Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: If you want to do it, you can do it. I had no business because I had no client. I couldn't have any clients because there was no budget, right? So I had to rethink the whole strategy. What I want to say is whatever you've done in life, everything's possible and you can definitely find your way out and find ways to do things you want and you feel like you need to do. Even with no experience, you have to be kind to yourself and say, okay, you're going to learn along the way and you will improve along the way. Commitment is logistics, it's the operations, it's the side that is not the sexy side of the business.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: Welcome to the Society Gal podcast, where trailblazing female entrepreneurs and creatives come together to spark change and build their dreams. This is where your passion meets purpose. And together we're crafting a future where everyone has the tools to succeed.
[00:00:58] Speaker C: Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Society Gal podcast. We're so excited to have Emily with us today to talk all about how we need the marketing foundations to be speak to our dream clients right now. And even talking about her experience in the luxury market, which I'm super excited for you, Emily, to be on here and to share your story about, you know, getting into the luxury market and your whole experience there. It's a really awesome story to be told. So tell us a little bit about you and how you got to where you are.
[00:01:25] Speaker A: Thank you so much, Dana, for inviting me to your podcast. So, well, basically I'm a copywriter and entrepreneur. I was a journalist, head of mission in different countries, and director of success. It turned out that I became an entrepreneur one day and it was waiting for a while and I decided to run my full time first company in Hong Kong, which was basically 6,000 miles away from my home in France. And at the time I was unemployed because I was laid off. And I decided that was actually the right time to just change my life and do something a little bit different. And I knew that I had things to build, you know, deep inside, so I decided to just go over there. So why Hong Kong? Because I studied in Australia and I discovered Hong Kong. At the time I had friends over there. I was just shocked by the energy over there. And I knew one day I would go back there. I just, you know, followed my heart. Well, it wasn't that easy. Right, it wasn't that easy, but I coped with it and I faced all the obstacles, all the barriers, difficulties, and little by little, started diving into entrepreneurship. After six months, having a Retainer, client, then a second one, then started working with one luxury brand and another one and trying to find my way through all this, which wasn't easy, but it was quite a great experience just introducing myself briefly. But in the past, you know, it was quite a great change because in the past I was a journalist. I used to interview quite important people, even celebrities like Charles Aznavour. And it was kind of a bit scary for me because I always heard that you need to have a business degree, you know, or you have to know someone or invest money. All these limiting beliefs that wouldn't lead me to start my own business. So my message here is, if you want to do it, you can do it. So little introduction about me and tell.
[00:03:23] Speaker C: Us a little bit about getting into luxury events in Hong Kong. Like what were you doing wrong? You would say you felt like in the first six months you were there and was this the first time you did events? Like, what was your story there and why were you doing events?
[00:03:36] Speaker A: Absolutely, I just wanted to do events. I just. I don't know why, I just wanted to do events was fancy. I love going myself to events because when I was a journalist I. I was invited to many events and. And I would really enjoy myself. Going to the event was very glamorous, very classy. And I said, wow, this is something I should do actually. And I just had the vibe to do it. And the thing is, when I went to Hong Kong, I was just before I was a cultural journalist, so I was really paying attention to the cultural society, to arts, etc. And my dream was to work with cultural institutions over there, with the state, to organize amazing events for the people like we do in France. Basically. It's something that is quite common here in Europe, especially in France. And I thought that could be great idea. But the thing is, there was no budget for us. There was no budget for this at all. Plus, art and painting outside is not something that is common. So I actually forgot something crucial to do. It was the market study. And I realized there was no business. I had no business because I had no client. I couldn't have any clients because there was no budget, right? So I had to rethink the whole strategy. And I have to say I made a million mistakes. I didn't have any business plan or something like very rough, had no thought of my business foundations. And that's why I talk about this every single day on socials and everywhere, because I see too many entrepreneurs not doing the primary work, which is the foundations. It's Like a house, when there's no foundations, it fails. A business is the same with no foundations, it fails. And I see so many entrepreneurs just running, pouring content online and exhausting themselves and they haven't done the primary job, which is foundations. And I haven't done it myself. So I made the mistake myself. Now I'm trying to help others, not making the same mistakes as myself. So I had no business. I didn't know how to cope with that. Nobody was explaining me at the time. There wasn't any business coach. I mean, it wasn't that common. So I had to understand what was the problem. So I started studying the market and after a while I discovered that there was a market that somewhere else near the luxury markets, near the luxury brands. And I discovered a new world had no, never worked within the luxury world before. And well, the money was there and I had to get money because I really needed to pay for my life. You can imagine the situation. Hong Kong is one of the most expensive cities in the world. So you can imagine it's. I mean, there's big issues about money over there. So I decided to, well, started promoting myself and finally ended up working with one brand and a second brand. And the funny thing is I realized I never worked in, even in the events industry before. I never worked with luxury brands before. And the result was amazing. I actually ended up working with both, you know, and doing both. So what I want to say is whatever you've done in life, everything's possible and you can definitely find your way out and find ways to do things you want and you feel like you need to do, even with no experience.
[00:07:03] Speaker C: Yeah. And that really strikes me about your story, why I love it so much is you didn't need like 10 to 20 years in the industry of experience to start serving the luxury client, which I feel like people feel like they need to wait till they have like 20 years of experience and referrals and build their, you know, build that out. So how are you able to really speak to and serve the luxury client so quickly? Because I know, yes, there's that balance with experience and excellence, but kind of what did you do in your characteristics and how you served your client and how you connected with them? What did you do to so quickly get to the luxury market? I'm sure everyone's asking that question right now.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: Yeah, you basically have to learn the fast way. You have to, to learn the fast way. And you're not perfect at the beginning. Just you have to be kind to yourself and say, okay, you're going to learn along the way and you will improve along the way. So you start with one project, then you see, you know how it wasn't that perfect and then you move on to the next one, trying to be better and so on. And the end when you really want to do it and you putting a lot of efforts in it, then you end up doing it. Well, I don't want to say I did everything perfectly, even at the end, but at least I think clients would feel that I was doing it really with my heart. And we were talking about artistic events, you know, it was kind of a little bit unusual event. So I think they let me organize it a little bit with my own eyes as well. So there was, they were probably a bit kind to me, but still we had to do it, I mean properly. You know, you can't slide to a VIP clientele, so you need to be very careful with that. But previously I was a journalist at the Institut de France in French, which is one of the where the intellectual society gathers. And I was quite used to these kind of events. It wasn't necessarily the luxury world, but it was a kind of high premium, you know, places where I used to. So I wasn't totally disconnected from this world. But I just want to say that when you're doing things, when you put the work in it and you really okay to improve yourself and you don't want to lie to yourself, then you can do the work properly and even greatly.
[00:09:24] Speaker C: Yeah. And I like how you said before when you're talking is if you know, you know how to share your vision well, plus committing to execute, executing it well. So it's not just like the vision which I think a lot of people have a vision for something, but you, you were able to connect with that market because of that commitment of executing with excellence. Like you really were like, okay, I'm stepping it up. I'm going to execute with excellence and do my best, but not just have the vision for it.
[00:09:51] Speaker A: Right, exactly. And it's true to say the vision and the commitment is different. I mean commitment is logistics, it's the operations. It's all the side that is not the sexy side of the business. And I have to say that I, I wouldn't redo the same business anymore. Like I wouldn't run an events agency anymore because it's too much work and it's finally not really classy in a way that actually the few hours that are the events eventually is actually such a small part of the iceberg because the rest Is like a lot of work and a lot of non very glamorous work and a lot of logistics and just negotiation and things that are not so interesting, to be honest. So now I'm happy I changed the business and I'm happy. I've learned a lot. It was rough, I have to say, it was really rough. But you need to embrace destiny. You need to embrace your patience and just, just do it. You know, I did it now I wouldn't do it again, but at least it helped me a lot.
[00:10:53] Speaker C: Yeah. And where you are now. But I was.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I was comfortable now.
[00:10:57] Speaker C: Yeah. And I love your story of just showing how quickly you can change your life.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: It's amazing, isn't it?
[00:11:03] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: In a year time. It's amazing.
[00:11:05] Speaker C: With those simple, you know, vision and execution and jumping into it. I mean just going to Hong Kong, like all those are like huge, huge jumps which I think just you probably grew so much from that. Which is so awesome to just show people that it's possible. Like you don't have to wait so long for something to happen. It's a matter of putting your head in the right place.
[00:11:23] Speaker A: Exactly. And just a small word about the funny thing is I decided to run my first full time company in Hong Kong instead of my own country. And you know why? Because Hong Kong is the land of entrepreneurs. It's the land of easy entrepreneurship. And you can open a company in a few hours, if not less, with very little amount of money. People help you. People fight together. And I pay tribute to this amazing city who taught me so much. And there's this purity that pushes you forward. It really helps you in all senses of entrepreneurship. And don't be afraid to go far away if it can help because sometimes staying where you are is not the best option. But I'm not saying it's not a good option. But for yourself it might not be the best option. But think of the amazing places of entrepreneurship.
[00:12:17] Speaker C: Yeah. The opportunities that rose when you were in that community, which is really a good, great point, is those who you surround yourself with really impact your business. Right. And what people are, are showing that they can do that. You're like, oh, I can do that too. Right. Makes it possible.
[00:12:32] Speaker A: And when you surround yourself with people that gives you this energy to keep doing it. Because you know how it is when you start your entrepreneurship in life and you don't have the clients coming in you every day, you're in pain, you failing. Because I always say that entrepreneurs win because they failed before and no entrepreneurs ever won without failing first. So it's great to be surrounded by entrepreneurs because at least, you know, everybody failed around you that's giving you so much, much better energy. And I love being surrounded by entrepreneurs because I know they will provide, you know, the smile I need when I need, you know, this smile when I fight every day because you know, you don't get the results overnight. So sometimes it's good to be surrounded by, by good people.
[00:13:22] Speaker C: I love that.
[00:13:22] Speaker A: The ones who understand you.
[00:13:24] Speaker C: Yes. The ones that get you right.
Failing along with you, alongside you because it feels so unique sometimes that you're like, oh, I failed. No one else is. Oh no, that's just so not true. And if they haven't failed yet, they're going to fail eventually. So it's just part of the experience. I love that. So during your story, as you're explaining your awesome story in Hong Kong and with your events and events company, I wanted you to tell that story because of the great lesson of the foundation of your brand and how that shifted your business and how you went back to the foundations and how that changed. So what can someone do right now to strengthen and simple, simplify their marketing foundations. So that's what you teach us, what you preach. So tell us how you know how someone can do that and really simplify that so they can make that shift to that dream client or that better client they really feel aligned with.
[00:14:14] Speaker A: Yeah, it's true to say it's important to simplify it because business has been over complicated for such a long time. And I wish all corporate professionals and everybody could think they could be great entrepreneurs even though they've been corporate professionals their own lives. Basically. The foundation, I will say is based on four main aspects. There will be the niche. You need to find the right niche for your business, the target audience, this ideal client. And you need to validate this is your ideal client through a market study. And I like to talk about mapping the client, but we can talk about that later. And then the positioning, it's the fourth position, the default aspect that is very important. All these to organize the basis to then eventually lead to your messaging, your messaging and your storytelling. So basically, if you have designed an avatar and an ideal client the proper way, by validating their needs, their fears, their desires in a simple way that I teach, then you will end up knowing exactly what they like, what they feel, how they feel. You will know their vocabulary, you, you will understand all the little tiny little things that are part of their lives and that's how you will touch their Hearts because you will use all this in your messaging, in your storytelling as well, if you see what I mean. And the positioning as well is very important, is looking at your competitors, looking at your difference, combining all the dots and just making yourself be unique. And I always say you don't have competitors because make yourself be unique on the market, just be unique on the market and then you eliminate your competitors. There's only one person like you. You're the only one to have this story. So share it to the world. Show your mission, show your vision, show your intention, and that's how you magnetically attract people. And plus, if you know who your ideal clients are, who your avatars are, then combining them both is probably the best foundation you can have. And then follows the marketing strategy with pasting and creating an offer. And for me the basic work is really the target audience, the positioning and the messaging because then you can create an offer that will, you know, be crafted accordingly. But if you haven't done this really preliminary work, then you are not able to craft the best offer and you're not able to start pouring content online.
[00:17:00] Speaker B: Hey, this is Dana from Society Gal and I wanted to take a quick break to tell you about the Society Gal Academy, the exclusive membership that helps entrepreneurs like you launch, grow and scale your business. Join weekly expert led workshops, access to on demand courses and connect with a supportive network of go getters just like you. Are you ready to elevate your business? Visit Society Gal Academy today.
[00:17:25] Speaker C: Well, that. And what would you say? I know you said validating. Was it validating the offer?
[00:17:30] Speaker A: Validating the client?
[00:17:32] Speaker C: The client. So.
[00:17:33] Speaker A: So I think it's very important. And I find through the entrepreneurs, through my mentees, I find the most common problem comes from not knowing how to validate that this is actually the right client we're speaking to.
[00:17:49] Speaker C: I think figuring out who it is is one of the hardest parts.
[00:17:52] Speaker A: It's not easy. It's not easy, but actually easy. But it's not easy when you don't know how to organize it. But sometimes, and that's what my clients say, it's, it's actually. Oh, was it that simple? It's actually not so difficult eventually. But you know, it's just, you just need to know how it works. And I have very simple exercises to that I share with my mentees and then they do it and they start understanding their clients very fast actually when they use it.
[00:18:22] Speaker C: Yeah. So can you give me an example of a client or just an example of how can somebody validate who their client is if they're listening to this.
[00:18:29] Speaker A: So basically it's the. I call it the client mapping. The client mapping, it's like a map. When you are looking at a city, you want to know where this quarter here, here, where. Where this neighborhood is. So you map your client. So you need to talk to your client, actually, you need to talk to him. And then you will list a couple of details in a certain way that will come up with this map that your client have and. And then you. You're good to go. Yeah, it's actually quite simple.
[00:19:04] Speaker C: Great. And said when, when it comes to mapping, client mapping or map your client, you're talking about talking to past clients.
[00:19:10] Speaker A: I'm talking about the. The clients that my mentees are trying to sell to. So these are the people we want to engage conversations with. We want to have as leads and eventually turn them into clients. So yes, we want to touch their hearts. And in order to do so, we need to know them so well that we have mapped them, if you see what I mean, in such a way that we know all the characteristics of their personalities, of the desires, their fears and so on.
[00:19:46] Speaker C: I love that. Yeah. A deeper understanding of the people you're speaking to. They feel heard and cared for. So I love that.
[00:19:54] Speaker A: I don't want to reveal the whole strategy and my little exercises and tips, but I think that the way I explained, you can already do some work about that.
[00:20:04] Speaker C: Yeah. Awesome. And so I really loved how you said, you know, there's no competition when you lean into this. I think that's so true. I think we've all feel, especially when we're in a very similar industry and we see, let's say, like photographers, we see a million wedding photographers, but when you define like your intention, like how you said intention and mission based on your own experience, you do have something unique to offer and unique take on something. And it's so, so true. And there's so much power in that and how you show up, when you show up in that way. So I love that.
[00:20:36] Speaker A: Yeah, I think everybody's got a mission. Everybody's got something to say that is quite unique. And if you want to do the same as your neighbor or you compare yourself and copying others, because that's the trick, you know, you start looking at everything that is, that is supposedly succeeding online and you are in one way or another starting to do the same a little bit. And that's really not the right way to take. Definitely. I mean, talk about yourself and, and why you're doing this and, and so many other things that will definitely bring more attention to yourself.
[00:21:10] Speaker C: Great. And then do you have an example of a client you've worked with? You know, you know, before they worked with you, what you guys did together, and then what happened after that you'd like to share with this foundational marketing work?
[00:21:22] Speaker A: Well, yes. I have a client who is selling cosmetics online, TikTok and Instagram. And she came to me because she was not selling a lot of products and she wanted a little boost. And basically we started doing this work and we did this very simple exercise that I used to do with my mentees. And once she started doing this, she got some amazing feedback and she realized what her clients really wanted. So the. The exercise was to ask her regular clients what they liked, what they disliked, and to ask a few different questions. And the answers were really interesting in the sense that we realized that a lot of points were missing, some, others were not. And she actually didn't realize a few things that we brought to the new content strategy. We recalibrated everything and we changed the whole thing. And she then realized that she never, ever validated her clients. She never really mapped them. She never really knew them deeply. So that's why her messaging wasn't the right one online, because she hasn't done this job of understanding her clients, so she wasn't talking to them the proper way. So after this study, she started, you know, getting better business, basically. And another one, she's selling tutoring classes. You know, she's an English teacher and she's actually making business with Chinese people. And she wasn't sure of who she would have to target, and she wasn't sure of the avatar. So we started the market study and eventually we discovered new aspects of, you know, marketing and new aspects of how they feel, how the. How the client feel when he is in trouble and he really needs what she's selling, actually, because when he arrives to America, this Chinese person who is the avatar, when he arrives to us and he's caught in the crowds and he doesn't speak well English, and he fights to get a professional life over there, then we were missing a lot of understanding how we felt and many other things. So through this way, she understood more about her clients and now she is doing a great job because now she understands them properly, you know.
[00:24:03] Speaker C: Yeah. Thank you for sharing those examples. I love when you can show these examples and show that it doesn't really take too much time to do this work. You know, it really doesn't take like a whole million years. To get all this work done, it really can only take a few months to get it done. But with the coach, I mean, this is why mentorship is so important and coaching is so important. Everyone should have one in their business at some point. That's why having someone there to like mirror off you and reflect and give you pointers and show you things that aren't there, like kind of how you, you know, they gave the example of the product based business owner. I just didn't understand what was there and where they needed to focus their understanding and their learning in the right places to then make the best content and then, you know, be able to execute their strategy really well because they're speaking right to their client. It's really, it's just crazy how there's these small shifts. Yes.
[00:24:50] Speaker A: And can you believe it's so easy and fast? And why don't we do the job? You know, why is it missing so often? That's ridiculous. But we're not aware of it. And it's so, it's a job. Marketing is a job. It's, it's a science in a way. So don't wait too long. Don't wait till too late. You know what I mean? So I see entrepreneurs waiting too long to get help actually.
[00:25:14] Speaker C: And it actually, I mean, that's what caused like burnout and just wrong business models that you end up putting yourself in that just, you'll learn from it. Yeah, but you're, that's, it's almost a path to failure because you're working with the wrong client, you're working with a wrong type of offer, like all these wrong things and it's just sucking your.
[00:25:31] Speaker A: Energy and you're underestimating yourself. You have this feeling of failure. The, the feeling of what am I doing wrong and what's wrong with me? And I'm putting so much efforts and you not even sleeping at nights sometimes. So really, to come back to a healthy life, you should definitely hire a coach. Honestly. Because at the end of the day, when you've wasted a year, haven't you wasted money? You know what I mean? So when the money doesn't get in after a year and you have lost so much, you know, so hire someone as, as soon as possible.
[00:26:06] Speaker C: Yeah, right. To guide you through this. Because I mean, the stuff we're saying on this podcast is simple and it's stuff that you can do and, and you should be doing this consistently. Is working on your brand, consistently refining your niche and your mission and your audience and your understanding of audiences are all things that you're going to continually work on, but having someone there to directly direct you in the right path for that really foundational worth.
[00:26:27] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:26:27] Speaker C: Like priceless, right? It's priceless. All those opportunities that you would have had are there because you get more.
[00:26:33] Speaker A: Clarity, you know where you going. And sometimes it takes no more than six weeks time to do all the job, even including content pillar, creating the offers. I mean, my program is only six weeks. You. I mean, there's no reason not to do it.
[00:26:48] Speaker C: Awesome. Thank you, Emily, for being on with us today and really just laying all that out for everyone to take some action on their foundational work and just to put that reminder out there to do it, you know, continually to revisit all these foundational things, but also to get direction from a mentor with these things and how simple it can be, how quick it can be, and it can really shift the opportunities in your business. So thank you so much for sharing.
[00:27:11] Speaker A: Thank you so much. And own your life. Fear is temporary. Regret lasts forever. So just act on your future. Just do it. You'll make mistakes, but you'll get there.
[00:27:21] Speaker C: I love it. And then where can everyone find you on socials?
[00:27:24] Speaker A: People can find me on Instagram or on TikTok. Emily Julia, official. And I'm sure you'll leave a link or something and reach out anytime. Very glad to talk to people.
[00:27:36] Speaker B: Awesome.
[00:27:37] Speaker C: Well, thank you, Emily.
[00:27:38] Speaker A: Thank you, Dana.
