#awinewith Brooke Vulinovich
MEET Brooke
Brooke is the Founder of Social Club.
Find Brooke here:
Social Club website and Instagram @socialclubcommunity @brookevulinovich.
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:08):
Oh my God. Brooke, thank you so much for being here on Spark tv. I'm so excited to have you. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. It's very cool. It's so cool. And now look, we always start out our episodes by getting a little bit of a background. Now I know you are many amazing things. You are obviously an Instagram specialist, keynote speaker, but also the founder of now it's Social Club community, isn't it? So what I want to know is how you got to this amazing space. Were you always amazing or was there a career beforehand? What sparked I want to start a business? No, I was never, always amazing. I was a very average receptionist just doing her thing in her nine to five, not the receptionist at average. I don't mean it like that at all, but I was not doing anything that I thought to be exciting. And I was probably a little bit too comfortable where I was. And I'd been there for my entire twenties and I just thought, if I don't leave now, I'm going to be here for another 10 years, so I need to get out now. And that was seven years ago.
(01:29):
So you're a veteran in the business world. Seven years. Oh my God. Yeah, totally. Really? I feel like I'm just getting started. Good. That's so good. Yeah, and then my husband actually, he was just my boyfriend at the time said to me, why don't you do something for yourself? I've seen how hard you work for other people, and if you go and get another job, you're just going to end up in the same position. Completely overworked, exhausted, burnt out probably in another 10 years wanting to do it again. So originally I thought, well, what would I do? I'm not good at anything. I don't have any qualifications. I dropped out of uni, I dropped out of tafe. Who would want to hire me? I've been in this role for 10 years. I dunno anything else. And in the role that I was doing, I was doing a lot of event planning and management as part of my role, and it was something that I also really, really enjoyed.
(02:23):
So my husband said to me, why don't you just try that? Why don't you start your own events business? And I was like, can I really? Oh my God, yes. What do you mean start my own business? Are you insane? Wow. And I was insane because I did do it. And about six months into that business, one of my girlfriends who'd seen me leave my job and start my business said she wanted to do the same and would I help her? She kind of had an idea and she needed someone who was familiar with marketing, which obviously was, that was also part of my role in my last job. And I said, sure, I'll help you. So obviously she had a really small budget and I was using Instagram to get myself known in the events industry and get the events known and sell tickets to the event.
(03:19):
So I was using Instagram and Facebook. So then I figured, well, it works for a service. I wonder if it could work for a product too. So used Instagram and Facebook at the time to set up an audience to sell for a product based business. So I was doing both of those businesses, one service, one product, and I attended a networking event because my previous job, I had interacted and obviously working on reception, seen hundreds of people a day. But when I started working for myself at Home Alone, I started to feel a kind way that was new for me, and it took me a long time to work out what it was, but it was just simply that I was lonely and it was totally new for me because it, it's
Brooke Vulinovich (04:08):
Weird, isn't it? Going from corporate to your own business and kind of going,
Danielle Lewis (04:12):
Oh, I just wake
Brooke Vulinovich (04:14):
Up and I walk into my other room.
Danielle Lewis (04:17):
But just even identifying what that feeling is because you confuse it between do I miss my old job and old life? And you're like, no, I don't, but what am I feeling? It's because of something completely new. So this sounds so stupid to say out loud, but I'll say it. At my previous job, I had never heard of the word or concept networking ever. Never heard of it. And someone suggested, well, why don't you do some networking? I was like, what's networking? What's that? What is networking? And I found out what it was, and I went to a networking event. And at the networking event, everyone had to share what their biggest struggle in business was. And I said that I wasn't enjoying my business and I was feeling really lonely and I just didn't really know what my next step was. And everyone else at the event said social media.
(05:12):
And it absolutely blew my brain out of my skull that I had been so just laser focused on what I was doing. I had absolutely no idea what the marketplace was doing. And as I was chatting more to these businesses and they were saying, well, who's doing your social media? Because also this was seven years ago when people weren't really doing their own. You would pay and you would outsource to a marketing agency to do your social media for you. So I was one of the first probably businesses to tackle it themselves. And the other businesses at this event said, oh, can you show us how to do what you're doing? And I was like, of course. Honestly, if you can run a business, you can run your own Instagram account. Business is much harder than Instagram. And I started teaching small business owners in Perth how to run their own Instagram. And I was also teaching Facebook at the time. I obviously don't do that anymore. That's a whole other beast now. And words started to spread that business owners were managing their own Instagram, getting really good results, making sales, growing their audience, growing their followings. And my workshops started to grow and grow and grow. And then I started getting asked to do more corporate brands like Mazda contacted me. And when Mazda contacted me, I actually imposter syndrome alert, thought the email was spam and I just deleted it. I know. Isn't that wild? Oh
Brooke Vulinovich (06:47):
My God. Yeah. That's wild.
Danielle Lewis (06:49):
Just little old me at home. How could I, this is Mazda, they're a massive international brand. Surely there's some, I could not be the best option. There's person
Brooke Vulinovich (06:58):
For that. Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (07:00):
Person that, and I'm not that person, but I was that person. And I did end up going and doing that training, and it was probably for me when Mazda, when that all did happen, that was the sort of not wake up call, but that was the external validation that I think I needed that maybe there was a business in this and maybe I was doing more than just showing some people Instagram. So that's when I got a business coach and started to really develop my service offering more and take it not, I wasn't taking it seriously. This is going to sound really cheesy. I was having so much fun that I didn't take myself seriously because I thought how could I hadn't previously ever enjoyed work this much, so it just didn't feel real that I was enjoying what I was doing this much and could actually get paid for it. That just,
Brooke Vulinovich (08:02):
Oh my God, I just love that you said that though, because I feel like people don't associate having fun with their business, which I think is, it's so sad
Danielle Lewis (08:14):
Together. Totally.
Brooke Vulinovich (08:16):
And if you're not hustling and beating yourself over the head every day and not sleeping and being stressful, and obviously you're not trying hard enough, but I'm like, how cool that you go, oh my God, this is what I love and I'm having so much fun and people are paying me for it. That is like the trifecta blowing
Danielle Lewis (08:36):
My mind. I tell you what, it still blows my mind seven years later. But yeah, that's when I sort of started just diversifying the products and services that I had on offer or the offerings that I had. And then it got to a point, because I was still just based Perth, but obviously there's business owners around the rest of Australia and the world and words started to spread and I started getting emails saying, can we work with you online? How can we work with you online? And I was so scared to put, which also sounds ridiculous to say out loud, I was so scared to put my offering online because I was scared of getting copied for that. And I was also really scared. And again, another stupid thing that I'm going to say out loud, I built my
Brooke Vulinovich (09:25):
Entire stupid things. Don't you worry.
Danielle Lewis (09:28):
And I hope this is a safe space, entire business up on Instagram, but I was so scared that if I put my lessons online, my energy and personality wouldn't translate through the screen and my whole business would fall apart, even though that's how I built out my business. It's just stupid. So stupid. Anyway. But is that funny? The
Brooke Vulinovich (09:49):
Things that you say to yourself, isn't that crazy? 90% of the time we are holding ourselves back. It has nothing to do with our products, our services, our skills. It is just that little thing that we say to ourselves and limit ourselves. So I'm so glad, I'm so glad that it happened. So that you can live to tell the tale of how amazing you can be if you just give yourself a chance.
Danielle Lewis (10:16):
Oh yeah, just give yourself a chance. I tell you what, I dunno if I'd do it now, I'd be too scared. I'm too old and scared of things now. But that was back in my twenties when I was young and fun and fresh,
Brooke Vulinovich (10:28):
Young and fun and fresh. I'm feeling the vibes through Zoom, don't you worry. Thank you.
Danielle Lewis (10:34):
Thank you. So a mixture of putting my services online and also I was trying to build out my email list and I was sending out fortnightly tips via my email list and I had business owners contact me saying, these tips are awesome. We look forward to these emails, they're really working. Is there some way we can pay you to receive more emails like this? Oh, that's cool. Yeah, it was so cool. And that's when sort of both ideas mesh together. And I was also at a point where Instagram was changing really quickly. So business owners would come and they'd do my set three hour workshop, then they'd leave. An Instagram update would hit, and they would contact me and say, well, should we come and redo the workshop? And I was like, well, that's kind of a waste of your time and a waste of your money because you don't need to sit through the three hour workshop again.
(11:27):
So all of these things were happening, and that's basically how the social club was born. There was a need to stay in contact with business owners regularly to constantly keep them updated with not only the updates that we're hitting, but any changes coming to the app and then also really how to implement it in their business. I've always been very big on implementation because I don't see the point of going and sitting, this is probably why I dropped out of uni and tafe. I don't see the point of going and sitting through a lecture, don't lecture me. Show me how to do it. Let me do it. And that's how I'll understand. So that's what my business is really big on, always giving my social club members activities they can implement because you're not going to get results if you don't implement the activities and if you dunno the activities to do, you're not going to do them.
Brooke Vulinovich (12:22):
And that's I think why it's so valuable to look, there is so much free information online. You can read the blogs, watch the videos, but actually working with someone who says, okay, I get it. This is all the info, but this is how you apply it to your business. I think that's where the magic happens.
Danielle Lewis (12:41):
I think so too. And I think we are living in a time of, like you said, it perfectly, just absolute information overload and overwhelm that business owners want simplicity. And what the social club does is it only gives you one thing to do a week. So that's your one thing that you need to do that week. When you tick it off, it's done and then you're being active on the platform, you are posting something that's going to get results and it just makes a part of business a little bit simpler. So I'm really proud of the social club. The social club has members in 34 countries, which just blows my mind again, back to how I was so scared to go online and the power and the scale that it had for the growth of my business, but also my ability to really live my mission, which is to help as many small business owners with Instagram as possible make it fun and easy. And I didn't realize that it would allow me to do that, but that's exactly what it allowed me to do. So it's good
Brooke Vulinovich (13:57):
And that's incredible. And so let's take a second to talk about Instagram. So I remember joining Instagram a decade ago and it was so easy. It was like the world was your oyster. I think today people kind of go, oh, I've missed the boat. It's not a channel for me. It's too hard that now we're reels. I'm way too old for reels. Oh my God.
Danielle Lewis (14:24):
So what would you say
Brooke Vulinovich (14:25):
To someone who's kind of just starting out? Should they be on Instagram? Is Instagram still a thing? I mean, I know the answer's yes, because obviously you've got your whole business around it, but I want to dispel any myths for people who have kind of been uming and ahing about getting into the channel.
Danielle Lewis (14:40):
Of course. I think the easiest way that I could answer this is knowing everything I know now, if I was to start another business today, what would I do first and first step I would still take would be to open an Instagram account for my business and start building an audience to sell to because of the reason that the ability it has for you to be able to reach a global audience is just, and also it's free.
Brooke Vulinovich (15:13):
Yes. Oh my God. Which is like a business owner's dream.
Danielle Lewis (15:19):
It's free and you can access it 24 7, reach your clients, get your messaging out there, allow the world to know you exist even if you are sitting at your kitchen table in a one bedroom apartment. I was, when I started my business, and I actually still am now. I'm just on the other side of the world, but it's free. So you are not too late. Yes, it's evolved and it's adapted and it's changed. But honestly, I have been teaching this now again for almost seven years, and I've always broken Instagram down into four key areas. Your content, your timing, your hashtags and your engagement, and those four key areas have not changed. Really the only thing that has changed is the way you can deliver the content. That's it. But the strategy side for how you grow a business and sell on Instagram, it's actually really, really simple. And it can be applied by anyone, any stage of business, I promise you that because I see it every single day in the social club members. So it works.
Brooke Vulinovich (16:33):
And I love that so much. Look, I totally agree with you. Every time I have a new business idea, I start an Instagram page. I have maxed out the number of Instagram logins you're allowed to have because I again, believe in it and I do love it, that literally if you are posting really valuable content, you just grow followers. People do just find you. And I have just met the most phenomenal people on Instagram who I have no idea how they found me, where they came from, and like you said, and it's completely free to do that. So that is incredible.
Danielle Lewis (17:12):
So
Brooke Vulinovich (17:13):
Obviously you built your business on Instagram and teaching people Instagram as well. Beyond that, how did you find just growing a business? So a lot of our listeners are female founders who are in the early stages of their business, and I obviously know Instagram was a huge part of things for you, but how did you get started? So how did you go, I guess, taking the leap, not just from having the idea, but actually kind of going, you know what, this is a real business. I'm really going to need to put some structure around this. Was there something that you kind of an aha moment for you, and what did you do to, I guess, legitimize being in business? I know you kind of said you're having so much fun, you were doing all that stuff. I'd love to know if there was a few things you did in the early days to really cement your space in the industry.
Danielle Lewis (18:05):
Yes, yes. Well, remember how I talked about how I never knew about networking? Oh yes. I then yes, became addicted to networking because I felt like I know that what I can teach is going to help people. So the more people I can get front of, the more I can share my story and show how I can help them and the more impact it's going to have. So getting out from behind your computer screen and your phone screen, it's so
Brooke Vulinovich (18:39):
Scary though, isn't it? I
Danielle Lewis (18:41):
Know it's going to, everything that you can do in person is going to catapult anything that you do online, and it's a huge, obviously, yes, I've used Instagram, but the amount of in-person events I attended and networking I attended, which I know over the past couple of years has been really hard. I totally get that. But now that things are ramping up again, honestly, it's the best thing that you can do for your business is join networking groups, join female founder groups. I mean, they obviously don't have to be female, but there's so many incredible business communities and networks out there and they really are worth their weight in gold. So that's something that I did and really I still do well. I'm on the other side of the world now, but when I was back at point, I did it. Now I run my own events, which is also very cool.
(19:34):
I feel like I'm now in a position where it's up to me to pay it forward and give back to the small business community. So that's why I created my own events. But also I got a business coach who was one of the very, very first things that I did, someone that I actually connected with on Instagram that I'd slid into her dms a few times just because I was obsessed with her and asked questions and she'd responded. And then eventually it got to a point where I said, look, I love the information you give me. Can I please pay you for more of your brain? Oh yeah.
(20:08):
And I started working with a business coach, and I always have worked with some, obviously over the seven years are my needs as a business owner have changed. So I've worked with various coaches depending on right now I'm working with a retention coach because my membership is obviously very large, but it's not, there's obviously much bigger memberships than mine. But retention was something that I really wanted to focus on this year, keeping customers in. So that was something that I thought, if I can reinvest the money that I'm making into the business with someone who's already done what I want to do, surely I can grow my business faster. And it made a huge difference. And I really do believe in getting advice from other people who are doing what you want to do. That's why we exist on the planet as humans to share our knowledge. We can't all know everything. Nobody's Google. So if you can afford to, if it is in your budget, and I highly recommend it because it's definitely worth it.
Brooke Vulinovich (21:14):
I love that so much because that's two things. So one, networking, which is kind of free. I mean, look, you probably pay a ticket price to attend an event, but paying like 30 even to a hundred dollars, but to be in a room full of leads potentially is awesome. And then I love the more paid solution, but I think that there are, you can kind of dip your toes in. You probably don't have to get the $10,000 coach straight up. You can pay for the communities, pay for those little things. I love what you said, which is the don't reinvent the wheel. So you obviously know everything about Instagram, you teach that to others, but you go, you know what? I need this, this, and this in my business, so why don't I just shortcut my success and learn from people who have done it? It's so smart going that route.
Danielle Lewis (22:03):
And also if you can't afford a business coach because you're new, which I also totally understand books, you
Brooke Vulinovich (22:11):
Learn a lot
Danielle Lewis (22:11):
Of books and I love reading so much and so many aha moments and things that have really impacted my business are lessons that I've learned from books. So pick up a book. It's like 30 bucks.
Brooke Vulinovich (22:27):
Oh, totally. And I think before we even started, how much free content is online, read blog articles, watch videos. There's so much free information out there that you kind of dip your toe in the water, get a little bit of revenue, and then start reinvesting it back into your own personal growth. I think that is absolutely incredible. So you've been in business for seven years now. Do you have a team? Are there people that help you? What does that look like? How did you onboard them? Do you have any tips about teams tell us everything.
Danielle Lewis (23:01):
So there is absolutely no way I could do what I do without my team. Let me put that first and foremost. I think there's been a shift in business, or there is a shift where business owners previously weren't grateful enough and appreciative enough of the people that run their business so they don't have to work 24 hours a day. And that's really important to me that my team feels seen and heard and appreciated at all times because I'm very aware that I couldn't do this without them. Especially I had a baby a year ago. There is no way could do it now without my team. So I love team so much. So that has taken me a while to grow. So my team originally began with an assistant and she was only doing a couple of hours a week, and then eventually over the years she took on more and more and more, and she's now, she's incredible. I love her so much. Now her sister works for us too, because the only thing that would make her better is if there were two of her. So I was like,
Brooke Vulinovich (24:09):
That's awesome. Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (24:11):
Which is awesome. Then I also have, so Taylor is on the computer assistant, if that makes sense. Everything she does is online though. She's in Perth. Then I also have her sister that works for us. She does a lot of the running around, especially when we have the events as well. Plus she does admin online too. Then I also have a virtual assistant who's obviously completely virtual. Then I have a graphic designer because I didn't realize this, but a lot of what my assistant was doing was creating graphics, and she's not a graphic designer, and yes, it's in all those programs, but she was spending 20 hours a week sometimes just creating graphics, which is so unnecessary. So I got a graphic designer. Then I also have another coach in the social club, which I've just recently hired. So her focus primarily is reels, and she's our resident reels coach in the social club. So they're my core team. And then Dom, my husband also helps out behind the scenes as well. So that's my core team. And then I suppose if you want to look at my business coach, my accountant, my bookkeeper, all of the people that do also do things to help my business run that I don't do.
Brooke Vulinovich (25:33):
But I love that you said that though, because I think sometimes we think about, oh my God, I need help. I need a finance person, I need this, I need that. And you go, well, that's a full-time employee. But it's like, well, no, you only need 10 hours a week or 10 hours a month, or whatever it might be. So getting expert help in really niche areas doesn't have to look like hiring full-time staff.
Danielle Lewis (25:57):
Absolutely not. Absolutely not. That was definitely something that I had no idea about again, when I started my business, that even with virtual assistants, you can prepurchase four hours a week.
Brooke Vulinovich (26:10):
You
Danielle Lewis (26:10):
Don't have to bring them on and commit them to that. So even an hour a week, two hours a week, if you need help, I mean, I'm yet to meet a business owner who could grow on their own without burning out. So it gets to a point where if you want to grow, I had a bit of a sadder situation in my business. My sister was really sick a couple of years ago, and she actually ended up passing away.
Brooke Vulinovich (26:46):
It was pretty, oh no, I'm so sorry.
Danielle Lewis (26:49):
Thank you. Yeah, it was awful. But it definitely was a very big eyeopener in life for me, of just calling for things and life is very short,
Brooke Vulinovich (26:59):
But
Danielle Lewis (27:01):
What it did for me as a control freak that found it very hard to delegate anything, it forced me to build my team because my business wouldn't have survived during that time if I didn't hand over more to my team because I wasn't in a good place. And I know obviously not everyone has that situation which forces them to build a team. I would say if you are in a space where you're burning out, then it's time.
Brooke Vulinovich (27:36):
Yeah, I know. And look, it's really sucks that sometimes we need something horrible to happen to kick us up the bum or open our eyes or however you want to put it, but sometimes, yeah, you kind of got to take those moments and learn from them, which is really, oh my God,
Danielle Lewis (27:55):
So much.
Brooke Vulinovich (27:56):
So
Danielle Lewis (27:58):
Much. Just from one of my sister's doctors said, until you get sick, everything else is just a to-do list and fuck. It's so
Brooke Vulinovich (28:08):
True. Oh my God. Oh my God, I just got goosebumps. It's so true. No business. Oh, I mean there's a couple, but virtually no business owner I know looks after themselves. It's like this guilt of if I take time away from the business, I'm not trying hard enough.
Danielle Lewis (28:29):
I still feel it. I still feel
Brooke Vulinovich (28:31):
Like that. Yeah, totally.
Danielle Lewis (28:33):
It's how you feel. I was actually, I read a really interesting book by Kate Christie. It's called me First. I was actually given it for
Brooke Vulinovich (28:41):
Mother's Day.
Danielle Lewis (28:42):
Cool.
Brooke Vulinovich (28:43):
I'll link this up. I want to read it now. I don't even know what you're going to say and I want to read it.
Danielle Lewis (28:47):
She actually came and taught in the social club, and I've already implemented the things that she's taught to change my days up. But she talks about how, especially as moms, we feel so much guilt as moms and constantly feel like we're not doing a good enough job. And if we're working on our business, we should be with our kids. And if we're with our kids, we should be working on our business. And she talks about how one automatically just rolls into another. And that's why we are constantly feeling this guilt. And it's so true and it's so silly, but it's so true.
Brooke Vulinovich (29:26):
I know. And there's not even like, and maybe you actually have some tips, but I don't know how to overcome that guilt other than to give myself a pep talk and go look the facts. You know that if you get more sleep and if you don't have the wine, which crap, I'm having a wine now that we're talking about this dam, but you have one wine, or if you don't exercise or you don't have a salad for dinner or whatever, you know that you're not going to be on your game tomorrow. You're not going to feel up to taking on the world and building a giant business. So don't do it. But you get there, you're sitting on your laptop and I have just one more email, I've got to answer to everybody, otherwise, my business is going to die.
Danielle Lewis (30:11):
It's
Brooke Vulinovich (30:11):
So stupid.
Danielle Lewis (30:12):
Yes, we've all been that girl tips. What tips do I have? Businesses that forever, it's a long game. So the thing can wait till tomorrow. Most of the time, if your website is down, you can't make sales. Maybe that can't wait till tomorrow, but nine times out of 10, it can wait till tomorrow. And for me, the wake up call was being in hospital a lot of the time and seeing these people that were sick, they would take 10 minutes of your worst day in business to just not be sick for 10 minutes. And think about it like that. It is a massive, massive reality check. Massive.
Brooke Vulinovich (31:01):
I know. And that's it. Sometimes you kind of have to say to yourself, you know what? I'm not saving lives here. My business is great and fantastic and adding value, but you know what? You are right. It will wait till tomorrow. I can get some rest.
Danielle Lewis (31:19):
And I think a huge mistake most business owners make is you get so caught up in what you're doing that you actually turn your business into a job that you hate and you don't know how to pull out of it. And I'm guilty of this. I've done it many, many times, but then there's so much on the line. And for me, I have staff now. I have thousands of clients. I can't just disappear for a day. Well, I couldn't. And it makes it really hard to get out, but that's when you do need to look yourself in the mirror and just say, well, shut it down.
Brooke Vulinovich (31:56):
Totally. Job is
Danielle Lewis (31:57):
Shut it down. You started it, you shut it down, and then you get that little voice inside that's like, no, I don't want to shut
Brooke Vulinovich (32:03):
It down. Want to. I don't want to.
Danielle Lewis (32:06):
You need to find a way to ultimately, most people start a business because they want freedom and flexibility, and they end up finding themselves in this place where they have no freedom and they have no flexibility. But the only person that got them into that place was them. And the only person that's going to get them out of that place is them. So it is almost like you have to do a business health check every six months. It's my business giving me the freedom and flexibility that I originally started this business for. And if it's not, what do I need to do to change that? No, you might not be able to change it tomorrow. You might not be able to change it in a week, in a month, but start putting the plan in place to change it in six months to change it in a year.
(32:48):
Dom and I had this joke about moving to Croatia 12 months ago. We made the joke we are building in Perth, the build time has blown out astronomically. And basically we found ourselves in a situation where we didn't really have anywhere to live. We have a semi built house, as you can probably see slightly in Croatia. So it's actually my husband's dad's house. And we made this joke, oh, we should just go live in the Croatia house until our house is built. And we laughed about it and la, la la. And then obviously the borders opened up, flights came back on again and it started to become less of a joke. And I thought, okay, hang on. If we are actually going to maybe go and do this in 12 months, maybe 18 months time, what would my business need to look like to do that?
(33:43):
I actually created a new service that would allow me to work from anywhere at any time. So it was not reliant on time zones or me being or anything like that, which is my, I now also offer Instagram audits as well as the social club. And it took me almost 12 months to work on this service. Before I launched it publicly, I did some beta testing and that behind the scenes, but it's what I started working on to create that 12 months ago that the revenue that I generate from that has implemented my husband's income because he's stay at home dad now with my son that has allowed us to actually do the crazy thing and be here. And it was just a choice that had to be made and then a plan that had to be made and then a plan that had to be executed that now my business actually is working around my life rather than 12 months ago where I felt like it wasn't and it couldn't.
Brooke Vulinovich (34:51):
And that is absolutely incredible because look, I totally resonate with this because I remember being in business probably, I don't know, maybe it was three or four years ago, and I was miserable. And I was like, oh my God, you idiot. You are the boss. And I was like, you're the one that made this and you're the one that gets to change it if you want to. Just whatever you can. So I absolutely love that you made that point around the fact it's like you created this. If you have a desire for some kind of other life outcome, whatever, you need to think about what that looks like and start taking action every day towards achieving it. And you're right, it might not be tomorrow, it might not be in a month, but the thing that I always say is, if you have a desire to be somewhere in 12 months, five years, 10 years, you're never going to get there if you don't start today.
Danielle Lewis (35:47):
So
Brooke Vulinovich (35:47):
Even if you take one tiny, tiny little step today you had is getting you on that path. And
Danielle Lewis (35:55):
Also the path, this sounds a little bit cheesy is not the word, but you would've heard it before. The path doesn't look like this.
Brooke Vulinovich (36:03):
Yeah, absolutely.
Danielle Lewis (36:04):
The path looks like this. And that is, hey, three weeks ago I was crammed into the spare room at my parents' house. That was my oldest slash my son's room slash our wardrobe, looking out onto the back of their garage, kind of feeling like a bit of a failure. Like, oh my God, I've been doing this for seven years. How did I fucking end up year old married woman with a child living in my parents' spare room. And then three weeks later, this is where I'm living and working. Oh
Brooke Vulinovich (36:40):
My God, get out. That is gorgeous. Oh, I'm so jealous.
Danielle Lewis (36:45):
And now I literally feel on top of the world. So that's what I mean about it looking like this.
Brooke Vulinovich (36:52):
You've got to have that longer term outcome, though. You said it before where you were like, business doesn't happen overnight, it's a long game. So you've kind of got to get used to the ups and downs. You've kind of got to go, I know what the outcome is, I know the vision, I know what I'm striving for. So yes, some days are going to be a little bit poo, but you're going to have to get through them and see, I'm taking these steps to get to this place.
Danielle Lewis (37:19):
And also like you touched on before, get the help you need where necessary. So I was developing this service with a business coach, but then we couldn't sell it. It just wasn't selling. And I knew it was a fantastic service and I developed it because people asked for it, but then it happens the way that it happens that I couldn't sell it. So then I started working with a sales coach because for the past how many years? The social club's almost five. And I feel like selling the social club has been such an organic process for me. Not that I haven't had to really try, but I almost forgot how to sell, if that makes
Brooke Vulinovich (38:03):
Sense. Yeah, totally.
Danielle Lewis (38:05):
I started working with a sales coach and now I'm literally too scared to check my dms because we have so many orders that we just can't, I just can't at the moment. Okay, hold up,
Brooke Vulinovich (38:20):
Hold up. Tell me some secrets here. So I'm a sales nerd.
Danielle Lewis (38:29):
I
Brooke Vulinovich (38:29):
Love it so much. And I always say a lot of female founders hate selling. They kind of have this used car salesman kind of vibe about sales. So whenever somebody says that they've cottoned onto some kind of sales magic, I have to ask more questions. Was there a breakthrough? Was there a couple of tips? Tell me what happened. Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (38:54):
Okay. I haven't been able to talk about this yet, so I'm so excited. Oh my God.
Brooke Vulinovich (38:57):
Cool, cool.
Danielle Lewis (38:58):
Alright. Lemme tell you everything I did wrong first.
Brooke Vulinovich (39:01):
Perfect, perfect.
Danielle Lewis (39:03):
I made it too much about me and it sounds so stupid again, because I'd made it too much about, so I did a beta test. So the news services audits, right? I opened a beta test and the beta test sold like that. From doing the beta test, I realized that I was paying myself below minimum wage,
Brooke Vulinovich (39:28):
Fabulous,
Danielle Lewis (39:29):
And I needed to increase the price. But then when I launched relaunched them at the new price, I had not told people what the product was. I had not offered them any sort of explanation of what it could do for their business. All I did was say, I've got six spots available. And of course people are like, for what?
Brooke Vulinovich (39:54):
Oh my God, yes. I'm just cringing at myself here and some copy that I might need to update
Danielle Lewis (40:01):
Cringing at myself too. But looking back, I was like, you idiot, you've never done that before. Why? What were you thinking to think that would work? Idiot. But I think
Brooke Vulinovich (40:11):
Sometimes you're so far along you've actually forget. You are already here and you forget that you actually need to take customers on the journey with you.
Danielle Lewis (40:21):
Absolutely. I was 12 months into the journey, and because the audits had been my life for the past 12 months, creating them, evolving them, adapting them, doing them, testing them, testing this, testing that I felt like all I'd been doing was talking about it for 12 months, but I actually hadn't, it was going on behind the scenes for me, but it was not going on in front of the scenes for my audience. So no one had a focus on what I was talking about.
Brooke Vulinovich (40:50):
That
Danielle Lewis (40:50):
Was silly. Anyway, so started working with the sales coach. A couple of things that we did, adapting the copy on the website. Again, I wasn't speaking in the language of my customer. I was speaking in my own language, which is such an obvious thing and I teach this, but what we teach, we don't always do it ourselves anyway. And then I, why do we do
Brooke Vulinovich (41:16):
This? Why do we do this?
Danielle Lewis (41:18):
And then just testing the sales process and testing a couple of different options based on different advice that we got
Brooke Vulinovich (41:29):
Because
Danielle Lewis (41:31):
It wasn't working. And I think sometimes just because something worked in the past doesn't mean it's going to work forward. So because the social club membership just sells off the sales page, I don't have to do anything with that. But the audits are a higher priced offering, so there needs to be some consultation with the client first to help them make that purchasing decision. And it's been such a long time since I offered a service like that. I used to do audits like, oh, when was the last time I did audits maybe five years ago? And I did have a process then I just forgot it. I just forgot it. And so once we started implementing this process, oh my God, boom, the orders are just coming in hot and heavy to a point that again, now I'm like, oh crap, I need to double my prices again so people will stop buying it.
(42:26):
Oh my God. Just not that, but just also like, okay, this is what people wanted. Because people ask for something, you do it, but then they don't buy and then you're like, oh my God, did I just waste 12 months of my life? And also, we waited to publicly launch them because I was testing all of this in the background for so long, we've waited to publicly launch them till the Monday after I flew out because I thought, let's launch and then hopefully I can start the process. And the goal was for the, this is so funny. Now I'd be insane trying to do this looking back, but hey, that's what I do. So the goal was with the public launch that we do a four part campaign over two weeks, the hope was to get 15 leads and convert 30% of that because that had been what had happened.
(43:25):
And I felt like also that was a good workload that I could manage. So from one Instagram post, which just proves the power of Instagram from one, yes, one email, we got 25 leads of which we converted 11. And I was like, no more stop. I was like, oh my God, that's our next three months. I can't take on more work than that. It proves that when you get it right, you can get it. If you believe in your product and service and you know that it solves a problem that people are having, it's just your sales process that needs some work. Work with an expert. Or if you don't afford to work with an expert, again, there's just test. There's heaps of options of sale processes online, and then you've just got to test it and keep testing and testing and testing until you find something that works. Look, I love it so much because
Brooke Vulinovich (44:31):
I think that there is this misconception that if you have something, you have an amazing product or an amazing service, people will just find you magically and they will buy from you, but you could not be more correct. You have to communicate it effectively. You have to actually reach the right customers, and then you have to test it. Literally, I'm 10 years in and I'm still changing our unique selling proposition. I'm still changing our email outreach. I'm still changing the channels at which I reach our ideal customer. It just keeps evolving, it keeps changing. We just keep getting better and better and better and trying new things because you're right, sometimes the things that worked in the past don't work in the future. We've had a new social platform launch every two years since I started in social media. It's been crazy. So you've got to keep up with your market and understanding what works and what doesn't work, and also know that if it doesn't work, you are not a failure. It's just a touch point. It's just a learning and that you can apply and get
Danielle Lewis (45:34):
Better. And also knowing that what works for one product or service may not work for the other. Because I was explaining before the social club sells off the sales page like that. We get social club members every single week from Instagram. They're directed to the sales page and they buy, but it doesn't work for the audits. I think out of all the ones that we've done from initial testing to now, I think we've done about 30 in total. And I think, I actually don't think any of them have come direct from the sales page
Brooke Vulinovich (46:10):
At all.
Danielle Lewis (46:13):
I hope that they will obviously going forward, but that just wasn't, it wasn't the sales process for this service. And that's fine.
Brooke Vulinovich (46:24):
Totally and totally. And it's working. It's working. You're getting customers, you're getting revenue. This is a success. It just looks different than another product you had.
Danielle Lewis (46:34):
Oh my God. And it's been a huge learning curve for me because also it was getting closer and closer to our flyout day and it was making me really anxious and nervous. Like, holy shit, my entire sort of plan has been built around this working and it's not working. Are we going to get over there and everything's going to fall, shit it, and I'm going to be super stressed and just want to go home and it's going to be miserable. But it all worked and it finally
Brooke Vulinovich (47:08):
12
Danielle Lewis (47:08):
Months finally came together and I just feel like life is so good now. So good. I'm so happy. And Carlo's happy, my son and my husband's happy. Spending more time with Carlo, I'm loving that I get to work every day because before I only had help two days a week, sometimes three. And I was so stressed in those days. I felt like I was constantly behind trying to catch up with everything and just getting through everything. And even my team said to me, they were like, that was funny. They said the other day, you seem like your pre-pregnancy self. You seem really happy. Had a really hard pregnancy. I was really sick and it was not my time. Oh, wow. I was like, oh, you guys have no idea what a compliment that is to me, after sort of the past 12 months and just getting to this point, just getting to this point has been a solid effort. But now they're here and I feel on top of the world and it's so cool and I get to get up and do what I love every day.
Brooke Vulinovich (48:27):
And you know what? It's incredible because even seven years in, you still have those moments where it's fucking hard and you've got to get through it, and you've got to just bunker down and leverage your team and stay focused. And it does pay off, but it doesn't happen overnight. Even if you're seven years, 10 years, 20 years, you'll have a new idea and it won't work. And you'll have to test and refine and make it a success.
Danielle Lewis (48:53):
And I think you do, and I've always believed in this as one of my values in business is to stop and reflect and celebrate and celebrate the win, celebrate when things happen. Because especially over the last three years, the last three years have been horrible for every, everyone. I almost lost my business during Covid. I lost my sister, my husband got stuck working in raha actually just, oh my
Brooke Vulinovich (49:17):
God,
Danielle Lewis (49:18):
You are. And he couldn't get back to Perth and it was not a good time. And then I got so focused on building up back up again that I don't know, it sort of links to the concept of success and what success looks like for some people and what success looks like for others. I'm living kind of in a garage at the moment, but in the most what I think is the most beautiful place on earth and could not feel more on top of the world. But I sent a picture of where I'm working to somebody and they replied saying, oh, it looks very basic. Are you okay?
Brooke Vulinovich (49:55):
Oh my God, I hate that. Yes.
Danielle Lewis (49:58):
Just that success looks different for everyone. So really work out what it means to you to be successful and feel successful and make sure you do that thing. Because
Brooke Vulinovich (50:13):
Regularly, I think regularly as well because it changes. Yeah, yeah,
Danielle Lewis (50:18):
Yeah, totally. You've got to stop and do the thing and be proud. I feel so proud now of all the shit things that have happened over the past seven years that I've managed to continue on to get me here because every single shit thing that's happened has now been worth it to be here today.
Brooke Vulinovich (50:41):
Look, I'm not going to lie. If I was looking at the view that you had outside my window, I would be dying right now. That is fucking incredible. You are in Croat Die, right? Like holy crap, you're literally living the dream.
Danielle Lewis (50:56):
It's so funny because I'll be so focused on my computer that I forget where I am and then I look up, I'm like,
Brooke Vulinovich (51:04):
Oh my God,
Danielle Lewis (51:05):
I must say this is my father-in-Law's house. It's not my house, but still what I had to do in business to get to be living in my father-in-Law's house. He arrives in two days and I feel so bad. I feel like he's not even here yet. And we've totally taken over the
Brooke Vulinovich (51:21):
House. Yeah. Amazing.
Danielle Lewis (51:23):
Oh, well actually Dom and I make a joke about how it's actually Carlos' house, my son.
Brooke Vulinovich (51:29):
Nice. It's incredible though. You were so right. We go through these seasons in life, these seasons in business and success sometimes doesn't happen. We thought it would originally, but also it changes over time. And I mean it's really interesting that you share the comment that someone made when I was sitting here going, oh my God, I wish I was looking out over that view. How amazing and jealous. But I'm like, that's it. It's just different for every person. You've really got to do take the time to not look at everybody else's definition of success because you'll only get let down. Really go internal and figure out what your definition of success is and then make those small steps every day to towards that goal.
Danielle Lewis (52:17):
Absolutely. And don't be put off by what other people say. I did a q and A on my story last week, and I had a lot of people say comments, how did you become successful? How did you do this? And you're so successful, what did you do? And I purposely didn't answer them just because again, what I consider to be successful, you may come here and hate it and be like, why the hell would you work your ass off to live in a half-built house and sleep in the garage?
(52:50):
I'm living my best life. So again, like you said, the importance of figuring out what success means to you and ensuring that you create a business or adapt your business, work towards that and really sit down with your family, with your partner or if you're single with yourself and figure it out because you have to work towards something to then feel like successful when you get there. Like I said, three weeks ago, I was sitting in the squished in the spare room at my parents' house and I felt like a failure. And from the outside looking in, there's people telling me constantly how great my business was and how this was, and I felt like shit. And I didn't feel successful at all. And now sitting here today, I'm like, I did this
Brooke Vulinovich (53:39):
All falling into place, falling
Danielle Lewis (53:42):
Into place. So that's interesting. I was so excited to do this interview as well. The first one I've done actually since I've been here. So I've been listening to the podcast that I've done. There's about four that have come out since I've got here. And I'm talking about the concept of getting here and getting now I'm here and it's happening and it's just wild. Can't believe it. Oh God,
Brooke Vulinovich (54:08):
No. And look, I am so honored that you have shared your time with us today because I'm just like, I literally, I love this podcast because I get to talk to amazing people. So it motivates me in business every day and everything that you have said in terms of just aligns to my values in terms of testing and optimizing and defining success on your own terms. And I'm just blown away by what you have built and the value that you add through your different products and your business. You are incredible. So thank you so much for spending your time with us. Gosh. Oh my God, no, you're literally amazing. And just the energy that you bring, and I can just imagine how many people do slide into your dms or whatever, and you just add value. So I'm so grateful that you have given that value to the Spark community today. I know it's too early to cheers for you, but cheers from me.
Danielle Lewis (55:12):
I can cheers with my water.
Brooke Vulinovich (55:14):
I love it. Yes.
Danielle Lewis (55:16):
So good. My cheer option,
Brooke Vulinovich (55:18):
Double cheers. See what I mean? Always overdelivering
Danielle Lewis (55:23):
Over delivering. Oh my gosh, that's so funny. Well, honestly, thank you so much for having me into the community. And I just think seven years ago, I actually, I wrote this on my story last week from a q and a. I got, because someone said to me, how did you know it was time to leave your nine to five? And I really had to stop and reflect on it because you know something. But then obviously putting it into words is a little bit harder. And I think for me, I was really resentful because I was surrounded by people every day that
Brooke Vulinovich (55:58):
Absolutely
Danielle Lewis (55:59):
Loved what they did that were living the life of their dreams. And I just thought, I'm not that person. I wasn't born that person. I wasn't lucky enough to have something that I was passionate about, and I guess that's okay, but it wasn't okay because I hated my life. I didn't hate my life. That's the wrong way to put it. But more like
Brooke Vulinovich (56:19):
You're unfulfilled. You knew there was more. Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (56:22):
I had no purpose and I was just kind of plotting along life, living for the weekends and just thought that was it for me and it wasn't. And I encourage anyone that is listening that maybe thinks the same, that go out and try things. And if you don't like something, try something else. Doesn't mean you're a fellow. Just keep trying. It took me three businesses to get to where I am today. If I'd stopped after the last business, I wouldn't be here. Go out network, talk to people. I know it can be scary, believe it or not. I used to be terrified to talk to people too. Now I get paid to talk. That's my job. It's funny how these things happen. That's awesome. Please know that you can find your purpose and you can find the thing that lights you up. It really is out there waiting for you. So if you're looking for a sign, this is it.
Brooke Vulinovich (57:20):
I don't know any better way to end this podcast.
Danielle Lewis (57:25):
You are
Brooke Vulinovich (57:25):
Incredible. Thank you so much. That is absolutely phenomenal.
Danielle Lewis (57:30):
My pleasure. My pleasure. Thank you for having me. And thank you to everyone who took the time to listen to this podcast.
