Let's Catch Up: Why This Workshop Changed The Way I See My Business

This week on Beyond The Tweezers, I'm sharing my experience attending the Creator Method workshop in London and why it completely changed the way I see my business.

I went expecting to learn about content creation and personal branding, but I left with a completely different perspective on what I'm actually building.

This episode is sponsored by London Lash, the go-to brand for professional lash products, education, and tools designed to help artists achieve consistent, long-lasting results.

Enjoy an exclusive listener discount on your next order: 20% off with code KARIS20 *T&Cs apply.

Shop London Lash: https://londonlashpro.com/?utm_source=podcastsponsorship&utm_medium=videos&utm_campaign=behindthetweezers&utm_content=episode12

In this episode, I'm taking you behind the scenes of the day, sharing the biggest lessons I took away, the moments that really got me thinking, and how it has changed the way I view my business, the podcast, and my future goals.

It's a slightly more personal, chatty episode and a chance for us to have a little catch-up while I share what's been on my mind recently.

In this episode:

• My experience at the Creator Method workshop
• The biggest takeaway from the day
• Why personal branding is more important than ever
• The mindset shift that changed how I view my business
• Reflections on Beyond The Tweezers and what's next
• Why stepping outside your industry can be so powerful

If you've ever felt stuck in your niche or wondered whether you're building a business or building a brand, this one's for you.

This episode is sponsored by London Lash, the go-to brand for professional lash products, education, and tools designed to help artists achieve consistent, long-lasting results.

Enjoy an exclusive listener discount on your next order: 20% off with code KARIS20 *T&Cs apply.

Shop London Lash: https://londonlashpro.com/?utm_source=podcastsponsorship&utm_medium=videos&utm_campaign=behindthetweezers&utm_content=episode12

Thank you for pressing play and joining me! If you would love to connect - follow and DM me. I would love to hear your stories.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beyondthetweezers?igsh=MmN1dTVlYTA3N2Zo&utm_source=qr

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is where we get stuck as creators. How is she getting so much content? Her content's not even repetitive. It's okay to expand out of your niche. What the hell does a strategy even mean? Sometimes one conversation literally changes everything. What if people unfollowing me? This episode of Beyond the Tweezers is brought to you by London Lash, a brand that I've trusted and used throughout my entire journey as a lash artist and trainer, and one you'll always find in my lash room every single day. Hey my lovelies, welcome back to Beyond the Tweezers. I'm Karis Warren, your host, and today's topic is a little bit different because I wanted to talk to you about an event I went to a few weeks ago. It was a creator method workshop, and if I'm honest, ever since that workshop, it has been playing on my mind. It has made me completely rethink content, personal branding. It's opened my mind to a lot of different ideas. So I wanted to talk to you today about that workshop specifically, what I learned, why I went, and basically the whole day. So if you've been thinking a lot about content, if you've been feeling stuck with content, then this episode is for you. And if you don't know who the creator method is, I'm gonna tell you exactly who they are. Before that though, if you haven't already, please press that subscribe, follow, like, whatever button is in front of you so you never miss an episode. Okay, so you might be sitting there thinking, Caris, who the hell are the creator method and what workshop was this that you went on? So basically, let's just go to the very beginning. Create a method is like a community, it's like a membership brand that helps creators grow online, find a format that works for them, helps them stand out online, and also helps them expand in their niche. And the founders, I'm hoping I'm saying her name correctly, Valeria and her husband Gary, they have the creator method, and they've created this for content creators. I have been following Valeria for oh, maybe like six months or more, and she has about 2.5 million followers on Instagram, and her content is based around sisterhood. So she's never above anyone, she's very side by side with her audience. So her content's very relatable. It's the content where she's in the wardrobe getting ready, she's throwing clothes on, she's talking while she's talking about her fashion, she works with really big brands. But the reason she works with brands is because of who she is, because she's very relatable, very authentic, very real. And her content relates to so many different people because she has children, so she has relatable content for child um for parents, mums, she is a businesswoman with kids, so then that also relates. People watch her content and just kind of get sucked into what she's doing. So, like I've said, I've been following her for months. So her content has really fascinated me because I've always been like, How is she doing that? How is she getting so much content? Her content's not even repetitive either, it just seems like it flows. Like she posts at least two or three times a day, and I probably you're sitting there too going, Oh my god, I struggle to post two times a week. You know, when you just see someone, you go, How do you do that? And the thing is, I never thought my path would cross with Valeria and Gary because I'm in the UK and they are in America. I just never thought it was gonna happen. And when I saw that they were coming to London, if I'm honest, I got so excited because I knew I had to be there. But before all that, I actually got an Instagram message from the creator method. So someone in their team messaged me on Instagram and they were like, Karis, we absolutely love your content and we think you're gonna be amazing for the membership. And I was reading through, and obviously I've been following Valeria and Gary, but I've also been following the creator method as well. So I was interested when they messaged me and they said, Caris, would you come on a call? And I was like, okay. They said it's only 30 minutes, come on a call and just see if this membership would suit you. Jumped on a call with a really lovely um member of their team, and we sat there for 30 minutes discussing the podcast, discussing my goals, uh, talking through about other content creators' achievements, everything like that. And it got to the part where it was the investment, it was the membership price. And don't get me wrong, I'm I'm a massive believer, and I push anyone just to invest in themselves, however, whatever the price is, if you think you're gonna earn from that investment, meaning you're gonna get more money from doing that course after you implement it, it is totally worth it. And when I saw the prices, I was a bit like, oh, that is that is expensive. And it wasn't that I wasn't interested, I was, but my gut at the time, because this Instagram message was probably two months ago, my gut was like, the time's not right now. It still interests me. I still follow their page, and I still think maybe in the future I will go into that membership with with them because I've seen the results that they can achieve for creators. But my gut was like, Karis, and the time isn't right now. So I'm still in contact with them, and I thought, do you know what? Gonna leave it for now and maybe I'll revisit that another time. Anyway, probably about six weeks later, I saw that Valeria and Gary were coming to London. They were bringing a workshop, two workshops to London for one day. And I kid you not, I saw that they were gonna be in London for one day. And as soon as I saw the message, as soon as I saw that post on Instagram, I ran upstairs to my boyfriend Jack, and I was like, Jack, they're coming to London. And he was like, Who? And I was like, the Lyrian Gary, you know, I had that meeting with the creating method, da-da-da-da. I was like, I feel like I have to be there. I've got I've actually got to go. And I said, They they live in, they live in like Miami. They're coming to London, like, oh my god. And he was like, Alright, if you really want to do it, book it. And the course, like the workshop, you had an AM, so like a morning workshop, and then you had a PM, so an afternoon workshop. The AM was all about AI, and the afternoon workshop was about building a personal brand Bible, and that one stood out to me the most because I feel like I'm quite good with AI, and the personal branding, I felt like in the description, I thought that's a bit of me. So anyway, I said to Jack, oh my god, obviously I've got I've got to book it, and it was about £430-ish just for a two-hour workshop. And Jack was like, Caris, if you really want to do it, just bung it on the Amex and pay it off. If this is gonna make a big difference to your business, do it. And a part of me was like, Oh my god, like it is £430 for literally just an afternoon, but when am I ever gonna meet these two people again? When are they ever gonna come back to London? So I had to do it. And if you're sitting there thinking, Amex, if you haven't got an Amex card, me and Jack have a joint one. Oh my god, Avios points gets you air miles. We're literally going to Florence in August. We use the points about Amex, it cost us about £60 return. I'm sure it was about that, just to go to Florence for a whole week. It's definitely worth it. Sometimes you might not have the money there and then to pay for something, but if you know that you can pay it off, there is nothing wrong than bunging it on a card. So that is exactly what I did. Fast forward to the day. So I moved all my clients on the day of the course, and I went up by train, and the event was in Farendon. And I admit I was so excited, but then I had this like nerves creep in because I was thinking, I'm not an influencer, you know, I'm I'm nothing of the sort. I like doing close-up pictures of lashes, I like being a little bit nerdy with the science behind things. I like doing my podcast, you know what I mean? I'm not someone that has like come off Love Island and is being all influencedy. And I thought, am I gonna walk into this workshop and everyone there is gonna be really like a fashion influencer or a lifestyle influencer. You know, you just don't know what to expect. But anyway, I got to Farendham and I was walking through this beautiful park, and the event was on like was down an alleyway, and I was really struggling to find it, and I was looking at my emails, and I was thinking, right, they said go here, press this buzzer, da da da. So I went to the door and I was trying to figure it out, and then all of a sudden, I heard Gary's voice, and you know when you've been following someone for so long, and I'm not gonna say I was starstruck because that is over dramatic, but you know when you feel like you know someone, like you kind of feel like you've seen a lot of their lives, and I thought, oh my god, that's Gary. And I thought, I've sat in the door, no one's here, what's gonna happen? And he came to the door with um one of his team, and um he said, You alright? And I was like, He's like, Are you here for the workshop? And I was like, I am, I am, and he's like, It's lovely to meet you, and then we had this discussion about my name because my name is it's so hard to pronounce. Some people find it really hard. So obviously it was oh, is it Paris? No, it's Karis, like Paris, but with a K. So we had that little moment of trying to discuss the name as we walked upstairs to the workshop, and then we got into the room and there was no one there. So I was literally the first person to arrive, and they were like, If you want to go grab yourself a cup of tea or anything before we start, and you know when you think, oh my god, I'm um in this room with these content creators who I have been following for so long and had wanted to be in a room with, I just feel like this whole thing was like a sign that I had to cross paths with them. And because I didn't take that membership, because I had that gut feeling, I was already gonna meet them mad when you think about it. So I went and got a cup of tea, came back, and the room was filling up. And a lot of the participants for the course who came in the morning, they came for the afternoon. Because if you were a creator method member, it was free to go to both courses, but if you wasn't, you had to pay. I walked into the room, and I kid you not, it was full of successful, empowered, strong women who had businesses in handbags. There was a dentist, there was a lady in finance who is really into her fashion. You had someone who worked at Ralph Lorraine and she did a lot of content on what she wears to the office. You had someone who was in the egg business. I literally was like, wow, what a credible range of women and what they do. And I sat down and everyone was just so welcoming, everyone was chatting away, asking what you did, following you on Instagram, just really connecting. And I was like, oh my god, I am in this room with very like-minded individuals who only have one goal is to reach their dreams and better their businesses. And the room was like electric. We couldn't all we just literally all couldn't stop talking to each other. It was a really, really lovely afternoon, and my nerves just completely settled. And then Valeria came in, and I was a little bit like, oh my god, I'm seeing her in the flesh. You know, when you think, again, for luck, I know you because I watch you online, but because you have 2.5 million followers, you're not gonna have a clue who I am. But Gary and Valeria were sitting at the front with their laptop, and we were all around, sort of like in, I guess you could say, like a horseshoe. And we were sitting there waiting for it all to start, all chatting, and then the workshop began. And like I said before, this workshop was all about personal branding, and it was all about expanding out of your niche, which is what really grabbed me. Because I've even said it on the podcast before: you've got to have a niche, you've got to have something that people know you know you for. Like, for example, I am a lash specialist, I'm known for my extension work, I'm known for my lash lift work. People come to me specifically for that. I'm the expert in that, and sometimes when you specialise in one thing, you can find yourself getting stuck with content, and you never know if you can dabble in other things or you can showcase anything else. And this is what they were talking about. How it's okay to expand out of your niche is actually the best thing you can do because that's when you're gonna get creative, that's when your mind is gonna flow with new ideas. But the one thing they said is that you can expand out of your niche, but you have to make sure, kind of like I hate the word, strategy, but you have to make everything you're doing connect together. And I'm just gonna go into that a little bit more, just so that you can understand it. Let me explain it in a bit more detail. So when they spoke about expanding your niche into other things, but making it all connect back, what they were talking about was having a bit of like a headline. So I actually like to call it the umbrella effect. You know, you can have something that's the headline, and then everything branches off. And this is what they were saying about Valeria. She is known for sisterhood, lifestyle, relatable content, but she can change her content up, switch up so much, but still relate it to her headline of sisterhood. And then that got me thinking of my own business because this is where we get stuck as creators, this is where we get stuck as artists. Because when we are stuck in a niche, when we're stuck only doing one thing, we get a creative block, we feel like we don't know what to post, when to post, and what the hell we are doing. So I found that actually in my business, I'm gonna change the way I look at it. Just because of when they discussed about the headline and then having branches that kind of come off it but still connect, it made complete sense. So, for example, in my business I'm known for lash extensions, but I also love lash lifts, I love the podcast, I love learning, I love teaching, I love um personal development, I love spending time with my friends and family, you know, all of these little things. And sometimes I used to get so stuck with content and think, oh my god, I don't know if I can post that. I don't think I should post that just because it's not gonna relate to what my audience likes. And should I just post that to a story? Should I post that to the grid? What if people unfollow me because that's not the type of content they want to be with? You know, your mind goes absolutely crazy. So if you haven't seen already on my personal page, I've actually changed my bio to advanced lash education because that actually enables me to branch off into different areas. So I can do lash lift content, lash lift tips and tricks, I can do lash trainings, lash extension tips and tricks, I can talk about the science behind things. You know, it allows me just to venture off into whatever I like, and that's what I really loved about this workshop is that you're not isolating yourself and keeping yourself stuck in one thing, you're a you're enabling yourself to expand and just grow, and you're not overthinking your content because if you have a headline where you can take different content, ideas from, you're never gonna be stuck from ideas, and that just makes complete sense. Let's be honest, there is nothing more frustrating than to make a fan and it just falls apart, the base breaks, the fan splits, it's uneven, unbalanced, and before you know it, you're questioning whether it's you when actually sometimes it's just the lashes. That's why quality really does matter. I still remember trying London Lash for the very first time when I was around 18, 19, and I just fell in love with the consistency. No matter what range I used, the quality was always there. And as a lash artist, that's exactly what we want. My first true love was definitely Mayfair Mink, but recently I've been obsessed with trying the Kensington range. They're dark, dense, super easy to control, and honestly, the fans open like butter. They're one of those products that make your job easier, and my students absolutely love them too. And of course, I have a little discount for you. You can shop the London Lash range using my code Caris20 to save on your order. Now, let's get back into the episode. And I mentioned before about Valeria's content, she's another prime example. She will be in the wardrobe getting dressed, talking about her day or something in motherhood or anything like that. She may do a video of her and her husband figuring out something to wear and the reality of the boyfriend coming in and asking if they look good, you know. But because she has the headline of sisterhood, her content is never the same. It's always different, but it always connects back to the headline. And I'm hoping I'm explaining that, and that is making sense. And another example is a guest I had on uh probably about three or four weeks ago, and that was Charlotte, the Now artist and educator, and she is a prime example of expanding her niche and expanding the content that she's doing. So she is a now educator for the Now Tech Org. She's a Now artist, she creates really good content, and she's also a new mum. But recently, I mean, if you if you've started following her, following her since this podcast, you can see that she does a lot of motherhood content. She talks a lot about being a mum, um, how that looks for her now, what she is experiencing. But she is still connecting it all the way around. To Nails. So she's still talking about her business, but the content itself is her and her baby. So she is still relating to her audience who followers follow her, who follows her for nails, but she's been able to expand her niche and her content to relate to even more people. So she is never ever getting stuck with her content because she is a mum with a business which is so relatable for many women out there who have children. And she's a perfect example of personal branding because she is just herself, very authentic, but she is sharing this journey, but still connecting everything back to what she loves, and that is her nails. But she is being able to expand her content. There's one thing I want to talk to you about, and that is the word strategy. You heard me say it earlier. I hate the word. I hate everyone talking about it online. I'm not gonna lie. Everyone is so on you need a strategy for this, you need to do this, you need to do that. But what the hell does a strategy even mean? I get so confused, and at the moment online, I feel like everyone's very sousy about if you buy this course and you have my strategy and da da da. Do you know what? People are overcomplicating the word strategy on what a strategy is. What I took from this course is that strategy doesn't need to be complicated. Strategy means that you need to create content with purpose, knowing your why. It needs to be intentional. And I think the first thing you need to think about is what is your why? What are you doing it for? What do you love to do? And then your posts will always connect together because you know the why behind it. Now, if we get back to the workshop, afterwards we were able to all get up and have a chat and connect. And I took the chance of picking Gary's brain about the podcast because they've got an extremely successful podcast, and I see their content, I see the way they do it, and I've always wondered like, how are they doing that? In a sense of, is there anything that I need to maybe change, or could they give me some tips? So, of course, I went over and picked his brains. And when I was picking his brains, a lot of the things that he said to me was exactly what I was doing with this podcast, which I was so grateful for. You know, when you just hear someone say it back and you just go, okay, I'm doing that, I'm doing that, I'm doing that. But there's one thing that really stood out to me that he said he said to me, Don't lose yourself being the host. And I was like, right, okay, because this actually had been on my mind. I love doing this podcast, I love meeting guests, I love hearing people's stories. I'm generally someone who is interested in people. Sometimes I find on the solo episodes I want them to be a certain way, I want to be able to explain things right. I'm literally just having a conversation with the camera, which I know is you, but when you're in a room on your own and you're just talking, there isn't that back and forth. So I'm not gonna lie, I find solos much harder than I do with a guest. And he just said to me, don't lose yourself by just being a host. Get comfortable with your solo episodes, build that confidence and start being consistent and start doing more solos so the audience gets to know who you are, not that you're just a host. And that has actually just stuck with me, and that is one of my goals is to make sure that I'm doing more solos to get more confident, more comfortable, and just allow you to get to know me as well, instead of just being a host who is bringing incredible guests in. That doesn't mean the guests are gonna go, so don't worry. But I just want to be doing a little bit more of the solos. I left the workshop, left Farrendon, got the train home, but my brain was literally overloaded with information, and I had a book full of notes, and I was like, okay, this feels like I'm gonna be able to really focus on my business, my personal brand, and be able to create content where I don't feel stuck anymore. And if you're anything like me, after a course, I need at least a few days to process and digest everything because I feel like I take everything on and then I get really exhausted. So I made sure that on the way home I was just chilling out and not feeling like I had to implement everything there and then. And I have to say, this workshop has really relighted that spark in me. I feel excited for content, I feel excited for what my business has to offer. And do you know what else I loved is I loved being in that room of incredible, like-minded women, and I loved that when you were talking about things, they knew exactly what you were going through, they knew exactly how that felt because they were all business owners, they were all trying to create and build something for themselves, and sometimes you just need to be in a room with people who understand you, and you really need to invest in training that is only going to better you and your business because when you are a business owner and when you work on your own, if you just have advice from family members or friends who are in employed jobs, they have no idea, and that's not me being rude on them, it's just one of them things. But being in a room with people like that just relights that spark and makes you realise that you're on the right path, you've got little things to tweak, but it's just electric. So I highly recommend if you've been looking at a course and putting it off, book it because you really, really won't regret it. We are coming towards the end of the episode. I hope you enjoyed this episode where I've just been rambling on about this workshop, but I hope you've gained a lot from it. My advice to you is invest in yourself and get yourself in rooms where you're around like-minded people because sometimes one conversation literally changes everything. I want to leave you with something where you can think about and maybe you can write down on a piece of paper or have a think about. I've got a couple of questions for you. Ask yourself what is your headline? What do you want your content to be known for? Or what do you want it to be? Like I said before, mine is advanced slash education, Valeria's is sisterhood. Think about your headline and then the umbrella and the branches that you can go from. Ask yourself what is your purpose? What are you doing it for? What do you want it to be? And when you're thinking about content, think about how it connects. You want to make sure the content that you're creating is connecting to what your headline, what your umbrella is. Even if it's something of you doing a hobby or you sharing your personal life, you're still connecting it back to your business, to your purpose, to your why, what you're actually giving out to your audience, every bit of content is just circling back and connecting. So it never feels random. And that's the thing I think a lot of us struggle with is that we feel like we're posting random content because we don't know what to post. But you really need to be sitting there thinking, okay, what do I want my content to be about and how can I connect it all together? I really hope you enjoyed this episode, and I just wanted to say a big thank you to the creator method for that workshop because, like I said, I haven't been I haven't stopped thinking about it since. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to tag me in your stories. Let me know if you like it in the comments, and don't forget to press the subscribe or follow button, whatever button is in front of you. Again, I really hope you enjoyed it, and I'll see you next week. Lots of love.