Starting a coaching business or diving into the micro-influencer world? Either way, you're going to need content and it better be good! Learn how to tap into what your people want to learn about so you're always attracting dream clients that completely align with your business and your long-term goals with our special guest Austen Tosone.

Austen Tosone is a fashion and beauty content creator based in New York City. She helps her community navigate the fashion and beauty industries with ease by sharing trends, industry news, and product reviews. In addition to creating fashion and beauty content, Austen educates micro-influencers through her YouTube channel, email newsletter and blog posts about how to create better content, collaborate with brands, and get paid to create. She has previously worked as a magazine editor and as the beauty content director at a tech startup.

Austen’s Links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/austentosone/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/austentosone 

Websites: https://austentosone.com https://www.keepcalmandchiffon.com

Freebie: https://austentosone.com/subscribe

Episode Transcription:

[00:00:00] Lindsay: Hey everyone. Welcome back to the Book Your Dream Clients podcast. We have Austen with us today. She is a fashion and beauty content creator based in New York city. We're chatting all about why you need to have a content medium and how to make sure it attracts your dream clients. You are going to love this episode.

[00:00:32] So sit back, relax and enjoy

[00:00:38] Austen. Thank you so much for being on the Book Your Dream Clients podcast. I'm super excited to have you on. 

[00:00:44] Austen: Thank you, Lindsay. I'm so excited to be here. I love that. You, I love your whole thing about being a coach for coaches. And I think it's just something that so many people want to learn more about. So I'm so excited be I got on the pod side.

[00:00:57] Lindsay: Thank you for saying that. I, I put that on there and I thought, gosh, could I get any more boring? But you know what? I don't have any sparkle to that. It's I am a coach for coaches and it is what it is, right. 

[00:01:09] Austen: Well, I even have had people tell me sometimes that. An influencer for influencer is then I think that it's really fun to see someone who is embodying, like what you want to do in a really productive and helpful way.

[00:01:24] So it might sound a little straightforward, but I actually think it's so necessary. I think 

[00:01:29] Lindsay: we need to be more straightforward in our messaging and in everything that we do on business in business, we don't need to have like so many cute little things surrounding what we really do otherwise. No one understands what we're talking about.

[00:01:42] So, yes, I love that. Keeping it simple, being straightforward. I love that. Why don't you go ahead and tell everyone about yourself and we will get start. 

[00:01:53] Austen: Sure. So my name is Austen. I am a digital content creator, and also influencer coach and strategist based in New York city. I moved to New York when I was 18 and never looked back.

[00:02:05] I started my blog, my fashion blog in 2012. So it will turn 10 years old, this coming June. And I, I really just started it because I wanted to. Create like a digital world for myself. I had started to see some fashion bloggers out there. And then at first it seemed like they were just doing their own little photo shoots and essentially creating their own digital magazines, which I already thought was very cool.

[00:02:32] And then I started to notice that they were. Working with these big brands, they were getting invited to fashion week and I was even more intrigued than I previously was. So even though I had no idea what I was doing in the beginning, I kind of kept forward on that path of just consistently uploading blog posts every week.

[00:02:50] Again, not really knowing quite what I was doing had just created an Instagram. Around the same time. And to be honest, it was not something that I thought I'd still be doing nearly attack later, but that was really the kickoff starting point for my interest in this whole world of digital content creation.

[00:03:09] And. After I graduated from college, I did have some other full-time jobs. I worked as a magazine editor at nylon and interview magazine here in New York city. And then I also worked as the content director for a tech startup. So I was basically helping people create great content for a new social media platform.

[00:03:28] And I was really getting a deeper dive into video content, into content marketing and into how loggers and content creators can actually. Money. And I also on my own social media accounts on my Instagram account, especially started sharing a bit of the behind the scenes about what it was like to be a self-employed person, because I was self-employed in between some of those jobs that I just mentioned because the print magazines I was working.

[00:03:59] Folded and changed. And so I was out on my own for a little while, and then I left my most recent full-time role in April, 2021. So been out on my own for a few months now doing my own thing and really focusing now full-time on. Content creation and also this influencer coaching business as well, which has just been so exciting and rewarding because it's that thing that always used to be the side hustle.

[00:04:26] That's now really at the forefront of what I'm doing every single day. 

[00:04:31] Lindsay: Well, congratulations on taking this on full-time that's super exciting. I think that a lot of people have the dreams of, you know, starting their blog and they have no idea where this could possibly lead. And I love that you shared that you started this in 2012.

[00:04:46] You didn't start this in January. You had this wonderful idea and now look where I am five months later or a year later, super successful. Right. It takes a lot of time and you probably didn't even realize when you started that this would be a business that will support you in the future. You probably just started it because it was fun, 

[00:05:05] Austen: right?

[00:05:06] Yeah. I thought it was fun and I thought it might help me get a magazine and church. Like I thought that it would look good if I was kind of doing something on the side too, and I never imagined. Yeah. At that point, a job other than working out a magazine, I always thought the goal was to get in and work your way up the math side, and eventually become like the fashion features director or the BV director or something along those lines.

[00:05:28] Then I, I didn't know if I believed back then, like that I could get there on my own and that I can do it that way. But I think that, you know, as the last few years we've seen immediate industry specifically has just changed so much and now there's kind of no. So what you can do, you can really create your own thing, even on the fly, if you want to, without realizing it just by like uploading a tech stock video, 

[00:05:55] Lindsay: let's talk about content.

[00:05:56] So having an online business doesn't mean, oh, you can just have an Instagram feed and that's in call it good or an amazing website. There is, there is a backbone of providing value to people. Let's talk about. Why it's important and some options for people. I, for me, I work with a lot of coaches who are just starting and their idea of putting out content.

[00:06:20] It feels really overwhelming to them because it means they have to come up with new ideas and then they just get lost and paralyzed by the thought of having to do something new every single week. So hard to even get wrap your brain around. So they like to go towards blogging because it's not as in the face and upper front and talking in front of everybody, they can kind of stay safe that way.

[00:06:46] But talk about why blocking video, podcasting, whatever your chosen medium is. Why is that so important for every business owner online? 

[00:06:57] Austen: Oh my goodness. There's it's such a loaded question, but I think like you just pose the first part of it, which is that you can basically pick and choose which medium feels the most natural to you and kind of run with it from there and have that be your primary thing that you're doing.

[00:07:13] So if you are most interested in creating audio first content, like a podcast, or even like talking on clubhouse and things like that, I think. That is something you can just run with. And then there's a lot of ways you can even repurpose that content for other platforms as well. I think that if you.

[00:07:32] Blogging is not even a little bit bad. There is so much you can do with a blog. And so I also agree that if you're a little hesitant about maybe speaking publicly or showing yourself on camera, I know that a lot of people are still getting used to that notion and are wondering if they need to barely be.

[00:07:50] Doing video content in order to have a successful business. I think there's a lot you can do without ever having to show your face, but you also can't deny that video content has just become more and more prominent and kind of in our faces every day. And I know for me, when I pick up my phone, I'm opening it.

[00:08:07] I'm looking, you know, on Instagram Tech-Talk Pinterest and the things that are catching my eye of course, right away, or the video content. So I think that there's so much you can do. I think that choosing. One of those mediums, whether it's audio written word or video or images, I'm kind of running with it as a great place to start and see what you like.

[00:08:28] And if you can master one of those things, you don't have to necessarily worry about immediately trying to get your hands and everything. I think that it's so much more beneficial to create like a great niche type blog and the. Consistently and about really helpful topics for your target audience over time than it is to try to be everywhere all at once.

[00:08:53] So I really liked the idea of having a blog or YouTube channel because back content is searchable. And even if you step away from creating that content and you can still be bringing in new leads and new readers and new subscribers over time. And I liked the idea of balancing that with a platform like Instagram or like Tech-Talk because then I think that is a great way to kind of continue to build that know like, and trust factor with your audience and let them get to know you a bit as well.

[00:09:25] Lindsay: I think doing video or audio is such a great way to connect with people because you can hear someone's voice and that really. Develops this trust that you can't quite get with a blog and maybe, maybe somebody read your blog for a much longer period of time. Then you could probably develop that. But it's, it's a lot quicker with probably videos way quicker than audio.

[00:09:50] But then audio is a great way to just to get them in your area. Just like you guys are listening now. But you, when you started your blogging and then you went to video, how long did it take you to go from a blogger to going on 

[00:10:03] Austen: video? So I launched my blog in 2012 and my YouTube channel came five years later in 2017.

[00:10:12] But I think one thing that was kind of a helpful middle ground, and I already forgot how long we've had Instagram stories for. Yeah. One of the things that helped me kind of bridge the gap was starting to create content on even Snapchat originally, and also Instagram stories, because at that time, that content really felt like the most natural and easy type of content to create.

[00:10:37] And I would say it's pretty much still up there in terms of. The best thing that you can kind of just pick up and start doing. If you've been thinking about doing video or wondering about doing it, because it still allows you to be a little bit unfiltered and imperfect. And I think it gives people just a better, like 360 picture of who you are and what you're all about, especially if you're building a personal brand online.

[00:11:02] And I know for me, when I first got laid off from my job as a magazine editor, I started freelancing and also, you know, pitching brands for my fashion and beauty blog. My Instagram stories really allowed me to then show the behind the scenes a bit more and also answer questions. I was getting via Instagram DM so that I was not just helping the one person who DMD.

[00:11:30] But there were probably other people who were following me who are wondering the same thing. So if someone said, how did you get your byline? You know, I thought you were a story of a refinery finite. Like, how did you do that? I would say, oh, well, I actually, you know, it was a bit of a six degrees of separation thing.

[00:11:46] Right. I met this editor who introduced me to this person, that person stopped working there. But then I got the new contacts and realized that they needed someone to come help them out during the holidays, because they had a higher volume of content. They wanted to be creating and. Kind of doing like a two week thing with them where I was writing a bunch of commerce stories and just sharing kind of the honest tips and behind the scenes of what I was doing every single day.

[00:12:11] Like how many pitches was I actually sending out with, by trying to network with other editors and brand contacts to try to build my own community and grow my brand as well, and not just write for other publications too. And once I started sharing more and more of that, that's when I really noticed my following.

[00:12:29] You know, kind of picking back up again on Instagram. It had been stagnant for a little while, and I think that I was truly just sharing the answers because I would've killed for someone to be telling me that, you know, when I was in that position too, 

[00:12:44] Lindsay: all of that, I would have killed for somebody to tell me this.

[00:12:46] Cause I think so many people are just searching for the answers. Tell me and don't give me a bunch of fluff. Just give me the answer so I can move forward. And I think that is the that's what sets apart influencers, coaches, whatever part from the rest, because you're actually helping people. And I honestly think people who are just fluffy with answers, do they even know the answer?

[00:13:10] Are they just beating around the Bush? Because they are not confident in the answer that they're going to give them because they aren't even sure if it's worked for them either. So I liked that. You said that I think that's so important and again, straight forward and what we need to hear, because anyone can have an Instagram account.

[00:13:27] Anyone can have a YouTube channel podcast, but what gives them the right to step out in front of everyone else and say, no, I'm going to claim the spot that I'm going to show influencers of how to do this, that I'm going to show coaches how to do this because I've done it myself. That's so important because we can claim any Instagram bio or anything, but if we have not done it ourselves, it's really hard for us to show other people and coaches or listening to this.

[00:13:54] If you guys have not experienced the transformation that you are promising, other people. You're doing you're on the wrong road. You have to go back on the road that you traveled. Do you see that connection with influencers out there? Because for the coaching industry, you know that we have a promise, right?

[00:14:12] I can help you book clients. I can help you do this, but I can't do it myself. It's going to be hard for me to do that. Talk about that with the influencers and maybe there's some, some myths we can bust with. Maybe they're having some struggles growing their own business. What's wrong with. 

[00:14:29] Austen: Sure. And I think that one other thing that I wanted to mention just since you said it and got me thinking was that you, you have to kind of step away from the scarcity mindset, especially as a coach for coaches or an influencer for influencers where it's like, if I let someone else and on this, then there's going to be less for me later on in the future.

[00:14:50] And I just think that, especially thinking about the influencer space for us, I mean, There are there's right now, a very high supply and demand both in terms of brands who want to work with creators and creators who are willing to work with brands. And so it's really just about finding the right match at the end of the day.

[00:15:07] And so if I let people know that there's a casting opportunity for a brand campaign that I also applied to, and then I don't. It could be for a number of different reasons. It could be maybe they can't meet by rates, or maybe they were looking for creators with a bigger following than me, or it could be a number of different things.

[00:15:25] But I just think that you kind of have to trust that the right opportunities land in your lap for a reason, and you can't get too mad or worked up about. What doesn't pan out for you. And I think one thing with influencers, I mean, my Instagram bio I most recently updated it to say helping micro influencers make money.

[00:15:47] And so sometimes people will just. You know, DM me and be like, okay, I want to make money from brand collaborations. And I figured out how to kind of turn those messages into something positive and into, you know, conversion over to my email list. But I think that that type of message for me can separate pretty early on someone who either surely just does not know, like, is brand new to doing this or someone who's not as interested in doing the work because I think.

[00:16:18] If, if we have spoken several times over like Instagram DM, like if, if there's another influencer out there, who's messaged me. Who's organically shared my concept. Who's been thoughtful and who I kind of can recognize their handle when I. And they reach out to me and say something like, Hey, you know, I noticed that you worked with this brand and obviously this is a big ask, but like, if there's any way you could share, like how you got in touch with them, whether it was just email or did you apply on a third party platform?

[00:16:48] Like, I don't even need a contact. I'm just curious, like how you guys first got connected for my own research. That would be amazing. I would absolutely answer a message like that. Versus if I partner with a brand and then immediately after get the M. Oh, I want to work with them, like share the contact and we've never even spoken before.

[00:17:06] I just think that as a content creator myself too, I'm giving so much value on all of my platforms at any given time. And so I'm always going to appreciate someone who might message me and say, Hey, you know, I did a search on your blog and I didn't find anything. But do you have any resources about invoicing brands or do you have any resources about batching content and then.

[00:17:30] Appreciate again, that they took the time to look and send it to them. And I think that at least for influencers first starting out, it's really tempting to think that overnight you're going to send. Seeing your following skyrocket. And you're going to make money with brands when that can happen for some people.

[00:17:46] But I mean, I've been doing it for almost a decade now, like I said, and I'm very much still a micro influencer, but I know how to negotiate. I know how to present myself to brands and that is what is going to set me apart compared to other influencers who they may be casting. So I think that one big misconception for new creators is again, that it can, things can happen really overnight for them.

[00:18:11] And so I think anyone who's really willing to sit around and put in the work in Boston, you know, programs or coaching or things to kind of further their education and get better at this, that those are the ones who are going to make this industry sustainable and create sustainable businesses for themselves.

[00:18:27] So, Make 

[00:18:29] Lindsay: it sustainable longterm, right? Not just overnight success and thinking about what w what do we want our lives to feel and be like in 5, 10, 20 years. I know no one talks about that. Cause that's not that exciting. But it is a conversation you need to have and just throwing up a quick post, isn't going to be like, oh, thank God I posted yesterday at the recommended posting time, because now I can retire.

[00:18:56] That's not what it means. I like how you said I provide them. Free valuable content. I send them back so they can get on my email list. Like, you know, what it takes to, to run the business. Remember, we're recording this in October, but remember when Instagram shut down, what was it last week or the week before?

[00:19:15] And it just shut down for half a day. And it was, it was glorious because we didn't have to think about Instagram. Right. And that's why. We need to work on building our business off of social media, our email list, our websites, the things that we own that are going to take care of us when stuff like this happens.

[00:19:33] And I don't know. I think that when people start their businesses online coaching influencers, whatever it is, I don't know if they realize that you got to build your list, you got to do these other things. And that sounds like, oh, we have to do this kind of work. We have to actually go get an email service provider and do all these things.

[00:19:53] Not as exciting. I just had a discovery call with a gentleman yesterday and he, he said, where do you see me at, in my business? And I said, I see you at the letters Z, you know, where you want to be. You're already there. And then you're looking behind you thinking. Oh, can somebody else get all this stuff hooked up for me?

[00:20:13] Because I'm, I'm already over here. I don't want to do all this other seven. He just, he laughed so hard. He goes, that's exactly where I am right now. Somebody else take care of all those little things. And those are so important. So when a micro-influencer comes to you, I like how you claim that I help micro micro-influencers make money.

[00:20:30] What is like the biggest struggle to them? They're probably starting to dabble in it on their own. And then they're like, okay, Austen, I have no idea what I'm doing. Here's my deal. What are their common struggles? 

[00:20:41] Austen: I think this is. I think sometimes they just don't quite understand what exactly their motivation should be for creating content.

[00:20:53] And like you said, they're maybe not thinking like five or 10 years into this. And again, I think that if you want to create content on social media, just for fun or occasionally get some free products from brands, I think that's one thing. I think if you are interested in, if you see that there's a real opportunity here, which I feel like there is, and you're interested in.

[00:21:14] Expanding it and growing it and nurturing it over time. I think then you have different questions that you need to ask yourself. And this was what, the sense I was getting from some of those initial DMS I was getting just about, well, how do I like do this? So like, I want to make money. Like, what do I do?

[00:21:29] And it's funny, we were just talking about email lists too, because this is actually what led me to completely kind of refocus my email newsletter and also create an entirely different freebie from what I had originally. For my email list. I always like to offer you to call it a freebie and often any one of those kinds of terms where basically in exchange for signing up for the email list, you've got a resource for me.

[00:21:55] And the first option that I have created for this kind of professional, you know, creator or. National freelance professional contract worker type person was actually an SEO tip sheet. And I think SEO search engine optimization is so important. And so I created a tip sheet and I was feeling so good about it.

[00:22:16] And that was at first my incentive for signing up for the newsletter. And the more I was thinking about it, the more I was like, you know, Not everybody has, even though I think they should not, everybody's creating content on a searchable platform. So maybe they don't have a blogger YouTube channel, but they're doing really well on Tik TOK or maybe they just want to create on Instagram.

[00:22:34] And so having these thoughts and taking the initiative myself to look at my email newsletter and my freemium site is the best I could be doing right now. Gave me a lot of things to think about. And so I ended up developing a totally new freebie instead of a one sheet of paper. It's now a 10 page guide it's called the influencer launchpad.

[00:22:55] And it's a free guide that basically helps you answer a lot of these like beginning questions. So there are two quizzes in the guide that I think help answer. Both number one, like why do you even want to do this? And so there are three outcomes to the quiz. It's almost like one of those I guess I was kind of inspired by magazines.

[00:23:15] It's almost like a quiz on the back of like Cosmo or 17 or something where it's like, which kind of influencer you. So, you know, maybe you are. The traditional influencer who really wants to work with brands and, you know, promote products and do it that way. Maybe you're an influencer who wants to become a public speaker and build community and just become like a, a really well-known and wildlife person online.

[00:23:41] Or maybe you want to weave your nine to five job and you want to use content creation than influencer stuff to do it. And I think that even figuring out which one of those three buckets you land in can really help narrow down and shape your goals of content creation. Because once you know that, then you know what platforms might be best for you to post on.

[00:24:05] You will figure out again, Should I really worry about being on Instagram every five seconds, or should I focus on creating some great videos on YouTube where I'm showing off that I'm a great public speaker, or if I actually really want to quit my job, like I need to start reverse engineering, a revenue goal.

[00:24:24] Like if I want to be making a certain amount of money each month, how much time is that going to take me? What am I going to be doing? Is it through affiliate marketing? Am I offering a one-on-one coaching service? And I feel like. Even that one page of the guide alone opens up a lot of those questions, but I also share more tips for like, you know, creating a content schedule, basic iPhone photography tips.

[00:24:49] And that really came from just listening to my community and seeing the pattern of DMS coming in saying, okay, but how do I start? How do I do this? How do I begin? And that was, you know, I wish I had done it sooner, but I'm glad that I took a step back. From what I had already to say, is there something I could improve upon?

[00:25:08] Lindsay: I like how you took us through that whole story, you made something that you thought everyone needed, which is a common mistake. Like we make something where like, everyone needs this and you're way too far ahead. You're not speaking your people's language. Cause they're like, SEO, what are you talking about?

[00:25:27] You really tuned in and tapped into what your people are actually searching for it. Your name of your baby is genius because that's exactly what they want. They want to launch it and they know who they want to be. It's all in the title and it's not super, super clever where it's beyond them. It's not over their head.

[00:25:43] Right. But it's still is showing them what the transformation will be. Once they go through this freebie, instead of, you know, just PR you have to actually do the work and the freebie. That sounds like a. Very comprehensive guide. So if you guys are making things that are not. Building your list. I think we get really caught up in, well, this freebie is really amazing.

[00:26:05] How come nobody wants it. There's other checks and balances too, that are involved in this. You got to look at your landing page. You gotta look at how are you getting people, even on the landing page, the organic marketing, all of those things are so many things. Throwing at you, but it's all important.

[00:26:22] It's not just about the PDF. That's the last thing that they're going to see. You need them to really love everything all the way up and up into the actual freebie. How do you like to promote your, your content? Do you talk about it online or how do you get that out there? 

[00:26:41] Austen: Yeah, so I liked. Pretty similarly for both this, this freebie for my newsletter opt-in and also for my digital products which is one way that I see.

[00:26:54] Create and, you know, bring in some passive revenue each month as well, which really is almost entirely through organic content marketing. I have done one ad in a newsletter for my pitching ebook, and that's pretty much the only like pay in content that I've done. So all of the rest of my you know, digital product sales and also email opt-ins are from basically content marketing.

[00:27:19] So my favorite places to content marketing. Especially for my email newsletter and to get this freebie are my blog and my YouTube channel and what I've been doing lately. Since I basically changed the direction of my YouTube channel to focus on content creation tests and thinking mainly about micro-influencers.

[00:27:40] Primarily in the lifestyle space. So again, passion, beauty, but maybe also trouble or fitness, things like that who might be interested in those content creation tips is again, I kind of come in with the free value. I'm giving them actionable items. I'm giving them tips and then I can kind of add a call to action, whereas, okay.

[00:27:59] You know, if you liked this video, if you want even more tips about this, you can just download my free guide. It's called the influencer launchpad. And it'll give you a bit more of a jumping off point to what I've already talked about. So I make sure that I think relevancy is the big thing here that if someone is watching that YouTube video, that they are also someone who could benefit from the influencer launchpad as well.

[00:28:23] And if the video is about. Content creation, like creating a content calendar. I'll pick part of the guide that makes the most sense to talk about in that video and say, in this guide, there are 30 free content ideas that you can tailor to any niche. So make sure to grab it from a link in my bio, or if the video or blog post is about taking better photos with your iPhone, I can pull out the photography section.

[00:28:48] And I think the biggest thing that your community might be interested on one via at the end of the freebie is on the last page. I basically give a little homework assignment, like I do an action plan and say, okay, figure out what kind of influencer you are by taking this quiz, identify your main posting platform, you know, go through your content pillars and make your initial schedule and test it for a month and see how it goes.

[00:29:14] And underneath that there's a call to action that says, you know, completed the above steps and want more help book a call with Austen. And so I can also use it as a bit of regeneration for consulting and one-on-one coaching work as well. But I want to make sure that someone who is ready for my consulting services has sort of gone through at least this process.

[00:29:38] And isn't just completely starting from scratch. There's only rare cases where. Someone who's starting from scratch could benefit from one-on-one consulting because it is going to be an investment of money and it's going to be an investment of time. But I liked that. I liked that at the end, there is that option where if you want even more than here's your next awesome.

[00:30:00] Lindsay: Yes. So smart don't ever leave the back pages of your content. Just let, let them figure out what to do next. Tell them what to do. Next people love direction, whether it's going to another content piece of content that will help them or getting on a call with you, whatever that might be like, showcase that I always tell my people use your back pages as like your summary of everything that you got, like your magazine cover, whatever you want to think about it as.

[00:30:26] Show them don't assume that they know everything that you do or that they could don't assume that people don't know that they can work with you. As some people don't even know that that's an option either. And some people are very new to the space and they don't even think they could connect with the creator.

[00:30:40] If something that they downloaded. We were we're so far into this, we forget what it was like when we first started. And so if somebody downloads something that was really helpful to them and they see that they can actually get on a call with you, don't disregard that feeling. So put that in there.

[00:30:58] That's really important. And I think it's so amazing how you touched on what you, what your freebies are. That's almost like screens people into working with you, right? So the people who are downloading your stuff, you know, those are your dream clients, right? They're not like I want to make a million dollars in 20, 22 from being an influencer.

[00:31:18] And they have like nothing done anything, right? You're not attracting those people. You're attracting people who are thinking about the, long-term thinking about the things that they need to do to build their business. So I'm assuming that all of this work, this value that you're putting out there is attracting your dream clients because that's what you're putting out there.

[00:31:37] Yeah. 

[00:31:38] Austen: Yeah. And it's crazy like how many different places that they've come from, because I think that it's important to test your content on multiple platforms and really see what sticks in terms of content marketing, because it can be really hard and overwhelming to feel like you need to show up everywhere at once.

[00:31:57] So I would say my four main platforms that I prioritize are my blog and YouTube channel that are searchable content platforms and then Instagram and TechTalk, which are a bit more to me, almost like storefronts are like first impressions about me, where if you like, what you see, then you can follow a wall.

[00:32:16] And then maybe you'll get, you know, end up watching one of my YouTube videos or converts my email newsletter. I avoid selling, I guess, super directly like on Instagram and tech talk, but it's amazing how just creating relevant content for, with that ideal viewer or ideal future client in mind can attract those people.

[00:32:38] And a bunch of my kind of influencer coaching clients from 2021 have been. People who have sent me messages saying I have 300,000 tech talk followers. I'm not exactly sure how this happened. And now I have brands reaching out to me. So like, where do I go from here? And those have been such fun clients to take on and talk to because for me, they have typically one thing that they've been doing.

[00:33:05] They went viral once and they kind of just kept going with it. And so now they have a very clear type of content. They create, they have a really engaged audience, but they've just never experienced the brand side before. And then there are other people who, you know, I think I even connected with one of my clients through Twitter randomly enough, because.

[00:33:25] People in the magazine and writing and freelance industry typically hang out over on Twitter. And I ended up reaching out or having a girl reach out to me, who she had written a piece for, I believe refinery 29 during the black lives matter movement from June, 2020, kind of just taking note of like which beauty brands promise to kind of take accountability and make change, do all of that stuff.

[00:33:49] And then a year later she wrote a follow-up article. Talking about how many brands actually followed through or release diversity reports and things like that. And now she is going to start consulting for beauty brands to share how they can be more inclusive, more diverse, better too. And we've actually booked several sessions together.

[00:34:08] That's been like a repeat client of mine, and it's just so fun to think about all of the different people who still just need help with that one same thing with. Creating this consistent content on social media and figuring out which direction they want to take things then and how they want to monetize it and how they want to scale it.

[00:34:29] And so I think that it all comes back to how they're storytelling and how they're convincing, you know, brands and other companies to work with them and partner with them. So I love getting to sit down with them and help them highlight their strengths and make a game plan. And. Just see how they could keep going with it.

[00:34:47] Cause sometimes you just want to watch something out, out loud with someone else. And I love being that person for influence. 

[00:34:53] Lindsay: I love that too. I think that's one of my favorite things is seeing somebody with a dream and you can see where this could be actually lead them. And they're just along for the ride.

[00:35:04] They trust you in that moment and moments forward to get there. And I think that's so important whether it's a, for coaching or an influencer, because coaches are influencers and a lot, and you are a coach. For influencers. So it all kind of circles, circles, circles back and, and matches your beginning to theirs.

[00:35:25] And it's very similar. They have a dream, but they're not sure where it's going to go, but they're ready to go. And the people that are coming to you then. Overnight viral videos on Tik TOK. Well, what a gift that is for them to have that, I mean, so many people would just love for that to happen. So it's good that they're finding people like you to help them actually make this into a sustainable long-term.

[00:35:47] 'cause that's, that's a really huge for them. I love where this conversation kind of went and I think it's so interesting to hear other stories from around the world, around the country of how women are creating these businesses from. You know, blogs from 2012. And don't give up you guys, if you are feeling totally lost with your coaching business, or you want to be a micro influencer or something that feels so out of touch, know that there's people out there that have your good intentions.

[00:36:19] And it's not all about the money. I think you can see that. When you listen to Austen, she doesn't have dollar signs in her eyes. She's just truly wants to help people. And I think that's what we need. And that's what makes a difference, Austen, where can everyone find you so they can see your videos and all of the things that you have to help?

[00:36:37] Austen: Oh man. Well, I would like to thank my parents for naming me Austen and spelling it A U S T E N because I'm basically the only Austen Tosone on the internet. It makes it very easy. So yeah, you can find me at Austen Tosone on Instagram, on YouTube, on Pinterest, on Tik TOK. Twitter. My Facebook page is my blog.

[00:36:57] Keep calm and chiffon, and you can also visit, keep and chiffon .com to find my fashion and beauty blogs, or Austentosone.com to learn about more ways you can work with me and download that fun freebie that I walked you through earlier. If you are thinking about going the micro-influencer route I really hope that you guys find at home.

[00:37:16] Lindsay: Yes, absolutely. We're going to put all of those links in the show notes, Austen. Thank you so much for sharing all of this. It's so interesting. And I think a lot of people are going to learn a lot from that freebie. So go ahead and download that and then make sure you take her on Instagram. If you listened to this episode and you loved it as much as I did.

[00:37:32] So thank you so much for spending time. I'm really grateful for everything that you shared. 

[00:37:37] Austen: I really appreciate.

Austen’s Links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/austentosone/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/austentosone 

Websites: https://austentosone.com https://www.keepcalmandchiffon.com

Freebie: https://austentosone.com/subscribe