Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links which means YBC® will earn a small commission if you happen to make a purchase. Thanks for the support.
At our most recent Namaslay® Business and Marketing Retreat in Austin, I relayed the story of how YBC® has grown, one step at a time, to where we are today. When you’re just starting out in something new, it’s easy to look at someone 50 steps ahead and compare yourself to where they are, but it’s important to remember no one’s path is the same as your own. If you’re stepping out as a new entrepreneur, or have aspirations for a business of your own, I hope this inspires you to trust in the process and invest in yourself. Our next in-person Business and Marketing event is at Namaslay® Studios in January, where you can ask me anything about your visions for growth, or you can enroll in the online version for videos and a workbook you can revisit anytime you need inspiration.
In looking back at all the jobs I’ve had - front desk staff at a gym, data entry, elderly caregiver, babysitter, bartender, dishwasher, server, retail, concession stands, playhouse usher, school teacher - it was really easy to quickly and concisely explain what I did. No one asked many questions; it was all so readily understood.
But when I graduated from my yoga teacher training program, I decided to start a blog. I did it for the love of blogs, which I think many women can relate to if you were in your early twenties around 2010ish. I’d read a handful of fashion blogs but felt like there wasn’t a blog out there that was exactly like the one I wanted to read: one with a little fashion, a lot of health content, a good amount of yoga and fitness, a bit on books, etc. So I set out to create it myself. Fresh out of my yoga teacher training, I felt like I could use the platform to share all that I’d just learned, and help to answer the questions I had about yoga and health before I went to my training. I remembered being a young, broke college student, unable to afford the yoga studio prices in town, and felt I could create some YouTube content for students who might find themselves in the position I was once in. I figured I’d share the beauty products I liked, and the outfits that I was into even though I wouldn’t consider myself particularly fashion forward. I’d share the fitness stuff I did, since I was always interested in working out, and thought it might just be a fun creative outlet for me that may serve to help and inspire some people along the way.
About a year into making YouTube content, I realized that you could monetize the platform and earn money for the content you were creating. With the click of a button in the back end of the platform, I began to earn pennies off of the yoga videos I was creating. I learned a bit about affiliate programs and began earning a few more pennies for linking to beauty products, food, clothing, and fitness equipment that I was already using and talking about. I remember one of the first times a company approached me to promote their product within a yoga video. I think I earned $25 or $50 bucks for it, which felt like a million, since I was merely doing what I loved, and talking about ways you could use the product (a pair of socks), in a core strengthening exercise. My blog quickly grew to the point where I needed to bring on someone else to help me field emails, and sooner or later, I realized I needed to sit down and strategize the business side of things because I had a hunch this could be a viable business. All the while, I’d been honing my skills as a yoga teacher, teaching free classes on the beach in Florida for a summer, teaching in gyms and fitness studios in Germany, where I lived for most of the year, creating online yoga content, and working on the blog with my one employee, Lauren.
It started to feel like we were creating something more than just a business. At the start, since I had a lot of free time, I offered customized yoga videos. I think my starting rate for a custom yoga video was $65, and then $75, and then it went up to $100. I remember creating a DVD for active duty military who were dealing with back and hip trouble due to carrying heavy equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan. I remember creating a DVD for someone with HIV and AIDS. I listened to what they were dealing with and came up with a sequence that would work best for them. The work was meaningful and fulfilling, and I was getting paid to do what I loved. Eventually, my business grew to the point where I didn’t have the time to create custom DVDs…and also, DVDs were becoming less and less a thing, so that fizzled out and my work evolved, but I was so happy to make those connections within the little YBC® community we were fostering on the internet.
The First Real Growth in Our Small Business
One of the biggest ways in which my business grew was the development of Mantra Box®, a quarterly discovery box that we filled with products from small, healthy living businesses. It was started because businesses kept sending me all sorts of products they wanted me to promote - yoga straps, handmade soap, artisanal spices, essential oil blends, jewelry, healthy snacks… and I loved it all, but I needed to pay Lauren, and I wanted to grow the business, so I needed capital. I will never forget the day I had a meeting with Lauren to see if she thought we could come up with some sort of very low scale Birch Box type thing where instead of the businesses sending us one product, we pitch them the idea to help get their products in the hands of a set number of target consumers. We knew the YBC® community well enough to know what they care about where they spend their money. We knew they’d like these goodies and would rather support these smaller businesses, rather than the big box stores if they could. Lauren said she thought people would be into it, and so we did some market research. We asked our audience what they would be willing to spend on a quarterly box ($10? $25? $50? $100?), and we asked businesses what type of inventory they would be willing to part with (50 items? 100? 150?). The magic numbers seemed to be $49.99 for the sale of the box, and 150 for the inventory, and so with that information, Lauren and I set out to buy the boxes and have them branded with our Mantra Box® logo. We worked with our IP lawyer to trademark the name. It was a really exciting learning process and felt like a real adventure. The best part? We got to source some amazing little goodies from small businesses to get in the literal hands of our community! We were uniting small business with consumers which felt like we were directly impacting the underdogs - because, what we’d learned, is that it’s really hard to get into the big box stores. It costs a lot in both money and inventory, and for some smaller business, it’s nearly impossible to do without risking everything. Further, we were bringing in the necessary capital to help expand the business and take risks with things like retreats and teacher trainings.
Suddenly, I realized I was an influencer
In the comments section for this video, someone asked about the no-slip socks I’m wearing. They actually stay on (!!) so of course I tagged them when asked about them. I wasn’t paid for that, I simply shared a brand I loved. However, if they wanted to work with me, I would absolutely do so.
All the while, I’ve always talked about the food, clothing, beauty, and other lifestyle products that I used and loved. And therefore, essentially, I was an influencer. I “influenced” people simply by sharing what I used and enjoyed, and sooner or later that translated into sometimes being paid to do so. Would I talk about products if I weren’t being paid for them? Absolutely, and I do it all the time. In the above screenshot from my Instagram account, I shared a personal practice of mine. In it, I’m wearing no-show socks, and someone asked if they actually stay on, which they do, so of course I answered and tagged the brand that makes them (Stance, if you’re wondering). I wasn’t paid to talk about them, wear them, or tag them, but I tagged them anyway because I use them and love them and want my peeps to know about them. Anything I can do to help my peeps is a win in my book, and at the top of the list of Life’s Most Annoying Things, no-show socks that fall down your feet has got to be up there.
I also talk about Farmacy’s Sleep Tight mask all the time. It’s one of the most hydrating things ever, and my skin loves it, and we’ve never once done a deal together (but, like, CALL ME, FARMACY!). But yes, YBC® is sometimes paid for promoting products, and they are always, without fail, products I like and would buy for myself.
Influencer Tip: Never Compromise Your Values
Once, a company asked me to promote a “natural” energy drink. I asked for the ingredient list, and they came back with the list and a payment offer of four figures. The third item on the ingredient list was Aspartame, an ingredient I have always been 100% vocally against. There was no way in hell I was going to promote it, no matter how much they paid me. I politely said no and explained my reasoning. They came back with a five figure number. I said no again. Then they came back with a higher five figure number. And, man, there was a lot I could do with that number. I could invest in an app; I could buy new camera equipment; I could….but nope. I could not and would not promote a product I did not believe in. And I responded firmly with a hard no. That is where a lot of influencers go wrong, I think. They take the quick and easy cash to promote a product they don’t believe in. But when you do that? You lose everything.
To me, I feel like there is a true connection between the influencer and the little community they’ve created. I share things - good books, songs, movies, products, and they share things, and it’s this mutual friendship. The second you veer off and put your values at risk, you put that friendship at risk. You want the best for your friends, do you not? So why would you compromise your values for money? It makes no sense.
Influencing is Not New
I feel like we’ve been influenced since the dawn of time. We all know, from Mean Girls, that the mean girl queen bee wore a light pink Juicy track suit. We know she drove a BMW. We know she thought butter was a carb. We know, from Jessica Simpson, that tuna is the Chicken of the Sea, and we might not know wtf you use Goo Gone for, but we know it’s available at Home Depot, whatever it is. We know that Gwyneth Paltrow does vaginal steaming, and that the wise dad in My Big Fat Greek Wedding lived by the philosophy that if you “Put some Windex!” on anything, it’d be fixed, solved, or healed. We know that the Devil Wears Prada, not Gucci. We know that Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, not Sonic. We know that Tom Hanks’ character in Cast Away was accompanied by Wilson, not Spalding. From Clueless, we know that Calvin Klein, not Michael Kors, said it was a dress, even though it looks like a t-shirt. We can spot a royal blue Manolo Blahnik a mile away, thanks to Sex and the City. Product placement has been around for ages and is nothing new - it’s just that the way we consume information has changed. People are watching far less tv, so now instead of a brand spending $350k on one episode of television, it can spend that same amount, distributed among many, many micro or nano influencers, and reach their target audience. If the influencer is smart, they’ll only work with companies they already love with values they already believe in, and it’ll be a win for everyone - the brand gets in front of their target audience, the influencer gets paid to help grow their business, and the audience gets to learn about products or companies they may not have known about, and they may even get a coupon to try it out.
Sponsored post for Coola
Nobody likes to be sold to, but people love a great recommendation, and that’s essentially all this is, provided the influencer does the right thing and works with companies that make sense for them. For example, if you’re here - you probably know me pretty well, but just in case you don’t - I am a someone who loves yoga, yes, but I’m a specific type of yoga person. While I can hang in the traditional yoga studios, I am most comfortable in a space that welcomes everyone from the meat-eating to the wine-drinking yogi. I enjoy fashion, make up, working out with weights, and travel. While I love granola, I am not a crunchy granola type of traveler, so my retreats and the hotels I partner with are a little more upscale, and that’s why partnerships with Ritz Carlton, Kimpton and Shangri-La have made sense, because the people who attend my retreats are a similar type of person.
But aside from sometimes loving the finer things in life, I also have another side to me. I didn’t grow up with a ton of money, and I’ve always had a job - ever since I can remember. I have many family members who are entrepreneurs and small business owners, including my own mother, who has always had her own business. Throughout my childhood, she was a thrift shop owner. She taught me how to hunt down the best pieces, and thrift store shopping is still one of my favorite things to do. I learned from an early age how tough it is for the small business owners out there, and so I am always eager to work with smaller brands because I know how hard it is for them to scale. If I can help the smaller businesses in the health and wellness worlds get into the peripheral of my YBCers, then I want to do that. Not only do I know it’ll help the small businesses, but I know that many of the people who follow along on social media care about where they spend their money. Sure, they will shop at Amazon, but if they know there’s another, smaller company they can support that makes an equally good, if not better, product, then they will. But they may not know about this brand until we tell them about it via some sort of collaboration - a sponsored YouTube video, or a giveaway on our blog or via the Mantra Box®.
At the end of the day it comes down to authenticity and knowing your why. If you’re an influencer, my advice to you is to be yourself, and get clear on who you want to help. If you’re just trying to help yourself earn a buck, this isn’t going to work. In a world dominated by social media, we are all looking for our little online tribe - a place where we can feel comfortable enough to be ourselves. So if you’re consistently, authentically and unapologetically yourself, your people will find you, and the relationships between you and your people will flourish. Then, when brands approach you for collaborations (or you approach them), so long as you stay authentic to who you are, everyone will win - especially the people who follow you on social.
These philosophies guide my business practices and act as a framework for the curriculum of the Namaslay® Business and Marketing workshops and online program. I hope to see you at Namaslay® Studios in January to hear more about your business plans, or start to work on the online videos and workbook and let me know how you’re doing!