The I Am [Dot. Dot. Dot.] Podcast

Ep#37 I Am...Harnessing the Power of UGC for Authentic Marketing chat with Kirsty

• Kristen Werner & Mia Steel

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Have you ever wondered what it takes to truly unleash your inner creator? Join us in this episode of the I Am dot dot dot podcast as we promise to share actionable insights for busy mums navigating the digital marketing space. Hosts Kristen Werner and Mia Steele bring exciting news about the High Pub Collective membership and an enriching bootcamp designed to empower women, especially those aged 40 and above. Get ready to hear from Kirsty, a beloved member of our hive, as she reveals her journey and the vital role of creativity in achieving digital success.

Explore the inspiring story of a dedicated teacher balancing her passion for education with the need for additional income due to her husband's health challenges. Discover how she transitioned into affiliate marketing, a flexible side hustle that complements her demanding schedule. This episode delves into the initial overwhelm of learning new skills, the power of perseverance, and the importance of family priorities, illustrating how financial stability and time freedom can be achieved.

Learn the secrets behind successful affiliate marketing and the transformative power of User-Generated Content (UGC). By focusing on promoting products you genuinely believe in, content creation becomes more authentic and impactful. Hear firsthand how diversifying income streams through UGC can lead to financial relief and open doors to new opportunities. Celebrate the journey of one family making life-changing decisions, from leaving unfulfilling jobs to pursuing entrepreneurial passions, all thanks to the empowering support of the Hive Hub community.

FOLLOW Kirstly @the_freedom_whanau

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the.

Speaker 2:

I am dot dot dot podcast the podcast for busy mums who want to consume useful shit for their biz and their life. Here we tackle the things we know are holding mums and women back in their business. We're not afraid to tackle the big shit, the bullshit and the good shit. We go from mum guilt to confidently learning how to kick ass in this digital space. We will discuss the world of digital marketing and share life's tips and tricks for getting it done. As six-figure business owners with over 10 years of digital marketing and brand experience, and mums to young kids, we get it, we share it and we own it. So buckle up and let's go. Let's go, let's go. I think we did well on the screen. I think we did a lot of the streaming. I know that was really good. Okay, welcome to the I Am dot dot dot podcast. The podcast for busy creators who want to consume useful shit for their biz and their life.

Speaker 2:

I'm Kristen Werner, joined by Mia Steele. Hello, and I can't even slap her because it's all over the place. We've been doing a lot of talking today. I don't usually talk as much. I'm just like my cheeks hurt from smiling so much. Gosh, darn mia. We are doing a little interview today with one of our incredible hive members, kirsty, who we will introduce you to very shortly. But first of all we wanted to introduce you to or tell you about or whatever drop the bombshell At the High Pub Collective our membership that has been running for a year very successfully. We have decided to do something a little left field but a little right field, as in right decision. Did you see what I did there? It wasn't clever, but I did it. You did it Wasn't your best work.

Speaker 2:

Was not my best work, but I'm hungry and we've been talking a lot, so fucking tell the people the things. All right, if you've been listening in the last few episodes, we are closing the doors to the membership. Not for good. This is just a business decision that we have made based on lots of research, testing our coach numbers, all the things, and, yeah, it's going to be closing very, very soon. So, if you've been thinking about joining our membership, if you're sitting on the fence, you're not sure and you think it might be something that's going to help you in this space, move forward. Like lots of our members, jump inside our boot camp. We're having a boot camp on the 17th of June 2024. The doors are still open to that, so jump in there and at the end of that boot camp, yeah, we're closing the doors for a while. Yeah, so the doors will officially be closed on the 27th of June to reopen at a later stage. You can always jump on the wait list to find out when they do reopen.

Speaker 2:

But if you are in this, say, digital marketing space and you're listening right now and you are wanting to find a way to pay to create content, to build a business online, to look outside the norm and redefine what it looks like to get paid right now, and you might be heading into that. We talk millennials like Mia and I. Both are now. I'm in the later 30s, heading into 40s, and so we're talking to women, certainly inside the membership, that are 40 plus who are looking for something different. So if you are in that space and maybe you've been trying to sell a digital product and it's just not working, you haven't made many sales, you're not emotionally connected to that product. It might be a done for your product or something like that and you're just finding that you keep showing up and showing up, or you find it hard to show up but it's not working. Inside the membership we will be sharing with you and we talk about through our hive system that is set up to talk you through a success path. That's going to get you out the other end. That's going to get you paid to create content. It's going to get you a business online that is sustainable, that fuels your soul through digital products, digital courses and things like that, as well as what we'll be talking about today in terms of UGC and things like that, and certainly today, when we speak to Kirsty, she's really diversified, the way that she showed up online and the way that she's created income online, and that's why we want to share her story with you today, today, to see that there's not just a one and done way.

Speaker 2:

Certainly, the way that we speak to our members is hearing kind of where they're at. We have some members that are virtual assistants, that are building that business. We have some other members that are like look, I'm really good at building social media, I've built an incredible social media following, or I've learned about social media for having to post. Then we're like okay, you could go and work for another business and do their social media and build their Canva and build their resources, and they're like, oh, I hadn't thought of that. Cool, we are here to show you what is possible in this space.

Speaker 2:

So that's what goes on inside the membership. It is a buzzing, thriving hive, my friends. It is so much fun, so much fun. So there is, like we said, those doors close on the 27th of June and if you're looking to get into the bootcamp, it's called Unleash your Inner Creator. And, mia, why are we unleashing our inner creator and what's that going to do for us? Tell the people we need to unleash this creative soul that's living inside you, because without good content, you're not going to go far in this space, and we want to unlock that for you and show you what's possible If you just put yourself out there and flip things on its head and be open to a new way of thinking.

Speaker 2:

And that's what our last bootcamp has done for a lot of people who joined. We had hundreds of people in the last one, lots of big aha moments, including Kirsty, our next member, who did the bootcamp and implemented what we taught in the bootcamp, even though she's been a member with us since the very start. And, yeah, she has done amazing things since completing that bootcamp and her story is so special, so incredible. She's such a beautiful human. She's another one of our Kiwi members. We love our Kiwis. We've got lots of Kiwis in the membership and she's a full-time teacher. Unfortunately, her husband has been struggling with leukemia for a long while, so she decided to start earning some money on the line and she has diversified her income in many, many different ways, which we'll talk to her about, and she's incorporated UGC into that and she's just done incredible things, and so it's a beautiful story. When we talk to Kirsty and we can't wait to share it with you guys.

Speaker 2:

And I suppose just to kind of show you why we've decided to open the bootcamp doors again. And when we decided to create the bootcamp originally, that very first bootcamp in February, mia and I had this big discussion around yeah, you know, what's the biggest problem? Okay, content is everyone's biggest problem, that's their struggle. And then we kind of went down the path of, okay, well, what's happening in this space is you might jump into, say, digital marketing, and you jump into think, okay, I've got to build a big social media following, I've got to build a digital product and then I've got to sell the digital product. And then, you know, that's the kind of path that most people are taking.

Speaker 2:

And me and I were like, hang on a minute, if we turn this upside down and look at the reflection of Mia's journey, where she started from an Ambo and then left her job as an Ambo, never done content creation before, jumped in a caravan, went in a caravan around Australia with her two kids and her partner and then saw a TikTok about UGC and went, okay, I might try that, and within like six weeks replaced her wage. So we really looked at that and went hang on a minute. If you take that journey and we show people how to create better content that might be able to get paid because a brand pays them for it, that's going to give you confidence because your content is better than because a brand's willing to pay you. Well, that's a really great outcome, and then what that's going to do is help you create better content strategically for your own business to build that. So this is why we've restructured the way that this looks like and we've created this fast fast track funnel system that's going to try and get you paid for content and understand better content.

Speaker 2:

So this is where this whole boot camp um foundation has come from, I suppose, and and we just see it with all the success stories we've had this is no longer a fluke. This is a fucking. Fast track system like this works. This is no longer a shit that was lucky is a fucking fast track system Like this works. This is no longer a shit that was lucky. This is like oh, it worked for her and her and her and her and her, and not just, not just work, but work really really well. So, anyway, we're going to jump into the conversation with Kirstie. It was just really beautiful speak to her and she's such a wonderful, beautiful human and we can't wait to introduce her to you. So let's go not thank you enough, for we're so grateful that you trusted us on this journey and became a founding member with us and have stayed with us and are now a Hive Hub ambassador, which we are so excited to have you as one, a very successful one, we are going to talk about Now.

Speaker 1:

We are just going to have a touch day.

Speaker 2:

because what we wanted to look at was your journey is really unique in terms of you've been able to diversify in this online space by trying different things, testing different things, leaning into different things and certainly with kind of that latest journey after we had our last bootcamp with UGC and things like that. But we wanted to look at the entire journey first of all. So, firstly, welcome Welcome to the podcast.

Speaker 1:

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. This is super exciting. Another little.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I know We've got to say a lot of other, a lot of favorite that we've got inside the hive yeah yeah, no, definitely, um, yeah, no.

Speaker 1:

This is awesome having the opportunity to talk to you guys and share a bit about my journey. It's definitely been um, a bit of a roller coaster, but, um, but yeah.

Speaker 2:

I think the coolest thing and the question that I'll put to you, because you're a teacher and you love it and there's a lot of people in this online space that are getting into it because they don't like their nine to five. They don't want to go to work, they want to get out of it, they've had enough, they're mothers, they're over it. But we love your journey, because you always say to us I love my job, but I just want something else, or I just want more, I just want to add something. So can you kind of talk us through? You decided to even look into this space as a teacher, like what, what was the thought process and where did you start?

Speaker 1:

yeah, no, definitely. So you're right, my story is a little bit different. It's it was never me wanting to replace my nine to five um. I love being a teacher, um, but for me, my whole why is actually because of my husband. So, um, he has leukemia.

Speaker 1:

So he was diagnosed when our son was three months old and with that comes all sorts of challenges. So, particularly around him being able to work full time, he is in a type of remission, but there's no cure for the cancer that he's got. So for us, even though I've been, you know I earn good money. I'm a teacher, I'm also the deputy principal, so I have all sorts of hats on, I earn good money. But we were never getting ahead because he wasn't able to work I shouldn't say able to work, wasn't able to work full time and often you know all sorts of things relating to his health, work full-time, and often you know all sorts of things relating to his health. And so I just thought we just don't want to to live like this, knowing that life is precious and you know, once you get diagnosed with a, an illness like his, you want to make the most of all the moments that you have with your kids and you know as a family, and stuff like that. And so I thought there has to be another way that we can be generating an extra income and so I did the jump online.

Speaker 1:

Google side hustles and all sorts of things popped up. Dropshipping was the first one. I thought I could do that. Like you know, I'm creative, I'm a computer. No, I'm not. Yeah, I've tried that. Every idea I had had already been done, so I parked that that and then I just stumbled across. Affiliate marketing was the first sort of thing and I thought I'll give it a go, and that's sort of where it started yeah, yeah and, and I guess situations in life like that pop up out of nowhere.

Speaker 2:

You probably weren't expecting something like that and all of a sudden you have to start thinking about okay, well, what are we going to do now If your husband can't work at all or you know he has to prioritize his health? What are the ways that I can make money online? And it can be really overwhelming when you first start looking into it too. I remember I was the same, you know, years ago, thinking how can I be my own boss and make some more money. And you jump onto Google and you're like, wow, what do you trust? What do you know? You know? Which way do you turn? And then you jump on TikTok and lots of people talking about different things on TikTok and stuff like that. So how did you navigate that sort of overwhelm? And why was affiliate marketing? You know something that you started with.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I knew that it had to be something that I could. I couldn't get a second job like there's. Like today, I've been at work all day. I'm going back tonight for parent interviews. I just couldn't manage that and that's not what we wanted. I wanted to create more time, freedom, not take away.

Speaker 1:

So the idea of affiliate marketing sort of jumped out at me because I thought I can do that in my own time. You, I can promote brands that I love and things like that. And so I kind of just navigated it blindly, like just jumped in thinking, okay, I did sign up to do a course when I first started and that's actually where I came across you, mia, because you were promoting the same course. So I just put everything into that. I was very much like hyper-focused this is what I'm going to do, I'm going to be so successful at it, that's going to be great, everything's going to pan out. It didn't quite pan out, but that's sort of I put all my eggs in that basket and thought, okay, I'm going to make this investment, I'm going to do this, it's going to work.

Speaker 2:

That's sort of how I navigated it, yeah yeah, yeah, and sometimes it takes like a bit of I need to test this, try this, do this, do that, before something actually clicks.

Speaker 2:

And you know, I've done a lot of courses in my time as well, and it's like you don't really lose anything.

Speaker 2:

You gain more knowledge in what to do, what not to do, how to build a funnel and all that sort of stuff. It's all really good learning, but sometimes it takes a little bit of pivoting to find something that really sticks and really lights you up. And then so when you kind of navigate that journey because, like we've said, like it's, it's so big and scary and unique in terms of having to create content about yourself or something else, or you know, even just the creating content space itself is quite overwhelming. When you haven't done it and I assume, as a teacher, you're not cranking out the TikTok at lunchtime and recess time and like it's not a natural thing for many of us to actually do so, did you find that even that part like a challenge or not a stopping point? But something that you've had to navigate anyway is really getting that content creation, what that looks like you've had to navigate anyways, really getting that content creation what that looks like.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely I had. I didn't even have TikTok before I started. I was just very much a Facebook Instagram kind of you know person. I had no idea how to use TikTok. My 14 year old daughter gave me a crash course in learning how to do it. Content creation was definitely something scary and for me, a big barrier was that other people that I knew were going to see what I was doing and judge and you know, like that was something that held me back for a long time was not wanting to put my face out there, um, and just learning how to create content that people could relate to and find authentic, because I was just trying to copy what other people were doing. In the beginning I I was just like, right, this is you know. And there were some courses that I did not my first one, but I've done another one and they literally said, go out, look for videos that people are doing well and copy what they're doing. So I was like, okay, done, and it didn't work for me. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And that's the thing that it's. Things like that are sustainable. And what's really nice about watching your content and watching your journey and certainly seeing it through the hive and being a part of it is you're very good at storytelling, you're very good at sharing who you are, and I think when we're told to go and create content like somebody else's because it's working for them, the reasons it's working for them is very different to why it would work for us, and I think you know that in itself is not great advice, but what I do love about it and what you've absolutely nailed with 99% of content creators all of us the fear that usually holds us back is that thought of like well, what will people think? And you know, even that fear for me I started on Instagram, was on there fine, I always had a bit of a business account. It was never a personal account, so that was fine. But then when I started on TikTok, I had this whole new lease of life because I was like no one here knows me and I can actually finally create content that I want to create without having to just put a little bit of a barrier up between me and what people are thinking.

Speaker 2:

And I think that in itself is hard to overcome and certainly what we try to really support our members with in the Hive is to get past that point. So do you remember like a point in your journey where you just kind of went fuck it, it's me doing this and everyone else can just kind of get fucked. This is. I need to do this for me and my family. Do you remember a point where that kind of clicked for you? It was?

Speaker 1:

probably when I joined the hive and I know that that sounds like a shameless plug, but it was that moment when I think one of the very first things that you did in the hive was a really deep dive into your why. Um, I remember that being one of the first things, and it wasn't until I really did that that I realized my why and I thought, just like you said, fuck it, like I'm not doing this for anybody else, this is why I'm doing it. I need to get past that barrier, that just be myself, be. You know what, if people don't like it, they're going to unfollow me and I don't care. So it was a real moment, but it took me, I'm going to say, nine months before I got to that. Um, and now I'm just like I really don't care. Like you know, I really don't care.

Speaker 2:

That's incredible and thank you for saying that, because it's something that that why process. People don't understand the power of it. It's why we love it so much and it's why we made that part of our foundation in the Hive to do that. Because you know the amount of times we've said to people, even when they first go through that and like, why are you here? And they're like, oh, because I just want to make more money, I want to make my kids proud or something that's great, but let's go deep, let's go why again? And as you go down that seven layers of why and do that deep work, you know the amount of people that have come out the other side of that me or myself being one of them through that process to actually go oh, that's why I do what I do.

Speaker 2:

And now I can say that with every piece of content I create, every time I push and think you know what this isn't going to work, I go, no, why am I doing this? And you go back to that. And I think that in itself is such a great thing to hear that. That's a turning point for you in terms of your content and how that's helped you kind of, if nothing else, it's that bit of confidence that, at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what other people think, because you know why you need to do it, and that's such a huge step in the right direction. And so, with that, what we liked, what we've enjoyed to watch as well, is obviously you're a Hive Hub ambassador because, like we've said, you've been able to. When it comes to affiliate marketing, you're very good at it. You one of our top Hive Hub ambassadors, and it's something that you know anybody that's listening.

Speaker 1:

That doesn't really understand affiliate marketing.

Speaker 2:

a quick overview of affiliate marketing is basically you are a brand advocate. So if a brand has a program, like we do, where we say to our members hey, look, if you'd like to share us with your community, and they click the link in your bio, they click a link that you're talking about and you come and purchase to come into the Hive Hub, you will get a 40% commission. So it's our way of saying, hey, we're going to give you money for sharing us. So it's kind of a it's ambassadorship. It's something that a lot of programs have got it. It's something that especially for me on TikTok it's had a bit of a boom in the last kind of 12 months. It's very normal. It's been around since, I think, pre-80s, I think in the 70s, I reckon 70s, and it started with a man who had a florist business apparently.

Speaker 2:

I don't know the exact story, but he had a florist business and the way that he had to get his name out was by doing this particular kind of affiliate marketing.

Speaker 2:

And that's kind of where it all started and snowballed because people talked about it, then they took his floral arrangements and they passed it on and he got commissions and got more sales and more sales and it snowballed.

Speaker 2:

So the idea of it is not new and the idea of it for us certainly was about saying to our members we want you to get paid while you learn, and that's been part of it and part of what we've loved about it and what we have enjoyed through that process is then helping our members understand how they can create that content.

Speaker 2:

So that doesn't feel gross and it doesn't like if you're not, if you're selling something you don't believe in affiliate marketing, digital marketing, anything like that is gross. We've all kind of felt that. But if you're really selling something you believe in, it's quite easy just to talk about it as if you're getting paid or not. So in terms of the content that you've created, how you've seen it kind of change and we'll talk about what happened when you stepped into the kind of that UGC space. But prior to that did you have a point where the content for you became a lot easier and you enjoyed creating content because maybe you were making sales or you understood how to potentially kind of become magnetic enough to make those sales?

Speaker 1:

I think one thing for me was definitely dwindling down my kit of things that I was talking about to only the things that I was passionate about. Like, there was a point in my stand store it was like all of these things, and I just found it We've all done that. I couldn't do it justice. The things that I wanted to talk about was just spread way too thin and I thought, actually, what are the things that have brought me success in this space or have helped me get to where I am? Or, you know, do I find really valuable? And a big part of it for me, of my whole journey, is wanting to help other people as well.

Speaker 1:

I think it's the natural teacher in me. I just, if I've learned something, I want to share it. So, yeah, once I realized that I only had to talk about the things that really lit me up, it just became so much easier to talk about them because I wasn't having to think what can I say in this video? I have to make a video. What you know, like those times where you just blankly stared at your phone and thought something needs to come to me. I could just be like cool, I want to talk about this and it just came out yeah.

Speaker 1:

That was definitely something for me. Yeah, yep, yeah.

Speaker 2:

And a lot of people do like, come to that realization that when they find something that has truly helped them, it just becomes easy to talk about it. And it's like a lot of us are ambassadors for Stan Store. We truly love Stan Store. It's easy, they're a great team. We could talk about it forever. You know the commissions are fantastic and you start to build these income streams of things that you love and can talk about all day and next minute you know you've got this nice little income trickling in every week and for someone like you, kirsty, like that helps so much when you're in a position where you know your husband can't work full-time. It could be an entire electricity bill paid for just with some commissions every month. So yeah, and you've done so well diversifying your income as well and I'm such a big advocate for diversifying too because you know things change, you pivot. But if you can build that income stream slowly over time, it's amazing.

Speaker 1:

I can't believe how much things have changed. Sorry.

Speaker 1:

No, you go, Kirsty, I can't believe how much it's changed in the year and a half that I've been here. I'm so glad that I have learnt today and that was all down to you guys Like I would never have looked into UGC had it not been, if had I not been in the hive. So already I can see that you know like there are certain things now that are giving me the x, so I'm like no pivot away, like you know, and so quickly in this space.

Speaker 2:

so yeah, yep, and the thing with UGC too. We'll talk about how you started UGC, but it's one of those things that it's like a toolkit that you can just pull out at any time. Your content's getting better, you're getting paid for content, you know your skills are improving, it opens your eyes to new possibilities and options and you can promote your own stuff a lot easier with those sort of skills. So it's really a bit of a no-brainer, and we've seen so many of our members flourish since doing UGC. Your content's better, your confidence is better and it's just an all-round no-brainer, really. And what was really, what was cool about it is when we did the free boot camp in January.

Speaker 2:

So, as we said, kirstie's been a member since we started the Hive, which would have been last June June 2023. So she's been in the membership the whole time, and so have some other members. And when we did the bootcamp, we were so thankful that our Hive members came to that free bootcamp and we're like, oh, this is great. They're all here to cheer us on and learn something else, even though it's kind of in the Hive, and we talk about it. And then, all of a sudden, we saw these little light bulb go off of a few of you that have heard about it. We'd kind of be chatting about it and then, all of a sudden, you guys like um, like kirsty, sent us a message. I think it was a couple days after the boot camp. She was like so I did my video and like, after 48 hours the brand's gonna pay me. And we're like, I'm sorry, what? Yeah?

Speaker 2:

crazy, because obviously you've got another free boot camp coming back in June, the 17th, and what was it that, I suppose, drew you to it enough to be like, okay, I need to know more about this. Maybe this is something I could add into my toolbox.

Speaker 1:

I think it came at a really good time for me as well. I knew that just digital marketing was not sustainably something that I wanted to do. It wasn't going to be something that I knew would be long-term, and so I did want to look at something else. I'm not pushing digital marketing to the side there's so many things that I could do with that just in my teaching career as well but I knew that it was coming to a point where I needed to do something else and I was like do you know what?

Speaker 1:

The only thing holding me back from UGC is myself, and for some reason it scared the shit out of me. I don't know why I found such a difference between filming content on my TikTok about what I was doing with my digital products or whatever. So much scarier doing UGC. There was just a real barrier for me. So I was like I'm going to hear them out, I'm going to give it a go. And I did. You were like just grab something from home, film a video and away you go. And I did. And then I was like I couldn't possibly post this and you guys were like send it. What's the harm?

Speaker 1:

And then I was like we'll pay you four hundred dollars for that video, and that was for me. I was like, okay, crazy, yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, this works, yeah.

Speaker 2:

And I remember you saying at the beginning like, oh, I don't know, I don't think I'm good enough. I'm like, wait a minute, kirstie, like the way that you do UGC for the hive is amazing. You talk about us, like you know, so freely and so authentically that's your GC. And you're like, oh, yeah, it is. And then you just move that across to other products and it becomes easier and easier the more you do it.

Speaker 1:

I was too old, like, if I'm being completely honest, I'm 40. So I know I'm not you know, but I just thought that's too old to be getting into something like that.

Speaker 2:

We'll only need to go from that last bit. Sorry, okay, it wasn't recording since we got back on, so that whole thing would have been missed.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so you're feeling too old, let's go from that, even though it was magic, let's rehash it.

Speaker 1:

Okay. So I definitely thought that I was too old. There were just. You know, when you go on social media and you look at videos of things, it's always young people and I thought that no one's going to want to buy something that I'm talking about. You know, I'm in my forties, I'm getting gray hair, I've got wrinkles, I'm, you know, tired all the time, things like that. And in fact, it was when I did the UGC course. After the boot camp, I really was like, actually, no, I've got, I genuinely can talk about my wrinkles and I can talk about my grey hair and I can talk about the fact that I'm perimenopausal now and that's a huge target audience, and so realising that as well, that age, was actually something that worked in my favour, I think, rather than a barrier.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and lots of our members who have done U rather than a barrier. So, yeah, and lots of our members who have done UGC over 40s are getting lots of work because brands need creators in that demographic, because there's not many of you guys like they're struggling to find creators. So when you tap into it and all of a sudden you got these brands coming to you with all these you know products aimed at us it's like yeah, absolutely it was.

Speaker 2:

You know, like ages ago we did a bit of a research and there was a statistic that we found around the fact that, like, brands are actually finally realizing that as consumers. Most of the consumers in a household are women our age that want to know what brands are out there. We want to buy from people that look like us. We're the ones you know between that 40 to kind of 55 age bracket that are buying most of the stuff in households. So, you know, brands are finally also coming to this and from you know, a marketing and branding standpoint.

Speaker 2:

I've come from a place years ago that was all around focusing on high-end advertising and things like that, and it's now this really, really cool space where brands can see the power of something like TikTok. Like the amount of times you turn on the news or something and you hear, oh, this latest trend on TikTok or this happened on TikTok, like it's, it's like that's what people are talking about, and so brands know that that's where they can go to kind of start this content creation. And so the you and I's of the world we want to buy from someone that looks, feels, sounds authentically, just like us Cause I believe you, if your wrinkle cream works, or your cleaning thing works, or those athletic pants that you wear, actually really comfortable because you had a cesarean, like all those things I'm going to believe that if you look like it's really happened to you and you're really connected with it, so I think you know it's just such a big thing to tell anybody that's considering it.

Speaker 2:

Has that thought in their head like I'm too old that it's absolutely possible to give it a shot, yeah, yeah. And so with all these income streams that you've made over the past 12 months, how has that impacted your life personally? Like, what does that mean for you guys?

Speaker 1:

It's been huge. So because of my husband's health, he always ends up using his annual leave, like normally in the first sort of three months of the year. So then obviously, when I have school holidays and the kids, it's always just the three of us. He could never come and do anything in the school holidays. So it meant that we could afford for him to take time off and we could go and, you know, go to the beach for the day and he could come with us and things like that. But more recently it's meant that he actually has left his job.

Speaker 1:

Um, he had been there for years and years. He loved it. Well, no, he didn't love it. He didn't love it. But he had a sense of loyalty because they had been really good to him with his health. But it just didn't light him up, it didn't make. It's not what he really wanted to be doing and we were never financially in a point that he could go and explore his passion. Um, until this year. So we're currently four weeks in. He handed in his resignation. I mean there's still a shit ton of fear that comes with that. But we were in a position where we were like we can give it six months, we can give it six months and if it doesn't work, you can go back. But he's loving it, coming home now with a smile on his face and he's like this is why did I take so long to do this? And it's because we couldn't afford to, and so the extra income that we've generated has meant that we these opportunities, huge, huge for us.

Speaker 2:

Gives me goosebumps, yeah, and like you know, he probably has a newfound outlook on life because of his illness. So having the option to do that is just absolutely life-changing. And like I just get so excited hearing that because it's not until you just put yourself out there and just try and just understand that it is possible that your whole life can change, you know, really, really quickly.

Speaker 1:

So that's amazing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's so good, and I think you know what's so nice about that and what's so enjoyable about being an entrepreneur or having somebody that's willing to try something different and look somewhere else, is that we kind of have the ability to make money whenever we need it. Like you know, it's if we're not stuck in that mind frame of the only way I can make money is by going to a job and we kind of go okay, what else is out there? We've got that ability to. You know, if there comes a time where you want to do some more travel or something, and he can step into UGC if he's comfortable enough, or you can go, you know what.

Speaker 1:

Working on it. You can be like.

Speaker 2:

I can try and get three UGC jobs done this weekend if you take the kids and you get that done. And that means that you can fund something else Like the ability to be able to make those decisions. I think is what, I know, mia and I, absolutely, you know, sets our soul on fire. That, you know. My husband the other day said something about you know. Well, we just need like an extra thousand dollars a week and like this would be good. And we got this. I'm like, well, I'll just, we'll just go and make some money, I'll just, I'll do it, I'll go on.

Speaker 2:

You know, there was not a point where I was like, oh God, yeah, okay, maybe I should go and get a job. It was more like, okay, how can I do that? I could do some UGC, we could do some digital products, we could. You know, like, that's fine and I think that's, if nothing else, the power of what this online space is able to do, and especially for women of our age, that you have your, you know, you go to school, you get your job. For those that don't love their job like you, kirstie, which you're so fortunate to, and that's amazing, but for those that don't, and they go okay, well, I better go back to work, like now. We have that opportunity to redefine what that looks like and try something new, and that's just such an exciting new chapter for you guys in your journey as a family.

Speaker 1:

And you know, imagine if you can get him into it and he's all like funny story. I probably. I made, we made a deal. Um, he absolutely loves golf and so he was like, oh, you know, you could do some golf ugc and get me some new irons or some you know some new golf gear. And I was like, well, you would have to be them. So I even went out to the golf course with him the other day. I don't get the hype but funnily enough I tagged some golf brands. This was over on Instagram and my best performing reel of all time on Instagram.

Speaker 1:

I'm like there's a real sort of golf niche here somewhere. I just need to tap into it so you never know.

Speaker 2:

Could you imagine if you land some land, some crazy like golf deal, and he's like oh, okay, you're all right.

Speaker 1:

This is really quite good, isn't it?

Speaker 2:

and, yeah, a lot of our hivers have, you know, trying to get their husbands into it and you are doing it. My partner's been in a few ads. He won't talk to camera just yet but yeah, you know you don't have to. You can do voiceovers. You know lots of different angles and all that sort of stuff, so it's just fun. And so, with the, you know now that you've kind of stepped into that and added that to your toolbox. I suppose, looking at the tools that you've learned through doing UGC around content creation and structuring content and things like that, would you say that it's something that has now helped you create your content in a new way or reframe it or, you know, has it given you more confidence in creating content? Do you think?

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, I think now. Now when I'm just filming videos about anything, I'm filming it with sort of the format of UGC, like I'm going to hook the people in. I'm going to sort of talk about you know, even if I'm just talking about nothing. I start off with like a I just my content in general about everything is better, I think, now that I've done UGC. Yeah, I don't know if there's anything I carried over beforehand into my UGC, probably, but yeah, no, it's definitely impacted on the way that I make content now.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and then it's. You know, what we found too is it's the way that people create content. But then it's also because when you work with a brand, you have to get into, kind of their psyche and think about their ideal customer, what they want, their pain points, all the things that digital marketing teaches us. But we have to learn that, okay, what's our ideal customer's pain point? And so it's all our responsibility to really do that research where, with UGC, you still have to do the research, but a brand has got that backing, they've got the ability for either them to script it or to give you that information. But you still need to look into it and kind of think, okay, put myself in the shoe of the buyer, how would I feel? So, even that that we don't think is big, that's huge.

Speaker 2:

Then, when it comes to creating our own content and thinking about our own products and our own business because you know, nine times out of 10 in the hive, we're having conversations with our members around okay, so what's your ideal customer? I don't know, and we're still kind of going back to that and that's in our Ignite section inside the hive, and so when you do that for another brand, you kind of you get to understand it better and understand that thought process for then your own content. So I think that you know all those skills certainly come through and we've seen a lot of them in your content and how much it's not changed but just confidence and clarity around content has been really amazing to watch and unfold no differently yeah, such amazing skills to have and just you can transfer it across.

Speaker 2:

And even if you know, inside a membership, you know you might not want to do UGC full-time, it can be a lot of work, but even just learning those skills and just doing some on the side, it's going to benefit you 10 times over, every single time. Yeah, it's a no-brainer and that's why we love it and that's why we we teach it to all of our students as they come in, because we can just see, like you, kirstie, and lots of other members, that it just does wonders on the money front, confidence front, the content, everything. So, yeah, yeah, well done to you. Well, thank you so much, kirstie, for spending time and telling us your story today and being a an incredible member of the Hive Hub. We absolutely love you and your content and what you bring to our team. So thank you so much for your time and we can't wait to share this with everybody, because your journey has been absolutely magnificent.

Speaker 1:

I wouldn't have been able to do it without you both. Honestly, I would there was if you hadn't come along. When you came along, I was ready to throw in the towel, so yeah.

Speaker 2:

Music to our ears.

Speaker 1:

Everything aligned.

Speaker 2:

Oh, that's so nice to hear. Thank you, check the podcast.

Speaker 1:

We've got so many good ones too.