Growing My Business Without Social has been this awesome spot to share my stats and journal my impulse to leave social media behind.
I’ve been lucky to do this alongside my friend Holly Haynes, who has gone on to create a whole program helping 100s of other mompreneurs and creatives find a way to create content that feels good and makes them sales in an authentic way inside her Anti-Social School.
She has so many great stories about how despite big numbers on social or major collabs- it's not all it’s cracked up to be. And she’s built her business accordingly, so we decided to hop on the mic and chat about our joint experience.
Why Holly left social/stopped putting so much emphasis on it
Everyone interprets social media differently.
When I started my business, Instagram was just getting started. Facebook was where everyone shared everything and I was working in corporate full time. So I didn't really have the choice to build a business using social media because I didn't have the space.
I was at an executive level and couldn't be like, “My coach says that I should post at 7am every day for seven days.”
I was getting my kids ready or commuting to work. And so it just didn't work.
And when I did try to do it, it didn't feel authentic to who I was. I was trying to force it in because somebody told me to do it.
That’s when I had this realization (which is why we get along so well) of: I don't have to do it the way everyone else is doing it. It does feel awkward and weird and you do think, “well, everyone's doing dancing reels or tiktoks etc. I should try it.”
(And I have definitely tried it. It's not my thing.)
So I really had to lean into it from a time perspective. If I only have an hour a day to create a seven figure business, how do I do that? It's not that I couldn't do it on social, but I just didn't have the capacity or the time or the team or any of that to do it.
Now, I will say at this point in time, we have a social presence, but it is all planned in advance, scheduled and repurposed.
Side note: I think there's a difference between reposting the same thing on 17 different platforms and repurposing in a way that is really, really meaningful and makes an impact.
So I always say social media, for me, is the sidecar. It's the second act. If I have time to do it and it feels good, then I do. If I don't, it's not a big deal. If my account goes down, if it gets hacked, if life happens because… kids, then I don't worry about it.
For me, that has been the sort of thing that keeps me going because I would rather prioritize conversations like this and time with my family. And if I get to the social part, then I do. And if I don’t, it's not a big deal. It's not a deal breaker.
How Relying on Social Media Can Impact Your Business
Our Crush the Rush Podcast account has around 15,000 followers, which sounds crazy. I don't even know how that happened. But it disappeared in the middle of a launch. It was just gone, like poof.
If you rely solely on getting clients from social media, an incident like that could be devastating to you, your business, your family, your goals.
Thankfully, it was a bonus for me. It was the plan B. I won't say I didn't panic for a minute- like, what's happening?! But we didn't have to worry about it because we had the podcast, we had email, we had a repurposing strategy.
So I actually created a new account. (I think we've got like 2500 followers right now.) And that's what I run our business off of.
Because I wanted to prove that you can have a really successful business without a huge social following.
The other one magically came back, but I don't pay a lot of attention to it, it just kind of sits there.
It's been really fun to use our new account as a case study:
Sometimes I'll show up.
Sometimes I don't.
I have a really good relationship with social now, because I know that I don't have to show up there, there's other places that I prioritize and make sure I'm consistent with, but it's not Instagram.
Creating Content that Feels Good
I have a couple of non-negotiables:
I have at least one piece of long form content a week.
For me, that's our podcast.
We do three episodes a week now- one that's just me talking, very similar to the cinematic vlogs you do.
That's where my time and energy goes because it gives me so much content that I can then leverage in other places.
And then we take that and we repurpose it with intention.
We don't copy it on all the different platforms.
We repurpose it to different platforms.
The other non-negotiable is my email newsletter.
Newsletters are having a cauliflower moment, they're coming back.
I've always loved newsletters because it’s so personal- people get to know you.
It's all about figuring out how to build a client attraction plan, to get people into your world, in a way that works for you, your schedule and what you like to create.
You can create content that feels good to you and does the heavy lifting for you.
If you don't like selling, let's create content that builds a relationship and helps make the sale, so you're not in this awkward position asking for money.
Detoxing From Social Media
Megan: Leaving social took so much mindset work. It took a detox period when I left, because I was in social so much for my business.
I noticed myself going to Pinterest or trying to find that same scrolling mechanism. Until finally it detoxed out of my system and I could get into the actual lifestyle part, the days that I wanted to have.
So talk about that transition time you experienced and have seen when a client starts on this journey.
What’s that time period from starting to life changing, look like?
I mean if I'm being honest, I feel like the social detox is at least 30 days, but that's just from a mindset perspective.
I just don't think we realize how many times we pick up our phone, no matter what we're doing, to just mindlessly do something. And so I feel like it takes a minute to undo that.
Now I have really great boundaries, but depending on what's going on in your life, you might resort back. There's a whole mindset thing that has to happen.
Creating Content Consistently vs. Finding Your Cadence
Can we talk about consistency? Cause I know you’re all about it. And I've recently adopted more of a flow/holding it loosely approach.
For almost three years, I’d podcast once a week and then I personally got burnt out. So now, with my Substack, I've been creating when I have something to say but not forcing myself to a schedule.
Talk to me about what you've seen because you're always showing up consistently and three times a week with the podcast plus the newsletter.
First off, I’d argue that is consistent- for you.
If I'm being honest, personally, I'm just a rule follower. I feel like my brain works that way.
I actually just did a podcast on this, talking about: What if you're having a day where you just don't want to do it?
Three things come to mind here:
If you decide to miss your consistent, ask yourself:
What's the impact of me missing this?
What's the downstream effect?
For me, missing a podcast is a really big deal because it fuels all our content. When it was just me, it was a lesser impact, but now I have a team that I'm paying and they're waiting for that podcast to hit.
So I really have to think about, is it worth skipping? Or can I just do it in a way that feels good?
Also think about: Why am I not doing it?
Is it because I don't want to do it? There's probably a deeper reason. So I make sure I’m okay with the consequences of not doing it.
Lastly, find a platform that’s fun for YOU…. and makes you money
One of the things that I tell my clients is, follow the fun. What’s fun for you? What are you excited about?
If you love writing newsletters, write a newsletter.
If you love talking, do a podcast.
If you love blogging, write a blog.
Do you want to write a book?
Or be on the local news?
I think you've got to figure out what the platform is that you get excited about even on your: “I'm not that motivated today” day.
Because sometimes in business, we forget that it gets to be fun. It gets to be really cool for you to do.
Like just before this, I met up with one of my friends who lives in the area and we just brainstormed our offers together now that the kids are back in school.
It was business, but it was just fun. And sometimes I think we forget that it can be a joyful experience most of the time.
Yeah, we get lost in that conveyor belt shuffle and forget the why.
And that's another little saying that I love to share is: you don't have to copy and paste someone else's business.
Just because I love podcasting doesn't mean that you have to, but maybe you like speaking at events or maybe you're scared to death to speak and you're a really great writer.
Or we were just talking about Pinterest before this, maybe you're super creative and you make these like beautiful visuals that attract people to whatever you do.
You've got to figure out:
What's your home base? What's the thing you want to attract people to that you like to do?
Because social media is not a business strategy. There's gotta be something behind it. There's gotta be a message or a platform or a home base that's driving the business or the creative that you're creating.
Social media is just the magazine cover. So where's the meat, where's the other side of that conversation?
When you don't want to be attached to your laptop
I teach how to build a business around the lifestyle that you want, which I know that you're a big fan of too, Megan.
So inside Anti-Social School, we really talk about:
What's your dream schedule?
What do you want your days to feel like?
It's not the fancy, I want to work from the beach, which we all want to do, but it’s: what's an everyday look like?
What's your home base? Where do you want to hang out?
What’s your schedule? How much time do you have?
You don't have to pitch 300 podcasts to actually build an audience. We can figure out how to build an audience that works for your schedule and what you like to do and where you like to hang out.
I've had clients that’ve had all local referrals fill their business.
All we do is put together, who do you know? Let's go find clients based on that.
It's really cool to see all the different ways you can build your audience and sales.
But, behind the scenes, it takes being strategic… thinking about once somebody finds you, what happens? How do you nurture them in a way that's going to save you time? And then doing that.
If you want to grow your business without relying on social media…
Holly’s got you covered- check out her FREE Private Podcast for business owners who want to find more clients and make more sales: Ditch the Social Drama.
And visit this link to work with Holly in her Anti-Social School.
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Leaving Social Behind Feels... Fun