Profitable Strategies for Selling on Instagram with Full Time Artist Kyra Kendall

Is Instagram the new art gallery where you browse and purchase art directly from the artist?  On this episode, I talk with Kyra who is a full-time artist who sells 97% of her artwork direct to customers on Instagram.  She gives us some insight on her approach and some great tips to get started selling including a very cool promotion that created a lot of customer engagement.  She is a one-person entrepreneur that has taken her joy of painting and built a business around it.  It was so fun to listen to her talk instagram strategies, her different customers, what she did to start out when no one knew her, along with some great advice for just getting started. She takes us through starting on Etsy and how she grew into a full time operations….still as a sole entrepreneur.  

The entire episode we cover some great topics and nuggets.

In this Episode we talk about:

Kyra's Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/kendallkyra/

Kyra's Website
https://www.kyrakendall.com/

Sticker Mule
https://www.stickermule.com/unlock?ref_id=8691501701&utm_medium=link&utm_source=invite

Sign up for our free newsletter https://www.sellingfrom.co/news
Free Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/sellingfromthebeach
Join our Free Selling on Amazon Course https://www.sellingfrom.co/freefba
Grab a Copy of our Book https://www.sellingfrom.co/book
Join our OA Masterclass at https://sellingfromthebeach.com/masterclass
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sellingfromthebeach/

Transcript

[00:00:00.670] - Rob
Is Instagram the new art gallery, we just browse and purchase art directly from the artist. On this episode I talk with Kyra Kendall, who's a full time artist who sells 97% of our artwork direct to customers on Instagram, she gives us some insight on our approach and some great tips to get started selling, including a very cool promotion idea to create a lot of customer engagement. Cue the intro music. Welcome to the selling from the Beach podcast, where we talk about selling online, making money and creating a lifestyle that you want recording from the white sandy beaches of Costa Rica.

[00:00:37.110] - Rob
Here's your host, Rob Cosman. On this episode, I finally convinced my friend Kyra Kendall to sit down and talk about her online business. Here's a full time artist who paints what she wants and sells them directly to customers on Instagram. She's a one person entrepreneur that has taken her joy of painting and built a business around it. It was so fun to listen to her talk about Instagram strategies for different customers, but she did start out with no one knew her, along with some other great advice for when you're just getting started.

[00:01:09.470] - Rob
She takes us through beginnings on Etsy, how she grew into full time operations and still her life as a solo entrepreneur. The entire episode will cover some great topics and nuggets. I was wrapping up the show and she was still dropping advice to help you get more views right now on Instagram. So you want to stick around at the very end because there's lots of good information the entire way through. Let's get into the interview.

[00:01:35.090] - Rob
Hi, Kyra. Welcome to the show. 

[00:01:38.030] - Kyra
Hi, Rob. How are you?

[00:01:39.710] - Rob
 I'm great. I'm excited to have you here today. Excited to have you on the podcast. And I want to kind of change things up. I, this is almost a personal episode. You know, just a bit of background on how I know, Kyra. So Kyra's husband and I used to work together and we bought season tickets to the Toronto FC, which is an MLS soccer team. And so I go back for a few years and Kyra is an artist and a very good artist.

[00:02:03.920] - Rob
And, you know, I know you were you started doing a bunch online selling in Instagram and selling artwork there. And, you know, Scott used to give me a little tidbits here and there, and I always had a million questions. And then, you know, whenever we always get together, you always downplayed it. And I'm like, no, no, this is this is my opportunity now to sit down and get you for, you know, overlying.

[00:02:23.000] - Rob
This is I don't know if it's 45 minutes or an hour and just ask you all the questions I always want to know and you're always too shy to tell me. So I'm excited personally to get you on. So just to I know this is going to be good times for anybody if you're listening to this and you're able to open up your phone or your computer right now, I'm going to tell you to just have a look at Kyra's Instagram.

[00:02:44.990] - Rob
It's Kendall @kendallkyra right?

[00:02:51.970] - Kyra
 Yep, yep. 

[00:02:53.630] - Rob
Open up your Instagram and you can see it now. She's an artist and it's a lot better of doing a podcast if you can visualize some stuff and we're going to talk about art. So open it up if you have it. So Kyra give me a little bit of a give everybody a bit of intro's, because you're obviously not an Amazon seller. You're totally different. And, you know, we're switching it up here on Episode 5.

[00:03:14.200] - Rob
We're going we're going on Amazon, but definitely an online seller. So just give everybody a little bit of intro on a who you are and what you do.

[00:03:22.370] - Kyra
Well, I am artist center, but I didn't I started out doing design work and I actually have always painted forever as a when I was to school for it, but also just as a passion paint painting in my spare time, like a lot of people do. And I started sharing my images on Instagram and building a following that way. So now I just paint artwork lit on social media as a full time job. That's what I do. 

[00:03:56.050] - Rob
OK, so you say social media, but it's mostly Instagram, right?

[00:04:01.120] - Kyra
It's 97% Instagram. The three percent is Pinterest.

[00:04:07.900] - Rob
Pinterest, it's not even TikTok.

[00:04:12.330] - Kyra
No, its' Pinterest.

[00:04:13.110] - Rob
OK, so you went to school to be a graphic designer and that's what you used to do. And that's where, like our worlds kind of cross your just a traditional graphic designer and then you just started sketching and putting your your images up or what.

[00:04:28.960] - Kyra
Well, OK, so it's a little it's a little bit. I actually went to school for fine art, so but I have always painted ever since and I did graphic design as a job. But when I come home, like on the weekend, I go to the art supply store, buy a bunch of shit and just paint and mess around while I was watching TV. So I've always I've always produced artwork, but it was just for myself and I get a lot of joy out of it the way most people do.

[00:04:56.800] - Kyra
And then I was working graphic design full time. But then I moved, as you know, Rob, to Waterloo. And in the move I had to look for a new job in graphic design. And it was there was a period where I had a lot of free time because you know you're looking for a job, and so I was painting more and it's also a great stress reliever, of course. So I was painting a lot and I was.

[00:05:28.720] - Kyra
Out for drinks with my friend Daniel Brown, which you also know, and I was talking to her about working in design and also painting and enjoying painting, and she just sort of stopped me mid conversation. And I was like,oh, if you really like painting, why don't you just paint? Like, why don't you just just do that? Like, why why do anything else if that's what you really want to do. And it surprised me.

[00:05:55.720] - Kyra
And I was like, oh shit. OK, I guess I guess I'll give it a try. And so I created a social media account and I just started posting my pictures. Now, the reason that I think I got so much traction with my artwork is I would use the social media like I would use Instagram as my source of inspiration for whatever I was painting. So I would find images on Instagram that I found beautiful or inspiring, and then I would paint those and post them tagging the original creator of the photograph.

[00:06:31.180] - Kyra
So I think that's what built my following like the core, like at the very base of it, is producing something like showing people how you see something in a different way that they can also see. Yes. So I think because social media is all about you know producing images for yourself, like whatever it is, a beautiful palm tree or whatever, and then to have someone else come along and paint it is surprising for people.

[00:07:03.960] - Rob
OK, so you'd see, like an image of like Lady Gaga and then you just kind of paint her photo like a photo, a photograph, and then you were painted how you see it and then tag her to that kind of 

[00:07:16.140] - Kyra
Tag, tag her. But also the other thing is tag all the, all the creators of that image, because it's not just Lady Gaga, it's Lady Gaga's makeup artist and Lady Gaga's hairstylist and Lady Gaga's clothing stylist and  like the magazine that the pictures taken for. So you tagging all the people that have ownership of that image to whatever degree, because they're all they'd all be interested to see it. And I was thinking about it.

[00:07:48.450] - Kyra
I was thinking about when I was going to come on here. And I think the most important thing that I've done is and if anyone can do if they wanted to do this, is creating content that people want to share because it's social media. So the content itself should be shareable. So, I mean, if you decide that you want to paint a pine tree in your backyard, that's great. But it's it's personal to you because it's your pine tree.

[00:08:18.600] - Kyra
But other people, you know, it's not as shareable. 

[00:08:23.770] - Rob
Right? No. I mean, shareable is shareable, is cracking the code. But it sounds like you kind of cracked the code, you know, you were able to paint something that all these other individuals saw it. And then they're interested to see your perspective on something that they help produce. Right? Do you ever get in trouble for that? 

[00:08:42.660] - Kyra
Yes. And

[00:08:43.930] - Rob
 Sorry

[00:08:45.120] - Kyra
Oh, yes, no, never. And everyone asks me that, everyone does, and I think it's because my work I mean, it's not exactly photo representational, is it?

[00:08:58.140] - Kyra
It's like pretty much is delving into the abstract or it really exaggerates the original photograph. So I think that because I'm not I'm not I never try to replicate the photograph ever. I'm trying to like, get the feeling of the photograph or the feeling of the image. And I think that in that that difference is like the key difference. I actually I've once I once did get in trouble very early on. I'll tell you, it's the weirdest story.

[00:09:32.430] - Kyra
And it made me so angry. It was like this girl and she wasn't famous. Like she was just a girl. Like it was, you know, I kid I hit the the magnifying glass or whatever it's called at the bottom of Instagram, the suggestions. And she comes up and it's this gorgeous photograph of her sort of she's got these cat eye glasses on these two buns. And it was really just a cute photograph. And I painted it. I painted an acrylic painting of it.

[00:10:02.100] - Kyra
And then I, I tagged her and I shared it with her and she messaged me back saying that her photograph was hers and that even though I was doing a creative take on it, she wanted to be compensated. And I was like, OK, I'll just paint over the painting because this is weird and I did and I destroyed it and at first.

[00:10:35.820] - Kyra
Anyway, she ended up I don't think she understood the point of social media and that when you put images out there, there's still yours, but, you know, like line up so. I, I she ended up making her profile private, so I kind of feel like she just didn't get it. Like she didn't. She didn't. I mean, technically, she's right. Like it was her photograph. But my painting was not her photograph. It was inspired by her photograph.

[00:11:08.870] - Rob
Well, I've seen I've seen you I've seen you print the Beatles walking across Abbey Road. So, you know, I don't think they're coming after you, but OK interesting.

[00:11:17.430] - Kyra
 Yeah, yeah, yeah. So like one time so one time I had someone be like, cool, but you have to pay me. And I was like, OK, so one time. 

[00:11:27.910] - Rob
Right.

[00:11:28.190] - Kyra
 Which like considering. Yeah. Like considering I've done like 5,000 I don't think that's OK. 

[00:11:35.720] - Rob
Oh OK. So you just drop that. You've paid it like 5,000. 

[00:11:42.260] - Kyra
Probably more yeah on an exam 

[00:11:44.730] - Rob
in how long?

[00:11:46.220] - Kyra
 Since 2016. OK, 

[00:11:49.040] - Rob
but this is this is full time for you now. This is all you do. This is a full time?

[00:11:52.940] - Kyra
Yeah, yeah. This is all I do. This is it.

[00:11:56.360] - Rob
OK, so let's let's go back let's take a little step back. So you have a drinks, because some of the best ideas come when you have a couple of cocktails in you. 

[00:12:03.950] - Kyra
Absolutely.

[00:12:04.530] - Rob
 You decide, OK, this is what you're going to do. You started posting the paintings and then 

[00:12:09.410] - Kyra
Yup

[00:12:09.450] - Rob
you put it out there. Tell me about your first order, like how did the first order feel or, you know, 

[00:12:15.950] - Kyra
OK, I can tell you. I can tell you. Yes, OK, I'll tell you. So one of the things I did was I didn't tell any of my friends that I was doing this. I wanted all of my followers to be strangers. First of all, it made me feel more comfortable. And secondly, I don't really like talking about myself anyway, so I just kind of sat quietly, did it, and then people were asking if they could buy them. And I wanted just set up the cheapest way to do it because I was pretty didn't really know if this is going to work or whatever.

[00:12:46.040] - Kyra
So I used Etsy and I so I think my maybe my first 50 or a hundred orders were on Etsy and I moved away from Etsy for the reasons that I think any seller ends up moving away from Etsy. And that is because Etsy is interested in Etsy and not interested in you, like they're always suggesting to a consumer ways to get them off of your page and onto somebody else's similar product. And like that sucks. So once I could afford to not be on Etsy anymore, I moved away from it but, 

[00:13:23.130] - Kyra
Yeah, so I can't remember, I think. I think my first order was I'd painted a pine cone and it was just like I liked it, it was like someone took a picture of it and I thought it was really pretty.

[00:13:39.550] - Kyra
And I painted a pine cone and then sold. That's weird. And then it just started selling from there, like pretty a lot. So I don't know.

[00:13:50.560] - Rob
It's funny you say that Etsy's interested in themselves. And, you know, they're always suggesting any third party marketplace tends to do that right?There just you know. So then would you go do you have a Shopify? That's the end now.

[00:14:03.700] - Kyra
Shopify? Yeah. But I would if anyone was starting out, I'd absolutely recommend Etsy because it's a really, really cheap way to get selling. And it's easy. And if you were like I was where you're kind of like, maybe I'm going to do this, you know, like you don't want to invest too much. It's great. So I would recommend that path. I would recommend starting with Etsy. But yeah, Etsy is up for Etsy. So I moved to Shopify and it's good.

[00:14:33.820] - Kyra
It's expensive, but it's good.

[00:14:36.010] - Rob
But you made the jump from Etsy to Shopify when you finally had a little bit of a following. Right, because 

[00:14:41.780] - Kyra
That's right?

[00:14:42.590] - Rob
 No offense you're nobody when you first start out and Etsy has some traffic, that's first of customers right? So they're discovering you that I mean, what does it cost, like 20 cents for a listing? And then if you want to do

[00:14:53.560] - Kyra
Exactly, 

[00:14:54.360] - Rob
you can. But I mean, it's pretty low level costs and the customers are there.

[00:14:58.150] - Rob
So then so now you started to get some followers on your Instagram page again and then you made the jump invest dollars in your own Shopify site. 

[00:15:07.780] - Kyra
That's right, that's what I did, and you know what, I learned a lot of market research on Etsy because I was looking at who was buying and I never would have guessed. I mean, I guess it makes sense, but all my clients are American, so I knew that from Etsy so that when I'm setting up my Shopify account, I knew to set it up in American currency, American bank account, just to make it easier for what I knew was my biggest customer base.

[00:15:36.280] - Kyra
And had I not started with Etsy, I I don't know that I would have known that. 

[00:15:41.370] - Rob
Right, and good point, like for those who don't know, Kyra lives in Toronto, Canada, and I remember I did the same thing when I started on that site with my father. And we got our business off to the ground, off the ground there. Same thing. I put everything in US dollars. The other thing did you do do you charge for shipping to do free shipping?

[00:15:59.210] - Kyra
Well, I do free shipping and I do it because I know shipping is a barrier for everyone and this is how this is why, OK, a painting is a weird thing to buy on the Internet. It is something because a photograph is not the same as looking at something with your eye.

[00:16:17.390] - Kyra
And everyone knows that intrinsically. Right? Like the colors are like looks one way in a screen. Maybe it'll look different in real life. Like I feel like it's a barrier for people. So I already feel like people have to cross that chasm on their own. I don't want to have charge ten dollars on top of that if you're already taking the risk. I want to meet you halfway, so shipping is included if you live in America or Canada.

[00:16:45.680] - Kyra
However, if you live in Europe or anywhere else in the world, then I have calculated those an additional shipping charge because I can't absorb those costs. But of course, with the USPS drama that we're currently hang, I now have  UPS option on your checkout. So before I'd have I've had no problems with including free shipping and just sending everything USPS. But in the past six months, service has deteriorated so badly with the mail that I have to offer something else.

[00:17:26.630] - Rob
Right. 

[00:17:27.440] - Kyra
So that's where we're at. 

[00:17:28.950] - Rob
OK, now I want to I want to go on another route you said overseas. So what's your breakdown of customers that are not in North America, not between Canada and US? 

[00:17:40.510] - Kyra
So so my breakdown is I'm going to say 85% of my market is in America and then 10% in Australia. I don't know. And then 5 like 4% is Denmark, Germany, London, Paris, like just a little you know what I mean. A little bit. And 1% is Canada. 

[00:18:11.700] - Rob
Wow 

[00:18:11.800] - Kyra
Yeah,

[00:18:12.470] - Rob
 well, homegrown, not not supported, 

[00:18:15.370] - Kyra
weird right?

[00:18:19.070] - Kyra
Well, I don't know, like I don't know why. I have lots of it's just not people. They don't buy the work. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe because it maybe because my prices are in US and we both know as Canadians when you're shopping, that's a barrier right there. And depending on the dollar and the dollar is not awesome right now. So

[00:18:41.630] - Rob
 another 30% on top of it. OK, so I want to go back we off on a tangent.

[00:18:46.420] - Rob
So started on Instagram you're selling well, you've got Shopify going now and you're starting to get some traction. You're starting to build. How did you continue to grow that like. Was it you started doing custom work? Is that where you know grew your business? Is it just continuing that same strategy of taking other people's photos and doing that? Like what kind of that you accelerate?

[00:19:12.460] - Kyra
OK, custom work has always been a proportional component to my business growing, I don't think actually maybe at the beginning it was more because I used to charge not enough for it. I would charge very little and I would get a lot of custom work. But I realized early that it wasn't worth it and I had to increase the price until the level of client was where I wanted it to be. And so I guess my custom marketing mix has actually probably shrunken over time.

[00:19:48.850] - Kyra
But the growth that I have experienced has been with I have a very loyal following, but follow me, have followed me for years and are very invested. So there's that. And the reason I have that is I try to create things that they like and I am consistent with what I create. And I also try and open the doors to doing it yourself. Like I try to be transparent with the materials that I use, how I think about doing things I don't.

[00:20:30.310] - Kyra
I want to inspire other people to try it. I don't want to be some kind of wizard on a mountain top that won't even tell you what paintbrush I have, you know. So I think that, like, that sharing mentality helps build a relationship with people. 

[00:20:50.370] - Rob
So are you getting repeat customers?

[00:20:53.060] - Kyra
 I have some like. I have some customers that have bought over a hundred paintings of mine.

[00:21:01.720] - Rob
 What? 

[00:21:02.550] - Kyra
Yeah, yeah, I know I'm so lucky. Like there is a woman in Australia that has a wall that is like 50 paintings, like in a hallway of mine, laid out like a grid. And yeah. Like it's it's like, yeah, I have a real I have a real group of people that passionate about like artwork,

[00:21:28.980] - Rob
 that's awesome. 

[00:21:29.680] - Kyra
I'm so lucky. Yeah, I know, you know, and and yeah. 

[00:21:34.440] - Kyra
How big. Just because this is a podcast, how big are your paintings and?

[00:21:41.680] - Kyra
Oh OK, so I do them 12 by 12, like the size of a record album, you can imagine an LP that's 12 by 12. I'd choose that size one because the pretty easy to find a frame on Amazon. If you need one, it's two. It's easy to ship. That's like a shipping maxim, like it's in the whatever shipping category. That's reasonable. And I will always do stuff bigger if someone wants a bigger, but I just charge more so.

[00:22:14.720] - Kyra
If left to myself, 12 by 12, 

[00:22:17.800] - Rob
OK, so 12 by 12, you roll them up to keep them flat. 

[00:22:24.110] - Kyra
Keep them flat. Yeah, I just buy some special packaging on new line. 

[00:22:29.080] - Rob
OK, let's talk about your fans then. So now I'm going to go after this lady who's got like 50 of them. Now you make something, you put it up. Are you getting like, you know, is it like a sneaker raffle where, you know, everybody wants your next painting or?

[00:22:42.470] - Kyra
Yeah. So so the the the magic of it, I think. And the reason that people are is the scarcity. Like there's one or as I said, like if I'm like I'm doing a topic that I know people like, I'll do a few. But it's not a print. It's not a reproduction. There's just one. And so I paint a lot of the subject matter more than once. But if you lined up all the times that I painted the Harry Potter castle, they all look so different because I was in a different mood.

[00:23:14.600] - Kyra
Whatever. I ran out of blue, I used orange instead. But people will get in their minds that they want Harry Potter Castle or they want Prince level and I paint Prince so they'll wait. And then when I do one, they, like, get it right away or complain that they missed it.

[00:23:36.920] - Kyra
So that keeps people engaged, I guess, and they've got their vision for their house and I guess they wait until they see something perfect and then they buy it. 

[00:23:49.250] - Rob
OK, but see, this is where we've got a bit of a conflict because you're a true artist. That's, you're a businesswoman as well and an entrepreneur. But I mean, your your background as an artist. So help me. The online is the seller that I am. I'm like I'm just making a ton of prints.

[00:24:06.480] - Rob
That's all I'm doing is just print. That's how until it runs dry can I make 30, 40, 50. How do you how do you do that then? How do you balance that?

[00:24:14.250] - Kyra
OK, so like maybe you're right and I'm wrong. Like you could entirely be right. What you're talking about is what every other artist does. Like everyone does that they're just like, oh, here's the cool thing. Oh, here's a print. It's you know buy the print for hundred dollars. I think prints suck like, 

[00:24:33.070] - Rob
no, no,

[00:24:33.860] - Kyra
 it's exactly the same, but it's yeah. It's just a reproduction the like when some an original piece like there's only one and I think that is the motivator.

[00:24:44.010] - Kyra
But you're right. You're right. I guess I'm leaving money on the table, if I did Prince, it would be more money. 

[00:24:51.480] - Rob
No, no, I don't think I am. I love the fact that the original totally. But I'm saying why wouldn't you just make twenty different prints, you know, Purple Rain, just put that those until sales disappeared. That's my only thing but, 

[00:25:06.390] - Kyra
yeah, I don't know. And if I could I would. But I'm also so freaking temperamental with it. It's like I'll do two and then I'll be like oh shit. I am bored of prints, let's find something else. And sometimes I'm like, well I'll write it out. Like I'll do as many in my mood that I want to do. But then it's over and I'll go paints something else. And I think people know that.

[00:25:30.960] - Rob
But that's also probably your magic too. Right. And that's also that's also the scarcity because, you know, like your fans, I'm guessing, probably know that you're not going to hammer out ten Harry Potter castles. And that's one that I saw. And I thought it was cool because my kids love harry potter. But and then you're like, oh, great. I got to check back and see what else she's got. I got to turn on the notification then.

[00:25:49.530] - Rob
And maybe someday when she's in a Harry Potter mood again, you know, in two months it'll come up, right?

[00:25:54.810] - Kyra
Yeah, yeah, yeah. October man

[00:25:57.090] - Rob
October is when it is?

[00:25:58.830] - Kyra
October is Harry Potter. Oh, it's like I'm going to do Harry Potter. I'm going to do Beetlejuice. I'm going to do the put up with my Oh Wednesday Addams like it's like all the creeps come out in October. It's going to be great.

[00:26:17.610] - Rob
That's awesome. I love that. OK, so you can do that. Do you ever like if you know that's going to be hot, do you ever increase the price or how do you how do you do your pricing? Is it based on that I would have put in or you just priced everything the same

[00:26:33.090] - Kyra
I price, everything the same. But you're I know what you're saying. And Scott, my husband, the business person that he is, is always like, why don't you take your paintings and list them on eBay and then people can like fight for them. And I'm like, yeah, no. But yes, I'd like as a business person, I get I get why you think that. But I like to think like a consumer. Like, imagine I paint something and you're on your phone and you're like, shit, I love that.

[00:27:09.900] - Kyra
And you can just click the link, go and buy it. And then you're like, shit, it's mine, it's mine. I get so many messages like that with the like I got your whatever you're Kurt Cobain that you painted today and I'm so happy. I've been waiting for months and, you know, I finally got one and I'm so thrilled and I can't wait. And I don't think you get that same joy. If you start like escalating prices because you think something's going to be valuable, I think then the consumer is like, shit, is it worth it?

[00:27:40.260] - Kyra
Like, Oh, this one's two hundred dollars. Is it worth it? You know, I don't I guess I just I want to create joy for people. And you might have to work like, as I said, like you might not get what you want right away. But I mean, I also I'm totally open like people to direct message me all the time. And I'm like, oh, I miss that, Billy eyelash that you did last week.

[00:28:03.090] - Kyra
Would you ever do another? And if I'm in the mood, I'm like, shit, sure. Just sit there and paint it and then send them a link and then they can just buy us, you know, like I'm happy to do that.

[00:28:12.930] - Kyra
But I guess. Yeah, I guess I guess I just want to have it be joyous for people when they buy. So the price always being the same kind of makes it simple for people.

[00:28:24.360] - Rob
Hey, I'm not I'm not knocking it. I just ask the question because obviously you've got a formula that seems to work and that's part of what I want to understand, you know. Yeah, I know that, you know, you're not going to host me on another Harry Potter when it comes out charge two or three times the price. I kind of know what's there, right.

[00:28:40.410] - Rob
At the same time, you are an entrepreneur and you're like, oh, someone message you and says, hey, I'm interested in this if I'm in the mood. Sure.

[00:28:47.610] - Kyra
 Yeah, 

[00:28:48.220] - Rob
everyone. Oh, 

[00:28:49.410] - Kyra
yeah, that's right. And because the other thing is, it's like market research, right? If one person's messaging you about it, you know, there's a bunch others that liked it too and just didn't message you. So you just do it and throw it on your store, I've never lost like someone. If that person, the person that message me doesn't buy it because they for whatever reason, someone else does. So it's like it's not lost. It's just you're offering customer service to somebody, you know.Yeah. 

[00:29:17.970] - Rob
You know, somebody. Hey, I said all the time, people don't want to take my money. I'm like, here's my money. You want to do this? And you're like, sure, I'll take your money. So, I mean, I appreciate the customer service. I like it. I want to I want to ask you a bit you talked about and I've seen some of your videos where you kind of go through and you demonstrate like kind of make eyelashes and how your painting knows. And you said,

[00:29:37.560] - Kyra
 yeah,

[00:29:38.160] - Rob
 know, your customers, like, kind of follow along are probably painters on their own. 

[00:29:43.260] - Kyra
Yes. 

[00:29:43.920] - Rob
What would you say to somebody who is maybe like maybe like that like. OK, I'm starting to get better, I love painting. Maybe I should start trying to sell some stuff that's talking about competing with you. But I'm just, you know, I mean, there's all kinds of people out there that, 

[00:29:55.150] - Kyra
oh, no, of course there's all kinds of people. I would never take it as competition. That would be stupid because everyone sees things differently. I would tell them to start on Etsy first. A lot of people inquire about what platform I use and I tell them I use Shopify, but I don't say don't you, Shopify? But I say that it's expensive. So if you were just starting out, you're going to incur all these upfront costs that you might not recoup for a long time. And it takes puts more pressure on you.

[00:30:24.270] - Kyra
So, yeah, I would just tell them to throw them up on Etsy and see what happens and tell your friends and and start the exact same way that I did. It's not it's not difficult, Rob. It's not difficult. It just takes so much work. Do you know what I mean? Like, you have to be consistent. You have to produce stuff that people want to share. So you have to figure out what that would be.

[00:30:51.780] - Kyra
Right? And then you have to get to know the the followers that you have and what they want. And you have to deliver that like it's not easy, but it seems easy to people. And so there's the thing it's like people always message me and I'm like, you're so talented, blah, blah, blah. You make it look so easy. It's like it is easy, but it's also so hard because it's not just creating the painting, it's running a business behind it that takes a lot of work.

[00:31:22.500] - Kyra
But if you really want to do it, it's the best. But it's not the same of anything like honestly and everything. Like easy but hard, like easy. An idea like what you do is easy, but day to day, so much work right? Like you can't just take a day off. You can't just, you know, get back to someone in a couple of days, you know. But that's not good. That's not.

[00:31:47.970] - Kyra
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if I'm helping, but that's I tell them to try it. I tell them to like, get your supplies. Try it. Go on, go on Etsy, share it with amongst your social circle, ask for feedback, take the feedback feedbacks difficult with anything but artwork especially, and try things that people are suggesting and try to change and see what happens right?

[00:32:19.530] - Rob
 A couple of key points, you said that I want to hammer on a that's great you like it's easy, entry is low. I mean, you can paint if you have the skills and the talent or you can learn. I can't. I'm terrible. But if I could just I could paint pictures, but then I have to, as you said, put them up, do this, open up a store, learn a little bit of Etsy if you we're starting on that. So you got to learn a bit of it. It's not that difficult. I mean, there's lots of 

[00:32:43.880] - Kyra
absolutely.

[00:32:44.520] - Rob
How? But then you got to do it. And then, as you say, some messages. You and I always I say this all the time, but all of my business, somebody is messaging you and their potential customer and they're serious. You want to get back to them because you know what? 95% of people won't. So that'll put you ahead of, you know, most of the competition, even if, you know, it's what people do.

[00:33:05.580] - Rob
If they message two or three people and you're the first one to get back to them, you're on the ball, right? 

[00:33:10.370] - Kyra
Yeah, 

[00:33:11.100] - Rob
but that's take

[00:33:11.530] - Kyra
 Yeah. And it's even worse. Like, even if they're not serious, like with artwork, if someone's just like, hey, I like your paintings coming back to that person, like they took the time to like message you you got to be like even if it's just, hey, thanks, you have to show that you're there.

[00:33:31.500] - Kyra
Right. I think that I think in social media businesses, that is like the magic is being present, not just like, oh, you know, like scrolling my direct messages for people that are like I want to buy, you know, to get back to everybody. You know, they bother message you unless it's you know rude, and then you don't, but generally no one's rude,

[00:33:56.860] - Rob
 so you're going through your direct messages every day like multiple times a day, just responding to people if they ask questions.

[00:34:04.050] - Kyra
Yeah, 

[00:34:04.610] - Rob
just friendly comments, whatever you can, 

[00:34:07.140] - Kyra
and blocking and blocking weirdos like. Yeah, you got to also you have to you know, I'm not going to as a woman, I get a lot of unsolicited, let's say, information in my direct messages. And, you know, you got to trim that out too. And. Let's you just have to do that. 

[00:34:29.770] - Rob
We are hey can you pay 

[00:34:30.610] - Kyra
those breaks, 

[00:34:31.490] - Rob
could you pay your toes and pay your feet and put that up, that kind of thing?

[00:34:35.220] - Kyra
Oh, yeah. I wish it was just that nice.

[00:34:38.400] - Rob
 I don't want that

[00:34:39.750] - Kyra
 pretty much as bad as you can imagine. yeah Anyway, it's fine. It's fine. Because for every leg, for every creep, there's like an earnest 12 year old girl that's like you inspired me. Look at the painting that I painted one day. I want to be like you. Right.

[00:34:56.080] - Kyra
So you got to go in there. You got to dive into those direct messages and weeded out.

[00:35:02.960] - Kyra
There's a 12 year old girl like needs a response.

[00:35:05.810] - Rob
 Yeah, that's awesome, and maybe she's going to buy one of your paintings, too. Who knows?

[00:35:10.850] - Kyra
Yeah, or just maybe she needs a little encouragement. Like, who knows? Yeah.

[00:35:17.240] - Rob
 So now your your followers. I think it's like 91,000. I mean, 

[00:35:22.130] - Kyra
yeah, 

[00:35:22.700] - Rob
But not massive numbers. I mean,you know  it shows that you've got a pretty responsive followers, you might call it. I mean, you do this full time. So, 

[00:35:33.470] - Kyra
yeah,

[00:35:34.370] - Rob
 I wanna ask a few questions on Instagram because I want to know. So you've got a blue checkmark, your verified you know, how did you get verified? Was it difficult? Because it seems to be. 

[00:35:46.130] - Kyra
No, 

[00:35:46.780] - Rob
no. 

[00:35:47.140] - Rob
Oh my God. The scammers on verification. Oh, I just applied, you know, a little button request. I sent them a photograph of my driver's license, and that was it.

[00:35:58.220] - Rob
Oh, 

[00:35:59.070] - Kyra
yeah. 

[00:35:59.800] - Rob
Yeah, that was easy.

[00:36:02.670] - Kyra
Yeah. Yeah. But I think I had like eighty thousand followers when I did that so. I mean, but, yeah, like. The verifying is it doesn't really hasn't really changed. It doesn't change. I'm just going to be honest. I don't I haven't seen a difference. Like, it's not like it's changed anything, really. You know, my people are still my people. It's just I'm verified now, which is actually good because there's been a couple I've had a few copycats, so I don't know if Instagram knew that or not.

[00:36:40.000] - Kyra
But so, I mean, it serves me in that way, I guess. But from in terms of a sales standpoint or anything, it's made no difference, you know.

[00:36:49.270] - Rob
So copycats is they set up an account that look just like your slightly different name, 

[00:36:55.360] - Kyra
yep paint everything that I paint. Yeah. And sell it for more money.

[00:37:00.280] - Rob
But they would paint exactly what you painted. They would actually paint it.

[00:37:03.670] - Kyra
 Yeah. They really try and paint the exact same thing. Yeah. This would a few. 

[00:37:09.390] - Rob
So what you do about it?

[00:37:10.100] - Kyra
 Isn't that crazy? 

[00:37:11.390] - Rob
It is crazy, but

[00:37:13.130] - Kyra
Nothing I it is crazy I know but and like when I Daniel loves to hear about them all and I send them all to her when it happens and she gets really angry about it.

[00:37:26.160] - Kyra
How dare they. You should tell them blah, blah, blah. You should like what. I'm going to send them some kind of awful message and just block them like I find out who they are and Instagram and I block them. And that's the extent of my ramifications 

[00:37:41.590] - Rob
because then again, 

[00:37:42.160] - Kyra
because like, I just. Yeah, I mean, they can just make another account. But I guess one of the things I'm super cognizant of is being negative in any way on social media like, like I just it's not my personality.

[00:37:59.270] - Kyra
And I've had a couple times in my career, I've touched on things that have inspired negative, not negative. Yeah. Negative reactions like what I painted has been a polarizing thing. And so then there's like fights in the comments and I've seen. I hate that, like I hate the feeling of people coming to my page's artwork, right, and then reading fights, it makes me sick. And so I, I just you know like when I see somebody absolutely copying my work, I just block them and move on because I don't want to spend one second, you know, being negative.

[00:38:41.380] - Rob
The great attitude and the thoughts that you can do that, I mean, that's that's the right attitude.

[00:38:45.640] - Rob
But I'm gl'ad you're busy making another painting.

[00:38:51.550] - Kyra
I'm too busy replying to 12 year old girls to like, you know, take care of that.

[00:38:56.870] - Rob
But but that's that's key, right, where you're spending your time dealing with some haters, some troll or maybe inspiring, you know, that one or two messages can. Really elevated. 

[00:39:08.050] - Kyra
Yeah. That's all. Yeah, I think the spirit is just to inspire and the social media can get so dark, so fast. 

[00:39:19.900] - Rob
OK, let's get to the podcast stuff. Let's go back to the post on social  media 

[00:39:23.700] - Kyra
oK, let's

[00:39:24.580] - Rob
were ramp it up. And I want to know a little bit more of what there's some some cool strategies you've given us some of your strategies for how you've grown.

[00:39:31.600] - Kyra
 Yeah. 

[00:39:32.100] - Rob
Anything that happened kind of along the way that, you know, kind of jumped you up a level or really got you a bunch more followers, like somebody shared your painting or bought it shout outs 

[00:39:41.150] - Kyra
Yes. Yes. 

[00:39:44.850] - Rob
I dont know promotions and all that, 

[00:39:45.850] - Kyra
Ok,where shall I start? We'll start with promotions. We'll start with contests and giveaways, which is what everyone tells you to do. I never got much with that. I got to say, there's like there's.

[00:39:57.710] - Kyra
Tagging somebody in a post that like that doesn't engage people really, like enter contest, tag your friends. I mean, for me, I never really found that to be rewarding. But giveaways are fun. So I would if you were trying to get something with traction, think up a creative way to celebrate a milestone of your own by giving something away. But don't but make it fun. I'll give you an example. OK, so back when I had a small or.

[00:40:34.810] - Kyra
Following and a smaller number of paintings, one of my giveaways was this I was celebrating, I can't honestly remember what I was celebrating, but let's say it was like a year or something I said. OK. I've hidden in my comments on all my posts, some letters, and if you can find them and spell the word like there was a there was a real, it was like a what is I think it was like was something like.

[00:41:08.770] - Kyra
What this is not what it was, but here's a good example, it was something like, what is Lily Rose Depp's favorite color or something like that? And then I said, I've hidden the letters in my posts, in the comments. And if you can find them and then get back to me, whatever, whatever I've hidden, then you win this painting of Lily Rose Depp. It like that sounds like a lot of work, right? Like you probably bother.

[00:41:36.030] - Kyra
Oh, my God. Every, everyone, everyone did it like it was I had like so it was like people went crazy, like it was and they loved it. They were like, this is so fun. It was so tough, you know, Blah blah and yeah. Like. It really works, and I know that sounds like a really weird contest, but I knew that my people would love it. They love to do the work and scroll through the paintings oh, yeah, keep going.

[00:42:03.480] - Rob
I need to I need to understand this. I need to visualize and totally understand. So you decided you would do this contest, but then you went before you did it. Did you start hiding the letters like three months out?

[00:42:15.170] - Kyra
No, I just did it. I did it the day before, so twenty four hours, because you know how people can see what you comment. So when I knew I was going to do the contest, but before anyone would know what I was doing, I like went through and I put the letters on every painting of Lily Rose Depp so was conic like it wasn't easy because it was years worth of paintings. And so you know I just put in the comments like I'd scroll down a painting I did like two years ago and I'd put like an E and then they'd find E and then they'd go and then like it was whatever the word was that I chose, it was it was something that was like five letters and it wasn't too difficult.

[00:42:55.220] - Kyra
But yeah. So I did it and then I waited so that those comments would be buried, you know, like no one be to seeing them and then coupled it. So it was a few days. And then I, I launched the contest and people had it solved in like two hours, like so impressive, like so impressive. And it was like it was all teenage girls and they're just like, yeah, you know, it did it blah, blah.

[00:43:23.750] - Kyra
And like they're like having quest its so fun. Like the engagement was crazy. That is awesome.

[00:43:29.720] - Rob
And OK. How did they submit it? Did they send you like the DM of what, what they found or 

[00:43:34.450] - Kyra
they commented on the on the thing. So it's like on the post where I announced it, like people would comment there what they'd found. So they'd be like, I think it's, you know, roses. And it would be like there was or let's, you know, let's say it was oranges because it was harder than roses and and and, you know, a lot of people would guess and they would just be wrong. And then and then like an hour or two later, a girl got it.

[00:44:01.730] - Kyra
And I direct message her and I was like, you did it. Like you figured out. She's like, I've been working on this for two hours and my dad was helping me.

[00:44:08.830] - Kyra
And it was so cute because the people that won, like, earned it, you know? So I guess I guess what I'm saying is contests or giveaways are wonderful. If you can think of something that appeals to your people and isn't just tag three friends and comment below, you know, I think that's what builds engagement. Everyone loves the game.

[00:44:31.700] - Rob
I think that's awesome. And I can't believe the amount of interaction it's a great game is fantastic. But also why you're an artist versus you know, I could come up with that. I think it's a great game amazing so funny games and promotions so that worked for you. That got you some new followers or something else. 

[00:44:52.530] - Kyra
Yep, that works. Yeah. And so what I said, like what I said before about creating content that people want to share, like when people see something and they love it so much, they share it on their own feet, like that's what brings you people, because it's it's like you're they're showing to their own social network that they want to they want to use your work to validate how they're feeling or what they're into. And so, like, that's kind of like a vouch for all the people that follow them.

[00:45:24.620] - Kyra
So they're going to come look to you and like follow you or like you because of that. So and that's happened to me with a bunch of famous people. And so that makes it you know, that makes huge jumps in my following. But the concept is the same. The concept is creating shit the people who want identify with or that they want to share to their own group.

[00:45:52.080] - Kyra
And that's that's that's what any anybody who wants to be creative and make a business on social media has got to figure out how to do right?

[00:46:01.910] - Rob
 Sounds like you've cracked the case. 

[00:46:06.350] - Kyra
Anyway, 

[00:46:07.800] - Rob
it doesn't feel like it?

[00:46:09.310] - Kyra
No it's feels I don't know, I don't I don't think I've cracked anything. I just feel like it's I don't know. I feel like what I do works, but I'm sure there's a million other ways to do it,

[00:46:20.670] - Rob
So. wait look my podcast is selling from the beach, it's you know, there's something relaxing and of course, you're talking about like, oh, it's a lot of work. I mean, take me through kind of, you know, hey, I'm the same. I mean, I can work all hours of the day. It's just, you know. Yeah. Balance. But take me through kind of like what your week looks like, how how much you're painting, how much are you working on your business.

[00:46:45.100] - Rob
Do you like wake up Monday and have like a to do list or you're an artist. You probably like oh it's sunny out. I'll paint this or

[00:46:52.360] - Kyra
Yeah. It's the answer is is like both. So what are some of the things I do are managing my anxiety with the business. So for example I on Sunday at around noon, I will begin to do all the mail fulfillment and packing up for all the work that's sold over the weekend. Because if I don't do that, I wake up on Monday and it's like a pile of my least favorite job is being the mail girl and like putting the paintings in the envelopes, matching the sticker with the envelope, writing the note.

[00:47:29.940] - Kyra
I don't mind writing a note, but like writing a lot of notes and like including some cute stuff, surprises in the package for the person like, you know, like that stuff takes time. And I would much rather just be painting. So I try and do that stuff on Sunday afternoon so that it's finished. So that Monday when I wake up, I can just paint. My favorite is to just wake up and paint whatever I want, just like you said, like whatever I feel like painting.

[00:47:56.670] - Kyra
And I do that until around noon and I usually do about three to four paintings in that period. And then I get tired and I, I will then do my customs because customs are different and that you're not doing what you want, you're doing what they've asked you to do. So you're painting a portrait of somebody, but you're doing it in a way that you know some people want something very somber because it's serious or other people want, you know, something really crazy colored or, you know, whatever it is, like it's their piece.

[00:48:31.860] - Kyra
So I do that in the afternoon because it's it's easier just than being straight up, doing whatever you want. And oh, and I go to the post office and the UPS store every day and those are the only talk to the mailman and the UPS guy. That's sense and I'm constantly through the day going through my direct messages, getting back to people, getting back to emails. I tend to get back to emails very quickly and everyone's always surprised. Oh, you come back to me so fast and I have to because if I don't, Rob, I'll forget or you know I will.

[00:49:16.290] - Kyra
It'll get buried or and that's bad. So I tend to like and do all that stuff when it comes in, it goes out again you know like. Yes, I can do that for you. Would you like me to put a quote out? You know like whatever. And that manages itself a little bit. But I have to I'm doing it all the time. And I know that that is the problem of our age, right. Where we're never not working.

[00:49:42.730] - Kyra
And it is true. But also, you know, I can just bugger off and just take a whole day off if I want. Never do. But you know I could.

[00:49:53.100] - Rob
 I know we think about a artist like, oh, let's take a couple of days off, just like I'm going to put the out of office on, I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't know about that. But every once in a while, she can great to see him and we put the out of office on.

[00:50:05.010] - Rob
But I am one of the busiest ah I get it. OK, so then. 

[00:50:12.080] - Kyra
Yeah, yeah. So like. Oh yes. So I work till around 4:00 or 5:00 and then I'm tired and I, and I stop and I will do my management of my store. So I'm going to make an email for my clientele. I'll do it while I'm watching TV after dinner or you know I will go through my orders and see where my sales are you know while I'm watching TV after dinner. And like so there's a whole category of business running that you can do with one eye on the television that I save till the end of the day, you know, and like that's where I'll do when someone is message me during the day saying, I love what you do, but I want five foot by four foot acrylic canvas.

[00:51:00.510] - Kyra
And I live in California. I'll like and can be here next week, you know, and you know I've reply quickly to them. Absolutely. But the cost will be about you know X, Y or Z. Would you like me to make a quote you know like the are you really interested? And then if they get back to me during the day, like, yes, yes. So then I will make the quotes for that stuff while watching TV at the end of the day, because it's like something you can just kind of do, like administrative stuff safe for then.

[00:51:30.710] - Rob
I'ts funny

[00:51:31.080] - Kyra
Yeah, but that's pretty much my day. Yeah.

[00:51:34.950] - Rob
You do one of the same things that I do and I think it's so powerful. You answer them quickly. Here's what the budget is. If this is within your budget, we can talk more, right? 

[00:51:46.060] - Kyra
Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:51:49.020] - Rob
It's such a great strategy and it eliminates so much wasted time on your half and also on the potential customers because of the customers. I don't I don't have the money for it then. OK, well, you know this is not your budget or not what you expected about.

[00:52:01.770] - Rob
We're not wasting each other's time, right?

[00:52:04.350] - Kyra
Yeah. And like, get back to me any time when you want to do it, like, you know, I'm not offended. We're not far down the sales cycle, you know, 

[00:52:13.410] - Rob
and at the same time you've responded quickly, well, it shows that you're going to get a superior product, a superior service, because I can fast. But that doesn't mean you're gonna cheap right?

[00:52:24.480] - Kyra
No. Yeah, exactly. I feel like making people feel good about buying from you is like such a basic thing and it's so important. It's how you create people that buy the time of your work is because they know that you're present and they're and when they message it's you that gets back. And I don't know because there's a lot of like. Sorry, go ahead.

[00:52:52.650] - Rob
No, I want to I want to dive deeper into that in a second. Finish your thought. 

[00:52:57.490] - Kyra
OK, I was going to say that as art work. So if anyone is listening to this and they're considering doing exactly what I do, the cliché is that you're some kind of like artist on a mountaintop and that you're not you're above being polite to people are in the fray because you make the work and you buy the work or you don't buy the work. You know, like that kind of attitude, if you will, is a you know cliche thing. And so many famous artists that are modern contemporary artists don't have social media, or if they do, they don't even look after it.

[00:53:33.150] - Kyra
They don't they don't you know replied anything like they're just it's just like a thing that isn't active in their lives. And I think that if you can if you want to produce artwork and you can be better than that, like if you can be proactive oh sorry if you can be responsive to people, you were providing something that so many people don't. 

[00:53:58.180] - Rob
The stuff that you put I want to ask you about this, what you're putting in notes, little surprises when you send out your your artwork.

[00:54:05.850] - Kyra
 Yeah

[00:54:05.850] - Rob
 I think that's probably hugely powerful. I mean, what exactly are you doing? OK, thanks to the purchase Jill, like what are you.

[00:54:12.300] - Kyra
Yeah. Yeah. So I'm not I don't write big notes because I'm when I go to the mailbox every day, mail the mail, Mr. Mailman, I usually have like four or five paintings and then now I've started doing acrylic work. So then I have these big boxes. And so my mail fulfillment time is taking more and more of my life, which I know that I need to hire somebody. But being a single person business, I love just doing everything.

[00:54:41.290] - Kyra
Not no, I'm not a control freak and where I love to do it all myself, that's not it. I just love to have the freedom of my day. So if I had an employee, I'd have to sit there and be like, I don't know, train and then you know conform my day to whenever they were there. And so I haven't done it yet, but I probably should hire somebody, but I haven't. So when I'm doing these packages, I don't write long notes because as I said, I'm kind of crunch today, but I do include cool stuff.

[00:55:08.410] - Kyra
So I have a whole bunch of stickers that I have had printed. Whenever there's a deal you know, there's so many sticker manufacturers and you get on their mailing lists and they send you all kinds you know and you just whenever the just order you know stickers of this paint, this or that. And I always have my website on it and and their varieties because as I said before, I have a lot of people that buy like many of my paintings. So I don't I can't just have one sticker.

[00:55:38.380] - Kyra
I have to have, you know, a bunch. And so I'll include like a couple in my in the package. So if you bought more than one, you're definitely getting more than one sticker and there will be different. And then on the back, I'll write a note just like hey Jill,  I hope you love this, xo Kyra. And and then if I have so like that's my bare minimum, like that's what I'll do. But then if I have anything else lying around, like sketches or like just stuff that is like in my office that I don't I'm not going to sell or whatever, I'll toss it in.

[00:56:16.030] - Kyra
And people love that shit. They're like, oh, you included this cool sketch. What is it? You know, 

[00:56:22.890] - Rob
It'll like it was one step away from the shredder is what it was. 

[00:56:27.250] - Kyra
Exactly. You mean the Post-it note doodle. I'm really glad you liked it.

[00:56:30.940] - Rob
It'll like untitled number sixty eight 

[00:56:36.040] - Kyra
So many times I'm gonna can you send me a photograph that look and I think I'm like OK, I think I know what that was but yeah.

[00:56:44.440] - Kyra
Like just random stuff like that. You know what I did in the beginning when I had way more paintings and was selling a lot less, I'd always include a second piece. So I'd the one that they bought and then I'd have like a black and white whatever that I'd that I'd never listed because I didn't think it was good enough or whatever. And I just throw it in people of it so I guess I guess it's just always putting in surprises for people, I think.

[00:57:13.350] - Kyra
I think it's nice, it's one of the things you can do when you're a one person business, you know,

[00:57:19.710] - Rob
 especially when you have more items that you can sell the same customer lifetime value, that one customer can be huge versus, you know, just to churn and burn right?

[00:57:27.120] - Kyra
 Yeah. 

[00:57:28.170] - Rob
So what are your stickers, the stickers you get made? Are they of other paintings you've done so what it is?

[00:57:35.760] - Kyra
 Are they what?

[00:57:36.480] - Rob
 Are they have paintings that you've already done? 

[00:57:40.190] - Kyra
Yeah, yeah, like a doob when the sale comes in, I use this, I'm going to promote them because why wouldn't I use sticker mule based in Waterloo? They're amazing. And if you want stickers done, I guarantee you should get on their mailing list because they'll they do this great thing where they're like, hey, today we're offering 50 stickers for twenty nine dollars.

[00:58:03.030] - Rob
I'm on their mailing list too. They are good, 

[00:58:05.360] - Kyra
Right. Every time I'm like, whatever it is I'm like, okay, sure, sure, sure. And and then they do that graphic design for you. So I'll just send them the I'll upload the picture of the painting, you know, like a Snoop Dogg and I'll be like, hey, can you put this in a circle sticker and put my website down at the bottom and they do it, send you the proof and then it's saved in the file.

[00:58:28.380] - Kyra
They're digital. They save all the stuff for you. So if you like a sticker, you can just quickly go on click and then reorder it and all the you know. So do that. And then I also have post cards that are really cute that I used to write my notes on and then include the sticker too. But I've run out of post cards and I think that my postcard printing company has gone out of business over the because of the quarantine.

[00:58:52.800] - Kyra
So I have to find a new one and I haven't. But that the postcard is another thing where it's just a reproduction of one of my pieces and people frame it like so many people have shown me the painting that they bought and then they went and found a frame for the postcard and framed that too. So like they put it original value, I'm really happy that they do. But it's like a it's just a postcard, you know. 

[00:59:17.280] - Rob
No it's not just a postcard. It's a it's a print which we talked about at the start that you don't wanna do right? It's clearly a market for the print.

[00:59:26.070] - Kyra
very small print. 

[00:59:28.240] - Rob
That's clearly a market for it, though, you're saying. 

[00:59:30.610] - Kyra
Yep. Yep. Oh, and another thing I did, what I used to do is I'm kind of I'm always doing different things. So I think it's fun for everybody. And also like, why not is a greeting cards. I, I did blank cards and then on the back I'd write like thanks for buying my work xo Kyra like printed it was mood did the cards for me. And so it was impersonal that it wasn't a personal note, but it was like for them if they're giving the painting or just using it, people love that too.

[01:00:03.150] - Rob
OK, so it's a blank gift card. Sorry It's a blank

[01:00:05.700] - Kyra
Yeah like one gift, like a blank card, can no card so blank, no card with my work on the front and included in an envelope. And I slide it in with the painting and then so it's like they get it and it's like, oh, it's for them to use and on the back of the gift card you know where it usually says, like, I don't know the price of the gift card.

[01:00:27.090] - Kyra
I just wrote Thank you, Kyra Kendall you know whatever. Yeah. So I tried lots of different stuff and I'll continue to do that because it's fun to try. And also I think people people like a surprise.

[01:00:43.830] - Rob
Hey, I love something outside the box, whn I get it you know whether it's whether it's, you know, it's fun. Right. I think that's great.  OK. I've taken up ton of your time. Anything else? You kind of want to leave us with you know advice I mean, I did I was asked you about social media. I asked you if Tik-Tok was going good, because I know you started to do some of that anymore suggestion. 

[01:01:05.860] - Kyra
Oh, I do. I do have something else 

[01:01:07.860] - Rob
Good

[01:01:08.040] - Kyra
 I do. I do. So you're talking about if you want to do some build something on Instagram specifically because it's the only one I can really with my 97% I can really speak to. And you're starting out. So Instagram loves when you try their new thing. So right now it's their reel you kow they're reels. You have to do that, like you have to play with their new toy because they will promote your posts and increase your engagement and they will reward you for doing it.

[01:01:43.100] - Kyra
So I think that's you know like so right now it's lot like doing lives or you're real or being consistent with your story. But all that stuff like just generally as a rule I noticed with Instagram since 2016 is they just want you to play with their new toys and they will reward you. For doing so, 

[01:02:07.360] - Rob
Right you'll get more proportionate share, because you're one of the early adopters and they also want to push that some more people use it, right?

[01:02:13.700] - Kyra
Yeah,

[01:02:14.390] - Rob
 Great advice

[01:02:15.270] - Kyra
 Yeah. So like and I think that goes against a lot of people don't jump onto that stuff because it seems weird. But you rewarded if you do. I think so. And me, I want to say that for. 

[01:02:29.700] - Rob
So are you still sitting down and doing 

[01:02:31.760] - Kyra
anything else, 

[01:02:32.470] - Rob
are you doing reels, like every day? Every week? What do you.

[01:02:38.880] - Kyra
I'm playing with reels, so I've been using TikTok I've started with TikTok, and it doesn't work for painting like I love it. TikTok's really cool. It's not I don't get rewarded much and it's just so I don't know, maybe I'll figure it out, but I'm still playing with it you know, like you have to play with these things. So then I just you know will transport the TikTok that I've content onto the reels, but then also create a new reels and figuring out like they have really complicated sharing ways, like you can put it right in your feed, you can just share it on your story, you can share it for everybody or just your people, like they've got all these crazy settings because I think they're trying to figure it out, too.

[01:03:22.710] - Kyra
So I'm like every time I do one, it's like I'm like, OK, this one will just be you know I'll hit this button and then see what happens and then this way so that I can sort of understand it too.

[01:03:35.640] - Kyra
I guess I think in general in social media like fluidity and experimentation on your part is important. 

[01:03:45.850] - Kyra
Yeah, exactly, just testing different things and seeing what gets the best reaction, gets the best results and then spending more time on that. Right?

[01:03:54.260] - Kyra
Yeah, yeah, for sure. 

[01:03:57.100] - Rob
OK. KyraThank you so much. Where if anybody wants to reach out, take a look at your artwork again. Give us the Instagram and website. Sure.

[01:04:06.350] - Kyra
It's Kendall Kyra. So @kendallkyra is my Instagram and my website is a link right there on the page. And you can always drop me a direct message because I will get back to you.

[01:04:21.980] - Rob
And we're going into gifting season because this is the end of September when we're recording this. So great time to get a custom work right?

[01:04:29.960] - Kyra
 Great time and do customs and definitely get yourself on my mailing list because I do a hell of a Black Friday sale.

[01:04:39.530] - Rob
 Oh, you're still doing that for sure? OK, OK. 

[01:04:44.510] - Kyra
Yeah Yeah Yep, 

[01:04:45.050] - Kyra
Black Friday is not Black Friday is not canceled for you like some of the other retailers are.

[01:04:50.120] - Kyra
Oh, not me, nope

[01:04:54.740] - Rob
OK, thank you so much, Kyra. Thanks for coming on the show. It's been it's been super informative. I learned a ton about Instagram. I love your strategies. I think it's been great. I'm sure everybody else has to. So thank you so much.

[01:05:07.100] - Kyra
Thank you so much. 

[01:05:09.990] - Rob
If you want to take your online business further, stop by sellingfromthebeach.com for more episodes, videos, selling tips and tiki drink recipes.