“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.”
Zig Ziglar
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Social listening and healthy stalking does have its privileges. And that is exactly how I discovered and met one of the most passionate and inspirational hairdressers I have ever known, Larisa Love aka @larisadoll on Instagram.
If you read my blog or listened to my Masters Series interview with Winn Claybaugh, then you have heard me speak of this awesomeness creator. I have been watching and listening to her for almost a year now.
One of the most awesome things I get to do at Passion Squared is connect with the best of the best, study them, learn from them, and many times actually meet them offline, then carry that message to my clients and community.
I’m not gonna lie, I am a big fan, and when Larisa and I set our date to meet, I got butterflies in my tummy. Why? Respect. Plain and simple. I knew this girl was special, but I also knew I only knew her online persona. And awesomely enough, she also works in the most beautiful bungalow at Butterfly Loft Salon in Encino. So butterflies were for sure an appropriate emotion.
So what did I learn about what makes Larisa so awesome?
1. Authenticity
Larisa is the real deal. As beautiful inside as out. This is probably the most important thing to learn about her success. Authenticity is everything in today’s world, and you can be Insta famous, have a gazillion followers, but fall flat offline if you are not truly authentic.
2. Focus + Direction
Larisa has such insane clarity of direction and focus for such a young (in years) human. People often ask me what is one of the most common challenges I see working with small businesses in the beauty and wellness worlds. My answer. Focus and direction.
3. She Knows Her Why
Larisa is crystal clear on her why, promise, purpose and target market as a brand. She is consistent in her work, her brand identity, her boundaries, and how she presents her brand and creates stories that matter on Instagram. She knows her brand why. Remember, as the awesome Simon Sinek says, “People don’t buy what you do, they buy WHY you do it.”
4. Instagram Can Build A Business
Larisa learned very early in her short 4-year career as a hairdresser that Instagram would be the platform to engage, connect, build relationships and ultimately grow a business that has her booked until 2016 with 800 people on her waiting list. She chose one platform, she chose to focus intently on it, and she has never wavered. She spends at minimum 2 hours a day creating content, posting and engaging with her followers. You may think 2 hours is a lot of time. My question back to you is are you happy with your marketing plan and how it’s helping you grow your business?
5. Consistency
This could be Larisa’s middle name. Her beautiful work speaks for itself. But what matters even more is her consistency. In branding, in hair, in engagement, in posting, in content creation, and in voice.
Can every stylist have 40K followers and an 800-person waiting list? I don’t really know. But what I do know, is the above traits and actions are just some of the reasons Larisa has been SO successful, and it also happens to be traits and actions I see in many others creating awesome in their business.
As I have said before and I will always say, there is NO secret or magic pill. Creating awesome takes commitment, courage, consistency and most of all caring. And Larisa is all of those things and so much more.
If you are not already, follow @larisadoll and learn. Then go out and create your own kind of awesome.
A big shout out of gratitude and thanks to Larisa, her beautiful, kind and talented BF @dylankelly and David and Alexis, the awesome owners of Butterfly Loft Salon for such a special evening. I am in awe of all of you and so grateful to know you.
The Universe is not short on wake up calls. We are just quick to hit the snooze button. -Brene Brown
Here is the audio version of this post. Thank you so much for listening.
Many of us have had them. Some of us don’t know we have. And some of us just hit the snooze button when they happen.
Wake up calls happen all the time, in business and in life. The opportunity for us is to listen for them and to them, if we want to create an awesome biz + life.
Wake Up Call #1
A few team members are asking for raises all within a few days of each other. To me, that is a sign of something deeper. Meaning, it’s time to connect with those team members to see where they are in their career and life. Something is behind the desire for a raise. What is it?
Wake Up Call #2
A slew of social posts about a particular company seem to be gaining momentum and people are just not happy. Will that be a wake up call, or is that company not even listening?
Wake Up Call #3
People begin not showing up to meetings, or come in late to work. Do we build resentment or decide to dig deeper into why that is.
Wake Up Call #4
Sales begin to slowly drop, less new clients are coming in, and staff is leaving. Do we see that as a wake up call or do we hit the snooze button and blame the month, season, weather or staff member.
Wake Up Call #5
A series of not so awesome YELP reviews are posted about a business. All saying similar things. The front desk staff is not nice, nobody answers the phone, the bathrooms are dirty. A wake up call? You bet. But only if the business is listening.
Wake Up Call #6
A feeling of stress and overwhelm continue to fill our bodies. Is this a wake up call? You bet it is. It’s time to look at our lives and begin to create space to breathe and get to the source of the stress and overwhelm so it can be fixed.
Awareness is the key in listening for wake up calls. It is so much easier to hit the snooze button versus dealing with issues, problems or wake up calls. It takes a ton of courage to listen for them and deal with them. And until we do, be prepared for that alarm to keep ringing.
Do you have any wake up calls you have ignored only to have them come back bigger and louder? I would love to hear your thoughts. I’m listening.
Here is the audio version of this post. Thank you so much for listening.
So I asked a very simple question last week on Facebook and Instagram, thinking I would get a pretty straightforward answer. “Is it OK to like our own posts on Facebook, Instagram or any other social platforms?” I applaud all those who courageously shared their thoughts. Thank you!
Now I could have been more clear, I was speaking about business pages and posts, not personal. So this post is about business pages and my professional view is based on countless hours of engaging myself, reading, researching, following respected leaders in the space, and watching my own and my clients behaviors and analytics.
The short answer
No, there is no need for your business to like its own posts. And if people are paying attention, it looks kinda lame and desperate.
The longer answer Why Are We Even There?
The purpose of engaging on social platforms for business is to share, engage, listen, build relationships and create connections. Based on the objectives of the business being on a social platform, those actions could result in increased traffic to your website, referrals and revenue.
How Can We Create More Engagement?
1. Sharing your business posts to your personal pages (if the target audience is similar) can increase engagement on Facebook, since personal pages seem to show up more in the news feed than business pages.
2. Creating a content strategy that creates value for your followers.
3. Posting consistently and often. How often? It depends on your audience. And only trying different approaches and measuring them will give you that answer.
In the end, the goal is not to try to game the system, the goal is to create relevant, meaningful content that adds value to your community. Whether its on Facebook, Instagram, a blog or e-newsletter.
We move towards what we focus on. So instead of focusing on likes or being seen, I say we focus on how we can be of service to the humans that choose to follow us and listen to us. And liking your own post just does not fit into that.
What are your thoughts? Please share your comments below, or on Facebook, and of course, you can always inbox me. I’m listening.
Here is the audio version of the post, thank you so much for listening.
There is so much awesomeness happening on Instagram, thus my obsession with the platform and writing about it. One of my obsessions at the moment, well, not just at the moment but every day, is the bad ass barbers of Instagram. I am so freaking inspired by how they create awesome each day, so here is my take on what they are doing right and how you can learn from them to help you create more awesome in your biz.
1. Culture
Culture is everything. And the barber community has nailed it. They work together, play together, celebrate their communities, and use the same language. They have a shared passion and work ethic. They live their culture. And it shows.
2. Brand Identity + Messaging
This is the one area that continues to blow my mind. The look, feel, sounds and sights are so insanely consistent. From logos, to colors, to fonts, words, sounds, styles, shapes, tools, merch, storytelling via content, and most importantly, culture, these bad ass barbers not only understand branding, it is clear they value and respect how it can create awesome in their business.
3. Engagement
As my biz hero Gary Vee says, “Best marketing strategy ever? Care.” And these barbers care. The reason I know this is based on their engagement on Instagram. They listen, they respond, they give shout outs, they love and support each other, they build relationships and in turn, they have tens of thousands of passionate followers.
4. Generosity
These bad ass barbers are collectively very generous with their lives and minds. They share tips, offer education, host events and more. As Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.”
5. Passion
Well, this one goes without saying. However, what I will say is many of us may say we are passionate, but does it show through our online and offline presence? Can it be felt through a screen and through the stories we tell from the content we share?
Generation C, the connected customer, as defined by the genius Brian Solis, is passionate about shared experiences. About stories, about culture, about going behind the scenes. And these bad ass barbers get that. Do you?
If you want to learn how to create more awesome on Instagram, follow these bad-asses, I do, and I am so grateful they exist.
Here is the audio version of this post. Thank you so much for listening.
So let me set the scene. It’s a Tuesday morning. I am just returning home from my early morning Pilates class. I see cops. A crew of them, in the lobby of my building.
Nothing seems strange, so I go about my morning. Walk the dogs, make myself another Americano, and catch up on Facebook and Instagram.
Having just hired Ashely, my newest awesomeness creator, she was to meet me at the Passion Squared Loft at 9am. I get a text at 8:50 (love people who are on time, and by on time I mean early) saying “I am here, but the cops just escorted me out of the lobby.” OMG I said, I will be right down. Thinking we can grab a quick ice tea at Coffee Bean (yes, I am cheating on Starbucks cause I am obsessed with Coffee Bean’s ice and their straws match my hair color). But to my surprise, as I walked out to get her, I saw cops, and my street being closed down. The cop said, “you can go to Coffee Bean, but you will not be able to come back.” So we headed back upstairs and got to work.
This is when things got nuts. We heard siren after siren, and started looking out the window of my 9th floor loft. Still having NO idea WTF was happening in my building.
So what did we do? What everyone does today, we took to Twitter. And Instagram. And sure enough, we found out exactly what was happening. There was an alleged felony fugitive on the 5th floor. A resident. Who may or may not have been armed. Who was served with a warrant and refused to surrender. So for 8 hours, we waited, with the SWAT team, Bomb Squad, LAPD and LAFD. It was a real life standoff. Like on TV. IN MY BUILDING!
But that is not the point of this blog. The point is where we went for information. How much we relied on the social web, and not news stations (online or off), no, they knew pretty much noting.
It was Twitter, and Instagram, connecting with both official and unofficial tweets and Instagrams. It was about finding and sharing experiences using hashtags such as #DTLA and #LAPD. That’s how it works now. We have access to 24/7 LIVE information, as it happens, thanks to the social web.
So what does that mean for your business? A few things. You can continue to have a “standoff” with the social + digital web. Choosing not to engage on YELP because there are crazy’s on there, or choosing not to engage with an online booking platform like Schedulicity because of fear of losing control of your schedule (which you don’t BTW), or choosing not to find time to Instagram, or Facebook for your business. You can choose to not do any of those things, just as long as you know, each day you wait is a day closer to becoming an irrelevant, un-discoverable business.
Johnny_snips is booked a month out, he’s young and just getting started. AndrewDoesHair delivers a ton of awesome education and launched an awesome product ADH Dry. Larisadoll is passionate about sharing her beautiful, creative colors and can’t take a new client until August 2015. These are just three of several examples of incredibly talented & focused hairdressers who are passionate about building community and engaging on Instagram. They create a ton of value. They care.
The world has changed. Business has changed. The choice you need to make is if you will change too. The choice, as always, is yours.
PS: A BIG shout out of thanks to the LAPD and LAFD, they were amazing. The suspect surrendered peacefully and all is well in the world. And to my new awesomeness creator at Passion Squared, Ashley, thank you for being so amazing on your first day. You rock!
