Speaker 1

[inaudible]

Speaker 2

hi there. You're listening to the Jasmine star show a podcast for entrepreneurs in all industries to learn tactical tips on how to grow businesses, to support a life you love. I am so happy you're here today. My guest is Jera foster fell . Jared, absolutely dominate the lifestyle sector of social media. And today she's going to be sharing her strategies on tech talk . Now these days, I have been able to see the luxury of her teaching other people, how to master new things in social, and she's bringing her awesome this here today. Now, if you happen to come across jars , tick TechTalk I kid you not. You will scroll through her feed and you will watch her videos. Everything from Instagram pose ideas to fun tutorial videos. Her account is addicting as is the TechTalk platform. Now I have to tell you at the time of this recording, Jared has over 430,000 followers, which has bananas because she's about to share how long she's been using the platform and how quickly she grew specifically how she's using it for business beyond just dancing or lip singing y'all today. She's going to teach us airways. I am so excited to dive right into this interview now. All right. Y'all I have to take a second and introduce to you somebody who feels like an internet best friend, but this is the first time we're actually speaking of face to face and voice to voice. I am going to reveal my deepest creepiest facts that I know about JIRA . There's going to be some good stuff coming in. I have to start off by saying that I discovered, I say discovered like I'm Christopher Columbus. I discovered Jera on Instagram by way, randomly of a hashtag. And she has this irresistible quality. She has the quality of, let me just see one more thing. What we'll wait one more. And then I just went down the rabbit hole that is Geraldine . And I was kind of like, huh, there's something irresistible, something magnetic about this person. And part of it was there. I have a somewhat leery relationship with quote unquote influencers. I'm like, what is it? How does this work? But the thing that stuck out on her profile was that it was a clear, like vulnerable, transparent relationship between who she has with her followers. So it's not just look at what I'm doing. It's look how I'm doing it, what I'm doing and the , the connection that I'm creating. So on that note, I am so excited to invite my internet friend, Jeremy, to the podcast. We're going to be talking not just about Instagram, although it's going to creep into our conversations because we're mutual lovers of it. But I have seen this queen transition and leverage tick talk. Y'all the TT . But first before we get in there, Jared, welcome

Speaker 3

ms. Jasmine star, what a killer intro. I feel like you were talking as if I was introducing you. I had wonderful things to say about you and I feel like you're my internet best friend. So thank you so much for having me on.

Speaker 2

I appreciate you. So ladies and gentlemen, this girl practices what she preaches. Um, it also simultaneously coincides with the things that I preach in that is to make your followers feel seen and known. And it's about caring and it's about listening. And I think that's what created a magnetic quality to Gero . One of the things that I think I've learned from her very strongly is that I'm a photographer. And so the thing I was doing is posting photos. And one of the things I found really intriguing was that in addition to Jared posting her photos, she's also keeping her iPhone or a nearby camera running. So you could see a behind the scenes of the creation of the photo. So instead of like, really like embodying like this, my life is perfect and everything looks really amazing. She shows like the not so great behind the scenes and shows what she can do in a really small space or in a really dingy street and be like, girl, you look Hoka tour . So there we go. So how did you first get involved with social media?

Speaker 3

Yeah, so I began this crazy wild journey in 2015. I was at a very pivotal part of my life. Looking back on it now I was a graphic designer. That's what I went to school for. I was struggling from social anxiety. I realized that year in 2015, that that was an obstacle I was facing. I had no friends. I was very lonely and I was miserable. I part of my hair one day and saw a bald patch on my head due to hair that had fallen out from how stressed I was at my job. And without actually thinking of it at the time I looked back at it now, and I think it was my subconscious or angels or something telling me to make a change. I downloaded a workout program that I'd seen on Instagram for about a year. Went to the gym, started this workout guide and said, Hey, I saw these other girls who have Instagram accounts related to this workout program. Let me do that too . And that's how workout bean was born. I'm now Jeremy, because not just only workout focused, but something really beautiful happened within the first month or so within the first two weeks I was working out, which as we know endorphins, that feels good. That's an easy way to make a positive change in your life. I was connecting with other women on Instagram and for the first time in so long, it felt like I had friends, women I could talk to on a daily basis, not just about working out, but other things happening in our lives. And that was really excited by Instagram. I just felt this instant. I've always been a creative person. And so to have this instant burst of creativity, which I felt like I was missing for so long, just by posting things and talking to people and coming up with ideas, it was so fun. So there was this trifecta of these three different moving pillars that came together that really started my Instagram career.

Speaker 2

And so when you talk about career, let's bring everybody up to speed. So we went from 2015, like that really open space of how you started. And then you transitioned into being a leader, being an influencer. How did you get there? What made you say like, this is the career path I want to choose now

Speaker 3

a windy windy road . It was not a clearcut from a to B, which is how it never is. And that's why , what makes this story so beautiful for all of us, I think is we take these kinds of pivots and turns on, on the way to finding what makes us happy and what we want to do. So 2015 started that workout program started my Instagram account. Uh, maybe let's see, six months later, I left my job as a graphic designer. I said, wow, Instagram makes me happy. Fitness makes me happy. What can I do? I got my certification as a personal trainer. So I ended up doing nothing with that, but it's okay to try things and get certifications and not use them nothing wrong with that. And I also, at this time, fell in love with soul cycle and it was a long journey to becoming a soul cycle instructor about a year from my first audition to actually teaching my first class. I got a lot of nos and failures and that kind of chapter of my life ultimately became an instructor at the end of 2016, taught till , uh , April, 2018, all the while growing my Instagram very much , uh , cultivating my community, starting to get things like brand partnerships. I was working with Adidas like that was just cuckoo bananas crazy. And it was at the end of 2000 , uh, or sort of April, 2018 that I realized soul cycle has been my dream, but it was, I had reached the ceiling of what I was able to achieve personally there. And it was time to move on and also just seeing what my peers and my Queens were doing in the Instagram space and really kind of having a longing to do that as well. So I left soul cycle, went full time with content creation, being an influencer. I was really much more of a lifestyle influencer at that point. And then it was in 2019 that I kind of hit this other, not wall, but sort of questioning myself like what , what am I doing? What more could I be doing? And I developed my Instagram strategy business, full disclosure. I actually worked with a business coach. I think it's a wonderful to admit that you need help. And sometimes we need someone else to hold that mirror up to us to show us what we're good at and what we're capable of . And that is how I developed my Instagram strategy course, the social media saloon. And now I teach entrepreneurs side hustlers, creators, how to grow their online presence and , uh, turn their followers into clients and also a little bit ticked off on side too.

Speaker 2

Yeah. And that's, that was actually a great transition because I do want people to hear that, like you're iterating, you're looking at what is the next thing. And I think that's pretty admirable because right now people are always so afraid to try the next thing. And I don't think it's fear of the unknown. It's fear of wasting very valuable time and they want it immediately know what's the return on investment is ticked off

Speaker 3

for kids. And I please, God don't make me do a dance routine, all this other stuff. So I want to like really like unveil what this actually looks like. So how did you get started creating on tick-tock ? Like, what was the thing that said, I'm bringing it out, I'm bringing up my phone, I'm going to do this. What happened there? Two things, two pivotal take talk moments. One I started to consider take talk as something that I should consider. When I saw my friend success on the platform, she just was definitely an earlier doctor and I just saw the content she was creating and just really admired what she was doing. She wasn't doing any dances. She was doing , uh , really documenting her experience, moving to Japan and being there and all the new things that she was experiencing , um, in that, and this new chapter of her life. And so I was like, wow, take talk. Isn't just for dancing lips and gaming and 13 year old , even though there's a space for that, but there there's something else. There's something here for me download the app. And I kind of just thought, Oh yeah, like just put a video up gold viral and get a lot of followers. Like this seems easy, but after I'd put up a couple of videos of just sort of random things, silly things, not really getting many views. I was like, alright , I think I gotta think about this a little bit more strategically. And I had this light bulb moment where I thought to myself, Jera , you are this person on Instagram, which is who I am in real life, but I have to be a little bit more general on Instagram. I can't quite be super, super nice . I do Instagram strategy, social media marketing, but I can't only be that on Instagram . And I don't only want to be that. However, with tic talk, I had this opportunity, this fresh slate to be whoever I want. What if I go super, super niche here in a way that I'm not able to on Instagram and see how that develops. So February 1st I remember the day I was like, all right , let's just go it , this is February 1st, 2020. Yes. Okay . Okay. Yeah. I started to, I was like, I'm going to post every day and I'm going to do things about Instagram and content creation and tutorials. I started making videos about posing, how to feel comfortable in front of the camera. Here's some things to do with your hands. Here's what to do. If you're wearing a puffy coat and it's cold outside, like kind of nice random postings , I've started to do tips about growing your account on Instagram, how to build community. I then started doing more tutorials around TechTalk . Here's how to make a really simple video. I'd take talks. It's not the easiest platform to navigate in terms of its functionality. As soon as I started doing that night and day, my counts started to take off, but it wasn't, it wasn't just like, Oh, here's a hundred thousand followers. And I've actually been tracking my growth because it's been a really eye opening for me to see that progress. So from February 1st to March 1st, I grew 10,000 followers, which is a whole lot. Holy moly. That's a lot of followers. What was crazy was as soon as I hit that 10,000 followers snowball. So from March 1st to , uh , what's the next month April, I think I was 200.

Speaker 2

It just like, it was it's skyrocketed. So you went from 10,000 to 200,000,

Speaker 3

something like that. Yeah . So now I had about 430 or so. And so the growth has just been

Speaker 2

okay. So let's just pause Ray Hillis list, just like round up the wagons. Okay. So you went from zero on February 1st, 2020

Speaker 3

about, let's say about 200, 300 at that point. Okay .

Speaker 2

Okay. I like this. We're walking in integrity here. We're walking. Okay. Okay. Yes, let's get it right. Let's get this right. We're journalists here. We're fact checking. So 200 February 1st, 2020. And at the time of this distribution, we're in the summer of 2020. And you are at 430,000. Yes. Now, for context, for context, you started in 2015 on Instagram. And where are you at? In Instagram right now?

Speaker 3

175 or so thousand.

Speaker 2

So we're comparing about five years to 125,000 . And we're comparing about five months to 430. So if we're just doing math and somebody is like, I really want to get a message and I really want to grow. Where does that happen? If we're just looking at this from a math and quant perspective, the growth opportunities on Tech-Talk are massive. Yes. Now a hundred percent. So people are like, okay, Dara , big lesson. I learned, I don't want to go in and I don't want to just do everything for everybody. And you said, Hey, the minute I came down and I defined my niche when I talked about tutorials might talk about posing. And when I talked about how to show up on Instagram and remember, this is, this is the irony you're teaching Instagram on tick talk and going viral for it, which is bananas. So she's actually pointing people back to her Instagram account. So in a matter of months, she created another funnel back to what was, and maybe still is her primary platform for disseminating long form marketing content. And behind the scenes is, she's now created multiple ways to connect with people for the massive amount of growth. Now, people hear that and they're like, well that Jared girl, she can really build out a niche. Do you have advice for people who are going specifically into tick-tock and say, I want to follow that path. How do I figure out the content I should be creating on this platform?

Speaker 3

I think a great place to start is, do you already have an Instagram account or do you already have a business? Are you selling something or a product or service? Then that question should be easy. If you are a business coach, you know that you're selling you and your services and your expertise, he used to help other people. So that's an easy way to translate what you already do in real life or what you already do on Instagram to take time . If you're not selling something, if you're not going in this to make money or get clients, there's a lot of opportunity here. What are you good at? What could you talk about for an hour? If someone just said, Hey, you're on stage and you got to talk to this crowd about something. What are you passionate about? Like you could make a tic talk about growing house plants and how to not have a black thumb, like without needing to be a business. So what are you already doing and selling or what are you already good at and passionate about and how can you zero in on what that topic is?

Speaker 2

Okay . I just feel like you're so smart. I just want to take a sec. I want to take a second. I want to take a second because what happens is we have me and many people listening have a way to complicate it and you just broke it down in like, explain it to me. Like I'm five, because quite honestly, if we approach things and new opportunities to be creative, like we're five, we don't hold ourselves to this invisible standard. Like I have to know the answers. So I really want to just take a second and like highlight the beauty of not knowing the answers and then having the Hudson and the courage to still pursue it. I don't think that Jera had the answers. She just said like lemmings was going and figure it out. Which leads me to my next question. I find too , I'm just going to be real. I find the platform and I literally, I hate saying this because I sound like I'm 87 years old. I'm annoyed. I'm annoyed with myself right now. I find it pretty overwhelming. So let me tell you my, the quasi talk journey. Give it to you . I'm obsessed. I'm upset. Oh, obsessed. So it started off by saying I'm going to go in. And I first believe that I have to become a practitioner before I actually become an executer. I need to understand what works on the platform because platforms are all so different. So I can't take what has worked or what is working on Instagram and try to apply it to take talk won't work. So I need to understand what's happening and what is making it successful. So I log in to take a look , I'm watching videos. And then I come up for air, not even like three hours later. And I was like, what the heck? What just happened right now? It was fascinating. I get why the platform works. And then I was like, I'm going all in, spent another two hours on YouTube, trying to find fricking tutorials on how to make a tech talk. And then I was just like, I think I'm just special. Like I don't get it. Like I just don't get it.

Speaker 3

Jasmine, let me tell you, I have to be honest, the tic talk functionality in its current state, there have been some improvements since I've been a user of the platform is very confusing. It is not user friendly and there are, they've made some changes for , uh , create their video creation process and making editing a little bit easier. But even with those updates, I still have, I'm like, wait, how do I? And to be totally Frank and honest. Yes, I'll do. Sometimes you use the editing capabilities on takeoff . I am much more comfort, comfortable using an outside app to edit something that I'm already familiar with with doing quick kind of Instagram story edits, or if I have a partnership, that kind of thing, and then uploading it to take talk that way. So that's a little bit of my insider secret

Speaker 2

stop right now with this trash. I'm hearing yours . Oh my God. Stop. What app do you use?

Speaker 3

I use splice. Um, I've also used Adobe rush. Um, I know a lot of people use InShot and, or yeah, video shop a few things. Now here's the thing. People are gonna tell you things like if you edit outside of tick tock, tick tock nose , and therefore it's going to reduce your reach. Or , um, if, if

Speaker 2

just like the kind of rumors, like it's the same thing with Instagram or something. Cause then the algorithm is out to get you there's these real wait , hold on, time out. Do you believe that? Do you believe that? Oh, I totally do. I totally do. I because I've because whenever I, whenever I go through, that's why people get so upset. Like if I leave typos where it doesn't make sense, I'm like, listen, I ain't going to mess with the algorithm. No , I have seen a difference. I know. Okay. Okay. Okay. But we have to, we have to, we have to sleuth it out. No, no, no. I want you to test it. I want you to test it. We have to slip out whether or not the same thing applies to tick-tock . But I do find this really fascinating because I feel like I could take a little bit of a deep breath without feeling like I need to create on the platform. I believe that I will learn to be native on it, but I don't want that to be the initial hurdle for me to not use it. So I receive this and I think I'm going to follow up to see if I can get a couple links to the recommendations, because I know people are going to hit you up on Instagram and hit me up. And like, what did yours say? So it was like splice and in shot rush and in shots and a video shop. These are paid options. I'm not , yes . Free option, but there's gotta be right out there. Right?

Speaker 3

Like I said, my trick edit and , and the weight that I at least make myself feel better about maybe the algorithm, algorithm jocks you is that I still add music with integrity.

Speaker 2

I still add my text frames with intake talks. I'm still going all editing in there. I'm just making my life personally easy fit girl, girl. I love that hustle desk . That's the smart girl hustle right there. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. I'm less sweaty pitted about this. So I'm here for it. Okay. So now that we've discovered how you got, how you got started on talk . Now we know that there's a great opportunity for growth. Now we know we can define our niche by defining what it is we sell. And even if we don't know what to sell, we could still be creating content by what do you have to say ? If you have to stand on a stage for one hour , um, we also know that you , it would behoove us to really get familiar with the platform, but it shouldn't stop us because we could upload a video and add a few little tech things to make it Instagram friendly. Um, are there any other Tech-Talk hacks that we should know about? Like what's going on in that ? Oh , really?

Speaker 3

Well, here's the thing. I think that there's a couple of basics to know, like if we're going to talk about creating a video for example, and a lot of the concepts that we apply to Instagram can apply to tick tock. For example, on Instagram, we think about the first 150 characters of our caption, really wanting to pull people in. How does that translate to tick tock ? Think about the first one to three seconds of your video as a way to hook people in because the goal and the way that we , um, the algorithm knows that people like your video content is watching your video in completion , um, at least, or at least retaining you for a large amount of time and then repeat, watching and share ability . So if you're grabbing someone's attention in the first three seconds, that's a really successful thing that you want to aim for. Um, you can make a video up to 60 seconds, which I do plenty of times. I'm not going to say don't do that. I do think shorter the better 10 seconds, 15 seconds is really a sweet spot. And one other thing that I think is really important to know is that you really should be doing a mix of your own personal content. And when I say that, if I was to apply that, I would say, okay, what if I could go on a 15 second video and just give three, three tips about how to be more comfortable in front of the camera. I'm not dancing, I'm not doing a song and just sharing some tips. Um, so that's what I'm talking about. Original content. I do also think it's really important to do some of the trending content, some of the dances, some of the trending music, just as a fun break and to sort of round it out as a third thing, is there a way to take the trending content and apply it to what you do? So if there's a trending song and people are snapping and text is coming on the screen, instead of just it being random, can I talk about social media tips incorporating that trend? So these are the , a few things on, on my mind for you .

Speaker 2

I mean, I feel like, have you ever seen, are you familiar with that? Like meme or those posters of Einstein? And there was like the , the equation for relativity above his head. Like , I feel like I'm looking at like the equation for tick-tock relativity relevancy floating above your head. So this is all amazing. Okay. But you have to spill the tea. You have to be real because my sister did a tech talk and I thought it was funny that it was well done, but she said it took her an hour and 10 minutes. What the hell? Who has an hour and 10 minutes to create one piece of content, girl, girl, I don't even shower before 6:00 PM. How am I going to be like, let me go out and spend an hour for a 32nd video.

Speaker 3

There's going to be different levels of video creation. And yeah, I had definitely spent a long time on something. What's the longest. We real with the longest, Oh God, I want to , I don't think it's gone over an hour, but the whole process of me filming, editing, I have to say, if you have a lot of text boxes to add, that takes a long time. One that I'm thinking of. It took me a while . It's the wipe it down challenge. Have you seen that? It's your happiness and then you have one character and then the other,

Speaker 2

Oh wait, no, no, no. Hold on. Hold on. Since this is the podcast, the podcast, you have to describe it. So it's the wipe it down challenge. And so imagine JIRA standing in front of a mirror, maybe in the bathroom. Sometimes people don't do it always in the bathroom and you are, your hand is on the mirror and you wipe it one way and let's say it's Jera and just like her PJ's and then you wipe it, say that to the left. And then she's looking glam influencer looking like her best life, like swipe or white to the right pajamas, white to the left. She's looking fly. That's the white challenge . Okay, great. Really good .

Speaker 3

You've obviously described things on podcasts.

Speaker 2

Okay, good . Go, go, go.

Speaker 3

Okay. So that challenge requires you thinking about it in advance. You're setting up your phone on a tripod, certain angles , the mirror, you have your PJ's on. Let's go with that example, have to film that, get the arm position, right? Switch into your other glam costume thing. I put like a goth costume on with a black wig and black lipstick just to be dramatic and then film it again. And then when you're editing, you got to match up the clips. So that kind of thing takes a while because there's different character outfits involved in your editing and all that versus let's go back to that example. I gave up, let's go . I'm going to do a 15 second video giving three tips about how to be more confident in the camera. I could, whether I'm in my pajamas or not, because you do not need to look perfect for tip top or have perfect lighting. Lighting helps a little bit, but you don't need it all the time. That is just requiring me into tape talk app, press record a couple of times, if I'm stopping and starting for each tip, talking to the camera, 15 seconds out of your hashtags, another 30 seconds posts engage for 10 minutes. That's pretty quick.

Speaker 2

Okay. This is really, really, really good. And so when I say that I'm like obsessed with it. I really am obsessed. Like I think that that is the future and I'm just, I'm scared of the future. Like I'm just going to vocalize, you know? And so one thing that I think the value is is when you have the ability to jump into these, like really culturally relevant tech talk songs and experiments, like I'm pretty sure many of my listeners has seen the jello and a rod Drake, a flip, like the switch challenge or the flips challenge. Okay. Take it away, take it away, take it away, take it away.

Speaker 3

Okay. So I'm going to do , I'm going to describe it. Now. I'm going to practice mine .

Speaker 2

I'm going to get , I'm going to give you a grade. I'm going to give you a grade. I'm going to, I'm going to , I'm going to be professor. Let's see how we describe for the podcast.

Speaker 3

Okay? So we're in team talk, land, we're filming it's you and someone else you and your significant other you and your dog, you and your child , whatever it is. And you're in the bathroom, you're both wearing your own regular outfits. This song is going to , I just flipped the switch. And then in a certain point, you hear the light switch in the song, go down. So then with your hand, you motion to go down. It turns back on and then after, sorry, it went black. And then when it comes back to light, you both have switched your outfits. So I did this with my husband and I was wearing this cute little neon workout outfit. He was wearing his regular jeans and tee teachers . We switched he's now in this sports bra and leggings. And by the way, he actually

Speaker 2

added, added drama to them

Speaker 3

for outfits. And it's sort of that shock value. And it's so silly. And, and so that's the flip, the switch challenge.

Speaker 2

Jared , I give you a 97%. There you go. Eight plus eight plus eight , but I didn't give you a full 100 because there's always room for improvement. Right? I'm speaking, I'm speaking to an athlete. What Jared just explained was the ability for people to connect. And that , that, that production time, it doesn't take a long time, but it does take time. So the , the, the flip, the switch challenge that I'm referring to J-Lo is in a white body con dress. And a rod is in a SU you know, he's not even like my type, but they just look so good together that you're like, I appreciate you as just icons. So they do this. And then they flip there . Then they switch their outfits. So a rod isn't a white body conscious . It is J LO's dress. How that dress got on him. It just, it blows my mind and he looked good. I'm like, you know what? You know what you look good. So that went, not only did that go viral on tic talk , they ended up putting it on all of their social platforms. And so I do think that there is a way for you to maybe not the word is justified, but I'm just going to say, there could be a way for you to justify doing something on tech talk. And when you know, it performs really well, there's a good chance that it will perform on a different platform. Now I have a list of other questions. Did you want to say something to that though?

Speaker 3

No. I was just going to echo that and , and, and being able to express yourself on , in a new way on tip talk, I think really does translate to Instagram. And I've seen when I posted my Ted talk videos to my stories, people are like, Oh, wow, this is interesting. I haven't seen this type of content for you before. So the time that you spent on take talk, I think actually can be quite valuable for Instagram.

Speaker 2

Oh , I love this. Okay. So I thought of another question right now. So I've prepared for this, but I think I want to leave it at the end because it's kind of like aluminum tin hat. It's me hypothesizing. And I'm like, I want to know. Does Jera , does Dara agree with Mike Mike ? Crazy. So we'll see that to the end, but if I forget, remind me. Okay. Another one of my questions is I have seen you express openly on Instagram about how people often judge, when you and Erin , Erin is your newly minted husband. And he's just the sweetest. He's the best . I don't even know him. And I'm like, what ? Number one, I want you to make me a latte. Pretty pleased, pretty pleased because he's, he is a machine with coffee. I mean, it just brilliant. He knows how to make flowers in his frost milk. First two lips. See? Exactly, exactly. Exactly. I also want some gluten-free avocado toast. Yeah. I mean , he's like the way that I'm just telling you, your food makes me hungry when I see your stories and that it's all Erin , like, you know, I just, I really like the guy. I want to win him over. I'm going to be like president of his fan club. You could be his wife, but I'll be president of fan club, so, okay, good. And now you have openly expressed the difficulty at times where people have a lot of judgment of when you're creating your content. And so there was one story that I remember I'm just going to get juicy. Let's get you see. So, so Jaron , Aaron go back to Australia where he's from and they're visiting his family and she's petting koalas. She also happens to be by the opera house. And so she posted a picture of her in front of the opera house. And it's really beautiful. Scroll down her feet. You can find it. It was really rad. It's gorgeous. And then a little bit later, she posts another post of somebody who had taken a story. This is a random stranger taking a story, criticizing, making fun of the influencer in the wild. And they wrote a pretty snarky comment on their Instagram story. Well , y'all, the internet is small because somebody saw the story on this random person story who also happened to follow JIRA . She did a screen grab , okay, y'all be real. Cause y'all your , your trash we'll follow you on the internet. She does a screen grab . She sends it to JIRA and says, Jarrett, is this you? So then Jera screen grabs that trash and is just like, yo, I do my thing. And I do my thing because, so you've gotten a lot of Slack for being out, creating in the wild. I want to hear a little bit about creating the wild, because I think that that pertains to Instagram, to Facebook, to LinkedIn, to tick tock, whenever you're out and about what is like a criticism embarrassing moment, what's something that we could learn about being okay , creating for creation sake, but then also creating for our business strategy.

Speaker 3

It's so hard because the easy thing to say is, and just in life in general is, Oh, I don't care what other people think or people don't even notice. Here's the thing. A lot of the times people, if you're out taking photos, people don't actually notice cause everyone is so caught up in what they're doing and their own insurance that they don't. However, in the example that you just brought up, it's clear, there are people watching and there aren't just people watching. There's people criticizing and judging. And I would be a complete liar if I told you that, that stuff doesn't hurt me. Like when I first saw that and she wrote, this is where influencer boyfriends go to die, by the way, I mean, I wish I had thick skin, but I do. I have really thin skin and I'm sensitive and that hurt me. And when people give me the stink eye, because they just think I'm being an idiot, getting my photo taken, it really hurts. But something that I like to think about is that the judgment is always going to be there from someone regardless of what we're doing. But if we think about why we are doing something and the reason for it, our purpose behind it, who we're trying to connect you and have an impact on, is that more significant than the judgment , because I'm not going to say that judgment , isn't going to go away and you might always, and I am, I always have thin skin and it always might affect me. But if I think about the outcome of, and what I'm trying to do as a result of it, that is more powerful and that is going to keep me going and not let that judgment , um, tear me down. It will, maybe it'll tear me down a little bit, but it's going to hold me back from, from still going forward with content creation outside and all that.

Speaker 2

I couldn't agree more like I've always said. And I think this is where, and I know that Jerry and I seem very comfortable talking to each other because we kind of sort of have on social. Like this is the first real, like real time conversation we have, but we've sent messages to each other and this is something I think we've bonded over. And that's the ability for us to really be grounded and rooted in the fact that people are going to have an opinion, either way you take the photo or you don't take the photo, you sit on your couch or you don't sit in your couch. They're going to have an opinion. So if we know that people will have an opinion period, why not choose the thing that's going to move your life and your ambitions and your dreams further and farther. I just believe with all my heart that some of these opinions of me don't pay my bills. And by me creating it does so to all the people who have opinions to all the people who, you know, laugh as they scroll by and drive by like laugh as we create, well, I'm going to continue laughing when I'm doing the thing that lights me up and I'm not going to take into consideration other things. So for those people who are listening now and you want to create, and you're straddled by somebody else's opinion, always go back to the fact that even if you don't take the picture, you don't make the video. You don't take this selfie. They're still gonna have an opinion of you either way. Okay. So people will say, tech talk is for young ENS .

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Speaker 2

And people will talk themselves out of creating content. Do you think that there is a group of people who just maybe shouldn't create on tech talk or might, might be added as advantageous to create?

Speaker 3

I have seen such a wide range of people on there that I think team talk is available to every single one. There's a couple of things like grandma and grandpas that I follow who are doing, they get like, and it's not just about the views or followers. Bring , I say that as a point that people are interested in what they're putting out. Um, I see the most niche things. There is a woman who I came across recently who teaches babies, how to swim like babies. Cause I think if you, you know , teaches them to fall in a pool so that they know how to float, like that is what she does. And that's what she posts on tape talk is about that. Of course we see everything from the more general niches that are really popular, like makeup and beauty and mental health, all these types of things. So there there's space for everyone, every niche, every age, every interest, every hobby business unit. I'd seen it all on tech talk.

Speaker 2

Yeah. I love this. Okay. So if somebody is like, well, maybe I'm going to trust Jera and maybe I'm going to try this. Like what are three actual tips? Like they stop listening to podcasts at the end, don't end it now. But at the, after they listen, they download the app, they open it up. What are three actual things that they could do to actually post on ticktock?

Speaker 3

I think first is just getting familiar with the app and not getting overwhelmed with the fact that you're overwhelmed because it's a lot. And like I said, don't think it's the most user friendly platform. So take some time and scroll through what is called the for you page. This is really what differentiates take talk and sets it apart in that before you pages just, it's sort of an explore page. It's not people that you're following. And the more that you like content, the more people that you follow, the more that you spend more time looking at, the more it's going to curate that page for the types of content that it thinks that you, that you want. So understanding before you paid it . And also knowing that it's a wonderful place to get inspiration. See what are the trending songs, the trending movements, the trending, whatever it is that's out there that will help you to get familiar and see what people are doing. And just also really see that there's such a wide range. Number two, I think it's like, just get a video out there, like just, just do it, just do it. And that might be not anything with the song right away. It might not be anything with text , but if someone is listening to this and they're like, okay, I'm an expert in business tips. I'm an expert in training dogs, whatever it is. Think of something that you can share in 15 seconds. Maybe it's just one tip how to get your puppy to learn how to sit. How can you summarize that in 15 seconds? And just make a video of you talking that's as simple as don't worry about the hashtags, any of that, keep it really simple so that you just are working as you are creating and doing. I think also this is a little bit less about creating more about mindset. I think it's easy as I did to get on the platform and think, wow, I'm going to get all these followers and all these views because the growth is so easy. And at the beginning, at least it's not that easy. So focusing less on the fact that your video didn't go viral and what other measures of success are there. If you come to your profile, have you gotten up at least 12 videos that really encompass who you are and you can treat it as, as your resume and your profile for someone to really get to know you more. Even if those views are only a hundred each, are you feeling good about the content that you're putting into them? So getting used to the platform, just getting that first video up and not really letting the numbers hold you back, just working on putting value into the videos or just fun, whatever it is that you're creating. You're game ,

Speaker 2

sir , girl, gangster, gangster, you guys. It was like, I was, I was like, I'm about to recap this. And then you recapped. I was like, all right, queen, let me just roll out this little red carpet. You got the podcast red carpet coming on. Okay. We're going to be tying up loose ends here. But I think that the thing at the top of people's minds is have you seen people on Tech-Talk generate revenue? And if so, how are they doing it?

Speaker 3

Oh yes. I have a couple of ways and I have personally experienced it so I can speak from what's happened to me. And some people that I know, things like sponsored posts, it's happening, I've done a few myself and it's exciting to be able to incorporate a product or a brand into something that I'm already doing and the type of content that I'm putting out in this kind of fun, raw uncut way. So sponsored posts. Um, I have P two , I think it was two current clients right now because they found me on take tarp . So people who have bought into my services, also another example, which isn't mine, it's my friend juice , ELLs . She just put out a course wants to only on take talk. And I believe she had a five figure launch just from promoting it on tape talk. So those are the ways that I'm seeing it . It's either, either sponsored posts, actually promoting your product or service on tick talk or seeing , uh , being discovered by potential clients. And then, then maybe finding you on Instagram and searching you on other platforms and then hiring you or purchasing that way.

Speaker 2

I absolutely love this. And I was recently listening to another podcast cause I'm really interested in tech talk. And one of the examples they had given was a girl who has an Etsy store and she was on talk , creating videos and she would get anywhere from like 20 to maybe 60 views and then randomly, and she's an artist creator. She bought a jacket. She's from Kansas city. I don't even know who this girl is, but her story stuck out to me. So she's from Kansas city, bought a Kansas city chiefs, leather jacket at a thrift store. And then what she did is she engraved it. She painted it and she made a Ted talk video. She ended up completely doing $20,000 just from people finding her store because they said this jacket so cool. What else do you do? And this is a girl and she tried creating other videos and they were flops, but she said, I kept on going. And now she regularly knows how to create a viral video based on her creativity that then pushes people to her store, social prints, she'll sell button stickers. And I thought, Oh wow. Something is here. So you just spoke. You , you definitely spoke to through the choir. So one of the last questions tying it up, this is the tin hat. Well, it's leading into the 10 hat. It's leading to the tin hat. It's leading ahead a girl. I go, okay. I like how I'm being kept accountable is just like real talk. So before I get to this question, were you using Snapchat?

Speaker 3

Did you Snapchat from, let's say end of 2015 to pretty much till Insta stories came out and then I stopped.

Speaker 2

Okay. Very similar. Okay. So this goes into my question based on your experience and your experience sounds very close to mine. I started using snap around 2017. Oh no. Excuse me. 2016 to when Instastories came out and that distinctly felt like it was a fat . Now I did not think Snapchat was a fat at all. I was like, Whoa, this is the next thing. And then Instagram quickly adapted. And I thought for a second, the minute I use stories, I was like, Oh, Oh, I get it now. So in light of that, the tin hat comes to me. And I know that Facebook has tried to acquire tic talk the same way it tried acquiring snap. Now tick just like snap was like, no, thank you. I'm going to do my own thing. I think that stories will start adapting, editing capabilities, very similar to TechTalk in response. Because I see in my feed is people getting their ticks and putting them in side of their stories. And I'm like Instagram, ain't no fool. So do you think that Instagram will one adopt editing features to make it feel like the editing capabilities of tick looks so different than stories? They're much faster. They're funnier, they're cleaner. They have like that vine meet snap, meet stories, quality to them. Do you think that if Instagram were to roll that out, that would be the end of tech talk or do you think it's different than Snapchat? And if so, why? This is high level social stuff that I'm like, girl, I want to dive in right now with you. I'm like, I want to tin hat, this trash.

Speaker 3

Oh man. It's, it's something I haven't really thought about. And my initial reaction, I want to be like, no way, like take dog is its own thing. That's never going to happen. But similar to what you described with Snapchat, you , you kind of, I think we all felt that we never thought Snapchat would be integrated or , or the same features would be integrated into Instagram. I really want to say no. I feel like it's a standalone platform and the rawness, the uncut newness , the, the fact that you can put up a video in the worst lighting ever that's three seconds and it could go viral. I just don't see that translating to Instagram, especially because I think one of the beautiful things about tech talk is the possibility of the organic reach. That is what is drawing so many people in because unlike Instagram, where we're really stifled and it's pay to play and all that good stuff, it's not like that I'm ticked off. So my, I want to say no, but I feel like anything's possible. So don't hold me to that.

Speaker 2

You know, I, okay. I disagreed with you until you got, until you got to the meat of it and where ticktock still wins is discoverability and organic reach because it's not as, so I, social media is described as like an eight lane highway. And if you are one of two cars on an eight lane highway, you can go, you're speeding. And then all of a sudden, as more cars get on the freeway, the slower you have to go. So right now, tick tock is an eight lane highway with very few cars on it. Whereas Instagram is the eight lane highway with a lot of cars on it. So that alone makes me feel like if I'm going to create on Tech-Talk it does have legs, as opposed to, even if you were to have similar technology introduced on Instagram, tick tock still has a lot of viability because of the exposure and how many people are on the platform.

Speaker 3

Yeah. And thinking about it in that context, Jasmine Snapchat didn't really have that discoverability. It's hard. Like even username is

Speaker 2

yes. Ma'am it was zero. When they did that QR code, like you had to like find somebody else's snap and then copy their code. And yeah.

Speaker 3

It almost felt a little bit of a secret of platform. And so, yeah, I think the more I talk this through and then hearing they , what you had to say about it. Yeah. That discoverability and just the potential for health and community that so many of us are so desperately wanting on Instagram, which we once had back in the day. But now it's just impossible not to be negative. It's that's just the current state of the platform. Right . So that's, what's drawing people and that's, what's exciting. So yeah. I would see that being quite challenging for Instagram to integrate or take over .

Speaker 2

Oh my gosh. Okay. Because I am a striver and I like to set goals for myself by the time I'm scared, my , my hands are literally sweating. Okay. My hands are sweating. Well, here are my Martin . Pitzers when he's home, I want to put out, I want to put out my first Ted talk before this goes live, right before this podcast goes live, I'm just going to take your advice. I'm going to dive more into the platform. And then I'm just going to post the dang video. And then I'm going to say, what do I want to be consistent? Like the mindset is if I put out 12 videos in like 12 weeks, like what will I feel as a result of that? So success is not going to be determined by virality or how many followers I have, but by consistency. So that's what I'm going to put on myself for people who want to discover you on Instagram and take talk, how can they find you?

Speaker 3

I've got the same username on both. I am Jera bean. That's dear a doubt being a little period there. That's where I am.

Speaker 2

I absolutely love this. Thank you for sharing your brilliance . Thank you for sharing your time. I get to sit here and talk to you all day about your dog, your tattoos, your workout attire. The fact that I love your like high waisted flare jeans. I mean, girl, I'm creepy creeper 10 right now. I adore you. Thank you for making the interwebs so bright, so wonderful and sharing your excellence . So vigilantly and generously with your followers. Thank you,

Speaker 3

Jasmine. Thank you so much. I look up to you. So this has been such an honor and honestly, a dream of mine to connect with you in this way. So I really, I appreciate it. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank you. And there you have it friend . I absolutely loved this conversation with Jera and I hope you did too. If this episode inspired you to experiment with, tick-tock let us know. I am feeling inspired after this conversation and I can't wait to dive into my own ticktock strategy soon. Y'all I am just out here keeping myself account of book . I am thankful you're here and I'll see you on our next episodes in

Speaker 1

[inaudible] .