Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: So when I started, I already had an Instagram account, but it was for friends and family. And I had about 700 followers, mostly friends and people who I know at first, I started to post consistently because when you understand that it's your job, you cannot just forget about Instagram for a month, because everybody will forget you.
So you have to stay consistent if you want to grow. So that's what I started to do.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: Welcome to the Society Gal podcast, where trailblazing female entrepreneurs and creatives come together to spark change and 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.
Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Society Gal podcast. We are so excited to be coming to you with another episode with Alaina. This is an episode we haven't really done before, a topic we really haven't covered. Elena is an influencer, and she is an amazing one and a new influencer online.
She's had such fast growth, and we are so excited to hear about her own story, which is really fun to hear, as well as what she did consistently, what she did to keep up her content and to keep herself going in her business as a new content creator. Because there's no better place to start than now, right? You know, you didn't have to start 10 years ago to be in a great place. This is really great episode where you can learn how to start now whenever. There's always a good time to start something new and how much you can grow when you can stay really consistent and keeping your priorities and energy straight. So, Elena, go ahead. We're gonna have you introduce yourself and then go through your story on how you got to this place.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: Hello, everyone. Yes, my name is Elena. I'm originally from Russia, and we were traveling with my family all around the world. We lived in Italy before the usa, but eight years ago, we moved here to Dallas, Texas, United States. And I love this place with all my heart.
Like I said, I have a family with three kids, three boys. I have a busy life because of that, because it's like a lot of people. But also I didn't want to at home, mom. I wanted to do something else always.
And when we moved here, for immigrants like myself, it's very difficult to learn new language, find new friends, to find new job. It's like everything is new. So I was very blessed and happy to meet my friends and we create the interior design company together. And it was successful for two years. But after that, my friend is still doing it. But I Always was passionate about social media and about to be blogger, influencer. So that's how I became one.
So last year. Exactly last year, January 1st, I just started my Instagram to do it professionally because I wanted to monetize it. I wanted to have, like, income from it. I didn't want to do it just for my friends and family family. I wanted to have money from that.
So that's how I started it. Yes. And my Instagram is about my lifestyle, about fashion, about beauty, but mostly it's about my everyday life.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: I love that. If you see her background on the video, she could tell she has interior design knack. I mean, I do not. We were talking about that before the call. I'm like, my background is blurred because it does not look aesthetic as yours does, but it's beautiful.
And I love how you started that business. But then you came over to put yourself online and how did. How did that feel, putting yourself online as a business compared to your personal and family?
You know, how did that. That difference? Like, what was the difference? I guess the feeling when you first started.
[00:03:45] Speaker A: Yes. To be a blogger for me is much easier because it's very flexible. For example, if you own the company and it's like it has physical location, it has physical clients in one place, and you have family, three kids and husband and everything, and you like to trav. Travel a lot, it's a little bit more complicated to do it. And that's why I actually switched. It's one of the reasons, because I wanted to be like, really flexible and to do everything online like I do now. For example, if we travel, if my kids are sick and I stay at home, like anything, I can still continue to work. So that's the best part.
[00:04:21] Speaker B: When you first started, what were like, some feelings or thoughts that came up when you first started, Was it difficult? Were you overwhelmed? What were you feeling when you are okay going on Instagram, what did you feel at that time?
[00:04:32] Speaker A: It's. Yes, it's a little bit scary because. Especially because English is not my first language. So the very first story was difficult because you're always afraid to do mistakes. You know, for example, if I do it in my language, it's much easier for me. But here it was like January 1st, and I decided, okay, I will do my Instagram and I will do it in English no matter what. Like, no matter how many mistakes, I will like, say, but it's fine.
And of course, the first story, when I did it, I was like sweating.
But when you do it day after day, Every time. And when you start to receive messages from people like yourself, and they all encourage you and they proud of you that they know how difficult to do it for me, but they support me a lot. And when you receive a lot of these messages, it helps you to grow confidence, you know, and to be more confident on camera. And another thing, when you start to receive money for being online on Instagram, you know, it's like the best thing.
Because after that, for example, if I go somewhere to the public place, I mean, grocery store or beauty place or anywhere, and I need to do stories and I'm a little bit shy and everything, but then I realized that people will pay me money for that and I don't need to scare and I should be proud of myself to be online now. So it helps to be not so, like, scary.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: I love how you gave a background to that because I think a lot of people have that fear of putting themselves online. Like, they know they can make money. They know they could possibly do that as an influencer. But I think that's such a big fear is like, what are good people gonna think of me? This is so scary. I don't want to make mistakes like you said, but I love how you said right, right away you got support from family and friends. And I think when people see their friends and family go online, they're like, oh my gosh, they're so brave. Like, that's amazing. Take a peek into your life and be see your face online all the time. I think it's really fun from a family and friend standpoint. But now you have followers, right, who are really following you in your path. But I love your mindset behind it of like, well, I'm making money. Like, this is my income. Like, I gotta embrace it. If I want to bring in money, if I want to, you know, support my family, then, you know, that's what I gotta embrace. So I love your positive attitude and commitment. Like, man, January 1st, that's so hard for people to just be like, I'm making a decision, I'm gonna go forward. I love that.
[00:06:55] Speaker A: And also another thing, like, there is two differences. How we see ourselves from our perspective and how other people see us. For example, sometimes I think I did this story, I was so unconfident and I looked not very good. And then my followers or my friends or somebody tell me, like, oh, you were so great. It was like, so amazing video and everything. And I was like, really? Because for me, very. How to say, like, you know, we judging ourselves too much, maybe Sometimes. And when other people tell you that you're doing great, you're like, yeah, you're very. I don't know what to say. Like, it lifts you up.
[00:07:30] Speaker B: Yeah. It empowers you to keep going. I love that. So tell us a little bit more about, you know, your journey. Like what were kind of like the phases, like the first steps you did to get started, how did you keep scaling forward? And then we'll. We'll dig more into what your daily routine is like, but just first tell us kind of like your story, like step by step for the year.
[00:07:50] Speaker A: So when I started, I already had the Instagram account, but it was for friends and family and I had for about. About 700 followers, mostly friends and people who I know.
And after that I started. At first I started to post consistently because when you understand that it's your job, you cannot just forget about Instagram for a month because everybody will forget you.
So you have to stay consistent if you want to grow. So that's what I started to do. I started to post every day and I couldn't post just what I want to post because I already needed to know all the trends and I needed to know what's important for people now what's the topic is interesting for people.
So I just started to dig into all these ideas and everything.
And after that I was. I started to try all the strategies that I knew and some of them were bad. For example, I bought some followers at the beginning and it was the best, like the worst decision ever.
Because when you buy followers, it's actually, it's not even. Not help you. It's even better for you.
[00:08:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:57] Speaker A: For your statistics for everything. So after that I paid to remove all these paid followers. But it's all my journey. For example, I did it and now I know that it's like bad decision, but how else I could know that? Yeah. And after that I started to do a lot of reels, because reels, it's still things that are very engaging and it helps you to grow people watch your reels, people follow you. So it's a great idea. Also what I started to do, it's collaborations with other bloggers. So for example, if you have not a lot of followers, you can find similar bloggers and to do collaborations with them like combine reel or something.
In this way you promote each other like your followers. See this another influencer and vice versa. Also another option. You can pay some. I actually still didn't do it, but I'm planning to do. You can do a Paid feature, for example, you find the blogger who has a lot of followers, and of course they are not interested to do collaborations with you because they're bigger, but you can pay them and they will promote you. So that's another great option to grow Instagram. That's what I. Yeah.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: So you were. So your first steps, you were really, you know, getting. Tell us a little bit about your first steps going back a little bit more because you're talking about how you're posting every day. So, like, what were.
What. I guess how were you showing up? Right. Because you grew really quickly. So, like, you. We did talk a little bit about, like, kind of the aesthetic and how you kind of push that forward more. So what were some things that you did in the beginning that. That you felt really helped you launch off really well as far as your type of content and how it looks?
[00:10:42] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it's just posting consistently with trying a lot of different, not niche, but different types and formats of content. For example, I was trying all these changing clothes video, I was trying video Get Ready with Me and videos on the streets in downtown of the city.
So at first I was just trying everything that I could to see what helps and what works better.
And I knew that some videos got more views and likes and some less. So I was trying to do more of that videos that got more views.
So that helped me, I think, a lot.
Yeah.
[00:11:20] Speaker B: Yeah. And you talked about sending emails to brands. So when did you start doing that and how, you know, how did you get into that? Because that's right. That was kind of like the first thing you did too.
[00:11:29] Speaker A: So. Yeah, that first, when you just started as a, for example, fashion blogger, of course nobody knows you and you need to tell the world that you exist.
And I just, I was finding their brands and their emails and I was pitching them. So I had my email template and I send it everywhere, like, to all brands to see who will be willing to send me some clothes, some samples, some beauty samples. And of course, at the beginning, a lot of my emails, they didn't even reply because they were not interested. But some of them, some replied, and then I started to receive some samples. I remember when I first received my box with your clothes, and it was for free. And for me it was like, what?
Like someone sent me something for free because they want me to promote that. And when it's for the first time, you're so like, you can believe.
[00:12:21] Speaker B: Yeah. Exhilaration. Exhilarated. Excited.
[00:12:24] Speaker A: Yes. We were like celebrating with my family.
Yes. And after that I was more confident because then another brand sent it to me more so after that I could choose already, for example, if I want to promote it or not.
And after some time, maybe in six months or so, I decided that, okay, free clothes is good, but now I want to receive money for that, not only free clothes. And then you start to kind of negotiate, you start to ask them, maybe they are willing to pay. And some of them said that, no, sorry, that's not our how it works and everything. But some of them started to say, yes, we can pay you this amount of money. Of course it was not a lot, but for me again, it was something new, like somebody is willing to pay me for that. And it was another milestone. I was very excited about that.
And then good idea. Like I was reaching to a big brand.
And we did for the entire year we did collaborations in return. So they sent me products, I promoted that and they didn't receive any money.
But when you do collaborations with big brands, it's good opportunity to, to have paid collaborations with them in the future. So it's better to stay consistent with them. That's what happened. So I worked with them for the entire year for free in return of products, but now they pay me after years. So you need to be patient. And if, for example, at the beginning, I would say, no, I don't want to do it for the entire year for free.
Right now I wouldn't have these paid collaborations with them. So yes, to be patient is good.
[00:14:03] Speaker B: Yeah, because brands need to see that you're going to show up and show their work, I mean, show off their product.
So I totally understand that and I love from your story that you put right, you reach out to as many brands as possible. Being okay with no's, being okay with people not responding to you, but you knew someone's going to get back to you and someone did and then went to go see people pay you. Someone did, even though some people didn't. And so I love how you just put yourself out there knowing something's going to come back and continually doing that consistently as well.
[00:14:35] Speaker A: Yes. And that's another thing that, that I learned for this time that it's never personal. And for example, if you receive, if they reject you or you receive something like we're not interested, you never should think something bad about yourself, like personal, because there can be so many different situations or things why it happened. Maybe they changed their, maybe they changed their team and something bad goes wrong. Or maybe they don't have a budget for that. It's not because you're doing something wrong or maybe they are searching, they are looking for someone to promote on Tick Tock and your platform is Instagram. It doesn't mean that you do bad content. You know that your criteria don't meet.
[00:15:20] Speaker B: That's it business.
[00:15:22] Speaker A: Yes. If you, if you hear like rejection or something, don't take it personal. Don't think something bad is with you.
[00:15:29] Speaker B: Yeah. And tell me how, because you said Amazon found you, right?
[00:15:33] Speaker A: Yes.
They work very interesting. You can, as far as I understood, you can apply to have your Amazon storefront, but you cannot apply for any campaign or paid collaborations or anything. As far as I understood, everything is email invitation like based. So I received invitation from them.
Yes. And I continue receiving. So I cannot go to like Amazon website and apply for something.
But that's actually why you need to stay consistent. Because when for example, Amazon or big brands see somewhere, maybe they have their database or something or maybe they just see that you do it on Instagram consistently and they start to reach out to you. Not only Amazon, I mean any brands. Right now, for example, I have a lot of emails and I receive every day a lot of females for example, for free products. And right now I don't do it. But at the beginning I was happy to receive like free products, you know, so, so yeah, we. Right now. Yes, right now they reach out to me a lot of brands and I already pick and choose and now you.
[00:16:43] Speaker B: Can pick and choose which I, I mean I love seeing like this year and, and you know, with your, your Instagram is your portfolio like it was for portfolio to show brands that you can show up every single day and okay, she can show for every single day for five months, for six months, for eight months. Then she has write your reputation builds and more brands are more interested. Right. A brand's not going to be interested in you when you posted five times.
[00:17:09] Speaker A: You know, so yeah, actually yesterday I attended one webinar and it was saying that brands now, like the biggest investment for brands in 2025 will be creators. So they invest a lot of money to creators, not to the television or more. Yeah, to creators.
[00:17:30] Speaker B: All our marketing budget is going to creators. So we need more of you out there.
[00:17:35] Speaker A: So we're in a good spot.
[00:17:37] Speaker B: Yeah. And so what are some ways that you're wanting to scale? Like what are some ways for next year? What are you looking at to grow?
[00:17:46] Speaker A: Yes, I, of course I want to grow my Instagram, my follower account and I want to grow my income like everything.
I think I'm on the right path. Right.
So right now I, like I said, I already don't do any unpaid collaborations. But I mean, it doesn't mean that everything that I show on Instagram I paid for that. No, I mean that for example, if I have one, two collaborations, they will be paid because that's how I make money. But again, that products, it's not like what I would not use in my everyday life, but I promote them because they pay me. No, like, I still promote products that I like and I use in my everyday life. For example, I don't know, Stanley cup or something like I use it in everyday life in any case. And for example, if I reach out to them or they will reach out to me with paid collaborations, of course I will do it because I like this.
[00:18:40] Speaker B: Anyway, so that's, you're attracting the people that you want to work with by putting up the products that you actually use, right? You're going to find other brands reach out to you because they see you use similar products to theirs.
And I love how you said that. Go ahead.
[00:18:54] Speaker A: That's how actually how it happens. For example, I bought some granola, granola for like oatmeal and put to yogurt and everything. I just bought it by myself at grocery store and when I did my breakfast, I just mentioned them and they sent me some free products because they just saw that I use it and like it and eat it anyway. So right now I will promote their product because I already love them.
[00:19:18] Speaker B: Already got it. You already use it. So that's interesting. I love how you, you're tagging people and you're showing them that you're using product and you're like, look, I'm showing off your product, you know, very good.
[00:19:27] Speaker A: Like option to show yourself to the brands because they watch social media all the time. And if you will continue to mention them, for example, clothing brand Abercrombie or something else, if you will consistently mention them, one day they will see you and maybe they will reach out to you. Not even you will need to reach out to them. So that's good advice to mention everything that you can.
[00:19:51] Speaker B: What makes it easier for you to make content because you're, you're already, if you're recording your daily life, right? You already have those things into your daily life that you're just gonna record. And it doesn't make sense just to use a bunch of products you don't like because your presence won't be authentic to you. And what, and even your audience, even people who follow you, people who follow you want to like you because you like those things that they like.
[00:20:11] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. No, for followers, yes. That's how you can reach out to brands. But for followers, yes. I think that's why they love me or other influencers. Just because they just see your everyday life. And if it's similar to their everyday life, they will see. They will, like, watch you because. Yeah.
[00:20:27] Speaker B: They'll find the relationship. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. So what are you doing? I know you talked about, like, what you're doing to. What are you going to do to grow more? Because right now you're working with brands mainly, right. You're getting paid by brands. But what are some other things? And you talked about, like affiliate marketing and other things like that. So what were some things in the future that you want to work on to scale?
[00:20:50] Speaker A: To scale? I would say I will try to reach to the brands who are bigger and who I think will be willing to pay more. Like, I don't want to do a lot of collaborations. That. Not paid of good.
[00:21:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Not paid well. Yeah.
[00:21:04] Speaker A: Yes. I would say I will try to do maybe less collaborations, but that, like, pay more.
That's how I will scale my income. But about Instagram followers and about Instagram growth, right now I do targeted advertising, you know, meta. Targeted advertisement.
So it's new for me because I didn't use it a lot before and now I'm testing some things right now. It didn't help me to grow a lot of followers, but maybe I will hire someone, the person who will help me to do it or who will teach me and I will see how this work. But another option, I will do this advertisement in return with other bloggers. I think this will help me.
Yeah.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: Yeah. Awesome. And you also might want to create your own course or something in the future. A digital product, you said, right?
[00:21:55] Speaker A: Yeah. So another option. That's what I wanted to do since day one. But at the beginning, when you don't know anything, everything seems so easy.
On the day one, I was thinking, okay, right now I will grow my Instagram and then I will teach people how to do it. But every day, like when I knew, when I find out more information, the less I feel confident to share it. Because right now I understand how. How many things involves Instagram growth. And if right now I want to do my digital course, I want it to be like really great, not just very simple, you know, I want to. To be. To have a lot of value and really to help people.
But eventually I will do it for sure. I think this year. So that's another option. How influencers can monetize their Instagram because of. Because they have already followers and they can promote their digital products. And it can be actually any products. For example, if you're cosmetologist or like facial specialist, you can do your own digital course about skincare products or anything and you can sell it. If you, I don't know, yoga instructor, you can do course about that. In my case, I would do a course about Instagram Raw of when I will be more confident to share all this and when I have like you have the entire course, but yet I definitely will do it.
[00:23:15] Speaker B: This podcast comes out, but she might already have it, so.
[00:23:19] Speaker A: Yes.
So yeah, you want to learn more.
[00:23:23] Speaker B: Definitely. Make sure you follow her, see if anything pops out by then.
Awesome. I. I love to hear growth. And you started, you started at what, 8, 700 followers? So where you are now? Where are you at now? This is October 2024. Where are you at now?
[00:23:39] Speaker A: Right now I have 13000 followers.
[00:23:43] Speaker B: Like one year.
[00:23:45] Speaker A: One and a half. Yes, one and a half. Yes.
And right now it's interesting. Like right now I stopped to grow and I need to understand why. And I'm testing some things why it can happen. But I'm sure it's just, you know, for some time. I'm sure I will understand how to grow it later. Yes. And I already have some ideas.
[00:24:05] Speaker B: Well, that can be discouraging. Right? Kind of seeing like your numbers grow, grow, grow and they kind of peter off.
[00:24:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:11] Speaker B: You're still being consistent no matter what. You're still, you know, keeping it going and not just stopping because the growth stopped for a minute.
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[00:24:45] Speaker A: No, actually meta and like an Instagram and everything, they change their rules and their algorithms all the time. So you never know what changed and why. Yes.
[00:24:55] Speaker B: You have to adapt.
[00:24:56] Speaker A: Yes. And the best thing is just continue post no matter what. Like, I mean do great content, but do it consistently. Don't stop because like you said, don't stop because there is no growth or because of low views or something. You never know. It can be low views and then 1 million views, you know.
[00:25:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:13] Speaker A: So you. Yes, you never know. You just need to stay consistent. And people can follow you, unfollow you, and then again follow you in, in a half a year, you know, and if you're already not there, so that's it. Yeah, but they unfollow you, but then they remember, oh, I remember this influencer I will find.
And they can follow you. Yeah. So you never know. Just keep doing what you're doing no matter what.
[00:25:38] Speaker B: Yeah. So tell us a little bit more about your daily routine to stay consistent. Like, what is a day in the life of Elena and what are you doing to stay consistent? Because I, I know this is a really difficult thing for a lot of people. A lot of people are like, oh, I can be an influencer. But then they're like, oh my gosh, to post every day, that's a lot of work. So what are you doing and what's your mindset behind it? What are you doing every single day that's. That's helping you and supporting you stay consistent. Yeah.
[00:26:01] Speaker A: So because I'm a lifestyle influencer, for me, it's easier to post everything what I do in my everyday life. So sometimes to post something, it's just, for example, today I did my manicure and right now I will post a real like, I did my new manicure look.
[00:26:19] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:26:20] Speaker A: Yeah, thank you. So I need to always find you, like for example, if you have same topic, for example, you're manicure master. Right.
So you always need to find the way to show exactly the same, like nails, nails, nails. But you need to do something new every time to attract attention. And for me it's every time something new anyway, because today I did nails, yesterday I did self tanning, tomorrow I will do like some new clothes and everything. And it's always interesting to see what happens in my life.
So in this case it's easier every day. I can find something during the day what I did and what I think will be interesting for my followers.
But sometimes, for example, if it's day when I didn't do anything interesting and I still need to post something, in this case, it helps when I have a lot of prepared content.
For example, I did, or we went for the family trip. And of course I have a lot of pictures, videos, and I can do some reels from the videos. I can do some pictures of a family.
Then I do some pictures just with my outfits with the links. So it's already three pieces of content.
So the days that I don't have anything to post, I just go there to my database and I Post something that I already had. And I know some people, they even repost something that already was posted and it has a lot of views. So they just repost it. I never did it, but maybe I will do.
I know that Instagram has a restriction. You cannot post, like, exact same piece of content, but maybe you can tweak it a little bit. Yes. And post again.
[00:27:56] Speaker B: Yeah. You talked about preparing content not just with your, like, getting a bulk amount of content, but you also said, like, with getting brand deals and clothes, like getting things like that are ready to go so you can film them really quickly. You talked about preparing your content with brand deals.
[00:28:13] Speaker A: For example, when, at the beginning, when I just started, I didn't have a lot of new clothes. For example, I have my clothes, clothes, and I already did a lot of videos. And when you just start, you think that, oh, I have a lot of clothes, I will have content for the year, like ahead. But no, you just do some videos and you understand that you already don't have any new clothes, any new beauty products, because you already showed everything and it's just one week since you started.
Yes. And at the beginning, it's very difficult to understand, okay, what, what's next? What's next? Like, I don't have anything.
But when you start working with the brand and then they send you a lot of clothes, a lot of samples, everything, you already have it, like, for free. So you can test it, you can film it, you can, like, post it so you have more things to show to your audience. So it's easier. Yeah, like, you need to wait until it will be easier at the beginning. Yes, it's always more difficult.
[00:29:10] Speaker B: But I like that perspective, though. I was seeing, like, okay, it's hard in the beginning because you're trying to think of everything to pose.
But once you have the brand, like, products and deals, and knowing that when you go on a trip or you go do those things, like, you're gonna get bulk, bulk content and more content.
So it seems like as you keep going, more builds and builds and builds, where it's so much easier to put out content, and it's probably so much more natural for you to put out content and create it.
But knowing that if you're starting right now or starting in the beginning stages, that it gets easier, you just gotta ramp up that momentum to keep going.
[00:29:46] Speaker A: But there actually, there is another problem.
When you have too much clothes and too many samples and everything, then you need to understand, like, the schedule, you know, and everything. Because sometimes I just don't have time to. Because you need to film everything, to edit everything, to post everything, and to write like the description, all hashtags and because when you do collaborations with brands, they have a lot of their requirements. You cannot just post it how you want.
So it should be like specific amount of length of video, specific amount of description and everything. So it's like a lot of work to do one piece of content. And if you have a lot of clothes, for example, to promote. Sometimes I'm just overwhelmed. Okay, I filmed everything, but now I need to edit all this and I need to post this before end of the month, for example. And like, yeah, it just should be good time management. You need to organize everything. Otherwise you will be like overwhelmed with amount of.
[00:30:45] Speaker B: Yeah. Do you have. What do you do to keep organized with all your brands? Like, do you have a calendar? Like, what do you have that kind of keeps you on track?
[00:30:53] Speaker A: I actually, I try to use all these, you know, special programs and apps, but for me, at least for now, like simple notes, you know, in iPhone notes, I put everything there. And Google spreadsheets, that's. This is two things where I keep everything. All my collaborations, campaigns, all my piece of clothes, all my payments, everything is in notes. And Google spreadsheets, for me, it works the best. I don't know.
[00:31:17] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it's simple.
[00:31:19] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:31:20] Speaker B: And it's just you, like there's not, you know, five other people working for you.
[00:31:24] Speaker A: Oh, actually I was trying to work with a virtual assistant and we did it for one and a half months, so it was helpful. Right now we're just talking about how we can improve it, you know, and what we can change.
But yes, actually that's another thing. When you grow, you probably would need to hire someone because to do everything by yourself, you just cannot do it. Especially if you have a big family, you know, and kids. I don't know all this stuff.
So it's better to.
To find someone to delegate some things that you don't have time to do.
[00:32:00] Speaker B: Yeah, like reach out. Or you're working with someone that helps reach out to brands. Right.
[00:32:05] Speaker A: Like my virtual assistant, she helped me with editing videos, posting it to campaign. Because for example, when I work with Amazon, I need to post everything and to make sure that. That everything is correct and like there.
[00:32:18] Speaker B: Is a process for it.
[00:32:20] Speaker A: Yeah. So all this stuff that it's not like visible on Instagram, but behind the scenes, it's a lot of work, organizational and everything. So she helped me with this a lot.
[00:32:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm sure that helps a Lot like, you know, creating the content, but like editing it. That's a whole thing. So that's so awesome that you had that, you know, have her on to help you out with that, that.
So you just talked about your family. So we were gonna touch on this earlier. But, you know, what is your, I guess, personal life look like with being influencer? You know, what it's like with your family, how you manage the family time and all that. Just tell us a little bit about that because I know you have children and a husband, all the fun things.
[00:32:59] Speaker A: Yeah. Since my kids are already at school, like they're in elementary school and middle school now, it's much easier because they are at school until 3pm So I have the entire day since morning until 3pm where nobody is at home. So I try to do all the things. Usually I film everything when nobody's at home because I need to, you know, to put like my equipment light and everything, to put clothes behind me and to do it like nicely. And when my kids come home, of course I spend time with them, but sometimes I can check emails, you know, that's what I can do with them at home. They can scream, they can come to me. Like, it's easy to check email when everybody's screaming, but it's not easy to film content when my kids are screaming. So I just try to do all this content stuff in the morning, like first part of the day and in the evening, like, I don't plan anything specific for the evening because when kids are at home, it's. You not always know how it will go.
So I just do something like checking emails and all this stuff. But sometimes I can do content even with my kids and family in the evening. So they come and I see we can cook dinner and I can film it and it will be another piece of content. So I spend time with my family and at the same time I work, I like post it. Yeah. So it's. Yeah, that's how it works.
[00:34:22] Speaker B: I love it. And you talked about your, you know, your family being super supportive and loving it and that you are influencer.
[00:34:29] Speaker A: Yes. I mean, my husband is very supportive and my kids, and right now they're already used to it. And they always, like, for example, if they see that I like film something, they will be okay.
Mom is feeling now. They understand already, like what I'm doing and how they can help. Or for example, if we have family photo session right now, they again understand that it's important for me. So they like, before they said, no, we don't want to put these clothes, like, beautiful clothes on. We don't want to pose. We want to go home and all this stuff. But right now, they support it, like, okay, mom, tell us what to wear, like, what color, like, they're ready. And it's helpful and so awesome to.
[00:35:08] Speaker B: See their mom online.
[00:35:10] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
Actually, my son in middle school, he said that he talks about me always at school and all his friends knows about me, that, like, I'm famous. And I said, I'm not playing.
[00:35:23] Speaker B: That's so cute. I love how proud they are and how much they support you and. And I just. I love that feeling. It must feel really great to support you and cheer you on. It's really, really awesome. And you guys travel a lot too, right?
[00:35:36] Speaker A: Yes, we try to travel a lot during the year. Not only, you know, in summer or, like, on.
[00:35:43] Speaker B: Yeah. Throughout the year.
[00:35:44] Speaker A: Sometimes we travel even when it's school year. But we, of course, do everything, what they need to do at school.
But we try to travel every month somewhere like here in the US we just came back from Colorado before we went to Oregon, Portland, and now we go to Chicago, and then we go. We will go to Mexico in December. So we love it. And that's why actually, to be influencer and to have, like, remote online job is very important for me because I can spend time with my family. I can go whatever and wherever and whenever, and I still can work there because if we go somewhere.
[00:36:22] Speaker B: Somewhere, of course, that you're supporting your work.
Yeah.
[00:36:25] Speaker A: Yes. It even helps me to post more content because it's something like new place, you know, new outfits for this specific place. And, yeah, I'll be flexible in this way.
[00:36:36] Speaker B: Yeah, I love how you've taken this because I think a lot of people see influencers and, like, oh, all they're doing is being in front of a camera or a phone and not paying attention to anybody else. But I love to have you on here today because you're a mother and you have a family and you have these intentions of. Of what? You know, loving blogging, loving fashion, but also loving your family and how it's really possible to balance both. And you're. I feel like you're really good at that. Balancing your time with your family and then also doing what you love, which I think is really great to see behind the scenes of the influencer that so many people have, you know, certain assumptions about. But I really love to hear about, you know, the personal life and how it's all balanced together, because it's really Great how you're doing it.
[00:37:17] Speaker A: So probably I need to show it even more because sometimes I have to say like shy to show everything. But how to explain, like when I follow other bloggers, I know that I like when they show all these behind the scene light, you know, so probably I should do it more myself too.
[00:37:32] Speaker B: Well, something that exciting really happened whether you became a U.S. citizen. Right. Just recently we didn't talk about that yet.
[00:37:40] Speaker A: So we just received our US Citizenship and we're very excited about this. And we will travel internationally without any requirements to receive any visas like we did before. So it's for us, it's so like amazing. And we love this country, so we love to be part of it, you know, the community and everything. So we almost all of us received US Passports. Like, yeah, it's very. And actually my posts in Instagram, my reels about citizenship got the most views.
[00:38:10] Speaker B: Yeah, you got a lot of traction.
[00:38:11] Speaker A: Yes, for me it was the biggest amount of views. So probably that's the sign that I need to post more about our family, about our. Not immigration itself. But you know, about all this stuff.
[00:38:25] Speaker B: You're new US Citizens, you know, I love how you're exploring all the states and everything. Like it's your first time in Colorado, first time in Chicago. That's really cool.
[00:38:34] Speaker A: Yeah. So, yeah, to be a citizens, it's very amazing, actually.
Yeah.
[00:38:40] Speaker B: You guys, if you're listening to this, make sure you go on her Instagram and follow her because she has a really cute post about her U.S. citizen citizenship and everything. So.
Okay, awesome. Okay, so. So thank you for giving us some background on your daily routine and, and how you stay consistent in showing up every day. And something I want to know everyone listening is when Elena was talking, she talked a lot about her. Her intention and her priorities. Like you really. That's like your foundation in a lot of things of like where how are you showing up with what energy and with what priorities when it comes to being online? And I feel like you just have such a great positive presence. Go get her. Go get her energy on showing up online and how it's influencing your family and all those things. So, so I just want to note that like there's. It's not just showing up online, it's. It's all the intentions behind it, why you're showing up online and what you love and finding all those things to keep you going. So I love that.
Awesome. Okay, so what. One more on the daily routine though. One more question I want to ask you on this is like when it's a hard day, what do you do? Like when it's a day where you're like, I don't want to show up, or it's a day where you're like, I just don't feel like, like being an influencer today. What do you do?
[00:39:51] Speaker A: No, I mean, it's important to have day offs for everybody and it's the same for influencers. Sometimes it's not. Like, for example, today I don't want to show, show me on Instagram and I will not do it. And it's like, you know, day after day, I mean, have to say like very often.
But of course you need to have these day offs anyway because if you don't do it, you will be like, burn out of. Yeah, you will burn out very quickly because you cannot do your work, your job, like every single day without vacation, without day off, without rest or anything. So sometimes when I feel not good or tired or anything, like sick or something, sometimes I just do day off. I don't post anything to stories, I don't post anything to my feed. Like not reels, not post. And at the beginning you feel guilty about that. Like I miss a day, I didn't post anything to stories, something is wrong, everybody will forget, forget about me.
But no, it will not happen. It's okay to have it. And actually I heard that right now it's better not to post every day.
[00:41:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:41:00] Speaker A: Like before everybody thought that every day posting stories is better. But right now you need to do once a week, you need to do a break for 24 hours.
Like it's a new Instagram algorithm.
[00:41:13] Speaker B: Yeah. Back in 2018, it was like posting two times a day every day. And now, now, right now it's more like quality over quality over quantity.
[00:41:22] Speaker A: Yeah. So right now I know that if I don't post once a week, it's fine. And I don't think guilty about that. I know that it's like fine. So when I in a good mood, I always post, of course. And I don't think. But if I, if I'm not in a good mood and actually your followers, they feel your energy and if you post just to post and you're like not feeling good, they will feel it and it will not help you, you to grow or it will not help you to pay their attention, to grow your loyalty and all this stuff.
[00:41:51] Speaker B: So yeah, I love that, I love how you said that because just like, like the gym, like you, you have to like rest from your work. And when it comes to creating right you don't have creative energy when you're always creating. So you have to like fill up your creative cup. And I love the flexibility, like your flexibility of being an influencer where you can take a day off and it's going to be okay, but then the next day, you know, you feel great. But I like how you said you're, you felt guilty in the beginning, but now you're not. And I think that's a big difference because when you feel guilty resting, it makes it harder to show up for the next day and the next day because you feel so guilty that one day. So when you let go of that guilt and be like, I need this rest and I'm going to feel good for tomorrow, that shift in mindset change, you know, it changes you how you show up.
[00:42:37] Speaker A: Yes, I absolutely agree.
[00:42:40] Speaker B: So before we talk today, I want you to give us some, you gave us some Instagram growth hacks already a little bit earlier. List off some more if you have any on the top of your mind of some Instagram growth hacks. If someone's going to show up, wants to grow their Instagram, you know, what should they be doing and what are some hacks they should be digging into and working towards?
[00:42:58] Speaker A: Like you said right now, the quality is like better than quantity. So don't try to do a lot of posts if you don't have to time even to think about what you post.
So it's better to good quality content and it means to do it more with hook. You know this first three seconds the people stop scrolling and they watch your reel. So you need to do a lot of reels. But good reels brings attention of your followers. So it's reels for Instagram growth. It's paid advertisement, targeted advertisement through meta Instagram platform, it's collaborations with other bloggers, it's paid features with other bloggers and, and swap up or how it's called like when other bloggers feature you and you feature them.
Nobody pays, nobody. But you like promote each other and you're both interested in it. So I would say yes, these are the most things that works for me. Yeah.
[00:43:54] Speaker B: And what's it. Can you give us an example of like a good re. Like what's a good reel? Like what's a good piece of content?
[00:44:02] Speaker A: It should has a hook. It's first three seconds, it should pay your attention. So because if it's not nothing like interesting, it's in first three second seconds everybody will just scroll and they will not see and it shouldn't be very Long, but not very short. Especially like the same about text. If you put the text, it shouldn't be very fast and shouldn't be very slow. So it's a lot of actually rules.
So what else? Of course it should be good quality lighting. Lighting is very important. So try always to have natural lighting or like additional LED lighting. Lights, additional equipment. So lighting should be good. You should upload with a good quality the settings in your iPhone to upload everything with good quality turned on.
And you should follow some trends sometimes. Like you can search and see some trends. And if everybody does that, it's better for you to do it but very quickly, because trends are coming quickly. And so if you want to repeat these trends, you need to do it like fast.
[00:45:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:45:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:06] Speaker B: We didn't even say you're just on Instagram right now. Like, Elena's not even on Tick Tock yet, right?
[00:45:10] Speaker A: Oh, I'm on Tick Tock, but I have maybe 50 followers.
[00:45:13] Speaker B: But you're not. Like, that's not. It's like this growth is just on Instagram. So I just want people to know that, like, this is just Instagram. Like, she hasn't even touched the Tick Tock world yet. Which you probably will in the future.
[00:45:26] Speaker A: My kids are always laughing at me because they watch YouTube a lot and they always ask me, mom, how many followers you have on YouTube? And I'm like, I have two subscribers, myself and my son. That's it.
Only on Instagram? Yeah.
[00:45:41] Speaker B: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on here today. We really went through, you know, a lot of great background of what it looks like to be an influencer in the background in the daily life, besides just with videos. Right. We see all the highlights on Instagram, but actually, like dig down deep of like what it actually looks like and what your daily routine looks like and what the dynamic is with your family and everything. It's really great that you share all that today and we love your story. Love to hear your story. Story of like where you were, how you got to this place and how you're showing up online consistently. And I hope people listening to this can really hear, get some motivation, get some empowerment from showing, for showing up as themselves. Do you have anything, last messages you want to share before we get off?
[00:46:21] Speaker A: No, I just want to say, everyone, thank you for watching. And also, if you are thinking about starting it right now and you think it's too late or it's not the right time, it's right time. Just start consistently. Enjoy what you do and everything else will come to your blog or to your I don't know account.
[00:46:40] Speaker B: It's never too late to start. That's like a big message for today. I love that. It's never too late to start. Right? You started a year and a half ago. Like, it's never too late to start and commit. So awesome. And definitely, you know, follow Elena and watch out. She might have a course coming out soon. Right. I'm sure your messages are open to people to learn about it as well. I'm sure you have a lot to share. Error. But thank you so much for being on here today and joining us here at Society Gal.
[00:47:05] Speaker A: Thank you very much for inviting me and have a wonderful rest of the day.
