The Yegi Project
The Yegi Project
Starting a Social Media Agency During the Pandemic & Pushing Through Self Doubt with Sharon Brand
Sharon Brand is a 26 year old entrepreneur based in Montréal, Canada. She owns social media agency Brand's Media Group (BGM) - and yes, Brand is her actual last name so she was pretty much born to do this! In July 2020, two months after BGM started, she decided to take a risk and leave an internship early to go full force into building her business, and has since gone on to help many brands with their social media. There's no end in sight for BGM as the company has recently revamped their site and moved into their own office! In this episode, Sharon will take us through her process with clients, how her team is building clientele in an unexpected way, what new social media features you should be on the lookout for, how she has pushed through her own self doubt in business & more!
Check out Sharon & Brand's Media Group!
https://www.instagram.com/sharonbrand/
https://www.instagram.com/brandsmediagroup/
https://www.brandsmediagroup.com/
The Yegi Project, is the podcast for the young entrepreneur who may not know where to start, doesn’t have anyone to guide them in the right direction and may not have full support from others. This podcast is called The Yegi “Project” because although Yegi is happy with where she is now, she knows that she still has a lot to do to complete her mission and purpose in this world. She aims to use this podcast to work hard alongside all of you to grow to a point where she can make a lasting change in people’s lives and in the world.
If you would like to be a guest on a future episode of The Yegi Project, please email info@yegiproject.com
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[intro] Hey beauty lovers and fellow entrepreneurs. I'm Yegi, the owner and founder of Yegi Beauty. Within five years of being my own boss, I was able to grow Yegi Beauty into a multi-million dollar company. This podcast is where I share what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur in the beauty industry. Hello hello hello welcome back to the Yegi Project. I am excited to talk about social media again today. It is a major topic for entrepreneurs and influencers and brands but it comes with the risk of self-doubt, burnout, confusion - since it is always changing and there are so many features, especially for small businesses for what our podcast is focusing on, um it could be a lot to handle. For that reason we have Sharon today from Brands Media Group and she's gonna help us have a conversation about some of these topics to see if we can get some help and even myself who's been in business for over seven years managing her own company, the social platforms always are evolving and even right now I feel like we're going through a transition of where - okay what do we want to do? Do we want to post more? Do we want to post less? Do we want to focus on one platform or two platforms versus on all of them? So currently we are also trying to make a change and shift and try to see if that could work better for us but for that reason Sharon as someone who has dedicated to be an expert on this topic is going to help us navigate through some of those questions. So we're excited to have her please Sharon welcome and tell us about yourself.
Sharon:Thank you so much for having me. I just can't wait because like you said the social media is always changing and there's so many things to say about it. Like I could - you know it's endless. So I'm I'm Sharon I was born in Paris, grew up in Montréal, Canada where I am right now also and I studied abroad in Tel Aviv and in New York and then back in Paris to do my bachelor and my master's degree. I studied communication, marketing and fashion and then I decided to kind of combine my true passion and open a social media agency during COVID uh like right when the thick of COVID was starting and combined both and get clients in the fashion and beauty -
Yegi:That's a way to be productive right?
Sharon:I didn't catch a break but it's been great. thank you thank you thank you and I'm so grateful you know it's really doing what I love every day and helping brands on social media doing everything organic uh so no paid ads, everything from content creation to really creating fun and engaging content and yeah I'm back in Montréal now, I'm 26 years old also, so just so much to learn so much that you know I did in two years it's kind of surreal to look back you know and tell myself like wow I did this at the age of 23 when I launched BMG.
Yegi:So please go ahead and tell us a little bit about your company and how you got started and what pushed you to follow your passion to do so.
Sharon:Yeah so I was always an advocate to you know doing what you love and pursuing your dreams and all those things like very aspiring very also cliche but in the end you know I really do believe that if you don't do what you love then it's not sustainable in the long term. So I knew that it would be marketing and fashion that I wanted to do, I just didn't know exactly what it was, but I was really I've always been really into social media and into like the trendy content and you know everything that goes on online. I remember when instagram just launched in - it was 2011, I started posting my outfits and my daily things that I loved and my mom was like Sharon you know I was only 15, so my mom was like you should be private like we don't know who's on those platforms and so I went private but I keep thinking if I would have kept public this account then who would have who know what would have been you know today. So I've always been into it and uh during covid everyone was asking me for advice on how to shift from physical to digital so that's when I launched BMG. So Brands Media Group is called Brands Media Group because Brand is my last name so I really wanted to have it inside and and in the end it works because it's a marketing agency and it just you know works fine with it and we worked with the graphic -
Yegi:That's perfect.
Sharon:I know and funny story every time that I'm on a prospect client call or email they always end with ps you have the best last name for this job.
Yegi:You do you really do!
Sharon:And I mean yeah everything kind of escalated from there, we worked with a graphic designer, we worked on the logo, the colors, just a website that was really simple and you know kind of ready to use type of thing and then we got our first three clients the first week so the way that I portrayed I I would say BMG at first was really like a full social media agency working you know to do everything content-wise and outsourcing the things that we are not doing but today I feel like we really narrowed it down to really the organic side of things. So there's no more outsourcing really it's really focusing on making content aesthetic, trending, engaging, really fun for the clients and we're also a team of four so we're four women on the team, all in Montréal. We just got an office uh last month and we just rebranded our website after two years of having the same one. Thank you thank you thank you.
Yegi:That's very exciting and I love women-owned businesses especially team of women that are working hard together to accomplish their dreams so inspiring to hear about it. Tell us more how long have you been in business and what was one of the biggest challenges for you to get started?
Sharon:So we launched in May 2020 so really the peak of the pandemic. I feel like one of the things that really helped us was that everybody was staying at home for a really long time like for the next three months or so everyone was just hibernating at home so this only worked in our favor in the sense that you know a lot was happening online and digitally on instagram especially and I feel like one of her challenges was and it would be really for more about me it's and it's talking thinking about the future really but I didn't know what would happen with bmg so I kind of lived like moment to moment day to day because it was pandemic and I was staying at a home but I was always really concerned of like okay what's gonna happen when things pick up again and we go back to real life, like is this gonna be an actual business that I'm gonna keep? Uh everything happened so quick and so like a snowball effect that I didn't have time to really think about those things and then it just evolved to be what it is today but it was kind of a challenge to really keep everything I would say balanced and organized post pandemic.
Yegi:Isn't it amazing though once you actually take the leap and get started how things kind of do work together and end up working out? I always love hearing those stories.
Sharon:I know well I think it's about like trusting the universe and you know trusting like okay you're gonna take it day by day you're gonna do your thing do what you love and then you know whatever happens happens so really thinking like this is out of my control and just letting things flow as they should and with no pressure at all above it all it's just you know whatever's meant to be it will be.
Yegi:Exactly and I think it's really hard to get to that point sometimes it's easier said than done but really working on that mentality of having that okay work your hardest put in as much work as possible, wake up every day, do what you have to and then just trust in the process for you to get to where you need to get and if it works out great if it doesn't we just pivot and go in a new direction but we just kind of have to keep going right I think that's like the key to success is to just keep pushing and not overthinking of the uh future of what's gonna happen but just really give it your all every single day.
Sharon:Yeah there were times where business was so slow you know and then like a year after even just a few months ago and I was thinking I was like you know should I stop this should I go back to a corporate job because who knows maybe this would be better and it's what you say it's exactly what you said it's consistency is staying true to you know what you love and not giving up because then things pick up again and it's kind of not the the end of it so just you know keep on pushing and keep on going.
Yegi:One other question for you starting out news and you're still fairly a new business for the uh I guess oh a little bit new but um having people trust you in order to take over or advise them on social media that could be a huge challenge when you're starting out. Now what did you do to overcome that or how did you kind of convince the clients that hey I'm the right person to help you grow your social media? Did you have to do some stuff for free did you have to build a portfolio, how did you go about that challenge?
Sharon:I love this question so first of all because I traveled a lot and I met a lot of people uh you know through my studies and through my travels I really got the the credibility I would say and the trust of a few people that we ended up working with that I had met during my travels and I think this is a really good lesson of you know networking and keeping in touch with people but also to really be kind and genuine and to just be your true self and in the end that kind of follows the next thing that I'm going to say is that when you're true to yourself and you you just are who you are the people that are going to want to work with you and really get who you are and it's a good fit it's going to work out. So right now it's like you know sometimes we get prospect clients and it's a vibe like we really vibe there's good energy there's good intentions they really get boundaries they get me I get them and when it's like that I love working with people you know that are just they just get who I am and that it works like that and that's how they also trust me and there's other people who are a bit you know a bit more vigilant which I get because it's you know it's a lot of money they're investing and everything but I will always puts my clients first and that's what I always always tell them on the first call and they just know that if they do sign with us it's gonna be like the top priority is their happiness and they come first before everything so we really and they know this since the start we put them over everything else that we have. That also means myself being involved because often you know social media agencies and you know there's different ways that uh structures are depending on other social media agencies but my structure is that I'm really involved in the process with the client and their socials so even though we have dedicated community managers that are going to work with the clients I'm always going to be here on the group chats on the zoom call if I can at least like I'm going to be on all of them and they love that because the first call is with me and so you know it's hard when like you have a first call with someone and then they give you out to someone else so I always make sure to be there no matter what.
Yegi:That's great honestly that's one of the benefit of working with a smaller social media group is because you're going to get that dedication and a lot of one-on-one attention from the company compared to working with the huge agencies, that's why I'm a big big fan of small business honestly. I think there's a lot more heart and love into it. That's very exciting and -
Sharon:100% and it's all about that.
Yegi:It really is and it makes it so much more fun for you to be connected and actually see something through see your clients grow with you right that's the best best part and that's what I love to see with my students too when I was teaching the eyelash extensions we I still teach here and there but I have other educators who teach but seeing them get the certificate get to the um point where they open up their own salons or they have their own product lines just really exciting to like see that transition so that's the best best part I want to highlight to people with doing something that you love is because you're going to put your heart into it and you're going to see it through. Now um now talking about more a little bit more about um the challenges of starting a business. Now financials are always always the biggest um factor that people um are scared about or they have fear that oh am I gonna make enough money, is it gonna be stable the ups and downs. So what has your experience been with that?
Sharon:So I will start off with that I am so you know grateful and lucky and fortunate that financial wise I was able to start off living at home because I had to go back home during covid so I had no rent to pay I had you know my family was like supporting me and was here with me so when I started the business every thing that we were earning was really going towards BMG and I'm just a firm believer in working in teams so I got the first team member to come on the team literally two months in starting the business as a very very part-time a role but still there was someone and I was still able to you know pay that person and I really believe that paying the people that work for you is so important because for example in France they do two months free internship and uh you know when sometimes they do have the budget to pay I really feel like every work should be valued and rewarded financially but also of course you know with kindness and words and all that um but then as you know I was I went back to paris after covid and it was hard financially because I was everything was in euro I was getting everything in canadian dollars so I had to really just organize myself for those finances. Now that I moved back to Canada everything is more set and just well put together however there is always you know the in the back of my mind okay well tomorrow there could be two clients leaving and then what's gonna happen? So the really important thing in this case is to always think ahead and always try to get new clients for you know the next few months because you never know what's gonna happen especially today we're really living in kind of a financial crisis that's gonna that has started and it's gonna go on and on for a bit, so you know we've seen clients close down their business because of covid and when that happens you know we can't control it you know they don't have the finances anymore so we need to always be on the lookout for new brands that would want to work with us. It's also great though because it's very stimulating and we're always -
Yegi:It keeps you on your toes!
Sharon:Exactly we have no choice because with no clients we don't live right so we need to not only find the right clients but also make sure that they really do need the help.
Yegi:So what are some of the things you guys do to get new clients because that is also a challenge for any business always right? We always want to acquire new clients because old clients even though they could be continuously giving us business like you said over time it evolves or you do need a good balance of continuing and new clients. So what are some of the things that you guys do to try to get new clients?
Sharon:So first our current clients when we sign clients it's a three-month contract so at least that gives us you know time to you know see okay after two months are they gonna continue? If not we're really gonna like push and get new clients and to get new clients we are we actually I'm so lucky uh Alanna if she listens to this she's our growth manager and she's the one in charge of acquiring and prospecting and finding new clients so we kind of go together we look at you know a sheet and we add in businesses and then we really look at okay do they need help? What would their needs be and then we send a little dm. And it might seem very aggressive in the way in the sense that it's like okay you know we're messaging them if they need help but in the end it's like we never know they might need help and they might not know us and because of that message they hear about us. So the way the way we do it is very -
Yegi:I'm all for that, that's a great strategy.
Sharon:Yeah!
Yegi:It's a modern it's the modern way of cold calling right sending dms.
Sharon:Exactly so this and we've actually been doing a lot of cold calls in the that we've been going outside in the streets of Montréal on streets that have a lot of businesses and we've been giving away our cards and it was so funny to do it because it's so untraditional of today's like of our age group you know we do everything online so being in the street and giving the card it felt so good and at the same time it felt so weird.
Yegi:Yes yes but those old school marketing strategies also still work and um uh honestly we're we're doing it ourselves too again now we haven't done anything physical for years like five years I want to say but we're gonna try to do something again right now when we have an event next month in August to do a little lash networking event we're also going to go give out flyers to the local businesses and there's no going wrong you know sometimes the face to face really gives a different bond.
Sharon:Yeah and just in general you know giving your card you never know they might keep it give it to someone hear of someone that needs social media help and then you know give it to them so it's like putting yourself out there.
Yegi:You have a physical item to think of you. It's old school marketing 101.
Sharon:Yes very important!
Yegi:Well since we're talking about your process take us through it. So let's say I'm a client and I'm interested so I know I need some help with social media but I'm not too sure what I need help with. I reach out to you and I say hey Sharon or Brand's Marketing Group I need help. Where do we start?
Sharon:So the first thing would be a discovery call we always love to you know see the vibe with the client what it is they're looking for also who they are as a person personality says a lot about the type of work that you know they want on the long end and then we after the discovery call we usually draft a proposal we send our brand book so they can see a bit of the work that we've done and then the best thing about all of this is that we're super flexible in terms of packaging. So if someone wants less of you know less reels more stories all that then that's really not a problem we really adapt and then once everything is confirmed they just sign a contract and we start the work. We also always you know show them what it is that we can do and uh you know so they have like a visual idea of what it is we're envisioning, but it's always mixing the educational with the fun so that's what we are pitching to them all the time because in the end social media for business you know it needs to be like okay what is your business but also let's have fun with it let's just have fun on instagram and on the social media platforms.
Yegi:Question for you so are you guys the ones who's creating the content or are you advising the businesses what they need to create? Because sometimes that could be challenging for a business too because I would think okay for me um how would somebody like you work with the company that um has let's say physical products or um in our case um you know it takes some time for you to get to know a company in order for you to have their vision as well - how has that process been and is that been a challenge for you guys? Or how did you overcome that fear in businesses because I could see myself having that kind of you know hesitation at first.
Sharon:For sure so that's why we have different packages if a client wants to let's say do everything themselves and don't want to give us the full uh you know the full instagram account on our hands that's also fine, we create the content and then we send it to them. We've done consultations like that so it's like I come in I really tell them what they should change what they should work on then they could they could decide to do the content themselves with the guidance that I gave them. They could also decide for us to do the content and you know post it themselves and then after those two packages there comes the social media management packages which is for us to do you know everything on the platform and when it's physical product actually it's so much fun because they send us the product and we shoot everything so uh right now for example we are working with a tea company in new york and she sent us a gua sha a jade roller and then all of those herbal tea you know good for the skin and all that so we have so much fun creating reels and at the same time we have incredible fun drinking the tea and even it was funny because last time we made reels and we had like five cups of different tea laid out and then we were done filming and we just drank everything because we were like you know we didn't want to throw it away but that's also I don't know it's such a beautiful thing because it's social media it has to happen really fast so the clients really also need in a way to trust us so they just send us everything and trust us from there and it's been really working in our favor um you know up until now we've been doing really incredible job and that's all due to our incredible community managers on the team.
Yegi:That's very exciting well I'm so happy for you guys and I'm glad that it's been working well because I could see from a brand's point of view that it could be challenging but like you said if somebody's gonna bring you on they do need to put that trust in you to at least give you what like couple of months you said initially the three month contracts to see what you could do and do you guys use analytics and some sort of charts to show them the the growth that you've done with their accounts? Because that could also be um you know it's very hardcore data look you started off with 10 followers now you're at 100 followers for example.
Sharon:100% yes numbers are so important and that's also why we do three months contract because you can't really have you know data enough data after let's say 30 days. When you have 90 days worth of data then you could really really see and track so what we do is that we have templates already set up for each of our client and every day um sorry every Monday so every once a week we go in their instagram account and we write down all the important numbers that we have planned to write about and then we analyze that. So okay what worked what didn't what would we you know do more about and it's just such a fun way to also see okay we did really good on this reels now let's do it better.
Yegi:Awesome great job props to you guys for taking it on and really making something you love into a successful business where you can earn money and also already have your own office that's a huge accomplishment.
Sharon:Thank you, thank you so much.
Yegi:Um do you have any interesting or any inspiring client stories to share with us?
Sharon:Oh yes I do, uh let me try to think. Yeah so okay it's a really funny story so when I launched BMG in May 2020 I was back in Canada then because of covid but I was going to go back to Paris in July because I was living there at the time and in July I had an internship that I had signed and it was for this really big fashion trade show uh the biggest one in Paris Italy London during fashion week and I was going to do their social media that was I had signed with them before even starting you know BMG. So in July when I went back to Paris and I started the internship I went you know we had like three clients and I had someone working with me at BMG but I just wanted to go full time and I felt so bad you know telling the internship but bye because when I commit to something I want to do it fully and 100%. So I stayed and I stayed and I stayed and three weeks later I just couldn't do it anymore so I spoke to the manager and I told her listen I and I was crying I was like I'm so sorry to do this but I have this business on the side and there's three clients and it's working so if I don't go full force I don't know what's gonna you know happen and she was like between you and I you know like do your thing, go do your business.
Yegi:Aww yeah that's actually a good lesson for everybody to hear it it truly you have to know sometimes when to quit on something or want to to put an end to it or stop it it's not really a failure or you feeling like you quit it's actually just again pivoting and taking on your new direction that you need to so I think sometimes closing one door does open different doors and we need to not be afraid to do it and you definitely shared a good story with us that proves that.
Sharon:But wait wait I'm not I'm not even done so it gets better so then they whatever they let me go I went full force and the business was really picking up six months later this fashion trade show calls me and they go we need your social media help so can we hire your company to do our social media so we worked with them like you know it was like a full circle moment.
Yegi:Now you get paid to do what you were doing for free!
Sharon:Exactly so it was you know not only a better pay but also wow like they really trusted me in three weeks and I even quit the internship early and they still really liked me enough that they would work with us for their social media so we worked with them for a few weeks few months actually and um we kind of worked today like kind of mission wise if they ever need something I'm always there and you know it's such a cool first like a full circle moment and again the lesson here is trusting your intuition but also really keeping in touch with the people that you come across of in your life no matter if it's at work if it's you know one second or a friend or just anyone you never know.
Yegi:Yeah I think networking is really key and um I think in nowadays and age a lot of people don't have really good networking skills we're just in the moment and we're going and going so this is a good reminder for myself and for everybody too that we need to take our time no matter how busy we are and really keep your connections really network and really like don't take people for granted right even if it's just for a moment and you expressing yourself like you did in order for them to understand hey like I'm not quitting just to quit I'm human this is what's going on see it didn't work for the negative you were transparent and it did go full circle and worked for the best so I think that's really really a good practice for everybody to have like everybody is human like let's be transparent let's be understanding of each other and keep in touch and network. Thank you for sharing that.
Sharon:For sure and I mean it's not really like a client success story we have a lot of these also but you know I felt like this one was uh I don't know it's just like a really unique story and just so so crazy.
Yegi:It really is and it just kind of gives you extra motivation to keep going right you did something right. So social media is always evolving and changing what are some of the new um trends that you've seen that we need to kind of be on top of as business owners?
Sharon:So first of all video is the biggest thing right now. Instagram is actually in the middle of testing you know new news feed and the new news feed looks like there won't be any square photos anymore so all your photos would need to be kind of portrait mode or else you know people won't really be able to see it in the best ux experience but reels and you know just videos in general is the one that you would need to push the most and I feel like it's kind of great actually because we're really I feel like five years ago instagram was very curated it was very kind of like perfect looking and now it's more of like okay let's just do videos and be ourselves and think less of you know the actual presets and content that we're posting and um the other thing that instagram has just launched and adam mosseri the you know instagram brain well the brain behind instagram didn't warn us about this new feature he just kind of put it out there for us but the little notes on that you can see now on your dm -
Yegi:What is that? I actually got a notification about that update I didn't get a chance to really look into it I do have somebody who helps me with my instagram as well so I personally haven't fully seen it it'd be great to know more about it.
Sharon:Yeah so think like bbm status and facebook status with like a mix of twitter this is what instagram have done now so if you want to write let's say I don't know that you have new opening for your you know your lashes company or that you have a sale or you know ask someone a question like what's your favorite song of the moment then you can leave this these little status without posting a photo and it's going to go in the dm page of all of your followers who follow you back and then people can just answer um that note so it's kind of a quick interactive way of speaking with your audience that doesn't include a picture or a video and it's not on story as well. I think it's so great.
Yegi:Yeah that's very you know it's very different and I don't know if as a consumer as a business it's very great for me as a consumer I don't know if I'm going to like that am I going to get too many messages but we'll see we'll see how it works. I guess you can choose which ones you turn on and off so you can know who you want to hear from but instagram is definitely evolving and I think I like that note of focusing on video right now because we we have noticed a lot too if you go and video specifically reels for instagram I notice anytime there's a reel it does do a lot more interaction compared to just a regular video post or um or a photo post so definitely I think they are trying to have people push that more I don't know maybe because they're trying to also compete with tik tok but um but it's it's very you know it's very crazy to know all these new features. Is there any other advice on any of the other social platforms that you would give to our listeners as far as new and evolving changes?
Sharon:Yeah so it's what you you know you said it best uh instagram is kind of on the lookout with their competitors tik tok and I think actually it's not like one or the other it's you know as a business owner as a consumer using both in different ways is a really good strategy to take because the more you're out there the more you have your brand awareness and the more people are just gonna reach you one way or another. So for tik tok for example it's best to really just really really be yourself and you don't have to do all the you you can it's a good mix but to do the aesthetic and also to do a really funny humorous you know fun tik toks that don't take long to do whereas on instagram it's always a bit more aesthetic because there's a news feed and that news feed is very it's a bit more curated than tik tok. However I do feel like once again it's changing and we're going towards a less curated one but I think you know people are always scared when there's a new platform that comes on because they're like oh my god how am I gonna use it different than the other and actually it's a great thing and it's another way of people to discover you so using it you know could only be to your advantage and add to what you already are building. So I I love instagram and instagram will always be my number one platform but now that we're on tik tok and you know pinterest and linkedin and twitter also even I see the the benefits of outreaching and just being on all of the platforms.
Yegi:Now let's just focus on instagram and tech talk now for your clients would you recommend them to post the same content on both platforms or how do you um how do you guys work with your clients as far as different content on different platforms?
Sharon:So for example we work with a talent management agency so they are in charge of influencers collaboration and uh just talent you know contracts and all that so on instagram we're gonna share all of these news like the collaborations the new talent that we're signing and it's actually a lot of pictures uh we haven't really posted videos that yet because the goal for them is not to go viral it's really to have a portfolio of their work and then on tik tok we're going to post the videos of the talent from instagram so you know it's it's a different way and a different take of doing it and there's a million ways that we could do it for them because of their specific goals this is the strategy. And then we're also doing linkedin for them and on linkedin we're going to post more about this field and this world's updates and news about creators and about content creators and all that. So depending on what the goal of the client is we're going to tweak and adapt on the different platforms.
Yegi:That's great honestly and it's a good reminder for our listeners as well there is no one way of doing social media. The main thing is be yourself and really just have a presence on how many ever platform you can get I think that's a simple summary um and some for some people that may be frustrating because some people want like an exact to-do list of what to do but I think that's why there's companies like yours where they can work with and really come up with a strategy for each platform so that's one thing I always tell to my business owners as well - as a business owner you should really just be good at growing your business and that's and that means like hiring people to help you because there's no way you can do everything yourself so keep that in mind and know that it's okay to get help in the areas that you're not the best at and that's what I've done like social media I know I could be great at but that's something that I had to kind of give away and have people help me with because I just don't have time to be active on there all the time as much as I would want to be so I have my presence there but then I do have people who are helping me post and create the content um and I think I still need help with it you know like it's always evolving so keep that in mind as small business owners.
Sharon:When you do stay true to yourself and you know people know you offline and then they see you online and they're like okay yeah this is really the same person then there is this growth and even for businesses putting your face in front you know the image that of who you are in front and online it's just such a plus it's a bonus you know it just works in your favor.
Yegi:Yes that's exciting well I can't wait to see everything you guys are doing honestly with your business and your platforms I started kind of checking you guys out as we were able to you know meet you I'm even more excited to see all the things that you're gonna do it's such a pleasure to meet you I love your personality your energy and everything you're doing. And another takeaway I do want to tell to our listeners too is um those of you that have the ability to stay home save money and really like push this is the age this is the time where you really should do that before you know you're gonna have your own mortgage your own family your own kids and a lot more responsibility because it does get a lot more challenging so don't waste time time is valuable um yeah and really like try to set yourself up for success if you have that advantage of being home or getting help from family even you know that so that's one thing I would really um tell all the listeners is this is your time don't wait the life does not wait for you and things aren't going to get easier. I think as we get older things actually get harder from my own experience we have less energy and more responsibilities so although it is not impossible I think anybody at any age can get anything started but to be truly real with you, the younger you start whatever your passion is, the more likely you're gonna live a longer happier life so this is your cue to you know follow your dreams. So let's go back to our interview so what is um we talked about all the benefits of um starting your business and how great everything is but in reality um what would you say the worst part about being an entrepreneur is? Oh my god there's so many things uh and and that now it sounds like you know everything I said is like oh my gosh but I am not lying it's just that yeah people need to know that you know it's very glamorous glamorized oh my god I can't say that word Glam-uh I can't even say it.
Sharon:It's all glam on - It's all glam online and it could seem very you know aesthetically pleasing to be your own boss and you get that freedom and everything but it's very tough because you want to find a -
Yegi:It's not for everyone!
Sharon:- schedule that works for you and it's not for everyone that's exactly what's going to say I think you know it is not for everyone and if you feel really like a pressure where you you know you can't do it anymore then you should reconsider and like it's okay if you start something and then you realize that you're not meant for it and you know it could pick up and then you end up selling it or having someone else as the ceo and you can stay the creative director for it for example. I know for me this it works because I I'm very um stimulated with everything there is to do and I'm like this I need to move on from task to task the task and I love managing and I love growing a team and this in you know I don't see myself doing something else but it is also really tough because of life work balance and you know telling yourself okay well when does my day end because this is your baby you're talking about. You could work on it forever and ever and at the same time you don't want to resent it because if you you if you don't take a break if you don't take a step back you're gonna start hating it and so for me I realized that I just needed to like at 5 pm this is my time like I close my computer no matter what and you know what you know what I realized everything still gets done and people wait and if there you know nothing is urgent like if people really need me they're gonna call me a million times and I'm always available but then the rest I could do the next morning and it's totally fine so the I feel like this is one of the challenges I feel like another one is you kind of want to please everyone especially in like social media and you want to help as many people as possible and in the end that's my goal but you have to learn how to say no because sometimes clients are not a good fit and you can sense those from the first discovery meeting like you were maybe it's because we're women I don't know I've been talking to about this a lot with friends and everything but we have like a really I don't know we have a really strong instinct and intuition and I feel like we really need to listen to our bodies and trust it because I've done deals where you know I thought okay it's going to get better with time and it really didn't and I had sensed it since the beginning and it's not that you know we did that work or the client was a bad client it's not it's just that it wasn't a good fit they just needed another agency. Exactly so I feel like now it's a challenge that I have proudly overcome and I know how to say no and I know where boundaries are set and you know what is good for the company but I feel like it's hard because it is your company so you need to dissociate yourself from the business. It's like you are not your business. If someone is upset or doesn't like what you're doing it's not they're not mad at you they're just they're mad they just don't like it and it's okay.
Yegi:A lot of time it's personal issues when people are unhappy with something it's not even the work that you did they might be going through a hard time in life and no matter what you do they're still gonna be unhappy so that's a very good lesson to learn and I remember learning that. It's been a while now I haven't thought about it but in the beginning I do remember feeling so sad any time of one client with even a tiny bit be dissatisfied I would go out of my way I would be so upset I put in so much time and energy to try to please them but then at the end of the day like nothing mattered and I wasted a lot of time and energy.
Sharon:It's because we care so much so it's a good thing because if we didn't then would just you know be also mean and rude and be like okay well you know figure it out. Like no we care so we want to put our time and energy like you said and go full force on it but we also need to okay where is our limit, when do we get a break as well you know.
Yegi:That is I think the key you know try to figure out that limit and that that boundary it's like okay this is what I'm going to do these are the x y and z things that I'm going to do extra but if that also doesn't help I'm done you know moving on. Let's talk about social media burnout and self doubt because those are two big issues with social media that I know a lot of our listeners can take um learn from or be interested in. So let's see for a social media burnout right so I think for social media burnout a lot of times what happens is we want to be so active but we get stuck and we don't know what to do or we look at the feed we get stressed out and there's so many people doing so many things we don't know like if I should keep going we're like okay I'm just gonna shut down I'm done. So what would you advise for people who are at that level with the social media burnout?
Sharon:I feel like if you are you do feel like a burnout take a step back and maybe even don't look at instagram for a few days you know it could take just two days for you to kind of recenter and reground yourself into what it is you want to be doing on social. I know for me I never ever had a burnout because I use it in a way that it's like when I want to use it I use it when I don't I don't I post whatever I want I don't overthink it so I feel like if I don't know what the reason of the burnout could be but if it is because you're overthinking every single thing that you want to post I mean no no wonder you're going to burn out it's so draining I feel like you need to you know using using social media and having fun with it is like my whole motto with social media basically it's just you know have fun with the platforms that you're using and you really -
Yegi:Yeah take a break when you need to take a break if you don't want to post for a whole week don't post for a whole week you know if you have nothing that you feel inspired to post don't feel like the pressure to do so because I also feel like any time I've in the past pushed myself to post something just to post it it didn't do so well or I was still unhappy with it so I think that's key like it's okay to -
Sharon:Yeah
Yegi:- it's okay to take a break from it even if you want to take a week off from it you can get back to it and be more motivated to use it if you feel burnt out. So how about self-doubt? As a business owner have you ever experienced self-doubt especially in the social media world that could be so easy because you see most people portray the best versions of themselves or their businesses online um and that can make other people or other businesses intimidated and have more self-doubt - so what's your advice or have you experienced this yourself?
Sharon:I definitely did it was actually back in November I was at my lowest I would say and what really saved me I actually have the book right next to me it's this book called the imposter cure I don't know if you've ever heard about it?
Yegi:What is it called again?
Sharon:Yeah so it's um so it's called the imposter cure and it's how to stop feeling like a fraud and escape the mind trap of the imposter syndrome and it's by Dr Jessamy Hibberd and it really was my bible for I did a lot of work on myself when I was feeling all these you know self-doubts and it talks about all about how failure is essential part of the success and how discomfort is actually a trigger for self growth um and just how compassion needs to overcome like self-criticism so I read it and I was doing all the work inside of the book and it took like two months in after I finished reading it we signed three new clients and I was just the best manager but my best self you know that I could be so I feel like this I mean reading good books like this really helps. Also if you can I have a business coach for example and that really really helps me just you know if I have any doubts on anything sometimes it's just an outside perspective that helps me you know get the guidance that I need to.
Yegi:Yeah definitely and honestly I love that you mentioned business coach because that's my passion that's what I'm also doing on the side and now for fun besides running my own business because it does really help to have somebody be like snap out of it you know you're doing fine here's what you need to do, stop overthinking it, you can take action and get um to your wherever you want to get instead of sitting and stressing about something. Um but books is definitely been my go-to too I think any time that I feel like I'm I've been stuck in the past with my business or in life I've just kind of taken a break and read something or listen to something motivational even podcasts or youtube motivational videos that really like helps kind of give you the key points to help you snap out of that right and it does take a lot of work on yourself we need to always continuously be working on ourselves and that will push you to be more successful and more and constantly more motivated as you go through the process of being an entrepreneur or a business owner. I think what you shared is really really valuable because everybody goes through that and I want to say some people don't talk about it or don't mention it but even the most successful people go through those self doubt moments. I bet you like even I don't know all the top um uh billionaires self doubt on the decision that they're gonna make and they need an advising team or a coach like no you're fine go for it.
Sharon:For sure. I feel like what's really comforting is that we are not alone so it's like even when you do have those horrible you know and bad feelings telling yourself okay there's other people that right now are literally feeling the same thing that I am and that's why I also share it on instagram when I'm having a bad day, when I'm having you know those like self-doubt moments, I always share it on my stories because I get really good words of just encouragement from my friends but also people that say like I feel the same way today and I'm like wow okay like it's great .
Yegi:It helps a lot to feel like we're not alone and that we have a support from other people out there who are going through the same thing and that it's gonna be okay it's just it's temporary I think that's also something we need to remember if we're going through a negative part in our life or in our business just know that it's temporary and instead of focusing on it because sometimes when you focus too much on the negative it just kind of a downfall you keep going down and down and down instead know that it's temporary and I don't know my key advice for that would be just stop thinking about it and do something like a physical action item you know for you was reading the book and working on yourself or some somebody may be like going on a vacation or running you know whatever your that something is take physical action and I think that's gonna help turn things around instead of you focusing on that self-doubt or that negative point in your life or your business. Awesome well thank you for sharing that now - my last question for you as our closing topic if you can do it all over again what would you change or what would you do when you're just starting out and also where can people find you?
Sharon:So people - I will start with the easy question first people can find me on instagram at @sharonbrand b-r-a-n-d and the business account is at @brandsmediagroup and again on my highlight on instagram there is a highlight of book recommendations so if anyone wants to read more books on self growth and you know as a business owner and you think there's a lot of there of them in there and I feel like if I would start again the different thing that I would do is is actually just take more time for myself right from the beginning because I was I was working a lot at the beginning beginning more than I am now and when I look back I was really stressed about things that in the end ended up working just fine and that were done and that I needed didn't need to you know look over twice so I would really just take a step back and just you know tell myself like okay this will work you just have to continue and not stop and it's all gonna work in your favor you know.
Yegi:Yes I think we all go through that as new business owners and although people will tell us don't overthink things it's gonna be fine I think everybody needs to find their own journey through it and and and it'll be fine for real. It makes you it makes you stronger it's like whatever happens whatever challenges it is you just come off stronger in the end. Now do you have any last words of encouragement before we close?
Sharon:Yes I think if you have a project in mind if there's something you really want to be doing that you really love that you're passionate about then you know just go for it like don't don't overthink oh is this name good is this color good just you know start it and then the little details they come afterwards um like you know the website and all those things it can always be changed and just you know tangible but the idea you have that fire inside of you if you're really feeling it and you feel like it is a good idea then like jump right in and just do it and you know everything else will kind of like follow.
Yegi:Awesome well thank you so much Sharon for being on our podcast today was such a pleasure meeting you and talking to you. We'll link all her information below so you guys can go find her and follow her through and see if you need any help with your social media she is available um and yeah thank you for listening I hope this was helpful. If you guys have any questions or comments let us know below but again thank you Sharon, pleasure meeting you hope to work with you soon again in the future!
Sharon:Thank you so much for this opportunity bye!
Yegi:[outro] Thank you for listening. Please rate and review this podcast. Follow and engage with us on social media under @theyegiproject and if you’re interested in being a guest, email info@theyegiproject.com and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss out on any future episodes.
