Full Time Job To Full Time Creator... (She Gained 200k Followers in 1 YEAR)

I wouldn't have been ready for what I'm doing now unless I would've done what I did 2 years ago.

I always told myself, even if it's one person that I can change their life, my life has changed.

Fastest way for you to scale is to make content.

Right.

Fastest way for people to find you is to make yourself available to be seen.

And I love that you mentioned that because it's so good to know that.

All right, welcome to the Howdy Podcast. Today, I'm honored to have Yele Heidecker, right?

Hello, yes.

Heidecker on the podcast today. She is a full-time content creator, over 100K on Instagram, and we can get into more of those numbers here in a minute. But glad to have you on, Yele.

Thank you for having me here, actually.

Thanks for making the trip. It's like 110 degrees outside, so fun time here in Texas. So kind of toasty for people who don't know who you are, um, kind of just give a background, like how you got to where you are now as a full-time content creator.

Yeah, so just like a lot of people, I started posting on social media for fun. Yeah, uh, I didn't really think any of it, um, you know, just wanted to— a little creative outlet. And, um, I think during COVID time it was like, okay, I'm gonna post a little bit more on my free time, you know. I was working full-time Um, so I have a 9-year career in banking, and, you know, just started sharing a little bit of my struggles through motherhood. And, you know, my husband was going to flight school and just kind of sharing that hard journey of, you know, being by yourself and not having family around. And, um, a year and a half ago, I left my full-time job, um, for many reasons, and I You know, I stayed home and my social media just started picking up quite fast, like a lot faster than I expected it. So now here we are.

So when you say quite fast, can you kind of dive into what that means?

Yeah, so at that time my TikTok had grown to, I think we were at 40,000. Uh, we are now at 80-something thousand. And then my Instagram had 2,000 followers.

Hey, gang gang! I don't even have 2,000 yet.

Yeah, and you know, I had been working on it, you know, on the side for like, I don't know, probably at 6 years at that point. Um, and then we are at 109 today.

So how long ago was that?

You said a year ago.

One year, actually.

One year ago exactly, I was at 8,000.

Wow. So you gained 100,000 followers in one year.

Yeah.

Just on Instagram?

Yes.

Wow. Okay. So a lot of people that watch this show are content creators like you. They're also small business owners, and eventually a content creator becomes a business too. So you have to be some sort of a business owner.

Yes.

So what have you learned about like the business side of that?

So I did a little bit of photography on the side. That was very, very part-time, more like on the seasonal type of things like Christmas. So I just have learned that we have to be very like mindful of who we're talking to and like our community. I think that, you know, I cannot stress enough how a community is going to build you up so much more than the actual number of the followers. So like to me, 100 and something, 200,000 followers combined with throughout all my social medias, Facebook, YouTube, and all of the things. We're over 200. It doesn't really mean anything, it's just a number, sadly. Um, but having a community that can actually lift you up, and then you can start branching out doing other things. Um, you know, selling either digital products or, um, one-on-one coaching calls, or, um, you know, just merch if you want to do that. I haven't gotten there yet.

So you would say like focusing on building your audience first before trying to sell anything.

Yes, yes, definitely. Your audience is going to be the one carrying you on.

So at what point did you decide, okay, it's time to start putting affiliate links and doing one-on-one type things?

Um, I started pretty early on, you know, like mostly was like Amazon links. Um, well, I was also doing like the photography side of things, but It started more like serious, um, probably May of last year, just start sharing a little bit more in the series, not just as a hobby type thing, but like, this is my business, this is my brand, this is who I am, this is what I'm gonna share, and this is what you can get from me. And then from there, I have been able to branch out. It kind of started with like sharing affiliate links through Amazon, and then now I have like guides and, you know, like digital products, which is a really good way of making passive income. If you have knowledge of a topic, it's a really good way to, to monetize in a passive way.

Yeah. So whenever it comes to like your type of content and your niche, what would you consider your niche to be?

I would say lifestyle and motherhood.

Okay.

Um, more like focus like on the living more intentionally.

So why did you pick that?

Because I had been struggling through motherhood. Um, I had been going through like postpartum depression, anxiety, and like all of those things that I felt like I didn't have support. You know, I was by myself and I personally didn't feel like I had that support and I felt alone. I felt like I couldn't talk to anyone about it or anybody was talking about it. And I'm just like, I know there's other moms who are struggling with that. And I think that that's where the biggest switch happened for me because it was more like, I'm trying to grow the followers, I'm trying to get the numbers. You know, we're all like chasing the numbers. And then I switched from who am I helping, not so much how can I help myself, but how can I help you? How can I help those moms that I know are also struggling through the same things? So that's kind of where my niche started.

Yeah, and that's kind of a lens that I look at everything through. Even right now, like, we don't have a massive following, but of those few thousand across social media, Like, I try to be intentional on how can we serve them, right? How can we give them value? Like, even though it's— I mean, it's technically not the smallest number. Like, if you think of a room full of 1,000 people, that's a lot. That's a lot of people. And so if you get— if you post a video and you get like 200 views or 500 views, don't be discouraged, because think of a room of 500 people and then Yeah, I was going to say, like, about if that's successful or not.

If you were to be invited to go do like a conference or like meet some, you know, like I'm going to do like public speaking or something and there's 500 people, I would be like, that's a lot of people, you know, like. And my thing with when it comes to social media is like you can monetize just as much with 2,000 followers than you can with 100,000 followers. Again, if your audience is not engaged, 100,000 followers mean absolutely nothing.

Yeah, because if you post a video and you get 10 likes but you have 100,000 followers, it's not serving you any purpose, right?

It's nothing, you know, that's telling you like you're either not serving enough or it's just not— there's something there that it's not working. So I think it's really important for, for us. And I also like to think, you know, like kind of like on my niche, the way I like— more is not always better. If we cannot be content and serve with what we currently have, do you think you would be able to monetize so much more if you had 10,000 followers if you're not serving your audience right now?

Yeah.

So I think it's really important to, to not get discouraged, like you said, when we have a little smaller number.

Are you wanting to start your own podcast, but it's been kind of intimidating to get started? Whenever you think about all of the equipment like cameras microphones, lights, and then you get into software that you have to buy. It gets overwhelming. Our mission here at Howdy Media with the Howdy Studio that I'm currently in is to make it as easy as possible for you to get creating. So if you want to start a podcast, a YouTube channel, if you want to film some short-form content for your social media, this is the place to do it. We have everything you need from cameras to microphones to lights, everything. And not only do we have everything you need, but we have the skills to edit, produce, and distribute it directly for you. So if this is something you would be interested in, we're gonna put the link in the description below, and we can't wait to work with you. No, yeah, definitely serving your, your crowd, serving your people, because if you have 100,000 people and nobody— say you have a product or something and nobody, nobody buys it, then It's meaningless to have that many followers. So if you're a small creator, if you have a small account, just remember that. If you have 500 followers and every single person who follows you buys something from you, that's way more profitable. So don't get discouraged. I had a buddy who recently started a podcast and he's a chiropractor. He's helping chiropractic offices kind of— he's going in and flipping them kind of like you flip a house. But he's being a mentor. He's going in and changing the systems, changing everything. And his YouTube videos, some of them have done well. I mean, there's 15 subscribers, so some of his videos get 100 views, 200 views, some of them get 50 views. But the amount of calls that he's gotten because of how select he's been— yes, like he directly targets chiropractic students. And so he's already reaping the benefits, and we're like 15 videos in. So I think that's just a testimony to the power of YouTube. Are you on YouTube?

Yes.

Okay, so what kind of stuff do you do on YouTube?

Um, right now I'm mostly doing shorts. Um, I started doing long-term, like longer videos, but those take a little bit longer. Yeah, so I'm trying to like learn that, and I'm trying not to do too much at once because that's also like one of the biggest things that I, I personally noticed. And I noticed with like, you know, with what I do in life and people that I know, like, we're trying to do too much at once that we're like, at the end of the day, you're not doing anything. You know the— what is it— the jack of all trades, master of nothing.

It's like you're doing so many things spread out that you don't get one thing done very well, right?

So I think my first steps were focus on TikTok, Instagram, And then now I'm actually working with a manager, so she's the sweetest thing ever. Um, and she helps me for your—

the business side of your—

yes. So she is helping me with like on my— the back end of stuff, like replying to emails to work with brands, collaborations, paid partnerships, and all of that stuff. She's pitching me to other brands. I've been able to work with like huge brands like Ford, John Deere, like, yeah, like what is this world? Um, but yeah, so she's helping me with all of that so that I can actually focus on the creative side of things and, you know, like be able to— I think that's something very important. I don't know if you— I mean, sure, you, you, you would know this, but like as business owners, we sometimes want to do it all.

Yeah.

And I believe that we need to invest to be able to grow more. Like we're trying to in a way manage it all and not lose that control a little bit, but sometimes we just have to trust and believe that, hey, I am so much better doing this than I am doing that.

Yeah.

So I'm not sure how you handle—

I have been battling that since I started. And I think you will continue to battle that for a while. That's why I started bringing on team members like Naomi and Mike. And my wife has been helping me. 2023, I was managing about 7 accounts at one time. 4 posts a week.

That's a lot.

It would be 6 o'clock and I'd be like, okay, I gotta post for 2 more accounts. And I'd sit there and make it and wouldn't get finished till like 10 PM. I was like, this is not sustainable. I did that for honestly way too long. It was like 4 months, 3 or 4 months. Yeah. And then one day my wife was like, I had my laptop in bed and I was still working. And this is the day that I decided boundaries was helpful and healthy.

Yes.

She's like, hey, you need to stop working because I'm about to go to sleep and you've been working since you woke up. And we don't have kids yet, so it's going to be amplified if we do end up having kids.

But yeah, it'll make it fun for sure.

I totally feel that. And there's lots of routes to do it, and I'm still trying to figure out how to— like, every single season of life has brought like different characteristics out of me that, yeah, like in different areas of leadership. And so I just think that's one of the way the Lord times everything, because yeah, I wouldn't have been ready for what I'm doing now unless I would have done what I did 2 years ago, right? And scenarios they put— the Lord puts you in.

Yeah, definitely. We— and then we have to sacrifice a lot too, you know. There's a lot of sacrifices that we need to make on the back end when it comes to like social media, business, you know, anything honestly in life. Um, we just have to just be mindful and know like, okay, this is too much for me. So like, for me, I knew like, this is too much right now. Like, I cannot handle my kids, my husband's schedule. It varies quite a lot. He doesn't have a schedule. He's, you know, um, and I'm like, I can't, like, I can't be the perfect mom, the perfect content creator, the perfect wife, the perfect everything. So I had to like, all right, I'm gonna let go and let God take over a little bit and just trust the process because I know this is busy season.

Yeah, yeah. And I was listening to a podcast this morning, actually, shout out Think Media. It was actually talking about this subject, how to be like productive and not get stuck on Instagram. Because like a lot of entrepreneurs wake up— and I would consider you an entrepreneur, self-employed— they'll wake up and they'll have like 15 tasks they have to get done and they won't get through all of them. So they'll just keep working all day, and you become a workaholic, basically.

Pretty much.

And so one of the ways you could combat that is to find like an accountability partner, set boundaries, say, I'm gonna work from 8 AM to 5 PM. And so like, as soon as 5 PM hits, stop working, and like have somebody there accountable to be like, hey, are you working?

Yeah.

So It also gives you motivation because, you know, 5 o'clock is coming up. And if you don't have what you needed to have finished to done today, then you're not going to get it finished right in time.

And it's funny because I kind of posted something similar today. When I was in college, our professor was like, what is your opportunity cost? Like, you got to give up something in order to get something greater, right? And for me, it was like, okay, I need to slow down. And it sounds like, why would you slow down when you're trying to grow? Why would you slow down when you're trying to do more? Well, if I don't slow down, I'm going to burn out again. And guess what happens when you burn out as an entrepreneur, as a mom, as a business owner? You need to slow down and set those boundaries and set those non-negotiables. Like, after, like you said, after 5 o'clock, I cannot do this anymore. I will not handle this. Like, my phone is, I do like do not disturb for 1 hour the first hour of my day. I wake up before the kids. I hate waking up before my kids. I want to sleep in. We all want to sleep in, you know, but I'm like, if I don't wake up before my kids, I am not productive for the rest of of the day. And guess what happens if I'm not productive? I am in a bad mood.

Yeah.

Um, so do not disturb for the first whole hour of my day. I do my brain dumping and all of like my no-negotiables. I do all of that, reply to emails, like talk to my manager, whatever I need to do, that type of stuff. And then I go into like being a mom. Yeah. And then I take my break. This is my working time from this time to this time. And then off my phone and then off, you know, to working again. So like, and that has helped so much. Yeah, so much.

So whenever you consider, or I guess whenever you say working, other than like emails and stuff, what does that look like for you?

So there is a— I think like a lot of, um, we don't realize how much work it takes to be a content creator. I mean, ultimately we are a business. We ultimately are an entrepreneur. We are like there is like a lot of planning. Uh, I work with brands, so like, what are your goals as a brand? I need to know who you are, where you come from, what do I need to know about your brand, how can I make this campaign be so much better than the last one, or than this person, or, you know, to try to get a better— like, at the end of the day, like sales and brand awareness type thing. So there's a lot of planning, a lot of behind the scenes, um, just like a business owner, you know, like I compare it to photography. There was a lot of— it's not just posting the beautiful pictures that are already edited. There's a lot of like post-production editing and, you know, like all these things that the people don't see. Yeah. So it's the same thing with content creation or influencers. They're like, oh, they're just posting cute photos. No, we're not.

They just see the final product.

Correct.

They don't know the hours of work. And I know that especially being in photography and videography too, like people just see the finished product and they don't realize, oh well, we had to spend about $15,000 in gear to get everything we needed, right? Oh, we had to spend 2 years to learn how to use the software as necessary. Oh, we had to lug everything an hour away, set it up there. We were on location for 5 hours, took it back, edited it for 2 weeks, and then you have the final product. So like, that's what you're paying for ultimately. And it's the same thing with you. Yeah. And so from the sounds of it, it sounds like you're more in marketing, honestly.

I mean, whether we like to admit it or not, that's what it is.

Yeah.

I mean, you are in a way you're selling something. And in this case, like, I'm selling myself, my services, as you know, through, through the lens of like my brand, which is like motherhood lifestyle type thing. So in a way, my product is helping like others, like other moms overcome certain seasons of their lives, you know, they're struggling. And, and that like I share about other like brands and things that could help them. Correct. For the most part, they're moms.

Okay, so let's talk to your target audience for a second. So if there's a mom out there in the same situation as you has a few kids wanting to step into doing content creation as their job so they can, I don't know, stay at home, be with the kids, not have to go to work, drop them off at daycare type of thing. What would you say would be the best thing for them to do in order to start that journey?

It would definitely be to know your why. I feel like if we don't know our why on anything, we don't have a backbone. We're gonna fall apart. We're gonna want to give up. We're not gonna want to continue. As soon as it gets hard, we're not gonna wanna do anything because we don't know the why. Why am I doing this? And then we have to be very clear on who am I helping? How can I provide value? And I think you've mentioned that several times. Like how can, how can I provide value to my audience? Whether it is one person or a hundred, you know, I always told myself, even if it's one, person that I can change their life, my life has changed. I feel like my purpose has been fulfilled and God put me here for a reason. So I think that that's like, you know, your why, who are you helping, and be yourself and have fun with it. You know, there's so many times where I'm like, I don't want to post about this or I don't want to talk about this, but I'm like, no, like somebody is going to. Like the amount of messages that I get on a daily of like, oh my gosh, like nobody talks about this or I hadn't seen that or I hadn't, you know, thought of it that way. I'm like, I fulfilled my purpose with that post.

Yeah, and it's hard to get caught up because in the schools now, like, we play a lot of church camps and we're around younger generation quite often, and their number one job that they want to aspire to be is an influencer, a YouTuber. So like, and I know that they don't really know what that looks like, but that's just what they see and they want to get there.

Yeah.

So yeah, just be like thankful for where you're at right now. It's one of the most sought-after jobs.

Yeah.

In the world.

And let's be very honest, whether it is as a business owner, like you have a product, like a physical product or a service like you do, or a content creator, which ultimately we have, you know, said that it's a business. We have to like know that it's not easy. It's not going to happen overnight. It, it's just the reality, you know. We like to see like, oh, you got 2,000 followers, but you're— I can't never be like you. But maybe take that as an inspiration, like, oh, I want to be like you one day. Like, I'm not gonna give up. Can you tell me like how, how to stay consistent? Or, you know, like, how do I not give up. I think it's very important to, to know that all of us can do it, but it does require some discipline to stick with it. Like, you're not just gonna want to give up tomorrow.

Yeah, especially when you don't have like a boss telling you it has to be done. Yeah, you can just sit around at home and be like, oh, just watch another YouTube video.

I'll just, just one more video.

I'll just scroll on Instagram for a little bit. Yeah, definitely is a job.

And that's a big one, actually, to stop looking for inspiration and take action. Like, just do it. Just do it.

It's like stop listening to 100 episodes of a podcast and not do anything about it.

But yes, it's like watching YouTube videos of how to lose weight and how to exercise, but you're not actually doing— like, are you actually going to lose weight and look like this? No.

Yeah.

So just take action. Just do it. It's going to be messy. You're going to mess up. It's not going to be easy. You're going to cry a few times. I've done it myself. You're like, this sucks, this is the hardest thing ever, I am not capable of doing that. You are. Slow down, just, just, just do it.

Honestly, I think it's like important to think if you're really trying to build something and you're trying to build like a personal brand, which is something we're big on here, it's like think very long-term. Like don't think of a date, like don't have a time where you're like, oh, it's good to stop posting. Like in my mind now, being a business owner and building your personal brand is like the same thing as being a content creator.

Yeah.

Because like the fastest way for you to scale is to make content. The fastest way for people to find you is to make yourself available to be seen.

Right.

Because if they don't see you, they don't know who you are and they don't know what you do.

Right. That is your marketing strategy. You are using your social media as a content creator to put your name out there.

Yeah, and that has driven my whole business so far.

That's how I found you.

Yeah, exactly. Like, either they find me on scrolling on Instagram, uh, they'll search up on Facebook like social media marketing or like media companies, even Google, and we'll pop up. Um, especially with this part of Texas, there's not many other people doing this, so hopefully we're ahead of the curve. Yeah, like I think we are. But no, for sure. So some practical tips for these upcoming content creators, these business owners. How many times, like, let's talk numbers, like how many posts per week? Like what's your strategy as far as like the amount of times and what platforms?

Okay, so things might be changing because that's just the way that social media grows and that is something very important. Probably that's the number one tip.

Today is August 22nd, 2024. So this applies to right now.

Yes.

Not—

yeah, anything else? We just have to pivot and we have to know where the trends are coming, whether we like it or not. A lot of us might be a little bit more school or some business might be a little bit more old school. We— if you are on social media and trying to either be a content creator, promote your business, whatever it is, we have to learn how to pivot and adapt to new, not necessarily trends, but like trends on how social media and how people are intaking that content. So that's number one. Um, two, we, um, need to like— I messed up.

No, okay, so let's go back to the previous part. So an example of that is like blogs. Blogs were a big thing, am I right?

I mean, back in '16. Okay, so yeah, in 2016, I guess I was on Instagram because I'm part of the Instagram Oh yeah, I'm sorry, I forgot I'm so much older than you. Thanks.

So blogs were a big deal and there were people making lots of money on blogs. Yeah, like now you don't ever really see blogs as much. No, they still exist, but I don't think it's the main like medium people are consuming media in, right?

So now I remember I was gonna say— yeah, there it is. So on TikTok right now, I feel like that is your like your exposure. You're getting your name out there because it's more of an SEO, you know, people can find you probably easier, like how to do something, kind of like YouTube, but it's just shorter videos. And then on Instagram is where you build more your community. Um, I feel like I wouldn't have been able to connect with any of you guys if it wasn't for Instagram, and that's how I found you. And, um, it was like, I think it was a story somebody else shared, and I was like, I think it was our giveaway. Yeah. And I was like, Howdy Media, what that? Like, there's something in Abilene? Like, let me check, because I feel like so isolated, you know? Like, not knowing anybody else, I'm like, you can't do this by yourself. That's a, that's a big one. Yeah, I think that when you have a community or a group of friends that you can bounce ideas off of is so, so good. Like, at least, you know, like, how can, how can I do this better? How can I change this? Or like, what is the trendiest thing to do right now? Or where is it right now? You know? Um, so that's really big. But that's exactly how I found you, through somebody else. And then I was just like, oh, who is this person?

Yeah, we we did a Yeti cooler giveaway, something.

Yeah, that's what it was.

That did really well. It got like 12,000 to 14,000 plays for our small— at the time we only had like a few hundred followers on our Instagram. And so I was like, this is crazy. I didn't collaborate with anybody and my video got like 14,000 views. Yeah, and like 300 comments. Which is why we did it. Um, they're kind of— giveaways can be kind of cheesy sometimes, so I try not to overdo them. That was an original plan that I scratched. Um, but yeah, that's how Yelly found me, and she saw the winner who won the, the cooler posted it on her story, and I guess Yelly was following her.

Yes.

Anyways, and then she followed me And I was like, yeah, I actually do a lot of—

I— she works at Shike Coffee, so that's how I found her. So I think it's really important to know, like, your network. Networking is huge. Even if it was like, for me, like, locally, it's not like, oh, it's huge locally, but it definitely helps to get to know other people, you know, if you're trying to serve people, like, yeah, not necessarily. Do you do just local or like business? Because you could manage other accounts, not just here in Abilene, right?

Do a few in Kentucky.

Okay.

We've done some in Lubbock and we do some in the Fort Worth area, um, but that's pretty much it. It's kind of harder being long distance, um, currently how we have things set up. If we can, we like to create the content too, like go and film and take pictures and like a full service type thing.

Maybe changing in the future, but you could have the possibility later on once you have a very established community here.

Yes.

And that your plate is not as full trying to grow here, then you can start branching out.

Yeah. And we're wanting to get into the social media education space.

There you go.

So like, in my mind, that's way more scalable. So like, if anybody on my YouTube channel sees it, like, they will be able to convert into a client.

Yeah.

If they want to.

Definitely.

Right now, the social media stuff, how we have it set up, they— like, the odds are very small, right? Just the way we've set things up. And that's on me. We're pivoting.

So here's the thing though, I personally think that, you know, from growing an account, the accounts, is you can focus on one thing at first, and I think that's, that's going to help you grow a little bit faster. You know what they say, the riches are in the niches or something like that. Um, then from there you can start pivoting. Pivot. Remember I said that earlier? You pivot and you start to like incorporate more things. Like for me, my account mostly at first, mostly not all of it, but mostly was like learning how to like simplify your life and like mostly based on like decluttering your home. Then I started branching out to more like daily vlogs. Then I started branching out to like more of this, then more of this, then more of that, and then more opportunities started showing up and you're like, whoa, then we're like cooking. And then people started asking me more like, I want to see more of this, I want to see your routines for this, I want to see that, I want to— so people started asking me for more. My audience started asking me for more, but I started with mostly one thing, but I was able to pivot and learn like, okay, this is what— now that you asked me about YouTube earlier, people have started to ask me like, "Oh, you should do longer, like long, long content." And I'm like, "Should I do YouTube or podcasts?" Like, I don't know. Well, unless you're gonna do my podcast. But yeah, so I'm like, okay, then I can serve my audience in a different way through this long, like long content. But again, it all started with one thing. I mastered one thing. Then another, then another. And that's exactly what you're doing. You started with one thing and now you're gonna maybe like do like conferences and things like that and like, um, educational stuff. So that's exactly—

yeah. So at the very beginning, as far as our services go, we were doing like lots of different ad— at least advertising lots of different things. Like you could do anything, like portraits, you can do weddings, you could do we can do real estate stuff, we can do podcasts, we can do YouTube, every— like tons of options. And so now I'm, I'm like really narrowing it down to where we can still do majority of that stuff, but I market it as we do video production.

Yeah.

And social media management.

Yeah.

As of right now. And that's one thing I've been like, it's been hard for me to figure out where I want to go as far as my niche. And then for my content It's like I'm making my stuff for like content creators and small business owners.

Yeah.

And so I've been trying to figure out what niche I should pick within that space. It's just been so hard for me to narrow it down.

Yeah. So the thing is like sometimes you can just put your name out there. Who are you? What do you offer? So like people are not going to come to me just to teach them how to do one thing. They're going to come to me and ask me several things about several like Right now you're asking me about social media. My account is not about social media or how to grow your social media or how to grow as a business owner. But you knew my name, right? And that's what you're doing. You're putting your name out there. Like, who are you? Who is Howdy Media? And how can they help me later on or right now? So like social media, I look at it as a little piece of you sharing your life or whatever you're sharing. And then it gets people's attention. Then you try to bring them into either your email list or your YouTube channel if you have, or your podcast, or like selling them on your digital products or something like that where they get to know you more or you go more into depth. Like, how can I help you even better? Like, I offer all kinds of things for like people who are looking more specific for this. I have my email list.

I think we're at 10,000 um, subscribers, which is pretty big on your email list.

Yes.

So let's talk about that. What do you send out to your email list?

Lots of stuff. I'm just kidding. Uh, well, I do, um, usually once a week. I don't want to overwhelm them. Um, and it's mostly like even more in-depth things, like, um, on how to simplify their lives, or like, um, you know, tips and tricks of life in general. Like, this is how I felt at some point in my life, this is how I solved this problem and I was feeling this way for a certain period of time and this is how I solved that. So first I give them the problem and then I include myself because I am the brand. I include myself in it and then I give them the solution. And I believe Levi mentioned something about when it comes to sales, there was like this type of sales where, um, you show the problem and then here's a solution.

Levi was in my last podcast. Go give it a listen after this one.

Really good one, by the way. Um, so yeah, so you could be like, okay, well, I am going to teach you, like, if you are marketing to, like, other content creators, uh, this is what I was struggling with as a new business owner, as a new entrepreneur, and this is how I'm doing it now, and this is how it's working. Like, that's what I want to know. Yeah, if, if that's what I'm here for you. Now, if I'm here for you, like, because you're going to manage my accounts or you're going to do my podcast or my YouTube videos or things like that, I want to know how can you help me. And I know it sounds selfish, but really, that's how everybody thinks. Yes.

Yeah.

When we get an email, I want to know how is this going to serve me, you know? Ultimately, it's not how can I serve you. Yeah, yeah.

Because I've, I've learned through talking about like myself in a lot of content, nobody— I mean, they'll see it, but they'll just keep scrolling.

Yeah.

And the same, I do the same thing. But if somebody's like, hey, if you've had— if you've been having this problem, I'm gonna try to fix it. I stay and I watch. I'm like, okay, I might learn something.

Yeah.

And so it's also the same thing with like paid content. Do you do any paid like, like content, like subscription type stuff? Um, I like on Instagram there's a little crown.

Yeah.

What is that about? I don't know. I don't I should know, but I don't.

That one would be great for your educational content. Um, that one is for more like teaching stuff. Like, you can do live videos, but only the people who pay for that membership can see that.

So do you utilize that very much?

No, I just haven't. My plate's too full right now to be like— and then it wouldn't be fair for my people, my members there, like my membership to not serve them how they would deserve. So I would be doing them a disservice. And if you do that, you're gonna leave a negative— like, like, you're not gonna like that.

Yeah, they're gonna be like, oh, they're just trying to sell stuff now.

Yeah. And, and you don't want negative, like, feedback like that.

So if you were to start making stuff there, what would be something, um, you would say you could put on there?

So based on my audience, a lot of it would be like decluttering, on how to declutter. A lot of people don't know how to declutter, and they don't know how to start, where to start, how to do this, you know, certain things like that. And a lot of people struggle with that because decluttering is just not just getting rid of a certain item. For a lot of people, it's a lot more of a, you know, underlying issue. Um, so a lot of people love— I actually do have a masterclass for decluttering with a couple— it's a collaboration with two other influencers. They're like a 150,000 as well.

Do they do this declutter?

They are, they are only specific for decluttering. So we did have a, um, we do have a master class and, um, we launched the first round and it was like 15 people. So that was pretty, pretty good. It's a higher ticket. Okay. Yeah, yeah, it was a higher ticket. And we're going to do another round, like another for, um, December, which is— I think it's jam-packed with information. Yeah, so that's kind of similar to what a membership would be on Instagram. It's just a lot of people sell it for like— it's more like a lower ticket, like $5.

Is that like a monthly type?

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah. So you could do like a lot of, um, social media tips. Like, this is how you can— like, I'm gonna break it down. Like, we're gonna do a membership for 6 weeks or 2 months or something, and I'm gonna break it down for each week. We're gonna talk about this, this, this, this, and that type thing. So like a course.

Yeah, yeah, we've been talking about doing a course. Um, yeah, I believe I have in the future sometime, and I'm probably gonna let you in on it because you know a lot. Um, but also like the camera stuff, like actually how to film the content. That's— I would benefit from that because like all these things I'm like, um, that's one thing that I feel like I have learned and gained a lot of knowledge about the last 2 years. Yeah, because I started out with just doing photo and video as the business, and then we kind of branched off in social media stuff. We have been managing and creating content for like 2 years now. And so physically setting up cameras, like what camera should you buy if you're a YouTuber? Like, yeah, what are the camera settings if you're shooting vertical? Content. Like, yeah, do I need a camera or can I just use my phone? Yeah, like, and then what settings on your phone do you need to get the best quality stuff out there?

Um, yeah, definitely. Like, for example, me, I'm starting to do like YouTube, possibly one day podcasts.

Okay, so here, so what— why do you say possibly?

I just don't have the knowledge. Okay, like, and how to do it, or Yeah, and right now it's like my bandwidth, like my margin right now is packed. Like I don't have any, anything. Like if you put something in there, it's not, it's gonna be chaos.

Yeah.

And again, I don't want to do a disservice to my audience.

Yeah.

So I want to be very like mindful. It's not just for me. I don't wanna do a podcast just to benefit me. Sure, that's the end goal for every business owner.

Yeah.

But how can I help them? You know, so it's kind of like, can I really commit to doing like once a week episode or once a month?

So even if you— and I know lots of people and YouTubers who do this, they'll have a podcast just like this and they'll record it. So what we do for our clients, we post it to YouTube, the video version, and then Spotify and Apple Podcasts, we post the same thing but just the audio. So like you're double dipping. So if you sit down and record a 20-minute podcast and you video it, now you get to throw it on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. So like, yeah, I would say that's why I say do both.

I could.

And then you can take that and cut it up into like 5-minute clips or like 3-minute clips to post it on YouTube, and then you can cut those up into Shorts.

Yeah, see, the only thing with that is like I'm thinking my podcast wouldn't be so much focused. Like, I guess my podcast would be a little bit more branching out than my usual everyday mom life, you know. It's more like a serious— like, you know, I do have a background in banking and I knew a few things. And then people come and ask me like how to save money and all those things, you know, because I share my story like that. So I've tried to be very mindful to open up my doors for a lot of things. Like, like, I just worked with John Deere, and you're like, what business does she have with John Deere? Like, you know, but like, I've been open. Like, we're building a barndo, we're doing this. I, I grew up in a farm. Like, there is a connection. There's a reason why that made sense, you know. Had it been, I don't know, something else, I'll be like, no, like, that wouldn't work because it's not me at all, you know. So that's also very important to know, to straight stay true to ourselves, whether, however, what, whatever kind of content you're doing. So that's going back to the podcast part. That's my only fear of like, I know I want to branch out a little bit, but I also want to be very mindful on how and not to get too far out of my lane, if that makes sense. So just trying to maybe at the beginning of the year could be my New Year's resolution.

Start it. I hope you set it up.

Can you help me up, please?

I hope you set it up at your house.

Yes. Um, yeah, we should be moved in by now, so at our new place. So I got space and an office space too.

So, man, do you have like a content room you're planning on doing?

Um, just like, we are supposed to have a little office there, uh, which is supposed to be like my little content room. Um, so hopefully.

So, okay, so whenever you make content, what kind of tools do you use? So do you just use your phone and a tripod, or like You just prop your phone up on the counter or something?

Yeah.

Okay.

Yes.

Do you use any lights or anything or microphones or—

No, um, I don't use a microphone right now. I do have a light that I used to use like for my photography, but that's pretty much it.

So you gained 100,000 followers just using your phone?

Yeah, I was about to say that you don't need to have the fancy cameras to be able to grow.

That's a testament. Yes, the only reason we have fancy cameras is because I think it's fun and you get to call yourselves a video production company.

Well, because you are one.

Exactly.

Yeah.

And the reason these podcasts are such high quality is because I already have the equipment, right? Might as well use it.

And yeah, no, and I mean, definitely you could— you definitely could start with just your phone. My phone is an iPhone.

Uh-oh, she's pulling it out.

It's an iPhone 12. So old. Look at this thing. It's so like, I don't— this gets me like, I get things done with that thing and I get paid for it too. So now of course, as you know, you get bigger and you're trying to expand to other things, I think it's very important to know that it's very good to invest in other things. For example, I just, I did buy an iPad.

Yeah.

And that's how I'm editing my YouTube videos. Great.

So I did my investment and I'm just like, okay, well, are you using like CapCut or something?

Yes.

Great.

Is that what you use?

So quick message from Howdy Media. We've actually started a Howdy Media Insiders group on Facebook where you can join completely free. In this group, you'll have exclusive access to the Howdy Media team, education resources, behind-the-scenes footage, and conversations with people who are like-minded and a bunch of them are small business owners and creatives just like you. Hit the link in the description to join the group. No, but it's, it's very, it's great for like the app, like the normal user.

Yeah.

The only reason we use Adobe stuff is because it all works together and we have like Photoshop projects and like Premiere Pro projects.

I'm intimidated to use Adobe.

The learning curve takes a while. Yeah, which is why, I don't know, I, I spent like so many hours in my college dorm room before I even charged anybody, and that's why I felt comfortable starting to charge people, because I'd put in the—

and I love that you mentioned that because it's so good to know that you put in the work and the willingness to mess up, learn, mess up again, learn. And that's just exactly business, really. That's really business. We, we have to learn how to lose sometimes in order for us to gain as well. Yeah.

So we'll kind of wrap things up with this last question. Um, so it's August 22nd, 2024. What do you see as your game plan for the next, like, year?

YouTube.

Okay.

And podcasts.

Okay.

Yeah.

Are you gonna still continue— like, is there a specific platform between, like, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook that you're gonna push more, or you're gonna push all everything? You think?

Um, I'm probably going to keep on pushing on Instagram, to be very honest. I think Instagram is not going anywhere.

Has that been the most, like, lucrative for you?

In a way, yes. So I think that my TikTok has been able to give me exposure. Like I mentioned earlier, it gave me the exposure, and my Instagram has— Instagram has been able to help me build my community.

So why— okay, so why do you think you're— how many followers do you have on TikTok?

80-something, 81.

So what— why do you think you're having more people follow you on Instagram?

Uh, honestly, I don't know that, um, but I think that the reason why Instagram— I think Instagram is more of a community building platform, like an actual social media. And TikTok is more of a, like, let me get my name out there, because you don't have as much, like, options and features to connect with others and to build that.

That's what Instagram does a really good job as. Like, if, if you send a reel to a friend, you know they're going to look at it. Yeah, you both are interested in it, then you talk about it for a minute. Send— you can make group chats, you can send like memes or whatever you want to these group chats. Um, TikTok, I think you can do similar thing, but it's just not as fluid. I don't know, it's not as easy to use in my opinion.

I don't have an issue with like the— I think, you know, I'm pretty comfortable with it, but I can see how it's not for a lot of people. The biggest thing with TikTok, I think it's just like, like I said, it's just you can't really build a deeper connection with your followers, if that makes sense. I just— I, I think TikTok is great for exposure, to get the trends, because that's really, in my opinion, is that where the latest and greatest trends are. And then take— and then Instagram gets it like 2 weeks later. Yeah. Um, so honestly, that's where TikTok is winning. And, and then now on TikTok you have TikTok Shop. So if you're a business owner for physical things Um, it's a great place to be at right now.

I've heard of people going on TikTok Live making a lot of money.

Yeah, TikTok Live, a lot of people, because I'm promoting those TikTok Shop, um, affiliate links, which I'm part of it. I feel like it's a hit or miss. Um, you know, just you put in what you— you get back what you put in.

So it's okay. So for all the, the business owners listening to this, what would be— and, and let's just say they don't have any background in social media, they don't have any knowledge about it. What would you say a good, like, beginner game plan would be to start getting into social media?

Well, definitely pick your platform.

So, okay, on that age groups, I think age groups.

Yes.

Also determine which platform.

Yeah. So anyways, yeah, I would. Yeah. If you are like in the older generation, Boomer. That's Facebook.

Boomer. Yeah, no offense.

Yeah. And then Instagram. I think Instagram, it's pretty broad, but definitely we are the millennials.

I think it's like from 22 or like, what is it, 21 or 22 to like 38-ish. I think that's like Instagram.

Yeah.

And everything underneath that is TikTok.

Definitely. And then YouTube. I think YouTube is king. I mean, Instagram and YouTube are probably the— they're it.

They're it. They're just why we're going to be pushing YouTube here at Howdy Media on my personal channel, which is where you're watching this.

I mean, definitely YouTube. I think YouTube is making a comeback for sure on long videos because, you know, I just, I just really think that.

And that's the reason why I'm trying to push on longer And it's become the new TV, like, right? They have YouTube TV, but like, I don't know how many times us or somebody in our circle will be at the house and they'll just put on their smart TV, like YouTube, and they'll just be playing YouTube videos.

Yeah, the other day a friend told me, oh, I saw you on TV, and I'm like, what are you talking about? Like, your YouTube video?

And I'm like, oh God, okay, yeah, I guess it is on TV, cuz people will put it on the background, let it play while they're doing dishes or cleaning the house. So like, and they're just racking up watch time.

Yeah, and they can listen to it as a podcast. You just put your headphones on and you're listening to it. So I think it's— I mean, I really— I mean, I think YouTube has always been there, but I think it's going to be strong, especially with TikTok. You know, with everything going on, I feel like, you know, you have that fear in the back of our head, like it might get banned. I mean, still, there's still a possibility of that happening. So yeah, is it gonna happen? I don't know.

But August 22nd, 2024, we have—

I don't know, it hasn't happened.

Okay, so you said pick up your— pick your platform for the business owners. What would be something else?

Again, know your why, target audience, your target audience, who you're helping, why you're helping them, and roll with it.

And don't stop.

Don't look back. Yeah, like, just don't look back.

Keep going. No plan B. That's what I like to say. I mean, I don't have a plan B for what I'm doing, which is why I think it's propelled to where it's at now.

And I think to also get help, like, or find a community of, like we mentioned before, find a community of other creators or other business owners within the same niche or so. I mean, there's a lot of people that are willing to help you out, whether it's by paid, like paying them, or through actual genuine connections and, you know, give give you all the tips and mentor you. I think it's really good to like find that person to help you out. Like, oh, I don't— I want to give up. Like, what should I do? I'm stuck right here. There's, there's bound to be someone.

Yeah. And that's going to be— I think content creator is going to be a full-time job in every single business, I think, in the next 5 to 10 years. Like, every business will have their own personal like content creator.

I think so. A lot of, a lot of companies, and that's one like thing that the—

I guess Gen Z has leverage on because they grew up with it. They know what it looks like. They know how to run it.

I do have a question for you. Are you scared of any of like the AI videos or anything like that?

Uh, what do you mean scared? I mean, it looks terrifying sometimes. So like, they'll come out like 7 fingers and like, that's scary. Or like scared it's going to take my job?

No, no, no, not scary like— no, like scary like, like it is known that you could make nothing look like a human and there's like AI influencers or content creators. Like, does that scare you?

Where they just use AI to—

yes.

Yeah. I don't know if it scares me. I mean, I think it's going to be very interesting to watch happen. Do I think it'll like take our jobs away? No.

I think that's what I was—

somebody has to be behind the scenes like planning this stuff out, like knowing how to tell a story, knowing if you're still using cameras, knowing how to frame it. It's going to look a little bit different, but we'll see. True storytelling is a skill that I don't think AI could ever That's true.

That's true.

So that's something we have.

I think that's where the selling or the connection happens when you tell the story of something.

Yes. So like knowing how to work a camera may be irrelevant in 10 years. I don't know. AI might be able to do all of it on its own. So that skill, even if that's gone and you can figure out how to tell a story, because that's ultimately what we do. We use cameras to tell stories. To get people's eyeballs to watch something, whether it's we're selling something or they're learning something, which is like hopefully what they're doing right now. Um, at that point, if our video thing goes away, we'd be like education. I don't know, it gets like a gray area.

That's true. I guess we'll see.

It's not there yet. And people ask me all the time like, hey, should I try this AI video editor? Or like they'll ask if we use it. We don't use, we don't use like AI video. I mean, we use tools to help us edit. Yeah, but we don't use like, I don't even remember what they're called. ChatGPT's, it's in the same circle.

Yeah.

And it makes it, some of the videos look really good, they're very convincing, um, but it's just not consistent enough and we can't move it around and change it enough for it to be useful to us.

Yeah, it's good to know.

But anything else? Where can they find you on social media if they want to go?

I am all across social media at yelly.heidecker.

Heidecker.

Heidecker.

Spell that out.

H-E-I-D-E-C-K-E-R. Heidecker.

Go give her a follow. Um, hopefully she'll be on for another episode soon. So stay tuned for that. Um, we'll see you on the next episode of the Howdy Podcast.