. That's exactly what you said. And I think that
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That's a good analogy in terms of how to believe in yourself, well, if you have a discipline and you show up and practice it, and then realize, like, hey, I can do hard things, I was able to do this, I set myself up in order to master XYZ, whatever I'm trying to do, then that just is fuel to believe in yourself for the next reading. And the next thing and the next thing, and I love also how you said, like, dedicate yourself to practice and only the fun stuff. But maybe the stuff that you know is this, as long as you have to do something that I hear a lot with, like audiences, a lot of people love the creative side. So I want to hear from you on this, because I know your pieces are so creative, and everyone who listens will have to see your people pieces on Instagram at Shopify studio, because they are just so awesome. But talk me through it with having such a creative business, these really intricate polymer clay pieces, how do you create that discipline? If it's something that you don't like to do? Is there any like routine or practice or anything you put in place to help you for the business side or any business? So I think for so many years, I did everything, right, I did everything in my business. And like as things grew, I quickly tried to get rid of the things that I hated the most. So I know it's not feasible for everybody starting out to be able to have anybody do anything, but I think starting sooner rather than later is gonna be a benefit. If you're trying to grow your business, and you are still working your full time job, like how are you going to do your accounting, do your marketing, do have your orders, do all of these things when and grow the business, right? So something always has to give. And a lot of times makers in general tend to get to burnout level before they outsource things. And so I would just say it might seem scary to pay an accountant, it might seem scary to have someone do your social media or whatever it is, but like it really will be worth it. Because that time that it frees up is like so much more valuable. And it's being people who use their hands to make things we tend to always be trading our time for money. And the more things that you can make, to where you don't have to do that anymore, the better off you're gonna be. And the sooner you can do that, the better off you're gonna be. So for many years, like I said, I did everything myself. But the thing I hated the most the thing that like gave me the most anxiety and just, I mean, I was a record, it was managing the books and keeping everything straight there. So that is the very first thing I outsource. I started by having somebody help me at the end of the year. And then I was able to just i and at the time, I thought this was really splurging, but have somebody manage it every month. So that was my first thing to get rid of. And I can't tell you how much more mental capacity that gave me just to give up something that probably would have taken two hours a month to do, because I hated doing it and was always behind something, I was always anxious about it. And it's just like a big constant source of yuck for me, outsourcing that, like freeing up that mental capacity, I think was like the first catalyst. And then I started having somebody help me pack orders. And then now I have four employees that helped me to do everything. And it's just amazing, I can concentrate on doing the things that like I really love doing the most, which is creating the intricate patterns. And my assistants can help me with standing and assembly and shipping orders and running the store and all of those other things. So it takes a while to get there. But if you can think ahead and try to get rid of some of the tasks that just really frustrate you from the start. And it can be as simple as having a virtual assistant that can update your website, every time you have a Launch or something like that. Simple things like I used to pay someone $20 an hour, but it only cost me like $60 a month for her to update my website every month, my recycling was something that then I didn't have to do anymore. Yeah. And overall thing that I hear from you is that your time and your capacity is more valuable, right? It's worth it to outsource for the things that you hate, like accounting just to get off of your brain, or those super easy tasks that are done over and over. And I heard you mentioned packing orders, I heard you mentioned like sanding your earrings and like really putting a little spokes in everything on them. I heard you mentioned the website launches. And in the website, that is such an important part for growing a business because we tried to do everything ourselves. And he said it usually leads to burnout. And then we start to like not really like our business and we did not show up and we start to look at it different way. Because now instead of it be something that we enjoy, we kind of feel like it's voluntary and is holding us down because we have accounting undermined, like for the full year because we didn't submit our taxes until October.
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So I think what you said is so important, just to keep freeing up that space to focus on we do love to do. And the other reframe that I love that you said is also the point of view on like a full time job. Because this is another example that you mentioned on Instagram, where like Instagram is an awesome way to grow your business. But also looking at your full time job. When you're in your full time job. As it's also pushing that you have like you're not relying on your business for your livelihood, you can actually potentially invest in coaching, invest in a pack or invest in an accountant, because it's not this intense pressure to have this need of like every single call that you make, it's for your rent in your food and your bills, right. So that's another reframe that I love is a lot of people also are like, gosh, like because my full time job, I can't do what I want to do my business, when really it's like your full time job is actually helping you to get set up. And you and I both have similar stories of how we worked full time built our businesses up and then we finally left. So I think that is just something that I want to elaborate further on too is full time job having a source of income, although it potentially reduces amount of time that you could spend on your business actually gives you the monetary, you know more of that potential monetary freedom to hire people help you so you're still progressing while you are building up to that time to your full time job. So did you hire some of these people like the comic when you were at your full time job? Or was it something afterwards? Yeah, when I still had my full time job, I hired an accountant. And I hired someone taught me back orders and I hired a virtual assistant. So I had three people before and then I was very well set up once I decided to quit my job. Honestly, I should have quit way earlier, I was very guilty of not listening to the science from the universe until she made it so miserable for me to do that job anymore. But yeah, I mean, having like you said having that cushion of that financial cushion to be able to create my business how I wanted it, instead of from this desperation point is super important. And that that kind of ties into like, like how money mindset can be this like double edged sword, right? Because the more you think about your money problems, like, the more you concentrate on is what your reality is, right? So like, if you are having money problems, it becomes really hard not to always think about your money problems, right. And so it is a nice thing to add into the mix to where you don't feel desperate for sales, you don't feel so even if like you have to get a part time job or something like sometimes that can really be beneficial and like clearing up the muddiness in your brain around money and just having like a little bit like extra cushion there. So you don't have to like constantly be thinking of it. I will say on the caveat to that is that like, the mental capacity thing, like when I left my job, I was making more money on my jewelry business than it wasn't my full time job. And it was really hard for me to leave because then I felt like was giving up nearly half my income. Right? And so like there gets to be a point where you're like, Okay, well now I'm giving up all this money because now I have to quit my job, but just the pure space left in my brain to no longer have to worry about that job anymore. I was able to just get so much work done.
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And we're like a lot smarter, instead of being always, like, crunched for time and worried about time and all this other stuff in taking care of my family. And so I was able to get back up to that point within like two or three months. So it's just like, You got to find a sweet spot, I guess. But also just I think, like, we talked earlier with Intagram. But just being like, super grateful about whatever is in your life right now is gonna get you like so far. Yeah. And I wish hearing how you started a business before you left your full time job. That is like one of my biggest regrets if I didn't do exactly what you said, I wish looking back when I had my full time job, everything happens for a reason. So I'm grateful for all of it, but just retrospectively and when I talk to people who are in full time position right now, I wish when I was at my full time job, I would have built my business like a machine had a packer kind of Yeah, exactly like you're saying, I finally figured out to the point that it was running so smoothly, without me having to spend 40 5060 hours on it, building it into machine by hiring people by leveraging others like getting help on easy tasks. So then when I left my full time job, it would be running smoothly, like you said, what I did was an inverse, I tried to like, make as much money as possible with my small business so that I could justify leaving. So I didn't invest in anything. But then when I actually left my full time job, it was still like starting from square one without having to structure infrastructure testing, like knowing what would actually work. So it's awesome to hear your side of it and how you built it. And when you left, it was like mental capacity is open to just keep expanding more and more and more more. So whenever I look at my clients, I have one client, and she's working part time right now. And like, if it takes reinvesting and building a machine, it's all worth it. Because you're building something for the next 510 1520 years. It's not just about making a profit this month, you know, it's this long term vision that we have to have for a goal that we want to achieve with our business. So I appreciate how you read along that journey. But I do want to segue a little back to Instagram and Tiktok. Because I know this is a big topic for a lot of people. A couple of things that you mentioned about what type of content you share. So I heard you mention educating, showing the process of your designs where Palmer figurines I also heard you mention in the stories, you really focus on building relationships, so giving a ton of good content, I think much like how to style earrings and how they can give confidence, things like that. Were there any other main content pillars that you really focus on on Instagram or Tiktok? Or would you say, the education piece showing the process and giving that value in terms of how these earrings build confidence is that majority of what you would post on the platforms? Yeah, I mean, I think now the majority of what I post is just kind of satisfying videos to watch. I honestly don't focus on selling my stuff as much. Because I think that like just sharing my process kind of sells it. And I do make sure in sharing my process that I share with earrings like on or things like that I'm not just sharing the process and showing a pair of earrings sitting on the desk. So I do think it's very important when you're sharing these behind the scenes and sharing things like that, that you do share what your product is meant to do and be and things like that, because I think it's often forgotten about and there's I mean, you need to you need to sell your products I was meant to be used. Yeah, but I think that like, for the most part, that's what I concentrate on. And I know full well that probably 50% of my followers are just there to watch my videos, they're probably not going to buy any earrings from me. But what they are going to do is they're gonna share my videos, they're gonna share, I'm conversing with people, I'm going to talk about me to other people, they're going to share them on their stories, and more and more people are going to continue to see that because I'm sharing something that's a value to everybody. And not just to the people that wanna buy my products. Yeah, absolutely. I think that's it right there is giving that value and letting go of expectation and only continues to get sales but just posting it because you know, people will love it. It shows your process, it shows the end product, it has value, but letting go similar to what we said at the beginning. detaching from results like 50% My followers don't live here, it's fine. Like I'm still giving them value. And I love what I'm sharing with that. So a lot of what you've been talking about today is really just reframing the mindset around Instagram to help yourself and people who are listening to show up and to continue to show up. Do you have any tips? I know you mentioned you like to share the earrings on which I think is so important to see the physical experience of our products. Do you have any other tips on how to really monetize Instagram or Tiktok anything that you found that works for you with these massive followings. Mostly, it's just using like the tools that you're getting. So I think if I had to guess most of the people that watch your stories are probably going to be your customers. And so, yes, you want to build relationships with them. But you don't want it to be just oh, I'm watching her stories, because she's funny, right? So you need to definitely mix in like your product usage, like how you use it reviews from your customers, like whatever else you can add into it, like when you're doing sales or specials or when you're launching new items, and things like that all need to be worked in there and figure out how to intertwine your personality with that stuff. Because as much as I love people watching my feed, just to watch the videos, I am also there sell a product, right? And so I think that stories are the best place to do the selling because those are the people that like really love you and trust you and like want to buy from you. Yeah, I kind of don't agree that's, that's exactly how I teach with my clients do is like the feed is where you gonna get more value and just show you're an expert on the process show the show how it's made. But when you get your story, that's what you sell. That's where you share how to use it, the benefit of it, why they should buy it experience if they get so I love hearing the similarities with what you're saying on this too. Do you have any tips in terms of how to actually plan your content? It's a question I get. And I'm not like a big content planner. But when you think about selling on Instagram Tik Tok, and what you're gonna talk about, what we're gonna do is we're going to share about your stories, do you have any concrete plan? Or do you want to go slow, but you're inspired by that moment. So I typically don't like to plan my stuff out either. Because I am a big proponent of like, the things I share I want to be passionate about, right. And I feel like sometimes if you plan too far out in advance, you're like, Oh, I thought about this 20 days ago, I don't really give a crap about it now, you know. And so for some people, that works really well. But for me, I like to be more in the moment. Now I will say what I do do is I'm always thinking of stuff in a video. So when I'm making, I don't sit down and film the whole process that would not be enjoyable to me. But what I do do is I know which parts of my process are the most exciting or the most eye catching, or whatever. So I film the 10 second clips all the time, because I know I can put them together and form some sort of video with it. So I'm always kind of thinking about the content. Like in that way. I do like to keep a folder on my phone. And as well as like I'm always texting myself to talk to the reels and then I'll put in the text, like what how I want to make this my own, like, oh, this gave me idea to do whatever. And I find that that's an easier way for me to keep track of things rather than trying to save it in the app. And you're like, Why did I say this? What is this for? Because then I have my own notes to it and like it's in my own, you know, text message with with myself. So those are ways that I like sort of like will keep track of things like that. And I know I guess I know by now which parts of my process are good and exciting.
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or whatever. But I think mostly it's just like capturing these little bits and pieces. And I'm like, oh, it'd be fun to share. I can use that later or whatever. So I guess my biggest tip is to get a phone with a lot of storage.
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I love it. I'm one of the people where I get the messages, your iCloud has been updated. I'm like, Oh my God, if my phone happens, I'm gonna be so stupid. I love hearing from you, though I work in a very similar fashion. And I get people asked a question pretty frequently. But what you said so eloquently is, you don't like to plan because you like the passion for what you share. And when you're a little more in the moment, you have some structure around it in terms of ideas that you've seen other people's reels in tic TOCs or clips that you've already documented when you're making the process, but then having more of the actual creation of it a little more than when, when you're inspired something that like you're really passionate about that moment in time. So I think it's a good way of balancing both structure, but also not being too structured. So I know a lot of people on the small business artists creative side structure, their most favorite thing. So hearing that balance is awesome. To have your feedback, I think it's a great way to look at it. I'm just gonna say I think also that like, we tend to, like make up all these rules for how we're supposed to do. So I need to have 30 days of content planned out or like to post every single day, or all these rules that like we've heard, or we make up ourselves, and they make it not fun anymore. And so I think that whatever you can do to make it fun and interesting for yourself, you're gonna have the most success with I personally love videos. So that's what I'm going to stick with, right. And you should probably do some videos, because that's where we're moving towards, you know what I mean? So you need to incorporate some of them. But you don't have to make everything about videos, if your customers are still responding to your carousel posts, or your single posts or whatever it might be, or you just love doing stories and you barely post on your feed. Like, if that's where your customer is, it's totally fine. If that's where you enjoy being your customer is probably going to find you there. And so we're just making it fun, like, Stop putting all these rules on yourself. You don't have to post every day, you don't have to post at a certain time every day, like you can listen to like the Instagram experts are everywhere now. And they're all telling you all this crazy stuff, in my opinion. And if you just doing what and have fun with it, and make it have some point, right? Like, I don't wanna just post random stuff, but like, just have the most fun you can have while doing this task. And like, it's always gonna end up better for it. Yeah, and find a way to make it fun, right? Because I think some people might be like, Oh, but I just hate showing my face on stories. I hate showing my face on reels. Part of it is you know, if there's nothing you hate, let's find a way to outsource if it's required, but part of it too is how do you shift perspective and how you make it fun? How do you find a way for it's actually fun for you for some things that really aren't quite right. And this goes back to what you mentioned earlier of the attention that you put behind the work that you're doing. And I find it so interesting that if you are posting something on Instagram, and there's a lot of like resistance, a lot of oh, I don't really want to do this, or oh my gosh, like this isn't gonna get a lot of likes, I'm wasting my time. If you show up with that sort of attention about Instagram, it's not going to perform as well. And your customers can pick up on it too, like followers can totally pick up on if it's a real that was like haphazardly put together followers can pick up on if you're hosting a story and you like don't want to be there and you're just showing up by like the greed of your teeth just because so when you find a way to really make it fun when you find a way to show when you find a way to make exciting that shows up on a subconscious level, the tone that you use on your story is a word that you use on your posts, the quality of the content you put out there. So all of what I've been talking about today on how to grow your business get more traction on Instagram, getting rejection on Tik Tok is like mindset related.
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It totally isn't like every interaction that you have with anybody ever is an energy exchange, even posting on social media is an energy exchange. So what energy are you putting out there for your customers to pick up, they're gonna pick it up, or just leave, subconsciously, they're gonna pick it up. So if you're hating everything you're doing, it's not gonna be good for you. So if you just look at everything, like what kind of energy do you wanna put out there? Like, as you're putting it into your post you're putting into your box one way or the other. So you might as well be intentional and a little free with, you know, the energy that you're giving out? Yeah. Did you ever talk about this as your profiles grew to these crazy massive amounts? Do you ever struggle with fear of judgment of scared to put something in case, you know, people don't like it or in case it doesn't perform as well as you want? It's something they struggle with? Or is it go back to the discipline that you've created that you don't let that really get to you? I think I probably struggled more in the beginning, I will say I, I tend to create my art from a more soul level place. And because of that, I don't like attach, like my worth on it. Like, I love it. And that's kind of all that matters to me. And so if somebody doesn't like the work that I put out there, I don't really care. But when it comes to me talking or things that are more like me, if I'm sharing, you know, bits about my personality, or my family, or whatever it might be, I do tend to have like a harder time sometimes releasing that judgment of other people. And so I think that, like I can definitely relate to people being scared to post their work, because I think they're coming from a place that's more or they're attaching their work, like to them selves entirely. And yeah, it can be hard, it can be really hard. But also things look at it as that like every obstacle, everything that's a card that comes in our way is just there to teach you something. So if I am triggered by something, I know, I need to dig a little deeper into that. So if somebody is talking about my work or talking about me in some way, then I'm just like, Okay, well, they keep giving me unsolicited advice. And I'd like to smash my phone right now, as you look at that. And so it's just like an area that like, you know that like, it's either a mirror showing you something about yourself, or it's showing you something that like maybe you need to work a little bit more on. So I think everything for me is like a game like how do I how can I make this the best that I can. And that's including myself now I just kind of really kind of Yeah, and I think it shows that your soul is in your work, not only in your political hearings, but how you show up how you show up on Instagram, the content you put out, like you can tell that your soul is in it. And when you put your soul behind something like that, and you truly believe in it and leave an impact, then you have these awesome results to show for it. So you're like living breathing proof of all that it's possible when you believe in yourself, when you show up and really clean you're worth it and know that you have a great product that want to share it. So they have so many people. So it's awesome to hear your story of how you've gotten to where you are, do you have any other final tips you want to share? It's gonna be super generic, so can take us anywhere, either for growing a business starting a business, spirituality and business, anything else that you want to share to those anything? Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing is just to go for it. If you have these desires, you have these dreams, like just go for it. Like the more you can detach from what anybody else thinks the better off you're gonna be. And the more you do it, the easier it is to detach. So you're not going to be able to attach if you don't put yourself out there and expose yourself to those those things. You just are going to have to get over it much quicker, much easier. Like the more you do it and being afraid doesn't mean you shouldn't do something and a lot of cases it means you should do it. So just go for it. Take the action, take one small action towards it, and it'll lead you to another action and another action and another action until one day you wake up and you're like wow, we did it. Yeah. I love it. Oh my gosh, it's so inspiring. And I appreciate what you've shared with us so much today. I would love to just end with Larry
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Think a little bit more about some of the programs you offer where people can find you. And we have some exciting stuff in the pipeline. So we got up to speed and all that. Yeah, well, you can find me on Instagram is my favorite place to hang out. I'm at shot hillside studio on Instagram. And I'm also on Facebook and tick tock, if you start to succeed at finding those places, I'm also getting ready to Launch hopefully the next month or so a new polymer clay earrings Made Easy course that'll be for everyone. So I'm really excited about that. I have a Facebook group called the studio squad, and you can find that you can search on Facebook, or you can click the link in Instagram bio, it'll take you there, but that is a polymer clay Facebook group. And then sometime in the next few months, I'll be putting together a program about how to run a business from a soul level place on creating your art for the whole world. So stay tuned for that. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. And I love how this conversation really fits into that sole passion of making your product I'm excited for everything that have to come I will make sure to link your handle all the awesome links you mentioned in the show notes. So anybody listening interested, they can easily find you. I just wanna say thank you so much. It's so awesome talking to you more hearing about your business or your business where you are now where you started. So thank you so much Christina. It's been a pleasure to have you and I'm sure that we will be talking soon. Thank you so much. Thanks, Monica. I really enjoyed the conversation.
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Thank you so much for hanging out with here inside the product this podcast. If you love this episode, don't forget, subscribe and leave a five star review. And if you're gonna learn more about pathways Academy my signature group coaching program for handmade small business owners like you who are looking to create consistent online sales for their business, then go to the product is podcast.com to join the waitlist doors are currently closed but you'll be first notified when they reopen. Thank you so much and see you on the next episode for the product based podcast.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
instagram, people, business, polymer clay, full time job, tik tok, post, hear, videos, started, grow, showing, product, earrings, results, tick tock, orders, money, mentioned, content